Jeremiah 4:18

18 "You obtained this for yourself [because of] your way and your deeds. This [is] your doom, for [it is] bitter, yes, it has reached up to your heart."

Jeremiah 4:18 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 4:18

Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee,
&c.] The way in which they walked, which was an evil one; and the actions which they committed; their idolatries, backslidings, and rebellions, before spoken of in this and the preceding chapter, were the cause of this siege, and those calamities coming upon them; they had none to blame but themselves; it was their own sinful ways and works which brought this ruin and destruction on them: this is thy wickedness;
the fruit of thy wickedness; or, "this thy calamity"; that is, is owing to these things; so the word is rendered in ( Psalms 141:5 ) : because it is bitter;
not sin, as in ( Jeremiah 2:19 ) , but the punishment of it; the calamity before mentioned; which was hard and heavy, and grievous to be borne, and yet very just; it was by way of retaliation; "they had bitterly provoked the Lord", as the word may be rendered in the preceding verse; and now he sends them a bitter calamity, and a heavy judgment: because it reacheth unto thine heart;
into the midst of them, and utterly destroyed them. The two last clauses may be rendered, "though it is bitter, though it reacheth unto thine heart" F4; though it is such a sore distress, and such an utter destruction, yet it was to be ascribed to nothing else but their own sins and transgressions.


FOOTNOTES:

F4 (egn yk rm yk) "quamvis amarum sit, quamvis pertigerit", Calvin.

Jeremiah 4:18 In-Context

16 "Report to the nations, 'Here they are!' Proclaim against Jerusalem, 'Besiegers [are] coming {from a distant land}, and they raise their voice against the cities of Judah.'
17 Like watchers of a field they were against her from all around, because she has rebelled against me," {declares} Yahweh.
18 "You obtained this for yourself [because of] your way and your deeds. This [is] your doom, for [it is] bitter, yes, it has reached up to your heart."
19 My bowels, my bowels! I writhe! The walls of my heart! My heart is restless within me, I cannot keep silent, for I hear [in] my inner self the sound of a horn, [the] alarm of war.
20 Destruction on destruction is proclaimed, for all of the land is devastated. Suddenly my tents are devastated, my tent curtains in a moment.
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.