King James Version
Jeremiah 22
30 verses with commentary
Judgment Against Wicked Kings
Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word</strong>—God commands Jeremiah to descend physically from the temple mount area to the royal palace ('house of the king,' <em>beyt hamelech</em>, בֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ) and deliver prophetic confrontation. The phrase 'go down' (<em>red</em>, רֵד) is literal—the palace was geographically lower than the templ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
XXII.
(1) **Thus saith the Lord . . .**—The message, delivered in continuation of Jeremiah 21, and therefore probably as following up the answer to the messengers of Zedekiah (Jeremiah 21:1), reviews the history of the three preceding reigns, and apparently reproduces the very words of the warnings which he had uttered in each to the king who then ruled, and which had been but too terribly fulfill...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
3. As you became your foes' servants, without their paying any price for you (Jr 15:13), so they shall release you without demanding any price or reward (Is 45:13), (where Cyrus is represented as doing so: a type of their final restoration gratuitously in like manner). So the spiritual Israel, "sold under sin," gratuitously (Ro 7:14), shall be redeemed also gratuitously (Is 55:1).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 22
Justice is recommended, and destruction threatened in case of disobedience. (Jr 22:1-9) The captivity of Jehoiakim, and the end of Jeconiah. (Jr 22:10-19) The doom of the royal family. (Jr 22:20-30)
**Verses 1-9** The king of Judah is spoken to, as sitting upon the throne of David, the man after God's own heart. Let him follow his example, that he may have the benefit of the promi...
Read full commentary →And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David</strong>—Jeremiah addresses the reigning monarch (likely Jehoiakim or Zedekiah) with the covenant formula <em>shema debar-YHWH</em> (שְׁמַע דְּבַר־יְהוָה), 'hear the word of the LORD.' The phrase <strong>that sittest upon the throne of David</strong> (<em>hayoshev al-kisei David</em>, הַיּוֹשֵׁב עַל־כִּסֵּא ד...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **That sittest upon the throne of David.**—The words obviously imply that the message was delivered to the king as he sat in the gate in the presence of his people.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. My people--**Jacob and his sons.
**went down--**Judea was an elevated country compared with Egypt.
**sojourn--**They went there to stay only till the famine in Canaan should have ceased.
**Assyrian--**Sennacherib. Remember how I delivered you from Egypt and the Assyrian; what, then, is to prevent Me from delivering you out of Babylon (and the mystical Babylon and the Antichrist in the l...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 22
Justice is recommended, and destruction threatened in case of disobedience. (Jr 22:1-9) The captivity of Jehoiakim, and the end of Jeconiah. (Jr 22:10-19) The doom of the royal family. (Jr 22:20-30)
**Verses 1-9** The king of Judah is spoken to, as sitting upon the throne of David, the man after God's own heart. Let him follow his example, that he may have the benefit of the promi...
Read full commentary →Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.</strong> This divine command to Judah's kings encapsulates covenant justice requirements. The phrase "thus saith the LORD" (<em>koh amar YHWH</em>, כֹּ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Execute ye judgment.**—As the Hebrew verb is not identical with that in Jeremiah 21:12, and implies a less formal act, it might be better to render it, *do ye judgment** . . .***
**Do no wrong . . .**—The Hebrew order connects both verbs with the substantives—*to the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, do no wrong, no violence—*and gives the latter the emphasis of position. The whole ve...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. what have I here--**that is, what am I called on to do? The fact "that My people is taken away (into captivity; Is 49:24, 25) for naught" (by gratuitous oppression, Is 52:4; also Is 52:3, and see on Is 52:3) demands My interposition.
**they that rule--**or "tyrannize," namely, Babylon, literal and mystical.
**make ... to howl--**or, raise a cry of exultation over them [Maurer].
**blasph...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 22
Justice is recommended, and destruction threatened in case of disobedience. (Jr 22:1-9) The captivity of Jehoiakim, and the end of Jeconiah. (Jr 22:10-19) The doom of the royal family. (Jr 22:20-30)
**Verses 1-9** The king of Judah is spoken to, as sitting upon the throne of David, the man after God's own heart. Let him follow his example, that he may have the benefit of the promi...
Read full commentary →For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. upon: Heb. for David upon his throne
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For if ye do this thing indeed</strong> (<em>ki im-asoh ta'asu et-hadavar hazeh</em>, כִּי אִם־עָשֹׂה תַעֲשׂוּ אֶת־הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה)—the emphatic Hebrew construction 'doing you shall do' (infinitive absolute + finite verb) stresses genuine, consistent obedience, not mere token compliance. <strong>This thing</strong> refers to verse 3's commands: execute justice (<em>mishpat</em>), righteous...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Then shall there enter in . . .**—The picture of renewed and continued prosperity gains a fresh force, as reproducing the very terms of Jeremiah 17:25. In both the “chariots and horses” are conspicuous as the symbol of kingly pomp (1Kings 4:26), just as their absence furnished a topic to the sarcastic taunts of Rabshakeh (Isaiah 36:8), and entered into the picture of the true, peaceful king ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. shall know in that day--**when Christ shall reveal Himself to Israel sensibly; the only means whereby their obstinate unbelief shall be overcome (Psa 102:16; Zec 12:10; 14:5).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 22
Justice is recommended, and destruction threatened in case of disobedience. (Jr 22:1-9) The captivity of Jehoiakim, and the end of Jeconiah. (Jr 22:10-19) The doom of the royal family. (Jr 22:20-30)
**Verses 1-9** The king of Judah is spoken to, as sitting upon the throne of David, the man after God's own heart. Let him follow his example, that he may have the benefit of the promi...
