The Prophet no doubt requires here from the people a sincere return to God, inasmuch as they had often pretended to confess their sins, and had given many signs of repentance, while they were acting deceitfully with him. As then they had often dealt falsely with God and with his prophets, Jeremiah b... [ Continue Reading ]
Here the Prophet goes on with the same subject; for he denudes these flatteries, by which they thought that God could be pacified: for when they had his name in their mouth, they thought it sufficient for their defense, — “What! do we not call upon God? do we not ascribe to him his due honor, when w... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet still pursues the same subject; for he reproves the hypocrisy of the Israelites, because they sought to discharge their duty towards God only by external ceremonies, while their hearts were full of deceits and of every kind of impiety and wickedness. Hence he says, that God required this... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet expresses here more clearly what he had before said metaphorically or by a figure; for he had bidden them to eradicate their vices, according to what is usually done by breaking up the fallow ground; but now dropping that figure, he clearly shews what was to be done, and yet the clause c... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah treats his own people here with more severity, for he saw that they were refractory, and so obstinate in their vices, that they could not by wise counsels be restored to the way of safety. Hence he addresses them here as men wholly irreclaimable, and to whom instruction proved useless. But... [ Continue Reading ]
The words אל-תעמדו, _al-tomedu, _may be explained in two ways, — “Stand not,” that is, “Hasten quickly,” as it is the case with those in extreme fear; or, “Ye shall not stand,” that is, “Though ye may seek a firm position on Mount Sion, ye shall not yet be able to continue there.” The first expositi... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet more fully declares the import of the threatening which we briefly considered yesterday; for God said in the former verse, that he would _bring an evil from the north; _and the kind of evil it was to be he now describes, and compares the king of Babylon to a lion; and afterwards, without... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet seems not yet to exhort his own nation to repent: a more gracious doctrine will presently follow; but here he only reminds them that a most grievous mourning was nigh at hand; for he saw that they were hypocrites, immersed in their own delusions, and could not be assailed by any fear. He... [ Continue Reading ]
As the royal dignity still continued with the Jews, though their power was greatly diminished, they, relying on that distinction, hoped that they had a sufficient protection: hence it was, that they were not moved by any denunciation; for the royal power, which remained not altogether secure, and ye... [ Continue Reading ]
Some so understand this passage as though the Prophet brought forward what was said by the people; for all the most wicked, when oppressed by God’s hand, usually cast the blame on him, and in their complaints contend and dispute with him. Hence they think that the Prophet here, not in his own person... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah proceeds with the same prediction: he says, that a terrible _wind _was coming, which would not only _disperse _or _clear away, _but dissipate and overthrow all things. He then expresses how great and how grievous would be the calamity which he had before mentioned. He compares it to dry or... [ Continue Reading ]
_And come, _he says, _unto me _God, I doubt not, speaks here. Some think that the Prophet here represents the whole body of the people; and they consider them as saying, that there would come a wind which would rush on themselves. But this is too strained; and further, this explanation is disproved... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet here concludes the prediction which referred to the dreadful vengeance that was coming; and he mentions here several similitudes, such as might rouse the Jews and constrain them to fear. He says, that the _chariots _of God would _come as clouds and as a whirlwind; _and then that his _hor... [ Continue Reading ]
Here now the Prophet expressly and avowedly exhorts the people to repent. By bidding Jerusalem to _wash from wickedness her heart, _that she might be _saved, _he shews that there was no remedy, except the Jews were reconciled to God; and that this could not be, except they repented of their sins. He... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet again repeats what he had said, — that the Jews were given up, on account of their perverseness, to final ruin; for they had so often and for so long a time provoked God, and had not attended to pious admonitions, when God by his servants the prophets offered pardon to them on their repe... [ Continue Reading ]
