Jeremiah 6:22

Jer 6:22 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.

Ver. 22. Thus saith the Lord.] It is not in vain that this is so oft prefaced to the ensuing prophecies. Dictum Iehovae The word the Lord is very emphatic and authoritative.

Behold, a people cometh from the north.] This the prophet had oft foretold for forty years together; sed surdis fabulam, but he could not be believed.

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.

GREATNESS OF THE CALAMITY, Jer_6:22-30.

22. The north country — Babylonia.

Sides of the earth — Rather, ends; most distant regions. As the enemy comes from these, so the captivity will be to these. (Jer_31:8.)

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

A distant, cruel people will execute the judgment, since Judah, under the trial, has proved to be worthless metal. - Jer 6:22. "Thus hath Jahveh said: Behold, a people cometh from the land of the north, and a great nation raises itself from the furthermost sides of the earth. Jer 6:23. Bows and javelins they bear; cruel it is, and they have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and on horses they ride, equipped as a man for the war against thee, daughter of Zion. Jer 6:24. We heard the rumour thereof: weak are our hands: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail. Jer 6:25. Go not forth into the field, and in the way walk not; for a sword hath the enemy, fear is all around. Jer 6:26. O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and besprinkle thee with ashes; make mourning for an only son, butter lamentation: for suddenly shall the spoiler come upon us. Jer 6:27. For a trier have I set thee among my people as a strong tower, that thou mightest know and try their way. Jer 6:28. They are all revolters of revolters; go about as slanderers; brass and iron; they are all dealing corruptingly. Jer 6:29. Burned are the bellows by the fire, at an end is the lead; in vain they melt and melt; and wicked ones are not separated. Jer 6:30. Rejected silver they call them, for Jahveh hath rejected them."

In Jer 6:22 the stumbling-blocks of Jer 6:21 are explained. At the end of this discourse yet again the invasion of the enemy from the far north is announced, cf. Jer 4:13 and Jer 5:15, and its terribleness is portrayed with new colours. The farther the land is from which the enemy comes, the more strange and terrible he appears to the imagination. The farthest (hindmost) sides of the earth (cf. Jer 25:32) is only a heightening of the idea: land of the north, or of the far distance (Jer 5:15); in other words, the far uttermost north (cf. Isa 14:13). In this notice of their home, Hitz. finds a proof that the enemies were the Scythians, not the Chaldeans; since, acc. to Eze 38:6, Eze 38:15, and Eze 39:2, Gog, i.e., The Scythians, come "from the sides of the north." But "sides of the earth" is not a geographical term for any particular northern country, but only for very remote lands; and that the Chaldeans were reckoned as falling within this term, is shown by the passage Jer 31:8, according to which Israel is to be gathered again from the land of the north and from the sides of the earth. Here any connection with Scythia in "sides of the earth" is not to be thought of, since prophecy knows nothing of a captivity of Israel in Scythia, but regards Assur and Babylon alone as the lands of the exile of Israelites and Jews. As weapons of the enemy then are mentioned bows (cf. Jer 4:29; Jer 5:16), and the javelin or lance (כּידון, not shield; see on Sa1 17:6). It is cruel, knows no pity, and is so numerous and powerful, that its voice, i.e., the tumult of its approach, is like the roaring of the sea; cf. Isa 5:30; Isa 17:12. On horses they ride; cf. Jer 4:13; Jer 8:16; Hab 1:8. ערוּך in the singular, answering to "cruel it is," points back to גּוי or כּאישׁ . is not for כּאישׁ אחד (Ros.), but for כּאישׁ מלחמה, cf. Sa1 17:33; Isa 42:13; and the genitive is omitted only because of the למלחמה coming immediately after (Graf). "Against thee" is dependent on ערוּך: equipped as a warrior is equipped for the war, against the daughter of Zion. In Jer 6:24-26 are set forth the terrors and the suspense which the appearance of the foe will spread abroad. In Jer 6:24 the prophet, as a member of the people, gives utterance to its feelings. As to the sense, the clauses are to be connected thus: As soon as we hear the rumour of the people, i.e., of its approach, our hands become feeble through dread, all power to resist vanishes: cf. Isa 13:7; and for the metaphor of travail, Isa 13:8; Mic 4:9, etc. In v. 28 the inhabitants of Jerusalem, personified as the daughter of Zion, are warned not to go forth of the city into the field or about the country, lest they fall into the enemies' hands and be put to death. מגור מסּביב, often used by Jeremiah, cf. Jer 20:3, Jer 20:10; Jer 46:5; Jer 49:29, and, as Jer 20:10 shows, taken from Psa 31:14. Fear or terrors around, i.e., on all sides danger and destruction threaten.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

6:22-30 This dialogue between Jeremiah and the Lord probably took place at the beginning of the Babylonian invasion in 605 BC. In these three poems, Jeremiah declares the Lord’s message (6:22-23), identifies with his people’s fear, and urges them to repent quickly (6:24-26). He then receives a heart-to-heart message from the Lord (6:27-30).