Read full commentary →But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But if ye will not hear these words</strong>—the Hebrew <em>im lo tishme'u</em> (אִם לֹא תִשְׁמְעוּ) recalls the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4), making disobedience not mere political failure but covenant apostasy. To 'not hear' is to refuse covenant loyalty, the fundamental breach of Israel's relationship with YHWH. <strong>I swear by myself, saith the LORD</strong> (<em>bi nishba'ti ne'um-YHWH<...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **I swear by myself.**—The formula is an exceptionally rare one, but meets us in Genesis 22:16. In Deuteronomy 32:40 the came thought is embodied in the language of the loftiest poetry. The principle in both cases is that on which the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews dwells in Jeremiah 6:13. Men swear by the greater, but God can swear by nothing greater than Himself.
**This house.**—The co...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. beautiful ... feet--**that is, The advent of such a herald seen on the distant "mountains" (see on Is 40:9; Is 41:27; Is 25:6, 7; So 2:17) running in haste with the long-expected good tidings, is most grateful to the desolated city (Na 1:15).
**good tidings--**only partially applying to the return from Babylon. Fully, and antitypically, the Gospel (Lu 2:10, 11), "beginning at Jerusalem" (Lu...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 22
Justice is recommended, and destruction threatened in case of disobedience. (Jr 22:1-9) The captivity of Jehoiakim, and the end of Jeconiah. (Jr 22:10-19) The doom of the royal family. (Jr 22:20-30)
**Verses 1-9** The king of Judah is spoken to, as sitting upon the throne of David, the man after God's own heart. Let him follow his example, that he may have the benefit of the promi...
Read full commentary →For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited .
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon</strong>—God uses striking metaphors of beauty and value. <em>Gilead</em> (גִּלְעָד) was famed for balm, fertility, and rich pastureland east of the Jordan. <em>Lebanon</em> (לְבָנוֹן) was renowned for majestic cedars, pristine mountain beauty, and cool streams. The phrase <strong>head of Lebanon</strong> (<em>rosh haLevanon</em>, רֹאשׁ הַלְ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon.**—The conjunction, which is not found in the Hebrew, is better omitted. Even in his utterance of woes the prophet’s mind is still that of a poet. The chief point of the comparison in both cases is to be found in the forests that crowned the heights of both ranges of mountains. The “oaks of Bashan,” in the Gilead district (Isaiah 2:13; Zechari...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. watchmen--**set on towers separated by intervals to give the earliest notice of the approach of any messenger with tidings (compare Is 21:6-8). The Hebrew is more forcible than English Version, "The voice of thy watchmen" (exclamatory as in So 2:8). "They lift up their voice! together they sing."
**eye to eye--**that is, close at hand, and so clearly [Gesenius]; Nu 14:14, "face to face"; Nu...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 22
Justice is recommended, and destruction threatened in case of disobedience. (Jr 22:1-9) The captivity of Jehoiakim, and the end of Jeconiah. (Jr 22:10-19) The doom of the royal family. (Jr 22:20-30)
**Verses 1-9** The king of Judah is spoken to, as sitting upon the throne of David, the man after God's own heart. Let him follow his example, that he may have the benefit of the promi...
Read full commentary →And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons</strong>—the Hebrew <em>vekidashti alayich mashchitim</em> (וְקִדַּשְׁתִּי עָלַיִךְ מַשְׁחִיתִם) literally means 'I will consecrate against you destroyers.' The verb <em>qadash</em> (קָדַשׁ) typically means 'sanctify' or 'set apart for holy purpose.' This jarring usage—consecrating instruments of judgment—shows that the Bab...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **I will prepare destroyers.**—The verb, as in Jeremiah 6:4, implies the idea of a solemn appointment or consecration.
**They shall cut down thy choice cedars.**—The metaphor of the preceding verse is carried further, and the “choice cedars” are the princes of the royal house of Judah, and the chief counsellors and generals, as well as the actual columns of cedar-wood.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9. (Is 14:7, 8; 42:11).
**redeemed--**spiritually and nationally (Is 48:20).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 22
Justice is recommended, and destruction threatened in case of disobedience. (Jr 22:1-9) The captivity of Jehoiakim, and the end of Jeconiah. (Jr 22:10-19) The doom of the royal family. (Jr 22:20-30)
**Verses 1-9** The king of Judah is spoken to, as sitting upon the throne of David, the man after God's own heart. Let him follow his example, that he may have the benefit of the promi...
Read full commentary →And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And many nations shall pass by this city</strong>—the Hebrew <em>goyim rabbim</em> (גּוֹיִם רַבִּים, 'many nations') indicates that Jerusalem's desolation will become an international spectacle. Where nations once came to admire Solomon's wisdom and temple splendor (1 Kings 10:24), they will now pass by ruins with astonishment. The verb <em>avru</em> (עָבְרוּ, 'pass by') suggests travelers...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8, 9) **Wherefore hath the Lord done **thus** . . .**—The coincidence of thought and language with Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 29:24-26) again calls for notice.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. made bare ... arm--**metaphor from warriors who bare their arm for battle (Eze 4:7).
