Introduction
In this section of Chapter 4, Yirmiyahu continues to describe the arrival of the enemy from the north: the predator setting out from his lair, the mourning that is truly warranted, the collapse of leadership and morale, the falsehood of the false prophets, and the call for inner repentance - "Wash your heart from evil." We will follow the order of the verses and present the explanations of Rashi, Radak, and the Malbim.
"A Lion Has Gone Up from His Thicket" - Who Is the Lion?
עָלָה אַרְיֵה מִסֻּבְּכוֹ וּמַשְׁחִית גּוֹיִם נָסַע יָצָא מִמְּקֹמוֹ לָשׂוּם אַרְצֵךְ לְשַׁמָּה עָרַיִךְ תִּצֶּינָה מֵאֵין יוֹשֵׁב׃ - A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out, departing from his place to make your land a desolation; your cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
According to Rashi and Radak, the "lion" is an allegory for Nevuchadnezzar. "From his thicket" (mi-subkho) refers to the dense brush where he crouched, for it is the nature of a lion to wait in ambush among the thickets of the forest. The prophet announces: the lion has already emerged from his ambush. Radak adds another explanation: subkho refers to the pavilion or booth (sukkah) where he customarily sat, so called because it was made of woven tree branches. In other words, Nevuchadnezzar has left his palace and his dwelling place, and his objective is clear - "to make your land a desolation."
"Your cities shall be laid waste" (titzena) - spelled without an aleph, from the root of tziyah, wilderness and desolation. Radak interprets it as "they will be ruined," as in "ruined heaps" (galim nitzim). However, he cites a beautiful explanation in the name of his father: titzena is related to "the pomegranates have blossomed" (heinetzu ha-rimonim). How does this apply here? When an enemy arrives and destroys a place, weeds and thorns begin to sprout, for any place where people no longer tread becomes overgrown with wild growth. One can see this even on an abandoned road, where weeds begin to push through. Thus the prophet says: your cities will be so completely deserted that varieties of wild vegetation will sprout and blossom within them, "without an inhabitant" - because no one lives there anymore.
The Malbim explains differently: the "lion" is a literal lion. A lion knows that wherever a conqueror marches, many casualties fall, providing an abundant feast. Therefore, the predatory lion has risen from his lair - because "a destroyer of nations has set out, departing from his place," referring to Nevuchadnezzar, and the lion knows that in his wake there will be corpses to feed upon.
Why does the verse state both "set out" (nasa) and "departed" (yatza)? The Malbim explains that mobilizing the army precedes the actual departure. The uprooting and movement of the camp from its location is called nesi'ah, while the actual marching forth and exiting the city is called yetzi'ah. First he mobilized his camp, and then he set out from his place.
"Your land" is the general, and "your cities" is the specific: do not think he will conquer only on a large scale - he will also destroy the smaller cities. This is like the verse in Yeshayahu: "Your land is desolate, your cities are burned with fire" - your land as a whole, and lest you think that the villages and small settlements will be spared, the text tells us no, even the individual cities will be burned with fire.
What Truly Warrants Mourning
עַל זֹאת חִגְרוּ שַׂקִּים סִפְדוּ וְהֵילִילוּ כִּי לֹא שָׁב חֲרוֹן אַף יְהֹוָה מִמֶּנּוּ׃ - For this, gird yourselves with sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned back from us.
The Malbim explains: even though the lion has already risen from his thicket to make the land desolate, and even though "your cities shall surely be laid waste, without an inhabitant" - this is still not the reason or the time to eulogize and wail. Over what, then, should they mourn? "For the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned back from us." Over the fact that Hashem's wrath has not yet subsided - over this it is fitting to lament and wail. For the very expedition of Nevuchadnezzar could have been averted had Hashem's fierce anger turned back. Our primary problem is the wrath of Hashem, and it is over this that we must grieve.
