Jeremias 38:4

4 For I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt yet take thy timbrel, and go forth with the party of them that make merry.

Jeremias 38:4 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 38:4

Therefore the princes said unto the king
The four princes mentioned in ( Jeremiah 38:1 ) , having heard what Jeremiah said to the people, laid the case before the king, and addressed him upon it in the following manner: we beseech thee, let this man be put to death;
or,

``let this man now be put to death,''

as the Targum. They speak very disrespectfully of the prophet, him "this man"; and with great authority to the and not in a submissive supplicating way, as we render it; the king, being in distress, was in their hands; he stood in fear of them, and could do nothing against their will and pleasure; and they urge that he might die instantly; they were for taking away his life at once. The reason they give follows: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this
city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them;
dispirited the soldiers who were set for the defence of the city, such of them as were left, who were not taken off by the sword, famine, or pestilence; since, if what Jeremiah said was true, all attempts to defend it must be in vain; and the people be without any hope of being delivered out of the hands of the enemy: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt;
than which nothing was more false; for the prophet foreseeing that their lives were in danger, through the sword, famine, or pestilence, by continuing in the city, advised them to go out of it, and surrender to the Chaldeans, whereby they would be preserved.

Jeremias 38:4 In-Context

2 Thus saith the Lord, I found him warm in the wilderness with them that were slain with the sword: go ye and destroy not Israel.

3 The Lord appeared to him from afar, , I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore have I drawn thee in compassion.

4 For I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt yet take thy timbrel, and go forth with the party of them that make merry.

5 For ye have planted vineyards on the mountains of Samaria: plant ye, and praise.

6 For it is a day when those that plead on the mountains of Ephraim shall call, , Arise ye, and go up to Sion to the Lord your God.