We have heard the report; our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor. We have heard the reportThis phrase indicates the reception of a message or news that has reached the people. In the Hebrew context, the word for "report" (שְׁמוּעָה, shemu'ah) often refers to a message of significant importance, often carrying a sense of foreboding or impending judgment. Historically, this reflects the prophetic warnings given by Jeremiah about the coming destruction due to the people's disobedience. The act of hearing implies a responsibility to respond, highlighting the seriousness of the message received. our hands hang limp
The imagery of hands hanging limp signifies a state of helplessness and despair. In ancient Near Eastern culture, hands are symbolic of strength and action. When they hang limp, it denotes a loss of power and the inability to act. This phrase captures the overwhelming fear and paralysis that grips the people upon hearing the dire news. It reflects a spiritual and emotional exhaustion, a common theme in the prophetic literature where the consequences of sin lead to a loss of strength and vitality. Anguish has gripped us
The word "anguish" (צָרָה, tsarah) in Hebrew conveys a sense of distress and trouble. It is often used in the context of dire situations that cause deep emotional and physical pain. The phrase "has gripped us" suggests an inescapable hold, indicating that the people are overwhelmed by their circumstances. This reflects the prophetic theme of judgment where the consequences of turning away from God lead to unavoidable suffering. It serves as a call to repentance and a return to divine protection and peace. pain like that of a woman in labor
This simile draws on the universal experience of childbirth, known for its intense pain and anticipation. In the Hebrew Bible, labor pain is often used metaphorically to describe intense suffering that precedes a new beginning or deliverance. The comparison here emphasizes the severity and inevitability of the coming judgment, yet it also subtly hints at the possibility of renewal and hope beyond the pain. This duality is a common thread in prophetic literature, where judgment is not the end but a precursor to restoration for those who turn back to God. Persons / Places / Events 1. JeremiahA prophet called by God to deliver messages of warning and judgment to the people of Judah. His ministry spanned the reigns of several kings and was marked by his deep emotional connection to his people and his message. 2. JudahThe southern kingdom of Israel, which was facing impending judgment due to its persistent disobedience and idolatry. Jeremiah's prophecies were directed primarily at this kingdom. 3. Babylonian ThreatThe looming invasion by the Babylonian empire, which was a tool of God's judgment against Judah for its sins. This threat is the context for the fear and anguish described in the verse. 4. Anguish and PainThe emotional and physical distress described in the verse, likened to the intense pain of childbirth, symbolizing the severity of the coming judgment. 5. The ReportThe news of the impending disaster and invasion, which has caused fear and helplessness among the people of Judah. Teaching Points The Reality of JudgmentGod's warnings through prophets like Jeremiah remind us of the reality of divine judgment. We must take seriously the call to repentance and obedience. The Power of FearFear can paralyze us, as seen in the description of limp hands. In times of distress, we should turn to God for strength and courage. The Pain of ConsequencesThe imagery of labor pains illustrates the inevitable and intense consequences of sin. We should strive to live righteously to avoid such spiritual anguish. The Urgency of RepentanceJust as labor pains signal the imminent arrival of a child, the warnings of judgment urge us to repent and seek God's mercy before it's too late. Hope in God's DeliveranceWhile the verse speaks of anguish, the broader biblical account assures us of God's ultimate deliverance and restoration for those who turn to Him. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the imagery of labor pains in Jeremiah 6:24 help us understand the severity of God's judgment? 2. In what ways can fear and anguish affect our spiritual lives, and how can we combat these feelings with faith? 3. How does the message of impending judgment in Jeremiah 6:24 relate to the New Testament teachings on the Day of the Lord? 4. What steps can we take to ensure that we are living in obedience to God and avoiding the spiritual consequences described in this passage? 5. How can we find hope and assurance in God's promises of deliverance, even when facing difficult circumstances or divine discipline? Connections to Other Scriptures Isaiah 13:8This verse also uses the imagery of labor pains to describe the fear and anguish that will come upon people during a time of judgment, highlighting a common biblical metaphor for intense distress. 1 Thessalonians 5:3Paul uses the metaphor of labor pains to describe the suddenness and inevitability of the Day of the Lord, drawing a parallel to the unexpected nature of God's judgment. Matthew 24:8Jesus refers to the beginning of birth pains as a sign of the end times, connecting the imagery of labor pains to eschatological events. People Benjamin, JeremiahPlaces Beth-haccherem, Jerusalem, Sheba, Tekoa, ZionTopics Anguish, Childbirth, Distress, Ears, Fall, Fame, Feeble, Gripped, Grown, Hands, Hang, Helpless, Hold, Labor, Limp, News, Pain, Pangs, Report, Seized, Thereof, Travail, Travaileth, Travailing, Trouble, WaxDictionary of Bible Themes Jeremiah 6:22-26 8795 persecution, nature of Library Stedfastness in the Old Paths.
"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls."--Jer. vi. 16. Reverence for the old paths is a chief Christian duty. We look to the future indeed with hope; yet this need not stand in the way of our dwelling on the past days of the Church with affection and deference. This is the feeling of our own Church, as continually expressed in the Prayer Book;--not to slight what has gone before, …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIIA Blast of the Trumpet against False Peace
The motive with these false prophets is an abominable one. Jeremiah tells us it was an evil covetousness. They preached smooth things because the people would have it so, because they thus brought grist to their own mill, and glory to their own names. Their design was abominable, and without doubt, their end shall be desperate--cast away with the refuse of mankind. These who professed to be the precious sons of God, comparable to fine gold, shall be esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860 Whitefield -- the Method of Grace
George Whitefield, evangelist and leader of Calvinistic Methodists, who has been called the Demosthenes of the pulpit, was born at Gloucester, England, in 1714. He was an impassioned pulpit orator of the popular type, and his power over immense congregations was largely due to his histrionic talent and his exquisitely modulated voice, which has been described as "an organ, a flute, a harp, all in one," and which at times became stentorian. He had a most expressive face, and altho he squinted, in …
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 3 Reprobation.
In discussing this subject I shall endeavor to show, I. What the true doctrine of reprobation is not. 1. It is not that the ultimate end of God in the creation of any was their damnation. Neither reason nor revelation confirms, but both contradict the assumption, that God has created or can create any being for the purpose of rendering him miserable as an ultimate end. God is love, or he is benevolent, and cannot therefore will the misery of any being as an ultimate end, or for its own sake. It is …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology Prefatory Scripture Passages.
To the Law and to the Testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.-- Isa. viii. 20. Thus saith the Lord; Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.--Jer. vi. 16. That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But …
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church Jesus Raises the Widow's Son.
(at Nain in Galilee.) ^C Luke VII. 11-17. ^c 11 And it came to pass soon afterwards [many ancient authorities read on the next day], that he went into a city called Nain; and his disciples went with him, and a great multitude. [We find that Jesus had been thronged with multitudes pretty continuously since the choosing of his twelve apostles. Nain lies on the northern slope of the mountain, which the Crusaders called Little Hermon, between twenty and twenty-five miles south of Capernaum, and about …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Backsliding.
"I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away."--Hosea xiv. 4. There are two kinds of backsliders. Some have never been converted: they have gone through the form of joining a Christian community and claim to be backsliders; but they never have, if I may use the expression, "slid forward." They may talk of backsliding; but they have never really been born again. They need to be treated differently from real back-sliders--those who have been born of the incorruptible …
Dwight L. Moody—The Way to God and How to Find It An Obscured vision
(Preached at the opening of the Winona Lake Bible Conference.) TEXT: "Where there is no vision, the people perish."--Proverbs 29:18. It is not altogether an easy matter to secure a text for such an occasion as this; not because the texts are so few in number but rather because they are so many, for one has only to turn over the pages of the Bible in the most casual way to find them facing him at every reading. Feeling the need of advice for such a time as this, I asked a number of my friends who …
J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot Sin Charged Upon the Surety
All we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned every one to his own way, and the LORD hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. C omparisons, in the Scripture, are frequently to be understood with great limitation: perhaps, out of many circumstances, only one is justly applicable to the case. Thus, when our Lord says, Behold, I come as a thief (Revelation 16:15) , --common sense will fix the resemblance to a single point, that He will come suddenly, and unexpectedly. So when wandering sinners …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1 An Address to the Regenerate, Founded on the Preceding Discourses.
James I. 18. James I. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. I INTEND the words which I have now been reading, only as an introduction to that address to the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, with which I am now to conclude these lectures; and therefore shall not enter into any critical discussion, either of them, or of the context. I hope God has made the series of these discourses, in some measure, useful to those …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration Scriptures Showing the Sin and Danger of Joining with Wicked and Ungodly Men.
Scriptures Showing The Sin And Danger Of Joining With Wicked And Ungodly Men. When the Lord is punishing such a people against whom he hath a controversy, and a notable controversy, every one that is found shall be thrust through: and every one joined with them shall fall, Isa. xiii. 15. They partake in their judgment, not only because in a common calamity all shares, (as in Ezek. xxi. 3.) but chiefly because joined with and partakers with these whom God is pursuing; even as the strangers that join …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning How those who Fear Scourges and those who Contemn them are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 14.) Differently to be admonished are those who fear scourges, and on that account live innocently, and those who have grown so hard in wickedness as not to be corrected even by scourges. For those who fear scourges are to be told by no means to desire temporal goods as being of great account, seeing that bad men also have them, and by no means to shun present evils as intolerable, seeing they are not ignorant how for the most part good men also are touched by them. They are to be admonished …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great Christian Meekness
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth Matthew 5:5 We are now got to the third step leading in the way to blessedness, Christian meekness. Blessed are the meek'. See how the Spirit of God adorns the hidden man of the heart, with multiplicity of graces! The workmanship of the Holy Ghost is not only curious, but various. It makes the heart meek, pure, peaceable etc. The graces therefore are compared to needlework, which is different and various in its flowers and colours (Psalm 45:14). …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 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 6:24 NIVJeremiah 6:24 NLTJeremiah 6:24 ESVJeremiah 6:24 NASBJeremiah 6:24 KJV
Jeremiah 6:24 Commentaries
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