Rashi interprets the verse in an entirely different context, returning to what was discussed earlier - the death of Yoshiyahu. The death of King Yoshiyahu was an excruciating reality for the Jewish people: "The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Hashem, was captured in their traps" - and he was a righteous man. It is about this that the prophet says: "Gird yourselves with sackcloth, lament and wail" - over the death of Yoshiyahu. For even though Yoshiyahu returned to Hashem with all his heart, Hashem nevertheless did not turn back from His fierce wrath over all the provocations of Menasheh and all their past misdeeds. Yoshiyahu's repentance could no longer avail, nor could his personal righteousness protect them, because his generation remained wicked, as will soon be detailed. And over this tragedy - gird yourselves with sackcloth, lament and wail.
The Collapse of Leadership: "The Heart of the King Shall Perish"
וְהָיָה בַיּוֹם הַהוּא נְאֻם יְהֹוָה יֹאבַד לֵב הַמֶּלֶךְ וְלֵב הַשָּׂרִים וְנָשַׁמּוּ הַכֹּהֲנִים וְהַנְּבִאִים יִתְמָהוּ׃ - "And it shall come to pass on that day, says Hashem, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be appalled, and the prophets shall be astonished."
According to Rashi, all of this refers to the day of Yoshiyahu's fall: everyone was astonished - Yoshiyahu was righteous, so why did his end come about in such a manner that he was pierced with arrows and slain, made like a sieve? Yet they did not know that "his generation did not resemble him in goodness," for the people of his generation worshipped idols in secret. Here Rashi details what the scoffers of that generation would do: they would carve an image of an idol on their doors, half on one door and half on the other. They had double doors leading into the house, opening inward, and they engraved the image across both doors together. When Yoshiyahu's inspection patrols arrived to search for idolatry, the occupants would open the doors. The inner side swung back against the wall, splitting the image in half so that it was unrecognizable. The inspectors would finish their check and record: this house is clean of idolatry. But the moment they left and the doors were closed, the idol returned to its full form as the two halves rejoined. Thus "the priests were appalled" - an expression of desolation (shemamah), like a person standing bewildered and desolate with no answer: Why did Yoshiyahu die? They did not realize that this iniquity was secretly in their hands.
Radak explains: it is the natural role of the king and the ministers to inspire courage and instill high morale in the hearts of the people. A nation suffering from broken morale has almost zero chance of victory, which is why every nation attempts to undermine the morale of its rival. This psychological warfare continues to this day: terror organizations periodically release videos threatening attacks, promising the destruction of Tel Aviv, proclaiming "this is your final day," and the like, all to generate dread and fear. What is the purpose of beheading videos? To sow terror, a psychological effect meant to convince people they have no chance. The reality is that the weaker one is, the more psychological ploys one requires. A truly strong nation does not need to release threatening videos; everyone knows that when it arrives, it comes with heavy bombers capable of wiping out entire sectors. But when you are weak, you need bluster and endless threats - and often this is aimed more at stiffening your own ranks than weakening the enemy, whipping your own forces into an emotional frenzy through boastful words that project an illusion of tremendous power.
The king and his ministers are therefore the regular source of encouragement, reinforcing the people's resolve against the enemy's psychological warfare. And the prophet says: the situation will be so terrifying that even they - the ones who always step forward to reassure and fortify - will collapse. It is well known that during one war, a certain leader broke down in front of the cameras, and commentators noted that his appearance was far worse than if he had not appeared at all; it was glaringly obvious that he himself did not believe his own words, leaving everyone with the feeling that the end was near. "It is of Hashem's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not." Yet one must understand: the king and the officers are the last who are expected to crack, and if they project brokenness, the nation is completely shattered. Therefore the prophet warns: there will be such a devastating collapse that "the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes."
And who are the priests mentioned here? According to Radak, these are the priests of the pagan altars (bamot), and "the priests shall be appalled" means that the ritual service of the high places will be completely abolished. "And the prophets shall be astonished" refers to the false prophets. For they had been reassuring the people all along: there will be peace, do not be alarmed, Nevuchadnezzar will not come. The religious doom-mongers always love to frighten people - Yirmiyahu with his apocalyptic prophecies of destruction and the end of the world, always catastrophe - ignore them, do not panic! The false prophets were the media personalities of their day: everything will be fine, Hashem loves the Jewish people, unity and love, empty slogans devoid of substance - anything to avoid doing teshuvah. Relax, have a glass of water, everything will work out. And then suddenly Nevuchadnezzar arrives with all his legions; it is said that the marching hosts were so vast they dried up the rivers. What happened to all your smooth talk? "And the prophets shall be astonished" - we thought everything would be fine, we apologize, there was an error in our intelligence sources, we were not plugged into the primary source. Suddenly it becomes clear that everything they promised was a lie.
