Jeremiah 17:4

And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever. EVEN THYSELF, [uwbªkaah] - rather, 'and that, too, owing to thyself,' - i:e., by thy own fault (). SHALT DISCONTINUE FROM - be dispossessed of "thine heritage." Not only thy substance but thyself shall be carried off to a strange land ()....

Here, as it is a concise mode of speaking, there seems to be some obscurity; but as to the subject handled, the meaning of the Prophet is evident, that they would be _dismissed from their inheritance_, and as it were from their own bowels. Hence he says, You shall be dismissed from your inheritance; that is, though ye think yourselves to be beyond the reach of danger, because as yet the city remains safe, and ye continue in it; yet ye shall perish, as they say, living and seeing. _There shall then be a dismissal from the inheritance even as to thee_; that is, “Though the Lord should delay the time and suffer you to remain, yet ye shall be like the dead, for God will destroy you, though he may leave you a pining life.” It seems an emphatical expression when the Prophet says that there would be at length a _dismissal _even as to herself: he intimates, that though some of the people would r...

1-4 The sins which men commit make little impression on their minds, yet every sin is marked in the book of God; they are all so graven upon the table of the heart, that they will all be remembered by the conscience. That which is graven in the heart will become plain in the life; men's actions show the desires and purposes of their hearts. What need we have to humble ourselves before God, who are so vile in his sight! How should we depend on his mercy and grace, begging of God to search and prove us; not to suffer us to be deceived by our own hearts, but to create in us a clean and holy nature by his Spirit!...

The verb rendered “discontinue” is that used of letting the land rest Exodus 23:11, and of releasing creditors Deuteronomy 15:2 in the sabbatical year. As Judah had not kept these sabbatical years she must now discontinue the tillage of God’s inheritance until the land had had its rest. “Even thyself may mean and that through thyself,” through thine own fault....

EXPOSITION Jeremiah 17:1 are closely connected with the preceding chapter. We have just been pointed to the striking contrast between the conduct of the heathen and that of the backsliding men of Judah. The inspired orator's indignation swells as he thinks of the inveterateness and indelibleness of Judah's sin. Then he passes to a subject immediately suggested by the policy of the court, viz. the true source of safety in dangerous times. Trust in man brings a curse; trust in Jehovah a blessing (Jeremiah 17:5). From this portion of the prophecy we can venture to fix the date of the whole. Jeremiah 17:11 is, in fact, a shorter form of the denunciation in...

AND THOU, EVEN THYSELF,.... Or, "thou, and in thee" l; that is, thou and those that are in thee, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea; or, "thou even through thyself" m; through thine own fault, by reason of thy sins and iniquities: SHALT DISCONTINUE FROM THINE HERITAGE THAT I GAVE THEE; be removed from it, and no longer enjoy it: or, "shalt intermit from thine heritage" n; shall not till the land, plough and sow, and reap, and gather the fruits of it: this was enjoined on every seventh year, when the land was to have its rest, or sabbath, Exodus 23:10, but this law they did not observe; and now, therefore, whether they would or not, the land should be intermitted, and not tilled and enjoyed by them. The Targum takes in the whole of the sense, "and I will bring an enemy upon your land; and it shall be desolate as in the year of intermission: and I will t

Jeremiah 17:1. _The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond:_ It is so ingrained in their very nature that you might as well try to erase an inscription that is written upon steel with the point of a diamond as hope to get this perversity out of the nation; it is graven upon the tablets of their heart. What is mere habit can be altered, but what is ingrained in the heart cannot be taken away except by a, miracle of grace. It was the heart that was wrong; the fountain-head was polluted, so what could the streams be but foul. Jeremiah 17:1. _It is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;_ Their holiest things were defiled. They wrote up the names of their idol gods even upon God's altar, and so the

CHAPTER 17 _ 1. Judah's sin (Jeremiah 17:1) _ 2. The curse and the blessing (Jeremiah 17:5) 3. The worship of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 17:12) 4. Concerning the Sabbath (Jeremiah 17:19) Jeremiah 17:1. The sin of Judah was idolatry, engraven with a pen of iron, the point of a diamond, upon their heart (from whence it proceeded) and upon the horns of their altars. They had destroyed but a few years before the asherim (translated groves, a kind of sacred post), and now their children turned back to t

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

KINDLED. FIRE. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 32:22). Compare Jeremiah 15:14. BURN. Compare Isaiah 33:14. FOR EVER. Hebrew. _'olam._ See App-150....