Albert Barnes Commentary Jeremiah 4

Return - The repentance of Israel described in (Jeremiah 3:21–25) was a hope, and not a reality. The return, literally, would be their restoration to their land; spiritually, their abandoning their sins.

(Jeremiah 4:1–2) should be translated as follows:

If you would return, O Israel, says Yahweh.
To Me you shall return:
And if you would remove your abominations from before Me,
And not wander to and fro,
But would swear truly, uprightly; and justly
By the living Yahweh;

Then shall the pagan bless themselves... -

In him - In Yahweh. Two great truths are taught in this verse:

1. that the Gentiles were to be members of the Church of the Messiah;
2. that Israel’s special office was to be God’s mediator in this great work.

Thus, Jeremiah is in exact accord with the evangelical teaching of Isaiah.

To the men—To each man “of Judah.” They are summoned individually to repentance.

Break up—literally, Fallow for you a fallow ground, that is, do not sow the seeds of repentance in unfit soil; but just as the farmer prepares the ground by clearing it of weeds and exposing it to the sun and air before entrusting to it the seed, so must you regard repentance as a serious matter, requiring forethought and anxious labor. To sow in unfallowed ground was practically to sow on land full of thorns.

See the (Deuteronomy 10:16) note. Nature, as it is in itself, unconsecrated to God, is to be removed from our inner selves, so that a new and spiritual nature may take its place.

Lest my fury... — God is long-suffering, but unless this change takes place, the time of judgment must eventually come to all as it came to Jerusalem — like fire (Compare to 1 Corinthians 3:13; Philippians 2:12–13).

(Jeremiah 4:5–30) "God’s Judgment upon the Unrepentant"

A group of prophecies now begins, extending to (Jeremiah 10:25), but broken at the beginning of (Jeremiah 7) by a new heading. The subject of all of them is the same, namely, the approaching devastation of Judea by a hostile army in punishment of its persistence in idolatry.

The prophecy of (Jeremiah 7) was probably written in the first year of Jehoiakim, while, as regards the rest, they probably extended over a considerable period of time. This group, which we may reasonably believe to have come down to us much as it stood in Jehoiakim’s scroll, gives us a general view of the nature of Jeremiah’s efforts during that important period when, under Josiah, a national reformation was still possible, and the exile might have been averted.

The prophecy of (Jeremiah 7), spoken in the first year of Jehoiakim when the probation of Judah was virtually over, was the solemn closing of the appeal to the conscience of the people and a protest—while the new king was still young upon his throne—against the ruinous course he so immediately entered.

Rather, proclaim in Judah, and in Jerusalem, instruct them to hear, and say, Blow the trumpet throughout the land: cry aloud, and say, and so on. The prophecy begins with a loud alarm of war. The verse sets forth well, in its numerous commands, the excitement and confusion of such a time.

The standard - A flag or signal, to which the people were to rally. Retire, stay not - Rather, gather your goods together: linger not; “for I” (emphatic, Yahweh) am bringing at this very time and so forth.