The Malbim explains that in wartime, the king and his officers are the masters of strategy and valor. When they are overwhelmed, there still remain the priests - the men of the Beit HaMikdash, the masters of prayer - and the prophets, who are close to the Holy One, Blessed be He; within them lies the power to strengthen the nation. At times, only the spiritual leaders remain to offer fortitude when the king and his officers have already lost heart. Yet the prophet teaches just how immense the calamity will be: not only will the heart of the king and officers perish so that they find neither counsel nor courage, but even the priests - the priests of Hashem, in the Malbim's view - will be utterly appalled. As for "the prophets," the Malbim agrees with Radak that this refers to the false prophets, those who repeatedly proclaimed, "You shall have peace," and will now be left speechless. For this cannot refer to the true prophets; how could it be said that the true prophets would not know what to answer? Yirmiyahu was a true prophet, and he had been warning them all along precisely what was to come.
"Surely You Have Greatly Deceived": The Prophet's Plea
וָאֹמַר אֲהָהּ אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה אָכֵן הַשֵּׁא הִשֵּׁאתָ לָעָם הַזֶּה וְלִירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם לֵאמֹר שָׁלוֹם יִהְיֶה לָכֶם וְנָגְעָה חֶרֶב עַד הַנָּפֶשׁ׃ - "Then said I: 'Ah, Lord Hashem! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying: You shall have peace; whereas the sword reaches unto the soul.'"
"You have greatly deceived" (hashē hishēta) denotes an enticing promise and seduction, as in the verse: "The serpent beguiled me (hishi'ani), and I ate." On the surface, this statement seems astonishing: Where did the Holy One, Blessed be He, ever promise, "You shall have peace"? On the contrary, the opposite was true - He consistently warned that calamity was coming, that an enemy would arrive to conquer the Jewish people, bringing death, slaughter, and ruin.
Therefore, Radak explains that this refers to the false prophets. You might ask: Did the Holy One, Blessed be He, send them? After all, the false prophets spoke entirely on their own authority! Rather, the prophet's plea is this: Master of the Universe, by being patient with them and not punishing them immediately when they uttered falsehoods in Your Name, You effectively enticed the people to believe that they were speaking on Your behalf. Had You struck them down the moment they spoke falsely, the people would never have been seduced into believing their words and assuming their message came from You. But because You did not exact punishment from them, the people concluded: these must be true prophets of Hashem, and many followed after them. Thus, through Your silence, by refraining from punishing them, You seemed to corroborate their words and validate them. This is the meaning of "Surely You have greatly deceived this people." A similar concept appears in Yechezkel: "And if the prophet be enticed and speak a word, I, Hashem, have enticed that prophet." How did He entice him? By withholding punishment and allowing him to continue speaking lies.
"And the sword reaches to the soul" - the sword is already claiming lives. And this is the people's complaint to Yirmiyahu: the false prophets told us that we would have peace, while you said a sword would come, and now we see that the sword has reached to the soul; why did the Holy One, blessed be He, allow the false prophets to mislead us?
And the answer is: because the people wanted to be misled. The people wanted to hear the lies and did not want to hear the truth, and therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, gave them what they desired - "Along the path a person wishes to go, he is led." You want to hear lies? You will receive lies. You want to believe that everything is fine? Go ahead and believe it. But the reality is that you are sinning and serving idols in secret, and therefore the punishment arrives. "The sword reaches to the soul" - this is no longer a matter of money and property; it is a matter of life and death. For had they repented, or at least paid tribute to Nevuchadnezzar as other kings did, they might have been saved. But they relied on the false prophets and assumed everything would be fine, and therefore the sword reached to the soul.
