King James Version
Jeremiah 14
22 verses with commentary
Drought, Famine, Sword
The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth. the dearth: Heb. the words of the dearths, or, restraints
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse introduces a prophetic oracle concerning drought ('that which came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth'). The Hebrew 'battsa'rot' refers to times of drought and famine, understood in covenant theology as divine judgment (Deuteronomy 28:23-24). Drought serves as both literal crisis and metaphor for spiritual barrenness when God withdraws blessing. The phrase 'the word of the LORD' emphasiz...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
XIV.
(1) **Concerning the dearth.**—Literally, *on the word or tidings of the drought. *This is clearly the opening of a new discourse, which continues to Jeremiah 17:18; but as no special calamity of this kind is mentioned in the historical account of Jeremiah’s life, its date cannot be fixed with certainty. As Jeremiah 15:15 -implies that he had already suffered scorn or persecution for his prop...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13. After the smith's work in preparing the instruments comes the carpenter's work in forming the idol.
**rule--**rather, "line" [Barnes].
**with a line--**rather, a "pencil," [Horsley]. Literally, "red ochre," which he uses to mark on the wood the outline of the figure [Lowth]. Or best, the stylus or graver, with which the incision of the outline is made [Gesenius].
**planes--**rather, "chi...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
A drought upon the land of Judah. (Jr 14:1-7) A confession of sin in the name of the people. (Jr 14:8-9) The Divine purpose to punish is declared. (Jr 14:10-16) The people supplicate. (Jr 14:17-22)
**Verses 1-9** The people were in tears. But it was rather the cry of their trouble, and of their sin, than of their prayer. Let us be thankful for the mercy of water, that we may not b...
Read full commentary →Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
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KJV Study Commentary
The drought's effects are national: 'Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground.' The 'gates' represent cities and places of commerce and justice, now failing. The phrase 'black unto the ground' suggests mourning attire (sackcloth) or drought-parched earth. The consequence extends to the national identity: 'and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up,' indicating prayer...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **The gates thereof languish.**—The “gates” of the cities, as the chief places of concourse, like the *agora *of Greek cities, are taken figuratively for the inhabitants, who in the “black” garments of sorrow and with the pallor of the famine, in which all faces gather blackness, are crouching upon the ground in their despair.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
14. Description of the material out of which the idol is formed.
**cypress--**rather, from Hebrew root, "to be hard," the holm oak," an evergreen abundant in Palestine [Gesenius].
**strengtheneth--**literally, "and he getteth strength to himself in the trees of the forest;" that is, he layeth in a great store of timber [Lowth]. Or, "chooseth," as "madest strong for thyself," that is, hast chos...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
A drought upon the land of Judah. (Jr 14:1-7) A confession of sin in the name of the people. (Jr 14:8-9) The Divine purpose to punish is declared. (Jr 14:10-16) The people supplicate. (Jr 14:17-22)
**Verses 1-9** The people were in tears. But it was rather the cry of their trouble, and of their sin, than of their prayer. Let us be thankful for the mercy of water, that we may not b...
Read full commentary →And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits , and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.
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KJV Study Commentary
The drought affects even the nobility: 'And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty.' The fact that nobles send servants shows water scarcity across all classes. The fruitless search ('found no water,' 'returned with their vessels empty') depicts futility under judgment. The response: 'they were asham...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Their little ones.**—Not their children, but their menial servants. The word is peculiar to Jeremiah, and occurs only here and in Jeremiah 48:4. The vivid picture of the messengers running hither and thither to all wells, and springs, and tanks, reminds us of Ahab’s search for wells or springs in the time of the great drought of his reign (1Kings 18:5), of the “two or three cities wandering”...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
15. The same tree that furnishes the material for the god is in part used as fuel for a fire to cook his meals and warm himself!
**thereto--**rather, "he falleth down before them," that is, such images [Maurer].
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
A drought upon the land of Judah. (Jr 14:1-7) A confession of sin in the name of the people. (Jr 14:8-9) The Divine purpose to punish is declared. (Jr 14:10-16) The people supplicate. (Jr 14:17-22)
**Verses 1-9** The people were in tears. But it was rather the cry of their trouble, and of their sin, than of their prayer. Let us be thankful for the mercy of water, that we may not b...
Read full commentary →Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.</strong> This verse appears within Jeremiah's prophetic lament describing severe drought as divine judgment upon Judah's persistent idolatry and covenant unfaithfulness. The drought imagery is both literal (actual agricultural crisis) and symbolic (spiritual barrenness resul...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **The ground is chapt.**—The word is so vivid as describing the long fissures of the soil in a time of drought that one admits with reluctance that no such meaning is found in the Hebrew word, which simply means *is struck with terror. *The translators apparently followed Luther, who gives *lechzet*—“languishes for thirst,” “gapes open with exhaustion,” and so applied to the earth, “is cracked...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**16. part ... part--**not distinct parts, but the same part of the wood (compare Is 44:17).
**eateth--**that is, cooks so as to eat (Is 44:19).
**I have seen--**I feel its power.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
A drought upon the land of Judah. (Jr 14:1-7) A confession of sin in the name of the people. (Jr 14:8-9) The Divine purpose to punish is declared. (Jr 14:10-16) The people supplicate. (Jr 14:17-22)
**Verses 1-9** The people were in tears. But it was rather the cry of their trouble, and of their sin, than of their prayer. Let us be thankful for the mercy of water, that we may not b...
Read full commentary →Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.
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KJV Study Commentary
Even wildlife suffers: 'Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.' The hind (deer), known for devoted maternal care, abandons her newborn due to drought's severity. This demonstrates judgment's cosmic scope—innocent animals suffer due to human covenant breaking. The detail intensifies the tragedy: even strong maternal instincts yield to starvation. This re...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **Yea.**—Better, *For, *as the Hebrew is usually translated. What follows gives the reason of the terror which has come upon the people. Each region has its representative instance of misery. The hind of the field (the female of the common stag—the *Cervus elaphus *of zoologists), noted for its tenderness to its young, abandons it, and turns away to seek pasture for itself, and fails to find a...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
A drought upon the land of Judah. (Jr 14:1-7) A confession of sin in the name of the people. (Jr 14:8-9) The Divine purpose to punish is declared. (Jr 14:10-16) The people supplicate. (Jr 14:17-22)
**Verses 1-9** The people were in tears. But it was rather the cry of their trouble, and of their sin, than of their prayer. Let us be thankful for the mercy of water, that we may not b...
Read full commentary →And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.
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KJV Study Commentary
The description continues: 'And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.' Wild asses, adapted to harsh environments, stand on heights desperately seeking moisture, 'snuffing up the wind' (possibly for rain scent or from heat). The comparison to 'dragons' (likely jackals) emphasizes their panting thirst. The...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **The wild asses.**—From the field the prophet’s eye turns to the bare hill-tops of the “high places,” and sees a scene of like distress. The “wild asses” seem turned to beasts of prey, and stand gaping for thirst, as the *jackals *(not “dragons”—comp. Jeremiah 9:11) stand panting for their prey. By some scholars the word is taken as meaning, like a kindred word in Ezekiel 29:3; Ezekiel 32:2, ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**18. he, &c.--**God hath given them over to judicial blindness; not His direct physical, but His providential agency in administering His moral government, is meant (Is 6:9, 10). "Shut," literally, "daubed," plastered up; it is an Eastern custom in some cases to seal up the eyes of offenders.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
A drought upon the land of Judah. (Jr 14:1-7) A confession of sin in the name of the people. (Jr 14:8-9) The Divine purpose to punish is declared. (Jr 14:10-16) The people supplicate. (Jr 14:17-22)
**Verses 1-9** The people were in tears. But it was rather the cry of their trouble, and of their sin, than of their prayer. Let us be thankful for the mercy of water, that we may not b...
Read full commentary →O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.
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KJV Study Commentary
Jeremiah intercedes despite God's earlier prohibition (14:10-12 will explain why this prayer fails): 'O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake.' The confession 'our iniquities testify against us' acknowledges guilt. Yet the appeal is to God's 'name's sake'—His reputation and character. The confession continues: 'for our backslidings are many; we have sinned ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **O Lord . . .**—From the picture of suffering the prophet turns to a prayer for pardon and a confession of sins. He is sure that the drought has not come without cause, and that it calls men to repentance.
**Do thou it.**—Better, more generally, *act thou, *not according to the rigour of inexorable justice, but according to the Name which witnesses of mercy and long-suffering (Exodus 34:6).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**19. considereth--**literally, "layeth it to heart," (Is 42:25; Jr 12:11).
**abomination--**the scriptural term for an idol, not merely abominable, but the essence of what is so, in the eyes of a jealous God (1Ki 11:5, 7).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
A drought upon the land of Judah. (Jr 14:1-7) A confession of sin in the name of the people. (Jr 14:8-9) The Divine purpose to punish is declared. (Jr 14:10-16) The people supplicate. (Jr 14:17-22)
**Verses 1-9** The people were in tears. But it was rather the cry of their trouble, and of their sin, than of their prayer. Let us be thankful for the mercy of water, that we may not b...
Read full commentary →O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?
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KJV Study Commentary
The prayer continues with rich covenant titles: 'O the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?' The titles 'hope of Israel' and 'Saviour' appeal to God's covenant relationship. The questions protest God's seeming absence: He appears as a 'stranger' or 'wayfaring man' (te...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **As a wayfaring man . . .**—No image could paint more vividly the sense of abandonment which weighed on the prophet’s heart. Israel had looked to Jehovah as its help and stay, its watchful guardian. Now he seemed as indifferent to it as the passing traveller is to the interests of the city in the inn or *khan *of which he lodges for a single night.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**20. feedeth on ashes--**figuratively, for the idolater delights in what is vain (Pr 15:14; Ho 12:1). "Feedeth on wind." There is an allusion, perhaps, also, to the god being made of a tree, the half of which was reduced to ashes by fire (Is 44:15-17); the idol, it is implied, was no better, and could, and ought, to have been reduced to ashes like the other half.
**deceived heart--**The heart a...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
A drought upon the land of Judah. (Jr 14:1-7) A confession of sin in the name of the people. (Jr 14:8-9) The Divine purpose to punish is declared. (Jr 14:10-16) The people supplicate. (Jr 14:17-22)
**Verses 1-9** The people were in tears. But it was rather the cry of their trouble, and of their sin, than of their prayer. Let us be thankful for the mercy of water, that we may not b...
Read full commentary →Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not. we: Heb. thy name is called upon us
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save?</strong> This verse represents Jeremiah's bold intercession during a severe drought and national crisis. The Hebrew word for "astonied" (<em>damam</em>, דָּמַם) means dumbfounded, stunned into silence, or helpless. Jeremiah questions why God would appear passive or powerless like a shocked human unable to act, or li...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **As a man astonied.**—The word so rendered is not found elsewhere, but cognate words in Arabic have the meaning of being startled and perplexed.
**Thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us.**—After all, then, so the prophet’s reviving faith tells him, Jehovah is more than the passing guest. He abides still among His people. He is as a mighty man, strong to save, though as yet He refrains from acti...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**21. Remember--**"Be not like the idolaters who consider not in their heart" (Is 44:19).
**these--**things just said as to the folly of idol-worship.
**my servant--**not like the idolaters, slaves to the stock of a tree (Is 44:19). See Is 44:1, 2.
**thou ... not ... forgotten of me--**Therefore thou oughtest to "remember" Me.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
A drought upon the land of Judah. (Jr 14:1-7) A confession of sin in the name of the people. (Jr 14:8-9) The Divine purpose to punish is declared. (Jr 14:10-16) The people supplicate. (Jr 14:17-22)
**Verses 1-9** The people were in tears. But it was rather the cry of their trouble, and of their sin, than of their prayer. Let us be thankful for the mercy of water, that we may not b...
Read full commentary →Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.
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KJV Study Commentary
God's response explains why intercession will fail: 'Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them.' The indictment is willful wandering: 'loved to wander' indicates deliberate choice, not mere drift. The phrase 'not refrained their feet' shows unrestrained pursuit of sin. The consequence: 'the LORD...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **Thus have they loved to wander.**—The prophet has to tell the people that Jehovah’s answer to his prayer is one of seeming refusal. The time of pardon has not yet come. The prophet is told that *now *(the adverb is emphasised) is the time for remembering iniquity and visiting sins. The latter half of the verse is a verbal quotation from Hosea 8:13. The opening word “thus” appears to point b...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**22. blotted out--**the debt of thy sin from the account-book in which it was entered (Ex 32:32, 33; Re 20:12).
**as a thick cloud--**scattered away by the wind (Psa 103:12).
**as a cloud--**a descending gradation. Not only the "thick cloud" of the heavier "transgressions," but the "cloud" ("vapor" [Lowth], not so dense, but covering the sky as a mist) of the countless "sins." These latter, t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-16** The Lord calls the Jews "this people," not "his people." They had forsaken his service, therefore he would punish them according to their sins. He forbade Jeremiah to plead for them. The false prophets were the most criminal. The Lord pronounces condemnation on them; but as the people loved to have it so, they were not to escape judgments. False teachers encourage men to expect pe...
Read full commentary →Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.
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KJV Study Commentary
God explicitly forbids intercession: 'Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.' This stunning command reveals that judgment is now fixed. The prohibition against praying 'for their good' indicates that what is coming, though painful, serves God's righteous purposes. This raises profound questions about the limits of intercessory prayer when God has decreed judgment. The...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **Pray not . . .**—As before, in Jeremiah 7:16; Jeremiah 11:14, the saddest, sternest part of the prophet’s work is to feel that even prayer—the prayer that punishment may be averted—is unavailing and unaccepted.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
23. Call to inanimate nature to praise God; for it also shall share in the coming deliverance from "the bondage of corruption" (Ro 8:20, 21).
**done it--**effected redemption for both the literal and spiritual Israel.
**lower parts, &c.--**antithetical to "heavens"; "mountains," "forest," and "tree," are the intermediate objects in a descending gradation (see Psa 96:11, 12).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-16** The Lord calls the Jews "this people," not "his people." They had forsaken his service, therefore he would punish them according to their sins. He forbade Jeremiah to plead for them. The false prophets were the most criminal. The Lord pronounces condemnation on them; but as the people loved to have it so, they were not to escape judgments. False teachers encourage men to expect pe...
Read full commentary →When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
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KJV Study Commentary
The reason for refusing their prayers: 'When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them.' Religious observances (fasting, offerings) without heart repentance are rejected. God's refusal to 'hear' and 'accept' shows that ritual divorced from righteousness is worthless. The threat follows: 'but I will consume them by the sword, an...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **An oblation.**—The *minchah *or meat-offering of Leviticus 2:1. We need not assume that the fast and the sacrifice were necessarily hypocritical, though doubtless much of this mingled itself with the worship of Israel now as it had done in the days of Isaiah, and met with a like rejection (Isaiah 1:15). The lesson here is rather that they came too late to stay the discipline of chastisement...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
24-28. Confirmation of His promises to the Church and Israel, by various instances of His omnipotence; among these the restoration of the Jews by Cyrus.
**alone--**literally, "Who was with Me?" namely, when I did it; answering to "by Myself," in the parallel clause (compare similar phrases, Ho 8:4; Joh 5:30) [Maurer].
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-16** The Lord calls the Jews "this people," not "his people." They had forsaken his service, therefore he would punish them according to their sins. He forbade Jeremiah to plead for them. The false prophets were the most criminal. The Lord pronounces condemnation on them; but as the people loved to have it so, they were not to escape judgments. False teachers encourage men to expect pe...
Read full commentary →Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. assured: Heb. peace of truth
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KJV Study Commentary
Jeremiah protests: 'Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.' This explains the people's complacency: false prophets contradict Jeremiah's warnings, promising 'assured peace' (Hebrew 'shalom emet'—true, reliable peace). Jeremiah appeals to God, effectively saying the peo...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Ah, Lord God!**—Literally, as in Jeremiah 1:6, *Alas, my Lord *(*Adonaï*)* Jehovah! *We have had in Jeremiah 5:31 a glimpse of the evil influence of the great body of the prophetic order; and now the true prophet feels more bitterly than ever the misery of having to contend against it. The colleges or schools of the prophets had rapidly degenerated from their first ideal, and had become (as...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
24-28. Confirmation of His promises to the Church and Israel, by various instances of His omnipotence; among these the restoration of the Jews by Cyrus.
**alone--**literally, "Who was with Me?" namely, when I did it; answering to "by Myself," in the parallel clause (compare similar phrases, Ho 8:4; Joh 5:30) [Maurer].
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-16** The Lord calls the Jews "this people," not "his people." They had forsaken his service, therefore he would punish them according to their sins. He forbade Jeremiah to plead for them. The false prophets were the most criminal. The Lord pronounces condemnation on them; but as the people loved to have it so, they were not to escape judgments. False teachers encourage men to expect pe...
Read full commentary →Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought , and the deceit of their heart.
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KJV Study Commentary
God responds to Jeremiah's concern about false prophets: 'Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them.' The threefold denial ('sent not,' 'commanded not,' 'spake not') emphasizes their illegitimacy. Their message's source is revealed: 'they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **They prophesy unto you . . .**—The four forms of the evil are carefully enumerated: (1) the false vision, false as being but the dream of a disordered fancy; (2) divination, by signs and auguries, as, *e.g., *by arrows (Ezekiel 21:21) or cups (Genesis 44:5); (3) by “a thing of nought,” or, more accurately, the “idol” or small image of a god, used as the Teraphim were used (Ezekiel 21:21; Ze...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
24-28. Confirmation of His promises to the Church and Israel, by various instances of His omnipotence; among these the restoration of the Jews by Cyrus.
**alone--**literally, "Who was with Me?" namely, when I did it; answering to "by Myself," in the parallel clause (compare similar phrases, Ho 8:4; Joh 5:30) [Maurer].
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-16** The Lord calls the Jews "this people," not "his people." They had forsaken his service, therefore he would punish them according to their sins. He forbade Jeremiah to plead for them. The false prophets were the most criminal. The Lord pronounces condemnation on them; but as the people loved to have it so, they were not to escape judgments. False teachers encourage men to expect pe...
Read full commentary →Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.
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KJV Study Commentary
The judgment on false prophets: 'Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.' This is poetic justice: what they denied would come, claiming divine authority, will destroy them. Their confident assertion 'shall not be' becomes their...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **Therefore thus saith the Lord.**—To the mind of a true prophet, feeling that he was taught of God, nothing could be more hateful than the acts of those who, for selfish ends, were leading the people to their destruction. For them there was therefore the righteous retribution that they should perish in the very calamities which they had asserted would never come.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
24-28. Confirmation of His promises to the Church and Israel, by various instances of His omnipotence; among these the restoration of the Jews by Cyrus.
**alone--**literally, "Who was with Me?" namely, when I did it; answering to "by Myself," in the parallel clause (compare similar phrases, Ho 8:4; Joh 5:30) [Maurer].
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-16** The Lord calls the Jews "this people," not "his people." They had forsaken his service, therefore he would punish them according to their sins. He forbade Jeremiah to plead for them. The false prophets were the most criminal. The Lord pronounces condemnation on them; but as the people loved to have it so, they were not to escape judgments. False teachers encourage men to expect pe...
Read full commentary →And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.
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KJV Study Commentary
The judgment extends to the misled people: 'And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them.' Those who believed false prophecy share its consequences—unburied bodies in the streets, ultimate disgrace. The comprehensiveness: 'them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters'—whole fa...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
24-28. Confirmation of His promises to the Church and Israel, by various instances of His omnipotence; among these the restoration of the Jews by Cyrus.
**alone--**literally, "Who was with Me?" namely, when I did it; answering to "by Myself," in the parallel clause (compare similar phrases, Ho 8:4; Joh 5:30) [Maurer].
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-16** The Lord calls the Jews "this people," not "his people." They had forsaken his service, therefore he would punish them according to their sins. He forbade Jeremiah to plead for them. The false prophets were the most criminal. The Lord pronounces condemnation on them; but as the people loved to have it so, they were not to escape judgments. False teachers encourage men to expect pe...
Read full commentary →Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.
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KJV Study Commentary
Jeremiah is commanded to express appropriate grief: 'Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease.' The continuous weeping ('night and day,' 'let them not cease') reflects the tragedy's magnitude. The reason: 'for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.' The metaphor 'virgin ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Thou shalt say this word.**—Though not in form a prediction, no words could express more emphatically the terrible nature of the judgments implied in the preceding verse. The language (in part a reproduction of Jeremiah 13:17) is all but identical with that which recurs again and again in the Lamentations (Jeremiah 1:16; Jeremiah 2:11; Jeremiah 2:18), and may be looked upon as the germ of w...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-22** Jeremiah acknowledged his own sins, and those of the people, but pleaded with the Lord to remember his covenant. In their distress none of the idols of the Gentiles could help them, nor could the heavens give rain of themselves. The Lord will always have a people to plead with him at his mercy-seat. He will heal every truly repenting sinner. Should he not see fit to hear our praye...
Read full commentary →If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not. go about: or, make merchandise against a land, and men acknowledge it not
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KJV Study Commentary
The vision of devastation continues: 'If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine!' No escape exists: countryside brings death by sword (warfare), city brings death by famine (siege). The final observation about religious leaders: 'yea, the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **Them that are sick with famine.**—Literally, with even a more awful force, as summing all individual sufferings in one collective unity, *the sickness of famine—*the pestilence that follows on starvation.
**Go about into a land that they know not.**—Literally, *go about *(as in Genesis 34:10, where the Authorised version has “trade”) *in a land and know not, i.e., *whither they go—are in a ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 45 Is 45:1-25. The Subject of the Deliverance by Cyrus Is Followed Up. Is 45:1-7. These seven verses should have been appended to previous chapter, and the new chapter should begin with Is 45:8, "Drop down," &c. [Horsley]. Reference to the deliverance by Messiah often breaks out from amidst the local and temporary details of the deliverance from Babylon, as the great ultimate end of th...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-22** Jeremiah acknowledged his own sins, and those of the people, but pleaded with the Lord to remember his covenant. In their distress none of the idols of the Gentiles could help them, nor could the heavens give rain of themselves. The Lord will always have a people to plead with him at his mercy-seat. He will heal every truly repenting sinner. Should he not see fit to hear our praye...
Read full commentary →Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!
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KJV Study Commentary
The prayer continues, appealing to God's covenant relationship: 'Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion?' The questions seek clarification: is this temporary discipline or final rejection? The evidence suggests rejection: 'why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us?' They sought shalom but 'there is no good,' sought healing but 'behold trouble!' This prayer wrest...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **Hast thou utterly rejected Judah?**—The heart of the patriot overpowers even the conviction of the prophet, and, though bidden not to pray, he bursts forth, in spite of the command, with a prayer of passionate intercession.
**Hath thy soul lothed Zion**?—The Hebrew implies the act of rejection as well as the feeling which leads to it.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. crooked ... straight--**(Is 40:4), rather, "maketh mountains plain" [Lowth], that is, clear out of thy way all opposing persons and things. The Keri reads as in Is 45:13, "make straight" (Margin).
**gates of brass--**(Psa 107:16). Herodotus (1.179) says, Babylon had a hundred massive gates, twenty-five on each of the four sides of the city, all, as well as their posts, of brass.
**bars of...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-22** Jeremiah acknowledged his own sins, and those of the people, but pleaded with the Lord to remember his covenant. In their distress none of the idols of the Gentiles could help them, nor could the heavens give rain of themselves. The Lord will always have a people to plead with him at his mercy-seat. He will heal every truly repenting sinner. Should he not see fit to hear our praye...
Read full commentary →We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.
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KJV Study Commentary
Confession of corporate sin: 'We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.' This represents proper confession: personal ('our wickedness'), generational ('iniquity of our fathers'), and God-directed ('against thee'). Recognizing transgenerational patterns of sin shows understanding that current judgment often has roots in accumulated gen...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **And the iniquity.**—The insertion of the conjunction weakens the force of the original. The wickedness which Israel confesses is the iniquity of its fathers, inherited, accepted, on the way to be perpetuated.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. treasures of darkness--**that is, hidden in subterranean places; a common Oriental practice. Sorcerers pretended to be able to show where such treasures were to be found; in opposition to their pretensions, God says, He will really give hidden treasures to Cyrus (Jr 50:37; 51:13). Pliny (Natural History,, 33:3) says that Cyrus obtained from the conquest of Asia thirty-four thousand pounds wei...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-22** Jeremiah acknowledged his own sins, and those of the people, but pleaded with the Lord to remember his covenant. In their distress none of the idols of the Gentiles could help them, nor could the heavens give rain of themselves. The Lord will always have a people to plead with him at his mercy-seat. He will heal every truly repenting sinner. Should he not see fit to hear our praye...
Read full commentary →Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.
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KJV Study Commentary
Appeal to God's reputation: 'Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.' Three appeals: (1) 'for thy name's sake'—God's reputation among nations; (2) 'throne of thy glory'—God's honor; (3) 'thy covenant'—God's promises. This is theologically sound prayer: not appealing to human merit but to God's character, glory, and co...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21) **Do not abhor us . . .**—Even in the English, and yet more in the Hebrew, we seem to hear the broken accents, words and sobs intermingled, of the agony of the prayer. “Abhor us not** . . .** disgrace not** . . .** remember, break not.” The prophet can make no plea of extenuation, but he can appeal to the character of God, and urge, with a bold anthropomorphism, that mercy is truer to that ch...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
4. (See on Is 41:8; Is 43:14).
**surnamed--**that is, designated to carry out My design of restoring Judah (see on Is 44:5; Is 44:28; Is 45:1). Maurer here, as in Is 44:5, translates, "I have addressed thee by an honorable name."
**hast not known me--**previous to My calling thee to this office; after God's call, Cyrus did know Him in some degree (Ezr 1:1-3).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-22** Jeremiah acknowledged his own sins, and those of the people, but pleaded with the Lord to remember his covenant. In their distress none of the idols of the Gentiles could help them, nor could the heavens give rain of themselves. The Lord will always have a people to plead with him at his mercy-seat. He will heal every truly repenting sinner. Should he not see fit to hear our praye...
Read full commentary →Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.
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KJV Study Commentary
The prayer concludes with rhetorical questions exposing idols' impotence: 'Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God?' The 'vanities' (hebel—emptiness, breath) refers to idols. Can they provide rain? No. Can heavens themselves give showers apart from God's command? No. Only 'thou, O LORD our God' controls ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(22) **Vanities.**—*sc*., as in Jeremiah 10:8, the idols of the heathen, powerless and perishable.
**Are there any . . . that can cause rain?**—The question is asked with a special reference to the drought which had called forth the prophet’s utterance (Jeremiah 14:1). Israel remembers at last that it is Jehovah alone who gives the rain from heaven and the fruitful seasons, and turns to Him in pat...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
5. (Is 42:8; 43:3, 11; 44:8; 46:9).
**girded thee--**whereas "I will loose (the girdle off) the loins of kings" (Is 45:1), strengthening thee, but enfeebling them before thee.
**though ... not known me--**(Is 45:4). God knows His elect before they are made to know Him (Ga 4:9; Joh 15:16).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-22** Jeremiah acknowledged his own sins, and those of the people, but pleaded with the Lord to remember his covenant. In their distress none of the idols of the Gentiles could help them, nor could the heavens give rain of themselves. The Lord will always have a people to plead with him at his mercy-seat. He will heal every truly repenting sinner. Should he not see fit to hear our praye...
Read full commentary →