King James Version
Jeremiah 11
23 verses with commentary
The Covenant Is Broken
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse introduces a new oracle: 'The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying.' The standard prophetic reception formula establishes divine origin. Chapter 11 addresses covenant violation using language drawn directly from Deuteronomy. The word (davar) coming 'from the LORD' (me'eth YHWH) indicates authoritative revelation requiring response. This chapter marks a crucial turning point ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
XI.
(1) **The word that came to Jeremiah.**—The words indicate that we are entering on a distinct message or discourse, which goes on probably to the end of Jeremiah 12. No date is given, and we are driven to infer it from the internal evidence of the message itself. This points to an early period of Jeremiah’s work, probably in the reign of Josiah. The invasion of the Chaldeans is not so near, as...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 42 Is 42:1-25. Messiah the Antitype of Cyrus.
God's description of His character (Is 42:1-4). God addresses Him directly (Is 42:5-7). Address to the people to attend to the subject (Is 42:8, 9). Call to all, and especially the exile Jews to rejoice in the coming deliverance (Is 42:10-25).
**1. my servant--**The law of prophetic suggestion leads Isaiah from Cyrus to the far greater Deli...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 11
The disobedient Jews reproved. (Jr 11:1-10) Their utter ruin. (Jr 11:11-17) The people would be destroyed who sought the prophet's life. (Jr 11:18-23)
**Verses 1-10** God never promised to bestow blessings on his rational creatures, while they persist in wilful disobedience. Pardon and acceptance are promised freely to all believers; but no man can be saved who does not obey the c...
Read full commentary →Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse commands proclamation: 'Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.' The imperative 'hear' (shim'u) demands attentive obedience, not mere listening. 'This covenant' (habberit hazot) refers specifically to the Mosaic/Deuteronomic covenant. Jeremiah must 'speak' (dibber) to both 'men of Judah' (rural populations) and 'inhabitan...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **The words of this covenant.**—The phrase had obviously acquired a definite and special sense in consequence of the discovery of the lost book of the Law under Josiah, and the covenant into which the people had then entered (comp. 2Kings 23:3). The “curse” under which the people had fallen was practically identical with that in Deuteronomy 27:26, the word “obeyeth” being substituted for “conf...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
2. Matthew [Mt 12:19] marks the kind of "cry" as that of altercation by quoting it, "He shall not strive" (Is 53:7).
**street--**the Septuagint translates "outside." An image from an altercation in a house, loud enough to be heard in the street outside: appropriate of Him who "withdrew Himself" from the public fame created by His miracles to privacy (Mt 12:15; Mt 12:34, there, shows another and ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 11
The disobedient Jews reproved. (Jr 11:1-10) Their utter ruin. (Jr 11:11-17) The people would be destroyed who sought the prophet's life. (Jr 11:18-23)
**Verses 1-10** God never promised to bestow blessings on his rational creatures, while they persist in wilful disobedience. Pardon and acceptance are promised freely to all believers; but no man can be saved who does not obey the c...
Read full commentary →And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant,
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse pronounces covenant curse: 'And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant.' The Hebrew arur (אָרוּר, cursed) is the covenant curse formula from Deuteronomy 27-28. 'Obeyeth not' (lo yishma, literally 'does not hear/obey') uses shama in its full sense of obedient response. 'Words of this covenant' directly echoes D...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Cursed be the man . . .**—The verse is, as it were, a mosaic, so *to *speak, of phrases, with slight verbal changes, from the recently discovered book of Deuteronomy—the “iron furnace” from Deuteronomy 4:20; 1Kings 8:51, “Hear my voice and do them” from Deuteronomy 28:1, “Ye shall be my people” from Deuteronomy 29:13. The “iron furnace” was, of course, Egypt, the “furnace of affliction,” as ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. bruised--**"It pleased the Lord to bruise Him" (Is 53:5, 10; Ge 3:15); so He can feel for the bruised. As Is 42:2 described His unturbulent spirit towards His violent enemies (Mt 12:14-16), and His utter freedom from love of notoriety, so Is 42:3, His tenderness in cherishing the first spark of grace in the penitent (Is 40:11).
