4:5–9 The war oracle begins with Yahweh exhorting the people to warn each other that an enemy is coming. In verses 5–6 the commands about sounding the alarm (e.g., “declare,” “blow the trumpet”) are all plural rather than singular, a distinction in Hebrew that modern English no longer makes (compare the KJV’s clearer but archaic “declare ye . . . and “blow ye the trumpet”). The prophet Jeremiah is therefore not the audience of verse 5. Instead, the self-addressed summons “Let us go into the fortified cities” (v. 5) means that Yahweh desires the people of Judah and Jerusalem to warn themselves that fortified cities will soon be the only sanctuary when the enemy arrives (although, as Babylon’s siege carried on, Jerusalem itself became a death trap). Besides Judah’s speech to itself, the present war oracle (vv. 5–9) also contains speech from Jeremiah to the people (v. 8) and from Yahweh to the people (vv. 6–7, 9).

Yahweh interjects (v. 6) by commanding his people in Judah to move to Zion (a more theological name for Jerusalem; e.g., 1 Kings 8:1; Ps. 135:21). An unnamed northern power—later identified in Jeremiah as Babylon—is coming as Yahweh’s instrument of judgment. And turning to Jerusalem herself (Jer. 4:7), Yahweh addresses the personified city (“your” in this verse is feminine singular) to warn that this superpower has set out like a hungry lion consuming everything in its path. Indeed, ancient empires such as Babylon and Assyria were fond of styling themselves as marauding lions. While Babylon acts of its own accord in ransacking the land of Judah and emptying its cities of buildings and people, it is ultimately the God of Israel who has brought this about (cf. v. 6).

Jeremiah reinforces his God’s words by imploring the people to mourn (v. 8), something that he himself will do in a moment (cf. v. 10). This change of speaker from Yahweh to Jeremiah is not signaled explicitly in the text, but the confession that “the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us” (v. 8) indicates that it is now the prophet who addresses Judah and Jerusalem. The voice of Yahweh returns in the next verse with a vow that the apostate leaders who are most responsible for Judah’s destruction—king, officials, priests, and prophets—will find their brazenness giving way to utter terror (v. 9).

4:10 While Jeremiah has been a faithful communicator of Yahweh’s words to the people, his own struggles with this calling are ongoing (compare the same “Ah, Lord God” exclamation in 1:6). The scene in Jeremiah 4 changes from public proclamation (vv. 5–9) to a private debate (v. 10). In effect, the troubled prophet accuses Yahweh of making two apparently irreconcilable statements to the people: You told us we would be safe! But we are about to be destroyed! The first of these is a promise (“It shall be well with you”; lit., “There will be shalom for you”), while the second is its antithesis (“The sword has reached their very life”; lit., “The sword has touched their throat”).

How do we reconcile Jeremiah’s public persona with his private frustration? While this tension will be explored in greater detail in the comments on Jeremiah’s “Confessions” (chs. 11–20), it is evident that the prophet’s emotional anguish stems from a larger struggle between truth and deception. Taking their cue from the many references in Isaiah to Zion’s shalom (“peace, welfare, well-being”; e.g., Isa. 9:5–6; 26:3; 32:18), false prophets in the time of Jeremiah had evidently distorted such promises into superstitious formulas that could be invoked to guarantee the safety of Jerusalem (e.g., Jer. 6:14; 7:4; 8:11). The deliverance of Jerusalem from the mighty armies of King Sennacherib the Assyrian in 701 BC had served to embolden several generations of complacent but sinful leaders by the time Jeremiah’s ministry began around 627 BC. As Jerusalem’s crisis deepens in the sixth century BC, Jeremiah remains a true prophet of Yahweh who is growing in his own understanding of the connection between promises of salvation and threats of judgment (e.g., Jer. 18:7–11; 28:5–11). We will see later that Jeremiah continues to proclaim Yahweh’s words publicly even when he does not fully understand them or agree with them privately.

4:11–18 Yahweh responds indirectly in these verses to his prophet’s complaint. The preceding verses spoke explicitly of an invading army, but Yahweh speaks momentarily of a desert wind (v. 11). This wind will usher in his judgment (v. 12) and is none other than onrushing chariots, whose arrival can be heard and felt like the whirlwind (v. 13).

Though this “lightning war” may seem an inevitability, Yahweh declares that he would rather not have this happen. He again implores Jerusalem to repent (v. 14), while an unnamed voice sounds within Judah to warn that the nations are indeed coming as his agents of judgment (vv. 15–16). Lest Judah claim this outcome be unjust, Yahweh emphasizes that destruction is the irrational path his people have chosen for themselves:

    Your ways and your deeds

    have brought this upon you.

    This is your doom, and it is bitter;

    it has reached your very heart. (v. 18)

The rest of Jeremiah 4–10 shows, unfortunately, that the bitterness of this outcome serves further to embitter Judah rather than bringing repentance.

4:19–22 The speaker in these cries of agony is hard to identify. The earlier complaint of Jeremiah (cf. v. 10) could suggest that he is the one who exclaims,

    My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! . . .

    My heart is beating wildly;

    I cannot keep silent,

    for I hear the sound of the trumpet,

    the alarm of war. (v. 19)

However, the following lament (“My tents are laid waste, my curtains in a moment”; v. 20) indicates that the voice of the agitated prophet has fused with that of the beloved city with which he deeply identifies.28 The personified city even has the chutzpah to wonder aloud about whether such a violent end is really necessary (v. 21). Though his people feign ignorance and dare to question his fairness, Yahweh pointedly responds that they are indeed ignorant about him and his righteous ways (v. 22). The fact that Judah can be surprised by judgment (cf. 2:23, 35) is precisely the problem at hand.

4:23–28 Jeremiah adds his support to Yahweh’s rebuttal by bringing the cosmic stakes of disobedience into view. Because Judah has sought to manipulate creation through fertility rituals (cf. 3:8–10), Yahweh decrees the opposite effect: the earth will return to its original state of being “without form and void” (4:23; cf. Gen. 1:2). De-creation will involve the shaking of the “mountains” and “hills” (Jer. 4:24), the disappearance of people and birds (v. 25), and finally the wrath of Yahweh drying up the land itself so that it no longer bears the fruit Judah seeks (v. 26). The scope of creation’s destruction will not be total, but Yahweh decrees that this verdict against Judah must still run its course and inflict massive damage (vv. 27–28).

4:29–31 A jarring contrast in these verses serves to highlight Judah’s cluelessness in the face of death. Though the enemy is arriving to take Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah (v. 29), the people welcome their destroyers like a prostitute warmly welcoming her clients (v. 30). But the reality is that these “lovers” hate her and will victimize her greatly, leading desperate Judah to cry out with pain like a woman in childbirth (v. 31). Judah will discover, too late, that she has repeatedly rejected the only one who can help her.