Behold, I [am] against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
Ver. 5. Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord] And I need say no more, wert thou but sensible of thy misery herein. Be not thou a terror to me, O Lord, saith Jeremiah, and then let what will else befall me, I shall the better bear it. Do not you fall upon me yourselves, said Samson to his countrymen that came to bind him; and then for the Philistines I shall order them well enough, Judges 15:12 : so saith the good soul, Let not God set against me. Tyrants and oppressors shall be sure to have him their enemy; and this he tells them here again and again, to beat down their vain confidence in their greatness, whereby they think to bear down all before them.
And I will discover thy skirts upon thy face] i.e. I will turn up thy clothes about thy ears, and so show to all thine utter disgrace, a fit punishment for so filthy a harlot, Isa 47:3 Jeremiah 13:22 Ezekiel 16:37 .
And I will show the nations thy nakedness] Which nature teacheth to cover; therefore when a man hath committed a sin he blusheth, the blood, as it were, would cover the sin, that mother of shame: Revelation 3:18, that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear. The whore of Babylon is, and more and more shall be, served on this sort, Revelation 17:16. Before God ye are all bare souled, said Mr Philpot, martyr, to the Popish synod, before whom he was convented. The kings of the earth shall make Rome desolate and naked. Luther and many other Protestant writers have done it already by laying her open in her colours to the world, taking the same boldness and liberty to discover her lewdness that she did to commit it.
And the kingdoms thy shame] Who shall therehence slight thee and hate thee, together with all thy policies and superstitions, whereby thou hast enslaved them.