King James Version
Jeremiah 7
34 verses with commentary
False Religion Worthless
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse introduces one of Jeremiah's most significant sermons, known as the Temple Sermon. 'The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD' establishes divine origin—this isn't human opinion but God's direct message. The specific setting and audience will be specified in following verses, but the formula 'The word...from the LORD' appears frequently in prophetic literature, authenticating prophet...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
VII.
(1) This chapter and the three that follow form again another great prophetic sermon, delivered to the crowds that flocked to the Temple. There is nothing in the discourse which absolutely fixes its date, but the description of idolatry, as prevalent, and, possibly, the reference to the presence of the Chaldæan invader in Jeremiah 8:16; Jeremiah 10:22, fit in rather with the reign of Jehoiaki...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**27. Therefore--**not because of thy power, but because I made them unable to withstand thee.
**grass--**which easily withers (Is 40:6; Psa 37:2).
**on ... housetops--**which having little earth to nourish it fades soonest (Psa 129:6-8).
**corn blasted before it be grown up--**Smith translates, "The cornfield (frail and tender), before the corn is grown."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Confidence in the temple is vain. (Jr 7:1-16) The provocation by persisting in idolatry. (Jr 7:17-20) God justifies his dealings with them. (Jr 7:21-28) And threatens vengeance. (Jr 7:29-34)
**Verses 1-16** No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow thems...
Read full commentary →Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.
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KJV Study Commentary
God commands Jeremiah to deliver His message publicly: 'Stand in the gate of the LORD's house' (ʿămmōḏ bĕšaʿar bêṯ-YHWH, עֲמֹד בְּשַׁעַר בֵּית־יְהוָה). The temple gate was the most public location, ensuring maximum audience. The charge: 'proclaim there this word' (wĕqārāʾṯā šām ʾeṯ-haddāḇār hazzeh)—public proclamation, not private counsel. The audience: 'Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah,...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **The gate of the Lord’s house.**—As a priest, Jeremiah would have access to all parts of the Temple. On some day when the courts were thronged with worshippers (Jeremiah 7:10), probably a fast-day specially appointed, he stands at the inner gate of one of the courts, possibly, as in Jeremiah 17:19, that by which the king entered in ceremonial state, and looking about on the multitudes that th...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**28. abode--**rather, "sitting down" (Psa 139:2). The expressions here describe a man's whole course of life (De 6:7; 28:6; 1Ki 3:7; Psa 121:8). There is also a special reference to Sennacherib's first being at home, then going forth against Judah and Egypt, and raging against Jehovah (Is 37:4).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Confidence in the temple is vain. (Jr 7:1-16) The provocation by persisting in idolatry. (Jr 7:17-20) God justifies his dealings with them. (Jr 7:21-28) And threatens vengeance. (Jr 7:29-34)
**Verses 1-16** No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow thems...
Read full commentary →Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
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KJV Study Commentary
God identifies Himself with full covenant title: 'Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel' (kōh-ʾāmar YHWH ṣĕḇāʾôṯ ʾĕlōhê yiśrāʾēl). 'LORD of hosts' (YHWH ṣĕḇāʾôṯ) emphasizes sovereignty over heavenly armies, while 'God of Israel' stresses covenant relationship. The message begins positively: 'Amend your ways and your doings' (hêṭîḇû dĕrāḵêḵem ûmaʿalĕlêḵem, הֵיטִיבוּ דַרְכֵיכֶם וּמַעַלְלֵי...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Your ways and your doings.**—“Ways,” as in Zechariah 1:6, of general habits, “doings” of separate acts.
**I will cause you to dwell.**—The English suggests the thoughts of something new, but what Jeremiah promises is simply the continuance of the blessings they had hitherto enjoyed. *I will let you dwell.*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**29. tumult--**insolence.
**hook in ... nose--**Like a wild beast led by a ring through the nose, he shall be forced back to his own country (compare Job 41:1, 2; Eze 19:4; 29:4; 38:4). In a bas-relief of Khorsabad, captives are led before the king by a cord attached to a hook, or ring, passing through the under lip or the upper lip, and nose.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Confidence in the temple is vain. (Jr 7:1-16) The provocation by persisting in idolatry. (Jr 7:17-20) God justifies his dealings with them. (Jr 7:21-28) And threatens vengeance. (Jr 7:29-34)
**Verses 1-16** No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow thems...
Read full commentary →Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse delivers a sharp warning: 'Trust ye not in lying words' (ʾal-tiḇṭĕḥû lāḵem ʾel-diḇrê haššāqer, אַל־תִּבְטְחוּ לָכֶם אֶל־דִּבְרֵי הַשָּׁקֶר). The verb bāṭaḥ (trust, feel secure) indicates false confidence. The 'lying words' (diḇrê haššāqer) refers to deceptive messages people were hearing, specifically identified: 'saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Trust ye not in lying words . . .**—The emphatic threefold repetition of the words thus condemned, “The temple of the Lord,” points to its having been the burden of the discourses of the false prophets, possibly to the solemn iteration of the words in the litanies of the supplicants. With no thought of the Divine Presence of which it was the symbol, they were ever harping on its greatness, i...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
