Jeremiah 10:18

18 For thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will this time sling out the inhabitants of the land, and will distress them, that they may be found.

Jeremiah 10:18 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 10:18

For thus saith the Lord
This is a reason enforcing the exhortation in the preceding verse, and shows that the same people that are spoken of here are addressed there. Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once;
meaning the inhabitants of the land of Judea; or otherwise the prophet would never have expressed such a concern for them as he does in the following verse. Their captivity is signified by the slinging of a stone out of a sling, and shows how sudden, swift, and certain, it would be: and that it would as easily and swiftly be done, and with equal force and rapidity, as a stone is slung out of a sling; and that it would be done by the Lord himself, whoever were the instruments: and will distress them;
or "straiten" ^F26 them, on every side; it seems to intend the siege; or bring them into great straits and difficulties, through the pestilence, famine, sword, and captivity: that they may find it;
so as he had spoken by his prophets, it coming to pass exactly as they had foretold. The Targum is,

``that they may receive the punishment of their sins;''

and so the Septuagint and Arabic versions, "that thy stroke may be found"; but the Syriac version is very different from either, "that they may seek me and find"; which is an end that is sometimes answered by afflictive dispensations.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 (Mhl ytruhw) "oblidere faciana eos", some in Vatablus; "et angustabo, [vel] obsidebo eos", Schmidt; "faciam ut obsideant eos", Calvin; "arctum ipsis facium", Cocceius.

Jeremiah 10:18 In-Context

16 The portion of Jacob is not like them; for it is he that hath formed all [things], and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name.

17 Gather up thy baggage out of the land, O inhabitress of the fortress.

18 For thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will this time sling out the inhabitants of the land, and will distress them, that they may be found.

19 Woe is me, for my wound! My stroke is hard to heal, and I had said, Yea, this is [my] grief, and I will bear it.

20 My tent is despoiled, and all my cords are broken; my children are gone forth from me, and they are not; there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.