Notes on Jeremiah

Notes on Jeremiah
From the Original 1599 Geneva Bible Notes

Jer 1:1

1:1 The {a} words of Jeremiah the son of {b} Hilkiah, of the priests that [were] in {c} Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:

The Argument - The prophet Jeremiah born in the city of Anathoth in the country of Benjamin, was the son of Hilkiah, whom some think to be he that found the book of the law and gave it to Josiah. This prophet had excellent gifts from God, and most evident revelations of prophecy, so that by the commandment of the Lord he began very young to prophecy, that is, in the thirteenth year of Josiah, and continued eighteen years under the king, three months under Jehoahaz and under Jehoiakim eleven years, three months under Jehoiachin, and under Zedekiah eleven years to the time that they were carried away into Babylon. So that this time amounts to above forty years, besides the time that he prophesied after the captivity. In this book he declares with tears and lamentations, the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the people, for their idolatry, covetousness, deceit, cruelty, excess, rebellion and contempt of God's word, and for the consolation of the Church reveals the just time of their deliverance. Here chiefly are to be considered three things. First the rebellion of the wicked, who wax more stubborn and obstinate, when the prophets admonish them most plainly of their destruction. Next how the prophets and ministers of God should not be discouraged in their vocation, though they are persecuted and rigorously handled by the wicked, for God's cause. Thirdly though God shows his just judgment against the wicked, yet will he ever show himself a preserver of his Church, and when all means seem to men's judgment to be abolished, then will he declare himself victorious in preserving his.

(a) That is, the sermons and prophecies.
(b) Who is thought to be he that found the book of the law under king Josiah, 2Ki 22:8 .
(c) This was a city about three miles from Jerusalem and belonged to the priests, the sons of Aaron, Jos 21:18 .

Jer 1:2

1:2 To whom the {d} word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

(d) This is spoken to confirm his calling and office, as he did not presume of himself to preach and prophecy, but was called to it by God.

Jer 1:3

1:3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the {e} son of Josiah king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth {f} month.

(e) Meaning the nephew of Josiah: for Jehoahaz was his father, who reigned but three months, and therefore is not mentioned, nor is Jehoiakim that reigned no longer.
(f) Of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, who was also called Mattaniah, and at this time the Jews were carried away into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.

Jer 1:5

1:5 Before I {g} formed thee in the womb I knew thee; and before thou wast born I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet to the {h} nations.

(g) The scripture uses this manner of speech to declare that God has appointed his minsters to their offices before they were born, as in Isa 49:1, Ga 1:15 .
(h) For Jeremiah did not only prophecy against the Jews, but also against the Egyptians, Babylonians, Moabites and other nations.

Jer 1:6

1:6 Then said I, {i} Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I [am] a child.

(i) Considering the great judgments of God which according to his threatening would come on the world, he was moved with a certain compassion on the one hand to pity them that would thus perish, and on the other hand by the infirmity of man's nature, knowing how hard a thing it was to enterprise such a charge, as in Isa 6:11, Ex 3:21,4:1 .

Jer 1:9

1:9 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and {k} touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.

(k) Which declares that God makes them meet and assures them, whom he calls to set forth his glory, giving them all means necessary for the same, Ex 4:12, Isa 6:7 .

Jer 1:10

1:10 See, I have this day set thee over the {l} nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

(l) He shows what is the authority of God's true ministers, who by his word have power to bear down whatever lifts itself up against God: and to plant and assure the humble and such as give themselves to the obedience of God's word, 2Co 10:4,5, He 4:12 , and these are the keys which Christ has left to loose and bind, Mt 18:18 .

Jer 1:11

1:11 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a {m} rod of an almond tree.

(m) He joins the sign with the word, for a more ample confirmation: signifying by the rod of the almond tree, which first buds, the hasty coming of the Babylonians against the Jews.

Jer 1:13

1:13 And the word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a boiling {n} pot; and its face [is] toward the north.

(n) Signifying that the Chaldeans and Assyrians would be as a pot to seethe the Jews who boiled in their pleasures and lust.

Jer 1:14

1:14 Then the LORD said to me, Out of the {o} north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

(o) Syria and Assyria were northward in respect to Jerusalem, which was the Chaldeans dominion.

Jer 1:16

1:16 And I will utter my {p} judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

(p) I will give them charge and power to execute my vengeance against the idolaters who have forsaken me for their idols.

Jer 1:17

1:17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I {q} confound thee before them.

(q) Which declares that God's vengeance is prepared against them who do not execute their duty faithfully, either for fear of man, or for any other reason, 1Co 9:16 .

Jer 1:18

1:18 For, behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city, and an {r} iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against her princes, against her priests, and against the people of the land.

(r) Signifying on the one hand that the more that Satan and the world rage against God's ministers, the more present will he be to help them, Jos 1:5, He 13:5 and on the other hand, that they are utterly unfit to serve God in his Church, who are afraid and do not resist wickedness, whatever danger depend on it, Isa 50:7, Eze 3:8 .

Jer 2:2

2:2 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the {a} kindness of thy youth, the love of thy espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, {b} in a land [that was] not sown.

(a) According to that grace and favour which I showed you from the beginning, when I first chose you to be my people, and married you to myself, Eze 16:8 .
(b) When I had delivered you out of Egypt.

Jer 2:3

2:3 Israel [was] {c} holiness to the LORD, [and] the firstfruits of his increase: all {d} that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.

(c) Chosen above all others to serve the Lord only and the first offered to the Lord of all other nations.
(d) Whoever challenged this people, or else annoyed them, was punished.

Jer 2:5

2:5 Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they have gone {e} far from me, and have walked after vanity, and have become {f} vain?

(e) That is, fallen to vile idolatry.
(f) Altogether given to vanity, and are become blind and insensible as the idols that they serve.

Jer 2:6

2:6 Neither said they, Where [is] the LORD that brought us out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of {g} the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

(g) Where for lack of all things needed for life, you could look for nothing every hour but present death.

Jer 2:7

2:7 And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit of it and the goodness of it but when ye entered, ye defiled {h} my land, and made my heritage an abomination.

(h) By your idolatry and wicked manners, Ps 78:58,106:38 .

Jer 2:8

2:8 The priests said not, {i} Where [is] the LORD? and they that handle the {k} law knew me not: the {l} rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by {m} Baal, and walked after [things that] do not profit.

(i) They did not teach the people to seek after God.
(k) As the scribes, who would have expounded the law to the people.
(l) Meaning, the princes and ministers: signifying, that all estates were corrupt.
(m) That is, spoke vain things, and brought the people from the true worship of God to serve idols: for by Baal, which was the chief idol of the Moabites, are meant all idols.

Jer 2:9

2:9 Wherefore I will yet {n} plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead.

(n) Signifying that he would not as he might, straightway condemn them, but shows them by evident examples their great ingratitude that they might be ashamed and repent.

Jer 2:10

2:10 For pass over the isles of {o} Chittim, and see; and send to {p} Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there is such a thing.

(o) Meaning, the Grecians and Italians.
(p) To Arabia.

Jer 2:11

2:11 Hath a nation changed [their] gods, which [are] yet no gods? but my people have changed their {q} glory for [that which] doth not {r} profit.

(q) That is, God who is their glory, and who makes them glorious above all other people, reproving the Jews that they were less diligent to serve the true God, than were the idolaters to honour their vanities.
(r) Meaning the idols who were their destruction, Ps 106:36 .

Jer 2:12

2:12 Be astonished, O ye {s} heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.

(s) He shows that the insensible creatures abhor this vile ingratitude, and as it were tremble for fear of God's great judgments against the same.

Jer 2:13

2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me {t} the fountain of living waters, [and] hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

(t) Signifying that when men forsake God's word, which is the fountain of life, they reject God himself, and so fall to their own inventions, and vain confidence, and procure to themselves destruction, Jon 2:8, Zec 10:2 .

Jer 2:14

2:14 [Is] Israel a {u} servant? [is] he a homeborn [slave]? why is he laid waste?

(u) Have I ordered them like servants and not like dearly beloved children? Ex 4:22 therefore it is their fault only, if the enemy spoil them.

Jer 2:15

2:15 The young {x} lions roared upon him, [and] yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without {y} inhabitant.

(x) The Babylonians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians.
(y) Not one will be left to dwell there.

Jer 2:16

2:16 Also the children of {z} Noph and Tahapanes have {a} broken the crown of thy head.

(z) That is, the Egyptians, for these were two great cities in Egypt.
(a) Have grievously vexed you at various times.

Jer 2:17

2:17 Hast thou not procured this to thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he {b} led thee by the way?

(b) Showing that God would have still led them correctly, if they would have followed him.

Jer 2:18

2:18 And now what hast thou to do in the way of {c} Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the {d} river?

{c} To seek help from man, as though God was not able enough to defend you, which is to drink from the puddles and to leave the fountain, Isa 31:1 .
(d) That is, Euphrates.

Jer 2:19

2:19 Thy own wickedness shall {e} correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that [it is] an evil [thing] and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear [is] not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

(e) Meaning, that the wicked are insensible, till the punishment for their sin waken them as in Jer 2:26, Isa 3:9 .

Jer 2:20

2:20 For of old time I have broken thy yoke, [and] burst thy bands; and thou saidst, {f} I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.

(f) When I delivered you out of Egypt, Ex 19:8, De 5:27, Jos 24:16, Ezr 10:12, He 8:6 .

Jer 2:22

2:22 For though thou shalt wash thee with {g} lye, and take thee much soap, [yet] thy iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.

(g) Though you use all the purifications and ceremonies of the law, you cannot escape punishment.

Jer 2:23

2:23 How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not {h} gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: [thou art] a swift {i} dromedary traversing her ways;

(h) Meaning that hypocrites deny that they worship the idols, but that they honour God in them, and therefore they call their doings God's service.
(i) He compares the idolaters to these beasts, because they never cease running to and fro: for both valleys and hills are full of their idolatry.

Jer 2:24

2:24 A wild {k} donkey used to the wilderness, [that] snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her {l} month they shall find her.

(k) He compares the idolaters to a wild ass: for she can never be tamed nor yet wearied: for as she runs she can take her wind at every opportunity.
(l) That is, when she is with foal, and therefore the hunters wait their time: so though you cannot be turned back now from your idolatry, yet when your iniquity will be at the fall, God will meet with you.

Jer 2:25

2:25 Withhold thy foot from {m} being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.

(m) By this he warns them that they should not go into strange countries to seek help: for they should but spend their labour, and hurt themselves, which is here meant by the bare foot and thirst, Isa 57:10 .

Jer 2:26

2:26 As the {n} thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets,

(n) As a thief will not acknowledge his fault, till he is taken with the deed, and ready to be punished, so they will not confess their idolatry, till the plagues due to the same light on them.

Jer 2:27

2:27 Saying to a tree, Thou [art] my {o} father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned [their] back to me, and not [their] face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.

(o) Meaning, that idolaters rob God of his honour: and where as he has taught to call him the father of all flesh, they attribute this title to their idols.

Jer 2:28

2:28 But where [are] thy gods that thou hast made for thyself? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for [according {p} to] the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.

(p) You thought that your gods of blocks and stones could have helped you, because they were many in number and present in every place: but now let us see whether either the multitude or their presence can deliver you from my plague, Jer 11:13 .

Jer 2:29

2:29 Why will {q} ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.

(q) As though I did you injury in punishing you, seeing that your faults are so evident.

Jer 2:30

2:30 In vain have I smitten your children; they have received no correction: your {r} own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.

(r) That is, you have killed your prophets, that exhorted you to repentance, as Zechariah, Isaiah, etc.

Jer 2:31

2:31 O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a {s} wilderness to Israel? a land of darkness? why say my people, We are lords; {t} we will come no more to thee?

(s) Have I not given them abundance of all things?
(t) But will trust in our own power and policy.

Jer 2:33

2:33 Why trimmest thou thy way to {u} seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.

(u) With strangers.

Jer 2:34

2:34 Also in thy {x} skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.

(x) The prophets and the faithful are slain in every corner of your country.

Jer 2:36

2:36 Why dost thou go about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, {y} as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.

(y) For the Assyrians had taken away the ten tribes out of Israel and destroyed Judah even to Jerusalem: and the Egyptians slew Josiah, and vexed the Jews in various ways.

Jer 2:37

2:37 Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thy hands upon {z} thy head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.

(z) In sign of lamentation, as in 2Sa 13:19 .

Jer 3:1

3:1 They {a} say, If a man shall put away his wife, and she shall go from him, and become another man's, shall he return to her again? shall not that land {b} be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many {c} lovers; yet {d} return again to me, saith the LORD.

(a) According as it is written, De 24:4 .
(b) If he take such a one to wife again.
(c) That is, with idols, and with them whom you have put your confidence in.
(d) And I will not cast you off, but receive you, according to my mercy.

Jer 3:2

3:2 Lift up thy eyes to the high places, and see where thou hast not been lain with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the {e} Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy harlotry and with thy wickedness.

(e) Who dwells in tent and waits for them that pass by to rob them.

Jer 3:3

3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there hath been no {f} latter rain; and thou hadst an {g} harlot's forehead, thou didst refuse to be ashamed.

(f) As God threatened by his law, De 28:24 .
(g) You would never be ashamed of your acts and repent: and this impudency is common to idolaters, who will not cease, though they are openly convicted.

Jer 3:4

3:4 Wilt thou not from this time cry {h} to me, My father, thou [art] the guide of my youth?

(h) He shows that the wicked in their miseries will cry to God and use outward prayer as the godly do, but because they do not turn from their evil, they are not heard, Isa 58:3,4 .

Jer 3:6

3:6 The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen [that] which backsliding {i} Israel hath done? she hath gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.

(i) Meaning the ten tribes.

Jer 3:8

3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes by which backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put {k} her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

(k) And gave her into the hands of the Assyrians.

Jer 3:9

3:9 And it came to pass through the {l} lightness of her harlotry, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with trees.

(l) The Hebrew word may either signify lightness and wantonness, or noise and brute.

Jer 3:10

3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned to me with {m} her whole heart, but deceitfully, saith the LORD.

(m) Judah pretended for a time that she returned, as under Josiah and other good kings, but she was never truly touched, or wholly reformed, as appeared when opportunity was offered by any wicked prince.

Jer 3:11

3:11 And the LORD said to me, The backsliding Israel hath {n} justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

(n) Israel has not declared herself as wicked as Judah, who yet has had more admonitions and examples to call her to repentance.

Jer 3:12

3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward {o} the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; [and] I will not cause my anger to fall upon you: for I [am] merciful, saith the LORD, [and] I will not keep [anger] for ever.

(o) While the Israelites were now kept in captivity by the Assyrians, to whom he promises mercy, if they will repent.

Jer 3:13

3:13 Only acknowledge thy iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast {p} scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

(p) There was no way which you did not hunt to seek after the idols, and to go on a pilgrimage.

Jer 3:16

3:16 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The {q} ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they miss [it]; neither shall [that] be done any more.

(q) This is to be understood of the coming of Christ: for then they will not seek the Lord by ceremonies, and all figures will cease.

Jer 3:17

3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem {r} the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

(r) Meaning, the Church, where the Lord will be present to the world's end, Mt 28:20 .

Jer 3:18

3:18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together from the land of the {s} north to the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers.

(s) Where they are now in captivity.

Jer 3:20

3:20 Surely [as] a wife treacherously departeth from her {t} husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.

(t) The Hebrew word signifies a friend or companion, and here may be taken for a husband, as it is used also in Ho 3:1 .

Jer 3:21

3:21 {u} A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping [and] supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, [and] they have forgotten the LORD their God.

(u) Signifying, that God, whom they had forsaken, would bring their enemies to them, who would lead them captive, and make them to cry and lament.

Jer 3:22

3:22 Return, ye backsliding children, [and] I will heal your backslidings. {x} Behold, we come to thee; for thou [art] the LORD our God.

(x) This is spoken in the person of Israel to the shame of Judah, who stayed so long to turn to God.

Jer 3:24

3:24 For shame hath devoured the labour of our {y} fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

(y) For their idolatry God's vengeance has light on them and theirs.

Jer 3:25

3:25 We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: {z} for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

(z) They justify not themselves, or say that they would follow their fathers, but condemn their wicked doings and desire forgiveness for the same, as in Ezr 9:7, Ps 106:6, Isa 64:6 .

Jer 4:1

4:1 If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, {a} return to me: and if thou wilt put away thy abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not be removed.

(a) That is, wholly and without hypocrisy, not dissembling to turn and serve God as they do who serve him by halves, Ho 7:16 .

Jer 4:2

4:2 And thou shalt {b} swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.

(b) You will detest the name of idols, Ps 16:4 and will with reverence swear by the living God, when your oath may advance God's glory, and profit others: and here by swearing he means the true religion of God.

Jer 4:3

4:3 For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up {c} your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

(c) He wills them to pluck up the impiety and wicked affection and worldly respects out of their heart, that the true seed of God's word may be sown in it, Ho 10:12 and this is the true circumcision of the heart, De 10:16, Ro 2:29, Col 2:11 .

Jer 4:5

4:5 {d} Declare ye in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, confirm, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.

(d) He warns them of the great dangers that will come on them by the Chaldeans, unless they repent and turn to the Lord.

Jer 4:6

4:6 Set up the standard toward Zion: {e} retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.

(e) He speaks this to admonish them of the great danger when every man will prepare to save himself, but it will be too late, 2Ki 25:4 .

