to see · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
earth
הָאָ֔רֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
form
תֹ֖הוּTo.hu
H8414
a desolation (of surface) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
void
וָבֹ֑הוּva.Vo.hu
H922
a vacuity · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
heavens
הַשָּׁמַ֖יִםha.sha.Ma.yim
H8064
the sky (as aloft · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
light
אוֹרָֽם'o.Ram
H216
illumination or (concrete) luminary (in every sense · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
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
Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall f…
Mark 13:24-25 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
Isaiah 13:10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moo…
Joel 3:15-16 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water…
Luke 21:25-26 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and…
Ezekiel 32:7-8 And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon sha…
Joel 2:10 The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining…
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…
Graphic picture of the utter desolation about to visit Palestine. "I beheld, and lo!" four times solemnly repeated, heightens the awful effect of the scene (compare Isa 24:19; Isa 34:11).
without form and void--reduced to the primeval chaos (Gen 1:2).
John Gill on Jeremiah 4:23
I beheld the earth,.... The land of Judea, not the whole world; and this the prophet says, either in spirit, as Jerom; or in prophecy, as Kimchi; or in a visionary way; for these are not the words of God continued, as Cocceius, but of the prophet; who, by a prophetic spirit, describes the dreadful destruction of the Jewish nation, as follows:
and, lo, it was without form, and void; as the first earth or chaos was, before it was brought into form and order; the same words, "tohu" and "bohu", are used here, as in Genesis 1:2, the land of Judea now was, in the prophet's view of it, like the first earth, when darkness covered it; no grass sprung out of it, not a tree to be seen in it, and neith…
Jeremiah 4:23-26
23. I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
23. Vidi terram, et ecce vasta et deformis, et coelos, et nulla lux eorum:
24. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
24. Vidi montes, et ecce contremiscentes (contremiscebant), et omnes colles movebantur:
25. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
25. Vidi, et ecce nullus homo, et omnes aves coelorum evolaverant:
26. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger.
26. Vidi, et…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 23 and following) I looked at the earth, and behold, it was empty and void; and the heavens, and there was no light in them. I saw the mountains, and behold, they were moving; and all the hills were shaken. I looked, and there was no man, and every bird of the sky had fled. I looked, and behold, Carmel was a desert, and all its cities were destroyed before the Lord's face, and before the fierceness of his anger. The prophet sees in spirit what is to come, so that the people, when they hear it, may be terrified, and, having repented, may not endure what they fear. The land is empty, with its inhabitants destroyed. The heavens have no light, and the magnitude of terror prevents people from seeing. The mountains and hills themselves have safe hiding places, but they seem to be shaken and disturbed to an extreme degree. Looking around, the observer saw nothing, not even a bird. For the elements feel the anger of God, and the irrational creatures are filled with fear. The entire world now demonstrates that this is true, as the multitude of humans, and even the birds that usually follow them, have vanished and perished. Also Carmel, which overlooks the great sea, planted with olive trees and vineyards, will come to such a solitude that it will have the desolation of a desert. Likewise, all cities will become deserted, and the cause of all evils is that the anger of the Lord has been provoked by the sin of the guilty people. Whatever we have said about the history of Jerusalem and Judea, let us apply it to the Church of God, when it offends God, and when it is either ruined by vices or persecuted, and where once there was a choir and joy of virtues, there the multitude of sins and sorrows will prevail.
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
Darkness · Over the face of the earth — Over the face of the earth
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).
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…
In Jeremiah’s vision, the Lord’s fierce anger took precedence over his creative love (10:10; 12:4; Isa 5:25; 24:19; Ezek 38:20; Zeph 1:3). He was undoing the order of creation (see Gen 1:2-3).
Rashi on Jeremiah 4:21
How long will I see these groups carrying the standard to come to wage war.
