Jeremiah 45:3

Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 45:3-5. Thou didst say, Wo is me now, &c. — “The sorrows which I felt for the threatenings denounced against my country and religion are increased by my own troubles, being sought after by the king’s command in order to be put to death:” see Jeremiah 36:26. The Lord saith, That which I have built will I break down, &c. — The land and people which have so long flourished under the peculiar care of my providence I resolve now to give up to utter destruction: see Jeremiah 31:28. And seekest thou great things for thyself? — Dost thou aspire to honour, dignity, and prosperity, or expect to be exempted from adversity and trouble in a time of great and common calamity? Seek them not — Never think of any thing of the kind; for, behold, I bring evil on all flesh — Upon the whole country where thou livest, and upon all orders and degrees of men therein. But thy life will I give unto thee for a prey — Thy life shall be preserved, but under such circumstances that thou shalt have reason to look on thyself as peculiarly indebted to the divine providence for so singular and extraordinary a favour. See note on Jeremiah 21:9, where the same proverbial expression occurs, and is further explained.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

45:1-5 An encouragement sent to Baruch. - Baruch was employed in writing Jeremiah's prophecies, and reading them, see ch. Jer 36, and was threatened for it by the king. Young beginners in religion are apt to be discouraged with little difficulties, which they commonly meet with at first in the service of God. These complaints and fears came from his corruptions. Baruch had raised his expectations too high in this world, and that made the distress and trouble he was in harder to be borne. The frowns of the world would not disquiet us, if we did not foolishly flatter ourselves with the hopes of its smiles, and court and covet them. What a folly is it then to seek great things for ourselves here, where every thing is little, and nothing certain! The Lord knows the real cause of our fretfulness and despondency better than we do, and we should beg of him to examine our hearts, and to repress every wrong desire in us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Grief to my sorrow - Baruch's sorrow is caused by the sinfulness of the Jewish nation, to which God adds grief by showing how severely it will be punished.

I fainted in - Or, "am weary with" Psalm 6:6.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. Thou didst say, &c.—Jeremiah does not spare his disciple, but unveils his fault, namely, fear for his life by reason of the suspicions which he incurred in the eyes of his countrymen (compare Jer 36:17), as if he was in sympathy with the Chaldeans (Jer 43:3), and instigator of Jeremiah; also ingratitude in speaking of his "grief," &c., whereas he ought to deem himself highly blessed in being employed by God to record Jeremiah's prophecies.

added—rescued from the peril of my first writing (Jer 36:26). I am again involved in a similar peril. He upbraids God as dealing harshly with him.

I fainted—rather, "I am weary."

no rest—no quiet resting-place.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Upon Baruch’s reading the prophecies after he had wrote them from the mouth of Jeremiah, both he and Jeremiah were sent for before the princes, and advised to hide themselves, as we read, Jeremiah 36:15,19. This probably disturbed Baruch, and made him lament his condition in such-like expressions, of which the prophet had heard, probably by revelation from God.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thou didst say, woe is me now!.... What will become of me? I am ruined and undone; this he said in his heart, if not with his lips, perhaps both ways; and when the king gave orders for the apprehending of him and the prophet, being provoked at the roll which he had wrote and read, Jeremiah 36:26;

for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow; caused him grief upon grief, sorrow upon sorrow, an abundance of it; for there was a variety of things which occasioned grief and sorrow; the trouble of his office, as secretary to the prophet; the reproach east upon him by the people for it; the grievous things contained in the prophecies he transcribed, concerning the ruin of his people and nation; the king's displeasure at the roll, and his burning it; to which was added the danger he was exposed unto for writing it; and especially, as he might apprehend, for writing it over again, after it was burnt; to which were annexed new threatenings, and such as personally concerned the king;

I fainted in my sighing; or "with" it; he sighed and groaned at what he saw coming upon his country, and particularly upon himself; it quite overcame his spirits; he sunk and swooned away: or "I laboured in my sighing" (n); amidst his sighs and groans, he prayed to the Lord, and laboured in prayer, that he might be delivered from the evils he feared were coming upon him:

and I find no rest; from his grief, sorrow, and sighing; no cessation of that; no serenity and composure of mind; no answer of prayer from God. The Targum is,

"and I found not prophecy.''

And the Jewish commentators, as Jarchi, Kimchi, Abarbinel, and Abendana, from the ancient Midrashes, interpret this grief of Baruch to be on account of his not having the gift of prophecy bestowed on him, which he expected by being a servant of the prophet (o); and represent him as saying, Joshua ministered to Moses, and the Holy Spirit dwelled upon him; Elisha ministered to Elijah, and the Holy Spirit rested upon him; how different am I from all the disciples of the prophets! "woe is me now!" &c.

(n) "in gemitu meo", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Vatanblus, "in suspirio meo", Cocceius, Schmidt. (o) Vid. Maimon. Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 32. p. 286.

