Jeremiah 4:29

29 The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen * ; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken , and not a man dwell therein.

Jeremiah 4:29 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 4:29

The whole city shall flee
Or, "every city"; for not Jerusalem only is meant, but every city, or the inhabitants of every city; and so the Targum paraphrases it,

``all the inhabitants of the land,''
who would be put into a panic, and flee: "for" or at the noise of the horsemen and bowmen;
of which the army of the enemy would greatly consist: it intimates that the inhabitants of Judea would not stand a battle; but at hearing the sound of the trampling of the horses, and the clattering of the bows and arrows, that the men upon them had, they would flee at once: they shall go into the thickets, and climb upon the rocks;
that is, either the horsemen and bowmen, who would pursue the inhabitants into those places: or rather the inhabitants themselves, who would flee thither to hide themselves from their enemies; namely, get into woods and forests, and among the thick trees, and cover themselves; and upon the highest mountains and rocks, and into the holes and caverns of them, and secure themselves from the enemy; see ( Matthew 24:16 ) , the word for "thickets" signifies "clouds" F9; and Kimchi interprets it of places as high as the clouds, as the tops of some mountains are, so that going up to them is like entering into the clouds; and which are sometimes covered with thick trees, and look like clouds; but the Targum explains it of woods or forests: every city shall be forsaken;
of its inhabitants: and not a man dwell therein;
as the prophet had seen in his vision, ( Jeremiah 4:25 ) , this was to be when a full end was made, not by the Babylonians, but by the Romans.
FOOTNOTES:

F9 (Mybeb) "in nubes", Munster, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt.

Jeremiah 4:29 In-Context

27 For thus hath the LORD said , The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
28 For this shall the earth mourn , and the heavens above be black : because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent , neither will I turn back from it.
29 The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen ; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken , and not a man dwell therein.
30 And when thou art spoiled , what wilt thou do ? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair ; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.
31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail , and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child , the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers .
The King James Version is in the public domain.