29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take; they shall carry away for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry to them, Terror on every side!
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The Prophet, in speaking of tents and curtains, had regard to the way of living adopted by that nation; for the Arabs, we know, dwelt in cabins and tents, as they do at this day, and they were also shepherds. They had no cultivated fields, but led their flocks through the deserts; and they had a great number of camels. This is the reason why the Prophet mentions tents, curtains, camels, and flocks, while speaking of the Kedareans; for they dwelt not in a fertile country, they possessed no arable lands, nor had they much other wealth, neither cities nor palaces. The sum of what is said is, that the Kedareans were doomed to destruction, and were therefore exposed as a prey to their enemies. But as this was difficult to be believed, he adds, They shall cry to them, Terror on every side By these words the Prophet means, that there would be so much dread, that all would suffer their possessions to be plundered, not daring to make any resistance, because terror on every side would lay hold on them. They who read, "They shall call them terror on every side," think that this is said metaphorically of the soldiers, as they were terrible. Some also say, "The king of Babylon shall call" or summon "terror on every side against them." But the former explanation is the most probable, that when enemies called or cried out, Terror, terror, as conquerors, they would overcome them by their voice alone. This is, as I think, the real meaning of the Prophet. It now follows, --
Curtains - The hangings of the tents.
Fear is on every side - Magor-missabib (see Jeremiah 6:25 note); a cry, indicating the panic which followed the unexpected onset of the enemy.
Their tents and their flocks - This description of property shows that they were Scenite or Nomad Arabs; persons who dwell in tents, and whose principal property was cattle, especially camels, of the whole of which they were plundered by the Chaldeans.
Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their (d) curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry to them, Fear [is] on every side.
(d) Because they used to dwell in tents, he names the things that belong to it.
Their tents and their flocks shall they take away,.... The Kedarenes were a people whose business chiefly lay in feeding flocks, and of which their substance consisted; and they mostly dwelt in tents, which they removed from place to place, for the sake of pasturage for their flocks; hence they were sometimes called Scenites, and sometimes Nomades; see Psalm 120:5; but now both their habitations, such as they were, and their flocks too, wherein lay their riches, would be taken away from them:
they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels,
and their camels; their curtains made of skins of beasts, of which their tents were made; or with which they were covered to protect them from the inclemencies of the weather; and all the furniture of them, their household goods; their vessels for domestic use; and utensils for their calling and employment; and their camels, which were much used in those countries for travelling from place to place; on which they put their tents, curtains, and vessels, when they removed from one pasturage to another; these they, not the Kedarenes, should take to themselves, and flee with them; but the Chaldeans should seize on them for themselves, as their booty and prey:
and they shall cry unto them, fear is on every side; or, "magormissabib", "a fear all round", Jeremiah 20:3; this is the word the Chaldeans shall use, and with it frighten the Kedarenes out of their tents; or by the sound of their trumpets, the alarm of war, and by their shouts and cries, and the clashing of their arms, they shall put them in fear all around: or else the Kedarenes and Hazorites, when they shall see the Chaldean army approaching, shall say one to another, fear is on all sides of us; nothing but ruin and destruction attend us from every quarter.
tents--in which they dwelt, from which they are called Scenites, that is, tent dwellers.
curtains--namely, with which the tents were covered (Jeremiah 4:20; Jeremiah 10:20; Psalm 104:2).
they shall cry unto them, Fear, &c.--The foe, on crying, Fear . . ., shall discomfit them (the Kedarenes) by their mere cry.
They - The Chaldeans.
*More commentary available at chapter level.