**all ... earth ... see ... salvation of ... God--**The deliverance wrought by God for Israel will cause all nations to acknowledge the Lord (Is 66:18-20). The partial fulfilment (Lu 3:6) is a forerunner of the future complete fulfilment.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 22
Justice is recommended, and destruction threatened in case of disobedience. (Jr 22:1-9) The captivity of Jehoiakim, and the end of Jeconiah. (Jr 22:10-19) The doom of the royal family. (Jr 22:20-30)
**Verses 1-9** The king of Judah is spoken to, as sitting upon the throne of David, the man after God's own heart. Let him follow his example, that he may have the benefit of the promi...
Read full commentary →Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God</strong>—the response identifies covenant abandonment as the cause. The verb <em>azav</em> (עָזַב, 'forsaken') means to completely abandon or desert, used of Israel's apostasy throughout Scripture (Judges 2:12-13, 1 Kings 9:9). <strong>The covenant</strong> (<em>berit</em>, בְּרִית) is Israel's fundamenta...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
11. (Is 48:20; Zec 2:6, 7). Long residence in Babylon made many loath to leave it: so as to mystical Babylon (Re 18:4).
**ye ... that bear ... vessels of the Lord--**the priests and Levites, whose office it was to carry the vessels of the temple (Jr 27:18). Nebuchadnezzar had carried them to Babylon (2Ch 36:18). Cyrus restored them (Ezr 1:7-11).
**be ... clean--**by separating yourselves wholl...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 22
Justice is recommended, and destruction threatened in case of disobedience. (Jr 22:1-9) The captivity of Jehoiakim, and the end of Jeconiah. (Jr 22:10-19) The doom of the royal family. (Jr 22:20-30)
**Verses 1-9** The king of Judah is spoken to, as sitting upon the throne of David, the man after God's own heart. Let him follow his example, that he may have the benefit of the promi...
Read full commentary →Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him</strong>—the 'dead' refers to King Josiah, killed in battle at Megiddo in 609 BC (2 Kings 23:29-30). The Hebrew <em>al-tivku lamet</em> (אַל־תִּבְכּוּ לַמֵּת) uses the imperative negative: cease weeping for the deceased. Josiah was Judah's last good king, and his death devastated the nation (2 Chronicles 35:24-25). Yet God commands: stop mournin...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **Weep ye not for the dead.**—With this verse begins the detailed review of the three previous reigns, the prophecies being reproduced as they were actually delivered. The “dead” for whom men are not to weep is Josiah, for whom Jeremiah had himself composed a solemn dirge, which seems from 2Chronicles 35:25 to have been repeated on the anniversary of his death.
**For him that goeth away.**—Th...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. not ... with haste--**as when ye left Egypt (Ex 12:33, 39; De 16:3; compare Note, see on Is 28:16). Ye shall have time to cleanse yourselves and make deliberate preparation for departure.
**Lord--**Jehovah, as your Leader in front (Is 40:3; Ex 23:20; Mi 2:13).
**rereward--**literally, "gather up," that is, to bring up the rear of your host. The transition is frequent from the glory of Me...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-19** Here is a sentence of death upon two kings, the wicked sons of a very pious father. Josiah was prevented from seeing the evil to come in this world, and removed to see the good to come in the other world; therefore, weep not for him, but for his son Shallum, who is likely to live and die a wretched captive. Dying saints may be justly envied, while living sinners are justly pitied....
Read full commentary →For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah</strong>—God identifies the exiled king by his personal name <em>Shallum</em> (שַׁלֻּם), meaning 'retribution' or 'recompense,' rather than his throne name Jehoahaz. This may be intentional irony: his name means 'retribution,' and he experienced exactly that for failing to follow his father's righteousness. The phrase...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **Shallum.**—Josiah’s successor appears in the historical books as Jehoahaz (“Jehovah sustains,” meant as a *nomen et omen*)*, *the latter being probably the name assumed on his succession to the throne. Such changes were common at the time, as in the case of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah (2Kings 23:34; 2Kings 24:17). Shallum (= retribution) might probably have seemed a name of evil augury. In 1Chro...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
13. Here the fifty-third chapter ought to begin, and the fifty-second chapter end with Is 52:12. This section, from here to end of the fifty-third chapter settles the controversy with the Jews, if Messiah be the person meant; and with infidels, if written by Isaiah, or at any time before Christ. The correspondence with the life and death of Jesus Christ is so minute, that it could not have resulte...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-19** Here is a sentence of death upon two kings, the wicked sons of a very pious father. Josiah was prevented from seeing the evil to come in this world, and removed to see the good to come in the other world; therefore, weep not for him, but for his son Shallum, who is likely to live and die a wretched captive. Dying saints may be justly envied, while living sinners are justly pitied....
