Jeremiah 49:30

Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(30) Dwell deep.—See Note on Jeremiah 49:8. The dwellers in the villages of Hazor are told, as those of Dedan had been, to flee into the furthest recesses of the wilderness. The words probably point to the time after the battle of Carchemish, when Nebuchadnezzar established his sovereignty over the lower Euphrates, Northern Arabia, and the Syrian desert.

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 49:30-33. Flee ye, get you far off — Hebrew, נדו מאד; Vulgate, Abite vehementer, Go away with eagerness, or, haste. Dwell deep, or, “retire deep for to dwell:” see note on Jeremiah 49:8. Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation — The prophet here gives the Chaldeans a commission from God to undertake this expedition, and seize upon the wealth of the inhabitants of Hazor; which have neither gates nor bars — Who have never been attacked, and therefore live securely without walls or ramparts for their defence; which dwell alone — Solitarie habitant, dwell solitarily, as Buxtorf renders בדד ישׁכנו. “Their habitations are isolated,” as some interpret it. “They do not live in cities, towns, or villages, where the houses are contiguous; but each family has its mansion apart from the rest, with land about it sufficient for the subsistence of their cattle. In this dispersed state they were, of course, less provided with the means of defending themselves from the incursions of the enemy.” I will scatter into all winds — Into all the quarters of heaven; them, that are in the utmost corners — Or, those that inhabit the insulated coast, namely, the peninsula of Arabia: see notes on Jeremiah 9:26; Jeremiah 25:23.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

49:28-33 Nebuchadnezzar would make desolation among the people of Kedar, who dwelt in the deserts of Arabia. He who conquered many strong cities, will not leave those unconquered that dwell in tents. He will do this to gratify his own covetousness and ambition; but God orders it for correcting an unthankful people, and for warning a careless world to expect trouble when they seem most safe. They shall flee, get far off, and dwell deep in the deserts; they shall be dispersed. But privacy and obscurity are not always protection and security.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A purpose against you - Others read "against them" (the wealthy nation, Jeremiah 49:31).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

30. (See on [993]Jer 49:8). No conqueror would venture to follow them into the desert.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The words seem to be the prophet’s words of advice to this people, to make all the haste they could away, and to secure themselves as well as they could, because the king of Babylon had certainly been taking counsel against them, and was resolved to disturb them. See Jeremiah 49:8, where the like counsel is given to the Edomites.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor,

saith the Lord,.... The same is said to the inhabitants of Dedan; see Gill on Jeremiah 49:8;

for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you: had determined upon their destruction, and had consulted and contrived ways and means to effect it; and therefore, since so powerful an enemy had such a design upon them, it was high time to flee, and get as far off as they could, and hide themselves in the caverns of the earth.

Geneva Study Bible

Flee, go far off, {e} dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the LORD; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you.

(e) The enemies will dwell in your places.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

30. dwell deep] See on Jeremiah 49:8, whence the expression may be borrowed. It is less suitable to the wandering tribes of Bedawin here addressed.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 30. - The prophet turns to the Arabs in villages who have still more to tempt the cupidity of plunderers, and urges them to flee while there is still time. Dwell deep (see on ver. 8). Against you. This is the reading of the Septuagint (Alex. MS.), the Targum, the Vulgate, and many extant Hebrew manuscripts. The received text, however, has "against them." Such alternations of person have met us again and again, and there is no occasion to doubt the ordinary reading. Jeremiah 49:30

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"Concerning Kedar and the Kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon smote." (The Kethib נבוּכדראצּור is perhaps merely an error in transcription occasioned by the occurrence of the preceding חצור). Kedar, the Kedarenes, a Bedouin nation descended from Ishmael, dwelling in tents throughout the region between Arabia Petraea and Babylonia (see on Genesis 25:13 and Ezekiel 27:21), is here, no doubt, a general name for all the nomadic tribes and shepherd nations of Arabia. Hazor elsewhere occurs only as the name of various cities in Palestine (Joshua 11:1; Joshua 15:23, Joshua 15:25; Joshua 19:23; Nahum 11:33), of which we need not think here, since it is Arabians who are spoken of. No locality or region of this name in Arabia is known. Jeremiah appears to have formed the name for the purpose of designating those Arabians who dwelt in חצרים, "courts" or "villages," and who thus differed from the Bedouins proper, or nomads and dwellers in tents; cf. Isaiah 42:11 with Genesis 25:16. The settled Arabians are to this day called Hadarijeh, in contrast with Wabarijeh, who dwell in tents. "Hadar, חצר, is the settled dwelling-place, in contrast with bedû, the steppe, where the tents are pitched, sometimes here, sometimes there, and only for a time" (Delitzsch on Isaiah 42:11). "The kingdoms of Hazor" are the regions of the settled tribes, ruled by their own princes or sheiks; cf. Jeremiah 25:24.

