Jeremiah 4:10

10 Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Surely You have utterly ¹deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, '²You will have peace '; whereas a sword touches the throat."

Jeremiah 4:10 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 4:10

Then said I, ah, Lord God!
&c.] Expressing great sorrow and concern: this "ah" is by way of lamentation. The Targum interprets it as a petition,

``and I said, receive my prayer, O Lord God:''

surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem:
what the false prophets did, that God is said to do, because he suffered them to deceive the people; see ( 1 Kings 22:20-23 ) . The Targum ascribes the deception to the false prophets, and not to God,

``surely behold the false prophets deceive this people, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem;''

or this may be ironically said, because the false prophets pretended to speak in the name of the Lord; wherefore Jeremiah says, "surely thou hast greatly deceived" "saying, ye shall have peace"; as the false prophets did, ( Jeremiah 6:14 ) : whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul;
takes away the life, many are slain by it; so the Targum,

``and now behold the sword killeth among the people;''

great slaughter is made by it. L'Empereur ^F23 observes that the word here used signifies, in the Arabic language, to educate or bring up; and then the sense is,

``ah, Lord, thou hast brought up this people with great tenderness, and promised them all manner of happiness; but now thou thunderest out threatenings of calamities of all sorts, and death itself; and assigned a place for the sword to enter into their very souls;''

so the Arabic word <arabic> used in the version of ( Acts 22:2 ) ( 1 Timothy 4:6 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 Not. ad Mosis Kimchi, (odoiporia) , p. 186.

Jeremiah 4:10 In-Context

8 "For this, put on sackcloth, Lament and wail; For the fierce anger of the LORD Has not turned back from us."

9 "It shall come about in that day," declares the LORD , "that the heart of the king and the heart of the princes will fail; and the priests will be appalled and the prophets will be astounded."

10 Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Surely You have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'You will have peace '; whereas a sword touches the throat."

11 In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness in the direction of the daughter of My people -not to winnow and not to cleanse,

12 a wind too strong for this -will come at My command; now I will also pronounce judgments against them.

Cross References

• 1. Ezekiel 14:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:11
• 2. Jeremiah 5:12; Jeremiah 14:13

Footnotes

• [a]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD
• [b]. Or "life"