**reed--**fragile: easily "shaken with the wind" (Mt 11:7). Tho...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 11
The disobedient Jews reproved. (Jr 11:1-10) Their utter ruin. (Jr 11:11-17) The people would be destroyed who sought the prophet's life. (Jr 11:18-23)
**Verses 1-10** God never promised to bestow blessings on his rational creatures, while they persist in wilful disobedience. Pardon and acceptance are promised freely to all believers; but no man can be saved who does not obey the c...
Read full commentary →Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron 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:
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse recalls covenant origin: 'Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace.' The reference to 'the day' (yom) of exodus and 'iron furnace' (kur habbarzel) as metaphor for Egyptian slavery appears in Deuteronomy 4:20 and 1 Kings 8:51. Egypt as 'iron furnace' depicts the refining suffering that prepared Israel for covenant...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. fail--**faint; man in religion may become as the almost expiring flax-wick (Is 42:3), but not so He in His purposes of grace.
**discouraged--**literally, "broken," that is, checked in zeal by discouragements (compare Is 49:4, 5). Rosenmuller not so well translates, "He shall not be too slow on the one hand, nor run too hastily on the other."
**judgment--**His true religion, the canon of H...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 11
The disobedient Jews reproved. (Jr 11:1-10) Their utter ruin. (Jr 11:11-17) The people would be destroyed who sought the prophet's life. (Jr 11:18-23)
**Verses 1-10** God never promised to bestow blessings on his rational creatures, while they persist in wilful disobedience. Pardon and acceptance are promised freely to all believers; but no man can be saved who does not obey the c...
Read full commentary →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, So be it, O LORD. So: Heb. Amen
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse explains covenant purpose: '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.' The Hebrew qum (קוּם, perform, establish) indicates God's commitment to His sworn promises. 'Fathers' (avoth) refers to the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. The 'land flowing with milk and honey' (erets zavath chalav udevash)...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **A land flowing with milk and honey.**—The description appears for the first time in Exodus 3:8; Exodus 3:17. It rapidly became proverbial, and is prominent in Deuteronomy 6:3 and Joshua 5:6. It points primarily, it may be noticed, to the plenty of a pastoral rather than an agricultural people (see Note on Isaiah 7:22), and so far to the earlier rather than the later stages of the life of Isr...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
5. Previously God had spoken of Messiah; now (Is 42:5-7) He speaks to Him. To show to all that He is able to sustain the Messiah in His appointed work, and that all might accept Messiah as commissioned by such a mighty God, He commences by announcing Himself as the Almighty Creator and Preserver of all things.
**spread ... earth--**(Psa 136:6).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 11
The disobedient Jews reproved. (Jr 11:1-10) Their utter ruin. (Jr 11:11-17) The people would be destroyed who sought the prophet's life. (Jr 11:18-23)
**Verses 1-10** God never promised to bestow blessings on his rational creatures, while they persist in wilful disobedience. Pardon and acceptance are promised freely to all believers; but no man can be saved who does not obey the c...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse commissions proclamation: 'Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem.' The Hebrew qara (קָרָא, proclaim, cry out) indicates public announcement. 'All these words' (eth-kol-haddevarim) ensures complete message delivery—no editing or softening. 'Cities of Judah' and 'streets of Jerusalem' describe comprehensive geographic ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **In the cities of Judah . . .**—It is, at least, probable that the words are to be taken literally, and that the prophet went from city to city, doing his work as a preacher of repentance, and taking the new-found book of Deuteronomy as his text. The narrative of 2Kings 23:13-20 indicates an iconoclastic journey throughout the kingdom as made by Josiah; and the prophetic discourse now before ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. in righteousness--**rather, "for a righteous purpose" [Lowth]. (See Is 42:21). God "set forth" His Son "to be a propitiation (so as) to declare His (God's) righteousness, that God might be just, and (yet) the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Ro 3:25, 26; compare see on Is 41:2; Is 45:13; 50:8, 9).
