Jeremiah 4:9

And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) The heart of the king shall perish.—The heart, as representing the mind generally. Judgment and wisdom were to give way to panic and fear.

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 4:9. At that day the heart of the king shall perish — Both his wisdom and his courage: despairing of success, he shall have no spirit to do any thing, and if he had, he would be at a loss what to do; and the heart of the princes — His privy counsellors, who ought to animate and advise him, shall be as much at a loss, and as much in despair as he. And the priests shall be astonished — Shall be in such a consternation that they shall have no heart to execute their office, and therefore not likely to put spirit into the people. The prophets shall wonder — The false prophets, that had nothing but visions of peace for them, shall be thrown into the greatest amazement imaginable, seeing their own guilty blood ready to be shed by that sword, of which they had frequently told the people there was no danger.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:5-18 The fierce conqueror of the neighbouring nations was to make Judah desolate. The prophet was afflicted to see the people lulled into security by false prophets. The approach of the enemy is described. Some attention was paid in Jerusalem to outward reformation; but it was necessary that their hearts should be washed, in the exercise of true repentance and faith, from the love and pollution of sin. When lesser calamities do not rouse sinners and reform nations, sentence will be given against them. The Lord's voice declares that misery is approaching, especially against wicked professors of the gospel; when it overtakes them, it will be plainly seen that the fruit of wickedness is bitter, and the end is fatal.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Is not turned ... - As long as their sins are unrepented of, so long must their punishment continue.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. heart—The wisdom of the most leading men will be utterly at a loss to devise means of relief.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The heart of the king shall perish; the king, viz. of Judah, and the great men, that should have encouraged the people in such a calamitous day, and been their great support, shall not only be afraid, but their own hearts shall melt within them, they shall be even at their wits’ end; see Joshua 5:1; they shall have no heart at all to do any thing; they shall not be able to help their people, either by their counsel or arms; their courage will utterly fail, and their counsel perish. See Psalm 73:26. This was fulfilled in Zedekiah, Jeremiah 39 Jer 42, whose flight would not advantage him.

Shall be astonished; shall be in such a consternation, that they shall not know what course to take.

The prophets, viz. false prophets, that had nothing but visions of peace for them, Ezekiel 13:16 Zechariah 13:3,4 Jer 8:11. See Jeremiah 4:10.

Shall wonder, not so much at the disappointment of their prophecies, for they knew well enough they were false, Jeremiah 23:26,27, as that they should be possessed with the same horror and frights with the rest, not knowing where to show, or rather to hide, their heads for the shame that would fall upon them; when their lies should be discovered, they would be put to shame, and perish with the rest, and whither shall they cause their shame to go.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the Lord,.... When Nebuchadnezzar should be come up from Babylon into the land of Judea, and lay waste the cities thereof, and besiege Jerusalem:

that the heart of the king shall perish; meaning Zedekiah king of Judah, who should be in the utmost fright and consternation, not knowing what to do, being devoid both of wisdom and courage; see Jeremiah 39:4,

and the heart of the princes; who being seized with the same panic, and at their wits' end, would not be able to give any advice and counsel to the king; so that the people would have no help from the king and his nobles, in whom they put their confidence:

and the priests shall be astonished; which Kimchi interprets of the priests of the high places, the idolatrous priests, whose service would now cease, and whose idols would not save them:

and the prophets shall wonder; which he also interprets of the false prophets; as does the Targum; who prophesied peace, and now they shall see it was a lie they prophesied, since sudden destruction now comes upon them.

Geneva Study Bible

And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the {g} prophets shall wonder.

(g) That is, the false prophets who still prophesied peace and security.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. the priests shall be astonished] because of the punishment which has followed upon their idolatries.

the prophets shall wonder] because of the non-fulfilment of their prophecies.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - The heart... shall perish; i.e. they shall lose their reason. The same verb in Ethiopic means "to be mad." The "heart" in Old Testament language is the center of the intellectual as well as of the moral life (comp. Hosea 4:11; Job 12:24; Proverbs 15:28). So St. Ephrem the Syrian says ('Works,' in Syriac, 2:316, quoted by Delitzsch), "The reason expatiates in the heart as in a palace." Jeremiah 4:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

When this wrath bursts over them, the rulers and leaders of the people will be perplexed and helpless. The heart, i.e., the mind, is lot. For this use of לב, cf. Job 12:3; Job 34:10; Proverbs 7:7, etc. נשׁמּוּ, be paralyzed by terror, like the Kal in Jeremiah 2:12. The prophets are mentioned last, because Jeremiah 4:10 cites a word of prophecy whereby they seduced the people into a false security.