30. Addressed to Hezekiah.
**sign--**a token which, when fulfilled, would assure him of the truth of the whole prophecy as to the enemy's overthrow. The two years, in which they were sustained by the spontaneous growth of the earth, were the two in which Judea had been already ravaged by Sennacherib (Is 32:10). Thus translate: "Ye did eat (the first year) such as groweth of itself, and in the se...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Confidence in the temple is vain. (Jr 7:1-16) The provocation by persisting in idolatry. (Jr 7:17-20) God justifies his dealings with them. (Jr 7:21-28) And threatens vengeance. (Jr 7:29-34)
**Verses 1-16** No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow thems...
Read full commentary →For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
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KJV Study Commentary
God specifies what genuine amendment requires: 'For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings' (kî ʾim-hêṭêḇ têṭîḇû ʾeṯ-dĕrĕḵêḵem wĕʾeṯ-maʿalĕlêḵem). The doubled verb (hêṭêḇ têṭîḇû) emphasizes thorough, comprehensive reformation, not superficial change. The first requirement: 'if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour' (ʾim-ʿāśô ṯaʿăśû mišpāṭ bên ʾîš ûḇên rēʿēhû). The ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **A man and his neighbour.**—The Jewish idiom for the English “one man and another.”
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**31. remnant--**Judah remained after the ten tribes were carried away; also those of Judah who should survive Sennacherib's invasion are meant.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Confidence in the temple is vain. (Jr 7:1-16) The provocation by persisting in idolatry. (Jr 7:17-20) God justifies his dealings with them. (Jr 7:21-28) And threatens vengeance. (Jr 7:29-34)
**Verses 1-16** No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow thems...
Read full commentary →If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
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KJV Study Commentary
The amendment requirements continue with three prohibitions: 'If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow' (gēr-yāṯôm wĕʾalmānâ lōʾ ṯaʿăšōqû, גֵּר־יָתוֹם וְאַלְמָנָה לֹא תַעֲשֹׁקוּ). These three groups—foreigner (gēr), orphan (yāṯôm), widow (ʾalmānâ)—represent society's most vulnerable, lacking family protection and legal advocates. The verb ʿāšaq (oppress, exploit) means taking ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **The stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.**—Grouped together, as in Deuteronomy 14:29; Deuteronomy 24:19-21, as the three great representatives of the poor and helpless, standing most in need therefore of man’s justice and of the divine protection.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Confidence in the temple is vain. (Jr 7:1-16) The provocation by persisting in idolatry. (Jr 7:17-20) God justifies his dealings with them. (Jr 7:21-28) And threatens vengeance. (Jr 7:29-34)
**Verses 1-16** No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow thems...
Read full commentary →Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
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KJV Study Commentary
God states the promise for obedience: 'Then will I cause you to dwell in this place' (wĕšikkantî ʾeṯḵem bammāqôm hazzeh, וְשִׁכַּנְתִּי אֶתְכֶם בַּמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה). The verb šāḵan (dwell, settle) indicates secure, permanent habitation. The conditional nature is emphatic—'if' the requirements in verses 5-6 are met, 'then' security follows. The historical scope: 'in the land that I gave to your fathe...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **For ever and ever.**—Literally, *from eternity to eternity, *or, perhaps, *from age to age. *The English punctuation connects these words with “I will cause you to dwell,” but the accentuation of the Hebrew with “I gave to your fathers;” the gift was to have been in perpetuity (Genesis 17:8), but the guilt of the people had brought about its forfeiture.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**33. with shields--**He did come near it, but was not allowed to conduct a proper siege.
**bank--**a mound to defend the assailants in attacking the walls.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Confidence in the temple is vain. (Jr 7:1-16) The provocation by persisting in idolatry. (Jr 7:17-20) God justifies his dealings with them. (Jr 7:21-28) And threatens vengeance. (Jr 7:29-34)
**Verses 1-16** No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow thems...
Read full commentary →Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
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KJV Study Commentary
God confronts their false confidence directly: 'Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit' (hinnēh ʾattem bōṭĕḥîm lāḵem ʿal-diḇrê haššāqer lĕḇilttî hôʿîl). The verb bāṭaḥ (trust) indicates misplaced confidence. The 'lying words' (diḇrê haššāqer) are explicitly named as unprofitable (lĕḇilttî hôʿîl)—they provide no benefit, no protection, no salvation. This demolishes the comforting theol...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **Lying words.**—With special reference to those already cited in Jeremiah 7:4.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
34. (See Is 37:29, 37; Is 29:5-8).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Confidence in the temple is vain. (Jr 7:1-16) The provocation by persisting in idolatry. (Jr 7:17-20) God justifies his dealings with them. (Jr 7:21-28) And threatens vengeance. (Jr 7:29-34)
