34 Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
He still continues the same subject; for he denounces on the Jews the punishment which they had deserved. He more fully expresses what he mentioned in the last verse respecting the shameful and dreadful barbarity that would follow the slaughter; for the whole country would not only be harassed by the enemy, but wholly laid waste: for when sounds of joy and gladness cease, all places are filled with lamentations; and when no marriages are celebrated, it is a sign of devastation. But by marriage, the Prophet, stating a part for the whole, understands whatever was necessary for the preservation of society; it is the same as though he had said, "There shall be now no marrying:" for without marriages the human race cannot continue. Hence this cessation would be the same, as though he had said, that they would be wholly regardless of all those things necessary to perpetuate mankind. He thus adds nothing new, but expands what we have before observed, -- that the whole land would be filled with dead bodies, and that there would be such lamentation as to deter men from all their usual and ordinary habits: he afterwards shews more fully the same thing.
Silence and desolation are to settle upon the whole land.
Then will I cause to cease - the voice of mirth - There shall no longer be in Jerusalem any cause of joy; they shall neither marry nor be given in marriage, for the land shall be totally desolated. Such horrible sins required such a horrible punishment. And they must be horrible, when they move God to destroy the work of his own hands.
Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem,.... Signifying that the devastation should not only be in and about Jerusalem, but should reach all over the land of Judea; since in all cities, towns, and villages, would cease
the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness; upon any account whatever; and, instead of that, mourning, weeping, and lamentation:
the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride; no marrying, and giving in marriage, and so no expressions of joy on such occasions; and consequently no likelihood, at present, of repeopling the city of Jerusalem, and the other cities of Judah:
for the land shall be desolate; without people to dwell in it, and till it. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, read, "the whole land".
Referring to the joyous songs and music with which the bride and bridegroom were escorted in the procession to the home of the latter from that of the former; a custom still prevalent in the East (Jeremiah 16:9; Isaiah 24:7-8; Revelation 18:23).
Thus the Lord will put an end to all joyfulness in life throughout the land: cf. Hosea 2:13; Ezekiel 26:13. The voice of the bridegroom and the bride is a circumlocution for the mirth of marriage festivities; cf. 1 Macc. 9:39. All joy will be dumb, for the land shall become a waste; as the people had been warned, in Leviticus 26:31, Leviticus 26:33, would be the case if they forsook the Lord.
*More commentary available at chapter level.