(19) Hast thou utterly rejected Judah?--The heart of the patriot overpowers even the conviction of the prophet, and, though bidden not to pray, he bursts forth, in spite of the command, with a prayer of passionate intercession.

Hath thy soul lothed Zion?--The Hebrew implies the act of rejection as well as the feeling which leads to it.

Verse 19. - We looked for peace, etc.; a repetition of Jeremiah 8:15.

14:17-22 Jeremiah acknowledged his own sins, and those of the people, but pleaded with the Lord to remember his covenant. In their distress none of the idols of the Gentiles could help them, nor could the heavens give rain of themselves. The Lord will always have a people to plead with him at his mercy-seat. He will heal every truly repenting sinner. Should he not see fit to hear our prayers on behalf of our guilty land, he will certainly bless with salvation all who confess their sins and seek his mercy.Hast thou utterly rejected Judah?.... The prophet, though forbid, proceeds to prayers and expostulations on account of this people, the people of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin: or, "in rejecting hast thou rejected Judah?" (t) from being a nation, from being under thy care and protection? hast thou cast them away, and wilt thou suffer them to go into captivity as the ten tribes? what! Judah, whom the Lord hath chosen, and where was his dwelling place? what! Judah, from whom the chief ruler, the Messiah, was to come? what! Judah, from whom the sceptre was not to depart, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, till Shiloh came? and, what! wilt thou reject, and utterly reject, this tribe, upon which so many favours have been bestowed, and from which so much is expected?

Hath thy soul loathed Zion? whom thou hast formerly so much loved and delighted in, and chosen for thine habitation; Zion, the joy of the whole earth, and a perfection of beauty.

Why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? brought upon them his judgments; or, however, was about to bring them upon them, famine, sword, and captivity; and there was no deliverance from them, no way to escape them, no relief, no remedy, or no healing, as in 2 Chronicles 36:16.

We looked for peace: as the false prophets foretold; or through alliance with neighbouring nations, even all safety and prosperity; and had no notion of desolation and war:

and there is no good; as was promised and expected, but all the reverse:

and for the time of healing; national and civil disorders, from which might have been hoped for a train of blessings:

and behold trouble! fears, frights, perplexities, and distresses; trouble from without, and from within. The Targum is,

"a time of pardon of sins, and behold punishment of sins.''

(t) "reprobando reprobasti", Montanus, Schmidt.