Matthew Poole and continuators on Jeremiah 4:30

30 And when thou art spoiled , what wilt thou do ? Though thou clothest thy self with crimson , though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thy self fair, thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

Which will certainly come upon thee, or when this destruction shall come upon thee, which is very near thee.

Viz when thou, O daughter of Zion, as verse 31. art besieged by the Babylonians, what course wilt thou take? It is not to be avoided: A kind of an insulting way of speech, as it were upbraiding them with their pride and confidence, q. d. your condition is desperate.

Or Scarlet, 2 Sam. 1.24. see on Isa. 1.18.

Though thou dost superinduce those Ornamens, or Jewels of Gold, that may render thy Attire the most rich and splendid, 2 Sam. 1.24.

It is observed, that they that paint much, make their skins withered.

Heb. Eyes, the wantonness thereof being possibly set out more by painting, see Isa. 3.16. or rather, Face and Eyes being sometimes put one for the other, see 1 Sam. 16.12. and Isa. 25.8. compare with Rev. 21.4.

All thy tricking up thy self, thinking thereby to ingratiate thy self with the Chaldeans will be to no purpose, for they will work thy ruin, as in the close of the verse, and chap. 19.7.

They will slight thee more then ever, they that have doted on thee, thy unchaste Paramours, their lust being satisfied shall abhor thee, see 2 Sam. 13.15. and the Pronoun, being not in the Original, it may signifie, that no Lovers at all will look after thee, thou shalt be cast of by all. See thus of Tyre, Isa. 23.15, 16. Those that were in confederacy with thee, and thy professed friends, Hosea 2.5. shall not only forsake thee, but join with thine enemies to destroy thee, Lam. 1.2. And thus is Babylon to be dealt withal, Rev. 17.16, 17. The sense is, that notwithstanding all thy allurings and enticements, either to obtain the help of thy Friends and Allies, the Egyptians, whom thou takest to be thy Lovers, and didst forsake me to cleave to them, or to stop the fury of thine enemies, the Chaldeans, possibly alluding to Iezabel's practice, in painting her self to stop the fury of Iehu, 2 Kings 9.30. yet shall it advantage thee nothing, thou shalt be no more regarded then a forsaken Strumpet, Ezek. 16.36, 37. and 23. tot.

Marginal references: Heb. Eyes.