Yirmeyah 49:24

24 Damascus has grown feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath gripped her; anguish and chavalim (pains) have taken her, as a woman in travail.

Yirmeyah 49:24 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 49:24

Damascus is waxed feeble
Or, "is become remiss" ^F7; her hands hang down, not being able through fear and fright to lift them up against the enemy; that is, the inhabitants of Damascus, as the Targum: [and] turneth herself to flee;
instead of going out to meet the enemy, the inhabitants of this city meditated a flight, and turned their backs upon him in order to flee from him, and escape falling into his hands: and fear hath seized on [her]:
or, "she seized on fear" ^F8; instead of seizing on arms, and laying hold on them to defend herself with, she seized on that; or however that seized on her, and made her quite unfit to stand up in her own defence: anguish and sorrows have taken her as a woman in travail;
(See Gill on Jeremiah 49:22); A phrase often used to express the sudden and inevitable destruction of a people, and their distress and inability to help themselves.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 (htpr) "remissa erit", Junius & Tremellius; "remissa est", Cocceius, Piscator; "remissa facta est", Schmidt.
F8 (hqyzxh jjrw) "et apprehendit tremorem", Munster; "et horrorem apprehendit", Schmidt; "et horrorem febrilem prehendet", Junius & Tremellius; "apprehendet", Piscator.

Yirmeyah 49:24 In-Context

22 Hinei, He shall come up and fly like the nesher, and spread His wings over Botzrah; and in that day shall the lev of the Gibborim of Edom be as the lev of an isha in her birth pangs.

23 Concerning Damascus: Chamat is shamed, and Arpad, for they have heard bad news; they are fainthearted; there is anxiety on the yam (sea); it cannot be quiet.

24 Damascus has grown feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath gripped her; anguish and chavalim (pains) have taken her, as a woman in travail.

25 How is it that the Ir Tehillah is not deserted, the town of My joy!

26 Therefore her bochurim shall fall in her streets, and all the anshei milchamah shall be destroyed in that day, saith Hashem Tzva’os.