Jerushalaim or Jerushalem · proper noun, a place name
wash
כַּבְּסִ֨יka.be.Si
H3526
to trample · verb, piel imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
heart
לִבֵּךְ֙li.beKh
H3820
the heart · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
wickedness
מֵרָעָ֤הme.ra.'Ah
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
saved
תִּוָּשֵׁ֑עִיti.va.She.'i
H3467
properly · verb, niphal jussive, 2nd person feminine singular
vain
אוֹנֵֽךְ'o.Nekh
H205
strictly nothingness · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
thoughts
מַחְשְׁב֥וֹתmach.she.Vot
H4284
a contrivance · noun, common feminine plural construct
lodge
תָּלִ֥יןta.Lin
H3885
to stop (usually over night) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
within
בְּקִרְבֵּ֖ךְbe.kir.Bekh
H7130
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and…
Luke 11:39 And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening…
Acts 8:22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.
Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foo…
1 Corinthians 3:20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
Psalms 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
Proverbs 1:22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 4:5-18
God's usual method is to warn before he wounds. In these verses, accordingly, God gives notice to the Jews of the general desolation that would shortly be brought upon them by a foreign invasion. This must be declared and published in all the cities of Judah and streets of Jerusalem, that all might hear and fear, and by this loud alarm be either brought to repentance or left inexcusable. The prediction of this calamity is here given very largely, and in lively expressions, which one would think should have awakened and affected the most stupid. Observe,
I. The war proclaimed, and general notice given of the advance of the enemy. It is published now, some years before, by the prophet; but, si…
Only one means of deliverance is left to the Jews--a thorough repentance.
vain thoughts--namely, projects for deliverance, such as enlisting the Egyptians on their side. GESENIUS translates, "How long wilt thou harbor vain thoughts?"
John Gill on Jeremiah 4:14
O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness,.... These are the words of the prophet, or of God by the prophet, showing the cause of all their ruin and destruction, the wickedness of their hearts; and they are expressed in such form and language, as to be accommodated to the case of any unregenerate sinner: every man's heart is wicked, desperately wicked, even wickedness itself; everything in it is wicked; the thoughts, and the imagination of the thoughts of the heart, the mind, the understanding, the will, the conscience, and the affections; and everything that is wicked is in that: it is the womb in which all sin is conceived; the shop and forge in which it is wrought; it is the habitatio…
Jeremiah 4:14
14. O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
14. Munda a malitia cor tuum, Jerusalem, ut salva sis: quousque manebunt in medio tui cogitationes vanitatis tuae? (alii vertunt, doloris tui; alii, concupiscentiae tuae; alii, iniquitatis, ac si esset vnk.)
Here now the Prophet expressly and avowedly exhorts the people to repent. By bidding Jerusalem to wash from wickedness her heart, that she might be saved, he shews that there was no remedy, except the Jews were reconciled to God; and that this could not be, except they repented of their sins. He had said before, that while God was angry they c…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 14.) Wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved: how long shall evil thoughts dwell in you? To the people who say, 'Woe to us, for we have been devastated,' the Prophet responds, rather through the Prophet God responds: Wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, with that water about which Isaiah also speaks: 'Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean' (Isaiah 1:16), the water of saving baptism, the water of repentance. But he speaks to the metropolis of the Jews, so that by the city the nations may be understood: How long will you surrender to wicked thoughts that proceed from your heart? However, in the Holy Scriptures, we must accept the heart and soul as the meaning.
Then we wash our hands when we enter into church, but our hearts not so. Why, do our hands send forth a voice? It is the soul that utters the words: to that God looketh; cleanness of the body is of no use, while that is defiled. What profits it, if thou wipe clean thine outward hands, while thou hast those within impure? For the terrible thing and that which subverts all good is this, that while we are fearful about trifles, we care not for important matters. To pray with unwashed hands is a matter indifferent; but to do it with an unwashed mind, this is the extreme of all evils. Hear what was said to the Jews who busied themselves about such outward impurities. "Wash thine heart from wickedness, how long shall there be in thee thoughts of thy labors?" Let us also wash ourselves, not with mire, but with fair water, with alms-doing, not with covetousness.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Fast — The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called “the fast” (Acts 27:9). The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old…
Condescension Of God · Expostulates with backsliding Israel — Expostulates with backsliding Israel
Heart, Character Of The Unrenewed · Full of vain thoughts — Full of vain thoughts
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Description of the impending ruin, from which nothing can save but speedy repentance. - Jer 4:11. "At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bleak hills in the wilderness cometh on the way toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow and not to cleanse. Jer 4:12. A wind fuller than for this shall come to me; now will I also utter judgments upon them. Jer 4:13. Behold, like clouds it draws near, and like the storm are it chariots, swifter than eagles its horses. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled. Jer 4:14. Wash from wickedness thy heart, Jerusalem, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thine iniquitous thoughts lodge within thee? Jer 4:15. For a v…
Jeremiah still hoped that his people would cleanse their heart, get rid of their evil thoughts, and make a clean break with idolatry. Otherwise, they would face God’s judgment (4:1; 6:19; 13:27; 50:17; Prov 1:22; Isa 1:16; Jas 4:8).
