I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert. All its cities were torn down before the LORD, before His fierce anger. I lookedThis phrase indicates a prophetic vision or revelation given to Jeremiah. The Hebrew root for "looked" is "רָאָה" (ra'ah), which means to see or perceive. In the context of prophecy, it suggests a divine insight or understanding beyond natural sight. Jeremiah, as a prophet, is granted a vision of the future state of Judah, emphasizing the seriousness of the message he is about to convey. the fruitful land
The Hebrew term for "fruitful land" is "הַכַּרְמֶל" (ha-karmel), which can refer to a fertile or cultivated field. This phrase symbolizes the prosperity and blessings that God had bestowed upon the land of Judah. Historically, the land of Israel was known for its agricultural abundance, a sign of God's favor and provision. The transformation of this fruitful land into a desert underscores the severity of God's judgment due to the people's unfaithfulness. was a desert
The Hebrew word for "desert" is "מִדְבָּר" (midbar), which denotes a barren, uninhabitable wilderness. This transformation from a fruitful land to a desert signifies the complete desolation and devastation that would result from God's judgment. It serves as a stark warning of the consequences of turning away from God and highlights the theme of divine retribution found throughout the prophetic books. All its cities
The mention of "cities" refers to the urban centers of Judah, which were places of commerce, culture, and governance. In ancient times, cities were seen as symbols of human achievement and civilization. The destruction of these cities indicates not only a physical devastation but also a dismantling of societal structures and human pride. It reflects the comprehensive nature of God's judgment, affecting every aspect of life. were torn down
The phrase "torn down" comes from the Hebrew "נָתַץ" (natats), meaning to demolish or destroy. This conveys the idea of a deliberate and complete destruction, leaving no stone unturned. It is a vivid depiction of the consequences of sin and rebellion against God. The imagery of cities being torn down serves as a powerful reminder of the fragility of human constructs in the face of divine power. before the LORD
This phrase emphasizes the presence and authority of God in the unfolding events. The Hebrew "לִפְנֵי יְהוָה" (lifnei YHWH) suggests that the destruction occurs under the direct observation and command of God. It underscores the idea that nothing happens outside of God's sovereign will and that His judgments are righteous and just. The presence of the LORD in this context is both a source of fear for the unrepentant and a call to repentance. before His fierce anger
The term "fierce anger" is derived from the Hebrew "חֲרוֹן אַף" (charon af), which literally means "burning nose," a metaphor for intense wrath. This phrase highlights the intensity of God's displeasure with the sin and idolatry of His people. It serves as a sobering reminder of the seriousness with which God views sin and the inevitable consequences of persistent disobedience. The fierce anger of the LORD is a call to repentance and a return to covenant faithfulness, offering hope that God's mercy is available to those who turn back to Him. Persons / Places / Events 1. JeremiahThe prophet who conveyed God's messages to the people of Judah, warning them of impending judgment due to their unfaithfulness. 2. JudahThe southern kingdom of Israel, which was facing God's judgment for its idolatry and disobedience. 3. The LORDThe covenant God of Israel, who is depicted as being fiercely angry due to the people's sins. 4. The Fruitful LandRefers to the land of Judah, which was once prosperous and fertile but is now depicted as a desert due to divine judgment. 5. Destruction of CitiesSymbolizes the complete devastation that would come upon Judah as a result of God's judgment. Teaching Points The Consequences of SinSin leads to destruction and desolation, both spiritually and physically. Just as Judah's land became a desert, our lives can become barren when we turn away from God. God's Righteous AngerGod's anger is not arbitrary but is a response to persistent sin and rebellion. Understanding His righteous anger helps us appreciate His holiness and justice. The Call to RepentanceThe desolation described serves as a warning and a call to repentance. We are urged to turn back to God before facing similar consequences. Hope in RestorationWhile the passage speaks of judgment, it also implies the possibility of restoration. God’s ultimate desire is for His people to return to Him and be restored. The Importance of ObedienceObedience to God’s commands is crucial for maintaining a fruitful and blessed life. Disobedience leads to spiritual and sometimes physical ruin. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the imagery of a fruitful land becoming a desert in Jeremiah 4:26 reflect the spiritual state of Judah, and how can this apply to our personal spiritual lives today? 2. In what ways does the destruction of cities in Jeremiah 4:26 serve as a warning for modern societies, and what steps can we take to heed this warning? 3. How can understanding God's righteous anger, as depicted in Jeremiah 4:26, deepen our relationship with Him and influence our daily walk? 4. What parallels can you draw between the desolation described in Jeremiah 4:26 and the consequences of sin in your own life or community? 5. How can the themes of judgment and potential restoration in Jeremiah 4:26 encourage us to pursue repentance and obedience in our lives? Connections to Other Scriptures Genesis 1:31Contrasts the initial creation, which God saw as "very good," with the desolation described in Jeremiah 4:26, highlighting the impact of sin. Deuteronomy 28:15-68Lists the curses for disobedience, which include desolation and destruction, similar to what is described in Jeremiah 4:26. Isaiah 5:1-7The parable of the vineyard, where God laments over Israel's failure to produce good fruit, leading to its destruction. Lamentations 1:1-4Describes the desolation of Jerusalem, echoing the imagery of Jeremiah 4:26. Revelation 18:2Speaks of the fall of Babylon, drawing a parallel to the destruction of cities due to divine judgment. People Dan, JeremiahPlaces Dan, Jerusalem, Mount Ephraim, ZionTopics Anger, Beheld, Behold, Broken, Burning, Cities, Desert, Fertile, Field, Fierce, Fierceness, Fruitful, Laid, Lay, Presence, Pulled, Ruins, Thereof, Towns, Waste, Wilderness, WrathDictionary of Bible Themes Jeremiah 4:26 4230 desert Jeremiah 4:23-26 4203 earth, the 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 4:26 NIVJeremiah 4:26 NLTJeremiah 4:26 ESVJeremiah 4:26 NASBJeremiah 4:26 KJV
Jeremiah 4:26 Commentaries
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