Jeremiah 4:19 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 4:19
My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
used only in plural the intestines · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
bowels
מֵעַ֨יme.'Ai
H4578
used only in plural the intestines · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
pained
חוּלchûwl
H2342
properly
very
קִיר֥וֹתki.Rot
H7023
a wall (as built in a trench) · noun, common feminine plural construct
heart
לִבִּ֛יli.Bi
H3820
the heart · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
heart
לִבִּ֖יli.Bi
H3820
the heart · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
noise
הֹֽמֶהho.meh-
H1993
to make a loud sound (like English 'hum') · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
peace
אַחֲרִ֑ישׁ'a.cha.Rish
H2790
to scratch · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular
heard
שָׁמַ֣עַתְּsha.ma'.ti
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person feminine singular
soul
נַפְשִׁ֔יnaf.Shi
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
sound
ק֤וֹלKol
H6963
a voice or sound · noun, common masculine singular construct
trumpet
שׁוֹפָר֙sho.Far
H7782
a cornet (as giving a clear sound) or curved horn · noun, common masculine singular absolute
alarm
תְּרוּעַ֖תte.ru.'At
H8643
clamor · noun, common feminine singular construct
war
מִלְחָמָֽהmil.cha.Mah
H4421
a battle (i.e. the engagement) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
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
Habakkuk 3:16 When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might res…
Isaiah 16:11 Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh.
Isaiah 22:4 Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.
Isaiah 21:3 Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hea…
Jeremiah 9:1 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
Jeremiah 9:10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up,…
Psalms 116:7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.
Isaiah 15:5 My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old: for by the mounting up of Luhith with wee…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 4:19–end
The prophet is here in an agony, and cries out like one upon the rack of pain with some acute distemper, or as a woman in travail. The expressions are very pathetic and moving, enough to melt a heart of stone into compassion: My bowels! my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; and yet well, and in health himself, and nothing ails him. Note, A good man, in such a bad world as this is, cannot but be a man of sorrows. My heart makes a noise in me, through the tumult of my spirits, and I cannot hold my peace. Note, The grievance and the grief sometimes may be such that the most prudent patient man cannot forbear complaining.
Now, what is the matter? What is it that puts the good man into such ag…
The prophet suddenly assumes the language of the Jewish state personified, lamenting its affliction (Jer 10:19-20; Jer 9:1, Jer 9:10; Isa 15:5; compare Luk 19:41).
at my very heart--Hebrew, "at the walls of my heart"; the muscles round the heart. There is a climax, the "bowels," the pericardium, the "heart" itself.
maketh . . . noise--moaneth [HENDERSON].
alarm--the battle shout.
John Gill on Jeremiah 4:19
My bowels, my bowels,.... These are either the words of the people, unto whose heart the calamity reached, as in the preceding verse; or rather of the prophet, who either, from a sympathizing heart, expresses himself in this manner; or puts on an appearance of mourning and distress, in order to awaken his people to a sense of their condition. The repetition of the word is after the manner of persons in pain and uneasiness, as, "my head, my head", 2 Kings 4:19,
I am pained at my very heart; as a woman in labour. In the Hebrew text it is, "as the walls of my heart" (e); meaning either his bowels, as before; or the "praecordia", the parts about the heart, which are as walls unto it; his grief…
"My belly! my belly aches!" — cried Jeremiah. What belly of his aches? That belly aches which we too have, and which aches when it brings people into the world. But the feelings cause pain of a different order: they are the pain of my heart.
(Verse 19, 20.) My belly, my belly is in pain: the feelings of my heart are troubled within me. I will not be silent because my soul has heard the sound of the trumpet, the cry of battle. Destruction upon destruction is called out, and the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my curtains in an instant. When we stood by Symmachus, we were troubled, and in Hebrew it is written, Homa (); the Septuagint and Theodotion used the word μαιμάσσει, which I do not know the meaning of to this day. But the eagle puts up with the disturbance, which also means turmoil itself. Let it be said about this word, about which I know there is a great debate among many. The voice of the Prophet, speaking through the Prophet of God, is brought in: that he may grieve over the contrition of his people, and that his inner organs may be torn apart like those of a man. Just as the Savior grieved over the death of Lazarus (John 11): and he wept over Jerusalem, lest he hide his sorrow in silence (Luke 19): and every sound of the trumpet and the noise of battles disturbs his emotion, while evils are multiplied by evils, and the whole land of two tribes is laid waste. While I did not think, he says, my tents and my skins were ravaged by the raging Babylonian army: and my former lodgings have turned into spoils of the enemy. And God himself speaks these same words, when he sees tumults and discords in the Church and in his assemblies crying out day by day like a partridge, and the peace of God turning into war. Hence it follows:
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
Alarm — A particular quivering sound of the silver trumpets to give warning to the Hebrews on their journey through the wilderness (Num. 10:5, 6), a call to arms, or a war-note (Jer. 4:19; 49:2; Zeph. 1:16).
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…
Bowels · .Of the sensibilities — .Of the sensibilities
Condescension Of God · Expostulates with backsliding Israel — Expostulates with backsliding Israel
Heart, Character Of The Renewed · Sympathising — Sympathising
Trumpet · Used in war — Used in war
War · Preceded by: Rumors — Preceded by: Rumors
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).
Jeremiah 4:19
19. My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
19. Viscera mea, viscera mea doleo, parietes cordis mei (ad verbum, hoc est, praecordia mea,) cor meum tumultuatur mihi (hoc est, intra me;) non tacebo, quoniam vocem tubae (vel, clangorem tubae) audivit (vel audivisti) anima mea; et clamor belli auditus est (vel, clamourem belli audivit anima mea.)
Some interpreters think that the Prophet is here affected with grief, because he saw that his own nation would soon perish; but I know not whether this is a right view. It is indeed true, tha…
Grief at the desolation of the land the infatuation of the people. - Jer 4:19. "My bowels, my bowels! I am pained! the chambers of my heart - my heart rages within me! I cannot hold my peace! for thou hearest (the) sound of the trumpet, my soul, (the) war-cry. Jer 4:20. Destruction upon destruction is called; for spoiled is the whole land; suddenly are my tents spoiled, my curtains in a moment. Jer 4:21. How long shall I see (the) standard, hear (the) sound of the trumpet? Jer 4:22. For my people is foolish, me they know not; senseless children are they, and without understanding; wise are they to do evil, but to do good they know not. Jer 4:23. I look on the earth, and, lo, it is waste and…
When Jeremiah heard . . . trumpets and the battle cries of the invaders who brought desolation, he realized that his own family and other people he knew were being killed or left homeless. Jeremiah could not escape the effects of God’s judgment even though he was faithfully serving the Lord (9:1, 19; 10:19-20; 20:9; 2 Kgs 25:11; 2 Chr 36:20; Ps 42:7; Isa 15:5; 16:11; 21:3; 22:4; Ezek 7:26).
Rashi on Jeremiah 4:19
I writhe in pain Heb. אוחילה. An expression of writhing in pain (חיל) and shuddering.
the walls of my heart! (ettancon in O.F.), blocking wall, perhaps from late Latin, intimus, innermost.
you, my soul, have heard From behind the curtain of heaven the ridings of the sound of the alarm of war reached me.
