A. C. 611. Heb. Who will give my head, &c. k ch. xii. 6. Mic. vii. 5, 6. + Or, friend. + Or, mock. 1 Ps. xii. 2. & cxx. 3. JEREMIAH IX. 1 Jeremiah lamenteth the Jews for their manifold sins, 9 and for their judgment. 12 Disobedience is the cause of their bitter calamity. 17 He exhorteth to mourn for their destruction, 23 and to trust not in themselves, but in God. 25 He threateneth both Jews and Gentiles. 1 Oh * i that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! 2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD. 4 Take ye heed every one of his + neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders. 5 And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. 6 Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD. 7 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people? m 8 Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh 'demPs, xxviii. 3. ceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his Heb. in the mouth, but & in heart he layeth || his wait. midst of him. him. || Or, wait for 9 "Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the n ch. v. 9,29. LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? * Or, pas 10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailtures. ing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamenta+ Or, desolate. tion, because they are + burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone. ✰ Heb. from the fowl even to, &c. o ch. X. 22. 11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah § desolate, without an inhabitant. 12 ¶ Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through? 13 And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my A.C. 611. law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; bornness. 14 But have walked after the * imagination of their own * Or, stubheart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: 15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, P with p ch. viii. 14. wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. 16 I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them. 17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come : 18 Ånd let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. 19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out. 20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation. 21 For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets. 22 Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them. 23¶Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: & xxiii. 15. q Lev. xxvi. 2 Cor. x. 17. 24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he un-r1 Cor. i. 31. derstandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth for in these things I delight, saith the LORD. 25 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will + punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircum- + Heb. visit cised; upon. Heb. cut off into corners, 26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are ‡ in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are or, having the uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart. t corners of their hair A. C. 611. *Heb. statutes, or, ordi nances are vanity. u Ps. cxv. 5. JEREMIAH X. 1 The unequal comparison of God and idols. 17 The prophet exhorteth to flee from the calamity to come. 19 He lamenteth the spoil of the tabernacle by foolish pastors. 22 He maketh an humble supplication. 1 Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: 2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. 5 They are upright as the palm tree, "but speak not: x Is. xlvi. 1,7. they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. y Is. xli, 23. z Ps. lxxxvi. 8, 10. a Rev. xv. 4. + Or, it liketh thee. Heb. in one, or, at once. 6 Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. a 7 Who would not fear thee, O king of nations? for + to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee. 8 But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the b Is. xli. 29. stock is a doctrine of vanities. Hab. ii. 18. Zech. x. 2. truth. 9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men. Heb. God of 10 But the LORD is the § true God, he is the living God, Heb king of and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. eternity. * In the Chaldean lan guage. c Gen. i. 1,6,9. cho li. 15, &c. + Or, noise. 11 Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. 12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. 13 When he uttereth his voice, there is a + multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings Or, for rain. with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his trea sures. 14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every A.C. 611. founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 15 They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. d ch. li. 17, 18. * Or, is more brutish than to know. 16 The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the ech. li. 19. former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name. 17 ¶ Gather up thy wares out of the land, O† inhabit- † Heb. inha ant of the fortress. 18 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so. 19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it. 20 My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken : my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. 21 For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered. 22 Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the 'north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a & den of dragons. g bitress. fch. i. 15. & v. 15. & vi. 22. g ch. ix. 11. h Prov. xvi. 1. & xx. 24. 23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. 24 O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in i Ps. vi. 1. & thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. xxxviii. 1. ch. xxx. 11. + Heb. dimi nish me. 25 Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for k Ps. lxxix. 6. they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate. SECTION XI. The People are reminded of the Covenant of Josiah. JEREMIAH XI 62. 1 Jeremiah proclaimeth God's covenant, 8 rebuketh the Jews' disobeying thereof, 11 prophesieth evils to come upon them, 18 and upon the men of Anathoth, for conspiring to kill Jeremiah. 1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 62 The prophecy in these two chapters may be assigned to the end of the reign of Josiah; on occasion of the people neglecting the obligations of the divine covenant, which in the eighteenth year of that prince they had solemnly 610. A. C. C10. 1 Deut. xxvii. 2 Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 3 And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of 26. Gal, iii. 10. Israel; 'Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant, m 4 Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron m Lev. xxvi. furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God: 3, 12. D nDeut. vii. 12. 5 That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, * Heb. Amen. * So be it, O LORD. + Or, stubbornness. 6 Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them. 7 For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. 8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the + imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not. 9 And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. 11 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will engaged to perform. The prophet is therefore sent to recall them to their duty. From 1 to 17 he rebukes them severely for their disobedience, and denounces evil against Judah and Jerusalem for their apostacy: and, being informed by divine revelation of the conspiracy against his life by the men of Anathoth, he prays against them, and is authorized to foretell their utter destruction, 18 to the end. Emboldened at the success of his prayers, he expostulates with God, ch. xii. 1-6. on the success of the wicked, and receives for answer, that God had discarded his heritage, and given it into the hands of her enemies. From 14 to 17, God promises the future restoration and conversion of his people, with threats against their heathen oppressors, assuring those that would believe in Him, the true God, that they should be received into his church, while the unbelieving would utterly perish.-Dr. Blayney. |