**Verses 1-16** No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow thems...
Read full commentary →Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
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KJV Study Commentary
God catalogs Judah's covenant violations: 'Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not' (hagānōḇ rāṣōaḥ wĕnāʾōp̄ wĕhiššāḇēaʿ laššeqer wĕqaṭṭēr labbaʿal wĕhālōḵ ʾaḥărê ʾĕlōhîm ʾăḥērîm ʾăšer lōʾ-yĕḏaʿtem). This list systematically violates the Ten Commandments: stealing (8th), murder (6th), adultery (7th), fals...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Will ye steal.**—The English obscures the emphasis of the Hebrew idiom which gives the verbs as a series of infinitives, *What! to steal, to murder, to burn incense to Baal** . . .*** and then have ye come before me . . .!
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**35. I will defend--**Notwithstanding Hezekiah's measures of defense (2Ch 32:3-5), Jehovah was its true defender.
**mine own sake--**since Jehovah's name was blasphemed by Sennacherib (Is 37:23).
**David's sake--**on account of His promise to David (Psa 132:17, 18), and to Messiah, the heir of David's throne (Is 9:7; 11:1).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Confidence in the temple is vain. (Jr 7:1-16) The provocation by persisting in idolatry. (Jr 7:17-20) God justifies his dealings with them. (Jr 7:21-28) And threatens vengeance. (Jr 7:29-34)
**Verses 1-16** No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow thems...
Read full commentary →And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? which: Heb. whereupon my name is called
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KJV Study Commentary
God exposes the absurd logic: 'And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?' (ûḇāṯem waʿămaḏtem lĕp̄ānay babbayiṯ hazzeh ʾăšer-niqrā-šĕmî ʿālāyw waʾămarttem niṣṣalnû lĕmaʿan ʿăśôṯ ʾēṯ kol-hatōʿēḇôṯ hāʾēlleh). The verb nāṣal (delivered, saved) typically refers to divine rescue from danger. Jeremiah accuses them of pe...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10*)* **And come and stand.**—Better, *and then *have ye come, and stood before me.
**We are delivered.**—Taking the word as it stands (a different punctuation adopted by some commentators and versions gives *Deliver us, *as though reproducing, with indignant scorn, the very prayer of the people), the sense seems to be this. The people tried to combine the worship of Baal and Jehovah, and passed ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
36. Some attribute the destruction to the agency of the plague (see on Is 33:24), which may have caused Hezekiah's sickness, narrated immediately after; but Is 33:1, 4, proves that the Jews spoiled the corpses, which they would not have dared to do, had there been on them infection of a plague. The secondary agency seems, from Is 29:6; 30:30, to have been a storm of hail, thunder, and lightning (c...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Confidence in the temple is vain. (Jr 7:1-16) The provocation by persisting in idolatry. (Jr 7:17-20) God justifies his dealings with them. (Jr 7:21-28) And threatens vengeance. (Jr 7:29-34)
**Verses 1-16** No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow thems...
Read full commentary →Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.
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KJV Study Commentary
God delivers devastating indictment: 'Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?' (hamĕʿāraṯ pĕrîṣîm hāyâ habbayiṯ hazzeh ʾăšer-niqrā-šĕmî ʿālāyw lĕʿênêḵem). The phrase 'den of robbers' (mĕʿāraṯ pĕrîṣîm) describes a hideout where criminals retreat after committing crimes, feeling safe from consequences. Judah treated the temple as refuge after covenant violati...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **A den of robbers.**—The words had a special force in a country like Palestine, where the limestone rocks presented many caves, which, like that of Adullam (1Samuel 22:1-2), were the refuge of outlaws and robbers. Those who now flocked to the courts of the Temple, including even priests and prophets, were as such robbers, finding shelter there, and soothing their consciences by their worship...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**37. dwelt at Nineveh--**for about twenty years after his disaster, according to the inscriptions. The word, "dwelt," is consistent with any indefinite length of time. "Nineveh," so called from Ninus, that is, Nimrod, its founder; his name means "exceedingly impious rebel"; he subverted the existing patriarchal order of society, by setting up a system of chieftainship, founded on conquest; the hu...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Confidence in the temple is vain. (Jr 7:1-16) The provocation by persisting in idolatry. (Jr 7:17-20) God justifies his dealings with them. (Jr 7:21-28) And threatens vengeance. (Jr 7:29-34)
