Jeremiah 7:34

Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate. THEN WILL I CAUSE TO CEASE FROM THE CITIES OF JUDAH, AND FROM THE STREETS OF JERUSALEM, THE VOICE OF MIRTH ... - referring to the joyous songs and music with which the bride and bridegroom were escorted in the procession to the home of the latter from that of the former; a custom still prevalent in the East (; Isaiah 24:7; , "The voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee"). Remarks: (1) It has been the fatal mistake of men...

He still continues the same subject; for he denounces on the Jews the punishment which they had deserved. He more fully expresses what he mentioned in the last verse respecting the shameful and dreadful barbarity that would follow the slaughter; for the whole country would not only be harassed by the enemy, but wholly laid waste: for when sounds of joy and gladness cease, all places are filled with lamentations; and when no marriages are celebrated, it is a sign of devastation. But by marriage, the Prophet, stating a part for the whole, understands whatever was necessary for the preservation of society; it is the same as though he had said, “There shall be now no marrying:” for without marriages the human race cannot continue. Hence this cessation would be the same, as though he had said, that they would be wholly regardless of all those things necessary to perpetuate mankind. He thus ad...

29-34 In token both of sorrow and of slavery, Jerusalem must be degraded, and separated from God, as she had been separated to him. The heart is the place in which God has chosen to put his name; but if sin has the innermost and uppermost place there, we pollute the temple of the Lord. The destruction of Jerusalem appears here very terrible. The slain shall be many; they having made it the place of their sin. Evil pursues sinners, even after death. Those who will not, by the grace of God, be cured of vain mirth, shall, by the justice of God, be deprived of all mirth. How many ruin their health and property without complaining, when engaged in Satan's service! May we learn to relish holy joys, and to sit loose to all others though lawful....

Verse Jeremiah 7:34. _THEN WILL I CAUSE TO CEASE - THE VOICE OF MIRTH_] There shall no longer be in Jerusalem any _cause of joy_; they shall neither marry nor be given in marriage, for the land shall be totally desolated. Such horrible sins required such a horrible punishment. And they must be _horrible_, when they move God to destroy the work of his own hands....

Silence and desolation are to settle upon the whole land....

EXPOSITION Ch. 7-10.—Severe rebukes of idolatry alternating with announcements of the impending judgment. The circumstances connected with this discourse, or part thereof, appear to be detailed in Jeremiah 26:1. Among the parallelisms between the two sections, notice especially the reference to the fate of the temple of Shiloh (comp. Jeremiah 26:14 with Jeremiah 26:6). The date of the original utterance of the prophecy is thus fixed for one of the early years of the reign of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah 10:1, however, requires separate consideration....

THEN WILL I CAUSE TO CEASE FROM THE CITIES OF JUDAH, AND FROM THE STREETS OF JERUSALEM,.... Signifying that the devastation should not only be in and about Jerusalem, but should reach all over the land of Judea; since in all cities, towns, and villages, would cease THE VOICE OF MIRTH, AND THE VOICE OF GLADNESS; upon any account whatever; and, instead of that, mourning, weeping, and lamentation: THE VOICE OF THE BRIDEGROOM, AND THE VOICE OF THE BRIDE; no marrying, and giving in marriage, and so no expressions of joy on such occasions; and consequently no likelihood, at present, of repeopling the city of Jerusalem, and the other cities of Judah: FOR THE LAND SHALL BE DESOLATE; without people to dwell in it, and till it. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, read, "the whole land"....

THE PROPHET'S TEMPLE ADDRESS (7-9) CHAPTER 7 _ 1. Amend your ways and your doings (Jeremiah 7:1) _ 2. No prayer-answer to be expected (Jeremiah 7:16) 3. Sacrifices rejected; Obedience demanded (Jeremiah 7:21) 4. Jerusalem's rejection (Jeremiah 7:29) Jeremiah 7:1. We call this next address of the prophet “the temple address,” because he was commanded to stand in the gate of the LORD's house. There he stood, a solitary figure, and said: “Hear the Word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in a

JEREMIAH 7:29 TO JEREMIAH 8:3. MOURNING FOR JUDAH'S DEAD. Let Jerusalem mourn, and raise a dirge on the heights (where she sinned by her idolatry), because of the near approach of the punishment for the desecration of Yahweh's house, and for the offering of human sacrifice, which Yahweh never ordered. The land shall be full of corpses (Jeremiah 7:32 _mg.),_ and all joy shall cease. The valley of Hinnom shall be renamed Slaughter, and burials will have to be made even in the (unclean) Topheth. Even those who have died previously shall be dishonoured by exposure to the sun, moon, and stars, which they have worshipped, whilst the living shall wish themselves dead....

THE VOICE OF MIRTH, &C. This refrain is peculiar to Jeremiah. Occurs four times (here; Jeremiah 16:9; Jeremiah 25:10; Jeremiah 33:11) ("joy"). FOR THE LAND SHALL BE DESOLATE. Reference to Pentateuch (Leviticus 26:31; Leviticus 26:33, the same word "desolate"). App-92....