Jer 4:7

4:7 The {f} lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.

(f) Meaning Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 2Ki 24:1 .

Jer 4:9

4:9 And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, [that] the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the {g} prophets shall wonder.

(g) That is, the false prophets who still prophesied peace and security.

Jer 4:10

4:10 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly {h} deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; though the sword reacheth to the soul.

(h) By the false prophets who promised peace and tranquillity: and thus you have punished their rebellious stubbornness by causing them to hearken to lies who would not believe your truth, 1Ki 22:23, Eze 14:9, 2Th 2:11 .

Jer 4:11

4:11 At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry {i} wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not {k} to fan, nor to cleanse,

(i) The north wind by which he means Nebuchadnezzar.
(k) But to carry away both corn and chaff.

Jer 4:13

4:13 Behold, he shall come up as {l} clouds, and his chariots [shall be] as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. {m} Woe to us! for we are laid waste.

(l) Meaning that Nebuchadnezzar would come as suddenly as a cloud that is carried with the wind.
(m) This is spoken in the person of all the people, who in their affliction would cry thus.

Jer 4:15

4:15 For a voice declareth from {n} Dan, and proclaimeth affliction from mount {o} Ephraim.

(n) Which was a city in the utmost border of Israel north toward Babylon.
(o) Which was in the middle between Dan and Jerusalem.

Jer 4:17

4:17 As keepers of a {p} field, they are against her on all sides; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.

(p) Who keep the fruits so straitly, that nothing can come in or out so would the Babylonians compass Judah.,

Jer 4:19

4:19 My distress, my {q} distress! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

(q) He shows that the true ministers are lively touched with the calamities of the Church, so that all the parts of their body feel the grief of their heart, even though with zeal to God's glory they pronounce his judgments against the people.

Jer 4:20

4:20 Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my {r} tents ruined, [and] my curtains in a moment.

(r) Meaning, the cities which were as easily cast down as a tent.

Jer 4:22

4:22 For my people [are] foolish, they have not known me; they [are] silly children, and they have no understanding: {s} they [are] wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

(s) Their wisdom and policy tend to their own destruction and pulls them from God.

Jer 4:23

4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, [it was] without form, and {t} void; and the heavens, and they [had] no light.

(t) By this manner of speech he shows the horrible destruction that would come on the land and also condemns the obstinacy of the people who do not repent at the fear of these terrible kings, seeing that the insensible creatures are moved therewith, as if the order of nature would be changed, Isa 13:10,24:23, Eze 32:7, Joel 2:31,3:15 .

Jer 4:27

4:27 For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I {u} not make a full end.

(u) But for his mercies sake, he will reserve himself a residue to be his Church, and to praise him in earth, Jer 5:18 .

Jer 4:30

4:30 And [when] thou [art] laid waste, what wilt thou do? Though thou {x} clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou enlarge thy eyes with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; [thy] lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

(x) Neither your ceremonies nor rich gifts will deliver you.

Jer 4:31

4:31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, [and] the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, [that] bewaileth herself, [that] spreadeth her hands, [saying], {y} Woe [is] me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

(y) As the prophets were moved to pity the destruction of their people, so they declared it to the people to move them to repentance, Isa 22:4, Jer 9:1 .

Jer 5:1

5:1 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its broad places, if ye can find a man, if there is [any] that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon {a} it.

(a) That is, the city.

Jer 5:2

5:2 And though they say, The {b} LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.

(b) Though they pretend religion and holiness, yet all is but hypocrisy: for under this kind of swearing is contained the true religion.

Jer 5:3

5:3 O LORD, [are] not thy eyes upon the {c} truth? thou hast {d} stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, [but] they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

Jer 5:5

5:5 I will go to the {e} great men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the LORD, [and] the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, [and] burst the bonds.

(e) He speaks this to the reproach of them who would govern and teach others, and yet are farther out of the way than the simple people.

Jer 5:6

5:6 Wherefore a {f} lion from the forest shall slay them, [and] a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out from there shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, [and] their backslidings are increased.

(f) Meaning, Nebuchadnezzar and his army.

Jer 5:7

5:7 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and {g} sworn by [them that are] no gods: when I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.

(g) He shows that to swear by anything other than by God is to forsake him.

Jer 5:10

5:10 {h} Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: {i} take away her battlements; for they [are] not the LORD'S.

(h) He commands the Babylonians and enemies to destroy them.
(i) Read Jer 4:27 .

Jer 5:12

5:12 They have {k} lied about the LORD, and said, [It is] not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:

(k) Because they gave no credit to the words of his prophets, as in Isa 28:15 .

Jer 5:13

5:13 And the prophets shall become {l} wind, and the word [is] {m} not in them: thus shall it be done to them.

(l) Their words will be of no effect, but vain.
(m) They are not sent from the Lord, and therefore that which they threaten to us will come on them.

Jer 5:14

5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in {n} thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

(n) Meaning, Jeremiah.

Jer 5:15

5:15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you {o} from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it [is] a mighty nation, it [is] an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.

(o) That is, the Babylonians and Chaldeans.

Jer 5:16

5:16 Their quiver [is] as an {p} open sepulchre, they [are] all mighty men.

(p) Who will kill many with their arrows.

Jer 5:18

5:18 Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with {q} you.

(q) Here the Lord declares his unspeakable favour toward his Church, as in Jer 4:27 .

Jer 5:19

5:19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why doeth the LORD our God all these [things] to us? then shalt {r} thou answer them, As ye have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land [that is] not yours.

(r) Meaning, the prophet Jeremiah.

Jer 5:25

5:25 Your {s} iniquities have turned away these [things], and your sins have withheld good [things] from you.

(s) If there is any stay, that we receive not God's blessings in abundance, we must consider that it is for our own iniquities, Isa 59:1,2 .

Jer 5:28

5:28 They have become fat, they shine: yea, they exceed the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they {t} prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

(t) They feel not the plague of God for it.

Jer 5:31

5:31 The {u} prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love [to have it] so: and what will ye do in its end?

(u) Meaning that there could be nothing but disorder, where the ministers were wicked and corrupt.

Jer 6:1

6:1 O ye children of {a} Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in {b} Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in {c} Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

(a) He speaks to them chiefly because they should take heed by the example of their brethren the other half of their tribe, who were now carried away prisoners.
(b) Which was a city in Judah, six miles from Bethlehem, 2Ch 11:6 .
(c) Read Ne 3:14 .

Jer 6:2

6:2 I have likened the daughter of Zion to {d} a comely and delicate [woman].

(d) I have intreated her gently, and given her abundance of all things.

Jer 6:3

6:3 The shepherds with their flocks {e} shall come to her; they shall pitch [their] tents against her on every side; they shall feed every one in his place.

(e) She will be so destroyed that the sheep may be fed in her.

Jer 6:4

6:4 {f} Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! for the day departeth, for the shadows of the evening are lengthened.

(f) He speaks this in the person of the Babylonians, who complain that the time fails them before they have brought their enterprises to pass.

Jer 6:7

6:7 As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: {g} violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually [are] grief and wounds.

(g) He shows the reason why it would be destroyed, and how it comes from themselves.

Jer 6:8

6:8 Be thou instructed, O {h} Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.

(h) He warns them to amend by his correction, and turn to him by repentance.

Jer 6:9

6:9 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn {i} back thy hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets.

(i) He exhorts the Babylonians to be diligent to search out all and to leave none.

Jer 6:10

6:10 To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear [is] {k} uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

(k) They delight to hear vain things, and to shut up their ears to true doctrine.

Jer 6:11

6:11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: {l} I will pour it out upon the {m} children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with [him that is] full of days.

(l) As the Lord had given him his word to be as a fire of his indignation to burn the wicked, Jer 5:14 so he kindles it now when he sees that all remedies are past.
(m) No one will be spared.

Jer 6:14

6:14 They have healed also the hurt [of the daughter] of my people slightly, saying, {n} Peace, peace; when [there is] no peace.

(n) When the people began to fear God's judgments, the false prophets comforted them by flatterings, showing that God would send peace and not war.

Jer 6:16

6:16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the {o} old paths, where [is] the good way, and walk in it, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk [in it].

(o) In which the patriarchs and prophets walked, directed by the word of God: signifying that there is no true way, but that which God prescribes.

Jer 6:17

6:17 Also I set {p} watchmen over you, [saying], Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

(p) Prophets who would warn you of the dangers that were at hand.

Jer 6:18

6:18 Therefore hear, ye {q} nations, and know, O congregation, what [is] among them.

(q) God takes all the world to witness and the insensible creatures of the ingratitude of the Jews.

Jer 6:20

6:20 To what purpose cometh there to me {r} incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a distant country? your burnt offerings [are] not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to me.

(r) Read Isa 1:11, Am 5:21 .

Jer 6:22

6:22 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the {s} north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.

(s) From Babylon by Dan, which was north of Jerusalem.

Jer 6:24

6:24 We have heard the report of it: our hands become {t} feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, [and] pain, as of a woman in travail.

(t) For fear of the enemy: he speaks this in the person of the Jews.

Jer 6:27

6:27 I have set {u} thee [for] a tower [and] a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.

(u) Meaning, Jeremiah, whom God had appointed to try out the godly from the wicked, as a founder does the pure metal from the dross.

Jer 6:29

6:29 The {x} bellows is burned, the lead is consumed by the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.

(x) All the pain and labour that has been taken with them is lost.

Jer 7:4

7:4 Trust ye not in {a} lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, [are] these.

(a) Believe not the false prophets, who say that for the temple's sake, and the sacrifices there the Lord will preserve you, and so nourish you in your sin, and vain confidence.

Jer 7:7

7:7 Then {b} will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.

(b) God shows on what condition he made his promise to this temple that they would be a holy people to him, as he would be a faithful God to them.

Jer 7:11

7:11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become {c} a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen [it], saith the LORD.

(c) As thieves hidden in holes and dens think themselves safe, so when you are in my temple, you think to be covered with the holiness of it, and that I cannot see your wickedness, Mt 21:13 .

Jer 7:12

7:12 But go ye now to my place which [was] in Shiloh, {d} where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

(d) Because they depended so much on the temple, which was for his promise, that he would be present and defend them where the ark was, he sends them to God's judgments against Shiloh, where the ark had remained about 300 years, and after was taken, the priests slain, and the people miserably discomfited, 1Sa 4:11, Jer 26:6 .

Jer 7:13

7:13 And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spoke to you, {e} rising early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but {f} ye answered not;

(e) That is, I never ceased to warn you, as in Isa 65:2, Pro 1:23 .
(f) He shows the only remedy to redress our faults: to allow God to lead us in the way, and to obey his calling, Isa 66:4 .

Jer 7:15

7:15 And I will cast {g} you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, [even] the whole seed of Ephraim.

(g) I will send you into captivity as I have done Ephraim, that is, the ten tribes.

Jer 7:16

7:16 Therefore {h} 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.

(h) To assure them that God had determined with himself to punish their wickedness, he shows the prayer of the godly cannot help them, while they remain in their obstinacy against God, and will not use the means that he uses to call them to repentance, Jer 11:14,14:11 .

Jer 7:18

7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes to {i} the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

(i) That is, they sacrifice to the sun, moon and stars, which they called the queen of heaven, Jer 44:17, 2Ki 23:5 .

Jer 7:22

7:22 For {k} I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:

(k) Showing that it was not his chief purpose and intent, that they should offer sacrifices, but that they should regard, why they were ordained: that is, to be joined to the word as seals and confirmations of remissions of sins in Christ: for without the word they were vain and unprofitable.

Jer 7:25

7:25 Since the day that your fathers came forth from the land of Egypt to {l} this day I have even sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily {m} rising early and sending [them]:

(l) Which was about fourteen hundred years.
(m) Read Jer 7:13 .

Jer 7:27

7:27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words to them; but they {n} will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call to them; but they will not answer thee.

(n) By which he shows that the pastors should not leave their flocks in their obstinacy, for the Lord will use the means of his servants to make the wicked more faulty and to prove his.

Jer 7:29

7:29 Cut off thy {o} 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 {p} wrath.

(o) In sign of mourning, as in Job 1:20 .
(p) Against whom he had just opportunity to pour out his wrath Mic 1:6 .

Jer 7:31

7:31 And they have built the high places of {q} Tophet, which [is] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I {r} commanded [them] not, neither came it into my heart.

(q) Of Topheth, read 2Ki 23:10 .
(r) But commanded the opposite, as in Le 18:21,20:3, De 18:10 .

Jer 8:1

8:1 At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their {a} graves:

(a) The enemy for greediness will rifle your graves and lay you before those idols, who in your life you worshipped, to see if they can help you.

Jer 8:3

8:3 And death shall be chosen {b} rather than life by all the remnant of them that remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.

(b) Because of the afflictions that they will feel through God's judgments.

Jer 8:4

8:4 Moreover thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they {c} fall, and not rise? shall he turn away, and not return?

Jer 8:6

8:6 I hearkened and heard, [but] they spoke not aright: no man repented of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every {d} one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth to the battle.

(d) They are full of hypocrisy, and everyone follows his own fantasy without any consideration.

Jer 8:7

8:7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the {e} judgment of the LORD.

(e) He accuses them in that they are more ignorant of God's judgments, than these birds are of their appointed seasons to discern the cold and heat.

Jer 8:8

8:8 How do ye say, We [are] wise, and the law of the LORD [is] with us? Lo, certainly in vain he hath made [it]; {f} the pen of the scribes [is] in vain.

(f) The law does not profit you neither need it to have been written for all that you have learned by it.

Jer 8:9

8:9 The {g} wise [men] are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom [is] in them?

(g) They who seem wise may be ashamed of their ignorance for all wisdom consists in God's word.

Jer 8:11

8:11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, {h} Peace, peace; when [there is] no peace.

(h) See Geneva "Jer 6:14"

Jer 8:14

8:14 Why do we sit still? {i} assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of {k} gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

(i) He speaks in the person of the people, who when the enemy comes will turn about to hide themselves and acknowledge that it is God's hand.
(k) That is, has brought us into extreme affliction, and thus they will not attribute this plague to fortune, but to God's just judgment, Jer 9:15,23:15 .

Jer 8:16

8:16 The snorting of his horses was heard from {l} Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they have come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell in it.

(l) Read Geneva "Jer 4:15"

Jer 8:17

8:17 For, behold, I will {m} send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which [will] not [be] charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.

(m) God threatens to send the Babylonians among them who will utterly destroy them in such sort, as by no means they will escape.

Jer 8:18

8:18 [When] I would {n} comfort myself against sorrow, my heart [is] faint in me.

(n) Read Jer 4:19 .

Jer 8:19

8:19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a distant country: [Is] not the LORD in Zion? [is] not her king in her? Why {o} have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, [and] with foreign vanities?

(o) Thus the Lord speaks.

Jer 8:20

8:20 The {p} harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

(p) The people wonder that they have for so long a time looked for comfort in vain.

Jer 8:21

8:21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I {q} hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.

(q) The prophet speaks this.

Jer 8:22

8:22 [Is there] no balm {r} in Gilead; [is there] no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

(r) Meaning,that no man's help or means could save them: for in Gilead was precious balm, Jer 46:11 or else deriding the vain confidence of the people, who looked to their priests for help, who would have been the physicians of their soul, and dwelt at Gilead, Ho 6:8 .

Jer 9:1

9:1 O that my head were {a} waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

(a) The prophet shows the great compassion that he had toward this people, seeing that he could never sufficiently lament the destruction that he saw to hang over them, which is a special note to discern the true pastors from the hirelings. See Geneva "Jer 4:19"

Jer 9:2

9:2 O that I had in the wilderness a {b} lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they [are] all {c} adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

(b) He shows that there was more peace and greater safety for him to dwell among the wild beasts than among this wicked people except that God has given him this charge.
(c) Utterly turned from God.

Jer 9:3

9:3 And they bend their tongues [like] their bow [for] {d} lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.

(d) To belie and slander their neighbours.

Jer 9:4

9:4 Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any {e} brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.

(e) Meaning, that all were corrupt, and none could find an honest man.

Jer 9:5

9:5 And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they {f} have taught their tongue to speak lies, [and] weary themselves to commit iniquity.

(f) They have so practised deceit, that they cannot forsake it.

Jer 9:6

9:6 Thy habitation [is] in the midst of deceit; {g} through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.

(g) They would rather have forsaken God than left their wicked trade.

Jer 9:7

9:7 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will {h} melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?

(h) With the fire of affliction.

Jer 9:10

9:10 For the {i} mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through [them]; neither can [men] hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast have fled; they are gone.

(i) Signifying that all the places about Jerusalem would be destroyed.

Jer 9:12

9:12 Who [is] the {k} wise man, that may understand this? and [who is he] to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth [and] is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?

(k) Meaning that they are all without sense and understanding and that God has taken his spirit from them.

Jer 9:14

9:14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which {l} their fathers taught them:

(l) He shows that the children cannot excuse themselves by their fathers: for both father and child if they are wicked will perish.

Jer 9:15

9:15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, [even] this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall {m} to drink.

(m) Read Jer 8:14 .

Jer 9:17

9:17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for {n} the skilful women, that they may come; and send for skilful [women], that they may come:

(n) Seeing you cannot lament your own sins, call for those foolish women, whom of a superstition you have to lament for the dead, that they by their feigned tears may provoke you to some sorrow.