6:22-23 The Lord reminded the people that the impending invasion was not fictitious; the soldiers had real bows and spears (Isa 13:18). • sound like a roaring sea: The sound of tens of thousands of soldiers with cavalry and chariots must have been terrifying (Isa 5:27-30).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

From Babylon by Dan, which was North from Jerusalem.

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

north . . . sides of the earth--The ancients were little acquainted with the north; therefore it is called the remotest regions (as the Hebrew for "sides" ought to be translated, see on Isa 14:13) of the earth. The Chaldees are meant (Jer 1:15; Jer 5:15). It is striking that the very same calamities which the Chaldeans had inflicted on Zion are threatened as the retribution to be dealt in turn to themselves by Jehovah (Jer 50:41-43).

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

It was no useless repetition when the Prophet said so often that God said. He might have said only, “Behold, a nation shall come from the north;” but he premises by saying that he derived this message from God, and not only so, but he introduces God as the speaker, that his message might be more impressive. In the former verse he had also said, Thus saith Jehovah, and elsewhere: but he now repeats the same words, that the holy name of God might more powerfully rouse their minds.

Behold, he says, a people shall come from the land of the north For forty years Jeremiah ceased not to proclaim war against the Jews, and also openly to name their enemies: we yet see that so much preaching was without fruit. This was dreadful indeed: but we may thus see, as it were in a mirror, how great is our hardness and stupor, and how great is our fury and madness against God. He then designates here the Chaldeans as a northern nation, and says that it was a great nation: and yet he shews, that the Chaldeans would not of themselves come; it shall be roused, he says. This act is to be applied to God; for though ambition and avarice impelled the Chaldeans to lay waste nations and lands far and wide, yet that war was carried on under the guidance of God himself: he armed and impelled the Chaldeans, and used them as the scourges of his wrath. We may learn this from the verb יעור, iour, “shall be roused;” and he says, from the sides of the earth, for they came from a distant country. But the Prophet means, that there would be nothing to hinder the Chaldeans from entering Judea, and from destroying and putting to flight the people, and from demolishing the city and the temple.

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.

(22) From the north country . . .—The words point, as in Jer_1:13-15, to the Chaldæan, perhaps, also, to the Scythian, invasion. So the “north quarters” are used in Eze_38:6; Eze_38:15; Eze_39:2 of the home of Gog as the representative of the Scythian tribes.

Shall be raised.—Literally, shall be roused, or awakened.

The sides of the earth.—sc., its ends, or far-off regions.

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

22. from the north country] The reference, originally at any rate, was to the Scythians. See on Jer_1:14.

22–30. The last of the four divisions. See introd. note to the ch.

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.

Thus saith the Lord, behold, a people cometh from the north country,.... The Assyrians from Babylon, which lay north of Judea, as in Jer 1:14,

and a great nation shall be raised; that is, by the Lord, who would stir them up to this undertaking. The Targum is,

"many people shall come openly:''

from the sides of the earth; afar off, as Babylon was, Jer 5:15.

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

Raised - Or, awakened, to undertake distant expeditions.

The sides of the earth - Or ends, the most distant regions (see Jer 25:32).

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

North. As Babylon lay with respect to Jerusalem, (Worthington) or rather to the east. (Haydock)

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).

Now the prophet is showing what these destructive stumbling-blocks shall be, of which he had prophesied forty years already, and yet they would not be warned. The north country: see Jer 6:1.

A great nation shall be raised; God shall stir up the Chaldeans like a great storm or tempest, Jer 1:15; 25:32. See Eze 23:22.

From the sides of the earth; the remote and uttermost parts of the Babylonian territories, though at the greatest distance, yet God will bring them: which may note the greatness of God’s displeasure against Judah, this circumstance being noted among the curses, Deu 28:49. See Isa 5:25,26, &c.; Jer 5:15.

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

Vers. 22-30. The enemy described; the terror consequent on his arrival; a rumored declaration of the moral cause of the judgment.

From the north country. (so Jer_1:14 (see note) Jer_4:6) Shall be raised; rather, shall be aroused. The sides of the earth; rather, "the recesses (i.e. furthest parts) of the earth". (so Isa_14:13)

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

Behold - God shall stir up the Chaldeans like a great storm. The sides - The uttermost parts of the Babylonian territories.

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