Jeremiah 32:16

I prayed unto the Lord Jeremiah still felt a difficulty in reconciling the obvious import of the transaction which he had just carried out at the Lord's command with that overthrow which at the command of the same Lord he had so frequently announced to the guilty city. This difficulty he expresses in Jeremiah 32:24 f. which (against Du.), unlike the earlier portion of the invocation, are in all probability genuine. Jeremiah 32:17 (see introd. notes) (a) are to a large extent made up of expressions found elsewhere in this Book and in Deut., (b) bear a marked resemblance to Nehemiah 9:5-38, and (c) in their elaboration are quite out of proportion to the brevity of the prayer that succeeds them. The passage, however, is in itself a fine composition, setting forth in order Jehovah's attributes in general (Jeremiah 32:17), His dealings with His people in particular (Jeremiah 32:20), and Israel's sinfulness and its penalty (Jeremiah 32:23).