Lamentations 2:14 - Exposition

Thy prophets. Jeremiah constantly inveighs against the fallacious, immoral preaching of the great mass of his prophetic contemporaries (comp. Jeremiah 6:13 , Jeremiah 6:14 ; Jeremiah 14:13-15 ; Jeremiah 23:14-40 ). Have seen vain and foolish things; i.e. have announced "visions" (prophecies) of an unreal and irrational tenor. Comp. Jeremiah 23:13 , where the same word here paraphrased as "irrational" (literally, insipid ) occurs. Discovered ; i.e. disclosed. To turn away thy captivity. The Captivity, then, might have been "turned away," if the other prophets had, like Jeremiah, disclosed the true spiritual state of the people, and moved them to repentance. False burdens. Suggestive references to these false prophecies occur in Jeremiah 14:13 , Jeremiah 14:14 ; Jeremiah 23:31 , Jeremiah 23:32 (see the Exposition on these passages). Causes of banishment. So Jeremiah, "They prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land."