Read full commentary →But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive</strong>—the Hebrew <em>ki bimkom asher higlu oto sham yamut</em> (כִּי בִמְקוֹם אֲשֶׁר הִגְלוּ אֹתוֹ שָׁם יָמוּת) emphasizes location: 'in the place where they exiled him, there he shall die.' The verb <em>galah</em> (גָּלָה, 'exile/deport') is the technical term for forced removal from covenant land, the ultimate curse of De...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **Shall see this land no more.**—There is no record of the duration of the life of Shallum in his Egyptian exile, but the total absence of his name in the history that follows is presumptive evidence of the fulfilment of the prediction. There is no trace of his being alive when the prophet is dragged by his countrymen to Egypt (Jeremiah 43:6-7).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
14-15. Summary of Messiah's history, which is set forth more in detail in the fifty-third chapter. "Just as many were astonished (accompanied with aversion, Jr 18:16; 19:8), &c.; his visage, &c.; so shall He sprinkle," &c.; Israel in this answers to its antitype Messiah, now "an astonishment and byword" (De 28:37), hereafter about to be a blessing and means of salvation to many nations...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-19** Here is a sentence of death upon two kings, the wicked sons of a very pious father. Josiah was prevented from seeing the evil to come in this world, and removed to see the good to come in the other world; therefore, weep not for him, but for his son Shallum, who is likely to live and die a wretched captive. Dying saints may be justly envied, while living sinners are justly pitied....
Read full commentary →Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness</strong>—the Hebrew <em>hoy boneh beito belo-tsedeq</em> (הוֹי בֹּנֶה בֵיתוֹ בְּלֹא־צֶדֶק) begins with the prophetic <em>hoy</em> (הוֹי, 'woe'), a funeral lament pronouncing doom. This targets King Jehoiakim specifically (vv. 18-19 name him). <strong>Unrighteousness</strong> (<em>belo-tsedeq</em>, בְּלֹא־צֶדֶק) means 'without righteou...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Woe unto him that buildeth . . .**—The prophet now turns to Jehoiakim, and apparently reproduces what he had before uttered in denouncing the selfish bearing of that king. The feelings of the people, already suffering from the miseries of foreign invasion, were outraged by the revival of the forced labour of the days of Solomon, pressing in this instance not on the “strangers” of alien bloo...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
14-15. Summary of Messiah's history, which is set forth more in detail in the fifty-third chapter. "Just as many were astonished (accompanied with aversion, Jr 18:16; 19:8), &c.; his visage, &c.; so shall He sprinkle," &c.; Israel in this answers to its antitype Messiah, now "an astonishment and byword" (De 28:37), hereafter about to be a blessing and means of salvation to many nations...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-19** Here is a sentence of death upon two kings, the wicked sons of a very pious father. Josiah was prevented from seeing the evil to come in this world, and removed to see the good to come in the other world; therefore, weep not for him, but for his son Shallum, who is likely to live and die a wretched captive. Dying saints may be justly envied, while living sinners are justly pitied....
Read full commentary →That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. large: Heb. through-aired windows: or, my windows
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers</strong>—the Hebrew <em>ha'omer evneh-li beyt middot va'aliyot meruachim</em> (הָאֹמֵר אֶבְנֶה־לִּי בֵּית מִדּוֹת וַעֲלִיּוֹת מְרֻוָּחִים) reveals Jehoiakim's arrogant ambition. <em>Beyt middot</em> (בֵּית מִדּוֹת) means 'house of measurements/proportions'—a grandiose, measured palace. <em>Meruachim</em> (מְרֻוָּחִים) means 'spaci...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **Large chambers.**—As before, “upper storeys *or *chambers.”
**Cutteth him out windows.**—The verb is the same as that used in Jeremiah 4:30 for dilating the eyes by the use of antimony, and implies accordingly the construction of windows of unusual width. These, after the Eastern fashion, were fitted with lattice-work, or shielded by curtains.
**Vermilion.**—Probably the red pigment (sulphu...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-19** Here is a sentence of death upon two kings, the wicked sons of a very pious father. Josiah was prevented from seeing the evil to come in this world, and removed to see the good to come in the other world; therefore, weep not for him, but for his son Shallum, who is likely to live and die a wretched captive. Dying saints may be justly envied, while living sinners are justly pitied....
Read full commentary →Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?
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KJV Study Commentary
God contrasts wicked King Jehoiakim with his father Josiah: 'Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD' (vv. 15-16). This revolutionary statement equates knowing God with doing justice, especially for the poor and needy. Knowing God is no...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **Thou closest thyself in cedar.**—Better, *thine ambition is in cedar. *The verb means strictly, as in Jeremiah 12:5, “to vie with” or “to contend,” and Jehoiakim is reproached for endeavouring to outdo the magnificence even of his greatest predecessors. A various reading, followed by the LXX., gives, “thou viest with Ahaz,” or “Ahab,” probably, in this latter case, with reference to the ivo...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 53 Is 53:1-12. Man's Unbelief: Messiah's Vicarious Sufferings, and Final Triumph for Man.
The speaker, according to Horsley, personates the repenting Jews in the latter ages of the world coming over to the faith of the Redeemer; the whole is their penitent confession. This view suits the context (Is 52:7-9), which is not to be fully realized until Israel is restored. However, primarily, ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-19** Here is a sentence of death upon two kings, the wicked sons of a very pious father. Josiah was prevented from seeing the evil to come in this world, and removed to see the good to come in the other world; therefore, weep not for him, but for his son Shallum, who is likely to live and die a wretched captive. Dying saints may be justly envied, while living sinners are justly pitied....
