My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle. My anguish, my anguish!The Hebrew word for "anguish" here is "מֵעַי" (me'ay), which literally refers to the inner parts or bowels, often used metaphorically for deep emotional distress. Jeremiah's repetition emphasizes the intensity of his suffering. This reflects the prophet's deep empathy and connection with the people of Judah, as he feels their impending doom as if it were his own. Historically, prophets often bore the emotional weight of their messages, serving as intermediaries between God and His people. I writhe in pain
The Hebrew root "חִיל" (chiyl) conveys the idea of trembling or writhing, often associated with childbirth. This imagery suggests an overwhelming, uncontrollable response to the prophetic vision. Jeremiah's physical reaction underscores the severity of the message he must deliver. In a conservative Christian perspective, this can be seen as a call to recognize the seriousness of sin and the urgency of repentance. Oh, the agony of my heart!
The word "heart" in Hebrew is "לֵב" (lev), which encompasses not just emotions but also the mind and will. Jeremiah's use of "agony" highlights the profound internal conflict and sorrow he experiences. This phrase indicates that the message of impending judgment is not just a professional duty for Jeremiah but a personal burden that affects his entire being. My heart pounds within me
The pounding heart is a vivid depiction of anxiety and fear. The Hebrew word "הָמָה" (hamah) suggests a tumultuous or roaring sound, akin to the noise of a storm. This reflects the prophet's inner turmoil and the urgency of the message. In the broader biblical context, it serves as a reminder of the spiritual battle that rages within and around us, calling believers to remain vigilant and steadfast. I cannot keep silent
Jeremiah's inability to remain silent is a testament to the compelling nature of God's message. The Hebrew root "חָשָׁה" (chashah) means to be silent or still. Despite the personal cost, Jeremiah is driven to speak out. This reflects the prophet's obedience and the necessity of proclaiming God's truth, regardless of the consequences. For conservative Christians, it underscores the importance of being a voice for God's righteousness in a world that often resists it. for I have heard the sound of the trumpet
The "trumpet" or "שׁוֹפָר" (shofar) in Hebrew, was used in ancient Israel for various purposes, including calling people to worship, signaling war, or announcing significant events. Here, it signifies an alarm of impending judgment. The sound of the shofar is a call to attention, urging the people to prepare for what is to come. This serves as a metaphor for spiritual alertness and readiness in the face of divine judgment. I have heard the battle cry
The "battle cry" signifies the imminent threat of invasion and destruction. The Hebrew word "תְּרוּעָה" (teru'ah) can mean a shout of joy or alarm, but in this context, it is clearly a warning of war. Jeremiah's prophetic vision allows him to hear this cry before it reaches the ears of the people, emphasizing the urgency of his message. For believers, it is a reminder of the spiritual warfare that surrounds us and the need to be prepared through faith and obedience. Persons / Places / Events 1. JeremiahThe prophet who is expressing deep emotional and physical distress over the impending judgment on Judah. His role as a prophet is to convey God's messages, often involving warnings and calls for repentance. 2. JudahThe southern kingdom of Israel, which is facing imminent judgment due to its persistent sin and rebellion against God. Jeremiah's prophecies are directed towards this nation. 3. The TrumpetSymbolic of impending war and disaster. In ancient times, trumpets were used to signal the approach of an enemy or the start of a battle. 4. The Battle CryRepresents the imminent threat and destruction that is coming upon Judah. It is a call to arms and a sign of the seriousness of the situation. 