Geneva Study Bible

Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I {c} fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.

(c) Baruch moved with an inconsiderate zeal for Jeremiah's imprisonment, but chiefly for the destruction of the people and the temple makes this lamentation, as in Ps 6:6.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. sorrow to my pain] The “pain” was caused by the thought of his fellow-countrymen’s sins and of the judgements impending on them; the “sorrow” by knowing what was in store for himself.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Hath added grief to my sorrow. Baruch felt "sorrow" or "pain" at the sinfulness of the people; "grief" or "anxiety" was added by Jeremiah's announcement of the judgment. I fainted in my sighing; rather, I am weary with my sighing; comp. Psalm 6:7 (Authorized Version, 6). Jeremiah 45:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"The word which Jeremiah the prophet spake to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, Jeremiah 45:2. Thus saith Jahveh, the God of Israel, to thee, O Baruch: V. 3. Thou saidst, Woe to me now! for Jahveh hath added sorrow to my pain: I am weary with sighing, and no rest do I find. V. 4. Thus shalt thou say unto him, Thus saith Jahveh: Behold, what I have built I will destroy, and what I have planted I will pluck up, and that is the whole earth. V. 5. And thou seekest great things for thyself: seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil on all flesh, saith Jahveh; but I will give thy life unto thee for booty in all places whither thou shalt go."

From the superscription in Jeremiah 45:1, it appears that this word of God came to Baruch through Jeremiah the prophet, in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, when Baruch was writing out, or had written out, in a book-roll the prophecies that had been uttered by Jeremiah up till that time. It is not necessarily implied in the infin. בּכתבו that the word of God came during the transcription, while he was still engaged in writing: it may also mean, "when he was ready with the writing," had got done with it; and Hitzig is wrong when he rejects as "misleading" the view which Movers takes - "when he had written." The writing down of the addresses of Jeremiah in the year mentioned is related in Jeremiah 36; thus the substance of this chapter and that of Jeremiah 36 agree. "These words" can only be the addresses (words) of Jeremiah which Baruch was then writing down. From this, Hitzig, Graf, Ngelsbach, and others, infer that this small piece was the last in the copy of Jeremiah's prophecies originally prepared under Jehoiakim, - if not of the first one which was intended to be read in the temple, at least of the second copy which was made after the former one had been destroyed; and that it was only after the collection had been enlarged to the extent of the collection handed down to us, that this portion was affixed as an appendix to the end of the prophecies of Jeremiah which relate to his own country. But this inference is not a valid one. "These words" are the addresses of the prophet in general, which Baruch wrote down; and that only those which were uttered up to the fourth year of Jehoiakim are intended, is implied, not in the demonstrative "these," but in the date given afterwards, by which "these" is further specified. In Jeremiah 45:1 it is merely stated that at that time the word of God, given below, came to Jeremiah, and through Him to Baruch, but not that Baruch wrote down this also on that occasion, and appended it to the roll of Jeremiah's prophecies which had been prepared at his dictation. It may have been written down much later, possibly not till the whole of Jeremiah's prophecies were collected and arranged in Egypt. Moreover, the position occupied by this chapter in the collection shows that this message of comfort to Baruch was added as an appendix to those predictions of Jeremiah which concern Judah and Israel.

The occasion for this message of comfort addressed to the prophet's attendant is pointed out in Jeremiah 45:3, in the words which Baruch had uttered: "Woe to me! for Jahveh adds sorrow to my pain." Baruch felt "pain," i.e., pain of soul, at the moral corruption of the people, their impenitence and obduracy in sin and vice, just like the prophet himself, Jeremiah 15:18. To this pain God adds sorrow, by threatening the judgment which shall fall on Judah for sin, and which was even then beginning to break over the land; cf. Jeremiah 8:18. Baruch sighs over this till he is wearied, and finds no rest; cf. Lamentations 5:5. "I am weary with my sighing," is a reminiscence from Psalm 6:7. This sorrow in addition to his pain was not caused in him for the first time by writing down the discourses of the prophet, but was rather thus freshened and increased. The answer of the Lord to this sighing is of a stern character, yet soothing for Baruch. The sentence of destruction has been determined on. What the Lord has built He will now destroy: it is not said why, since the reason was sufficiently known from the prophet's utterances. As to the expression in Jeremiah 45:4, cf. Jeremiah 1:10; Jeremiah 31:28. The destruction regards the whole earth, היא ואת־כּל־הארץ, lit., "and as regards the whole earth, it is it," namely that I destroy. On the employment of את in introducing the subject, cf. Daniel 9:13; Haggai 2:5, and Ewald, 277 d. כּל־הארץ does not mean "the whole land," but "the whole earth:" this is indubitably evident from the parallel "upon all flesh," Jeremiah 45:5, i.e., the whole of humanity, as in Jeremiah 25:31. The sentence is passed on all the earth, in accordance with the announcement made in Jeremiah 25:15.