The Parable of the Wind: "A Scorching Wind from the High Hills"
בָּעֵת הַהִיא יֵאָמֵר לָעָם הַזֶּה וְלִירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם רוּחַ צַח שְׁפָיִים בַּמִּדְבָּר דֶּרֶךְ בַּת עַמִּי לוֹא לִזְרוֹת וְלוֹא לְהָבַר׃ - At that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A dry, scorching wind from the high hills in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow and not to cleanse.
"A dry wind" - a fierce, dry wind that cannot be restrained; "high hills" - bare mountains; "in the wilderness" - an uninhabited place; "toward the daughter of my people" - blowing in the direction of my people. "Not to winnow and not to cleanse" - this wind does not come to winnow grain or sift it. For a wind can be beneficial: one takes the grain and tosses it into the air, the wind blows away the chaff, and the wheat falls below. But for that, a moderate breeze is needed so that it does not blow away the wheat as well. A scorching wind from the bare heights, however, is a fiercely violent wind that comes neither to winnow nor to cleanse, but to destroy, uproot, and ruin.
רוּחַ מָלֵא מֵאֵלֶּה יָבוֹא לִי עַתָּה גַּם אֲנִי אֲדַבֵּר מִשְׁפָּטִים אוֹתָם׃ - A wind fuller than these shall come for Me; now I too will speak judgments against them.
"A wind fuller than these" - a wind even more powerful than those - "shall come for Me." "Now I too will speak judgments against them" - the Holy One, blessed be He, says: now I will contend with them in judgment and punish them. The wind is a metaphor for the enemy who will come and desolate the land like a mighty wind and a tempest, leaving nothing behind.
The Malbim explains the parable: "a dry wind" is a parching wind that brings neither rain nor blessing; "high hills in the wilderness" - and in the desert there is no grain, so this wind cannot serve to winnow or to cleanse. It is a wind devoid of any utility, a wind of sheer desolation and destruction. And so it is with the false prophets: they are like a dry wind from the desert heights, uttering empty words and bringing no benefit whatsoever. They neither winnow nor clarify; they do not separate the bad from the good, nor do they awaken the people to teshuvah. Instead, they speak falsehoods - and these lies lead to ruin. Therefore, "now I too will speak judgments against them": I will punish them for all their sins and bring upon them the enemy who will execute judgment upon them.
הִנֵּה כַּעֲנָנִים יַעֲלֶה וְכַסּוּפָה מַרְכְּבוֹתָיו קַלּוּ מִנְּשָׁרִים סוּסָיו אוֹי לָנוּ כִּי שֻׁדָּדְנוּ׃ - Behold, he shall ascend like clouds, and his chariots like a whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles; woe to us, for we are ruined!
The enemy will advance like clouds covering the sky, his chariots will come like a whirlwind and a storm, and his horses will be swifter than eagles. And the people will cry out: "Woe to us, for we are ruined!" - for we have been plundered and destroyed. This is the difference between the false prophets and the true prophets: the false prophets promise peace and bring destruction, while the true prophets warn of destruction so that the people will repent and be saved. But the people did not listen to the true prophets, and therefore the destruction befell them.
"Wash Your Heart from Evil" - Inward Teshuvah
כַּבְּסִי מֵרָעָה לִבֵּךְ יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם לְמַעַן תִּוָּשֵׁעִי עַד מָתַי תָּלִין בְּקִרְבֵּךְ מַחְשְׁבוֹת אוֹנֵךְ׃ - Wash your heart from evil, Jerusalem, so that you may be saved; how long will your sinful thoughts lodge within you?
Yirmiyahu calls upon Jerusalem to repent and wash the heart of wickedness. External actions are not enough; it is not sufficient to buy tzitzit or change one's shirt - one must wash the heart and transform the inner self, "so that you may be saved," in order that you can be delivered. "How long will your iniquitous thoughts lodge within you?" - how long will you keep evil thoughts within you? "Aven" means power, but also falsehood, sin, and idolatry; "machshevot oneich" refers to sinful and idolatrous thoughts. Yirmiyahu tells them: you must uproot these thoughts from the heart and return in complete repentance, not only outwardly, but inwardly as well.
