6:22 Again Yahweh announced that people from a great and distant land would descend on Judah from the north.
6:23 They would be cruel warriors riding on instruments of warfare shouting loud battle cries and making as much noise as the roaring sea. Their target would be God's beloved residents of Jerusalem.
6:24 Jeremiah responded that the news of this invasion had made the people physically weak, mentally anxious, and extremely distressed (cf. 4:31). This is a proleptic description of their reaction.
6:25 He counseled the people not to leave the city, to stay out of their fields and off the highways. There was an armed enemy out there waiting to kill them, and it should inspire terror among them all (cf. 20:3, 10; 46:5; 49:29).
6:26 The prophet called the people to repent while there was still time (cf. v. 8). Mourning over the untimely death of an only son was especially bitter because the family would then have no one to perpetuate the family name and line. Unless the people did repent the destroyer would overtake them.
