Jeremiah 15:3

3 I, the Lord, have decided that four terrible things will happen to them: they will be killed in war; their bodies will be dragged off by dogs; birds will eat them, and wild animals will devour what is left over.

Jeremiah 15:3 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 15:3

And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the Lord
Or four families ^F24, and these very devouring ones; that is, four sorts of punishment; and so the Targum,

``four evil punishments;''

which are after mentioned. These are represented as under God, and at his beck and command; servants of his, that go and come at his pleasure, and do his will; and as being over men, and having power and authority to kill and to destroy by a divine commission: the sword to slay:
the first and chief of the four families or punishments, which had a commission from the Lord to sheath itself in his people, the Jews; even the sword of the enemy, the Chaldeans, drawn against them by a divine order and appointment: and the dogs to tear;
the carcasses of those that are slain with the sword: or "to draw" ^F25; as the word signifies; it being the usual way of dogs to draw and drag the flesh about they are feeding on; this is another of the four families, and a very voracious one it is: and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and
destroy;
or "to eat, and to corrupt", the bodies of those that are slain by the sword. The meaning is, that such should not have a burial, but should be the food of fowls and wild beasts: these are the other two destroying families, which have their commission from the Lord for such service.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 (twxpvm ebra) "quatuor familias, [sive] cognationes", Vatablus, Tigurine version, Calvin.
F25 (bwxol) "ad trahendum", Calvin, Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt; so Ben Melech,

Jeremiah 15:3 In-Context

1 Then the Lord said to me, "Even if Moses and Samuel were standing here pleading with me, I would not show these people any mercy. Make them go away; make them get out of my sight.

2 When they ask you where they should go, tell them that I have said: Some are doomed to die by disease - that's where they will go! Others are doomed to die in war - that's where they will go! Some are doomed to die of starvation - that's where they will go! Others are doomed to be taken away as prisoners - that's where they will go!

3 I, the Lord, have decided that four terrible things will happen to them: they will be killed in war; their bodies will be dragged off by dogs; birds will eat them, and wild animals will devour what is left over.

4 I will make all the people of the world horrified at them because of what Hezekiah's son Manasseh did in Jerusalem when he was king of Judah."

5 The Lord says, "Who will pity you, people of Jerusalem, and who will grieve over you? Who will stop long enough to ask how you are?