Jeremiah 18:17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity. The east winds referred to by the prophets appear to be a violent form of sirocco. It was the east wind which brought the plague of locusts upon the Egyptians. It was by an east wind that the ships of Tarshish were broken (Psalm 48:7), and the ships of Tyre (Ezekiel 27:26). Jeremiah takes an east wind as the symbol of Jehovah's punishment of His people, while references to its withering and scorching properties are numerous; from the seven thin ears of wheat of Pharaoh's vision in Egypt to the sultry blast which helped to afflict Jonah outside the walls of Nineveh. The east wind still breaks at times with terrific violence upon the coasts of Palestine, and the records of victims tell of tents that have been blown away by its fury. (H. B. Freeman, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity. |
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