Jeremiah 12:4

Lexham English Bible

Contextual Overview

¹ You will be in the right, O Yahweh, when I complain to you. Even so, let me speak my claims with you. Why does the way of the wicked succeed? All those who deal treacherously with treachery are at ease. ² Not only do you plant them, they take root. They grow, but also they produce fruit. You are near in their mouths, but far from their inmost beings. ³ But you, O Yahweh, you know me, you see me, and you test that my heart is with you. Tear them apart like sheep for the slaughtering, and set them apart for the day of slaughter. ⁴ How long will the land mourn, and the vegetation of every field dry up, because of the wickedness of those who live in it? The animals and the birds are swept away, because they have said, "He does not see our future." ⁵ "If you run with foot soldiers and they have made you weary, then how will you compete with horses? If you have fallen in a peaceful land, then how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan? ⁶ For even your relatives, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you, even they call loudly after you. You must not trust in them, though they speak kindly to you.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

long: Jeremiah 9:10, Jeremiah 14:2, Jeremiah 23:10

the herbs: Psalms 107:34, Joel 1:10-17

the beasts: Jeremiah 4:25, Jeremiah 7:20, Hosea 4:3, Habakkuk 3:17, Romans 8:22

He: Jeremiah 5:13, Jeremiah 5:31, Psalms 50:21, Ezekiel 7:2-13

Reciprocal: Genesis 6:7 - General Genesis 7:21 - General Isaiah 24:4 - mourneth Jeremiah 4:26 - the fruitful Jeremiah 4:28 - the earth Jeremiah 12:11 - it mourneth Jeremiah 21:6 - I will Jeremiah 40:15 - wherefore Jeremiah 47:6 - how long Joel 1:18 - General Amos 1:2 - the habitations Amos 8:8 - every one Amos 9:5 - and all Zephaniah 1:3 - consume man Romans 8:20 - the creature

Cross-References

Genesis 11:27
Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot.

Genesis 11:31
And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son, and went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. And they went to Haran, and they settled there.

Hebrews 11:8
By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to a place that he was going to receive for an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

How long shall the land mourn,.... The land of Judea, being desolate, and bringing forth no fruit, through the long drought that had been upon it:

and the herbs of every field wither; for want of rain to come upon it:

for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? this opens the cause, the reason of this dearth; it was the wickedness of the inhabitants of it: as the whole earth was originally cursed for the sins of men, so particular countries have had the marks of God's displeasure upon them, because of the sins of those that dwell in them. This clause, according to the accents, belongs to what follows, and may be read in connection with the next clause; either thus, "the herbs" of every field wither, I say, "because of the wickedness of the inhabitants of it, which consumes the beasts and the birds" x; that is, which wickedness is the cause not only of the withering of the grass and herbs, but of the consumption of birds and beasts: or else, by repeating the interrogation in the preceding clause,

how long shall the earth mourn, c.

how long, for the malice of them that dwell in it, are the beasts and the birds consumed y? the one having no grass to eat; and the other no fruit to pick, or seeds to live upon; the barrenness being so very great and general.

Because they said; the Jews, the inhabitants of the land, the wicked part of them, and which was the greater:

he shall not see our last end; either the Prophet Jeremiah, who had foretold it; but they did not believe him, that such would be their end, and that he should live to see it; or such was their atheism and infidelity, that they said God himself should not see it; and so the Septuagint and Arabic versions read, "God shall not see".

x So Gussetius, Ebr. Comment. p. 564. y Thus Schmidt, after Luther.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Hebrew divides this verse differently. “How long shall the land mourn, and the herb of the whole field wither? Because of the wickedness of them that dwell therein cattle and fowl have ceased to be: for he will not see, say they, our latter end.” The people mock the prophet, saying, In spite of all his threatenings we shall outlive him.

Jeremiah complained that at a time of great general misery powerful men throve upon the ruin of others: even the innocent cattle and fowl suffered with the rest. To him it seemed that all this might have been cured by some signal display of divine justice. If God, instead of dealing with men by general and slow-working laws, would tear (out some of the worst offenders from among the rest, the land might yet be saved.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 12:4. How long shall the land mourn — These hypocrites and open sinners are a curse to the country; pull them out, Lord, that the land may be delivered of that which is the cause of its desolation.