Jeremiah 13:24

Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) Stubble.—Our English word means the “stalks of the corn left in the field by the reaper” (Johnson). The Hebrew word is applied to the broken straw left on the threshing-floor after the oxen had been driven over the corn, which was liable to be carried away by the first gale (Isaiah 40:24; Isaiah 41:2).

The wind of the wilderness.—i.e., the simoom blowing from the Arabian desert (Jeremiah 4:11; Job 1:19).

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 13:24-25. Therefore will I scatter them — Separate them from one another, and disperse them abroad in that strange and remote country to which they are carried captive; as the stubble, or chaff, rather, that passeth away by the wind — That is dissipated and carried far away by a fierce wind: he adds, of the wilderness, to render the declaration the more emphatical, the chaff being more easily and effectually scattered by the wind in an open place, where there are no houses. This is the portion of thy measures from me — What thou wilt receive of my hand; because thou hast forgotten me — The favours I have bestowed upon thee, and the obligations thou art under to me: of these thou hast no sense, no remembrance; and trusted in falsehood — In idols, in an arm of flesh, in the self-flatteries of a deceitful heart.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:18-27 Here is a message sent to king Jehoiakim, and his queen. Their sorrows would be great indeed. Do they ask, Wherefore come these things upon us? Let them know, it is for their obstinacy in sin. We cannot alter the natural colour of the skin; and so is it morally impossible to reclaim and reform these people. Sin is the blackness of the soul; it is the discolouring of it; we were shapen in it, so that we cannot get clear of it by any power of our own. But Almighty grace is able to change the Ethiopian's skin. Neither natural depravity, nor strong habits of sin, form an obstacle to the working of God, the new-creating Spirit. The Lord asks of Jerusalem, whether she is determined not be made clean. If any poor slave of sin feels that he could as soon change his nature as master his headstrong lusts, let him not despair; for things impossible to men are possible with God. Let us then seek help from Him who is mighty to save.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Stubble - Broken straw separated from the wheat after the grain had been trampled out by the oxen. Sometimes it was burned as useless; at other times left to be blown away by the wind from the desert.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24. (Ps 1:4).

by the wind—before the wind.

of the wilderness—where the wind has full sweep, not being broken by any obstacle.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The words denote a great and clear dispersion, like that of the scattering of stubble by a fierce wind.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away,.... Because of their many sins, and continuance in them, their habits and custom of sinning, they are threatened with being carried captive into other nations, where they should be dispersed and separated one from another, which would make their state and condition very uncomfortable; and this would be as easily and as swiftly done as the light stubble which is blown away by every puff of wind; nor would they be able any more to resist the enemy, and help themselves, than the stubble is to stand before the wind; as follows:

by the wind of the wilderness; which blows freely and strongly; so the Chaldean army is compared to a dry wind of the high places in the wilderness, even a full wind that should scatter and destroy, Jeremiah 4:11; or, "to the wind of the wilderness" (u); and so may denote the wilderness of the people, or the land of Babylon, whither they should be carried captive, and from whence the wind should come that should bring them thither. Kimchi and Ben Melech make mention sea wilderness between Jerusalem and Babylon, as what may be intended.

(u) "ad ventum deserti", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius.

Geneva Study Bible

Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. See on Jeremiah 4:11.

by the wina] better, with mg. unto the wind.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - As the stubble. "The word means not what we call stubble, but the broken straw which had to be separated from the wheat after the corn had been trampled out by the oxen. Sometimes it was burnt as useless; at other times left to be blown away by the wind coming from the desert, on which see Jeremiah 4:11; Job 1:19" (Payne Smith). Jeremiah 13:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Judah will not escape this ignominious lot, since wickedness has so grown to be its nature, that it can as little cease therefrom and do good, as an Ethiopian can wash out the blackness of his skin, or a panther change it spots. The consequential clause introduced by גּם אתּם connects with the possibility suggested in, but denied by, the preceding question: if that could happen, then might even ye do good. The one thing is as impossible as the other. And so the Lord must scatter Judah among the heathen, like stubble swept away by the desert wind, lit., passing by with the desert wind. The desert wind is the strong east wind that blows from the Arabian Desert; see on Jeremiah 4:11.