THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
Listen, his ears are diminished. This reflects both the prophet's condition and the situation of the people themselves, symbolically embodying the messages that were proclaimed.
Jeremiah 6:24Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers
We have heard the fame thereof, our hands grow feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, as a woman in labour.
שָׁמַ֥עְנוּ אֶת־שָׁמְע֖וֹ רָפ֣וּ יָדֵ֑ינוּ צָרָה֙ הֶחֱזִיקַ֔תְנוּ חִ֖יל כַּיּוֹלֵדָֽה׃
The Church Fathers on this verse
3 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Jerome of Stridon
We received the troubling news, and our spirits fell; deep sorrow enveloped us, akin to the anguish of a woman in childbirth. This reflects the response of the people to whom the Lord, speaking through the prophet, had forewarned regarding the Babylonians. Although their foes had not yet arrived, fear had already seized them; their hands could not rise, and they were overwhelmed by despair, reminiscent of the intense suffering a woman experiences in labor, which, as those familiar with it attest, is unparalleled in weight.
Theodoret of Cyrus
Our hands have grown feeble, and we are surrounded by grief, with afflictions akin to childbirth. He instructs them not to depart from the cities, as adversaries have set up camp against them. Jerusalem is instructed to cover itself with a veil, to place ashes upon its head, and to mourn as if for an only begotten son. Subsequently, God directs the Prophet to reflect on the transgressions of the Jewish people. For He declares:
Cross references
Passages read together with this verse.
- Jer 49:24Damascus is undone, she is put to flight, trembling hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her as a woman in labour.
- Jer 4:31For I have heard the voice as of a woman in travail, anguishes as of a woman in labour of a child. The voice of the daughter of Sion, dying away, spreading her hands: Woe is me, for my soul hath fainted because of them that are slain.
- Jer 50:43The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands are grown feeble: anguish hath taken hold of him, pangs as a woman in labour.
- Isa 28:19Whensoever it shall pass through, it shall take you away: because in the morning early it shall pass through, in the day and in the night, and vexation alone shall make you understand what you hear.
- Jer 30:6Ask ye, and see if a man bear children? why then have I seen every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in labour, and all faces are turned yellow?
- Jer 13:21What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee? for thou hast taught them against thee, and instructed them against thy own head: shall not sorrows lay hold on thee, as a woman in labour?
- Isa 21:3Therefore are my loins filled with pain, anguish hath taken hold of me, as the anguish of a woman in labour: I fell down at the hearing of it, I was troubled at the seeing of it.
- Jer 4:19My bowels, my bowels are in part, the senses of my heart are troubled within me, I will not hold my peace, for my soul hath heard the sound of the trumpet, the cry of battle.