Jeremiah 16:17

For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes. MINE EYES ARE UPON ALL THEIR WAYS - (; ; , "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good"). THEIR INIQUITY - the cause of God's judgments on them....

The Prophet now shews that the grievous calamity of which he had spoken would be a just reward for the wickedness of the people; for we know that the prophets were endued with the Spirit of God not merely that they might foretell things to come — for that would have been very jejune; but a doctrine was connected with their predictions. Hence the prophets not only foretold what God would do, but at the same time added the causes. There is then now added a doctrine as a seasoning to the prophecy; for the Prophet says that the destructiorl of the Jews was at hand, because they had long greatly provoked the wrath of God. As there is no end to the evasions of hypocrites, according to what we observed yesterday, God here reminds them of his judgment, as though he had said, “This one thing is sufficient, he knows their iniquities, and he is a fit judge; so they contend in vain, and try in vain,...

14-21 The restoration from the Babylonish captivity would be remembered in place of the deliverance from Egypt; it also typified spiritual redemption, and the future deliverance of the church from antichristian oppression. But none of the sins of sinners can be hidden from God, or shall be overlooked by him. He will find out and raise up instruments of his wrath, that shall destroy the Jews, by fraud like fishers, by force like hunters. The prophet, rejoicing at the hope of mercy to come, addressed the Lord as his strength and refuge. The deliverance out of captivity shall be a figure of the great salvation to be wrought by the Messiah. The nations have often known the power of Jehovah in his wrath; but they shall know him as the strength of his people, and their refuge in time of trouble....

This chastisement arises not from caprice, but is decreed upon full knowledge and examination of their doings....

EXPOSITION With this chapter should be taken the first eighteen verses of Jeremiah 17:1. The heading of the Authorized Version well expresses the contents of Jeremiah 17:1, provided that "the types" are understood to be typical actions of the prophet himself. "The prophet, under the types of abstaining from marriage, from houses of mourning and feasting, foreshoweth the utter ruin of the Jews." To the inquiry, why these calamities should come upon them, the old and well-known answer is to be given (Jeremiah 17:10), accompanied by a definite prediction of captivity (Jeremiah 17:13). Then, to relieve the p

FOR MINE EYES ARE UPON ALL THEIR WAYS,.... Not only which they may take to hide themselves from their enemies, and where they should be directed to find them; but their evil ways in which they walked, and which were the cause of their calamities; these, how secret soever they were, were under the eye of God, whose eyes are in every place, and upon all the ways of men, good and bad; though they might flatter themselves, as wicked men sometimes do, that the Lord sees them not, and does not take notice of their iniquities: but, that they might be assured of the contrary, it is added, THEY ARE NOT HID FROM MY FACE, NEITHER IS THEIR INIQUITY HID FROM MINE EYES; neither their ways nor their works, their persons nor their actions, could be concealed from the Lord; none can hide himself in secret places, that they should not be seen by him; the darkness and the light are both alike to an omnisc...

THE COMING CALAMITIES: RESTORATION PROMISED, RUIN IMMINENT ON ACCOUNT OF JUDAH'S SIN AND CONCERNING THE SABBATH (16-17) CHAPTER 16 _ 1. The coming calamities (Jeremiah 16:1) _ 2. The coming days of restoration and blessing (Jeremiah 16:14) Jeremiah 16:1. In view of the coming calamities Jeremiah is bidden to remain unmarried and not to raise a family. The verses which describe the coming calamities need no further annotations. Jeremiah 16:14. The great dispersion was announced by the Lord in the preceding verse: “Therefore will I cast you out of this land, into a land that ye know

JEREMIAH 16:1 TO JEREMIAH 17:18. THE COMING DISTRESS A PENALTY FOR SIN. The prophet is forbidden to found a family, because of the coming sorrows (_cf._ 1 Corinthians 7:29 ff.), in which death will be too common even for due mourning and burial. He is to stand aloof from the ordinary expressions of grief (Jeremiah 16:5) or social joy (Jeremiah 16:8 f.; _cf._ Jeremiah 7:34), as a sign that Yahweh will make both to cease in the universal dis

Du. rejects all these _vv_. Co. omits 9 13, suspects the genuineness of 14, 15 both here and in Jeremiah 23:7 f., and rejects 16, as well as portions of 17 21. Gi. retains of the whole series only Jeremiah 16:19, while admitting (_Metrik_) that 20, 21 _may_be genuine. Schmidt denies the genuineness of 14 21. There is thus a considerable consensus of authorities against the passage, but their arguments do not appear conclusive except as to 14, 15. See further in individual notes. According to Gi. (_Metrik_) metre is doubtful or non-existent, except in 7, 8, 19 21....

C. Explanation on Behalf of the Prophet Jeremiah 16:14-18 TRANSLATION (14) Therefore behold, days are coming (oracle of the LORD) when it shall no more be said, As the LORD lives who brought us up from the land of Egypt, (15) but, As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from the lands to which He drove them. For I will cause them to return unto the land which I gave to their fathers. (16) Behold, I am about to send for many fishers (oracle of the LORD) and they shall fish for them. And after this I will send for many hunters and they shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the clefts of the rocks. (17) For My eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hidden from before Me; yea their iniquity is not concealed from before My eyes. (18) First I will recompense their sin and iniquity double because