Jer 9:19

9:19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we laid waste! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings {o} have cast [us] out.

(o) As though they were weary of us, because of our iniquities, Le 18:28,20:22 .

Jer 9:20

9:20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and {p} teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.

(p) He derides the superstition of the women who made an art of mourning, and taught to weep with feigned tears.

Jer 9:21

9:21 For death hath come up into our {q} windows, [and] hath entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from outside, [and] the young men from the streets.

(q) Signifying that there is no means to deliver the wicked from God's judgments: but when they think to be most sure, and most far off, then they are soonest taken.

Jer 9:23

9:23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the {r} wise [man] glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty [man] glory in his might, let not the rich [man] glory in his riches:

(r) As none can save himself by his own labour, or any worldly means, he shows that it is vain to put our trust in it, but that we trust in the Lord, and rejoice in him, who only can deliver.

Jer 9:24

9:24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I [am] the LORD who {s} exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these [things] I delight, saith the LORD.

(s) These three points are necessary to know correctly his mercy, in which consists our salvation: his judgment, which he executes continually against the wicked, and his justice, by which he defends and maintains the faithful.

Jer 9:25

9:25 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all [them who are] {t} circumcised with the uncircumcised;

(t) Meaning, both Jews and Gentiles, as in this next verse he shows the cause, Jer 4:4 .

Jer 10:2

10:2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the {a} signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them.

(a) God forbids his people to give credit or fear the constellations and conjunctions of stars and planets which have no power of themselves but are governed by him, and their secret motions and influences are not known to man and therefore there can be no certain judgment of it, De 18:9 .

Jer 10:3

10:3 For the {b} customs of the people [are] vain: for [one] cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

(b) Meaning not only in the observation of the stars, but their laws and ceremonies by which they confirm their idolatry, which is forbidden, De 12:30 .

Jer 10:4

10:4 They deck it {c} with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it may not move.

(c) The prophets use thus plainly and simply to set forth the vile absurdity of the idolaters that men might learn to be ashamed of that to which their corrupt nature is most subject, Isa 44:12 .

Jer 10:6

10:6 Forasmuch as [there is] none like thee, O LORD; {d} thou [art] great, and thy name [is] great in might.

(d) He teaches the people to lift up their eyes to God, who has all power and therefore ought only to be feared: and in this he shows them not only the evil that they ought to hate: but the good which they ought to follow, Re 15:4 .

Jer 10:8

10:8 But they are altogether senseless and foolish: the stock [is] a {e} doctrine of vanities.

(e) Because the people thought that to have images was a means to serve God, and to bring them to the knowledge of him, he shows that nothing more displeases God, nor brings man into greater errors and ignorance of God: and therefore he calls them the doctrine of vanity, the work of errors, Jer 10:15 . Hab 2:18 calls them the teachers of lies: contrary to that wicked opinion, that they are the books of the lay people.

Jer 10:9

10:9 Silver beaten into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold {f} from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman, and of the hands of the goldsmith: blue and purple [is] their clothing: they [are] all the work of skilful [men].

(f) Where they found the best gold; showing that they thought nothing too dear for their idols, some read Ophir as in 1Ki 9:28 .

Jer 10:11

10:11 Thus shall ye say to them, The gods {g} that have not made the heavens and the earth, [even] they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.

(g) This declares that all that has been spoken of idols in this chapter, was to arm the Jews when they would be in Chaldea among the idolaters, and now with one sentence he instructs them both how to protest their own religion against the idolaters and how to answer them to their shame who would exhort them to idolatry, and therefore he writes this sentence in the Chaldean tongue for a memorial while all the rest of his writing is in Hebrew.

Jer 10:14

10:14 Every man is {h} senseless in [his] knowledge: every goldsmith is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image [is] falsehood, and [there is] no breath in them.

(h) The more man thinks to do anything well by his own wisdom, and not as God instructs him, the more he proves himself to be a vile beast.

Jer 10:16

10:16 The {i} portion of Jacob [is] not like them: for he [is] the former of all [things]; and Israel [is] the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts [is] his name.

(i) By these words, portion and rod, he signifies their inheritance, meaning that God would be all sufficient for them: and that their happiness consisted in him alone, and therefore they ought to renounce all other help and comfort as of idols, etc. De 32:9, Ps 16:5 .

Jer 10:17

10:17 {k} Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.

(k) The prophet wills the Jews to prepare themselves for this captivity, showing that it was now at hand that they would feel the things of which he had told them.

Jer 10:19

10:19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this {l} [is] a grief, and I must bear it.

(l) It is my just plague, and therefore I will take it patiently: by which he teaches the people how to behave themselves toward God.

Jer 10:20

10:20 {m} My tabernacle is laid waste, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone from me, and they [are] not: [there is] none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.

(m) He shows how Jerusalem will lament.

Jer 10:21

10:21 For the shepherds {n} have become senseless, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.

(n) The governors and ministers.

Jer 10:22

10:22 Behold, the sound of a rumour is come, and a great commotion from the {o} north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, [and] a den of dragons.

(o) Read Jer 4:15 .

Jer 10:23

10:23 O LORD, I know that {p} the way of man [is] not in himself: [it is] not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

(p) He speaks this because Nebuchadnezzar purposed to have made war against the Moabites and Ammonites, but hearing of Zedekiah's rebellion he turned his power to go against Jerusalem, Eze 21:21 therefore the prophet says that this was the Lord's direction.

Jer 10:24

10:24 O LORD, correct me, but with {q} judgment; not in thy anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.

(q) Considering that God had revealed to him the certainty of their captivity Jer 7:16 he only prays that he would punish them with mercy which Isaiah calls in measure, Isa 27:8 measuring his rods by their infirmity 1Co 10:13 for here by judgment is meant not only the punishment but also the merciful moderation of the same as in Jer 30:11 .

Jer 10:25

10:25 Pour out {r} thy fury upon the nations that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.

(r) As God cannot only be known and glorified by his mercy that he uses toward his Church, but also by his justice in punishing his enemies, he prays that this glory may fully appear both in the one and the other, Ps 79:6 .

Jer 11:3

11:3 And say thou to them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; {a} Cursed [be] the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant,

(a) He calls the Jews to the consideration of God's mercy, who freely chose them, made a covenant of eternal happiness with them and how he ever performed it on his behalf and how they ever showed themselves rebellious and ingrate toward him, and broke it on their part, and so are subject to the curse of the law, De 27:26 .

Jer 11:5

11:5 That I may perform the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as [it is] this day. Then answered {b} I, and said, So be it, O LORD.

(b) Thus he speaks in the person of the people, who agreed to the covenant.

Jer 11:7

11:7 For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day [that] I brought them out of the land of Egypt, [even] to this day, {c} rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.

Jer 11:8

11:8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their {d} evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the {e} words of this covenant, which I commanded [them] to do; but they did [them] not.

(d) According to his own fantasy, and not as my word appointed him.
(e) Meaning, the menaces and curses contained in the law, Le 26:14, De 28:16 .

Jer 11:9

11:9 And the LORD said to me, A {f} conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

(f) That is, general consent to rebel against me.

Jer 11:11

11:11 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry to me, {g} I will not hearken to them.

(g) Because they will not pray with true faith and repentance, but for the pain and grief which they feel, Pr 1:28 .

Jer 11:13

11:13 {h} For [according to] the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and [according to] the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to [that] shameful thing, [even] altars to burn incense to Baal.

(h) Read Jer 2:28 .

Jer 11:14

11:14 Therefore {i} pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear [them] in the time when they cry to me for their trouble.

(i) Read Jer 7:16,14:11 .

Jer 11:15

11:15 What hath my {k} beloved to do in my house, [seeing] she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh {l} is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest.

(k) My people of Israel whom I have greatly loved till now.
(l) Meaning, that they offer not in the temple to God, but on the altars of Baal and the idols and so rejoiced in their wickedness.

Jer 11:16

11:16 The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, [and] of goodly fruit: with the {m} noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.

(m) Of the Babylonians and Chaldeans.

Jer 11:18

11:18 And the LORD hath given me knowledge [of it], and I know [it]: then thou didst show me {n} their doings.

(n) Who went about secretly to conspire my death.

Jer 11:19

11:19 But I [was] like a lamb [or] an ox [that] is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised plots against me, [saying], Let us {o} destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.

(o) Let us destroy the prophet and his doctrine. Some read "Let us corrupt his meat with wood", meaning poison.

Jer 11:20

11:20 But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy {p} vengeance on them: for to thee have I revealed my cause.

(p) Thus he spoke not out of hatred, but being moved with the Spirit of God, he desires the advancement of God's glory, and the verifying of his word, which is by the destruction of his enemies.

Jer 11:21

11:21 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the men of {q} Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, {r} Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand:

(q) That is, both the priests and the rest of the people: for this town was the priests, and they dwelt in it, Jer 1:1 .
(r) Not that they could not abide to hear God named; (for in this they would show themselves most holy) but because they could not abide to be sharply reproved, and therefore desired to be flattered Isa 30:10 , to be maintained in their pleasures Mic 2:11 and not to hear vice condemned Am 7:12 .

Jer 12:1

12:1 {a} Righteous [art] thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me speak with thee of [thy] judgments: Why doth the way of the wicked {b} prosper? [why] are they all happy that deal very treacherously?

(a) The prophet confesses God to be just in all his doings, although man is not able to give a reason for all his actions.
(b) This question has been always a great temptation to the godly, to see the wicked enemies of God in prosperity, and his dear children in adversity, as in Job 21:7, Ps 37:1,73:3, Hab 1:3 .

Jer 12:2

12:2 Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou [art] near in their mouth, and far from their {c} reins.

Jer 12:3

12:3 But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried my heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and {d} prepare them for the day of slaughter.

(d) The Hebrew word is "sanctify them", meaning that God would be sanctified in the destruction of the wicked to whom God for a while gives prosperity, that afterward they would the more feel his heavy judgment when they lack their riches which were a sign of his mercy.

Jer 12:4

12:4 How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell in it? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, {e} He shall not see our last end.

(e) Abusing God's leniency and his promises, they flattered themselves as though God would ever be merciful and not utterly destroy them therefore they hardened themselves in sin, till at length the beasts and insensible creatures felt the punishment of their stubborn rebellion against God.

Jer 12:5

12:5 If thou hast run with the {f} footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and [if] in the land of peace, [in which] thou didst trust, [they wearied thee], then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?

(f) Some think that God reproves Jeremiah, in that he would reason with him, saying that if he was not able to march with men, then he was far unable to dispute with God. Others, by the footmen mean them of Anathoth: and by the horsemen, them of Jerusalem who would trouble the prophet worse than his own countrymen did.

Jer 12:7

12:7 I have forsaken {g} my house, I have left my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

(g) God wills the prophet to denounce his judgments against Jerusalem, even though they will both by threatenings and flatteries labour to silence him.

Jer 12:8

12:8 My heritage is to me as a {h} lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it.

(h) Ever ranting and raging against me and my prophets.

Jer 12:9

12:9 My heritage [is] to me [as] a {i} speckled bird, the birds around [are] against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.

(i) Instead of bearing my livery and wearing only my colours, they have change and diversity of colours of their idols and superstitions therefore their enemies as thick as the fowls of the air will come about them to destroy them.

Jer 12:10

12:10 Many shepherds have destroyed my {k} vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

(k) He prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem, by the captain of Nebuchadnezzar, whom he calls pastors.

Jer 12:11

12:11 They have made it desolate, [and being] desolate it mourneth to me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth {l} [it] to heart.

(l) Because no man regards my word, or the plagues that I have sent on the land.

Jer 12:13

12:13 {m} They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they {n} have put themselves to pain, [but] shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of {o} your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

(m) That is, the prophets.
(n) They lamented the sins of the people.
(o) For instead of amendment, you grew worse and worse, as God's plagues testified.

Jer 12:14

12:14 Thus saith the LORD against all my evil {p} neighbours, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.

(p) Meaning the wicked enemies of his Church who blasphemed his Name, and whom he would punish after he had delivered his people.

Jer 12:15

12:15 And it shall come to pass, after I have plucked them out I {q} will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.

(q) After I have punished the Gentiles I will have mercy on them.

Jer 12:16

12:16 And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the {r} ways of my people, to swear by my name, The {s} LORD liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built {t} in the midst of my people.

(r) The true doctrine and manner to serve God.
(s) Read Jer 4:2 .
(t) They will be of the number of the faithful, and have a place in my Church.

Jer 13:4

13:4 Take the sash that thou hast bought, which [is] upon thy loins, and arise, go to {a} Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.

(a) Because this river was far from Jerusalem, it is evident that this was a vision, by which it was signified that the Jews would pass over the Euphrates to be captives in Babylon, and there for length of time would seem to be rotten, although they were joined to the Lord before as a girdle about a man.

Jer 13:12

13:12 Therefore thou shalt speak to them this word; Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Every {b} skin shall be filled with wine: and they shall say to thee, Do we not certainly know that every skin shall be filled with wine?

(b) Every one of you will be filled with spiritual drunkenness, and be without all knowledge to seek how to help yourselves.

Jer 13:14

13:14 And I will {c} dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.

Jer 13:16

13:16 Give glory to the LORD your God, before he shall cause {d} darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for {e} light, he shall turn it into the shadow of death, [and] make [it] gross darkness.

(d) That is, affliction and misery by the Babylonians, Isa 8:22 .
(e) Meaning, for help and support of the Egyptians.

Jer 13:17

13:17 But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall {f} weep in secret places for [your] pride; and my eye shall weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because the LORD'S flock is carried away captive.

(f) You will surely be led away captive and I, according to my affection toward you, will weep and lament for your stubbornness.

Jer 13:18

13:18 Say to the {g} king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, [even] the crown of your glory.

(g) For Jehoiachin and his mother rendered themselves by Jeremiah's counsel to the king of Babylon, 2Ki 24:12 .

Jer 13:19

13:19 The cities of {h} the south shall be shut up, and none shall open [them]: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.

(h) That is, of Judah, which lies south of Babylon.

Jer 13:20

13:20 Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where [is] the {i} flock [that] was given thee, thy beautiful flock?

(i) He asks the king, where his people is become.

Jer 13:21

13:21 What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast {k} taught them [to be] captains, [and] as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?

(k) By seeking to strangers for help, you have made them skilful to fight against you.

Jer 13:22

13:22 And if thou shalt say in thy heart, Why come these things upon me? For the greatness of thy iniquity are thy skirts {l} uncovered, [and] thy heels made bare.

(l) The cloak of hypocrisy will be pulled off, and your shame seen.

Jer 13:26

13:26 Therefore will I uncover thy skirts upon thy face, {m} that thy shame may appear.

(m) As your iniquities have been revealed to all the world, so shall your shame and punishment.

Jer 13:27

13:27 I have seen thy adulteries, and thy {n} neighings, the lewdness of thy harlotry, [and] thy abominations on the hills in {o} the fields. Woe to thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when [shall it] once [be]?

(n) He compares idolaters to horses inflamed after mares.
(o) There is no place so high nor low, where the marks and signs of your idolatry do not appear.

Jer 14:1

14:1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the {a} dearth.

(a) Which came for lack of rain as in Jer 14:4 .

Jer 14:2

14:2 Judah mourneth, and her gates languish; they are {b} black to the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

(b) The word signifies extreme sorrow.

Jer 14:3

14:3 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, [and] found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and {c} covered their heads.

Jer 14:5

14:5 Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook {d} [it], because there was no grass.

(d) Meaning, that the brute beasts for drought were compelled to forsake their young, contrary to nature, and to go seek water which they could not find.

Jer 14:6

14:6 And the wild donkeys stood in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like {e} dragons; their eyes failed, because [there was] no grass.

(e) Who are so hot by nature, that they cannot be cooled by drinking water, but still gasp for the air to refresh them.

Jer 14:7

14:7 {f} O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou [it] for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.

(f) He shows the only way to remedy God's plagues, which is by true confession of our sins, and returning to him by repentance.

Jer 14:8

14:8 O the hope of Israel, his saviour in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a {g} stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man [that] turneth aside to tarry for a night?

(g) That takes no care for us.

Jer 14:9

14:9 Why shouldest thou be as a man astonished, as {h} a mighty man [that] cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, [art] in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.

(h) That takes no care for us.

Jer 14:11

14:11 Then said the LORD to me, {i} Pray not for this people for [their] good.

(i) Read Jer 7:16,11:14 .

Jer 14:13

14:13 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the {k} prophets say to them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.

(k) He pities the people, and accuses the false prophets who deceived them: but the Lord answered that both the prophets who deceived and the people who permitted themselves to be seduced, will perish, Jer 23:15,27:8,9,29:8 .

Jer 14:17

14:17 Therefore thou shalt say this word to them; Let my eyes run down with {l} tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.

(l) The false prophets promised peace and assurance, but Jeremiah calls to tears, and repentance for their affliction, which is at hand, as in Jer 9:1, Lam 1:16,2:18 .

Jer 14:18

14:18 If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about {m} into a land that they know not.

(m) Both high and low will be led captive into Babylon.

Jer 14:19

14:19 Hast thou utterly rejected {n} Judah? hath thy soul abhorred Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and [there is] no healing for us? we looked for peace, and [there is] no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!

(n) Though the prophet knew that God had cast off the multitude, who were hypocrites and bastard children, yet he was assured that for his promise sake he would still have a Church, for which he prays.

Jer 14:20

14:20 We {o} acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, [and] the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.

