Jeremiah 4:29

29 a voce equitis et mittentis sagittam fugit omnis civitas ingressi sunt ardua et ascenderunt rupes universae urbes derelictae sunt et non habitat in eis homo

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 haec enim dicit Dominus deserta erit omnis terra sed tamen consummationem non faciam
28 lugebit terra et maerebunt caeli desuper eo quod locutus sum cogitavi et non paenituit me nec aversus sum ab eo
29 a voce equitis et mittentis sagittam fugit omnis civitas ingressi sunt ardua et ascenderunt rupes universae urbes derelictae sunt et non habitat in eis homo
30 tu autem vastata quid facies cum vestieris te coccino cum ornata fueris monili aureo et pinxeris stibio oculos tuos frustra conponeris contempserunt te amatores tui animam tuam quaerent
31 vocem enim quasi parturientis audivi angustias ut puerperae vox filiae Sion intermorientis expandentisque manus suas vae mihi quia defecit anima mea propter interfectos
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.