5. God's JudgmentThe overarching event that Jeremiah is lamenting. It is a consequence of Judah's unfaithfulness and idolatry. Teaching Points The Burden of the ProphetJeremiah's deep anguish reflects the heavy burden of delivering God's message of judgment. As believers, we are called to share God's truth, even when it is difficult or unpopular. The Urgency of RepentanceThe sound of the trumpet and the battle cry serve as urgent calls to repentance. We must heed God's warnings in our lives and turn back to Him with sincere hearts. The Reality of God's JudgmentGod's judgment is real and inevitable for those who persist in sin. This should motivate us to live righteously and to intercede for others. Empathy and CompassionJeremiah's emotional response teaches us to have empathy and compassion for those who are lost or facing judgment. We should be moved to prayer and action. The Role of the WatchmanLike Jeremiah, we are called to be watchmen, warning others of spiritual danger and pointing them to the hope found in Christ. Bible Study Questions 1. How does Jeremiah's emotional response to God's message challenge us in our own response to sin and judgment in the world today? 2. In what ways can we act as watchmen in our communities, warning others of spiritual danger and pointing them to Christ? 3. How does the imagery of the trumpet and battle cry in Jeremiah 4:19 relate to the urgency of the gospel message? 4. What can we learn from Jeremiah's compassion and empathy for Judah, and how can we apply this in our relationships with others? 5. How do other scriptures that discuss the role of the prophet or watchman enhance our understanding of Jeremiah's mission and message? Connections to Other Scriptures Jeremiah 6:17This verse also speaks of the trumpet as a warning, emphasizing the role of the prophet as a watchman. Isaiah 21:3Similar expressions of anguish and pain are found here, showing the emotional burden of receiving and delivering messages of judgment. Ezekiel 33:3-6Discusses the role of the watchman and the sound of the trumpet as a warning, paralleling Jeremiah's role and the urgency of his message. Revelation 8:13The trumpet is used in the context of divine judgment, connecting the Old Testament imagery with New Testament eschatology. People Dan, JeremiahPlaces Dan, Jerusalem, Mount Ephraim, ZionTopics Able, Agony, Alarm, Anguish, Battle, Beating, Bowels, Can't, Chambers, Clamour, Cry, Disquieted, Ears, Hast, Hearest, Heart, Hold, Horn, Inmost, Maketh, Moaneth, Noise, Note, O, Oh, Pain, Pained, Peace, Pounding, Pounds, Quiet, Shout, Silent, Soul, Travail, Troubled, Trumpet, Voice, Walls, War, Wildly, Within, WritheDictionary of Bible Themes Jeremiah 4:19 5017 heart, renewal
5196 voice
5559 stress
5782 agony
5950 silence Jeremiah 4:18-19 5901 loneliness Jeremiah 4:19-21 5595 trumpet
8239 earnestness Library The Wailing of Risca
You all know the story; it scarce needs that I should tell it to you. Last Saturday week some two hundred or more miners descended in health and strength to their usual work in the bowels of the earth. They had not been working long, their wives and their children had risen, and their little ones had gone to their schools, when suddenly there was heard a noise at the mouth of the pit;--it was an explosion,--all knew what it meant. Men's hearts failed them, for well they prophesied the horror which …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 7: 1861How those are to be Admonished who Sin from Sudden Impulse and those who Sin Deliberately.
(Admonition 33.). Differently to be admonished are those who are overcome by sudden passion and those who are bound in guilt of set purpose. For those whom sudden passion overcomes are to be admonished to regard themselves as daily set in the warfare of the present life, and to protect the heart, which cannot foresee wounds, with the shield of anxious fear; to dread the hidden darts of the ambushed foe, and, in so dark a contest, to guard with continual attention the inward camp of the soul. For, …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great Prevailing Prayer.
Text.--The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.--James v. 16. THE last lecture referred principally to the confession of sin. To-night my remarks will be chiefly confined to the subject of intercession, or prayer. There are two kinds of means requisite to promote a revival; one to influence men, the other to influence God. The truth is employed to influence men, and prayer to move God. When I speak of moving God, I do not mean that God's mind is changed by prayer, or that his …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion How to Make Use of Christ for Cleansing of us from Our Daily Spots.
