Jeremiah 49:24

Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 49:24-27. Damascus is waxed feeble — That is, the inhabitants of Damascus. They have lost their ancient courage and valour; they were wont to be formidable to their enemies, but now they flee before them. Fear, or rather, trembling, or, horror, as רשׂשׂ, properly signifies, hath seized on her, distress and pangs, Hebrew, צרה וחבלים, have taken her, as a woman in travail — Great anguish and sorrow are ordinarily expressed by this similitude in the Scriptures. How is the city of praise — That is, a city of fame and renown; not left — Namely, not spared, or left untouched by the enemy. This is thought to be spoken in the person of the king, or some other inhabitant of Damascus. Therefore her young men — Or, surely her young men, as the particle לכןis rendered Jeremiah 5:2; shall fall in her streets — Or, broad places, as the Hebrew word signifies. A fire shall consume the palaces of Benhadad — The name of several kings of Syria.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

49:23-27 How easily God can dispirit those nations that have been most celebrated for valour! Damascus waxes feeble. It was a city of joy, having all the delights of the sons of men. But those deceive themselves who place their happiness in carnal joys.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And turneth - Omit and. The original is a rapid sequence of unconnected sentences. "Damascus is unnerved; she turned to flee, and a trembling seized her; anguish and writhings took hold of her etc."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

23. Prophecy as to Damascus, &c. (Isa 17:1; 10:9). The kingdom of Damascus was destroyed by Assyria, but the city revived, and it is as to the latter Jeremiah now prophesies. The fulfilment was probably about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar [Josephus, Antiquities, 10.9,7].

Hamath is confounded—at the tidings of the overthrow of the neighboring Damascus.

on the sea—that is, at the sea; the dwellers there are alarmed. Other manuscripts read, "like the sea." "There is anxiety (restless) as is the sea: they cannot quiet it," that is, it cannot be quieted (Isa 57:20).

it—Whatever dwellers are there "cannot be quiet."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Syria, whose head is Damascus, hath lost her old courage and valour; it was wont to be a formidable country to its neighbours, but now they flee before their enemies.

Fear hath seized on her; they are seized, and overpowered by their own fears.

Anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail; great sorrows are ordinarily in Scripture expressed by the similitude of the pains of a woman in travail; we have met with it often in this prophecy, Jeremiah 6:24 22:23: so Psalm 48:6 Micah 4:9.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Damascus is waxed feeble,.... Or, "is become remiss" (g); her hands hang down, not being able through fear and fright to lift them up against the enemy; that is, the inhabitants of Damascus, as the Targum:

and turneth herself to flee; instead of going out to meet the enemy, the inhabitants of this city meditated a flight, and turned their backs upon him in order to flee from him, and escape falling into his hands:

and fear hath seized on her: or, "she seized on fear" (h); instead of seizing on arms, and laying hold on them to defend herself with, she seized on that; or however that seized on her, and made her quite unfit to stand up in her own defence:

anguish and sorrows have taken her as a woman in travail; See Gill on Jeremiah 49:22; A phrase often used to express the sudden and inevitable destruction of a people, and their distress and inability to help themselves.

(g) "remissa erit", Junius & Tremellius; "remissa est", Cocceius, Piscator; "remissa facta est", Schmidt. (h) "et apprehendit tremorem", Munster; "et horrorem apprehendit", Schmidt; "et horrorem febrilem prehendet", Junius & Tremellius; "apprehendet", Piscator.

Geneva Study Bible

Damascus hath become feeble, and turneth herself to flee, {z} and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.

(z) When she heard the sudden coming of the enemy.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Jeremiah 49:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

רפתה דמּשׁק, "Damascus has become slack," i.e., discouraged; she turns to flee, and cannot escape, being seized with trembling and anxiety. החזיקה is not the third pers. fem., prehendit terrorem, but stands for החזיקהּ, with Mappik omitted, because the tone is retracted in consequence of the Athnach; cf. Jeremiah 6:24; Jeremiah 8:21, etc. "Terror has seized Damascus." In the last clause וחבלים is subsumed along with צרה; hence the verb is put in the singular. - Jeremiah 49:25. The question, "How is not," etc., has been differently explained. Eichhorn, Gesenius, Ewald, and Umbreit take the words according to the German usage, in the sense, "How is the city forsaken?" or laid waste. But this Germanism is foreign to the Hebrew; and it is not obviated by C. B. Michaelis taking "how" in the sense of quam inopinato et quam horribiliter non deserta est, so that the words would mean nullus est modus desertionis aut gradus quem Damascus non sit experta, because איך לא does not express the kind and manner, or the degree of an action. In the only other passage where איך לא occurs (2 Samuel 1:14) the negative has its full meaning. Others (Calvin, Schnurrer, J. D. Michaelis, Rosenmller, Maurer) take עזב in the sense of leaving free, untouched: "How has she not been left untouched?" i.e., been spared. But this meaning of the verb is nowhere found. There is no other course left than, with Ngelsbach, to take the verb as referring to the desertion of the city through the flight of the inhabitants, as in Jeremiah 4:29, etc., and to take the words thus: "How is (i.e., how has it happened that) the famous city (is) not forsaken?" According to this view, it is not the desolation of the city that is bewailed, but the fact that the inhabitants have not saved their lives by flight. The way is prepared for this thought by Jeremiah 49:24, where it is said that the inhabitants of Damascus wish to flee, but are seized with convulsive terror; in Jeremiah 49:25 also there is a more specific reason given for it, where it is stated that the youths (the young warriors) and all the men of war shall fall in the streets of the city, and be slain by foes. The suffix in "my delight" refers to the prophet, and expresses his sympathy for the fall of the glorious city (see on Jeremiah 48:31); because not only does its population perish, but the city itself also (Jeremiah 49:27) is to be burned to ashes.