**Verses 1-16** No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow thems...
Read full commentary →But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
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KJV Study Commentary
God directs them to historical precedent: 'But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel' (kî-lĕḵû-nāʾ ʾel-mĕqômî ʾăšer bĕšîlô ʾăšer šikkanṯî šĕmî šām bārîšônâ ûrĕʾû ʾēṯ ʾăšer-ʿāśîṯî lô mippĕnê rāʿaṯ ʿammî yiśrāʾēl). Shiloh housed the tabernacle and ark from Joshua's time through Eli's priesthood (...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **My place which was in Shiloh.**—The history of the past showed that a Temple dedicated to Jehovah could not be desecrated with impunity. Shiloh had been chosen for the centre of the worship of Israel after the conquest of Canaan (Joshua 18:1), and was reverenced as such through the whole period of the Judges. It had not, however, been a centre of light and purity. It had been defiled by wil...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**38. Nisroch--**Nisr, in Semitic, means "eagle;" the termination och, means "great." The eagle-headed human figure in Assyrian sculptures is no doubt Nisroch, the same as Asshur, the chief Assyrian god; the corresponding goddess was Asheera, or Astarte; this means a "grove," or sacred tree, often found as the symbol of the heavenly hosts (Saba) in the sculptures, as Asshur the Eponymus hero of As...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Confidence in the temple is vain. (Jr 7:1-16) The provocation by persisting in idolatry. (Jr 7:17-20) God justifies his dealings with them. (Jr 7:21-28) And threatens vengeance. (Jr 7:29-34)
**Verses 1-16** No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow thems...
Read full commentary →And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;
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KJV Study Commentary
God applies the lesson: 'And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not' (wĕʿattâ yaʿan ʿăśôṯĕḵem ʾeṯ-kol-hammaʿăśîm hāʾēlleh nĕʾum-YHWH wāʾădabbēr ʾălêḵem haškēm wĕḏabbēr wĕlōʾ šĕmaʿtem wāʾeqrā ʾeṯḵem wĕlōʾ ʿănîṯem). The phrase 'rising up early' (haškēm) idiomatically means ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Rising up early and speaking.**—A characteristic phrase of Jeremiah’s, and used by him only (Jeremiah 13:25, Jeremiah 25:4; Jeremiah 26:5; Jeremiah 29:19). In its bold anthropomorphism it takes the highest form of human activity, waking from sleep and beginning at the dawn of day, to represent the like activity in God.
**I called you, but ye answered not.**—An echo of earlier complaints fro...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Confidence in the temple is vain. (Jr 7:1-16) The provocation by persisting in idolatry. (Jr 7:17-20) God justifies his dealings with them. (Jr 7:21-28) And threatens vengeance. (Jr 7:29-34)
**Verses 1-16** No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow thems...
Read full commentary →Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
God declares He will do to the Jerusalem temple what He did to Shiloh—destroy it. This challenges Judah's false confidence that the temple's presence guaranteed protection. The phrase 'wherein ye trust' exposes their misplaced faith in external religious symbols rather than covenant faithfulness. Shiloh, where the tabernacle once stood (1 Samuel 1-4), was destroyed when Israel's sin led to the ark...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 38 Is 38:1-22. Hezekiah's Sickness; Perhaps Connected with the Plague or Blast Whereby the Assyrian Army Had Been Destroyed.
**1. Set ... house in order--**Make arrangement as to the succession to the throne; for he had then no son; and as to thy other concerns.
**thou shall die--**speaking according to the ordinary course of the disease. His being spared fifteen years was not a change ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Confidence in the temple is vain. (Jr 7:1-16) The provocation by persisting in idolatry. (Jr 7:17-20) God justifies his dealings with them. (Jr 7:21-28) And threatens vengeance. (Jr 7:29-34)
**Verses 1-16** No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow thems...
Read full commentary →And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
The threat of exile is explicit: 'I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.' This compares Judah's coming fate to the northern kingdom's (Ephraim/Israel) exile to Assyria in 722 BC. The phrase 'cast you out of my sight' indicates complete removal from God's covenant presence. The reference to 'your brethren' shows that blood relationship...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **The whole seed of Ephraim.**—The fate of the tribes of the Northern kingdom, among which Ephraim had always held the leading position, was already familiar to the people. They were dwelling far off by Habor or Gozan, and the cities of the Medes (2Kings 15:29; 2Kings 17:6; 2Kings 18:11). A like exile was, they were now told, to be their own portion.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
2. The couches in the East run along the walls of houses. He turned away from the spectators to hide his emotion and collect his thoughts for prayer.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Confidence in the temple is vain. (Jr 7:1-16) The provocation by persisting in idolatry. (Jr 7:17-20) God justifies his dealings with them. (Jr 7:21-28) And threatens vengeance. (Jr 7:29-34)
**Verses 1-16** No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow thems...
Read full commentary →Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
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KJV Study Commentary
God forbids Jeremiah to intercede: 'Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.' This stunning command indicates that judgment is now fixed and irreversible. The comprehensive prohibition ('pray not,' 'lift up cry,' 'make intercession') emphasizes finality. God's statement 'I will not hear' shows that ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **Pray not thou.**—The words imply that a prayer of intercession, like that which Moses had offered of old (Exodus 32:10), was rising up in the heart of the prophet. He is told that he must check it. Judgment must have its way. The discipline must be left to do its work. A like impulse met by a like repression is found in Jeremiah 11:14; Jeremiah 14:11. It is obvious that the utterance of the...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
3. He mentions his past religious consistency, not as a boast or a ground for justification; but according to the Old Testament dispensation, wherein temporal rewards (as long life, &c., Ex 20:12) followed legal obedience, he makes his religious conduct a plea for asking the prolongation of his life.