Having spoken of the way of making use of Christ for removing the guilt of our daily transgressions, we come to speak of the way of making use of Christ, for taking away the guilt that cleaveth to the soul, through daily transgressions; "for every sin defileth the man," Matt. xv. 20; and the best are said to have their spots, and to need washing, which presupposeth filthiness and defilement, Eph. v. 27. John xiii. 8-10. Hence we are so oft called to this duty of washing and making us clean. Isa. …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life "For they that are after the Flesh do Mind the Things of the Flesh,",
Rom. viii. 5.--"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh,", &c. Though sin hath taken up the principal and inmost cabinet of the heart of man--though it hath fixed its imperial throne in the spirit of man, and makes use of all the powers and faculties in the soul to accomplish its accursed desires and fulfil its boundless lusts, yet it is not without good reason expressed in scripture, ordinarily under the name of "flesh," and a "body of death," and men dead in sins, are …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning "Who Walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the Flesh,"
Rom. viii. 4, 5.--"Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh," &c. If there were nothing else to engage our hearts to religion, I think this might do it, that there is so much reason in it. Truly it is the most rational thing in the world, except some revealed mysteries of faith, which are far above reason, but not contrary to it. There is nothing besides in it, but that which is the purest reason. Even that part of it which is most difficult to man, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning "If So be that the Spirit of God Dwell in You. Now if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ, He is None of His. "
Rom. viii. 9.--"If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." "But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?" 2 Chron. vi. 18. It was the wonder of one of the wisest of men, and indeed, considering his infinite highness above the height of heavens, his immense and incomprehensible greatness, that the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, and then the baseness, emptiness, and worthlessness of man, it may be a wonder to the …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning The Acceptable Sacrifice;
OR, THE EXCELLENCY OF A BROKEN HEART: SHOWING THE NATURE, SIGNS, AND PROPER EFFECTS OF A CONTRITE SPIRIT. BEING THE LAST WORKS OF THAT EMINENT PREACHER AND FAITHFUL MINISTER OF JESUS CHRIST, MR. JOHN BUNYAN, OF BEDFORD. WITH A PREFACE PREFIXED THEREUNTO BY AN EMINENT MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL IN LONDON. London: Sold by George Larkin, at the Two Swans without Bishopgates, 1692. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. The very excellent preface to this treatise, written by George Cokayn, will inform the reader of …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 Original Sin
Q-16: DID ALL MANKIND FALL IN ADAM'S FIRST TRANSGRESSION? A: The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him, by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression. 'By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,' &c. Rom 5:12. Adam being a representative person, while he stood, we stood; when he fell, we fell, We sinned in Adam; so it is in the text, In whom all have sinned.' Adam was the head …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity Repentance
Then has God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.' Acts 11: 18. Repentance seems to be a bitter pill to take, but it is to purge out the bad humour of sin. By some Antinomian spirits it is cried down as a legal doctrine; but Christ himself preached it. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent,' &c. Matt 4: 17. In his last farewell, when he was ascending to heaven, he commanded that Repentance should be preached in his name.' Luke 24: 47. Repentance is a pure gospel grace. …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments Directions to Awakened Sinners.
Acts ix. 6. Acts ix. 6. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do. THESE are the words of Saul, who also is called Paul, (Acts xiii. 9,) when he was stricken to the ground as he was going to Damascus; and any one who had looked upon him in his present circumstances and knew nothing more of him than that view, in comparison with his past life, could have given, would have imagined him one of the most miserable creatures that ever lived upon earth, and would have expected …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration The Quotation in Matt. Ii. 6.
Several interpreters, Paulus especially, have asserted that the interpretation of Micah which is here given, was that of the Sanhedrim only, and not of the Evangelist, who merely recorded what happened and was said. But this assertion is at once refuted when we consider the object which Matthew has in view in his entire representation of the early life of Jesus. His object in recording the early life of Jesus is not like that of Luke, viz., to communicate historical information to his readers. …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Jesus Attends the First Passover of his Ministry.
(Jerusalem, April 9, a.d. 27.) Subdivision B. Jesus Talks with Nicodemus. ^D John III. 1-21. ^d 1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. [Nicodemus is mentioned only by John. His character is marked by a prudence amounting almost to timidity. At John vii. 50-52 he defends Jesus, but without committing himself as in any way interested in him: at John xix. 38, 39 he brought spices for the body of Jesus, but only after Joseph of Arimathæa had secured the body. …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Jeremiah 4:19 NIVJeremiah 4:19 NLTJeremiah 4:19 ESVJeremiah 4:19 NASBJeremiah 4:19 KJV
Jeremiah 4:19 Commentaries
Bible Hub |
