John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 5:17

"And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, [which] thy sons and thy daughters should eat; they shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds; they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees; they shall beat down thy fortified cities, wherein thou trustest, with the sword." — Jeremiah 5:17 (ASV)

He continues to speak in a similar way of the cruelty of their enemies, as if to say that victory was already in their hands, for they were the scourges of God. He does not then set before the Jews the troubles of war but speaks of them as conquered. He only shows that the Chaldeans would be cruel in the use they would make of their victory. He takes it for granted that the Chaldeans would be conquerors, for they would come armed from above, and he adds that they would act cruelly and in an unusual manner towards the defeated Jews.

Therefore, he says, They will eat (it will eat, for he changes the number, though the sense remains the same) thine harvest and thy bread; that is, all that you gather shall become a prey to your enemies, for by harvest and bread he means every kind of provision.

Then he adds, thy sons and thy daughters, which was still worse. It is indeed hard to be deprived of food, but it is still more dreadful for parents to see their children slain before them. The Prophet, however, says that such would be the barbarity of their enemies that they would not spare even boys and girls.

He further mentions herds and flocks; and then he adds the vine and the fig-tree; as if to say that nothing would be safe among the Jews, for their enemies would plunder everything. Not content with meat and drink, they would kill their very infants.

Furthermore, because the Jews had fortified cities and were therefore insolent towards the prophets, their vain pride is here brought down. For he says that their fortified cities would be reduced to poverty; and he adds, in which thou trustest.

All these, he says, shall fall by the sword; for this last word, בחרב, becherab, applies to the whole verse and to each part of it. It is as if he had said, “By the right of the sword the conquerors shall lay waste your whole country, even all your possessions; indeed, and they shall slay your sons and your daughters.”