Jeremiah 13

16. Give glory, &c.--Show by repentance and obedience to God, that you revere His majesty. So Joshua exhorted Achan to "give glory to God" by confessing his crime, thereby showing he revered the All-knowing God.
stumble--image from travellers stumbling into a fatal abyss when overtaken by nightfall ( Isaiah 5:30 , Isaiah 59:9 Isaiah 59:10 , Amos 8:9 ).
dark mountains--literally, "mountains of twilight" or "gloom," which cast such a gloomy shadow that the traveller stumbles against an opposing rock before he sees it ( John 11:10 , 12:35 ).
shadow of death--the densest gloom; death shade ( Psalms 44:19 ). Light and darkness are images of prosperity and adversity.

17. hear it--my exhortation.
in secret--as one mourning and humbling himself for their sin, not self-righteously condemning them ( Philippians 3:18 ). Job 33:17 ).
flock--( Jeremiah 13:20 ), just as kings and leaders are called pastors.

18. king--Jehoiachin or Jeconiah.
queen--the queen mother who, as the king was not more than eighteen years old, held the chief power. Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan, carried away captive with Jehoiachin by Nebuchadnezzar ( 2 Kings 24:8-15 ).
Humble yourselves--that is, Ye shall be humbled, or brought low ( Jeremiah 22:26 , 28:2 ).
your principalities--rather, "your head ornament."

19. cities of the south--namely, south of Judea; farthest off from the enemy, who advanced from the north.
shut up--that is, deserted ( Isaiah 24:10 ); so that none shall be left to open the gates to travellers and merchants again [HENDERSON]. Rather, shut up so closely by Nebuchadnezzar's forces, sent on before ( 2 Kings 24:10 2 Kings 24:11 ), that none shall be allowed by the enemy to get out (compare Jeremiah 13:20 ).
wholly--literally, "fully"; completely.

20. from . . . north--Nebuchadnezzar and his hostile army ( Jeremiah 1:14 , 6:22 ).
flock . . . given thee--Jeremiah, amazed at the depopulation caused by Nebuchadnezzar's forces, addresses Jerusalem (a noun of multitude, which accounts for the blending of plural and singular, Your eyes . . . thee . . . thy flock), and asks where is the population ( Jeremiah 13:17 , "flock") which God had given her?

21. captains, and as chief--literally, "princes as to headship"; or "over thy head," namely, the Chaldeans. Rather, translate, "What wilt thou say when God will set them (the enemies, Jeremiah 13:20 ) above thee, seeing that thou thyself hast accustomed them (to be) with thee as (thy) lovers in the highest place (literally, 'at thy head')? Thou canst not say God does thee wrong, seeing it was thou that gave occasion to His dealing so with thee, by so eagerly courting their intimacy." Compare Jeremiah 2:18 Jeremiah 2:36 , 2 Kings 23:29 , as to the league of Judah with Babylon, which led Josiah to march against Pharaoh-necho, when the latter was about to attack Babylon [MAURER].
sorrows--pains, throes.

22. if thou say--connecting this verse with "What wilt thou say" ( Jeremiah 13:21 )?
skirts discovered--that is, are thrown up so as to expose the person ( Jeremiah 13:26 , Isaiah 3:17 , Nahum 3:5 ).
heels made bare--The sandal was fastened by a thong above the heel to the instep. The Hebrew, is, "are violently handled," or "torn off"; that is, thou art exposed to ignominy. Image from an adulteress.

23. Ethiopian--the Cushite of Abyssinia. Habit is second nature; as therefore it is morally impossible that the Jews can alter their inveterate habits of sin, nothing remains but the infliction of the extremest punishment, their expatriation ( Jeremiah 13:24 ).

24. ( Psalms 1:4 ).
by the wind--before the wind.
of the wilderness--where the. wind has full sweep, not being broken by any obstacle.

25. portion of thy measures--the portion which I have measured out to thee ( Job 20:29 , Psalms 11:6 ).
falsehood--( Jeremiah 13:27 ), false gods and alliances with foreign idolaters.

26. discover . . . upon thy face--rather, "throw up thy skirts over thy face," or head; done by way of ignominy to captive women and to prostitutes ( Nahum 3:5 ). The Jews' punishment should answer to their crime. As their sin had been perpetrated in the most public places, so God would expose them to the contempt of other nations most openly ( Lamentations 1:8 ).

27. neighings--( Jeremiah 5:8 ), image from the lust of horses; the lust after idols degrades to the level of the brute.
hills--where, as being nearer heaven, sacrifices were thought most acceptable to the gods.
wilt thou not . . . ? when--literally, "thou wilt not be made clean after how long a time yet." (So Jeremiah 13:23 ). Jeremiah denies the moral possibility of one so long hardened in sin becoming soon cleansed. But see Jeremiah 32:17 , Luke 18:27 .