They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a faulty bow. Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.
Their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue - The word, rendered “rage,” is everywhere else used of the wrath of God; here, of the “wrath” and “foaming” of man against God. Jeremiah relates how, the nearer their destruction came upon Judah, the more madly the politicians and false prophets cantradicted what God revealed. Their tongue was a “sharp sword.” They sharpened their tongue like a sword; and the sword pierced their own bosom. The phrensy of their speech not only drew down God’s anger, but was the instrument of their destruction. They misled the people; taught them to trust in Egypt, not in God; persuaded them to believe themselves, and to disbelieve God; to believe, that the enemy should depart from them and not carry them away captive. They worked up the people to their will, and so they secured their own destruction. The princes of Judah were especially judged and put to death by Nebuchadnezzar Jeremiah 52:10. The like probably took place in Israel. In any case, those chief in power are chief objects of destruction. Still more did these words come true before the final destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. They were maddened by their own curse, “the rage of their tongue” against their Redeemer, “His blood be on us and on our children.” Frenzy became their characteristic. It was the amazement of the Romans, and their own destruction.