John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 5:16

"Their quiver is an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men." — Jeremiah 5:16 (ASV)

The Prophet had already threatened the Jews with the vengeance of God and had said that the ministers and executioners of it would be the Chaldeans. He now continues the same subject and says that their quiver would be like an open sepulcher.

The nations of the East, we know, made much use of arrows and darts, for they had no pitched battles; instead, they pretended to flee and then, suddenly turning, hurled their darts and arrows against their enemies.

The Prophet, then, was referring to this mode of fighting when he says that their quivers would be like open sepulchers. It may seem an unnatural comparison at first sight; but it is as if he had said that they would be so skillful in throwing arrows as to destroy all who met them.

And he adds that they would all be strong, so that the people might know that it would not be a slight conflict. In short, it is as if he had said that this war would be a certain ruin to the Jews, in which they would all perish.

He afterwards adds—