The beginning of this verse is variously explained. Some read, “Remember ye the nations, “and think that the Prophet says this, because many of the nations were heralds of that vengeance of God, which the Jews despised, as they thought that what the true heralds of God declared were mere fables. The... [ Continue Reading ]
He intimates here that there would be no escape to the Jews when God brought the Chaldeans, for every egress, all the ways, would be closed up, so that they could not migrate to another land. It is the same as though he had said, that such a calamity was nigh them that they could not escape it by ex... [ Continue Reading ]
As I have just said, the Prophet confirms what he had declared, — that the Jews would not have to suffer, according to what is commonly said, an adverse fortune, but would be summoned by God to judgment, in order that being touched with the fear of God, they might repent, or at least, though destroy... [ Continue Reading ]
Some interpreters think that the Prophet is here affected with grief, because he saw that his own nation would soon perish; but I know not whether this is a right view. It is indeed true, that the prophets, though severe when denouncing God’s vengeance, did not yet put off the feelings of humanity.... [ Continue Reading ]
He pursues the same subject, but amplifies the dread by a new circumstance, — that God would heap evils on evils, so that the Jews would in vain hope for an immediate relief. By saying, _A calamity upon a calamity_, he means that the end of one evil would be the beginning of another. For it is what... [ Continue Reading ]
He concludes that part of his discourse, which, as we have said, he embellished with figurative terms, in order more fully to rouse slow and torpid minds: but he confirms what he said at the beginning of the last verse (Jeremiah 4:20) “Distress has been summoned upon distress.” He indeed repeats... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet again teaches us, that the cause of these evils arose from the people themselves, and was to be found in them, so that they could not transfer it to anybody else. Hence he says, _My people are foolish_. He speaks here in the person of God; for it immediately follows, _Me have they not kn... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet in this passage enlarges in a language highly metaphorical on the terror of God’s vengeance, that he might rouse the Jews, who were stupid and careless: nor is the repetition in vain, when he says four times, that he _looked_. He might have spoken of the earth, heaven, men, and fertile p... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah descends afterwards from heaven to mountains, and says that they _trembled_, and that _all the hills _moved or shook; some say, destroyed, but I know not for what reason, for the Prophet no doubt confirms the same thing by another phrase: and as he had said, that mountains trembled, so he a... [ Continue Reading ]
What he saw the third time was solitude; for he says that there were _no men_, and that all _birds _had fled away. The principal ornament of the world, we know, consists of men and of living creatures. For why was the earth made so productive, that it brings forth fruits, so many and so various, exc... [ Continue Reading ]
What he saw the fourth time was this — that the _fertile land _was turned into a _desert_. I indeed think that Carmel is to be taken here as meaning the place. That part of the holy land, we know, received its name from its fertility: Carmel means any rich and fruitful spot of ground. But, as I have... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet briefly explains here what he understood by the four things which he had seen and of which he had spoken. He then declares, as it were in the person of God, that there would be a dreadful desolation throughout Judea; Wasted, he says, shall be the whole land, or, in the whole land there s... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeremiah proceeds here with the same subject, and still introduces God as the speaker, that what is said might produce a greater effect. _For this_, he says, _the land shall mourn_. The mourning of the land is to be taken for its desolation; but he refers to what he had said before. He does not spea... [ Continue Reading ]
By saying, that at the _voice _or sound of _horsemen and bowmen_, there would be an universal flight, he means, that the enemies would come with such impetuosity, that the Jews would not dare to wait for their presence, but would flee here and there before they were attacked: for the word _voice _or... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet boldly ridicules the Jews, in order to cast down their pride and haughtiness. It was indeed his object to check that pride with which they were elated against God. The Prophet could not have done this without assuming a higher strain than usual, and by rendering his discourse more striki... [ Continue Reading ]
By these words Jeremiah confirms what the latter part of the preceding verse contains: nor was it for the sake of elucidating his subject that he enlarged on it; but when he saw his own nation so hard and almost like stones, he employed many words and set forth in various ways what he might have exp... [ Continue Reading ]