Jeremiah 1:12

Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it. HASTEN - rather, 'I will be wakeful [ shoqeed (H8245)] as to my word,' etc.; alluding to Jeremiah 1:11, the wakeful tree (Maurer.)...

God then caused his servant to see the staff of a watcher. For what purpose? The answer is given: _Thou hast rightly seen the staff of a watcher, because I watch over my word to execute _(or, fulfill) _it _Interpreters seem to have unwisely confined this to the punishments afterwards mentioned: they think that what is intimated is, that the threatenings which the Prophet announced would not be without effect, because God was prepared to inflict whatever he would denounce. But this, as I think, is too restricted a view; for God, I have no doubt, extols here his own word, and speaks of its accomplishment; as though he had said, that he spoke not by his servants, that what they said might vanish into air, or fall to the ground, but that power would accompany it, according to what is said in Isaiah, “Not return shall my word to me empty, but shall prosper in all things,” (Isaiah 55:11) that...

11-19 God gave Jeremiah a view of the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. The almond-tree, which is more forward in the spring than any other, represented the speedy approach of judgments. God also showed whence the intended ruin should arise. Jeremiah saw a seething-pot boiling, representing Jerusalem and Judah in great commotion. The mouth or face of the furnace or hearth, was toward the north; from whence the fire and fuel were to come. The northern powers shall unite. The cause of these judgments was the sin of Judah. The whole counsel of God must be declared. The fear of God is the best remedy against the fear of man. Better to have all men our enemies than God our enemy; those who are sure they have God with them, need not, ought not to fear, whoever is against them. Let us pray that we may be willing to give up personal interests, and that nothing may move us from...

Verse Jeremiah 1:12. _I WILL HASTEN MY WORD_] Here is a paronomasia. _What_ _dost thou see_? I see שקד _shaked_, "an almond," the _hastening_ tree: that which first _awakes. Thou hast well seen, for_ (שקד shoked) _I will hasten my word_. I will awake, or watch over my word for the first opportunity to inflict the judgments which I threaten. The judgment shall come speedily; it shall soon _flourish_, and come to _maturity_....

HASTEN - Rather, I watch over “my word to perform it.”...

EXPOSITION AN ACCOUNT OF THE CALL AND CONSECRATION OF JEREMIAH TO THE PROPHETIC OFFICE, FOLLOWED BY TWO EXPRESSIVE SYMBOLS OF THE MATTERS WHICH HE HAS TO ANNOUNCE. JEREMIAH 1:1 There are some indications that the original form of the heading has been somewhat modified. Notice (1) that the words with which Jeremi

THEN SAID THE LORD UNTO ME, THOU HAST WELL SEEN,.... The thing seen is a very proper emblem of what I am about to do, and the quick dispatch that will be made therein: FOR L WILL HASTEN MY WORD TO PERFORM IT; the words שקד אני, "shoked ani", "I will hasten", or "I am hastening", are in allusion to שקד, "shoked", the name of the almond tree in Hebrew; which is so called because it is quick and early, and, as it were, hastens to bring forth its flowers, leaves, and fruit; in like manner the Lord says he would hasten to perform what he had said or should say by him concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, and the captivity of the people, and every thing else he should give him in commission to say. Jarchi and Abendana make mention of an ancient Midrash, or exposition, to this sense; that from the time of the almond tree's putting forth, until its fruit is ripe, are one and twenty days, ac...

Jeremiah 1:1. _The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month._ Jeremiah was a young man when he was called to the prophetic office; and he was sent of God, as a young prophet, to help the young king, Josiah. His public life, therefore, opened somewhat happily. But, after the death of Josiah, wicked kings sat upon the throne, and it was the painful lot, and yet in some respects the choice privilege, of this weeping prophet to be sent upon his Master's errand, time after time, to a disobedient

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE CALL TO REPENTANCE, THE IMPENITENCE OF THE PEOPLE, AND THE JUDGMENT ANNOUNCED CHAPTER 1 The Call of the Prophet _ 1. The introduction (Jeremiah 1:1) _ 2. The divine call (Jeremiah 1:4) 3. The renewed call and the first visions (Jeremiah 1:11) Jeremiah 1:1. The first three verses introduce us to the person of the prophet, to the time the Word of the Lord came unto him, and to the sphere of his ministry. Jeremiah's father, Hilkiah, was a priest of the line of Ithamar; his home was Anathoth of Benjamin. (See general introduction.)...

THE TWO VISIONS OF JUDGMENT. These form a separate experience, and imply some change of standpoint, since it is now the judgment of Judah through the instrumentality of the nations which is presented to the prophet's eye. The first vision (Jeremiah 1:11 f.) is preparatory; he sees the branch (rod) of an almond tree, and the interpretation of his vision is that this _shâ kç d_ stands for the Divine _shô kç d,_ the watcher God (who slumbers not nor sleeps, Psalms 121:4), ever wakeful unto judgment. The almond tree is here called the waker, because of its early (February) blossoming; see Thomson, _The Land and the Book,_ p. 318. Such play on words is characteristic of Hebrew thought; it finds a parallel, _e.g._ in Amos