Jeremiah 4:29

29 As the horsemen and archers approach, the people take flight. They hide in the bushes and escape to the cliffs. Every city is deserted; no one remains.

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 The LORD proclaims: The whole earth will become a desolation, but I will not destroy it completely.

28 Therefore, the earth will grieve and the heavens grow dark because I have declared my plan and will neither change my mind nor cancel the plan.

29 As the horsemen and archers approach, the people take flight. They hide in the bushes and escape to the cliffs. Every city is deserted; no one remains.

30 And you, devastated one, why dress up in scarlet, deck yourself in gold jewelry, and color your eyes with paint? In vain you get all decked out; your lovers have rejected you and now seek your life.

31 I hear the cry of a woman in labor, the distress of one delivering her first child. It is the cry of Daughter Zion, gasping for breath, her arms stretched out, and moaning, "I'm about to fall into the hands of murderers!"