Lamentations 2:14

The thought that the false prophets are worthy of condemnation for buoying the people up with vain hopes is distinctly in Jeremiah's manner (cp. Ezekiel 12:24; Ezekiel 13:6 f., Ezekiel 22:28). It is true that we here wholly lack the vehement rebukes which he administered to the people and the priests for their disloyalty to Jehovah. But it is not necessarily fatal to the prophet's authorship that the writer bestows unqualified pity on his fellow-countrymen. We can hardly look for invective in a sorrowful lament.

foolishness i.e. what is meaningless, worthless.

discovered uncovered, revealed (to thee), a sense now obsolete. Cp.

"Go, draw aside the curtains, and discover

The several caskets to this noble prince."

Merch. of Ven. Act II. Sc. 7.

to bring again thy captivity See on Jeremiah 29:14.

burdens(better as mg. oracles) of vanity i.e. false oracles. See on Jeremiah 23:33 ff.

causes of banishment or (less well) mg. things to draw thee aside, i.e. from Jehovah to idols. The Heb. word for "banishment" is not elsewhere found. It here points to the consequences which followed the teaching of the false prophets. Cp. Jeremiah 27:10; Jeremiah 27:15.