---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Jeremiah 16"
description: "CHAPTER 16   :-. CONTINUATION OF THE
PREVIOUS PROPHECY. 2. in this place—in Judea. The
direction to remain single was (whether literally obeyed, or only i"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/jeremiah/16"
---

CHAPTER 16

. CONTINUATION OF THE
PREVIOUS PROPHECY.

**2. in this place**—in Judea. The
direction to remain single was (whether literally obeyed, or only in
prophetic vision) to symbolize the coming calamities of the Jews () as so severe that the single state would be then
(contrary to the ordinary course of things) preferable to the married
(compare [1 Corinthians 7:8](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/7/8); [1 Corinthians 7:26](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/7/26);
[1 Corinthians 7:29](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/7/29); [Matthew 24:19](../../../kjv/matthew/24/19);
[Luke 23:29](../../../kjv/luke/23/29)).

**4. grievous deaths**—rather,
"deadly diseases" ().
**not . . . lamented**—so
many shall be the slain ().
**dung**— ().

**5.** ([Ezekiel 24:17](../../../kjv/ezekiel/24/17);
[Ezekiel 24:22](../../../kjv/ezekiel/24/22); [Ezekiel 24:23](../../../kjv/ezekiel/24/23)).
**house of mourning**— ([Ezekiel 24:23](../../../kjv/ezekiel/24/23)). *Margin,* "mourning-feast"; such feasts
were usual at funerals. The *Hebrew* means, in [Ezekiel 24:23](../../../kjv/ezekiel/24/23), the *cry of joy* at a banquet; here, and [Ezekiel 24:23](../../../kjv/ezekiel/24/23), the *cry of sorrow.*

**6. cut themselves**—indicating
extravagant grief ([Jeremiah 41:5](../../../kjv/jeremiah/41/5);
[Jeremiah 47:5](../../../kjv/jeremiah/47/5)), prohibited by the law
([Leviticus 19:28](../../../kjv/leviticus/19/28)).
**bald**— ([Jeremiah 7:29](../../../kjv/jeremiah/7/29);
[Isaiah 22:12](../../../kjv/isaiah/22/12)).

**7. tear themselves**—rather,
"break bread," namely, that eaten at the funeral-feast
([Deuteronomy 26:14](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/26/14); [Job 42:11](../../../kjv/job/42/11);
[Ezekiel 24:17](../../../kjv/ezekiel/24/17); [Hosea 9:4](../../../kjv/hosea/9/4)).
"Bread" is to be supplied, as in [Hosea 9:4](../../../kjv/hosea/9/4); compare "take" (food) ([Hosea 9:4](../../../kjv/hosea/9/4)).
**give . . . cup of consolation
. . . for . . . father**—It was the Oriental custom for friends
to send viands and wine (the "cup of consolation") to
console relatives in mourning-feasts, for example, to children upon
the death of a "father" or "mother."

**8. house of feasting**—joyous:
as distinguished from mourning-feasts. Have no more to do with this
people whether in mourning or joyous feasts.

**9.** ([Jeremiah 7:34](../../../kjv/jeremiah/7/34);
[Jeremiah 25:10](../../../kjv/jeremiah/25/10); [Ezekiel 26:13](../../../kjv/ezekiel/26/13)).

**10.** ([Deuteronomy 29:24](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/29/24);
[1 Kings 9:8](../../../kjv/1-kings/9/8); [1 Kings 9:9](../../../kjv/1-kings/9/9)).

**11.** ([Jeremiah 5:19](../../../kjv/jeremiah/5/19);
[Jeremiah 13:22](../../../kjv/jeremiah/13/22); [Jeremiah 22:8](../../../kjv/jeremiah/22/8);
[Jeremiah 22:9](../../../kjv/jeremiah/22/9)).

**12. ye**—emphatic: so far from
avoiding your fathers' bad example, ye have done worse ([Jeremiah 7:26](../../../kjv/jeremiah/7/26);
[1 Kings 14:9](../../../kjv/1-kings/14/9)).
**imagination**—rather,
"stubborn perversity."
**that they may not
hearken**—rather, connected with "ye"; "ye have
walked . . . so as not to hearken to Me."

**13. serve other gods**—That
which was their sin in their own land was their punishment in exile.
Retribution in kind. They *voluntarily* forsook God for idols at
home; they were *not allowed* to serve God, if they wished it,
in captivity ([Daniel 3:12](../../../kjv/daniel/3/12); [Daniel 6:7](../../../kjv/daniel/6/7)).
**day and night**—irony.
You may there serve idols, which ye are so mad after, even to
satiety, and without intermission.

**14. Therefore**—So severe shall
be the Jews' bondage that their deliverance from it shall be a
greater benefit than that out of Egypt. The consolation is incidental
here; the prominent thought is the *severity* of their
punishment, so great that their rescue from it will be greater than
that from Egypt [CALVIN];
so the context, [Jeremiah 16:13](../../../kjv/jeremiah/16/13);
[Jeremiah 16:17](../../../kjv/jeremiah/16/17); [Jeremiah 16:18](../../../kjv/jeremiah/16/18),
proves ([Jeremiah 23:7](../../../kjv/jeremiah/23/7); [Jeremiah 23:8](../../../kjv/jeremiah/23/8);
[Isaiah 43:18](../../../kjv/isaiah/43/18)).

**15. the north**—Chaldea. But
while the return from Babylon is primarily meant, the return
hereafter is the full and final accomplishment contemplated, as "from
*all* the lands" proves. "*Israel*" was not,
save in a very limited sense, "gathered from all the lands"
at the return from Babylon (see on ; ; ).

**16. send for**—translate, "I
will send many"; "I will give the commission to many"
([2 Chronicles 17:7](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/17/7)).
**fishers . . .
hunters**—successive invaders of Judea ([Amos 4:2](../../../kjv/amos/4/2);
[Habakkuk 1:14](../../../kjv/habakkuk/1/14); [Habakkuk 1:15](../../../kjv/habakkuk/1/15)).
So "net" ([Ezekiel 12:13](../../../kjv/ezekiel/12/13)).
As to "hunters," see [Genesis 10:9](../../../kjv/genesis/10/9);
[Micah 7:2](../../../kjv/micah/7/2). The Chaldees were famous
in hunting, as the Egyptians, the other enemy of Judea, were in
fishing. "Fishers" expresses the *ease* of their
victory over the Jews as that of the angler over fishes; "hunters,"
the keenness of their pursuit of them into every cave and nook. It is
remarkable, the same image is used in a good sense of the Jews'
restoration, implying that just as their enemies were employed by God
to take them in hand for destruction, so the same shall be employed
for their restoration ([Ezekiel 47:9](../../../kjv/ezekiel/47/9);
[Ezekiel 47:10](../../../kjv/ezekiel/47/10)). So spiritually, those
once enemies by nature (*fishermen* many of them literally) were
employed by God to be heralds of salvation, "catching men"
for life ([Matthew 4:19](../../../kjv/matthew/4/19); [Luke 5:10](../../../kjv/luke/5/10);
[Acts 2:41](../../../kjv/acts/2/41); [Acts 4:4](../../../kjv/acts/4/4));
compare here [Jeremiah 16:19](../../../kjv/jeremiah/16/19), "the
Gentiles shall come unto thee" ([Jeremiah 16:19](../../../kjv/jeremiah/16/19)).

**17.** ([Jeremiah 32:19](../../../kjv/jeremiah/32/19);
[Proverbs 5:21](../../../kjv/proverbs/5/21); [Proverbs 15:3](../../../kjv/proverbs/15/3)).
**their iniquity**—the
cause of God's judgments on them.

**18. first . . . double**—HORSLEY
translates, "I will recompense . . . *once and again*";
literally, "the first time repeated": alluding to the two
captivities—the Babylonian and the Roman. MAURER,
"I will recompense their *former* iniquities (those *long
ago* committed by their fathers) and their (own) *repeated*
sins" ([Jeremiah 16:11](../../../kjv/jeremiah/16/11); [Jeremiah 16:12](../../../kjv/jeremiah/16/12)).
*English Version* gives a good sense, "*First* (before
'I bring them again into their land'), I will doubly (that is, *fully
and amply,* [Jeremiah 17:18](../../../kjv/jeremiah/17/18); [Isaiah 40:2](../../../kjv/isaiah/40/2))
recompense."
**carcasses**—not
sweet-smelling *sacrifices* acceptable to God, but "carcasses"
offered to idols, an offensive odor to God: human victims ([Jeremiah 19:5](../../../kjv/jeremiah/19/5);
[Ezekiel 16:20](../../../kjv/ezekiel/16/20)), and unclean animals
([Isaiah 65:4](../../../kjv/isaiah/65/4); [Isaiah 66:17](../../../kjv/isaiah/66/17)).
MAURER explains it, "the
carcasses" *of the idols:* their images void of sense and
life. Compare [Jeremiah 16:19](../../../kjv/jeremiah/16/19); [Jeremiah 16:20](../../../kjv/jeremiah/16/20).
[Leviticus 26:30](../../../kjv/leviticus/26/30) favors this.

**19, 20.** The result of God's
judgments on the Jews will be that both the Jews when restored, and
the Gentiles who have witnessed those judgments, shall renounce
idolatry for the worship of Jehovah. Fulfilled partly at the return
from Babylon, after which the Jews entirely renounced idols, and many
proselytes were gathered in from the Gentiles, but not to be realized
in its fulness till the final restoration of Israel ().

**20.** indignant protest of
Jeremiah against idols.
**and they (are) no gods**—
([Jeremiah 2:11](../../../kjv/jeremiah/2/11); [Isaiah 37:19](../../../kjv/isaiah/37/19);
[Galatians 4:8](../../../kjv/galatians/4/8)). "They" refers
to the idols. A *man* (a creature himself) making *God* is
a contradiction in terms. *Vulgate* takes "they" thus:
"Shall man make gods, though *men* themselves are not
gods?"

**21. Therefore**—In order that
all may be turned from idols to Jehovah, He will now give awful proof
of His divine power in the judgments He will inflict.
**this once**—If the
punishments I have heretofore inflicted *have* not been severe
enough to teach them.
**my name . . . Lord**—*Jehovah*
([Psalms 83:18](../../../kjv/psalms/83/18)): God's
incommunicable name, to apply which to idols would be blasphemy.
Keeping His threats and promises ([Psalms 83:18](../../../kjv/psalms/83/18)).

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