**walked--**Life is a journey; the pious "walk with God" (Ge 5:24; 1Ki 9:4).
**perfect--**...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 7
Confidence in the temple is vain. (Jr 7:1-16) The provocation by persisting in idolatry. (Jr 7:17-20) God justifies his dealings with them. (Jr 7:21-28) And threatens vengeance. (Jr 7:29-34)
**Verses 1-16** No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow thems...
Read full commentary →Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
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KJV Study Commentary
God asks Jeremiah, 'Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?' This rhetorical question demands attention to observable reality. The public, open nature of their sin ('in the streets') shows shamelessness. God's question to the prophet implies that the evidence is so obvious that no one can claim ignorance. This public idolatry demonstrates how far Judah h...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Seest thou not . . .?**—We enter on one of the darker regions of Jewish idolatry, such as Ezekiel (Jeremiah 8) saw in vision. A foreign worship of the basest kind was practised, not only in secret, but in the open places.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
4. In 2Ki 20:4, the quickness of God's answer to the prayer is marked, "afore Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him"; that is, before he had left Hezekiah, or at least when he had just left him, and Hezekiah was in the act of praying after having heard God's message by Isaiah (compare Is 65:24; Psa 32:5; Da 9:21).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-20** The Jews took pride in showing zeal for their idols. Let us learn to be earnest in the service of our God, even from this bad example. Let us think it an honour to be employed in any work for God. Let us be as diligent ourselves, and as careful to teach our children the truths of God, as many are to teach the mysteries of iniquity. The direct tendency of this sin is malice against...
Read full commentary →The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. queen: or, frame, or, workmanship of heaven
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KJV Study Commentary
A detailed description of family idolatry follows: 'The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven.' This shows systematic, multigenerational involvement in pagan worship. The 'queen of heaven' (likely Ishtar/Astarte) received cakes and offerings. The phrase 'pour out drink offerings unto other gods' indicates compre...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **The queen of heaven.**—The goddess thus described was a kind of Assyrian Artemis, identified with the moon, and connected with the symbolic worship of the reproductive powers of Nature. Its ritual probably resembled that of the Babylonian Aphrodite, Mylitta, the mother-goddess, in its impurities (Herod. i. 199; Bar 6:43), and thus provoked the burning indignation of the prophet here and in ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. God of David thy father--**God remembers the covenant with the father to the children (Ex 20:5; Psa 89:28, 29).
**tears--**(Psa 56:8).
**days ... years--**Man's years, however many, are but as so many days (Ge 5:27).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-20** The Jews took pride in showing zeal for their idols. Let us learn to be earnest in the service of our God, even from this bad example. Let us think it an honour to be employed in any work for God. Let us be as diligent ourselves, and as careful to teach our children the truths of God, as many are to teach the mysteries of iniquity. The direct tendency of this sin is malice against...
Read full commentary →Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
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KJV Study Commentary
God asks, 'Do they provoke me to anger?' then answers His own question: 'do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?' This reveals that while sin dishonors God, sinners harm themselves most. The phrase 'confusion of their own faces' suggests shame and disgrace. This verse teaches that rebellion against God is ultimately self-destructive—it brings shame and ruin upon the reb...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **Do they not provoke themselves . . .?**—The interpolated words, though they complete the sense, mar the abrupt force of the Hebrew. *Is it not themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
6. In 2Ki 20:8, after this verse comes the statement which is put at the end, in order not to interrupt God's message (Is 38:21, 22) by Isaiah (Is 38:5-8).
**will deliver--**The city was already delivered, but here assurance is given, that Hezekiah shall have no more to fear from the Assyrians.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-20** The Jews took pride in showing zeal for their idols. Let us learn to be earnest in the service of our God, even from this bad example. Let us think it an honour to be employed in any work for God. Let us be as diligent ourselves, and as careful to teach our children the truths of God, as many are to teach the mysteries of iniquity. The direct tendency of this sin is malice against...
