Jeremiah 2:37

Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(37) From him.—Better, from it, sc., from Egypt as a people.

Thine hands upon thine head.—The outward sign of depression and despair (2Samuel 13:19).

Thy confidences.—i.e., the grounds or objects of thy confidence.

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 2:37. Yea, thou shalt go forth from him — The ambassadors thou sendest to Egypt shall return with disappointment and confusion; and their hands on their heads — Condoling the desperate condition of their people. Or, Thou shalt go forth from hence, namely, into captivity, in a strange land. And thy hands upon thy head — As Tamar went forth from her brother Amnon, her garments torn, and her hands upon her head, insulted and despised, and in the greatest grief and misery; and Egypt, on which thou reliedst, shall not be able to prevent it, or to rescue thee out of captivity. For the Lord hath rejected thy confidences — Hath refused to give success to them, or hath rejected thee for thy confidences; or he disapproves thy confidences, namely, all thy dependances and refuges, which thou seekest out of him. And thou shalt not prosper in them — They shall not stand thee in any stead, nor give thee any satisfaction. As there is no counsel or wisdom that can prevail against the Lord, so there is none that can prevail without the Lord. Some read it, The Lord hath rejected thee for thy confidences; that is, because thou hast dealt so unfaithfully with him as to trust in his creatures, nay, in his enemies, when thou shouldest have trusted in him only, he has abandoned thee to that destruction from which thou thoughtest thus to have sheltered thyself; and then thou canst not prosper, for none ever either hardened himself against God, or estranged himself from God, and prospered.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:29-37 The nation had not been wrought upon by the judgements of God, but sought to justify themselves. The world is, to those who make it their home and their portion, a wilderness and a land of darkness; but those who dwell in God, have the lines fallen to them in pleasant places. Here is the language of presumptuous sinners. The Jews had long thrown off serious thoughts of God. How many days of our lives pass without suitable remembrance of him! The Lord was displeased with their confidences, and would not prosper them therein. Men employ all their ingenuity, but cannot find happiness in the way of sin, or excuse for it. They may shift from one sin to another, but none ever hardened himself against God, or turned from him, and prospered.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

From him - From it, from this Egypt, which though fem. as a land, yet as a people may be used as a masc. (compare Jeremiah 46:8). Now that Nineveh is trembling before the armies of Cyaxares and Nabopalassar, thou hastenest to Egypt, hoping to rest upon her strength: but thou shalt retrace thy steps, with thy hands clasped upon thy head, disgraced and discarded.

Confidences - Those in whom thou confidest.

In them - literally, "with respect to them."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

37. him—Egypt.

hands upon … head—expressive of mourning (2Sa 13:19).

in them—in those stays in which thou trustest.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thou shalt go forth from him: some apply it to the sad and ineffectual return of the ambassadors, being disappointed in their expectation from the king of Egypt; but rather, All the help thou canst procure from abroad shall not prevent thy captivity, but from hence thou shalt go.

Thine hands upon thine head; a usual posture of sadness and mourning, 2 Samuel 13:19, suited here to her going into captivity.

Rejected thy confidences; refused to give success unto them, 2 Chronicles 16:7. Or, rejected thee for thy confidences; or, he disapproves thy confidences, viz. all thy refuges which thou seekest out of God.

Thou shalt not prosper in them, viz. in thy refuges and dependencies.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Yea, thou shalt go forth from him,.... From the Egyptian, without any help, and with shame; or, "from this" (u); that is, from this place, from Jerusalem, and from the land of Judea, into captivity; notwithstanding all the promised and expected help from Egypt,

Geneva Study Bible

Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thy hands upon {z} thy head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.

(z) In sign of lamentation, as in 2Sa 13:19.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

37. From him also shalt thou go forth] The king of Egypt shall repulse thy advances, and thou shalt return mourning.

thine hands upon thine head] in disgrace and disappointment; cp. 2 Samuel 13:19.

thy confidences] those in whom thou confidest, Egypt and Assyria.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 37. - From him; i.e. from Egypt, personified as a man (so whenever a people is referred to; a laud is represented as a woman). Egypt was, in fact, the only great power capable of assisting Judah at this time (see Introduction); yet even Egypt, the prophet says, shall disappoint her Jewish allies, for Jehovah has rejected thy confidences (i.e. the objects of thy confidence). As a matter of fact, "the King of Egypt came not again any more out of his laud" after Necho's crushing defeat at Carehemish (2 Kings 24:7; comp. Jeremiah 37:5).



Jeremiah 2:37

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Also from this, i.e., Egypt, shalt thou go away (come back), thy hands upon thy head, i.e., beating them on thy head in grief and dismay (cf. for this gesture 2 Samuel 13:19). זה refers to Egypt, thought of as a people as in Jeremiah 46:8; Isaiah 19:16, Isaiah 19:25; and thus is removed Hitz.'s objection, that in that case we must have מבטחים .זאת, objects of confidence. The expression refers equally to Egypt and to Assyria. As God has broken the power of Assyria, so will He also overthrow Egypt's might, thus making all trust in it a shame. להם, in reference to them.