Jeremiah 49:24

24 The people of Damascus are weak. They turn to flee, but panic grips them. Anguish and pain grip them like a woman in labor.

Jeremiah 49:24 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 49:24

Damascus is waxed feeble
Or, "is become remiss" ^F7; her hands hang down, not being able through fear and fright to lift them up against the enemy; that is, the inhabitants of Damascus, as the Targum: [and] turneth herself to flee;
instead of going out to meet the enemy, the inhabitants of this city meditated a flight, and turned their backs upon him in order to flee from him, and escape falling into his hands: and fear hath seized on [her]:
or, "she seized on fear" ^F8; instead of seizing on arms, and laying hold on them to defend herself with, she seized on that; or however that seized on her, and made her quite unfit to stand up in her own defence: anguish and sorrows have taken her as a woman in travail;
(See Gill on Jeremiah 49:22); A phrase often used to express the sudden and inevitable destruction of a people, and their distress and inability to help themselves.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 (htpr) "remissa erit", Junius & Tremellius; "remissa est", Cocceius, Piscator; "remissa facta est", Schmidt.
F8 (hqyzxh jjrw) "et apprehendit tremorem", Munster; "et horrorem apprehendit", Schmidt; "et horrorem febrilem prehendet", Junius & Tremellius; "apprehendet", Piscator.

Jeremiah 49:24 In-Context

22 The enemy will swoop down like eagles and spread their wings over Bozrah. On that day Edom's soldiers will be like women in childbirth.

23 This is a message about Damascus. "Hamath and Arpad are worried because they heard the bad news. They melt in fear. They are troubled like a sea that can't be calmed.

24 The people of Damascus are weak. They turn to flee, but panic grips them. Anguish and pain grip them like a woman in labor.

25 Why isn't that famous, happy city abandoned?

26 That is why its young men will die in the streets, and its soldiers will be silenced that day," declares the LORD of Armies.