Make ye mention to the nations: these are either the nations in Judea; or these words are a proclamation, summoning in the nations by the Chaldeans, as it were, in pursuance of a commission from God, to bring great armies together against Jerusalem; or they are the prophets turning away from Judah, as despairing of doing any good upon them, and calling for the nations to execute God's sentence. Publish; let her be acquainted with what is coming upon her, let her have public notice beforehand, that she may be warned. Watchers; military watchers, i.e. the Chaldean soldiers, that shall so carefully and watchfully encompass Jerusalem, that none shall escape; possibly a metaphor from hunters, that in hunting their prey lay wait at every passage, that the game may not escape. See 2 Kings 25:4,5. Or possibly there may be an allusion to Nebuchadnezzar's name; the Hebrew word for watchers being notscrim, which comes from natser, the end of his name, as if they were termed Nebuchadnezzartans, as the keepers or guards of his person; as they were called Caesarcans from Caesar. Come; they are now at hand, you may as it were see them. From a far country; from Chaldea. Give out their voice; they will proclaim war against them; or a shout, either encouraging soldiers to the battle, or triumphing after the victory; or the outcries that they will make, such as the Turks now make in their onsets, Jeremiah 2:15.
Related Commentaries of Jeremiah 4:16
Jeremiah 4:16
16 Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.