Jeremiah 4:8

8 Dress in funereal black. Weep and wail, For God's sledgehammer anger has slammed into us head-on.

Jeremiah 4:8 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 4:8

For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl
That is, because of this destruction threatened, which was so near at hand, and so sure and certain: for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned back from us.
The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it "from you" and some render it "from it" F21; from his purpose and design to destroy the Jews. Jarchi interprets this of Josiah, and his times, who, though he turned to the Lord with all his heart, yet the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his wrath and anger against Judah, ( 2 Kings 23:25 2 Kings 23:26 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F21 (wnmm) "ab illo", i.e. "ab illo proposito", Cocceius; "ab eo", Montanus.

Jeremiah 4:8 In-Context

6 Send up a flare warning Zion: 'Not a minute to lose! Don't sit on your hands!' Disaster's descending from the north. I set it off! When it lands, it will shake the foundations.
7 Invaders have pounced like a lion from its cover, ready to rip nations to shreds, Leaving your land in wrack and ruin, your cities in rubble, abandoned.
8 Dress in funereal black. Weep and wail, For God's sledgehammer anger has slammed into us head-on.
9 "When this happens" - God's Decree - "King and princes will lose heart; priests will be baffled and prophets stand dumbfounded."
10 Then I said, "Alas, Master God! You've fed lies to this people, this Jerusalem. You assured them, 'All is well, don't worry,' at the very moment when the sword was at their throats."
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.