Read full commentary →He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me?</strong> The Hebrew verb יָדַע (<em>yada</em>, 'to know') signifies far more than intellectual awareness—it denotes intimate, covenantal relationship expressed through obedient action. Jeremiah contrasts righteous King Josiah with his wicked son Jehoiakim: true knowledge of Yahweh manifests in ju...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **Was not this to know me?**—The prophet, as a true witness of the law of righteousness, proclaims that the religious fame of Josiah rested not on his restoration of the Temple worship, nor on his suppression of idolatry, but much more on his faithfulness in his kingly work to the cause of righteousness and mercy. They only could know Him who, in this respect, strove to be like Him (1John 3:2...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. tender plant--**Messiah grew silently and insensibly, as a sucker from an ancient stock, seemingly dead (namely, the house of David, then in a decayed state) (see on Is 11:1).
**shall grow ... hath--**rather, "grew up ... had."
**before him--**before Jehovah. Though unknown to the world (Joh 1:11), Messiah was observed by God, who ordered the most minute circumstances attending His growth...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-19** Here is a sentence of death upon two kings, the wicked sons of a very pious father. Josiah was prevented from seeing the evil to come in this world, and removed to see the good to come in the other world; therefore, weep not for him, but for his son Shallum, who is likely to live and die a wretched captive. Dying saints may be justly envied, while living sinners are justly pitied....
Read full commentary →But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it. violence: or, incursion
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness</strong>—the Hebrew בֶּצַע (<em>betsa</em>, 'unjust gain') describes violent greed that tears apart social fabric. Jehoiakim's entire orientation (eyes = perception, heart = will) fixated on accumulation through oppression. The fourfold indictment follows: <strong>covetousness</strong>, <strong>shedding innocent blood</strong>...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Thy covetousness.**—More literally, *thy gain, *the word used implying (as in Jeremiah 6:13; Jeremiah 8:10) the idea of violence and oppression as the means by which it was obtained. The verb from which the noun is derived is so translated—“ violence” (literally, “crushing”)—in Deuteronomy 28:33. The marginal reading, “incursion,” has nothing to commend it. In “the blood of the innocent” he...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. rejected--**"forsaken of men" [Gesenius]. "Most abject of men." Literally, "He who ceases from men," that is, is no longer regarded as a man [Hengstenberg]. (See on Is 52:14; Is 49:7).
**man of sorrows--**that is, whose distinguishing characteristic was sorrows.
**acquainted with--**familiar by constant contact with.
**grief--**literally, "disease"; figuratively for all kinds of calamit...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-19** Here is a sentence of death upon two kings, the wicked sons of a very pious father. Josiah was prevented from seeing the evil to come in this world, and removed to see the good to come in the other world; therefore, weep not for him, but for his son Shallum, who is likely to live and die a wretched captive. Dying saints may be justly envied, while living sinners are justly pitied....
Read full commentary →Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister!</strong> The Hebrew הוֹי (<em>hoy</em>, 'Ah!' or 'Alas!') was the traditional funeral cry—but Jehoiakim would receive no mourning ritual, no familial grief (<em>achi</em>, 'my brother'; <em>achot</em>, 'sister'). Neither would there be royal lamentation: <strong>Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!</strong> (הוֹי אָדוֹן וְהוֹי הֹדו...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **They shall not lament for him.**—The words contrast the death as well as the life of Jehoiakim with that of Josiah. For him there should be no lamentation such as was made for the righteous king (2Chronicles 35:25), either from kindred mourning, as over a brother or a sister (perhaps, however, as “sister” would not be appropriate to the king, the words are those of a chorus of mourners, mal...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. Surely ... our griefs--**literally, "But yet He hath taken (or borne) our sicknesses," that is, they who despised Him because of His human infirmities ought rather to have esteemed Him on account of them; for thereby "Himself took OUR infirmities" (bodily diseases). So Mt 8:17 quotes it. In the Hebrew for "borne," or took, there is probably the double notion, He took on Himself vicariously (s...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-19** Here is a sentence of death upon two kings, the wicked sons of a very pious father. Josiah was prevented from seeing the evil to come in this world, and removed to see the good to come in the other world; therefore, weep not for him, but for his son Shallum, who is likely to live and die a wretched captive. Dying saints may be justly envied, while living sinners are justly pitied....
Read full commentary →He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>He shall be buried with the burial of an ass</strong> (קְבוּרַת חֲמוֹר, <em>qevurat chamor</em>)—no phrase could more graphically depict shame and desecration. Donkeys received no burial; their carcasses were simply <strong>drawn and cast forth beyond the gates</strong>, dragged (Hebrew סָחַב, <em>sachav</em>) like refuse to decompose outside the city walls. For a king who built palaces, t...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **He shall be buried with the burial of an ass.**—The same prediction appears in another form in Jeremiah 36:30. The body of the king was “to be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.” We have no direct record of its fulfilment, but its reproduction shows that the prophet’s word had not failed. The king was dragged in chains with the other captives, who were being car...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. wounded--**a bodily wound; not mere mental sorrow; literally, "pierced"; minutely appropriate to Messiah, whose hands, feet, and side were pierced (Psa 22:16). The Margin, wrongly, from a Hebrew root, translates, "tormented."
**for ... for--**(Ro 4:25; 2Co 5:21; He 9:28; 1Pe 2:24; 3:18)--the cause for which He suffered not His own, but our sins.