(o) He teaches the Church a form of prayer to humble themselves to God by true repentance, which is the only way to avoid this famine, which was the beginning of God's plagues.

Jer 14:22

14:22 Are there [any] among the {p} vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? [art] not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these [things].

(p) Meaning their idols, read Jer 10:15 .

Jer 15:1

15:1 Then said the LORD to me, {a} Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, [yet] my mind [could] not [be] toward this people: cast [them] out of my sight, and let them go forth.

(a) Meaning that if there were any man living moved with so great zeal toward the people as were these two, yet he would not grant this request, as he had determined the contrary, Eze 14:14 .

Jer 15:3

15:3 And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the {b} dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.

(b) The dogs, birds and beasts would devour them that were slain.

Jer 15:4

15:4 And I will {c} cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, {d} because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for [that] which he did in Jerusalem.

(c) The word signifies to run to and fro for fear and unquietness of conscience as Cain did.
(d) Not that the people were punished for the king's sin only, but for their own sins also, because they consented to his wickedness.

Jer 15:6

15:6 Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am {e} weary with repenting.

(e) That is, I will not call back my plagues or spare you any more.

Jer 15:7

15:7 And I will fan them with a fan {f} in the gates of the land; I will bereave [them] of children, I will destroy my people, [since] they return not from their ways.

(f) Meaning, the cities.

Jer 15:8

15:8 Their widows {g} are multiplied to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused [him] to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.

(g) Because I had slain their husbands.

Jer 15:9

15:9 She that hath borne {h} seven languisheth: she hath breathed her last; her sun is {i} gone down while [it was] yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the remnant of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.

(h) She who had many lost all her children.
(i) She was destroyed in the midst of her prosperity.

Jer 15:10

15:10 {k} Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither {l} lent on interest, nor have men lent to me on interest; [yet] every one of them doth curse me.

(k) By these are the prophet's words, complaining of the obstinacy of the people and that he was reserved to so wicked a time: in which also he shows what is the condition of God's ministers, that is, to have all the world against them, though they give no opportunity.
(l) Which is an opportunity for contention and hatred.

Jer 15:11

15:11 The LORD said, {m} Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee [well] in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

(m) In this perplexity the Lord comforted me, and said that my last days would be quiet: and by the enemy he means here Nebuzaradan the captain of Nebuchadnezzar, who gave Jeremiah the choice either to remain in his country or to go where he would; or by the enemy he means the Jews, who would later know Jeremiah's faithfulness, and therefore favour him.

Jer 15:12

15:12 Shall {n} iron break the northern iron and the steel?

(n) As for the people, though they seemed strong as iron, yet they would not be able to resist the hard iron of Babylon, but would be led captives.

Jer 15:15

15:15 O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my {o} persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.

(o) He does not speak this out of a desire for revenge, but wishing that God would deliver his Church from them who he knew to be hardened and incorrigible.

Jer 15:16

15:16 Thy words were found, and I {p} ate them; and thy word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.

(p) I received them with a great joy, as he that is famished eats meat.

Jer 15:17

15:17 I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone {q} because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.

(q) I had nothing to do with the wicked contemners of your word, but lamented bitterly for your plagues: showing what the faithful should do when they see tokens of God's anger.

Jer 15:18

15:18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, [which] refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether to me {r} as a liar, [and as] waters [that] fail?

(r) And have not assisted me according to the promise? In which it appears that in the saints of God is imperfection of faith, which through impatience is often assailed as in Jer 20:7 .

Jer 15:19

15:19 Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou shalt {s} return, then will I bring thee again, [and] thou shalt stand before me: and if thou shalt separate the {t} precious from the vile, thou shalt be {u} as my mouth: let them return {x} to thee; but return not thou to them.

(s) If you forget these carnal considerations and faithfully execute your charge.
(t) That is, seek to win the good from the bad.
(u) That is, as my mouth has pronounced, Jer 1:18 and as here follows in Jer 15:20 .
(x) Do not conform yourself to their wickedness, but let them follow your godly example.

Jer 15:20

15:20 And I will make thee to this people a fortified brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not {y} prevail against thee: for I [am] with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.

(y) I will teach you with an invincible strength and constancy, so that all the powers of the world will not overcome you.

Jer 16:2

16:2 Thou shalt not take {a} thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons nor daughters in this place.

(a) Meaning that the affliction would be so horrible in Jerusalem that a wife and children would only increase his sorrow.

Jer 16:5

16:5 For thus saith the LORD, {b} Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, [even] lovingkindness and mercies.

(b) Signifying that the affliction would be so great that one would not have leisure to comfort another.

Jer 16:6

16:6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall [men] lament for them, {c} nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:

Jer 16:7

16:7 Neither shall [men] tear [themselves] for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall [men] give them the {d} cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.

(d) For in these great extremities all consolation and comfort will be in vain.

Jer 16:10

16:10 And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show this people all these words, and they shall say to thee, Why hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what [is] {e} our iniquity? or what [is] our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?

(e) Because the wicked are always rebellious and conceal their own sins and murmur against God's judgments, as though he had no just cause to punish them, he shows him what to answer.

Jer 16:15

16:15 But, The LORD liveth, that brought the children of Israel from the land of the north, and {f} from all the lands where he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers.

(f) Signifying that the blessing of their deliverance out of Babylon would be so great that it would abolish the remembrance of their deliverance from Egypt: but he has here chiefly respect to the spiritual deliverance under Christ.

Jer 16:16

16:16 Behold, I will send for many {g} fishermen, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and afterwards will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.

(g) By the fishers and hunters are meant the Babylonians and Chaldeans who would destroy them in such sort, that if they escaped the one, the other would take them.

Jer 16:18

16:18 And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled my inheritance with the {h} carcases of their detestable and abominable things.

(h) That is, their sons and daughters, who they offered to Molech.

Jer 16:19

16:19 O LORD, my {i} strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come to thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited {k} lies, vanity, and [things] in which [there is] no profit.

(i) He wonders at the great mercy of God in this deliverance which will not only extend to the Jews but also to the Gentiles.
(k) Our fathers were most vile idolaters therefore it comes only of God's mercy that he performs his promise and has not utterly cast us off.

Jer 16:21

16:21 Therefore, behold, I will this once {l} cause them to know, I will cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name [is] JEHOVAH.

(l) They will once again feel my power and mercy for their deliverance that they may learn to worship me.

Jer 17:1

17:1 The sin of Judah [is] {a} written with a pen of iron, [and] with the point of a diamond: [it is] graven upon the {b} tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of your {c} altars;

(a) The remembrance of their contempt of God cannot pass, although for a time he defers the punishment, for it will be revealed to men and angels.
(b) Instead of the law of God, they have written idolatry and all abomination in their heart.
(c) Your sins appear in all the altars that you have erected to idols.

Jer 17:2

17:2 {d} While their children remember their altars and their idols by the green trees upon the high hills.

(d) Some read, "So that their children remember their altars", that is, follow their father's wickedness.

Jer 17:3

17:3 {e} O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance [and] all thy treasures to the spoil, [and] thy high places for sin, throughout all thy borders.

(e) Zion that was my mountain, will now be left as a waste field.

Jer 17:4

17:4 And thou, even {f} thyself, shall discontinue from thy heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thy enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in my anger, [which] shall burn for ever.

(f) Because you would not give the land rest, at such times, days and years as I appointed, you will after this be carried away and it will rest for lack of labourers.

Jer 17:5

17:5 Thus saith the LORD; {g} Cursed [be] the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.

(g) The Jews were given to worldly policies and thought to make themselves strong by the friendship of the Egyptians, Isa 31:3 and strangers and in the mean time did not depend on God, and therefore he denounces God's plagues against them, showing that they prefer corruptible man to God, who is immortal, Isa 2:22, Jer 48:6,7 .

Jer 17:8

17:8 {h} For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and [that] spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be anxious in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

(h) Read Ps 1:3 .

Jer 17:9

17:9 {i} The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?

(i) Because the wicked always have some excuse to defend their doings he shows that their own lewd imaginations deceive them and bring them to these hardships: but God will examine their deeds by the malice of their hearts, 1Sa 16:7,1Ch 28:9,Ps 7:10,Jer 11:20,10:12,Re 2:13 .

Jer 17:11

17:11 {k} [As] the partridge sitteth [on eggs], and hatcheth [them] not; [so] he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.

(k) As the patriarch by calling gathered others who forsake her when they see she is not their mother: so the covetous man is forsaken of his riches because he comes by them falsely.

Jer 17:12

17:12 A glorious {l} high throne from the beginning [is] the place of our sanctuary.

(l) Showing that the godly ought to glory in nothing, but in God who exalts his, and has left a sign of his favour in his temple.

Jer 17:13

17:13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, [and] they that depart from me shall be written {m} in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.

(m) Their names will not be registered in the book of life.

Jer 17:14

17:14 Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; {n} save me, and I shall be saved: for thou [art] my praise.

(n) He desires God to preserve him that he fall not into temptation, considering the great contempt of God's word, and the multitude that fall from God.

Jer 17:15

17:15 Behold, {o} they say to me, Where [is] the word of the LORD? let it come now.

(o) The wicked say that my prophecy will not come to pass, because you deferred the time of your vengeance.

Jer 17:16

17:16 As for me, {p} I have not hastened from [being] a shepherd to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which was uttered by my lips was [right] before thee.

(p) I am assured of my calling, and therefore know that the thing which you speak by me will come to pass, and that I speak not of any worldly affection.

Jer 17:17

17:17 Be not {q} a terror to me: thou [art] my hope in the day of evil.

(q) However the wicked deal rigorously with me, yet let me find comfort in you.

Jer 17:18

17:18 Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, {r} and destroy them with double destruction.

(r) Read Jer 11:20 .

Jer 17:19

17:19 Thus said the LORD to me; Go and stand in the {s} gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;

(s) While your doctrine may best be understood both by high and low.

Jer 17:21

17:21 Thus saith the LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the {t} sabbath day, nor bring [it] in by the gates of Jerusalem;

(t) By naming the Sabbath day, he comprehends the thing that is signified by it, for if they transgressed in the ceremony, they must be guilty of the rest, read Ex 20:8 and by the breaking of this one commandment, he makes them transgressors of the whole law, as the first and second table are contained in it.

Jer 18:4

18:4 And the vessel that he made of {a} clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make [it].

(a) As the potter has power over the clay to make what pot he will, or to break them, when he has made them: so have I power over you to do with you as seems good to me, Isa 45:9, Ro 9:20,21 .

Jer 18:8

18:8 If that nation, against which I have pronounced, shall turn from their evil, I will {b} repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.

(b) When the Scripture attributes repentance to God, it is not that he does contrary to that which he has ordained in his secret counsel: but when he threatens it is a calling to repentance, and when he gives man grace to repent, the threatening (which ever contains a condition in it) takes no place: and this the scripture calls repentance in God, because it so appears to man's judgment.

Jer 18:12

18:12 And they said, {c} There is no hope: but we will walk after our own plots, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

Jer 18:14

18:14 Will [a man] leave the snow of Lebanon [which cometh] from the rock of the field? {d} [or] shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?

(d) As no man that has thirst refuses fresh waters which he has at home, to go and seek waters abroad to quench his thirst: so they should not seek help and comfort from strangers and leave God who was present with them.

Jer 18:15

18:15 Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways [from] the {e} ancient paths, to walk in paths, [in] a way not cast up;

(e) That is, the way of truth which God had taught by his law, Jer 6:16 .

Jer 18:17

18:17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and {f} not the face, in the day of their calamity.

(f) I will show my anger and not my favour toward them.

Jer 18:18

18:18 Then said they, Come, and let us devise plots against Jeremiah; for the law {g} shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the {h} tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.

(g) This argument the wicked have always used against the servants of God. The church cannot err: we are the Church, and therefore whoever speaks against us, they ought to die, 1Ki 22:24, Jer 7:4,20:2, Mal 2:4 and thus the false Church persecutes the true Church, which stands not in outward pomp, and in multitude, but is known by the graces of the Holy Spirit.
(h) Let us slander him and accuse him: for we will be believed.

Jer 18:21

18:21 Therefore {i} deliver their children to the famine, and pour out their [blood] by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and [be] widows; and let their men be put to death; [let] their young men [be] slain by the sword in battle.

(i) Seeing the obstinate malice of the adversaries, who grew daily more and more, the prophet being moved with God's Spirit, without any carnal affection prays for their destruction because he knew that it would be to God's glory, and profit of his Church.

Jer 19:3

19:3 And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O {a} kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, which whoever heareth, his ears shall {b} tingle.

(a) By kings here and in other places are meant counsellors and governors of the people; who he calls the ancients, Jer 19:1 .
(b) Read of this phrase in 1Sa 3:11 .

Jer 19:5

19:5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire [for] burnt offerings to Baal, which I {c} commanded not, nor spoke [it], neither came [it] into my mind:

Jer 19:6

19:6 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called {d} Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.

(d) Read Jer 7:31, 2Ki 23:10, Isa 30:33 .

Jer 19:11

19:11 And shalt say to them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as [one] breaketh a {e} potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury [them] in Tophet, till [there be] no place to bury.

(e) This visible sign was to confirm them concerning the assurance of this plague, which the Lord threatened by his prophet.

Jer 19:13

19:13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the {f} houses upon whose {g} roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.

(f) He notes the great rage of the idolaters who left no place free from their abominations, in that they polluted their own houses with it, as we see yet among the papists.
(g) Read De 22:8 .

Jer 20:2

20:2 Then Pashur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the {a} stocks that [were] in the high gate of Benjamin, which [was] by the house of the LORD.

(a) Thus we see that the thing which neither the king nor the princes nor the people dared to undertake against the prophet of God, this priest as a chief instrument of Satan first attempted, read Jer 18:18 .

Jer 20:6

20:6 And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thy house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy {b} friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.

(b) Who have allowed themselves to be abused by your false prophecies.

Jer 20:7

20:7 O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was {c} deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast {d} prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.

(c) In this appears the impatiency which often overcomes the servants of God when they do not see their labours profit, and also feel their own weakness. See Geneva "Jer 15:18"
(d) You thrust me forth to this work against my will.

Jer 20:8

20:8 For since I spoke, I cried out, I cried violence and {e} spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach to me, and a derision, daily.

(e) He shows that he did his office in that he reproved the people of their vices and threatened them with God's judgments: but because he was derided and persecuted for this, he was discouraged, and would have stopped preaching, except that God's spirit forced him to it.

Jer 20:10

20:10 For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. {f} Report, [say they], and we will report it. All my friends watched for my fall, [saying], Perhaps he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.

(f) Thus the enemies conferred together to know what they had heard him say, that they might accuse him of it, read Isa 29:21 .

Jer 20:11

20:11 {g} But the LORD [is] with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: [their] everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.

(g) Here he shows how his faith strove against temptation and sought the Lord for strength.

Jer 20:14

20:14 {h} Cursed [be] the day in which I was born: let not the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.

(h) How the children of God are overcome in this battle of the flesh and the Spirit, and into what inconveniences they fall till God raises them up again: read Job 3:1, Jer 15:10 .

Jer 20:16

20:16 And let that man be as the {i} cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noon;

(i) Alluding to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Ge 19:25 .

Jer 20:17

20:17 Because he slew me not at my birth; or that my mother might have been my grave, and she had not been {k} delivered.

(k) Meaning that the fruit of it might never come to profit.

Jer 21:2

21:2 {a} Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; it may be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.

(a) Not that the king was touched with repentance of his sins and so sought God, as did Hezekiah when he sent for Isaiah, 2Ki 19:1, Isa 37:2 but because the prophet might pray to God to take this present plague away, as Pharaoh sought Moses Ex 9:28 .

Jer 21:4

21:4 Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will {b} turn back the weapons of war that [are] in your hands, with which ye fight against the king of Babylon, and [against] the Chaldeans, who besiege you outside the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.

(b) That is, from your enemies to destroy yourselves.

Jer 21:8

21:8 And to this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the {c} way of life, and the way of {d} death.

Jer 21:9

21:9 He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be to him for a {e} prize.

(e) As a thing recovered from extreme danger, Jer 37:2,39:18,45:5 .

Jer 21:12

21:12 O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment {f} in the morning, and deliver [him that is] made desolate out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench [it], because of the evil of your doings.

(f) Be diligent to do justice.

Jer 21:13

21:13 Behold, I [am] against thee, {g} O inhabitant of the valley, [and] rock of the plain, saith the LORD; who say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?

(g) Meaning, Jerusalem which was built part on the hill and part in the valley and was compassed about with mountains.

Jer 21:14

21:14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire {h} in its forest, and it shall devour all things around it.

(h) That is, in the houses of it, which stood as thick as trees in the forest.

Jer 22:3

22:3 Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and {a} righteousness, and deliver him that is laid waste 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.

(a) This was his ordinary manner of preaching before the kings from Josiah to Zedekiah which was about forty years.

Jer 22:5

22:5 But if ye will not hear these words, I {b} swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.

(b) Showing that there is no one greater than he is, He 6:13 and that he will most certainly perform his oath.

Jer 22:6

22:6 For thus saith the LORD to the king's house of Judah; Thou [art] {c} Gilead to me, [and] the head of Lebanon: [yet] surely I will make thee a wilderness, [and] cities [which] are not inhabited.

Jer 22:7

22:7 And I will {d} prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice {e} cedars, and cast [them] into the fire.