**hold ... hand--**compare as to Israel, the type of Messiah, Ho 11:3.
**covenant...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 11
The disobedient Jews reproved. (Jr 11:1-10) Their utter ruin. (Jr 11:11-17) The people would be destroyed who sought the prophet's life. (Jr 11:18-23)
**Verses 1-10** God never promised to bestow blessings on his rational creatures, while they persist in wilful disobedience. Pardon and acceptance are promised freely to all believers; but no man can be saved who does not obey the c...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse establishes prophetic continuity: '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.' The Hebrew ha'ed ha'edothi (הָעֵד הַעִדֹתִי) uses an intensive verbal construction—'I solemnly testified/warned.' God has been warning from Exodus ('the day I brought them up') until Jeremiah's present ('unto this day')—continuou...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **Rising early.**—The phrase in its spiritual meaning, as applied to Jehovah, is almost peculiar to Jeremiah, and is used by him twelve times. In its literal sense, or as denoting only ordinary activity, it is found often, *e.g., *Genesis 20:8; Proverbs 27:14. (See Note on Jeremiah 7:13.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. blind--**spiritually (Is 42:16, 18, 19; Is 35:5; Joh 9:39).
**prison--**(Is 61:1, 2).
**darkness--**opposed to "light" (Is 42:6; Ep 5:8; 1Pe 2:9).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 11
The disobedient Jews reproved. (Jr 11:1-10) Their utter ruin. (Jr 11:11-17) The people would be destroyed who sought the prophet's life. (Jr 11:18-23)
**Verses 1-10** God never promised to bestow blessings on his rational creatures, while they persist in wilful disobedience. Pardon and acceptance are promised freely to all believers; but no man can be saved who does not obey the c...
Read full commentary →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. imagination: or, stubbornness
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse indicts persistent disobedience: 'Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear.' The Hebrew lo sham'u (לֹא שָׁמְעוּ) and lo hitu (לֹא הִטּוּ) describe willful refusal to listen attentively. 'Inclined their ear' (hittah ozen) means to bend the ear toward the speaker—active, focused listening. 'But walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart.' The phrase sheriruth lev hara (שְׁ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **Imagination.**—Better, as before (Jeremiah 3:17), *stubbornness.*
**Therefore I will bring upon them.**—Better, *I have brought upon them. *The words contain not a direct prediction, but an appeal to the experience of the past as in itself foreshadowing the future.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
8. God turns from addressing Messiah to the people.
**Lord--**Jehovah: God's distinguishing and incommunicable name, indicating essential being and immutable faithfulness (compare Ex 6:3; Psa 83:18; 96:5; Ho 12:5).
**my--**that is due to Me, and to Me alone.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 11
The disobedient Jews reproved. (Jr 11:1-10) Their utter ruin. (Jr 11:11-17) The people would be destroyed who sought the prophet's life. (Jr 11:18-23)
**Verses 1-10** God never promised to bestow blessings on his rational creatures, while they persist in wilful disobedience. Pardon and acceptance are promised freely to all believers; but no man can be saved who does not obey the c...
Read full commentary →And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse reveals conspiracy: 'And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.' The Hebrew qesher (קֶשֶׁר, conspiracy, treason) indicates organized rebellion against divine covenant. This isn't individual sin but coordinated covenant violation. The conspiracy involves both rural Judah and urban Jerusalem—comprehensive apostasy. The ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **A conspiracy.**—The words explain the rapid apostasy that followed on the death of Josiah. There had been all along, even while he was urging his reforms, an organised though secret resistance to the policy of which he was the representative.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. former things--**Former predictions of God, which were now fulfilled, are here adduced as proof that they ought to trust in Him alone as God; namely, the predictions as to Israel's restoration from Babylon.
**new--**namely, predictions as to Messiah, who is to bring all nations to the worship of Jehovah (Is 42:1, 4, 6).
**spring forth--**The same image from plants just beginning to germin...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 11
The disobedient Jews reproved. (Jr 11:1-10) Their utter ruin. (Jr 11:11-17) The people would be destroyed who sought the prophet's life. (Jr 11:18-23)
**Verses 1-10** God never promised to bestow blessings on his rational creatures, while they persist in wilful disobedience. Pardon and acceptance are promised freely to all believers; but no man can be saved who does not obey the c...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse describes the conspiracy: 'They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words.' The Hebrew shuvu (שָׁבוּ, turned back) indicates deliberate return to ancestral sins—not original rebellion but recapitulation. 'Forefathers' (avotham harishonim, their first/former fathers) refers to previous generations who broke covenant. 'And they went after other...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **Their forefathers.**—The Hebrew is more specific—*their first fathers *(as in Isaiah 43:27), with special reference to the idolatries of the forty years’ wandering and the first settlement in Canaan.
**They went after other gods.**—The Hebrew pronoun is emphatically repeated, as pointing back to the subject of the first clause of the verse, the men of Jeremiah’s own time—“they have gone aft...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. new song--**such as has never before been sung, called for by a new manifestation of God's grace, to express which no hymn for former mercies would be appropriate. The new song shall be sung when the Lord shall reign in Jerusalem, and all "nations shall flow unto it" (Is 2:2; 26:1; Re 5:9; 14:3).
**ye that go down to the sea--**whose conversion will be the means of diffusing the Gospel to ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 11
The disobedient Jews reproved. (Jr 11:1-10) Their utter ruin. (Jr 11:11-17) The people would be destroyed who sought the prophet's life. (Jr 11:18-23)
**Verses 1-10** God never promised to bestow blessings on his rational creatures, while they persist in wilful disobedience. Pardon and acceptance are promised freely to all believers; but no man can be saved who does not obey the c...
Read full commentary →Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them. to escape: Heb. to go forth of
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse announces inescapable judgment: 'Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape.' The Hebrew ra'ah (רָעָה, evil, calamity, disaster) describes coming judgment. 'They shall not be able to escape' (lo-yukhlu latset, literally 'they will not be able to go out') indicates no evasion possible. 'And though they shall cry unto me, I w...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **I will bring evil.**—The Hebrew expresses immediate action, *I am bringing.*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. cities--**in a region not wholly waste, but mainly so, with an oasis here and there.
**Kedar--**in Arabia-Deserta (Is 21:16; Ge 25:13). The Kedarenians led a nomadic, wandering life. So Kedar is here put in general for that class of men.
**rock--**Sela, that is, Petra, the metropolis of Idumea and the Nabathoean Ishmaelites. Or it may refer in general to those in Arabia-Petræa, who had t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 11-17** Evil pursues sinners, and entangles them in snares, out of which they cannot free themselves. Now, in their distress, their many gods and many altars stand them in no stead. And those whose own prayers will not be heard, cannot expect benefit from the prayers of others. Their profession of religion shall prove of no use. When trouble came upon them, they made this their confidence...
Read full commentary →Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble. trouble: Heb. evil
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse exposes false worship's futility: 'Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense.' When judgment comes, the people will desperately appeal to their idols. 'But they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.' The Hebrew yashea (יָשַׁע) is the verb for deliverance, salvation—precisely what idols cannot pro...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. glory ... islands--**(Is 24:15).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 11-17** Evil pursues sinners, and entangles them in snares, out of which they cannot free themselves. Now, in their distress, their many gods and many altars stand them in no stead. And those whose own prayers will not be heard, cannot expect benefit from the prayers of others. Their profession of religion shall prove of no use. When trouble came upon them, they made this their confidence...
Read full commentary →For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal. shameful: Heb. shame
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse quantifies apostasy: 'For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah.' Every city had its local deity—municipal Baal worship pervading the land. 'And according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.' Jerusalem's streets each contained Baal altars—the capital city saturated with idol...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **According to the number of thy cities . . .**—This and Jeremiah 11:12 reproduce what we have heard already in Jeremiah 2:27-28; Jeremiah 7:17. The “shameful thing” is, as in Jeremiah 3:24, the image of Baal, which would seem to have been set up openly in some prominent place in every city of Judan, every street of Jerusalem. The reference is probably made, as before, to the formal recogniti...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13-16. Jehovah will no longer restrain His wrath: He will go forth as a mighty warrior (Ex 15:3) to destroy His people's and His enemies, and to deliver Israel (compare Psa 45:3).
**stir up jealousy--**rouse His indignation.
**roar--**image from the battle cry of a warrior.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 11-17** Evil pursues sinners, and entangles them in snares, out of which they cannot free themselves. Now, in their distress, their many gods and many altars stand them in no stead. And those whose own prayers will not be heard, cannot expect benefit from the prayers of others. Their profession of religion shall prove of no use. When trouble came upon them, they made this their confidence...
Read full commentary →Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble. trouble: Heb. evil
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse prohibits intercession: 'Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.' Jeremiah is forbidden to intercede—an unprecedented restriction for a prophet whose role included intercession (1 Samuel 12:23, Amos 7:1-6). 'Lift up cry or prayer' (rinnah utephillah) describes urgent ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **Therefore pray not.**—The words imply, as in Jeremiah 7:16, that the prophet’s human feelings had led him to pour his soul in passionate intercession that the penalty might be averted. He is told that it is at once too early and too late for that prayer. The people have not yet been moved to repentance, and their cry is simply the wail of suffering. The discipline must do its work, and the ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13-16. Jehovah will no longer restrain His wrath: He will go forth as a mighty warrior (Ex 15:3) to destroy His people's and His enemies, and to deliver Israel (compare Psa 45:3).
**stir up jealousy--**rouse His indignation.
**roar--**image from the battle cry of a warrior.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 11-17** Evil pursues sinners, and entangles them in snares, out of which they cannot free themselves. Now, in their distress, their many gods and many altars stand them in no stead. And those whose own prayers will not be heard, cannot expect benefit from the prayers of others. Their profession of religion shall prove of no use. When trouble came upon them, they made this their confidence...
Read full commentary →What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest. What: Heb. What is to my beloved in my house when: or, when thy evil is
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse questions Israel's temple confidence: 'What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many?' The Hebrew yedidah (יְדִידָה, beloved) is an affectionate term for Israel, making the accusation more poignant. 'My house' (beithi) is the temple. 'Lewdness' (mezimmah) means schemes, plots, wicked purposes—here applied to syncretistic worship. Israel comes to Go...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **My beloved.**—*sc., *Judah—or, perhaps, Israel collectively—as the betrothed of Jehovah. What has she to do, what part or lot has she in that house of Jehovah which she pollutes?
**Seeing she hath wrought lewdness with** **many.**—The Hebrew is difficult, and probably corrupt. The most probable rendering is *What hath my beloved to do in my house, to work it even evil devices? Thy many, i.e...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13-16. Jehovah will no longer restrain His wrath: He will go forth as a mighty warrior (Ex 15:3) to destroy His people's and His enemies, and to deliver Israel (compare Psa 45:3).
**stir up jealousy--**rouse His indignation.
**roar--**image from the battle cry of a warrior.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 11-17** Evil pursues sinners, and entangles them in snares, out of which they cannot free themselves. Now, in their distress, their many gods and many altars stand them in no stead. And those whose own prayers will not be heard, cannot expect benefit from the prayers of others. Their profession of religion shall prove of no use. When trouble came upon them, they made this their confidence...
Read full commentary →The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse uses olive tree imagery: 'The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit.' The Hebrew zayith ra'anan (זַיִת רַעֲנָן, luxuriant olive tree) describes Israel's intended beauty and fruitfulness. Olive trees were valuable—producing oil for food, light, anointing, medicine. 'Fair' (yepheh) and 'goodly fruit' (peri to'ar) indicate God's delight in His creation. 'With ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **A green olive tree.**—The parable is essentially the same, though a different symbol is chosen, as that of the vine of Isaiah 5:1; Jeremiah 2:21, or the fig-tree of Luke 13:6. The olive also was naturally a symbol of fertility and goodness, as in Psalm 52:8; Hosea 14:6; Zechariah 4:3; Zechariah 4:11. In the words “the Lord called thy name” we have the expression of the Divine purpose in the...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13-16. Jehovah will no longer restrain His wrath: He will go forth as a mighty warrior (Ex 15:3) to destroy His people's and His enemies, and to deliver Israel (compare Psa 45:3).
**stir up jealousy--**rouse His indignation.
**roar--**image from the battle cry of a warrior.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 11-17** Evil pursues sinners, and entangles them in snares, out of which they cannot free themselves. Now, in their distress, their many gods and many altars stand them in no stead. And those whose own prayers will not be heard, cannot expect benefit from the prayers of others. Their profession of religion shall prove of no use. When trouble came upon them, they made this their confidence...
Read full commentary →For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse explains the fire: 'For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.' God who 'planted' (nata) Israel now pronounces judgment (ra'ah). The phrase 'done against themselves' (le'hem, for themselves) indicat...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **The Lord of hosts, that planted thee.**—As in Jeremiah 2:21, stress is laid on the fact that Jehovah had planted the tree and bestowed on it all the conditions of fruitfulness, and that it was He who now passed the sentence of condemnation.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17. turned back ... ashamed--**disappointed in their trust; the same phrase occurs in Psa 35:4.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 11-17** Evil pursues sinners, and entangles them in snares, out of which they cannot free themselves. Now, in their distress, their many gods and many altars stand them in no stead. And those whose own prayers will not be heard, cannot expect benefit from the prayers of others. Their profession of religion shall prove of no use. When trouble came upon them, they made this their confidence...
Read full commentary →And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse reveals a plot against Jeremiah: 'And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings.' The Hebrew hodia'ni (הוֹדִיעַנִי) indicates divine revelation—God showed Jeremiah what he couldn't have known naturally. 'Then thou shewedst me their doings' (ma'alleleihem, their deeds, practices) refers to the conspiracy against him. Verse 19 will identify ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **And the Lord hath given me knowledge.**—A new section opens abruptly, and the prophet speaks no longer of the sins of Israel and Judah at large, but of the “doings” of his own townsmen, of their plots against his life. Unless this is altogether a distinct fragment, connected, possibly, with Jeremiah 9:8, the abruptness suggests the inference that the plots of the men of Anathoth against him...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**18. deaf--**namely, to the voice of God.
**blind--**to your duty and interest; wilfully so (Is 42:20). In this they differ from "the blind" (Is 42:16). The Jews are referred to. He had said, God would destroy the heathen idolatry; here he remembers that even Israel, His "servant" (Is 42:19), from whom better things might have been expected, is tainted with this sin.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 18-23** The prophet Jeremiah tells much concerning himself, the times he lived in being very troublesome. Those of his own city plotted how they might cause his death. They thought to end his days, but he outlived most of his enemies; they thought to blast his memory, but it lives to this day, and will be blessed while time lasts. God knows all the secret designs of his and his people's e...
Read full commentary →But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered. the tree: Heb. the stalk with his bread
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse describes Jeremiah's innocence: 'But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter.' The Hebrew keves alluf (כֶּבֶשׂ אַלּוּף, trusting lamb) and similar phrases picture innocent, unsuspecting vulnerability. 'And I knew not that they had devised devices against me.' Jeremiah was unaware of the conspiracy until God revealed it. 'Saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **Like a lamb or an ox.**—Better, *as a tame lamb, i.e., *one, like the ewe-lamb of Nathan’s parable (2Samuel 12:3), brought up in the home of its master. There is no “or” in the Hebrew, and the translators seem to have mistaken the adjective (tame) for a noun. The LXX., Vulg., and Luther agree in the rendering now given. Assuming the earlier date of Isaiah 53:7, the words would seem to have ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**19. my servant--**namely, Israel. Who of the heathen is so blind? Considering Israel's high privileges, the heathen's blindness was as nothing compared with that of Israelite idolaters.
**my messenger ... sent--**Israel was designed by God to be the herald of His truth to other nations.
**perfect--**furnished with institutions, civil and religious, suited to their perfect well-being. Compare...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 18-23** The prophet Jeremiah tells much concerning himself, the times he lived in being very troublesome. Those of his own city plotted how they might cause his death. They thought to end his days, but he outlived most of his enemies; they thought to blast his memory, but it lives to this day, and will be blessed while time lasts. God knows all the secret designs of his and his people's e...
Read full commentary →But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse appeals for divine justice: 'But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart.' Jeremiah appeals to God as righteous Judge (shophet tsedeq) who tests (bochen) inner motivations. 'Reins' (kelayoth, kidneys) and 'heart' (lev) represent the seat of emotions and will—God examines motives, not just actions. 'Let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee h...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **Let me see thy vengeance on them.**—The prayer, like that of the so-called vindictive Psalms (69, 109), belongs to the earlier stage of the religious life when righteous indignation against evil is not yet tempered by the higher law of forgiveness. As such it is not to be imitated by Christians, but neither is it to be hastily condemned. The appeal to a higher judge, the desire to leave ven...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**20. observest--**Thou dost not keep them. The "many things" are the many proofs which all along from the first God had given Israel of His goodness and His power (De 4:32-38; 29:2-4; Psa 78:1-72; 105:1-45).
**he--**transition from the second to the third person. "Opening ... ears," that is, though he (Israel) hath his ears open (see on Is 6:10). This language, too (see on Is 42:19), applies to...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 18-23** The prophet Jeremiah tells much concerning himself, the times he lived in being very troublesome. Those of his own city plotted how they might cause his death. They thought to end his days, but he outlived most of his enemies; they thought to blast his memory, but it lives to this day, and will be blessed while time lasts. God knows all the secret designs of his and his people's e...
Read full commentary →Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand:
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse names the conspirators: 'Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life.' Jeremiah's own townspeople seek to kill him. 'Saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand.' They demand prophetic silence or death. The opposition isn't to Jeremiah personally but to his message—'in the name of the LORD' (beshem YHWH). Silencing the prophet...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21) **Thus saith the Lord.**—The “men of Anathoth,” it would seem, had at first tried to stop the preaching of Jeremiah by threats, as Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, had tried to stop that of Amos (Amos 7:12-13). Failing in this, after the manner of the men of Nazareth in their attack on the Christ (Luke 4:28-29), and of the later Jews in their dealings with St. Paul, they conspired against his l...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**21. his righteousness--**not His people's, but His own; Is 42:24 shows that they had no righteousness (Is 45:24; 59:16). God is well pleased with His Son ("in whom My soul delighteth," Is 42:1), "who fulfils all righteousness" (Mt 3:15) for them, and with them for His sake (compare Is 42:6; Psa 71:16, 19; Mt 5:17; Ro 10:3, 4; Php 3:9). Perhaps in God's "righteousness" here is included His faithf...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 18-23** The prophet Jeremiah tells much concerning himself, the times he lived in being very troublesome. Those of his own city plotted how they might cause his death. They thought to end his days, but he outlived most of his enemies; they thought to blast his memory, but it lives to this day, and will be blessed while time lasts. God knows all the secret designs of his and his people's e...
Read full commentary →Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine: punish: Heb. visit upon
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse pronounces judgment: 'Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them.' The Hebrew paqad (פָּקַד, visit, reckon with) announces divine retribution. 'The young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine.' Specific judgments match covenant curses—sword for warriors, famine for families. The comprehensiveness (young men, sons, daughter...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(22) **The young men.**—As the context shows, these are the men of military age who would die fighting, while their children should perish from famine within the walls of the besieged cities.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**22. holes--**caught by their foes in the caverns where they had sought refuge [Barnes]. Or bound in subterranean dungeons [Maurer].
**prison-houses--**either literal prisons, or their own houses, whence they dare not go forth for fear of the enemy. The connection is: Notwithstanding God's favor to His people for His righteousness' sake (Is 42:21), they have fallen into misery (the Babylonish a...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 18-23** The prophet Jeremiah tells much concerning himself, the times he lived in being very troublesome. Those of his own city plotted how they might cause his death. They thought to end his days, but he outlived most of his enemies; they thought to blast his memory, but it lives to this day, and will be blessed while time lasts. God knows all the secret designs of his and his people's e...
Read full commentary →And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse completes Anathoth's judgment: 'And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.' 'No remnant' (she'erith) indicates total elimination—no survivors to continue the community. 'Year of their visitation' (shenath pequddatham) is the appointed time of divine reckoning. The destruction would be complete, fulfilling the...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **There shall be no remnant of them.**—In Ezra 2:23; Nehemiah 7:27 we find that 128 of Anathoth returned from exile. The words must therefore be limited either to the men who had conspired against the prophet, or to the complete deportation of its inhabitants. The situation of Anathoth, about three or four miles north-east of Jerusalem, would expose it to the full fury of the invasion. The wo...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
23. A call that they should be warned by the past judgments of God to obey Him for the time to come.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 18-23** The prophet Jeremiah tells much concerning himself, the times he lived in being very troublesome. Those of his own city plotted how they might cause his death. They thought to end his days, but he outlived most of his enemies; they thought to blast his memory, but it lives to this day, and will be blessed while time lasts. God knows all the secret designs of his and his people's e...
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