John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 4:31

"For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gaspeth for breath, that spreadeth her hands, [saying], Woe is me now! for my soul fainteth before the murderers." — Jeremiah 4:31 (ASV)

By these words, Jeremiah confirms what the latter part of the preceding verse contains. Nor did he expand on it merely to clarify his subject; but when he saw his own nation so hard and almost like stones, he used many words and presented in various ways what he could have expressed in a single sentence. And what he taught would often have been coldly received if he had not added exhortations and warnings.

For this reason, he now expresses in other words what he had previously said: I have heard, he says, the voice as of one in labor. This hearing, undoubtedly, is to be understood consistently with what had been revealed to him. For Jeremiah could not hear in a manner different from others; but he speaks according to the revelation made to him concerning God's approaching judgment, which the people then ignored. And he received this revelation so that, by such a portrayal, he might make it known to them.

He then says that he had heard as if he had already witnessed all that was to come. He then intensifies the description of the evil, for he uses distress, צרה, tsere, instead of “voice,” קול, kul; and then he mentions, as an example of greater pain, a woman bringing forth her firstborn, instead of simply a woman in labor.

Jeremiah means, then, that final ruin was near for those people who could not then be turned from their sinful ways. But he intimates, as the Spirit also speaks in other places, that their destruction would be sudden: while they would be saying, Peace and security, sudden destruction would come upon them (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

And so the Prophet now declares that the Jews hardened themselves against God in vain, as though their ruin was not approaching, for their sorrow would come suddenly. Just as a woman may be cheerful at a meal or during her leisure, and then be suddenly seized with labor pains, so also the Prophet shows that the Jews had no reason to think they could escape God’s vengeance through a false confidence, because their destruction would come upon them unexpectedly.

He also sets forth, as already said, the greatness or the extremity of their grief by this simile: The voice of the daughter of Sion, who complains, etc.; for the relative pronoun may be added here.

Some take the verb to be in the second person: “You will lament and extend,” or “rend,” “your hands”; but this is not suitable, because the third person is immediately used, “thy hands.” Therefore, what he says is that the voice of the daughter of Sion would be evidence of her extreme grief, for she would lament; and he adds, at the same time, the smiting of hands.

This verb is variously translated; but as פרש, peresh, properly means to rend or to divide, I think the Prophet expresses the posture of a woman in grief. For she usually smites her hands together and, as it were, divides them by interlacing her fingers. Some translate the word as “expand,” for the hands are separated when raised up.

As to what is meant, there is nothing ambiguous in the Prophet’s words. For his object is to show that God’s vengeance would be so dreadful that the Jews would lament, not in an ordinary measure, but like women in the extreme pain of labor.

He then concludes by saying, Woe to me, for failed has my soul on account of murderers. Here the Prophet intimates that all the rest were blind in the midst of light; yet God’s judgment—which the ungodly and wicked laughed at, or at least disregarded—was seen clearly by him. His soul, he says, fainted for the slain; and yet no one had until now been slain. But by this way of speaking, he shows that he had, as it were, before his eyes what was hidden from others, and for this reason their hearts were not affected.