(d) The Hebrew word signifies to sanctify because the Lord dedicates to his use and purpose such as he prepares to execute his work, Isa 13:3, Jer 6:4,12:3 .
(e) Your buildings made from cedar trees.

Jer 22:8

22:8 {f} And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Why hath the LORD done thus to this great city?

(f) As they who wonder at a thing which they thought would never have come to pass, De 29:24, 1Ki 9:8 .

Jer 22:10

22:10 Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: [but] weep bitterly for him {g} that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.

(g) Signifying that they would lose their king: for Jehoiachin went forth to meet Nebuchadnezzar and yielded himself, and was carried into Babylon, 2Ki 24:12 .

Jer 22:11

22:11 For thus saith the LORD concerning {h} Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went forth from this place; He shall not return there any more:

(h) Whom some think to be Jehoiachin and that Josiah was his grandfather: but it seems this was Jehoiakim, as in Jer 22:18 .

Jer 22:13

22:13 Woe to him that buildeth his house by {i} unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; [that] useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;

(i) By bribes and extortion.

Jer 22:15

22:15 Shalt thou reign, because thou closest [thyself] in cedar? did not thy {k} father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, [and] then [it was] well with him?

(k) Meaning Josiah, who was not given to ambition and superfluity, but was content with mediocrity, and only delighted in setting forth God's glory, and to do justice to all.

Jer 22:18

22:18 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for {l} him, [saying], Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, [saying], Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!

(l) For everyone will have enough to lament for himself.

Jer 22:19

22:19 He shall be {m} buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

(m) Not honourably among his fathers, but as carrion are cast in a hole, because their stink should not infect, read 1Ki 14:10 . Josephus writes that the enemy slew him in the city and commanded him to be cast before the walls unburied, see Jer 36:30 .

Jer 22:20

22:20 Go up to {n} Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in {o} Bashan, and cry from the passes: for all thy lovers are destroyed.

(n) To call to the Assyrians for help.
(o) For this was the way out of India to Assyria, by which is meant that all help would fail: for the Chaldeans have subdued both them and the Egyptians.

Jer 22:22

22:22 The wind shall eat up all thy shepherds, {p} and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.

(p) Both your governors and they that would help you will vanish away as wind.

Jer 22:23

22:23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the {q} cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!

(q You that are built of the fair cedar trees of Lebanon.

Jer 22:24

22:24 [As] I live, saith the LORD, though {r} Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee from there;

(r) Who was called Jehoiachin or Jeconiah, whom he calls here Coniah in contempt who thought his kingdom could never depart from him, because he came of the stock of David, and therefore for the promise sake could not be taken from his house, but he abused God's promise and therefore was justly deprived of the kingdom.

Jer 22:29

22:29 O {s} earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

(s) He shows that all posterity will be witnesses of his just plague, as though it were registered for perpetual memory.

Jer 22:30

22:30 Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this {t} 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.

(t) Not that he had no children (for later he begat Salathiel in the captivity, Mt 1:12 ) but that none would reign after him as king.

Jer 23:1

23:1 Woe be to {a} the shepherds that destroy and scatter the {b} sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.

(a) Meaning the prince's governors and false prophets as in Eze 34:2 .
(b) For which I have special care, and have prepared good pastures for them.

Jer 23:2

23:2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds that {c} feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.

Jer 23:3

23:3 And I will gather the {d} remnant of my flock from all countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.

(d) Thus the prophets always used to mix the promises with the threatenings lest the godly should be too much beaten down and therefore he shows how God will gather his Church after this dispersion.

Jer 23:5

23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise to David a righteous {e} Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice upon the earth.

(e) This prophecy is of the restitution of the Church in the time of Jesus Christ, who is the true branch, read Isa 11:1,45:8, Jer 35:15, Da 9:24 .

Jer 23:7

23:7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The {f} LORD liveth, who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

(f) Read Jer 16:14 .

Jer 23:9

23:9 My heart within me is broken because of the {g} prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.

(g) Meaning, the false prophets who deceive the people: in which appears his great love toward his nation, read Jer 14:13 .

Jer 23:10

23:10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their {h} course is evil, and their force [is] not right.

(h) They run headlong to wickedness and seek vain help.

Jer 23:11

23:11 For both prophet and priest are profane; even, in my {i} house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.

(i) My temple is full of their idolatry and superstitions.

Jer 23:14

23:14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem {k} an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them {l} to me as Sodom, and the inhabitants of it as Gomorrah.

(k) They who should have profited by my rods against Samaria, are become worse than they.
(l) Though to the world they seem holy fathers, yet I detest them as I did these abominable cities.

Jer 23:15

23:15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with {m} wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.

(m) Read Jer 8:14 .

Jer 23:16

23:16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own {n} heart, [and] not from the mouth of the LORD.

(n) Which they have invented of their own brain.

Jer 23:17

23:17 They say still to them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye {o} shall have peace; and they say to every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.

(o) Read Jer 6:14,8:11 .

Jer 23:18

23:18 For {p} who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard [it]?

(p) Thus they derided Jeremiah as though the word of God was not revealed to him, so also spoke Zedekiah to Micaiah, 1Ki 22:24 .

Jer 23:20

23:20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he shall have executed, and till he shall have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye {q} shall consider it perfectly.

(q) Both that God has sent me, and that my words will be true.

Jer 23:22

23:22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and {r} had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

(r) He shows the difference between the true prophets and the false, between the hireling and the true minister.

Jer 23:23

23:23 [Am] I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God {s} afar off?

(s) Do I not see your falsehood, however you cloak it, and wherever you commit it?

Jer 23:25

23:25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I {t} have dreamed, I have dreamed.

(t) I have a prophecy revealed to me as in Nu 12:6 .

Jer 23:27

23:27 Who think to cause {u} my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.

(u) He shows that Satan raises up false prophets to bring the people from God.

Jer 23:28

23:28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him {x} tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. {y} What [is] the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.

(x) Let the false prophet declare that it is his own fantasy, and not slander my word as though it were a cloak to cover his lies.
(y) Meaning, that it is not enough for God's ministers to abstain from lies and to speak the word of God but that there is judgment in alleging it, and that it may appear to be applied to the same purpose that it was spoken, Eze 3:27, 1Co 2:13,4:2, 2Ti 2:25 .

Jer 23:30

23:30 Therefore, behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the LORD, that {z} steal my words every one from his neighbour.

(z) Who set forth in my Name that which I have not commanded.

Jer 23:31

23:31 Behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, {a} He saith.

(a) That is, the Lord.

Jer 23:33

23:33 And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What [is] the {b} burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say to them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.

(b) The prophets called their threatenings God's burden, which the sinners were not able to sustain, therefore the wicked in deriding the word, would ask of the prophets, what was the burden as though they would say, "You seek nothing else, but to lay burdens on our shoulders" and thus they rejected the word of God as a grievous burden.

Jer 23:34

23:34 And [as for] the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The {c} burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house.

(c) Because this word was brought to contempt and derision, he will teach them another manner of speech, and will cause this word burden to cease and teach them to ask with reverence, "What says the Lord?"

Jer 23:36

23:36 And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's {d} word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.

(d) The thing which they mock and contemn will come on them.

Jer 24:1

24:1 The LORD showed me, and, behold, two {a} baskets of figs [were] set before the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.

(a) The good figs signified them that were gone into captivity and so saved their life, as in Jer 21:8 , and the bad figs them that remained, who were yet subject to the sword, famine and pestilence.

Jer 24:5

24:5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this {b} place into the land of the Chaldeans for [their] good.

(b) By which he approves the yielding of Jeconiah and his company because they obeyed the prophet, who exhorted them to it.

Jer 24:7

24:7 And I will give them {c} an heart to know me, that I [am] the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

Jer 24:8

24:8 And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell {d} in the land of Egypt:

(d) Who fled there for comfort.

Jer 25:1

25:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the {a} fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that [was] the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon;

(a) That is, in the third year accomplished and in the beginning of the fourth: for though Nebuchadnezzar began to reign in the end of the third year of Jehoiakim's reign yet that year is not counted here because it was almost over, Da 1:1 .

Jer 25:3

25:3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even to {b} this day, that [is] the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come to me, and I have spoken to you, {c} rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.

(b) Which was the fifth year and the ninth month of Jehoiakim's reign.
(c) That is, I have spared no diligence or labour, Jer 7:13 .

Jer 25:5

25:5 They {d} said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given to you and to your fathers for ever and ever:

(d) He shows that the prophets, wholly with one consent laboured to pull the people from those vices, which then reigned, that is, from idolatry and the vain confidence of men: for under these two all others were contained, 2Ki 17:13, Jer 18:11,35:15, Jon 3:8 .

Jer 25:9

25:9 Behold, I will send and take all the {e} families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my {f} servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations {g} around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an horror, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

(e) The Chaldeans and all their power.
(f) So the wicked and Satan himself are God's servants, because he makes them serve him by constraint and turns that which they do out of malice to his honour and glory.
(g) As the Philistines, Ammonites, Egyptians and others.

Jer 25:10

25:10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the {h} millstones, and the light of the candle.

(h) Meaning that bread and all things that would serve to their feasts would be taken away.

Jer 25:12

25:12 And it shall come to pass, when {i} seventy years are accomplished, [that] I will punish {k} the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.

(i) This revelation was for the confirmation of his prophecy because he told them of the time that they would enter and remain in captivity, 2Ch 36:22, Ezr 1:1, Jer 29:10, Da 9:2 .
(k) For seeing the judgment began at his own house, the enemies must be punished most grievously, Eze 9:6, 1Pe 4:17 .

Jer 25:14

25:14 For many nations and great kings shall be {l} served by them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

(l) That is of the Babylonians as in Jer 27:7 .

Jer 25:15

25:15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel to me; {m} Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.

(m) Signifying the extreme affliction that God had appointed for everyone, Ps 75:8, Isa 51:17 and this cup which the wicked drink, is more bitter than that which he gives to his children, for he measures the one by mercy, and the other by justice.

Jer 25:18

25:18 [That is], Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and her kings, and her princes, to make them a desolation, an horror, an hissing, and a curse; {n} as [it is] this day;

(n) For now it begins and will so continue till it is accomplished.

Jer 25:20

25:20 And all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land {o} of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and {p} Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,

(o) Read Job 1:1 .
(p) Which were cities of the Philistines.

Jer 25:21

25:21 {q} Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,

(q) Edom is here taken for the whole country and Uz for a part of it.

Jer 25:22

25:22 And all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the {r} isles which [are] beyond the sea,

(r) As Greece, Italy and the rest of those countries.

Jer 25:23

25:23 {s} Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all [that are] in the utmost corners,

(s) These were people of Arabia which came of Dedan the son of Abraham and Keturah.

Jer 25:24

25:24 And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people that dwell in the {t} desert,

(t) For there were two countries so named, the one called plentiful and the other barren, or desert.

Jer 25:26

25:26 And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which [are] upon the face of the earth: and the king of {u} Sheshach shall drink after them.

(u) That is of Babylon, as in Jer 51:41 .

Jer 25:29

25:29 For, lo, {x} I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.

(x) That is Jerusalem, read Jer 25:12 .

Jer 25:33

25:33 And {y} the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from [one] end of the earth even to the [other] end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be refuse upon the ground.

(y) They who are slain at the Lord's appointment.

Jer 25:34

25:34 Howl, {z} ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves [in the ashes], ye chief of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a {a} pleasant vessel.

(z) You that are chief rulers, and governors.
(a) Which are most easily broken.

Jer 25:35

25:35 And the {b} shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the chief of the flock to escape.

(b) It will not help them to seek to flee.

Jer 26:2

26:2 Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the {a} court of the LORD'S house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD'S house, all the words that I command thee to speak to them; diminish not a word:

(a) That is, in that place of the temple to which the people resort out of all Judah to sacrifice.
(b) To the intent that they should pretend no ignorance, as in Ac 20:27 .

Jer 26:3

26:3 It may be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may {c} repent of the evil, which I purpose to do to them because of the evil of their doings.

Jer 26:6

26:6 Then will I make this house like {d} Shiloh, and will make this city {e} a curse to all the nations of the earth.

(d) See Geneva "Jer 7:12"
(e) So that when they would curse any, they will say, "God do to you as to Jerusalem."

Jer 26:9

26:9 Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, {f} This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

(f) Because of God's promises to the temple, Ps 132:14 that he would forever remain there, hypocrites thought this temple could never perish and therefore thought it blasphemy to speak against it, Mt 26:61, Ac 6:13 not considering that this was meant of the Church where God will remain forever.

Jer 26:10

26:10 When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house to the house of the LORD, and sat down in the entrance of the {g} new gate of the LORD'S [house].

(g) So called, because it was repaired by Jotham, 2Ki 15:35 .

Jer 26:12

26:12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and to all the people, saying, The LORD {h} sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard.

(h) He both shows the cause of his doings plainly and also threatens them that nothing would help, though they should put him to death, but heap greater vengeance on their heads.

Jer 26:18

26:18 Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed [like] a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the {i} house as the high places of the forest.

(i) That is, of the House of the Lord, that is, Zion, and these examples the godly alleged to deliver Jeremiah out of the priests hands, whose rage else would not have been satisfied but by his death.

Jer 26:19

26:19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? did he not fear the LORD, and beseech the LORD, and the LORD repented of the {k} evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.

(k) So that the city was not destroyed, but by a miracle was delivered out of the hands of Sennacherib.

Jer 26:22

26:22 And Jehoiakim the king {l} sent men into Egypt, [namely], Elnathan the son of Achbor, and [certain] men with him into Egypt.

(l) Here is declared the fury of tyrants who cannot stand to hear God's word declared but persecute the ministers of it, and yet in the end they prevail nothing but provoke God' judgments so much more.

Jer 26:23

26:23 And they brought forth Urijah from Egypt, and brought him to Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and {m} cast his dead body into the burial place of the common people.

(m) As in the first Hezekiah's example is to be followed, so in this other Jehoiakim's act it to be abhorred: for God's plague descended on him and his household.

Jer 26:24

26:24 Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam {n} the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

(n) Which declares that nothing could have appeased their fury if God had not moved this noble man to stand valiantly in his defense.

Jer 27:1

27:1 In the beginning of the reign of {a} Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

(a) Concerning the disposition of these prophecies, they who gathered them into a book, did not altogether observe the order of times, but saw some before, which should be after, and contrary wise which if the reader mark well it will avoid many doubts and make the reading much easier.

Jer 27:2

27:2 Thus saith the LORD to me; Make for thee {b} bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck,

(b) By such signs the prophets used sometimes to confirm their prophecies which they could not do of themselves but in as much as they had a revelation for the same, Isa 20:2 and therefore the false prophets to get more credit, used also such visible signs but they had no revelation, 1Ki 22:12 .

Jer 27:6

27:6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my {c} servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

Jer 27:7

27:7 And all nations shall serve him, and his {d} son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land shall come: and then many nations and great kings shall {e} bring him into subjection.

(d) Meaning, Evilmerodach and his son Belshazzar.
(e) They will bring him and his kingdom in subjection as in Jer 25:14 .

Jer 27:16

27:16 Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD'S house shall now shortly be {f} brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie to you.

(f) Which were taken when Jeconiah was led captive into Babel.

Jer 27:18

27:18 But if they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them now {g} make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and [in] the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon.

(g) For it was not only the prophet's office to show the word of God, but also to pray for the sins of the people, Ge 20:7 which these could not do because they had no express word: for God had pronounced the contrary.

Jer 27:22

27:22 They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit {h} them, saith the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.

(h) That is, for the space of seventy years till I have caused the Medes and Persians to overcome the Chaldeans.

Jer 28:1

28:1 And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the {a} reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the {b} fourth year, [and] in the fifth month, [that] Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, who [was] of {c} Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,

(a) When Jeremiah began to bear these bonds and yokes.
(b) After the land had rested, as in Le 25:2 .
(c) This was a city in Benjamin belonging to the sons of Aaron, Jos 21:17 .

Jer 28:5

28:5 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the {d} prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the LORD,

(d) He was so esteemed though he was a false prophet.

Jer 28:6

28:6 Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the {e} LORD do so: the LORD perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the LORD'S house, and all that is carried away captive, from Babylon into this place.

(e) That is, I would wish the same for God's honour and wealth of my people but he has appointed the contrary.

Jer 28:8

28:8 The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old {f} prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.

(f) Meaning, that the prophets that denounced war or peace were tried either true or false by the success of their prophecies, even though God makes to come to pass sometimes that which the false prophet speaks to try the faith of his, De 13:3 .

Jer 28:10

28:10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and {g} broke it.

(g) This declares the impudency of the wicked hirelings who have no zeal to the truth but are led with ambition to get the favour of men and therefore cannot abide any that might discredit them but burst forth into rages and contrary to their own conscience, pass not what lies they report or how wickedly they do so that they may maintain their estimation.

Jer 28:14

28:14 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a {h} yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the {i} beasts of the field also.

(h) That is, a hard and cruel servitude.
(i) Signifying that all would be his as in Da 2:38 .

Jer 28:17

28:17 So Hananiah the prophet {k} died the same year in the seventh month.

(k) Seeing this thing was evident in the eyes of the people and yet they returned not to the Lord, it is manifest that miracles cannot move us, neither the word itself, unless God touch the heart.

Jer 29:1

29:1 Now these [are] the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to {a} the rest of the elders who were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon;

(a) For some died in the way.

