Jeremiah 4:10
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD!.... Expressing great sorrow and concern: this "ah" is by way of lamentation. The Targum interprets it as a petition,
"and I said, receive my prayer, O Lord God:''
surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem: what the false prophets did, that God is said to do, because he suffered them to deceive the people; see 1 Kings 22:20. The Targum ascribes the deception to the false prophets, and not to God,
"surely behold the false prophets deceive this people, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem;''
or this may be ironically said, because the false prophets pretended to speak in the name of the Lord; wherefore Jeremiah says, "surely thou hast greatly deceived", &c. "saying, ye shall have peace"; as the false prophets did, Jeremiah 6:14:
whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul; takes away the life, many are slain by it; so the Targum,
"and now behold the sword killeth among the people;''
great slaughter is made by it. L'Empereur {w} observes that the word here used signifies, in the Arabic language, to educate or bring up; and then the sense is,
"ah, Lord, thou hast brought up this people with great tenderness, and promised them all manner of happiness; but now thou thunderest out threatenings of calamities of all sorts, and death itself; and assigned a place for the sword to enter into their very souls;''
so the Arabic word used in the version of Acts 22:2.
{w} Not. ad Mosis Kimchi, odoiporia, p. 186.