Jeremiah 4:6

6 Lift up a signal flag toward Zion. Run for cover! Don't stand still! For I am bringing disaster from the north- a great destruction.^[a]

Jeremiah 4:6 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 4:6

Set up the standard toward Zion
Not on the tower of Zion, as Kimchi interprets it; but on some high place, pointing to Zion, and directing the country people to flee thither for safety; for the setting up of the standard here is not for enlisting of soldiers in order to fight, but as a sign of danger, and a direction where to flee from it: retire;
gather yourselves together in order to flee, as the word ^F16 is rendered in ( Isaiah 10:31 ) , though some render it, "be ye strengthened" {q}; take heart, and play the man; but this does not seem so agreeable to the context: stay not;
or, "stand not"; stand not in the place ye are in, but move from it in all haste, because of present danger: for I will bring evil from the north;
from Babylon, as Kimchi interprets it; which lay north to the land of Israel; and so designs the captivity Judah should be brought into there: and a great destruction
or, "breach" ^F18; which the Babylonians should make on the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 (wzyeh) "congregate vos, [sub.] ad fugiendum", Vatablus; "confirmate vos [ad fugiendum]", Piscator.
F17 "Confortamini", V. L. "corroboramiui", Castalio; "agite viriliter", Munster.
F18 (rbv) "contritionem", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "confractionem", Cocceius.

Jeremiah 4:6 In-Context

4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish [it] because of your evil deeds.

5 Declare in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: Blow the ram's horn throughout the land. Cry out loudly and say: Assemble yourselves, and let's flee to the fortified cities.

6 Lift up a signal flag toward Zion. Run for cover! Don't stand still! For I am bringing disaster from the north- a great destruction.

7 A lion has gone up from his thicket; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to make your land a waste. Your cities will be reduced to uninhabited ruins.

8 Because of this, put on sackcloth; mourn and wail, for the Lord's burning anger has not turned away from us.

Footnotes

• [a] Jr 4:20