Jer 29:2

29:2 (After Jeconiah the king, and the {b} queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, had departed from Jerusalem;)

(b) Meaning Jeconiah's mother.

Jer 29:3

29:3 By the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah {c} sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) saying,

Jer 29:4

29:4 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all that are carried away captives, whom I have {d} caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon;

(d) That is, the Lord whose work this was.

Jer 29:7

29:7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captives, and {e} pray to the LORD for it: for in the peace of it ye shall have peace.

(e) The prophet does not speak this for the affection that he bore to the tyrant, but that they should pray for the common rest and quietness that their troubles might not be increased, and that they might with more patience and less grief wait for the time of their deliverance, which God had appointed most certain: for not only the Israelites but all the world yea and the insensible creatures would rejoice when these tyrants would be destroyed, as in Isa 24:4 .

Jer 29:13

29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find [me], when ye shall search for me with all {f} your heart.

(f) When your oppression will be great, and your afflictions cause you to repent your disobedience and also when the seventy years of your captivity will be expired, 2Ch 36:22, Ezr 1:1, Jer 25:12, Da 9:2 .

Jer 29:15

29:15 Because ye have said, The LORD hath raised up for us {g} prophets in Babylon;

(g) As Ahab, Zedekiah and Shemaiah.

Jer 29:17

29:17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the {h} sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile {i} figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.

(h) By which he assures them that there will be no hope of returning before the appointed time.
(i) According to the comparison, Jer 24:1,2 .

Jer 29:18

29:18 And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be {k} a curse, and an horror, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them:

(k) Read Jer 26:6 .

Jer 29:19

29:19 Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, {l} rising early and sending [them]; but ye would not hear, saith the LORD.

(l) Read Jer 7:13,25:3,26:5 .

Jer 29:22

29:22 And concerning them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah who [are] in Babylon, saying, The LORD make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted {m} in the fire;

(m) Because they gave the people hope of speedy returning.

Jer 29:23

29:23 Because they have committed {n} villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbour's wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and [am] a witness, saith the LORD.

(n) Which was adultery and falsifying the word of God.

Jer 29:26

29:26 The LORD hath made thee priest in the stead of {o} Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be officers in the house of the LORD, for every man [that is] mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in prison, and in the stocks.

(o) Shemaiah the false prophet flatters Zephaniah the chief priest as though God had given him the spirit and zeal of Jehoiada to punish whoever trespassed against the word of God, of that he would have made Jeremiah one, calling him a raver and a false prophet.

Jer 29:32

29:32 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man {p} to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the LORD; because he hath taught rebellion against the LORD.

(p) He and his seed will be destroyed so that none of them would see the blessing of this deliverance.

Jer 30:2

30:2 Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write for thee all the words that I have spoken to thee in a {a} book.

(a) Because they would be assured and their posterity confirmed in the hope of this deliverance promised.

Jer 30:5

30:5 For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a {b} voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.

(b) He shows that before this deliverance will come, the Chaldeans would be extremely afflicted by their enemies, and that they would be in such perplexity and sorrow as a woman in her travail as Isa 13:8 .

Jer 30:7

30:7 Alas! for that {c} day [is] great, so that none [is] like it: it [is] even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

Jer 30:8

30:8 {d} For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, [that] I will break {e} his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more {f} bring him into subjection:

(d) When I will visit Babylon.
(e) Of the king of Babylon.
(f) That is, of Jacob.

Jer 30:9

30:9 But they shall serve the LORD their God, and {g} David their king, whom I will raise up to them.

(g) That is, Messiah who would come of the stock of David according to the flesh and would be the true pastor, Eze 34:23 who is set forth and his kingdom would be everlasting in the person of David, Ho 3:5 .

Jer 30:11

30:11 For I [am] with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not {h} leave thee altogether unpunished.

(h) In this is commanded God's great mercy toward his, who does not destroy them for their sins, but corrects and chastises them till he has purged and pardoned them and so burns the rods by which he punished them, Isa 33:1 .

Jer 30:18

30:18 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captives of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be built upon her own heap, and the {m} palace shall remain after its manner.

(m) Meaning that the city and the temple would be restored to their former estate.

Jer 30:19

30:19 And out of them shall proceed {n} thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.

(n) He shows how the people will with praise and thanksgiving acknowledge this blessing.

Jer 30:21

30:21 And their {o} nobles shall be from themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach to me: for who [is] this that engaged his {p} heart to approach to me? saith the LORD.

(o) Meaning, Zerubbabel, who was the figure of Christ in whom this was accomplished.
(p) Signifying that Christ willingly submits himself to the obedience of God his father.

Jer 30:23

30:23 Behold, {q} the whirlwind of the LORD goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.

(q) Lest the wicked hypocrites should flatter themselves with these promises the prophet shows what will be their portion.

Jer 30:24

30:24 The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he hath done [it], and until he hath performed the intents of his heart: in the {r} latter days ye shall consider it.

(r) When this Messiah and deliverer is sent.

Jer 31:1

31:1 At the {a} same time, saith the LORD, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

(a) When this noble governor will come, meaning Christ, not only Judah and Israel, but the rest of the world will be called.

Jer 31:2

31:2 Thus saith the LORD, The people [who were] {b} left by the sword found grace in the wilderness; {c} [even] Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

(b) Who were delivered from the cruelty of Pharaoh.
(c) That is, God.

Jer 31:3

31:3 The LORD appeared {d} of old to me, [saying], {e} I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

(d) The people thus reason as though he were not so beneficial to them now as he had been of old.
(e) Thus the Lord answers that his love is not changeable.

Jer 31:4

31:4 Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again {f} be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.

(f) You will still have opportunity to rejoice which is meant by tabrets and dancing as their custom was after notable victories, Ex 15:20, Jud 11:34 .

Jer 31:5

31:5 Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of {g} Samaria: the planters shall plant, and {h} shall eat [them] as common things.

(g) Because the Israelites who were the ten tribes never returned to Samaria, therefore this must be spiritually understood under the kingdom of Christ, which was the restoration of the true Israel.
(h) That is, will eat the fruit of it, as in Le 19:23-25, De 20:6 .

Jer 31:6

31:6 For there shall be a day, [that] the {i} watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to {k} Zion to the LORD our God.

(i) The ministers of the word.
(k) They will exhort all to the embracing of the gospel, as in Isa 2:3 .

Jer 31:7

31:7 {l} For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: proclaim ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.

(l) He shows what will be the concord and love of all under the gospel when none will be refused for their infirmities: and everyone will exhort one another to embrace it.

Jer 31:9

31:9 They shall come with {m} weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of {n} waters in a straight way, in which they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim [is] {o} my firstborn.

(m) That is, lamenting their sins which had not given ear to the prophets and therefore it follows that God received them to mercy, Jer 50:4 . Some take it that they should weep for joy.
(n) Where they found no impediments, but abundance of all things.
(o) That is, my dearly beloved as the first child is to the father.

Jer 31:11

31:11 For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand {p} of [him that was] stronger than he.

(p) That is, from the Babylonians and other enemies.

Jer 31:12

31:12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for {q} grain, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.

(q) By these temporal benefits he means the spiritual graces which are in the Church, and of which there would ever be plenty, Isa 58:11,12 .

Jer 31:13

31:13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the {r} dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

(r) In the company of the faithful, who ever praise God for his benefits.

Jer 31:14

31:14 And I will abundantly satisfy the soul of the priests with {s} fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.

(s) Meaning, the spirit of wisdom, knowledge and zeal.

Jer 31:15

31:15 Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, [and] bitter weeping; {t} Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they [were] not.

(t) To declare the greatness of God's mercy in delivering the Jews, he shows them that they were like the Benjamites of the Israelites, that is, utterly destroyed and carried away, so much so that if Rachel the mother of Benjamin could have risen again to seek her children she would have found none remaining.

Jer 31:18

31:18 I have surely heard {u} Ephraim bemoaning himself [thus]; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a {x} bull unaccustomed [to the yoke]: {y} turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou [art] the LORD my God.

(u) That is, the people who were led captive.
(x) Which was wanton and could not be subject to the yoke.
(y) He shows how the faithful used to pray, that is, desire God to tame them as they cannot turn of themselves.

Jer 31:19

31:19 Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I smote upon [my] {z} thigh: I was ashamed, and even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.

(z) In sign of repentance and detestation of my sin.

Jer 31:20

31:20 [Is] Ephraim {a} my dear son? [is he] a pleasant child? for since I spoke against him, I do earnestly {b} remember him still: therefore my heart is troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.

(a) As though he would say no for by his iniquity he did what lay in him to cast me off.

Jer 31:21

31:21 Set thee up {c} waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thy heart toward the highway, [even] the way [which] thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.

Jer 31:22

31:22 How long wilt thou wander about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created {d} a new thing in the earth, A woman shall encompass a man.

(d) Because their deliverance from Babylon was a figure of their deliverance from sin, he shows how this would be procured that is, by Jesus Christ, whom a woman would conceive and bear in her womb. Which is a strange thing in earth, because he would be born of a virgin without man or he means that Jerusalem which was like a barren woman in her captivity would be fruitful as she that is joined in marriage and whom God blesses with children.

Jer 31:26

31:26 Upon this I awoke, and beheld; and my sleep {e} was sweet to me.

(e) Having understood this vision of the Messiah to come, in whom the two houses of Israel and Judah would be joined, I rejoiced.

Jer 31:27

31:27 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah {f} with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.

(f) I will multiply and enrich them with people and cattle.

Jer 31:29

31:29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have {g} eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.

(g) The wicked used this proverb when they murmured against God's judgments pronounced by the prophets, saying that their fathers had committed the fault and that the children were punished, Eze 18:2,3 .

Jer 31:31

31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a {h} new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

(h) Though the covenant of redemption made to the fathers and this which was given later seemed varied, yet they are all one and grounded on Jesus Christ, save that this is called new, because of the manifestation of Christ and the abundant graces of the Holy Spirit given to his Church under the gospel.

Jer 31:32

31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they {i} broke, although I was an husband to them, saith the LORD:

(i) And so were the opportunity of their own divorcement through their infidelity, Isa 50:1 .

Jer 31:33

31:33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After {k} those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

(k) In the time of Christ, my law will instead of tables of stone be written in their hearts by my Holy Spirit, He 8:10 .

Jer 31:34

31:34 And they shall {l} teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

(l) Under the kingdom of Christ there will be no one blinded with ignorance, but I will give them faith, and acknowledge God for remission of their sins and daily increase the same: so that it will not seem to come so much by the preaching of my ministers as by the instruction of my Holy Spirit, Isa 54:13 but the full accomplishing of it is referred to the kingdom of Christ, when we will be joined with our head.

Jer 31:35

31:35 Thus saith the LORD, who giveth {m} the sun for a light by day, [and] the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who divideth the sea when its waves roar; The LORD of hosts [is] his name:

(m) If the sun, moon and stars cannot but glue light according to my ordinance, so long as this world lasts, so shall my church never fail, neither shall anything hinder it: and as sure as I will have a people, so certain is it, that I will leave them my word forever to govern them with.

Jer 31:37

31:37 Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, {n} and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.

(n) The one and the other is impossible.

Jer 31:38

31:38 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the {o} city shall be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananeel to the gate of the corner.

(o) As it was performed, Neh 3:1 . By this description he shows that the city would be as ample and beautiful as it ever was: but he alludes to the spiritual Jerusalem whose beauty would be incomparable.

Jer 32:1

32:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the {a} tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which [was] the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

(a) So that Jeremiah had now prophesied from the thirteenth year of Josiah to the last year save one of Zedekiah's reign, which was almost forty years.

Jer 32:5

32:5 And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until {b} I visit him, saith the LORD: though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper.

(b) Till I take Zedekiah away by death: for he will not die by the sword as in Jer 34:4 .

Jer 32:7

32:7 Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thy uncle shall come to thee, saying, {c} Buy for thee my field that [is] in Anathoth: for the right of redemption [is] thine {d} to buy [it].

(c) By which was meant that the people would return again out of captivity and enjoy their possessions and vineyards as in Jer 32:15,44 .
(d) Because he was next of the kindred, as in Ru 4:4 .

Jer 32:8

32:8 So Hanameel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said to me, Buy my {e} field, I pray thee, that [is] in Anathoth, which [is] in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance [is] thine, and the redemption [is] thine; buy [it] for thyself. Then I knew that this [was] the word of the LORD.

(e) Of the possession of the Levites, read Le 25:32 .

Jer 32:9

32:9 And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that [was] in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, [even] seventeen {f} shekels of silver.

(f) Which amounts to about ten shillings six pence in our money if this shekel were the common shekel, see Geneva "Ge 23:15", for the shekel of the temple was of double value, and ten pieces of silver were half a shekel, for twenty made the shekel.

Jer 32:11

32:11 So I took the deed of the purchase, [both] that which was sealed {g} [according] to the law and custom, and that which was open:

(g) According to the custom the instrument or evidence was sealed up with the common seal and a copy of it remained which contained the same in effect but was left open to be seen if anything should be called into doubt.

Jer 32:14

32:14 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase, both that which is sealed, and this deed which is open; and put them in an earthen {h} vessel, that they may continue many days.

(h) And so to hide them in the ground, that they might be reserved as a token of their deliverance.

Jer 32:18

32:18 Thou shewest lovingkindness to thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their {i} children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, JEHOVAH of hosts, [is] his name,

(i) Because the wicked are subject to the curse of God, he shows that their posterity who by nature are under this malediction will be punished both for their own wickedness and that the iniquity of their fathers which is likewise in them, will be also avenged on their head.

Jer 32:20

32:20 {k} Who hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, [even] to this day, and in Israel, and among [other] men; and hast made thee a name, as at this day;

(k) Meaning that his miracles in delivering his people would never be forgotten.

Jer 32:24

32:24 Behold the {l} mounts, they are come to the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence: and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; and, behold, thou seest [it].

(l) The word signifies anything that is cast up, as a mount or rampart, and is also used for engines of war, which were laid on a high place to shoot into a city before guns were in use.

Jer 32:27

32:27 Behold, I [am] the LORD, the God of all {m} flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?

(m) That is, of every creature: who as they are his work, so does he govern and guide them as pleases him, by which he shows that as he is the author of their captivity for their sins, so will he for his mercies be their redeemer to restore them again to liberty.

Jer 32:30

32:30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done evil only before me from their {n} youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the LORD.

(n) From the time that I brought them out of Egypt and made them my people and called them my firstborn.

Jer 32:33

32:33 And they have turned to me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, {o} rising early and teaching [them], yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.

(o) 2Ch 36:15,Isa 65:2,Jer 7:13,13;3,26;5,29:19,35:14,44:4 .

Jer 32:35

32:35 And they built the high {p} places of Baal, which [are] in the valley of the {q} son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to {r} pass through [the fire] to Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

(p) That is, the altars which were made to offer sacrifices to their idols on.
(q) Read Jer 7:31, 2Ki 21:4,6 .
(r) Read 2Ki 16:3 .

Jer 32:36

32:36 And now {s} therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, of which ye say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence;

(s) Read Jer 30:16 .

Jer 32:39

32:39 And I will give them {t} one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:

(t) One consent and one religion, as in Eze 11:19,36:26 .

Jer 32:40

32:40 And I will make an everlasting {u} covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.

(u) Read Jer 31:1-33:26 .

Jer 32:44

32:44 Men shall buy {x} fields for money, and signed deeds, and seal [them], and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captives to return, saith the LORD.

(x) This is the declaration of that which was spoken of in Jer 32:8 .

Jer 33:1

33:1 Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the {a} court of the prison, saying,

(a) Which was in the king's house at Jerusalem, as in Jer 32:1,2 .

Jer 33:2

33:2 Thus saith the LORD the {b} maker of this, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD [is] his name;

(b) That is, of Jerusalem, who as he made it, so will he preserve it, read Isa 37:26 .

Jer 33:4

33:4 For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the {c} mounts, and by the sword;

Jer 33:5

33:5 They come to {d} fight with the Chaldeans, but [it is] to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in my anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my {e} face from this city.

(d) The Jews think to overcome the Chaldeans, but they seek their own destruction.
(e) He shows that God's favour is cause of all prosperity, as his anger is of all adversity.

Jer 33:6

33:6 Behold, I {f} will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.

(f) In the midst of his threatenings God remembers his, and comforts them.

Jer 33:8

33:8 And I will {g} cleanse them from all their iniquity, by which they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, by which they have sinned, and by which they have transgressed against me.

(g) Declaring that there is no deliverance nor joy, but where we feel remission of sins.

Jer 33:9

33:9 And it shall be to me a name of {h} joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do to them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure to it.

(h) By which he shows that the Church in which is remission of sins, is God's honour and glory, so that whoever is enemy to it, labours to dishonour God.

Jer 33:11

33:11 The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, {i} Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD [is] good; for his mercy [endureth] for ever: [and] of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captives of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD.

(i) Which was a song appointed for the Levites to praise God by, 1Ch 16:8 Ps 105:1 106:1 107:1 118:1 136:1 Isa 12:4

Jer 33:13

33:13 In the cities of the {k} mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that counteth [them], saith the LORD.

(k) Meaning that all the country of Judah will be inhabited again.

Jer 33:15

33:15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause {l} the Branch of righteousness to grow up to David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.

(l) That is, I will send the Messiah, who will come of the house of David, of whom this prophecy is meant, as testify all the Jews and that which is written, Jer 23:5 .