"A Voice Declares from Dan" - Great Is a Sin, for It Breaks What Precedes and Succeeds It
כִּי קוֹל מַגִּיד מִדָּן וּמַשְׁמִיעַ אָוֶן מֵהַר אֶפְרָיִם׃ - For a voice declares from Dan, and proclaims disaster from Mount Ephraim.
On a simple level: the sound of the enemy approaching from Dan, from the north, is already heard, along with the sound of destruction from Mount Ephraim. The enemy is already on his way and nearing Jerusalem, and if you do not repent now, it will be too late.
Rashi cites the Targum: "For the voice of the prophets prophesies against them that they will go into exile, because they worshipped the calf in Dan" - the prophet prophesies that they will be exiled, and this is "a voice declares from Dan," meaning on account of Dan, because of the sin committed in Dan. And what was in Dan? Yarov'am set up two calves, one in Dan and one in Mount Ephraim. "And proclaims bad tidings" - the prophet announces evil tidings that will befall them, "because they subjugated themselves to the idol set up by Michah on Mount Ephraim" - for having worshipped the idol Michah made in Mount Ephraim, as is known from what was studied previously. This is "and proclaims disaster from Mount Ephraim."
Rashi asks: the calves were already exiled in the days of Sancheriv! We are speaking here to Yehudah, after the exile of Shomron, when the calves were already taken away - so why are they being held accountable for something that no longer exists? Rashi answers: "Great is a sin, for it breaks what precedes it and what succeeds it." See the immense harm of a sin: it causes damage both before and after, consequences even before it was committed and consequences long after it ended. Where do we see the consequences beforehand? From the days of Avraham, as it says, "And he pursued until Dan" - and why did he not continue? Because when he reached Dan his strength waned, since his descendants were destined to worship idols there. He reached a place where idolatry would occur in the future, and already it had effects beforehand. And after it? From the destruction of the Temple, as it is said, "For a voice declares from Dan" - even though Dan had long been exiled and the calves had long been removed from there, it still exerts its impact afterward.
Radak explains that the messenger comes and announces that the enemy will come from Dan: Dan is the place from which the enemy penetrates, as Dan lies at the northern border of Eretz Yisrael, as in the phrase "from Dan to Be'er Sheva," and likewise Mount Ephraim. The Malbim, however, explains that this does not refer to a true messenger, meaning a true prophet, as the Targum and Rashi understand it, but rather this is the punishment itself: you listened to the voice of the messenger coming from Dan - to the false prophets who drew their power from the calves in Dan. And "proclaims disaster from Mount Ephraim" - the prophet who proclaims words of falsehood, where does his power come from? From Mount Ephraim, the site of the second calf, in Beit El. You believe the false prophets, and they say: do not worry, no calamity will come, no enemy will arrive - and consequently, you did not rush to repent, for if there is no danger anyway, why rush to repent? This is what the prophet says: do you know why the disaster has come? Because you listened to the voice of the announcers, the false prophets originating from the calves in Dan and Mount Ephraim. Perhaps this is symbolic, as the calves no longer existed by then, but it refers to those whose influence drew from Dan and Mount Ephraim - it is to them that you listen, and that is why you do not repent.
"Besiegers Are Coming" and "Like Keepers of a Field" - The Plan and the Result
הַזְכִּירוּ לַגּוֹיִם הִנֵּה הַשְׁמִיעוּ עַל יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם נֹצְרִים בָּאִים מֵאֶרֶץ הַמֶּרְחָק וַיִּתְּנוּ עַל עָרֵי יְהוּדָה קוֹלָם׃ - Make mention to the nations, behold, proclaim against Jerusalem, that besiegers come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Judah.
Radak explains that "lagoyim" means on behalf of the nations, similar to "Say of me [li], he is my brother" (Bereishit 12:13), which means on my behalf. And what should you proclaim concerning the nations? "Proclaim against Jerusalem that besiegers [notzrim] are coming." And what does "notzrim" mean? The simple meaning, as Rashi explains, is derived from siege [matzor] - people laying siege to us. Radak interprets it as an allusion to the army of Nevuchadnetzar, as if to say "Nevuchadnetzar-ites," the men of Nevuchadnetzar. The Targum translates "notzrim" as vintage-gatherers [botzrim], those coming to strip and harvest everything here. In any case, it is obvious that no one interprets this as referring to Christianity, since that belongs to a much later period and the prophet is certainly not speaking of it. "And raise their voice against the cities of Judah" - they are already raising their voice against the cities of Yehudah, signaling that they are near. In simple terms: the enemy is already close.
