John Gill 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)

And they shall eat up your harvest
The standing corn in the fields, cut it down, and give it as fodder to their horses, which is usually done by armies; or the increase of the earth, when gathered into the barn, which so great an army would consume: and your bread ;
which includes all kind of provisions: which your sons and your daughters should eat ;
which is an aggravation of the calamity and misery, that that should become the prey of their enemies, which they with so much labour and pains had provided for their children, who would now be deprived of it, and suffer want, The Targum renders it,

``shall kill your sons and your daughters;'' that is, with the sword; and so Kimchi interprets it; and so other versions read, "they shall eat up, or devour, your sons and your daughters" <sup>F26</sup> ; the sword ate them up, or devoured them; and they who besieged them were the cause or occasion of their being eaten literally, even by their own parents; see (Lamentations 2:20) (4:10) : they shall eat up your flocks and your herds ;
their sheep and oxen, as the Targum interprets it: they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees :
that is, the fruit of them, as the same paraphrase explains it: they shall impoverish your fenced cities, wherein you trusted, with
the sword ;
that is, such strong and fortified cities as Jerusalem, and others, in which the Jews trusted they should be safe from their enemies; these the Chaldeans would enter into, kill with the sword those they found in garrisons, demolish the fortifications, take away what wealth and riches were laid up there, and so impoverish them, and render them weak and defenceless. The Targum of this clause is, ``shall destroy the fortified cities of your land, in which you trusted you should be safe from those that kill with the sword.''

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FOOTNOTES:

• F26:
  F26 (Kytwnbw Kynb wlkay) "vorabunt filios tuos et devorabunt", Calvin; "devorabunt", Vatablus; "comedent filios tuos et filias tuas", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius.