Jeremiah 4:30

30 And you, O desolate one, 1what will you do? Although you dress in scarlet, Although you decorate yourself with ornaments of gold, Although you 2enlarge your eyes with paint, In vain you make yourself beautiful. Your 3lovers despise you; They seek your life.

Jeremiah 4:30 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 4:30

And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do?
&c.] Or, "O thou spoiled" F11, wasted, and undone creature, how wilt thou help thyself? by what means dost thou think thou canst be delivered? it suggests that her ruin was inevitable; that she could not be recovered from it by herself, or any other: though thou clothest thyself with crimson;
and so look like some rich and noble person; hoping thereby to find mercy, and to have quarter given and kindness shown: though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold;
as a person of high and princely dignity: or rather all this is to be understood of the manner of harlots, who dress rich and grand, in order to allure men; since it follows, though thou rendest thy face with painting;
or, eyes F12; which painting dilates as Jezebel did, ( 2 Kings 9:30 ) , in vain shalt thou make thyself fair;
so as to be loved and admired: far from it: thy lovers will despise thee;
as an old harlot is despised by her former gallants, notwithstanding all her dressing and painting; yea, their love is often turned into hatred and abhorrence, as would be the case here, they will seek thy life;
to take it away; so far would there be from being any ground of expectations of help and deliverance from them.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 (dwdv ytaw) "et tu vastata", Pagninus, Montanus "et tu, res vastata", Cocceius.
F12 (Kynye Kwpb yerqx) "scindes in fuco oculos tuos", Montanus; "rumpes stibio oculos tuos", Schmidt.

Jeremiah 4:30 In-Context

28 "For this the earth shall mourn And the heavens above be dark, Because I have spoken, I have purposed, And I will not change My mind, nor will I turn from it."
29 At the sound of the horseman and bowman every city flees; They go into the thickets and climb among the rocks; Every city is forsaken, And no man dwells in them.
30 And you, O desolate one, what will you do? Although you dress in scarlet, Although you decorate yourself with ornaments of gold, Although you enlarge your eyes with paint, In vain you make yourself beautiful. Your lovers despise you; They seek your life.
31 For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor, The anguish as of one giving birth to her first child, The cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath, Stretching out her hands, saying, "Ah, woe is me, for I faint before murderers."

Cross References 3

  • 1. Isaiah 10:3; Isaiah 20:6; Jeremiah 13:21
  • 2. 2 Kings 9:30; Ezekiel 23:40
  • 3. Jeremiah 22:20, 22; Lamentations 1:2, 19; Ezek 23:9, 10, 22

Footnotes 1

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