Jer 33:16

33:16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell in safety: and this [is the name] by which {m} she shall be called, The LORD our {n} righteousness.

(m) That is, Christ that will call his Church.
(n) That is, Christ is our Lord God, our righteousness, sanctification and redemption, 1Co 1:30 .

Jer 33:18

33:18 Neither shall the priests the Levites lack a man before me to offer {o} burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.

(o) That is, chiefly meant of the spiritual sacrifice of thanksgiving which is left to the Church in the time of Christ, who was the everlasting priest and the everlasting sacrifice figured by the sacrifices of the law.

Jer 33:20

33:20 Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the {p} day, and my covenant of the night, so that there should not be day and night in their season;

(p) Read Jer 31:35 .

Jer 33:24

33:24 Considerest thou not what {q} this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.

(q) Meaning, the Chaldeans and other infidels who thought God had utterly cast off Judah and Israel or Benjamin, because he corrected them for a time for their amendment.

Jer 34:1

34:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when {a} Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all its cities, saying,

(a) Who commonly by Jeremiah was called Nebuchadrezzar and by others Nebuchadnezzar.

Jer 34:5

34:5 [But] thou shalt die in {b} peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings who were before thee, so shall they burn [incense] for thee; and they will lament thee, [saying], Ah {c} lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.

(b) Not of any violent death.
(c) The Jews will lament for you their lord and king.

Jer 34:8

34:8 [This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who [were] at Jerusalem, {d} to proclaim liberty to them;

(d) When the enemy was at hand and they saw themselves in danger, they would seem holy, and so began some kind of reformation: but soon after they uttered their hypocrisy.

Jer 34:9

34:9 That every man should release his male {e} servant, and every man his female servant, [being] a Hebrew man or woman; that none should retain them in service, [that is], a Jew his brother.

(e) According to the law, Ex 21:2, De 15:12 .

Jer 34:15

34:15 And ye had now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in {f} the house which is called by my name:

(f) Meaning in the temple to declare that it was a most solemn and straight covenant made in the name of the Lord.

Jer 34:17

34:17 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened to me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to {g} the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

(g) That is, I give the sword liberty to destroy you.

Jer 34:18

34:18 And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they {h} cut the calf in two, and passed between the parts of it,

(h) Concerning the manner of solemn covenant which the ancients used by passing between the two parts of a beast, to signify that the transgressor of the same covenant should be so divided in pieces, read Ge 15:10 .

Jer 34:21

34:21 And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes I will give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which {i} are gone up from you.

(i) To fight against the Egyptians, as in Jer 37:11 .

Jer 35:1

35:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days {a} of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,

(a) For the disposition and order of these prophecies. See Geneva "Jer 27:1"

Jer 35:2

35:2 Go to the house of the {b} Rechabites, and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.

(b) They came from Hobab, Moses father-in-law, who was no Israelite, but later joined with them in the service of God.

Jer 35:4

35:4 And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man {c} of God, who [was] by the chamber of the princes, which [was] above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door:

Jer 35:5

35:5 And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, and I {d} said to them, Drink ye wine.

(d) The prophet says not. The Lord says thus, for then they ought to have obeyed, but he tends to another end: that is, to declare their obedience to man, seeing the Jews would not obey God himself.

Jer 35:6

35:6 But they said, We will drink no wine: for {e} Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, [neither ye], nor your sons for ever:

(e) Whom the king of Israel favoured for his zeal, 2Ki 10:15 .
(f) Teaching them by this to flee all opportunity for intemperancy, ambition and greed and that they might know that they were strangers in the earth, and be ready to depart at all opportunity.

Jer 35:10

35:10 But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to {g} all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

(g) Which was now for the span of three hundred years from Jehu to Jehoiakim.

Jer 35:11

35:11 But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we {h} dwell at Jerusalem.

(h) Which declares that they were not so bound to their vow that it could not be broken for any need, for where they were commanded to dwell in tents, they dwell now at Jerusalem for fear of the wars.

Jer 35:13

35:13 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will {i} ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith the LORD.

(i) Whom I have chosen to be my children seeing these who were the children of a heathen, obeyed the commandment of their father.

Jer 35:14

35:14 The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for to this day they drink none, but obey their father's commandment: however I have spoken to you, {k} rising early and speaking; but ye hearkened not to me.

(k) I have most diligently exhorted and warned you both by myself and my prophet.

Jer 35:17

35:17 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have {l} spoken to them, but they have not heard; and I have called to them, but they have not answered.

(l) That is, by his prophets and ministers which shows that it is as much, as though he would speak to us himself when he sends his ministers to speak in his Name.

Jer 35:19

35:19 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall {m} not lack a man to stand before me for ever.

(m) His posterity will continue and be in my favour for ever.

Jer 36:1

36:1 And it came to pass in the fourth {a} year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, [that] this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

(a) Read Geneva "Jer 25:1"

Jer 36:2

36:2 Take thee a scroll of a book, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to thee, {b} from the days of Josiah, even to this day.

(b) Which were twenty and three years, as in Jer 25:3 counting from the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign.

Jer 36:4

36:4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote {c} from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken to him, upon a roll of a book.

Jer 36:5

36:5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I [am] {d} shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD:

(d) Meaning, in prison through the malice of the priests.

Jer 36:6

36:6 Therefore go thou, and read in the scroll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD'S house upon the {e} day of fasting: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.

(e) Which was proclaimed for fear of the Babylonians, as their custom was when they feared war, or any great plague of God.

Jer 36:7

36:7 It may be they will {f} present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great [is] the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.

(f) He shows that fasting without prayer and repentance does nothing but is mere hypocrisy.

Jer 36:9

36:9 And it came to pass in the fifth {g} year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, [that] they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem.

(g) The fast was then proclaimed and Baruch read this rule which was a little before Jerusalem was first taken, and then Jehoiakim and Daniel and his companions were led away captive.

Jer 36:10

36:10 Then Baruch read in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entrance of the {h} new gate of the LORD'S house, in the ears of all the people.

(h) Which is the East gate of the temple.

Jer 36:16

36:16 Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were {i} afraid both one and another, and said to Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.

(i) The godly were afraid, seeing God so offended, and the wicked were astonished for the horror of the punishment.

Jer 36:19

36:19 Then said the princes to Baruch, Go, {k} hide thyself, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye are.

(k) They who were godly among the princes gave this counsel by whose means it is like that Jeremiah was delivered for they knew the rage of the king and of the wicked to be such that they could not escape without danger of their lives.

Jer 36:22

36:22 Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the {l} ninth month: and [there was a fire] on the hearth burning before him.

(l) Which contained part of November and part of December.

Jer 36:24

36:24 Yet they were not afraid, nor tore {m} their garments, [neither] the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.

(m) Showing that the wicked instead of repenting when they hear God's judgments, grow into further malice against him and his word.

Jer 36:26

36:26 But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD {n} hid them.

(n) Thus we see the continual care that God has over his to preserve them from the rage of the wicked.

Jer 36:28

36:28 Take thee again {o} another scroll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah hath burned.

(o) Though the wicked think to have abolished the word of God when they have burnt the book of it, yet this declares that God will not only raise it up again but also increase it in greater abundance to their condemnation as in Jer 36:32 .

Jer 36:29

36:29 And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast burned this scroll, saying, {p} Why hast thou written in it, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from there man and beast?

(p) These are Jehoiakim's words.

Jer 36:30

36:30 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have {q} none to sit upon the throne of David: and his {r} dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.

(q) Though Jehoiachin his son succeeded him, yet because he reigned but three months, it was esteemed as no reign.
(r) Read Geneva "Jer 22:19"

Jer 37:1

37:1 And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of {a} Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon {b} made king in the land of Judah.

(a) Who was called Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah.
(b) And called him Zedekiah, while before his name was Mattaniah, 2Ki 24:17 .

Jer 37:3

37:3 And Zedekiah the king {c} sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now to the LORD our God for us.

Jer 37:4

37:4 Now Jeremiah came {d} in and went out among the people: for they had not put him into prison.

(d) That is, was out of prison and free.

Jer 37:5

37:5 Then Pharaoh's army had {e} come from Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.

(e) To help the Jews.

Jer 37:12

37:12 Then Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the {f} land of Benjamin, to separate himself from there in the midst of the people.

(f) As some think, to go to Anathoth his own town.

Jer 37:13

37:13 And when he was in the {g} gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard [was] there, whose name [was] Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans.

(g) By which men went into the country of Benjamin.

Jer 37:15

37:15 Wherefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and beat him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the {h} prison.

(h) Because it was a vile and straight prison.

Jer 37:21

37:21 Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the baker's street, until all the {i} bread in the city should be consumed. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

(i) That is, so long as there was any bread in the city: thus God provides for his, that he will cause their enemies to preserve them to that end to which he has appointed them.

Jer 38:1

38:1 Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of {a} Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying,

(a) For Zedekiah had sent these to Jeremiah to enquire at the Lord for the state of the country how when Nebuchadnezzar came, as in Jer 21:1 .

Jer 38:2

38:2 Thus saith the LORD, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for {b} a prize, and shall live.

(b) Read Jer 21:9,45:5 .

Jer 38:4

38:4 Therefore the princes said to the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war {c} that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the harm.

(c) Thus we see how the wicked when they cannot abide to hear the truth of God's word, seek to put the ministers to death, as transgressors of policies.

Jer 38:5

38:5 Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he [is] in your hand: for the king [is] not [he that] can do [any] {d} thing against you.

(d) In which he grievously offended in that not only would he not hear the truth spoken by the prophet, but also gave him to the lusts of the wicked to be cruelly treated.

Jer 38:7

38:7 Now when Ebedmelech the Cushite, one of the eunuchs who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the {e} gate of Benjamin;

(e) To hear matters and give sentence.

Jer 38:9

38:9 My lord the king, {f} these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is certain to die from hunger in the place where he is: for [there is] no more bread in the city.

(f) By this is declared that the prophet found more favour at this strangers hands, than he did by all them of his country, which was to their great condemnation.

Jer 38:13

38:13 So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the {g} court of the prison.

(g) Where the king had set him before to be at more liberty, as in Jer 37:21 .

Jer 38:17

38:17 Then said Jeremiah to Zedekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth to the king of Babylon's {h} princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thy house:

(h) And yield yourself to them.

Jer 38:19

38:19 And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that have fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they {i} mock me.

(i) Which declares that he more feared the reproach of men than the threatenings of God.

Jer 38:22

38:22 And, behold, all the women that are {k} left in the king of Judah's house [shall be] brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes, and those [women] shall say, Thy friends have set thee on, and have prevailed against thee: thy feet are sunk in the mire, [and] they are turned away back.

(k) When Jeconiah and his mother with others were carried away, these women of the king's house were left: who will be taken, says the prophet and tell the king of Babel how Zedekiah has been seduced by his familiar friends and false prophets who have left him in the mire.

Jer 38:26

38:26 Then thou shalt say to them, I {l} presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there.

(l) In this appears the infirmity of the prophet, who dissembled to save his life even though it was not to the denial of his doctrine or to the hurt of any.

Jer 39:2

39:2 [And] in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth [day] of the month, the city was broken {a} up.

(a) The gates and walls were broken down.

Jer 39:4

39:4 And it came to pass, when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went out of the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, by the {b} gate between the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain.

(b) Which was a postern door, read 2Ki 25:4 .

Jer 39:5

39:5 But the Chaldeans' army pursued them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to {c} Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him.

Jer 39:10

39:10 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the {d} poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

(d) For the rich and the mighty who put their trust in their shifts and means, were by God's just judgments most rigorously handled.

Jer 39:12

39:12 Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do to him {e} even as he shall say to thee.

(e) Thus God preserved his prophet by his means, whom he made the scourge to punish the king, and them that were his enemies.

Jer 39:14

39:14 Even they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison, and committed him to {f} Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home: so he dwelt among the people.

(f) Whom the king of Babel had now appointed governor over the rest of the Jews that he left behind.

Jer 39:18

39:18 For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prize to thee: because thou {g} hast put thy trust in me, saith the LORD.

(g) Thus God recompensed his zeal and favour which he showed to his prophet in his troubles.

Jer 40:2

40:2 {a} And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said to him, The LORD thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place.

(a) From Jer 40:2-42:7 it seems to be as a parenthesis and separated matter and there this story begins again and this vision is declared what it was.

Jer 40:3

40:3 Now the LORD hath brought [it], and done according as he hath said: because ye have {b} sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing is come upon you.

(b) God moved this infidel to speak this to declare the great blindness and obstinacy of the Jews who could not feel that which this heathen man confessed.

Jer 40:6

40:6 Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to {c} Mizpah; and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land.

Jer 40:7

40:7 Now when all the captains of the forces {d} who [were] in the fields, [even] they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, and women, and children, and of the poor of the land, of them that were not carried away captive to Babylon;

(d) Which were scattered abroad for fear of the Chaldeans.

Jer 40:8

40:8 Then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even {e} Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.

(e) Who was of the king's blood and later slew him, Jer 41:2 .

Jer 40:11

40:11 Likewise when all the Jews that [were] in {f} Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and that [were] in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan;

(f) Which were fed also for fear of the Chaldeans.

Jer 40:14

40:14 And said to him, Dost thou certainly know that {g} Baalis the king of the Ammonites hath sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to slay thee? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them not.

(g) For under the colour of entertaining Ishmael, he sought only to make them destroy one another.

Jer 40:16

40:16 But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, Thou shalt {h} not do this thing: for thou speakest falsely of Ishmael.

(h) Thus the godly who think no harm to others are soonest deceived and never lack such as conspire their destruction.

Jer 41:1

41:1 Now it came to pass in the {a} seventh month, [that] Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, and the princes of the {b} king, even ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they {c} ate bread together in Mizpah.

(a) The city was destroyed in the fourth month and in the seventh month, which contained part of September and part of October, the governor Gedaliah was slain.
(b) Meaning, Zedekiah.
(c) They ate together as familiar friends.

Jer 41:5

41:5 That there came men from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, [even] eighty men, having their beards shaven, and their clothes torn, and having cut themselves, with {d} offerings and incense in their hand, to bring [them] to the house of the LORD.

(d) For they thought that the temple had not been destroyed and therefore came up to the feast of tabernacles but hearing of the burning of it in the way, they showed these signs of sorrow.

Jer 41:6

41:6 And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went: and it came to pass, as he met them, he said to them, Come {e} to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.

(e) For his death was kept secret, and he pretended that he lamented for the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple but later slew them when they seemed to favour Gedaliah.

Jer 41:9

41:9 Now the pit into which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had slain because of Gedaliah, [was] that which Asa the king had {f} made for fear of Baasha king of Israel: [and] Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with [them that were] slain.

(f) Asa fortified Mizpah for fear of the enemy, and dug ditches and trenches, 1Ki 15:22 .

Jer 41:11

41:11 But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the {g} captains of the forces that [were] with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,

(g) Who had been captains under Zedekiah.

Jer 41:15

41:15 But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the {h} Ammonites.

(h) For Baalis the king of the Ammonites was the cause of this murder.

Jer 41:17

41:17 And they departed, and dwelt in the habitation of {i} Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt,

(i) Which place David of old had given to Chimham the son of Barzillai the Gileadite, 2Sa 19:38 .

Jer 42:3

42:3 That the LORD thy God may show us the way in which we may walk, and the thing that we may {a} do.

(a) This declares the nature of hypocrites who would know of God's word what they should do, but will not follow it, unless it agrees with that thing which they have purposed to do.

Jer 42:5

42:5 Then they said to Jeremiah, {b} The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.

(b) There are as ready to abuse the Name of God and take it in vain as the hypocrites who colour their falsehood, use it without all reverence and make it a means for them to deceive the simple and the godly.

Jer 42:7

42:7 {c} And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.

Jer 42:10

42:10 If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull [you] down, and I will plant you, and not pluck [you] up: for I {d} repent of the evil that I have done to you.

(d) See Geneva "Jer 18:8"

Jer 42:11

42:11 Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I [am] with you to save you, and to deliver you {e} from his hand.

(e) Because all king's hearts and ways are in his hands, he can turn them and dispose them as it pleases him, and therefore they need not fear man, but only obey God, Pr 21:1 .

Jer 42:16

42:16 Then it shall come to pass, [that] the sword, which ye feared, {f} shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, of which ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.

(f) Thus God turns the policy of the wicked to their own destruction: for they thought themselves sure in Egypt, and there Nebuchadnezzar destroyed them and the Egyptians, Jer 46:25 .

Jer 42:18

42:18 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As my anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an horror, and a {g} curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.

(g) Read Jer 26:6 showing that this would come on them for their infidelity and stubbornness.

Jer 42:20

42:20 For ye were {h} hypocrites in your hearts, when ye sent me to the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us to the LORD our God; and according to all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare to us, and we will do [it].

(h) For you were fully intending to go into Egypt, whatever God spoke to the contrary.

Jer 42:22

42:22 Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, {i} in the place where ye desire to go [and] to sojourn.

(i) That is, in Egypt.

Jer 43:2

43:2 Then spoke {a} Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the {b} proud men, saying to Jeremiah, {c} Thou speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath {d} not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there:

(a) Who was also called Jezaniah, Jer 42:1 .
(b) This declares that pride is the cause of rebellion and contempt of God's ministers.
(c) When the hypocrisy of the wicked is discovered, they burst forth into open rage: for they can abide nothing but flattery, read Isa 30:10 .
(d) He shows what is the nature of the hypocrites: that is, to pretend that they would obey God and embrace his word, if they were assured that his messenger spoke the truth: though indeed they are most far from all obedience.