Read full commentary →Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
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KJV Study Commentary
The Lord GOD declares He will pour out His anger 'upon this place' (Jerusalem), affecting comprehensively: 'upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground.' This total judgment extends beyond humans to animals, vegetation, and crops. The final phrase 'it shall burn, and shall not be quenched' uses fire imagery for unstoppable judgment. This cosmic scope...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **Shall be poured out.**—The word is used in Exodus 9:33 of the plague of rain; here, of the great shower of the fire of the wrath of Jehovah (comp. Nahum 1:6). It is significant that it had been used by Josiah on hearing of the judgments denounced in the new-found copy of the Law (2Chronicles 34:21).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. sign--**a token that God would fulfil His promise that Hezekiah should "go up into the house of the Lord the third day" (2Ki 20:5, 8); the words in italics are not in Isaiah.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 17-20** The Jews took pride in showing zeal for their idols. Let us learn to be earnest in the service of our God, even from this bad example. Let us think it an honour to be employed in any work for God. Let us be as diligent ourselves, and as careful to teach our children the truths of God, as many are to teach the mysteries of iniquity. The direct tendency of this sin is malice against...
Read full commentary →Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
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KJV Study Commentary
God commands, 'Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.' This ironic statement means: since your offerings are unacceptable to me, you might as well consume them yourselves. Burnt offerings were supposed to be wholly consumed on the altar for God; God tells them to treat them like peace offerings where portions were eaten. This demonstrates that without obedience, their worshi...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21) **Put your burnt offerings.**—i.e., “Add one kind of sacrifice to another. Offer the victim, and then partake of the sacrificial feast. All is fruitless, unless there be the true conditions of acceptance, repentance, and holiness.”
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. bring again--**cause to return (Jos 10:12-14). In 2Ki 20:9, 11, the choice is stated to have been given to Hezekiah, whether the shadow should go forward, or go back, ten degrees. Hezekiah replied, "It is a light thing (a less decisive miracle) for the shadow to go down (its usual direction) ten degrees: nay, but let it return backward ten degrees"; so Isaiah cried to Jehovah that it should b...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-28** God shows that obedience was required of them. That which God commanded was, Hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God. The promise is very encouraging. Let God's will be your rule, and his favour shall be your happiness. God was displeased with disobedience. We understand the gospel as little as the Jews understood the law, if we think that even the sacrifice of Christ ...
Read full commentary →For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: concerning: Heb. concerning the matter of
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KJV Study Commentary
God declares, 'For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.' This striking statement doesn't deny that Levitical law prescribed sacrifices, but rather emphasizes priority: the foundational command was obedience, not ritual. The sacrificial system was given in the context of covenant relation...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(22) **I spake not . . . concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.**—“Concerning” is, literally, *for, *or *with a view to, the matter of sacrifices. *The words seem at first hard to reconcile with the multiplied rules as to sacrifices both in Exodus and Leviticus. They are, however, rightly understood, strictly in harmony with the facts. They were not the end contemplated. The first promulgation ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-20. The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Is 38:9 is the heading or inscription.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-28** God shows that obedience was required of them. That which God commanded was, Hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God. The promise is very encouraging. Let God's will be your rule, and his favour shall be your happiness. God was displeased with disobedience. We understand the gospel as little as the Jews understood the law, if we think that even the sacrifice of Christ ...
Read full commentary →But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
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KJV Study Commentary
God states His primary command: 'But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.' This encapsulates the covenant relationship: obedience brings blessing and confirms the God-people relationship. The promise 'I will be your God, and ye shall be my people' i...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **But this thing commanded I them.**—The words that follow are a composite quotation, partly from the lately re-found Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 5:33), partly from the words that were strictly true of the “day” when Israel came out of Egypt (Exodus 19:5), partly from the very book which seemed to be most characterised by sacrificial ritual, Leviticus (Leviticus 26:12). The influence of Jeremiah...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-20. The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Is 38:9 is the heading or inscription.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-28** God shows that obedience was required of them. That which God commanded was, Hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God. The promise is very encouraging. Let God's will be your rule, and his favour shall be your happiness. God was displeased with disobedience. We understand the gospel as little as the Jews understood the law, if we think that even the sacrifice of Christ ...
Read full commentary →But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. imagination: or, stubbornness went: Heb. were
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KJV Study Commentary
The indictment: 'But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.' This shows willful rejection—not ignorance but deliberate choice. The phrase 'imagination of their evil heart' reveals the source: corrupt internal desires. The contrast 'went backward, and not forward' indicates regression rat...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(24) **Imagination.**—Better, *stubbornness, *as in Jeremiah 3:17.
**Went backward and not forward.**—The whole sacrificial system, even at its best, to say nothing of its idolatrous corruptions, was accordingly, from Jeremiah’s point of view, a retrograde movement. The apostasy of the people in the worship of the golden calf involved a like deflection, necessary and inevitable though it might be ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-20. The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Is 38:9 is the heading or inscription.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-28** God shows that obedience was required of them. That which God commanded was, Hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God. The promise is very encouraging. Let God's will be your rule, and his favour shall be your happiness. God was displeased with disobedience. We understand the gospel as little as the Jews understood the law, if we think that even the sacrifice of Christ ...
