Jeremiah 50:36

Jer 50:36 A sword [is] upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword [is] upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.

Ver. 36. A sword is upon the liars,] i.e., The prognosticators and wizards. Mendaces nominat divines, as it was wont here to be said - a friar, a liar.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrew, liars.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

liars--Those whom he before termed "wise men," he here calls "liars" (impostors), namely, the astrologers (compare Isa 44:25; Rom 1:21-25; Co1 1:20).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He repeats the same thing, but in other words; and in the first clause he mentions diviners whom he before called wise men; and he calls them now by their true and proper name; for בדים, bedim, mean mendacious men as well as falsehoods. He then calls those now impostors to whom he conceded before the name of wise men. But when he called them wise men, he spoke according to the common opinion, and he was unwilling to contend with the Chaldeans as to the character of their wisdom: he, however, at the same time made known the impositions of those who boasted that they had a familiar intercourse with God and angels, whilst they pronounced by the stars what was to be. That art itself is indeed worthy of praise, were men to preserve moderation. But as the curiosity of men is insatiable, so they wandered here and there, and overleaped all limits, and thus perverted the whole order of nature. The Chaldeans, then, were not genuine, but, on the contrary, spurious astrologers.

This is the reason why the Prophet calls them now liars; for we have before seen, that it was a mere imposition, when the Chaldeans held that the whole life of man is subject to the influence of the stars. Hence he exhorted the faithful to fear no dangers from the stars. It is then no wonder that the Prophet now charges all the diviners with falsehoods, who yet proudly arrogated to themselves the name of wise men, they shall be infatuated, he says. The verb יאל, ial, means indeed to begin, but in Niphal it means to become foolish, or to be infatuated.

Then he says, The sword shall be on her valiant men; whom before he called chief men or princes, שרים, sherim, he now calls strong, גברים, geberim, or those who excelled in valor. The amount of the whole is, — that whatever wisdom Babylon arrogated to itself would become folly, and that the valor in which it prided, would vanish away. For he says, that they would be broken in pieces The verb חתת, chetat, means to be broken, but as we have elsewhere seen, it is often applied to the mind, and then it means to dread, or to be terrified. He then says, that the valiant would not be able to stand when the sword was upon them, for they would become, as it were, lifeless, or, at least, they would become so effeminate as to think of nothing but flight.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(36) A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote.—The Hebrew word for “liars”—literally, boastings—implies the falsehood of folly rather than of purpose. Better, perhaps, the prating fools. The marginal readings “chief stays” and “bars” rest on no adequate authority. Here the word applies to the diviners and magicians (comp. Isa_44:25).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

36. boasters] better than mg. boastings. The reference is to prophets and diviners who promised permanent empire to Babylon.

dote] The same word is rendered are foolish in Jer_5:4.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A sword is upon the liars,.... Some render it "bars" (m), as the word sometimes signifies; and interpret it of great men, who are the strength and security of cities and commonwealths; but these are mentioned both before and after. The Targum renders it "diviners"; and so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it (n); of which there were many among the Chaldeans, who were a lying set of men, who imposed upon and deceived the people; these with their divinations and soothsayings could not save the land, nor themselves, from the devouring sword; nay, their sorceries and divinations were the cause of the ruin of it; see Isa 47:9;

and they shall dote; or, that they may "become foolish" (o); be infatuated, and act a mad part, and be at their wits' end; not knowing what course to take for their own safety, and much less be able to give direction and advice to others:

a sword is upon her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed; the soldiers and their officers, the most valiant and courageous of them; these would be in the utmost fright and consternation at the approach of the enemy; especially when they perceived the city taken, and the carnage made of the king and his nobles.

(m) "vectes"; so some in Gataker. (n) "Divinos", V. L. Vatablus, Tigurine version, Calvin, Pagninus; so R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 84. (o) "stultescant", Schmidt; "ut stulte agant", Piscator; "et insanient", Pagninus, Montanus.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Liars - Soothsayers, fortune-tellers.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Diviners. Hebrew, "impostors." They were nowhere more plentiful, Daniel i. 20. Fortune-tellers were consulted on every occasion. The eastern nations are still much addicted to this superstition.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: the word here translated liars is by some translated bars, by some liars; and in the Hebrew it hath both significations; which makes some think it is to be understood of the chief men, who are the props, stays, and bars of a place, whose wisdom God threatens should fail them, so as they should dote, and show themselves fools. Others translating it liars as we do, understand it of their soothsayers and wizards, whom he calls liars, because they divined false, and saith they should dote, not foreseeing what should be.

A sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed: and though they were full of valiant, mighty men, yet their hearts should fail them when this day came, and all be destroyed amongst the rest.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

36. Liars — The original word means to babble, to talk at random, and here the sense is soothsayers.

Dismayed — Better, confounded.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The liars" sword.

I IT IS ONE WHICH THEY WIELD. It cuts asunder:

1. The ties which bind man to man.

2. Those which bind the soul to truth and virtue.

3. Those which bind the heart to God.

4. Those which would lead the man to eternal life.

II IT IS ONE WHICH THEY FEEL. It pierces the soul with shame, with anguish, with a deadly wound.

III IT IS ONE BY WHICH THEY WILL SOONER OR LATER BE DESTROYED.

1. It is often so in this life. Men will league themselves together against a liar as against a wild beast or serpent, to destroy it. In the hearts of all men there is a protest against lies. That protest cannot be stifled universally, or for long, or over wide reaches of the world. It will break forth. It did break forth, and down went the paganism of the Roman empire, the priestly lies of the Church of Rome in the days of the Reformation, the political lies of despots as in the French Revolution, the Jesuitical lies by which that order has been disgraced and on account of which it has once and again been driven forth in shame. And the like of all this is seen in the condemnation and punishment of the convicted liars even now.

2. But yet more will it be so hereafter. See the awful doom that is pronounced against liars in the Word of God: "All liars shall have their part in the lake of fire, which is the second death.

CONCLUSION.

1. Dread this sword.

2. Love and cherish truth, in thought, word, and deed.

3. Give yourself to him who is the Truth. C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Dote - Their soothsayers and wizards shall dote, not foreseeing what will be. Dismayed - Their hearts shall fail them when this day comes.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

upon the imposters Heb. הבדים, to her diviners.

and they shall become foolish with their divining. Similar to this is: “Who frustrates the signs of imposters” (Isa. 44:25), and so did Jonathan render. They are called בּדים because they fabricate (בּוֹדִים) and say false things.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.