Jeremiah 6:23

23 They have taken up their bows and swords; they are cruel and merciless. They sound like the roaring sea, as they ride their horses. They are ready for battle against Jerusalem."

Jeremiah 6:23 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 6:23

They shall lay hold on bow and spear
That is, everyone of them should be furnished with both these pieces of armour, that they might be able to fight near and afar off; they had bows to shoot arrows at a distance, and spears to strike with when near. The Targum renders it bows and shields. "They are cruel, and have no mercy"; this is said, to strike terror into the hearts of the hardened Jews: their voice roareth like the sea;
the waves of it, which is terrible, ( Luke 21:25 Luke 21:26 ) : and they ride upon horses;
which still made them more formidable, as well as suggests that their march would be quick and speedy, and they would soon be with them: set in array as men for war;
prepared with all sorts of armour for battle: or, "as a man" ^F1; as one man, denoting their conjunction, ardour, and unanimity; being not only well armed without, but inwardly, resolutely bent, as one man, to engage in battle, and conquer or die; see ( Judges 20:8 ) , against thee, O daughter of Zion;
the design being against her, and all the preparation made on her account; which had a very dreadful appearance, and threatened with ruin, and therefore filled her with terror and distress, as follows.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 (vyak) "tanquam vir", Pagninus; "ut vir", Schmidt; "quam unus vir", Grotius.

Jeremiah 6:23 In-Context

21 And so I will make these people stumble and fall. Parents and children will die, and so will friends and neighbors."

22 The Lord says, "People are coming from a country in the north; a mighty nation far away is preparing for war.

23 They have taken up their bows and swords; they are cruel and merciless. They sound like the roaring sea, as they ride their horses. They are ready for battle against Jerusalem."

24 "We have heard the news," say the people of Jerusalem, "and our hands hang limp; we are seized by anguish and pain like a woman in labor.

25 We don't dare go to the countryside or walk on the roads, because our enemies are armed and terror is all around us."