Jeremiah 30:14

All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) All thy lovers have forgotten thee . . .—The lovers of a nation are, of course, as in Jeremiah 22:20, its allies and tributaries. Moab, Ammon, Edom, Tyre, had at one time courted the favour of Judah (Jeremiah 27:3). They looked on her now as “smitten of God and afflicted.” He had smitten her as an enemy smites. His chastisement had seemed to imply that she was given over to a deserved destruction. In Jeremiah 40:14; Jeremiah 48:27, Lamentations 4:21, Psalm 137:7, we have traces of this change of feeling.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

30:12-17 When God is against a people, who will be for them? Who can be for them, so as to do them any kindness? Incurable griefs are owing to incurable lusts. Yet, though the captives suffered justly, and could not help themselves, the Lord intended to appear for them, and to punish their oppressors; and he will still do so. But every effort to heal ourselves must prove fruitless, so long as we neglect the heavenly Advocate and sanctifying Spirit. The dealings of His grace with every true convert, and every returning backslider, are the same in effect as his proceedings to the Jews.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For the multitude ... - Or,

Because of the multitude of thine iniquity,

Because thy sins are strong.

Judah's lovers are the nations which once sought her alliance (see Jeremiah 22:20; Jeremiah 27:3).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. lovers—the peoples formerly allied to thee, Assyria and Egypt (compare La 1:2).

seek thee not—have cast away all concern for thee in thy distress.

wound of an enemy—a wound such as an enemy would inflict. God condescends to employ language adapted to human conceptions. He is incapable of "enmity" or "cruelty"; it was their grievous sin which righteously demanded a grievous punishment, as though He were an "enemy" (Jer 5:6; Job 13:24; 30:21).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

In the time of thy prosperity thou hadst many friends, but now they have

forgotten thee. Very probably the Egyptians and Assyrians, whose help the Jews made often use of, are the lovers here intended, 2 Chronicles 28:21; Has. xii. 1; indeed the Egyptians were before conquered, or very much brought low, by the king of Babylon. They see the miserable case they are in, and now do not covet thee as formerly, they discern that I have wounded thee with such a wound as cruel men use to give their enemies; though it be in me no act of cruelty, for it is but in a just punishment of your iniquities, which were increased to a very great multitude.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

All thy lovers have forgotten thee,.... The Egyptians and Assyrians, whom they sought unto for help, and entered into an alliance with, and who promised them great things; but forgot their promises and forsook them:

they seek thee not; to ask of thy welfare, as the Targum adds; they do not, visit thee, nor inquire after thine health, or how it is with thee, having no manner of care and concern for thee; this has been the case of the Jews for many ages:

for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one; so it might seem to be; and thus it might be interpreted by them, as if the Lord acted the part of an enemy, and a very cruel one, that had no mercy; though he corrected them, as in Jeremiah 30:11, in measure, moderation, and mercy: or else the meaning is, that he wounded them, when their nation, city, and temple, were destroyed, by the hand and means of an enemy, even a very cruel and merciless one, the Romans:

for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased; a very wicked people the Jews were, not only before they went into the Babylonish captivity, but after their return; and in the times of Christ and his apostles; who complain of their covetousness, hypocrisy, adultery, thefts, murders, and sacrilege; and particularly they were in the above manner chastised by means of the Romans, for their unbelief and rejection of the true Messiah, and the persecution of his followers.

Geneva Study Bible

All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. thy lovers] See on Jeremiah 22:20.

for the greatness, etc.] mg. multitude. Probably the latter part of the v. has been accidentally introduced from Jeremiah 30:15, where it suits the context better.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - All thy lovers; i.e. the peoples confederate with thee (as Jeremiah 22:20). Jeremiah 30:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Because Israel has been severely chastised for his sins, the Lord will now punish his enemies, and heal Israel. - Jeremiah 30:12. "For thus saith Jahveh: It is ill with thy bruise, thy wound is painful. Jeremiah 30:13. There is none to judge thy cause; for a sore, healing-plaster there is none for thee. Jeremiah 30:14. All thy lovers have forgotten thee, thee they seek not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, the chastisement of a cruel one, because of the multitude of thine iniquity, [because] thy sins were numerous. Jeremiah 30:15. Why criest thou over thy bruise - [because] thy wound is bad? Because of the multitude of thine iniquity, [because] thy sins were numerous, have I done these things to thee. Jeremiah 30:16. Therefore all those who devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine oppressors, they shall all go into captivity; and they who spoiled thee shall become a spoil, and those that plundered thee I will give up for plunder. Jeremiah 30:17. For I will put a plaster on thee, and will heal thee of thy wounds, saith Jahveh; for they call thee an outcast, [and say], Zion is she [whom] none seeketh after."

This strophe is only a fuller expression of the idea set forth in Jeremiah 30:11, that the Lord certainly chastises Israel, but will not make an end of him. The chastisement has commenced. From the wounds and blows which Israel has received, he lies motionless and helpless, getting neither sympathy nor aid from his lovers. The feminine suffix and the mention of lovers show that the address turns to the daughter of Zion. On the expression אנוּשׁ , "it is ill with thy bruise," cf. Jeremiah 15:18. נחלה מכּה, "bad, incurable is the stroke which thou hast received," as in Jeremiah 10:19; Jeremiah 14:17. דּוּן דּין, "to execute justice;" cf. Jeremiah 5:28; Jeremiah 22:16. Hitzig well explains the meaning: "thy claims against thy heathen oppressors." למזור, although connected by the accents with what precedes, does not agree well with דּן דּינך; for מזור has not the meaning which has been attributed to it, of a "bandage," but, as derived from the verb זוּר, "to press a wound," signifies the wound that has been pressed together; see on Hosea 5:13. Neither does the figure of the wound agree with the expression, "there is none to judge thy cause," so that we might, with Umbreit, render the passage, "No one gives thee thy due, in pressing thy wounds;" while, as Graf says, " רפאות dissociated from למזור forms a useless synonym with תּעלה," and in Jeremiah 46:11, where the thought is repeated, it is separated from the latter word. Accordingly, with Hitzig and Graf, we connect למזור into one clause: "for the wound, there is no healing (or medicine)-no plaster." תּעלה is what is laid upon the wound, a plaster. "All thy lovers," i.e., the nations which were once allied with thee (cf. Jeremiah 22:20, Jeremiah 22:22), do not trouble themselves about thee, because I have smitten thee so heavily on account of the multitude of thy transgressions; cf. Jeremiah 5:6; Jeremiah 13:22. עצמוּ still depends on the preposition על, which continues its force, but as a conjunction. The idea that the Israelites have richly deserved their sufferings is still more plainly presented in Jeremiah 30:15 : "Why criest thou, because thou hast brought this suffering on thee through thy sins?" אנוּשׁ also depends on על, which continues to exert its power in the sentence as a conjunction.