Jeremiah 1:17

Thou therefore gird up thy loins,.... The loins both of his mind and body.

Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. Gird up thy loins - resolutely prepare for thy appointed task.

Gird up thy loins: by this expression God quickens and hastens him upon his work, not to stand hesitating, but to be doing; prepare thyself: for it is a speech taken from the custom of the countries where they did wear long garments; and therefore they did gird them up about them, that they might not hinder them in any work that required expedition. See the phrase and practice , and in many other texts. It implies two things: 1. Speed and despatch. 2. Courage and resolution, Job 38. Arise; another expression to the same purpose, to speed him about his work; the like Jeremiah 13. Command thee, Heb. shall command thee. Be not dismayed at their faces; discover no fear, and conceal no message. See . Confound thee, Heb. break thee in pieces; either lest thou prove confused and shattered in thy notions, and unable to deliver thy message, lest I leave thee and forsake thee; or lest I terrify thee worse than they are able to do, even to ruin thee. See . Before them: it seems to be spoken by way of aggravation; God would shame him, or destroy him, even in their sight, to become their reproach. Or, Think not to escape any more than Urijah, .

Jeremiah 1:17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.Ver. 17. Thou therefore gird up thy loins,] q.d., Thou hast, I must needs say, a hard task of it. But hard or not hard, it must be done, or thou art undone. About it therefore and play the man, plucking up thy best heart, as we say, and acting vigorously. Stir up the gifts of God that are in thee, and exercise thy talents committed unto thee. Verbi minister es: hoc age. Be not dismayed at their faces, lest.] Ne conteritor, ne te conteram. Be net afraid of them, lest I fright thee worse, to thy ruth and utter ruin. Excellently Bernard, If I deal not faithfully with you, you will be damnified, but I shall be damned. Let me suffer anything rather than be guilty of a sinful silence, said that heroic Luther. But Melanchthon, his colleague, was so timorous, that Luther was fain to chide him many times. And Calvin, in an epistle of his to John Sleidan, prayeth God to furnish him with a more noble spirit, ne gravem ex eius timiditate iacturam sentiat posteritas, lest posterity should rue for his timidity. Calvin himself, in his last speech to his fellow ministers on his death bed, speaketh thus: When I first came to this city (Geneva), the gospel indeed was here preached, but things were very far out of order, as if Christianity consisted wholly in the casting down of images, &c. There were also not a few wicked fellows who put me hard to, setting themselves against me to their utmost. But the Lord our good God did so steel me and strengthen me, who am naturally fearful and dastardly, that I stoutly withstood them, and went on with the work of reformation; to his glory alone be it spoken. Melanchthon also admired that courage in Luther that he could not find in himself; for besides many passages of his in his epistles that way tending, one time when he saw Luther’ s picture, he uttered this verse immediately, “ Fulminia erant linguae singulae verba tuae. ” Perquam difficile est, sed ita lex iubet. Antanaclasis. Melc. Ad. in Vit. Calvin, p. 106.

(17) Gird up thy loins.—Be as the messenger who prepares to be swift on his errand, and to go whithersoever he is sent (1 Kings 18:46; 2 Kings 4:29; 2 Kings 9:1). The vivid image of intense activity re-appears in the New Testament (Luke 12:35; 1 Peter 1:13), and has become proverbial in the speech of Christendom. Be not dismayed.—The repeated calls to courage appear to indicate—like St. Paul’s exhortations to Timothy (1 Timothy 4:12; 1 Timothy 6:13; 2 Timothy 2:3)—a constitutional timidity. We must remember, as some excuse for this, that the reign of Manasseh had shown that the work of the prophet might easily lead to the fate of the martyr (2 Kings 21:16). Even Ezekiel, among the remnant of exiles on the banks of Chebar, needed a like encouragement (Ezekiel 2:6). Lest I confound thee.—The Hebrew emphasises the command by repeating the same words: Be not dismayed, lest I dismay thee.

Verse 17. Gird up thy loins] Take courage and be ready, lest I confound thee; take courage and be resolute, פן pen, lest by their opposition thou be terrified and confounded. God is often represented as doing or causing to be done, what he only permits or suffers to be done. Or, do not fear them, I will not suffer thee to be confounded. So Dahler, Ne crains pas que je te confonde a leurs yeux, "Do not fear that I shall confound thee before them." It is well known that the phrase, gird up thy reins, is a metaphor taken from the long robes of the Asiatics; which, on going a journey, or performing their ordinary work, they were obliged to truss up under their girdles, that the motions of the body might not be impeded.

17–19. Words of encouragement 17. Thou therefore gird up thy loins] obviously metaphorical. Prepare for energetic action or strenuous conflict. The lower part of the flowing Eastern robe was gathered up in preparation for (i) a journey (Exodus 12:11; 2 Kings 4:29; 2 Kings 9:1), (ii) a race (1 Kings 18:46), (iii) a conflict (Job 38:3; Job 40:7). be not dismayed, etc.] be not dismayed (lit. broken down, shattered) before them, lest I dismay thee before them. Be not a coward, lest I leave thee to the consequences of thy cowardice. Quail not, lest I let thee quail. Cp. Jeremiah 17:17.

Gird up thy loins - A symbol of preparation for earnest exertion, and implying also firm purpose, and some degree of alacrit Be not dismayed ... - literally, “be not dismayed at their faces, lest I

17, 18. Gird up thy loins — Fasten up the outer garment with the girdle, so as to be ready for vigorous exertion. Thus was Jeremiah to address himself to his great and urgent work.