(Note: According to Mrc. v. Niebuhr, Gesch. Ass. u. Bab. p. 210, "Hazor is the modern Hajar, a region which occupies the whole north-eastern corner of the Nejed, and to which, in the wider sense, Lascha, the region on the coast, also belongs" But חצור, from חצר, which corresponds to Arab. htsr or hdr, is fundamentally different from Arab. hjr or ḥjr.)

In the prophecy, the general designation, "children of the east," i.e., Orientals, alternates with Kedar: the former is the most common name given to the tribes living to the east of Palestine, in the wilderness: cf. Judges 6:3; Job 1:3; Ezekiel 25:4. Instead of this name, Josephus uses the designation "Arabians" (Ant. Ezekiel 25:6. 1); later, "Nabateans" or "Kedarenes" became common. Here also (Jeremiah 49:32) is used the special designation קצוּצי פאה cut (at) the corner (of the hair), which points to the custom, usual among several of these Bedouin tribes, of cropping the hair of the head and beard; see on Jeremiah 9:25 and Jeremiah 25:23.

Jeremiah 49:28

"Thus saith Jahveh, Arise, go up to Kedar, and destroy the children of the east. Jeremiah 49:29. Their tents and their flocks shall they take: their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels shall they carry away for themselves; and they shall cry over them, Fear is on every side. Jeremiah 49:30. Flee! wander far, dwell deep, ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith Jahveh; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath devised a plan against them. Jeremiah 49:31. Arise! go up against a nation at ease, dwelling carelessly, saith Jahveh; it has no gates nor bars - they dwell alone. Jeremiah 49:32. And their camels shall be a prey, and the multitude of their herds a spoil; and I will scatter them to every wind who have cut the corner [of their beards], and from all sides will I bring their destruction, saith Jahveh. Jeremiah 49:33. And Hazor shall be an habitation of jackals, a desolation for ever. No man shall dwell there, nor shall a son of man sojourn in it."

This prophecy consists of two brief strophes, which begin with a summons to the army of the enemy to wage war on the Arabians (Jeremiah 49:28 and Jeremiah 49:31), and then announce the execution of this order; the arrangement, moreover, is such that there is attached to the first strophe a summons to the Arabians to save themselves by flight (Jeremiah 49:30), while the other concludes with the threat that their territory shall be destroyed (Jeremiah 49:33).

Jeremiah 49:28-30

עלה is used with אל instead of על, to signify hostile advance against a nation or city. שׁדדוּ with Qametz-Hatuph (without Metheg) is imperative; cf. Ewald, 227, i, with 251, c. The verbs יקּחוּ and ישׂאוּ in Jeremiah 49:29 are not jussives (Ewald, Umbreit, etc.), but imperfects, describing what takes place in consequence of the order given. Tents and flocks of sheep and goats, curtains and vessels, together with camels, form the property and wealth of the nomads. נשׂא, to take away, carry off; להם, sibi. They call out over them, as if it were a watch-cry, "Horror around:" on this expression, see Jeremiah 6:25. This justifies the call addressed to them, "Flee," etc. To נסוּ is added נדוּ for the purpose of intensifying, and this again is further strengthened by appending מאד: "Use every effort to flee." העמיקוּ as in Jeremiah 49:8. A reason is given for the summons, in the statement that Nebuchadnezzar, as the instrument of Jahveh, has formed a plan against them; cf. Jeremiah 49:20 and Jeremiah 18:11. Instead of עליהם, many MSS and the ancient versions have עליכם, in conformity with the first member. In all probability, the original reading is "against them," inasmuch as "the discourse, as in other instances, makes a transition, in the last portion, from direct address to a calmer style of speaking" (Ewald).