כְּשֹׁמְרֵי שָׂדַי הָיוּ עָלֶיהָ מִסָּבִיב כִּי אֹתִי מָרָתָה נְאֻם יְהֹוָה׃ - Like keepers of a field are they against her round about, because she has rebelled against Me, says Hashem.
The Malbim notes the precise wording: "Hazkiru" - remind the nations of what I say, and likewise "proclaim" to Jerusalem. And what is to be mentioned? Notice that the enemies are described at one moment as "notzrim" (besiegers) and at another as "shomrei sadai" (keepers of a field). What is the difference between a "shomer" (guard) and a "notzer" (besieger)? The Malbim explains: a notzer is far more intensive than a shomer. "Notzer" is generally used for a city locked in siege, while "shomer" is used for someone guarding a field of grain. Who guards more thoroughly? Certainly the notzer, who permits no exit or entry at all, imposing a siege and a stranglehold on the city. The shomer, by contrast, sits in a booth and merely watches those who enter and exit so that they do not trample the field. Thus, the designation "notzer" is on a much higher, more restrictive level than "shomer."
And this is what he tells them: remind the nations of how vastly their planned expectations differed from the final outcome of their deeds. They planned one thing, and it ended up completely differently. When they came, they assumed they would need to lay siege for many days until the city fell, for a fortified city requires a harsh, persistent siege over a long period - and concerning this it was stated at first, "besiegers come" (notzrim ba'im). Furthermore, they were certain they would not manage to reach Jerusalem right away, but would first have to lay siege to the cities of Judah, which is why "they raise their voice against the cities of Judah," and only afterward reach the capital city. In other words, in their plans, they never imagined they would conquer Jerusalem easily.
And what actually happened? "Like keepers of a field were they against her" - not like besiegers of a fortified city, but like guards of an open field, like someone guarding an empty field. They arrived, and there was no one here. And why was no one here? As we will see later in chapter 52, they breached the wall and fled, and [the Babylonians] overtook them near Jericho. Thus, the nations had prepared to be besiegers, yet suddenly found themselves acting like field guards - there was no one there; everyone had already fled. The unthinkable ease with which they captured the city took them completely by surprise. And not only that: "round about" - they thought they would have to battle through the cities of Judah before reaching the capital, yet here they arrived straight at it without any prior struggle at all, surrounding it on every side rather than being held at the gates. The days of the siege were not prolonged, nor were they forced to fight for an extended period. Even though they came "from a distant land," and whoever travels from a far-off land grows weary on the road and finds it difficult to wage war immediately, they succeeded in conquering the land with utter ease.
And why? Not because the people were weak, nor because these besiegers were so mighty, but as the verse states: "For she has rebelled against Me, says the Lord." This is like what is said: "If they were wise, they would understand this... How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had given them over?" Therefore, "remind the nations" - tell them not to imagine that this was achieved by their own strength and power; rather, let them recognize that "she has rebelled against Me," that everything that occurred here in this unnatural manner happened because the Jewish people were handed over to them by the Holy One, blessed be He. From here also comes a rebuke to Jerusalem: Do you not understand how this happened so quickly? Do you not realize that this is the hand of Hashem, and that you must repent and mend your ways? From this very fact you have proof that your deeds are corrupt, which is why the Holy One, blessed be He, brought the enemy upon you in a manner contrary to the laws of nature.
"Your Way and Your Deeds Have Brought These Things upon You"
דַּרְכֵּךְ וּמַעֲלָלַיִךְ עָשׂוֹ אֵלֶּה לָךְ זֹאת רָעָתֵךְ כִּי מָר כִּי נָגַע עַד לִבֵּךְ׃ - Your way and your deeds have brought these things upon you; this is your wickedness, for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.
