Jeremiah 4:30

30 What are you doing, you devastated one? Why dress yourself in scarlet and put on jewels of gold? Why highlight your eyes with makeup? You adorn yourself in vain. Your lovers despise you; they want to kill you.

Jeremiah 4:30 in Other Translations

KJV
30 And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.
ESV
30 And you, O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in scarlet, that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life.
NLT
30 What are you doing, you who have been plundered? Why do you dress up in beautiful clothing and put on gold jewelry? Why do you brighten your eyes with mascara? Your primping will do you no good! The allies who were your lovers despise you and seek to kill you.
MSG
30 And you, what do you think you're up to? Dressing up in party clothes, Decking yourselves out in jewelry, putting on lipstick and rouge and mascara! Your primping goes for nothing. You're not going to seduce anyone. They're out to kill you!
CSB
30 And you devastated one, what are you doing that you dress yourself in scarlet, that you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? You beautify yourself for nothing. Your lovers reject you; they want to take your life.

Jeremiah 4:30 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 4:30

And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do?
&c.] Or, "O thou spoiled" F11, wasted, and undone creature, how wilt thou help thyself? by what means dost thou think thou canst be delivered? it suggests that her ruin was inevitable; that she could not be recovered from it by herself, or any other: though thou clothest thyself with crimson;
and so look like some rich and noble person; hoping thereby to find mercy, and to have quarter given and kindness shown: though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold;
as a person of high and princely dignity: or rather all this is to be understood of the manner of harlots, who dress rich and grand, in order to allure men; since it follows, though thou rendest thy face with painting;
or, eyes F12; which painting dilates as Jezebel did, ( 2 Kings 9:30 ) , in vain shalt thou make thyself fair;
so as to be loved and admired: far from it: thy lovers will despise thee;
as an old harlot is despised by her former gallants, notwithstanding all her dressing and painting; yea, their love is often turned into hatred and abhorrence, as would be the case here, they will seek thy life;
to take it away; so far would there be from being any ground of expectations of help and deliverance from them.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 (dwdv ytaw) "et tu vastata", Pagninus, Montanus "et tu, res vastata", Cocceius.
F12 (Kynye Kwpb yerqx) "scindes in fuco oculos tuos", Montanus; "rumpes stibio oculos tuos", Schmidt.

Jeremiah 4:30 In-Context

28 Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not relent, I have decided and will not turn back.”
29 At the sound of horsemen and archers every town takes to flight. Some go into the thickets; some climb up among the rocks. All the towns are deserted; no one lives in them.
30 What are you doing, you devastated one? Why dress yourself in scarlet and put on jewels of gold? Why highlight your eyes with makeup? You adorn yourself in vain. Your lovers despise you; they want to kill you.
31 I hear a cry as of a woman in labor, a groan as of one bearing her first child— the cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands and saying, “Alas! I am fainting; my life is given over to murderers.”

Cross References 5

  • 1. Isaiah 10:3-4
  • 2. Ezekiel 16:11; Ezekiel 23:40
  • 3. S 2 Kings 9:30
  • 4. Job 19:14; Lamentations 1:2; Ezekiel 23:9,22
  • 5. S Psalms 35:4
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