John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 15:9

"She that hath borne seven languisheth; she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she hath been put to shame and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith Jehovah." — Jeremiah 15:9 (ASV)

He proceeds with his narrative, saying that fruitful women had been weakened. This was not in the way we often see, where frequent childbearing diminishes a woman's strength. Instead, he speaks of the strength mothers derive from their children, because a numerous offspring is the support of mothers. Therefore, a woman who has many children seems strong, as if defended by many shields. Since mothers were accustomed to place much dependence on their offspring, he says that their strength was weakened when they were deprived of all their children, as though they had been barren.

He afterwards adds that the soul—the people—had expired, for he is not speaking here of women, but of the whole people. For it afterwards follows, Set hath her sun while it was yet day. This means that when prosperity seemed certain, God suddenly involved them in adversity and, as it were, surrounded them with darkness when they thought that prosperous fortune was shining on them.

He says at last that they were confounded and ashamed. At the same time, he declares that he would give all who remained to the sword before their enemies, as though he had said, “They have not yet suffered all the punishment allotted to them, for they are not subdued, though I have heavily and severely chastised them; since they are incurable, the sword shall destroy the remainder; for my vengeance shall not cease to pursue them until I shall utterly consume them.”

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that we may not by our hardness so provoke your judgment against us as to constrain you to assail us with an armed hand; but may we, through a meek and submissive spirit, be so influenced by your threats as to forestall that vengeance by which we see that all the reprobate and the perverse have been punished; and may we so strive by true repentance to obtain your favor, that we may receive your daily blessings and benefits, until we at last come to the full and real enjoyment of all those blessings which have been laid up for us in your celestial kingdom, through Christ, our Lord. Amen.