The affliction is not the core problem - the deeds are the problem. This is not a misfortune that arose on its own, nor is it a trouble that came solely due to the wickedness of the nations, although they were certainly wicked. What caused and brought it about was "for she has rebelled against Me, says the Lord," as we saw in the preceding verse; all the expressions there were spoken to rebuke the people.
And consider: had the calamity not come on account of your evil deeds, there would still be comfort. For if I know that the trouble comes from an external source and not from my own actions, I will pray to Hashem, ask for help and support, cry out to Him - He is my hope, in Him I place my trust, and He will save me. But if evil deeds are what brought about the trouble, this is the heart of the problem: to whom can you turn? To Hashem, whose word you are defying and whose command you are violating? In such a state, there is no choice but to repent. Turning to Hashem applies when someone else is afflicting me; but when the trouble comes directly from Hashem to awaken me, to whom shall I plead? Hashem says to you: awaken, and only then will the trouble depart from you. There is no room here for mere pleading, and nothing to look forward to except changing one's deeds.
And this is the meaning of "this is your wickedness, for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart": the essence of the affliction is that it reaches the heart, that your heart knows - I brought this upon myself, I caused this to happen to me. This is a severe bind from which there is no escape except through repentance. In any other situation, I would pray to Hashem to rescue me and be relieved of the misfortune; here, because I know that it stems from within myself, the agony is far more internal and profound.
"My Innards, My Innards!" - The Cry of the Prophet
מֵעַי מֵעַי אוֹחִילָה קִירוֹת לִבִּי הֹמֶה לִּי לִבִּי לֹא אַחֲרִשׁ כִּי קוֹל שׁוֹפָר שָׁמַעַתְּ נַפְשִׁי תְּרוּעַת מִלְחָמָה׃ - My innards, my innards! I writhe in pain, the chambers of my heart! My heart moans within me; I cannot remain silent, for the sound of the shofar my soul has heard, the alarm of war.
The Radak first explains the repetition, "my innards, my innards": this is the way of those who lament, repeating their words, as in "my head, my head!" or "my stomach, my stomach!" When a person cries out in grief, he repeats the source of his pain. "Ochilah" is related to chil, trembling or labor pains like a woman giving birth - I cry out from the agony of my innards, from the calamity and distress. And should you say, cry out once and then be quiet - to this he says, "I cannot remain silent": the heart constantly churns, and I cannot simply fall silent after a single cry. And why can I not hold my peace? "For the sound of the shofar my soul has heard, the alarm of war." To be sure, the enemy has not yet arrived, which is why he does not say "my ears have heard," since physical hearing pertains to a tangible event that has already occurred; rather, it is the soul, knowing what is destined to come, that hears. He therefore addresses his soul, because there is an inner perception here deeper than auditory hearing, and for this reason he cannot remain silent, for it signifies that catastrophe is fast approaching.
The Malbim notes that there are two distinct expressions here: "My innards, my innards, I writhe" and "my heart moans within me." What is the difference between the churning of the innards and the moaning of the heart? The innards react in fear precisely to that which is beyond our control. A person can become so terrified that his stomach aches, feeling a knot in his stomach that clenches in dread of what is to come - and this occurs specifically regarding something one cannot change and that is not in one's hands. By contrast, the agitation of the heart relates to matters that a person can indeed change and that are within his control. Here, both are stated: both my innards writhe and the walls of my heart churn, and this moaning I cannot silence. And the reason: because in truth, I brought this upon myself.
The Malbim explains: Nebuchadnezzar had already devastated the cities and exiled Yehoyachin to Babylon, and despite all this, Tzidkiyahu rebels against him a second time, blows the shofar, and proclaims war against the king of Babylon. And what are the chances? Zero. How can anyone embark on a war whose chances are zero? This is what he means: My soul hears the sound of the shofar, and not just any shofar - "the blast of war." For there is a shofar blown not for battle but merely for gathering, as in the wilderness encampments, where trumpets and the sound of the shofar gathered the assembly; but here it is a battle cry. And over this my heart moans.
שֶׁבֶר עַל שֶׁבֶר נִקְרָא כִּי שֻׁדְּדָה כׇּל הָאָרֶץ פִּתְאֹם שֻׁדְּדוּ אֹהָלַי רֶגַע יְרִיעֹתָי׃ - "Destruction upon destruction is proclaimed, for the whole land is despoiled; suddenly my tents are spoiled, in an instant my curtains."
Rashi explains "destruction upon destruction" as the ruins of Jerusalem coming upon the exile of Yechanyah; according to his approach, the entire verse speaks of Yehudah, and the two destructions are stages in the exile of Yehudah. The Radak, by contrast, explains that one destruction refers to the ruin of the tribes - the exile of the Ten Tribes from Shomron, which was the first disaster - and the second destruction is the exile of Yehudah.
And why does the prophet describe "my tents" and "my curtains," when these people had long ceased living in tents? The Radak explains: this expression was deliberately chosen to show that the devastation happened with such ease and swiftness, as if these were merely pitched tents and curtains, which are so easily overthrown in a single moment. It seemed as though there would be a war, that we could fight, that we had fortresses - yet the enemy arrived, and everything was plundered as though we were dwelling in a tent and behind curtains, without any struggle or exertion, in the easiest manner imaginable.
עַד מָתַי אֶרְאֶה נֵּס אֶשְׁמְעָה קוֹל שׁוֹפָר׃ - "How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the shofar?"
A "standard" (nes) is the banner raised to rally the people. The prophet cries: we have already been broken more than enough in the earlier exiles, and we saw that we stand no chance against the enemy, who is far stronger than we are. Not only that, but we saw the enemy advance with supernatural power - they should have faced a prolonged war, yet in a single instant the Holy One, blessed be He, delivered everything into their hands: "Suddenly my tents are spoiled," all in an instant and with great ease. After seeing the depths of the ruin we have reached, the question is: How long shall I see a standard raised to rally the people for battle, and hear the sound of the shofar gathering those who are far and rousing them to war? Whom are you gathering for a doomed battle? Has history not taught us enough to understand that the chances are zero? Was what already occurred not enough for us to realize that the situation cannot be overturned this way?
This is the aspect of "My innards, my innards, I am in pain" - there is no chance whatsoever; yet the heart, as it were, says: "No, there is still hope, let us go out and wage war." And the prophet laments: what foolishness it is that experience has not made us wise enough to see that if we did not succeed then, we will not succeed now either. Especially since our reckoning is not with the nation opposing us, but with the Holy One, blessed be He: "For she has rebelled against Me, says Hashem." If so, how can one still harbor hopes of success in one's heart when the reckoning with the Master of the Universe remains unsettled? Over this my heart moans - the stirring of the heart is over something still anticipated, yet here there is no hope that we will succeed and triumph.
The Malbim offers an additional explanation: "Ochilah" is related to yearning (yichul), as in "I shall yearn for God, I will beseech His face" (Ochilah la-El) - an expression of longing and hope. That is to say: how I would love to hope, to expect good and reassure my innards, saying that all will be well; but my heart moans, and I cannot silence it. I cannot quiet the heart. I would love to calm my innards with a comforting hope, but the heart foresees terrible evils yet to come - harsh wars and frightful troubles - and thus I have no way to fulfill the longing of my innards. While the innards yearn for good, the heart foresees evil, and I have no way to soothe those expectations and imagine that they will ever be fulfilled.
In summary:
In these verses, Yirmiyahu depicts the enemy advancing from his lair and the desolation falling upon the land and its cities, teaching that the primary grief is not over the lion's departure from his thicket, but over the fact that "the fierce anger of Hashem has not turned back from us." The collapse of the leadership - the king, the princes, the kohanim, and the prophets - exposes just how heavily they relied on the deceptions of the false prophets, who promised "you shall have peace," and like a searing wind from the bare heights neither winnowed nor cleansed anything, but only destroyed. The unbearable ease with which the city fell proves that "she has rebelled against Me, says Hashem," and that the calamity stems from "your way and your deeds" - and therefore, there is no remedy except through repentance: "Wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved." And Yirmiyahu, whose soul hears the battle cry in advance, whose innards yearn while his heart moans and cannot be stilled - gives voice to the cry of a prophet who knows that the true reckoning is not with Babylon, but with the Master of the Universe.