Read full commentary →Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:
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KJV Study Commentary
God recounts His faithful provision: 'Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.' The phrase 'daily rising up early' (an anthropomorphism) emphasizes God's eager, persistent efforts through prophetic ministry. This shows God's patience and His active pursuit of way...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(25) **Daily rising up.**—Stress is laid on the continual succession of prophets as witnesses of the Truth from the beginning. The prophet was not tied to the actual letter of his statement, and the prominence given to Samuel, as the first who bore the name of prophet (1Samuel 9:9), seems at first against him. On the other hand, the gift of prophecy (as seen in Numbers 11:25-29) was bestowed freel...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-20. The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Is 38:9 is the heading or inscription.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-28** God shows that obedience was required of them. That which God commanded was, Hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God. The promise is very encouraging. Let God's will be your rule, and his favour shall be your happiness. God was displeased with disobedience. We understand the gospel as little as the Jews understood the law, if we think that even the sacrifice of Christ ...
Read full commentary →Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
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KJV Study Commentary
The response to prophetic ministry: 'Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.' The metaphor 'hardened their neck' comes from stubborn oxen refusing the yoke. Not only did they resist God's word, but 'they did worse than their fathers'—each generation descended deeper into rebellion. This demonstrates the progressive nature ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(26) **Worse than their fathers.**—The rapid survey of the past makes it doubtful whether the comparison is made between the generations that came out of Egypt and their immediate followers, or between those followers and their successors. Probably the general thought was that the whole history of Israel had been one of progressive deterioration, reaching its climax in the generation in which Jere...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-20. The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Is 38:9 is the heading or inscription.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-28** God shows that obedience was required of them. That which God commanded was, Hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God. The promise is very encouraging. Let God's will be your rule, and his favour shall be your happiness. God was displeased with disobedience. We understand the gospel as little as the Jews understood the law, if we think that even the sacrifice of Christ ...
Read full commentary →Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
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KJV Study Commentary
God commands Jeremiah: 'Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.' Jeremiah must fulfill his prophetic duty despite knowing it will be rejected. The future tenses ('will not hearken,' 'will not answer') indicate God's foreknowledge of their response. This raises the question: why preach wh...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(27) **Therefore . . . also.**—Better, in both cases, *though thou shalt speak, yet they will not hearken; though thou shalt call unto them, yet they will not answer thee.*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-20. The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Is 38:9 is the heading or inscription.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-28** God shows that obedience was required of them. That which God commanded was, Hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God. The promise is very encouraging. Let God's will be your rule, and his favour shall be your happiness. God was displeased with disobedience. We understand the gospel as little as the Jews understood the law, if we think that even the sacrifice of Christ ...
Read full commentary →But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth. correction: or, instruction
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KJV Study Commentary
The final description: 'But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.' This serves as an epitaph for Judah: characterized by disobedience, unteachability, and dishonesty. The phrase 'receiveth not correction' indicates resistant to discipline. Most devastating: 'truth is...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(28) **But thou shalt say.**—Better, *And thou shalt say, *with an implied “therefore.”
**This is a nation.**—Better, *This is the nation, *as pre-eminent in its sin.
**Truth.**—Better, as in Jeremiah 7:2, *faithfulness.*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-20. The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Is 38:9 is the heading or inscription.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-28** God shows that obedience was required of them. That which God commanded was, Hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God. The promise is very encouraging. Let God's will be your rule, and his favour shall be your happiness. God was displeased with disobedience. We understand the gospel as little as the Jews understood the law, if we think that even the sacrifice of Christ ...
Read full commentary →Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
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KJV Study Commentary
The command: 'Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.' Cutting hair was a sign of mourning and shame (Job 1:20; Micah 1:16). Jerusalem must mourn on 'high places' (ironically, sites of idolatrous worship). The phrases 'rejected' and 'forsaken' indicate complete abandonment. Mos...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(29) **Cut off thine hair.**—Literally, as in 2Samuel 1:10; 2Kings 11:12, *thy crown *or *diadem; *but the verb determines the meaning. The word *Netzer *(“consecration” in the Authorised version) is applied to the unshorn locks of the Nazarite (Numbers 6:7), and from it he took his name. As the Nazarite was to shave his head if he came in contact with a corpse, as cutting the hair close was gener...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-20. The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Is 38:9 is the heading or inscription.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 29-34** In token both of sorrow and of slavery, Jerusalem must be degraded, and separated from God, as she had been separated to him. The heart is the place in which God has chosen to put his name; but if sin has the innermost and uppermost place there, we pollute the temple of the Lord. The destruction of Jerusalem appears here very terrible. The slain shall be many; they having made it ...