**bruised--**crushing inward and outward su...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 10-19** Here is a sentence of death upon two kings, the wicked sons of a very pious father. Josiah was prevented from seeing the evil to come in this world, and removed to see the good to come in the other world; therefore, weep not for him, but for his son Shallum, who is likely to live and die a wretched captive. Dying saints may be justly envied, while living sinners are justly pitied....
Read full commentary →Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Go up to Lebanon, and cry</strong>—God commands personified Jerusalem to ascend the heights and wail from three mountain ranges: Lebanon (north), Bashan (northeast), and Abarim/Pisgah (east). These geographical markers form a panoramic sweep encompassing Judah's entire horizon. The repeated imperative <strong>and cry</strong> (צְעָקִי, <em>tse'aqi</em>—feminine singular, addressing daughte...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **Go up to Lebanon.**—The great mountain-ranges—Lebanon and Bashan (Psalm 68:15)—running from north to south, that overlooked the route of the Babylonians, are invoked by the prophet, as those of Gilboa had been by David (2Samuel 1:21), as witnesses of the misery that was coming on the land and people. Even here, as in Jeremiah 22:23, there is probably still the same reference as before to th...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
6. Penitent confession of believers and of Israel in the last days (Zec 12:10).
**sheep ... astray--**(Psa 119:176; 1Pe 2:25). The antithesis is, "In ourselves we were scattered; in Christ we are collected together; by nature we wander, driven headlong to destruction; in Christ we find the way to the gate of life" [Calvin]. True, also, literally of Israel before its coming restoration (Eze 34:5,...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 20-30** The Jewish state is described under a threefold character. Very haughty in a day of peace and safety. Very fearful on alarm of trouble. Very much cast down under pressure of trouble. Many never are ashamed of their sins till brought by them to the last extremity. The king shall close his days in bondage. Those that think themselves as signets on God's right hand, must not be secur...
Read full commentary →I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice. prosperity: Heb. prosperities
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear</strong> (דִּבַּרְתִּי אֵלַיִךְ בְּשַׁלְוֹתַיִךְ אָמַרְתְּ לֹא אֶשְׁמָע, <em>dibarti elayikh b'shalvotayikh amartə lo eshma</em>). The Hebrew שַׁלְוָה (<em>shalvah</em>, 'prosperity/ease') describes the dangerous comfort that breeds spiritual deafness. When life is comfortable, Judah refused to listen (שָׁמַע, <em>shama<...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21) **In thy prosperity.**—Literally, *prosperities. *The word is used, as in Proverbs 1:32; Ezekiel 16:49; Psalm 30:6, in reference to what in old English was called “security,” the careless, reckless temper engendered by outward prosperity. The plural is used to include all the forms of that temper that had been manifested in the course of centuries.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. oppressed--**Lowth translates, "It was exacted, and He was made answerable." The verb means, "to have payment of a debt sternly exacted" (De 15:2, 3), and so to be oppressed in general; the exaction of the full penalty for our sins in His sufferings is probably alluded to.
**and ... afflicted--**or, and yet He suffered, or bore Himself patiently, &c. [Hengstenberg and Maurer]. Lowth's t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 20-30** The Jewish state is described under a threefold character. Very haughty in a day of peace and safety. Very fearful on alarm of trouble. Very much cast down under pressure of trouble. Many never are ashamed of their sins till brought by them to the last extremity. The king shall close his days in bondage. Those that think themselves as signets on God's right hand, must not be secur...
Read full commentary →The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The wind shall eat up all thy pastors</strong> (רוּחַ תִּרְעֶה כָל־רֹעַיִךְ, <em>ruach tir'eh kol-ro'ayikh</em>)—a wordplay impossible to capture in English. The verb רָעָה (<em>ra'ah</em>) means both 'to shepherd/feed' and 'to consume.' The wind/spirit (רוּחַ, <em>ruach</em>—possibly divine judgment-wind) will 'shepherd away' or 'devour' Judah's shepherds (political/religious leaders). Me...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(22) **The wind shall eat up all thy pastors.**—The word for “eat up” is the root of the noun rendered “pastors,” and the play of sound may be expressed in English by *shall feed on them that feed thee*—*i.e., *thy princes and statesmen. The “lovers” are, as before in Jeremiah 22:20, the king’s chosen allies.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
8. Rather, "He was taken away (that is, cut off) by oppression and by a judicial sentence"; a hendiadys for, "by an oppressive judicial sentence" [Lowth and Hengstenberg]. Gesenius not so well, "He was delivered from oppression and punishment" only by death. English Version also translates, "from ... from," not "by ... by." But "prison" is not true of Jesus, who was not incarcerated; restraint and...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 20-30** The Jewish state is described under a threefold character. Very haughty in a day of peace and safety. Very fearful on alarm of trouble. Very much cast down under pressure of trouble. Many never are ashamed of their sins till brought by them to the last extremity. The king shall close his days in bondage. Those that think themselves as signets on God's right hand, must not be secur...
Read full commentary →O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail! inhabitant: Heb. inhabitress
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars</strong>—Jerusalem's elite inhabited palaces built with Lebanon's famous cedars, symbols of luxury and security. The verb קָנַן (<em>qanan</em>, 'to nest') suggests birds building high, unreachable homes—an image of false safety. But <strong>how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!</...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **O, inhabitant of Lebanon.**—The phrase develops the thought of Jeremiah 22:6. The king, in his cedar-palace, is as one who has made Lebanon his home, literally and figuratively (see Note on Jeremiah 22:7), and is as an eagle nestling in the cedar.
