Jeremiah 49:24

24 Feeble hath been Damascus, She turned to flee, and fear strengthened her, Distress and pangs have seized her, as a travailing woman.

Jeremiah 49:24 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 49:24

Damascus is waxed feeble
Or, "is become remiss" ^F7; her hands hang down, not being able through fear and fright to lift them up against the enemy; that is, the inhabitants of Damascus, as the Targum: [and] turneth herself to flee;
instead of going out to meet the enemy, the inhabitants of this city meditated a flight, and turned their backs upon him in order to flee from him, and escape falling into his hands: and fear hath seized on [her]:
or, "she seized on fear" ^F8; instead of seizing on arms, and laying hold on them to defend herself with, she seized on that; or however that seized on her, and made her quite unfit to stand up in her own defence: anguish and sorrows have taken her as a woman in travail;
(See Gill on Jeremiah 49:22); A phrase often used to express the sudden and inevitable destruction of a people, and their distress and inability to help themselves.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 (htpr) "remissa erit", Junius & Tremellius; "remissa est", Cocceius, Piscator; "remissa facta est", Schmidt.
F8 (hqyzxh jjrw) "et apprehendit tremorem", Munster; "et horrorem apprehendit", Schmidt; "et horrorem febrilem prehendet", Junius & Tremellius; "apprehendet", Piscator.

Jeremiah 49:24 In-Context

22 Lo, as an eagle he cometh up, and flieth, And he spreadeth his wings over Bozrah, And the heart of the mighty of Edom hath been in that day, As the heart of a distressed woman!'

23 Concerning Damascus: Ashamed hath been Hamath and Arpad, For an evil report they have heard, They have been melted, in the sea [is] sorrow, To be quiet it is not able.

24 Feeble hath been Damascus, She turned to flee, and fear strengthened her, Distress and pangs have seized her, as a travailing woman.

25 How is it not left -- the city of praise, The city of my joy!

26 Therefore fall do her young men in her broad places, And all the men of war are cut off in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts.