The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jeremiah's Sixth Prophecy (see Book comments for Jeremiah).
came. The danger attending this message is shown in Jeremiah 26 . Compare Jeremiah 7:2 with Jeremiah 26:2 ; Jeremiah 7:3 with Jeremiah 26:13 ; Jeremiah 7:12-14 with Jeremiah 26:4-6 . Jeremiah 26 was in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, probably his fourth year. Jeremiah 26 is the historical appendix of Jeremiah 7 .
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4 .
Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.
in the gate: i.e. in the fore-court. The proclamation has the Temple and its frequenters for its subject.
all ye of Judah = all Judah.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel. This title occurs thirty-four times in Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 7:3 ; Jeremiah 7:21 ; Jeremiah 9:15 ; Jeremiah 16:9 ; Jeremiah 19:3 ; Jeremiah 19:15 ; Jeremiah 25:15 ; Jeremiah 25:27 ; Jeremiah 27:4 ; Jeremiah 27:21 ; Jeremiah 28:2 ; Jeremiah 28:14 ; Jeremiah 29:4 ; Jeremiah 29:8 ; Jeremiah 29:21 ; Jeremiah 29:25 ; Jeremiah 31:23 ; Jeremiah 32:14-15 ; Jeremiah 35:13 ; Jeremiah 35:18-19 ; Jeremiah 38:17 ; Jeremiah 39:16 ; Jeremiah 42:15 ; Jeremiah 42:18 ; Jeremiah 43:10 ; Jeremiah 44:2 ; Jeremiah 44:11 ; Jeremiah 44:25 ; Jeremiah 46:25 ; Jeremiah 48:1 ; Jeremiah 50:18 ; Jeremiah 51:33 ).
God. Hebrew. Elohim . App-4 .
Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.
Trust = Confide. Hebrew. batah. App-69 .
The temple of the LORD . Note the Figure of speech Epizeuxis ( App-4 ), for great emphasis, to exhibit the fanaticism common to all idolaters.
For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
man. Hebrew. 'ish . App-14 .
If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 24:17 ).
innocent blood. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 19:10 ). See note on Isaiah 59:7 .
other gods. Reference to Pentateuch (Exodus 20:3 .Deuteronomy 6:14 ; Deuteronomy 8:19 , &c). App-92 .
Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
Then will I cause, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 4:40 ).
for ever and ever. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of the Whole), for an age-abiding duration.
Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Behold. Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6 .
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
steal, murder, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Exodus 20:7-15 ).
And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
come = [still] come.
which is called, &c. = whereon My name was called.
Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.
Is this house . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. This passage used by our Lord, just as Isaiah 56:7 was in Matthew 21:13 .Mark 11:17 . Luke 19:46 .
saith the LORD = [is] Jehovah's oracle.
But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
in Shiloh. Now Seilun. Compare Jeremiah 26:6 , Jeremiah 26:9 ; Jeremiah 41:5 .
where I set . . . at the first. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 12:5 , Deuteronomy 12:11 , &c). App-92 . Compare 1 Samuel 4:11 .
what I did to it. See 1 Samuel 4:11 , and Compare Jeremiah 25:6 .
wickedness. Hebrew. ra'a'. App-44 .
And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;
rising up early and speaking. This phrase is almost peculiar to Jeremiah, where it occurs eleven times (Jeremiah 7:13 , Jeremiah 7:25 ; Jeremiah 11:7 ; Jeremiah 25:3 , Jeremiah 25:4 ; Jeremiah 26:5 ; Jeremiah 29:19 ; Jeremiah 32:33 ; Jeremiah 35:14 , Jeremiah 35:15 ; Jeremiah 44:4 ). Occurs elsewhere only in 2 Chronicles 36:15 .
Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
as = according as.
And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
the whole seed of Ephraim. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of the Part), for the ten tribes which were already in captivity. The trouble recorded in Jeremiah 27 proves that this prediction was spoken.
Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
make intercession. Compare Jeremiah 11:14 ; Jeremiah 14:11 .
Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
children = sons.
make: or, offer.
queen. Some codices, with two early printed editions, read "worship", which is put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Effect), for the goddess to whom the worship was offered. See Jeremiah 19:13 ; Jeremiah 44:19 ; and compare 2 Kings 21:3 , 2Ki 21:5 ; 2 Kings 23:12 , 2 Kings 23:13 .
Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
provoke. Note the Figure of speech Ploke , by which the one word implies a second meaning. "Do they provoke Me . . . ? No: they bring on themselves" the judgments of Jehovah. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 32:21 ).
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
the Lord GOD. Hebrew Adonai Jehovah. App-4 .
man. Hebrew. 'adam. App-14 .
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
Put = Add.
sacrifices. Hebrew. zabach. App-43 .
For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
I spake not . . . concerning . . . sacrifices. Reference to Pentateuch (Exodus 15:26 ; Exodus 19:5 ), which was before any law was given. This vindicates the passage from modern criticism. Compare Leviticus 26:3-13 , and 1 Samuel 15:22 , with Psalms 50:8 , Psalms 50:9 ; Psalms 51:16 , Psalms 51:17 ; Isaiah 1:11-17 . Hosea 6:6 . Amos 5:21-24 .Micah 6:6-8 . Matthew 9:13 ; Matthew 12:7 ; Matthew 23:23 .
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
this thing . . . Obey, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Leviticus 26:3-13 ). App-92 .
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
imagination. See note on Jeremiah 3:17 .
Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:
your fathers came forth, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Ex. Jeremiah 12:15 ).
Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
a = the.
obeyeth = hearkeneth to.
correction: or instruction, or discipline.
truth = fidelity, or veracity.
their. The Babylonian Codex reads "your".
Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
Cut off thine hair. A symbol of mourning.
Jerusalem: or, supply "daughter of My People". Compare Jeremiah 8:11 , Jeremiah 8:19 , Jeremiah 8:21 , Jeremiah 8:22 ; Jeremiah 9:1 , Jeremiah 9:7 . The verb is feminine (singular)
cast it away. Showing the completeness of the operation.
high places. As such. Compare Jeremiah 3:21 .
of. Genitive of Relation. App-17 . Compare Romans 8:36 ,
For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
evil. Hebrew. ra'a' . App-44 .
in the house. Note the enormity of the evil.
which is called by My name = whereon My name was called.
And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
high places. Idolatrous places. Not the same word as Jeremiah 7:29 .
Tophet. In the valley of the son of Hinnom (2 Kings 23:10 . Isaiah 30:33 .Isaiah 19:6 , Isaiah 19:11-14 ).
Hinnom. Now Wady er Rababeh (Joshua 15:8 ; Joshua 18:16 . 2Ki 23:10 . 2 Chronicles 28:3 ; 2 Chronicles 33:6 . Nehemiah 11:30 ).
burn. This shows the result of passing them through the fire.
which I commanded them not. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 17:3 ; Deuteronomy 18:10 ). App-92 . Note the sin of adding to God's commands and words.
them. Some codices, with one early printed edition, Septuagint, and Syriac, read this "them"in the text. Compare Jeremiah 32:35 .
came = ascended. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Species), for coming into the mind.
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.
slaughter. Compare Jeremiah 19:6 ; Jeremiah 12:3 .Zechariah 11:4 , Zechariah 11:7 . Occurs only in Jeremiah and Zechariah.
And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.
the carcases, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 28:26 ).
fray = frighten: from Fr. effrayer.
Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.
the voice of mirth, &c. This refrain is peculiar to Jeremiah. Occurs four times (here; Jeremiah 16:9 ; Jeremiah 25:10 ; Jeremiah 33:11 ) ("joy").
for the land shall be desolate. Reference to Pentateuch (Leviticus 26:31 , Leviticus 26:33 , the same word "desolate"). App-92 .