**How gracious shalt thou be . . .!**—Better, *how wilt thou sigh! *or, *how wilt thou groan! *as connected with the pangs of travail. No pomp or...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9. Rather, "His grave was appointed," or "they appointed Him His grave" [Hengstenberg]; that is, they intended (by crucifying Him with two thieves, Mt 27:38) that He should have His grave "with the wicked." Compare Joh 19:31, the denial of honorable burial being accounted a great ignominy (see on Is 14:19; Jr 26:23).
**and with ... rich--**rather, "but He was with a rich man," &c. Gesenius, ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 20-30** The Jewish state is described under a threefold character. Very haughty in a day of peace and safety. Very fearful on alarm of trouble. Very much cast down under pressure of trouble. Many never are ashamed of their sins till brought by them to the last extremity. The king shall close his days in bondage. Those that think themselves as signets on God's right hand, must not be secur...
Read full commentary →As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence</strong>—the Hebrew חוֹתָם (<em>chotam</em>, 'signet ring') represented royal authority, identity, and power. Kings sealed official documents with their signet, making it precious and constantly worn. God declares that even if Coniah (Jehoiachin, contracted form) held this pla...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(24) **Coniah the son of Jehoiakim.**—The grammatical structure of the sentence fixes the original utterance of the message, now reproduced, at a time when Coniah was actually king, during his short three months’ reign. The name of this prince appears in three forms :—(1) The abbreviated Coniah, as here and in Jeremiah 37:1 : this was probably the name by which he was known before he was proclaime...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
10. Transition from His humiliation to His exaltation.
**pleased the Lord--**the secret of His sufferings. They were voluntarily borne by Messiah, in order that thereby He might "do Jehovah's will" (Joh 6:38; He 10:7, 9), as to man's redemption; so at the end of the verse, "the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand."
**bruise--**(see Is 53:5); Ge 3:15, was hereby fulfilled, though the...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 20-30** The Jewish state is described under a threefold character. Very haughty in a day of peace and safety. Very fearful on alarm of trouble. Very much cast down under pressure of trouble. Many never are ashamed of their sins till brought by them to the last extremity. The king shall close his days in bondage. Those that think themselves as signets on God's right hand, must not be secur...
Read full commentary →And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
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<strong>And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life</strong> (נְתַתִּיךָ בְּיַד מְבַקְשֵׁי נַפְשֶׁךָ, <em>netatikha b'yad m'vakshei nafshekha</em>)—the phrase 'seek your life/soul' means 'seek to kill you.' Specifically, God identifies the agents: <strong>into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
11. Jehovah is still speaking.
**see of the travail--**He shall see such blessed fruits resulting from His sufferings as amply to repay Him for them (Is 49:4, 5; 50:5, 9). The "satisfaction," in seeing the full fruit of His travail of soul in the conversion of Israel and the world, is to be realized in the last days (Is 2:2-4).
**his knowledge--**rather, the knowledge (experimentally) of Him (...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 20-30** The Jewish state is described under a threefold character. Very haughty in a day of peace and safety. Very fearful on alarm of trouble. Very much cast down under pressure of trouble. Many never are ashamed of their sins till brought by them to the last extremity. The king shall close his days in bondage. Those that think themselves as signets on God's right hand, must not be secur...
Read full commentary →And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country</strong>—the Hebrew שָׁלַךְ (<em>shalakh</em>, 'to cast/hurl') conveys violent ejection, not gentle relocation. Both king and queen mother would be expelled <strong>where ye were not born; and there shall ye die</strong>. The queen mother (גְּבִירָה, <em>gebirah</em>) held significant political power in Judah's c...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(26) **Thy mother that bare thee.**—The youth of Coniah probably led to his mother assuming the authority of a queen-regent. She directed the policy of his brief reign, and shared in his downfall. Her name, Nehushta, is given in 2Kings 24:8, and in Jeremiah 29:2 she is named as the *gebirah, *the “great lady “or” princess-queen.”
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. divide--**as a conqueror dividing the spoil after a victory (Psa 2:8; Lu 11:22).
**him--**for Him.
**with ... great--**Hengstenberg translates, "I will give Him the mighty for a portion"; so the Septuagint. But the parallel clause, "with the strong," favors English Version. His triumphs shall be not merely among the few and weak, but among the many and mighty.
**spoil ... strong--**(Co...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 20-30** The Jewish state is described under a threefold character. Very haughty in a day of peace and safety. Very fearful on alarm of trouble. Very much cast down under pressure of trouble. Many never are ashamed of their sins till brought by them to the last extremity. The king shall close his days in bondage. Those that think themselves as signets on God's right hand, must not be secur...