Read full commentary →For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
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KJV Study Commentary
The reason for judgment: 'For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.' Not only did they practice idolatry generally, but they placed idols in the temple itself—the house bearing God's name. This represents ultimate covenant violation: defiling the sacred space dedicated to Yahweh's w...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(30) **In the house which is called by my name.—**This had been done by Ahaz (2Chronicles 28:2), and after the Temple had been cleansed by Hezekiah (2Chronicles 29:5) had been repeated by Manasseh (2Kings 21:4-7; 2Chronicles 33:3-7). Josiah’s reformation again checked the tendency to idolatry (2Kings 23:4; 2Chronicles 34:3); but it is quite possible that the pendulum swung back again when his deat...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-20. The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Is 38:9 is the heading or inscription.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 29-34** In token both of sorrow and of slavery, Jerusalem must be degraded, and separated from God, as she had been separated to him. The heart is the place in which God has chosen to put his name; but if sin has the innermost and uppermost place there, we pollute the temple of the Lord. The destruction of Jerusalem appears here very terrible. The slain shall be many; they having made it ...
Read full commentary →And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. came: Heb. came it upon my heart
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KJV Study Commentary
The most heinous sin: 'And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.' Child sacrifice to Molech represents the depth of moral depravity. God's emphatic denial ('I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart') shows this practice was utte...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(31) **High places.**—Not the same word as in Jeremiah 7:29, but *bamoth, *as in the “high places” of Baal, in Numbers 22:41; Numbers 23:3, the Bamoth-baal of Joshua 13:17. The word had become almost technical for the mounds, natural or (as in this passage) artificial, on which altars to Jehovah or *to *other gods were erected, and appears in 1Samuel 9:12; 1Kings 3:4; Ezekiel 20:29; Amos 7:9.
**To...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-20. The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Is 38:9 is the heading or inscription.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 29-34** In token both of sorrow and of slavery, Jerusalem must be degraded, and separated from God, as she had been separated to him. The heart is the place in which God has chosen to put his name; but if sin has the innermost and uppermost place there, we pollute the temple of the Lord. The destruction of Jerusalem appears here very terrible. The slain shall be many; they having made it ...
Read full commentary →Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.
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KJV Study Commentary
The prophetic consequence: 'Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.' The site of child sacrifice will become a mass grave. The ironic justice: where they slaughtered their children, they themselves will be slaughtered and buried ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(32) **Till there be no place.**—Better, *because there is no room*—i.e., for want of space the dead should be buried even in the spot which the worshippers of Molech looked on as sacred, and the worshippers of Jehovah as accursed, and which both therefore would willingly avoid using as a place of sepulture.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-20. The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Is 38:9 is the heading or inscription.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 29-34** In token both of sorrow and of slavery, Jerusalem must be degraded, and separated from God, as she had been separated to him. The heart is the place in which God has chosen to put his name; but if sin has the innermost and uppermost place there, we pollute the temple of the Lord. The destruction of Jerusalem appears here very terrible. The slain shall be many; they having made it ...
Read full commentary →And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.
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KJV Study Commentary
The description continues: 'And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.' Denial of burial was considered a terrible curse in ancient Near Eastern culture (Deuteronomy 28:26). Bodies left for scavengers meant ultimate dishonor and covenant curse fulfillment. The phrase 'none shall fray them away' indicate...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(33) **None shall fray them away.**—No picture could be more appalling in its horrors—streets and valleys filled with the bodies of the slain, vultures and jackals feeding on them, and not one hand raised, like that of Rizpah (2Samuel 21:10), to protect the dead from that extremest desecration. Here, again, we have an almost literal quotation from Deut. (Deuteronomy 28:26).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-20. The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Is 38:9 is the heading or inscription.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 29-34** In token both of sorrow and of slavery, Jerusalem must be degraded, and separated from God, as she had been separated to him. The heart is the place in which God has chosen to put his name; but if sin has the innermost and uppermost place there, we pollute the temple of the Lord. The destruction of Jerusalem appears here very terrible. The slain shall be many; they having made it ...
Read full commentary →Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.
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KJV Study Commentary
The finale of judgment: 'Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.' This catalog of silenced joys ('mirth,' 'gladness,' wedding celebrations) depicts comprehensive desolation. Normal human joy and social life will ceas...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(34) **Then will I cause to cease . . . the voice of mirth.**—The special imagery of the picture of desolation is characteristic of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 16:9; Jeremiah 25:10; Jeremiah 33:11). No words could paint the utter break-up of the life of the nation more forcibly. Nothing is heard but wailing and lamentation, or, more terrible even than that, there is the utter silence of solitude. The capac...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 29-34** In token both of sorrow and of slavery, Jerusalem must be degraded, and separated from God, as she had been separated to him. The heart is the place in which God has chosen to put his name; but if sin has the innermost and uppermost place there, we pollute the temple of the Lord. The destruction of Jerusalem appears here very terrible. The slain shall be many; they having made it ...
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