Jeremiah 4:15-20

4:15 For messengers are coming, heralding disaster,

from the city of Dan and from the hills of Ephraim. ¹ 

4:16 They are saying, ² 

‘Announce to the surrounding nations, ³ 

“The enemy is coming!” ⁴ 

Proclaim this message ⁵  to Jerusalem:

“Those who besiege cities ⁶  are coming from a distant land.

They are ready to raise the battle cry against ⁷  the towns in Judah.”’

4:17 They will surround Jerusalem ⁸ 

like men guarding a field ⁹ 

because they have rebelled against me,”

says the Lord.

4:18 “The way you have lived and the things you have done ¹⁰ 

will bring this on you.

This is the punishment you deserve, and it will be painful indeed. ¹¹ 

The pain will be so bad it will pierce your heart.” ¹² 

4:19 I said, ¹³ 

“Oh, the feeling in the pit of my stomach! ¹⁴ 

I writhe in anguish.

Oh, the pain in my heart! ¹⁵ 

My heart pounds within me.

I cannot keep silent.

For I hear the sound of the trumpet; ¹⁶ 

the sound of the battle cry pierces my soul! ¹⁷ 

4:20 I see ¹⁸  one destruction after another taking place,

so that the whole land lies in ruins.

I see our ¹⁹  tents suddenly destroyed,

their ²⁰  curtains torn down in a mere instant. ²¹ 

[4:15]  ¹ tn Heb “For a voice declaring from Dan and making heard disaster from the hills of Ephraim.”

[4:16]  ² tn The words “They are saying” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection and are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[4:16]  ³ tn The word “surrounding” is not in the text but is implicit and is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[4:16]  ⁴ tc Or “Here they come!” Heb “Look!” or “Behold!” Or “Announce to the surrounding nations, indeed [or yes] proclaim to Jerusalem, ‘Besiegers…’” The text is very elliptical here. Some of the modern English versions appear to be emending the text from הִנֵּה (hinneh, “behold”) to either הֵנָּה (hennah, “these things”; so NEB), or הַזֶּה (hazzeh, “this”; so NIV). The solution proposed here is as old as the LXX which reads, “Behold, they have come.”

[4:16]  ⁵ tn The words, “this message,” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation to make the introduction of the quote easier.

[4:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “Besiegers.” For the use of this verb to refer to besieging a city compare Isa 1:8.

[4:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “They have raised their voices against.” The verb here, a vav (ו) consecutive with an imperfect, continues the nuance of the preceding participle “are coming.”

[4:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “will surround her.” The antecedent is Jerusalem in the preceding verse. The referent is again made explicit in the translation to avoid any possible lack of clarity. The verb form here is a form of the verb that emphasizes the fact as being as good as done (i.e., it is a prophetic perfect).

[4:17]  ⁹ sn There is some irony involved in the choice of the simile since the men guarding a field were there to keep thieves from getting in and stealing the crops. Here the besiegers are guarding the city to keep people from getting out.

[4:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Your way and your deeds.”

[4:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “How bitter!”

[4:18]  ¹² tn Heb “Indeed, it reaches to your heart.” The subject must be the pain alluded to in the last half of the preceding line; the verb is masculine, agreeing with the adjective translated “painful.” The only other possible antecedent “punishment” is feminine.

[4:19]  ¹³ tn The words “I said” are not in the text. They are used to mark the shift from the Lord’s promise of judgment to Jeremiah’s lament concerning it.

[4:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “My bowels! My bowels!”

[4:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the walls of my heart!”

[4:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “ram’s horn,” but the modern equivalent is “trumpet” and is more readily understandable.

[4:19]  ¹⁷ tc The translation reflects a different division of the last two lines than that suggested by the Masoretes. The written text (the Kethib) reads “for the sound of the ram’s horn I have heard [or “you have heard,” if the form is understood as the old second feminine singular perfect] my soul” followed by “the battle cry” in the last line. The translation is based on taking “my soul” with the last line and understanding an elliptical expression “the battle cry [to] my soul.” Such an elliptical expression is in keeping with the elliptical nature of the exclamations at the beginning of the verse (cf. the literal translations of the first two lines of the verse in the notes on the words “stomach” and “heart”).

[4:20]  ¹⁸ tn The words, “I see” are not in the text here or at the beginning of the third line. They are supplied in the translation to show that this is Jeremiah’s vision of what will happen as a result of the invasion announced in 4:5-9, 11-17a.

[4:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “my.” This is probably not a reference to Jeremiah’s own tents since he foresees the destruction of the whole land. Jeremiah so identifies with the plight of his people that he sees the destruction of their tents as though they were his very own. It would probably lead to confusion to translate literally and it is not uncommon in Hebrew laments for the community or its representative to speak of the community as an “I.” See for example the interchange between first singular and first plural pronouns in Ps 44:4-8.

[4:20]  ²⁰ tn Heb “my.”

[4:20]  ²¹ tn It is not altogether clear what Jeremiah intends by the use of this metaphor. In all likelihood he means that the defenses of Israel’s cities and towns have offered no more resistance than nomads’ tents. However, in light of the fact that the word “tent” came to be used generically for a person’s home (cf. 1 Kgs 8:66; 12:16), it is possible that Jeremiah is here referring to the destruction of their homes and the resultant feeling of homelessness and loss of even elementary protection. Given the lack of certainty the present translation is rather literal here.