Read full commentary →But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return. desire: Heb. lift up their mind
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return</strong> (וְעַל־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־הֵם מְנַשְּׂאִים אֶת־נַפְשָׁם לָשׁוּב שָׁם שָׁמָּה לֹא יָשׁוּבוּ, <em>v'al-ha'arets asher-hem m'nassim et-nafsham lashuv sham shammah lo yashuvu</em>). The phrase נָשָׂא נֶפֶשׁ (<em>nasa nefesh</em>, 'lift up the soul/desire') indicates intense longing—they would yearn for homeland...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(27) **Whereunto they desire to return.**—The English expresses the sense, but lacks the poetic force, of the Hebrew, *to which they lift up their souls to return, *yearning thitherward with the longing of unsatisfied desire.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 20-30** The Jewish state is described under a threefold character. Very haughty in a day of peace and safety. Very fearful on alarm of trouble. Very much cast down under pressure of trouble. Many never are ashamed of their sins till brought by them to the last extremity. The king shall close his days in bondage. Those that think themselves as signets on God's right hand, must not be secur...
Read full commentary →Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol?</strong> (הַעֶצֶב נִבְזֶה נָפוּץ הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה כָּנְיָהוּ, <em>ha'etsev nivzeh nafuts ha'ish hazeh konyahu</em>). The Hebrew עֶצֶב (<em>etsev</em>, 'idol' or 'vessel') combined with נִבְזֶה (<em>nivzeh</em>, 'despised') and נָפוּץ (<em>nafuts</em>, 'shattered/broken') creates a devastating image. <strong>Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure?</st...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(28) **Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol?**—Better, *a broken piece of handiwork. *The word is not the same as that elsewhere rendered “idol,” though connected with it, and the imagery which underlies the words is not that of an idol which men have worshipped and flung away, but of the potter (as in Jeremiah 19:11) rejecting and breaking what his own hands have made. (Comp. Psalm 2:9; Psal...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 54 Is 54:1-17. The Fruit of Messiah's Sufferings, and of Israel's Final Penitence at Her Past Unbelief (Is 53:6): Her Joyful Restoration and Enlargement by Jehovah, Whose Wrath Was Momentary, but His Kindness Everlasting.
Israel converted is compared to a wife (Is 54:5; Is 62:5) put away for unfaithfulness, but now forgiven and taken home again. The converted Gentiles are represented as ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 20-30** The Jewish state is described under a threefold character. Very haughty in a day of peace and safety. Very fearful on alarm of trouble. Very much cast down under pressure of trouble. Many never are ashamed of their sins till brought by them to the last extremity. The king shall close his days in bondage. Those that think themselves as signets on God's right hand, must not be secur...
Read full commentary →O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
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<strong>O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD</strong> (אֶרֶץ אֶרֶץ אֶרֶץ שִׁמְעִי דְּבַר־יְהוָה, <em>erets erets erets shim'i d'var-YHWH</em>). The threefold repetition creates urgency and solemnity—compare Isaiah's 'Holy, holy, holy' (Isaiah 6:3) or Jesus's 'Verily, verily' formulas. The prophet summons the earth itself as witness to divine decree, invoking the ancient pattern where h...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(29) **O earth, earth, earth.**—The solemnity of the mystic threefold repetition expresses the certainty of the Divine decree (comp. Jeremiah 7:4). So in our Lord’s most solemn utterances we have the twice-repeated “Simon, Simon” (Luke 22:31), and the recurring “Verily, verily” of St. John’s Gospel (John 8:51 *et al.*)*.*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
2. (Is 49:19, 20; Jr 31:31-36, 38, 39). Thy children shall be so many that thy borders must be extended to contain them.
**curtains--**the cloth forming the covering of the tent.
**spare not--**give abundantly the means for the enlargement of the Church (2Co 9:5-7).
**cords ... stakes--**The more the tent is enlarged by lengthening the cords by which the cloth covering is fastened to the gro...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 20-30** The Jewish state is described under a threefold character. Very haughty in a day of peace and safety. Very fearful on alarm of trouble. Very much cast down under pressure of trouble. Many never are ashamed of their sins till brought by them to the last extremity. The king shall close his days in bondage. Those that think themselves as signets on God's right hand, must not be secur...
Read full commentary →Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.
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<strong>Write ye this man childless</strong> (כִּתְבוּ אֶת־הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה עֲרִירִי, <em>kitvu et-ha'ish hazeh ariri</em>)—the Hebrew עֲרִירִי (<em>ariri</em>, 'childless/stripped/bare') doesn't mean biological childlessness (he had seven sons, 1 Chronicles 3:17-18) but legal nullification of dynasty. <strong>A man that shall not prosper in his days</strong>—the verb צָלֵחַ (<em>tsaleach</em>, 'pro...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(30) **Write ye this man childless.**—The meaning of the prediction, as explained by the latter clause of the verse, was fulfilled in Jeconiah’s being the last kingly representative of the house of David, his uncle Zedekiah, who succeeded him, perishing before him (Jeremiah 52:31). In him the sceptre departed, and not even Zerubbabel sat upon the throne of Judah. Whether he died actually childless...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. break forth--**rather, "burst forth" with increase; thy offspring shall grow, answering to "thy seed" in the parallel clause.
**thy seed--**Israel and her children, as distinguished from "the Gentiles."
**desolate cities--**of Israel (Is 44:26).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 20-30** The Jewish state is described under a threefold character. Very haughty in a day of peace and safety. Very fearful on alarm of trouble. Very much cast down under pressure of trouble. Many never are ashamed of their sins till brought by them to the last extremity. The king shall close his days in bondage. Those that think themselves as signets on God's right hand, must not be secur...
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