Jeremiah 6:3

3 kings will camp there with their armies. They will pitch their tents around the city, and each of them will camp wherever they want.

Jeremiah 6:3 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 6:3

The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her
Kings and their armies, as the Targum paraphrases it; kings and generals are compared to shepherds, and their armies to flocks, who are under their command and direction; here they design Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, with his generals and armies, who should come up against Jerusalem, as to a good pasture: they shall pitch their tents against her round about;
their military tents, in allusion to pastoral ones. The phrase is expressive of the Chaldean army surrounding and besieging Jerusalem: they shall feed everyone in his place;
where he is ordered and fixed by his head general: or, "everyone shall feed his hand" ^F16: the sheep of his hand; see ( Psalms 95:7 ) , "them that are under his hand", as the Vulgate Latin version renders it; who are committed to his care and charge. The meaning is, he shall direct the company or companies of soldiers under him, where to be, and what part to take in the siege; or "with his hand", as the Septuagint, with the skilfulness of his hands, ( Psalms 78:72 ) , or with might and power; or "at his hand", as the Arabic version; what is at hand, what is nearest to him; or according to his will and pleasure. The Targum is,

``everyone shall help his neighbour.''

The sense, according to Kimchi, is, one king or general shall lay siege against a city, or against cities, and so another, until they have consumed and subdued the whole land.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 (wdy ta vya wer) "paverunt unusquisque manum suam", Montanus; "eos qui sub manu sua sunt", V. L.

Jeremiah 6:3 In-Context

1 People of Benjamin, run for safety! Escape from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa and build a signal fire in Beth Haccherem. Disaster and destruction are about to come from the north.

2 The city of Zion is beautiful, but it will be destroyed;

3 kings will camp there with their armies. They will pitch their tents around the city, and each of them will camp wherever they want.

4 They will say, "Prepare to attack Jerusalem! Get ready! We'll attack at noon!" But then they will say, "It's too late, the day is almost over, and the evening shadows are growing long.

5 We'll attack by night; we'll destroy the city's fortresses."