Bible Commentaries
Jeremiah 13

Verse 4

13:4 Take the sash that thou hast bought, which [is] upon thy loins, and arise, go to {a} Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.

(a) Because this river was far from Jerusalem, it is evident that this was a vision, by which it was signified that the Jews would pass over the Euphrates to be captives in Babylon, and there for length of time would seem to be rotten, although they were joined to the Lord before as a girdle about a man.

Verse 12

13:12 Therefore thou shalt speak to them this word; Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Every {b} skin shall be filled with wine: and they shall say to thee, Do we not certainly know that every skin shall be filled with wine?

(b) Every one of you will be filled with spiritual drunkenness, and be without all knowledge to seek how to help yourselves.

Verse 14

13:14 And I will {c} dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.

(c) It will be as easy for me to destroy the greatest and the strongest as it is for a man to break earthen bottles.

Verse 16

13:16 Give glory to the LORD your God, before he shall cause {d} darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for {e} light, he shall turn it into the shadow of death, [and] make [it] gross darkness.

(d) That is, affliction and misery by the Babylonians, Isaiah 8:22 .

(e) Meaning, for help and support of the Egyptians.

Verse 17

13:17 But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall {f} weep in secret places for [your] pride; and my eye shall weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because the LORD’S flock is carried away captive.

(f) You will surely be led away captive and I, according to my affection toward you, will weep and lament for your stubbornness.

Verse 18

13:18 Say to the {g} king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, [even] the crown of your glory.

(g) For Jehoiachin and his mother rendered themselves by Jeremiah’s counsel to the king of Babylon, 2 Kings 24:12 .

Verse 19

13:19 The cities of {h} the south shall be shut up, and none shall open [them]: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.

(h) That is, of Judah, which lies south of Babylon.

Verse 20

13:20 Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where [is] the {i} flock [that] was given thee, thy beautiful flock?

(i) He asks the king, where his people is become.

Verse 21

13:21 What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast {k} taught them [to be] captains, [and] as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?

(k) By seeking to strangers for help, you have made them skilful to fight against you.

Verse 22

13:22 And if thou shalt say in thy heart, Why come these things upon me? For the greatness of thy iniquity are thy skirts {l} uncovered, [and] thy heels made bare.

(l) The cloak of hypocrisy will be pulled off, and your shame seen.

Verse 26

13:26 Therefore will I uncover thy skirts upon thy face, {m} that thy shame may appear.

(m) As your iniquities have been revealed to all the world, so shall your shame and punishment.

Verse 27

13:27 I have seen thy adulteries, and thy {n} neighings, the lewdness of thy harlotry, [and] thy abominations on the hills in {o} the fields. Woe to thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when [shall it] once [be]?

(n) He compares idolaters to horses inflamed after mares.

(o) There is no place so high nor low, where the marks and signs of your idolatry do not appear.