Jer 43:3

43:3 But Baruch the son of Neriah {e} setteth thee on against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon.

(e) Thus the wicked not only contemn and hurt the messengers of God, but slander and speak wickedly of all them that support or favour the godly.

Jer 43:5

43:5 But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that had returned from all {f} nations, where they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah;

(f) As from the Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites, Jer 40:11 .

Jer 43:6

43:6 [Even] men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the {g} prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.

(g) When these wicked lead away by force.

Jer 43:7

43:7 So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus they came [even] to {h} Tahpanhes.

(h) A city in Egypt near to Nilus.

Jer 43:9

43:9 Take great stones in thy hand, and {i} hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which [is] at the entrance of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;

(i) Which signified that Nebuchadnezzar would come even to the gates of Pharaoh, where his brick kilns for his buildings were.

Jer 43:10

43:10 And say to them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, {k} my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.

(k) Read Jer 25:9 .

Jer 43:11

43:11 And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, [and deliver] {l} such [as are] for death to death; and such [as are] for captivity to captivity; and such [as are] for the sword to the sword.

(l) Everyone will be slain by the means that God has appointed, Jer 15:2 .

Jer 43:12

43:12 And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a {m} shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from there in peace.

(m) Meaning most easily and suddenly will he carry the Egyptians away.

Jer 44:1

44:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at Migdol, and at {a} Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,

(a) These were all famous and strange cities in Egypt, where the Jews that fled dwelt for their safety but the prophet declares that there is no hold so strong that can preserve them from God's vengeance.

Jer 44:4

44:4 Yet I sent to you all my servants the prophets, {b} rising early and sending [them], saying, O, do not this abominable thing that I hate.

(b) Read Jer 7:25,25:3,29:19,32:33 .

Jer 44:6

44:6 Wherefore {c} my fury and my anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted [and] desolate, as at this day.

(c) He sets before their eyes God's judgments against Judah and Jerusalem for their idolatry that they might beware by their example, and not with the same wickedness provoke the Lord: for then they would be double punished.

Jer 44:9

44:9 Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the {d} kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

(d) He shows that we ought to keep in memory God's plagues from the beginning that considering them, we might live in his fear, and know if he did not spare our fathers, yea kings, princes, rulers and also whole countries and nations for their sins that we vile worms cannot look to escape punishment for ours.

Jer 44:12

44:12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, that {e} have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, [and] fall in the land of Egypt; they shall [even] be consumed by the sword [and] by the famine: they shall die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, [and] an horror, and a {f} curse, and a reproach.

(e) Which have fully set their minds and are gone there on purpose. By which he excepts the innocents as Jeremiah and Baruch that were forces: therefore the Lord shows that he will set his face against them: that is, purposely destroy them.
(f) Read Jer 26:6,41:18 .

Jer 44:14

44:14 So that none of the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but {g} such as shall escape.

(g) Meaning but a few.

Jer 44:16

44:16 [As for] the word that thou hast spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will {h} not hearken to thee.

(h) This declares how dangerous a thing it is to decline once from God and to follow our own fantasies: for Satan ever solicits such and does not leave them till he has brought them to extreme impudency and madness, even to justify their wickedness against God and his prophets.

Jer 44:17

44:17 But we will certainly do whatever thing proceedeth from our own mouth, to burn incense to {i} the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for [then] we had {k} plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil.

(i) Read Jer 7:18 it seems that the papists gathered of this place "Salbe Regina" and "Regina caeli latare" calling the virgin Mary Queen of heaven and so out of the blessed virgin and mother of our saviour Christ, made an idol; for here the prophet condemns their idolatry.
(k) This is still the argument of idolaters who esteem religion by the belly and instead of acknowledging God's works who sends both plenty and famine, health and sickness. They attribute it to their idols and so dishonour God.

Jer 44:19

44:19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make for her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without {l} our husbands?

(l) This teaches us what a great danger it is for the husbands to permit their wives anything of which they are not assured by God's word: for by it they take an opportunity to justify their doings and their husbands will give an account of it before God.

Jer 44:25

44:25 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your {m} hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.

(m) You have committed double evil in making wicked vows, and in performing the same.

Jer 44:26

44:26 Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name {n} shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth.

(n) This declares a horrible plague toward idolaters, seeing that God will not vouchsafe to have his Name mentioned by such as have polluted it.

Jer 44:28

44:28 Yet a small number that escape the sword {o} shall return from the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs.

(o) We see therefore that God has a perpetual care over his, wherever they are scattered: for though they are but two or three, yet he will deliver them when he destroys his enemies.

Jer 44:30

44:30 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will {p} give Pharaohhophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.

(p) He shows the means by which they would be destroyed to assure them of the certainty of the plague and yet they remain still in their obstinacy till they perish: for Josephus writes that five years after the taking of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar the younger having overcome the Moabites and the Ammonites went against Egypt and slew the king and so brought these Jews and others into Babylon.

Jer 45:1

45:1 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to {a} Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these {b} words in a book from the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,

(a) Who was Jeremiah's disciple, and wrote his prophecies under him.
(b) Of which read Jer 36:9,10 .

Jer 45:3

45:3 Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I {c} fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.

(c) Baruch moved with an inconsiderate zeal for Jeremiah's imprisonment, but chiefly for the destruction of the people and the temple makes this lamentation, as in Ps 6:6 .

Jer 45:4

45:4 Thus shalt thou say to him, The LORD saith thus; Behold, [that] which I have built I will {d} break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.

(d) Meaning that God could destroy this people, because he had planted them.

Jer 45:5

45:5 And seekest {e} thou great things for thyself? seek [them] not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give to thee for {f} a prize in all places where thou goest.

(e) "Do you think to have honour and credit?" in which he shows his infirmity.
(f) Read Jer 21:9 .

Jer 46:1

46:1 The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the {a} Gentiles;

(a) That is, nine nations which are around the land of Egypt.

Jer 46:2

46:2 Against Egypt, against the army of {b} Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, who was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.

(b) Read 2Ki 23:29,24:7, 2Ch 35:20 .

Jer 46:3

46:3 {c} Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.

Jer 46:5

46:5 {d} Why have I seen them dismayed [and] turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and have fled apace, and look not back: [for] fear [was] on all sides, saith the LORD.

(d) The prophet had this vision of the Egyptians who would be put to flight by the Babylonians at Carchemish.

Jer 46:6

46:6 Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the {e} north by the river Euphrates.

(e) The Babylonians will discomfit them at the river Euphrates.

Jer 46:7

46:7 Who [is] this [that] cometh up as {f} a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?

(f) He derides the boastings of the Egyptians, who thought by their riches and power to have overcome all the world, alluding to the Nile river, which at certain times overflows the country of Egypt.

Jer 46:9

46:9 Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; {g} the Cushites and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle [and] bend the bow.

(g) For these nations took part with the Egyptians.

Jer 46:10

46:10 For this [is] the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satisfied and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath {h} a sacrifice in the north country {i} by the river Euphrates.

(h) He calls the slaughter of God's enemies a sacrifice, because it is a thing that pleases him, Isa 34:6 .
(i) That is, at Carchemish.

Jer 46:11

46:11 Go up into Gilead, {k} and take balm, O virgin, the {l} daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many {m} medicines; [for] thou shalt not be cured.

(k) For at Gilead there grew a most sovereign balm for wounds.
(l) So called, because Egypt had not yet been overcome by the enemy.
(m) He sows that no salve or medicine can prevail where God gives the wound.

Jer 46:16

46:16 He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our {n} own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.

(n) As they who would repent that they helped the Egyptians.

Jer 46:17

46:17 They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt [is but] a noise; he {o} hath passed the time appointed.

(o) He derides them who blame their overthrow on lack of counsel and policy, or to fortune and not observing of time: not considering that it is God's just judgment.

Jer 46:18

46:18 [As] I live, saith the King, whose name [is] the LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor [is] among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, [so] shall {p} he come.

(p) That is, that the Egyptians will be destroyed.

Jer 46:20

46:20 Egypt [is like] a very {q} fair heifer, [but] destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.

(q) They have abundance of all things, and therefore are disobedient and proud.

Jer 46:21

46:21 Also her hired men {r} [are] in the midst of her like fatted bulls; for they also have turned back, [and] have fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity had come upon them, [and] the time of their judgment.

(r) As in Jer 46:9 .

Jer 46:22

46:22 Its voice shall go like a {s} serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against {t} her with axes, as hewers of wood.

(s) They will be scarcely able to speak for fear of the Chaldeans.
(t) Meaning Egypt.

Jer 46:23

46:23 They shall cut down {u} her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the
(x) grasshoppers, and [are] innumerable.

(u) That is, they will slay the great and mighty men of power.
(x) That is, Nebuchadnezzar's army.

Jer 46:25

46:25 The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the {y} multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and [all] them that trust in him:

(y) Some take the Hebrew word Amon for the kings name of No, that is, of Alexandria.

Jer 46:26

46:26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as {z} in the days of old, saith the LORD.

(z) Meaning, that after forty years Egypt would be restored, Isa 19:23, Eze 29:13 .

Jer 46:27

46:27 {a} But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make [him] afraid.

(a) God comforts all his that were in captivity but especially the small Church of the Jews, of which were Jeremiah and Baruch, who remained among the Egyptians: for the Lord never forsakes his, Isa 44:2, Jer 30:10 .

Jer 46:28

46:28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I [am] with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct {b} thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.

(b) Read Geneva "Jer 20:14"

Jer 47:1

47:1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh smote {a} Gaza.

(a) Or Azzah, a city of the Philistines.

Jer 47:2

47:2 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise out of the {b} north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is in it; the city, and them that dwell in it: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.

(b) He means the army of the Chaldeans, Isa 8:7,8 .

Jer 47:3

47:3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong [horses], at the rushing of his chariots, [and at] the rumbling of his wheels, {c} the fathers shall not look back to [their] children for feebleness of {d} hands;

Jer 47:4

47:4 Because of the day that cometh to lay waste all the Philistines, [and] to cut off from Tyre and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will lay waste the Philistines, the remnant of the country of {e} Caphtor.

(e) For the Caphtorims had destroyed in old time the Philistines, and dwelt in their land even to Gaza, De 2:23 .

Jer 47:5

47:5 {f} Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off [with] the remnant of their valley: how long wilt {g} thou cut thyself?

(f) They who shaved their heads for sorrow and heaviness.
(g) As the heathen used in their mourning, which the Lord forbade his people to do, De 14:1 .

Jer 47:7

47:7 How can it be {h} quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there hath he appointed it.

(h) Meaning, that it is not profitable that the wicked should by any means escape or hinder the Lord when he will take vengeance.

Jer 48:1

48:1 Against Moab thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Woe to {a} Nebo! for it is laid waste: Kiriathaim is confounded [and] taken: Misgab is confounded and dismayed.

(a) These were cities of the Moabites, which Nebuchadnezzar took before he went to fight against Nebo King of Egypt.

Jer 48:2

48:2 [There shall be] no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; {b} come, and let us cut it off from [being] a nation. Also thou shalt be cut down, {c} O Madmen; the sword shall pursue thee.

(b) Thus shall the Babylonians encourage one another.
(c) Read Isa 25:10 .

Jer 48:5

48:5 For in the ascent of {d} Luhith continual weeping shall go up; for in the descent of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction.

(d) Horonaim and Luhith were two places by which the Moabites would flee, Isa 15:5 .

Jer 48:6

48:6 Flee, save your lives, and be like the {e} bush in the wilderness.

(e) Hide yourselves in barren places, where the enemy will not pursue after you, Jer 17:6 .

Jer 48:7

48:7 For because thou hast trusted in thy {f} works and in thy treasures, thou also shalt be taken: and {g} Chemosh shall go forth into captivity [with] his priests and his princes together.

(f) That is, the idols which are the works your hands. Some read, in your possessions, for so the word may signify as in 1Sa 25:2 .
(g) Both your great idol and his maintainers will be led away captives so that they will then know that it is in vain to look for help at idols, Isa 15:2 .

Jer 48:10

48:10 {h} Cursed [be] he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed [be] he that keepeth back his sword from blood.

(h) He shows that God would punish the Chaldeans if they did not destroy the Egyptians, and that with a courage, and calls this executing of his vengeance against his enemies, his work though the Chaldeans sought another end, Isa 10:11 .

Jer 48:11

48:11 Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been {i} emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.

(i) Has not been removed as the Jews have, but have lived at ease, and as a wine that feeds itself on his lees.

Jer 48:13

48:13 And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of {k} Bethel their confidence.

(k) As the calf of Bethel was not able to deliver the Israelites no more will Chemosh deliver the Moabites.

Jer 48:17

48:17 All ye that are about him, bemoan him; and all ye that know his name, say, {l} How is the strong staff broken, [and] the beautiful rod!

(l) How are they destroyed that put their trust in their strength and riches?

Jer 48:20

48:20 {m} Moab is confounded; for it is broken down: wail and cry; tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is laid waste,

(m) Thus they who flee will answer.

Jer 48:25

48:25 The {n} horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the LORD.

(n) That is, his power and strength.

Jer 48:26

48:26 Make ye him {o} drunk: for he magnified [himself] against the LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.

(o) He willed the Chaldeans to lay afflictions enough on them till they are like drunken men that fall down to their shame and are derided by all.

Jer 48:27

48:27 For was not Israel a derision to thee? was he found among thieves? for since thou hast spoken of him, thou didst {p} leap for joy.

(p) You rejoiced to hear of his misery, Isa 16:6 .

Jer 48:30

48:30 I know his wrath, saith the LORD; {q} but [it shall] not [be] so; his lies shall not so effect [it].

(q) He will not execute his malice against his neighbours.

Jer 48:31

48:31 {r} Therefore will I wail for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; [my heart] shall mourn for the men of Kirheres.

(r) Read Isa 16:7 .

Jer 48:32

48:32 O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer: thy plants have gone over the sea, they reach [even] to the sea {s} of Jazer: the spoiler hath fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage.

(s) Which city was in the utmost border of Moab: and by this he signifies that the whole land would be destroyed and the people carried away.

Jer 48:34

48:34 From the cry of Heshbon [even] to Elealeh, [and even] to Jahaz, have they uttered their voice, from Zoar [even] to Horonaim, [as] an {t} heifer of three years old: for the waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate.

(t) Read Geneva "Isa 15:5"

Jer 48:36

48:36 Therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like {u} pipes, and my heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres: because the riches [that] he hath gotten have perished.

(u) Their custom was to play on flutes or instruments, heavy and grave tunes at burials and in the time of mourning, as in Mt 9:23 .

Jer 48:40

48:40 For thus saith the LORD; Behold, {x} he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab.

(x) That is, Nebuchadnezzar, as in Jer 49:22 .

Jer 48:43

48:43 {y} Fear, and the pit, and the snare, [shall be] upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the LORD.

(y) He that escapes one danger will be taken by another, Isa 24:17 .

Jer 48:45

48:45 They that fled stood under the shadow {z} of Heshbon because of the force: but {a} a fire shall come out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.

(z) They fled there thinking to have comfort from the Amorites.
(a) The Amorites had destroyed the Moabites in times past, and now because of their power the Moabites will seek them for help.

Jer 48:46

48:46 Woe be to thee, O Moab! the people of {b} Chemosh perisheth: for thy sons are taken captives, and thy daughters captives.

(b) Who vaunted themselves of their idol as though he could have defended them.

Jer 48:47

48:47 Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the {c} latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far [is] the judgment of Moab.

Jer 49:1

49:1 Concerning the {a} Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why [then] doth their king {b} inherit Gad, and his people dwell in {c} his cities?

(a) They were separated from the Moabites by the river Arnon, and after the ten tribes were carried away into captivity, they invaded the country of Gad.
(b) That is, of the Ammonites.
(c) Meaning, of the Israelites.

Jer 49:2

49:2 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in {d} Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir to them that were his heirs, saith the LORD.

(d) Which was one of the chief cities of the Ammonites, as were Heshbon and Ai: there was also a city called Heshbon among the Moabites.

Jer 49:4

49:4 Why gloriest thou in the {e} valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, [saying], Who shall come to me?

(e) In your plentiful country.

Jer 49:5

49:5 Behold, I will bring {f} a fear upon thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those that are about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth.

(f) Signifying that power and riches cannot prevail when God will execute his judgments.

Jer 49:6

49:6 And {h} afterward I will bring again the captives of the children of Ammon, saith the LORD.

(h) In the time of Christ, when the Gentiles will be called.

Jer 49:7

49:7 Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; [Is] wisdom no more in {i} Teman? hath counsel perished from the prudent? hath their wisdom vanished?

(i) Which was a city of Edom, called by the name of Teman Eliphaz's son, who came from Esau.

Jer 49:8

49:8 Flee ye, {k} turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time [that] I will punish him.

(k) The enemies that pretend to flee, will turn back and invade your land, and possess it.

Jer 49:9

49:9 If {l} grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave [some] gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.

(l) Meaning that God would utterly destroy them and not spare one, though the grape gatherers leave some grapes, and thieves seek but till they have enough, Ob 1:5 .

Jer 49:11

49:11 Leave thy {m} fatherless children, I will preserve [them] alive; and let thy widows trust in me.

(m) The destruction will be so great that there will be none left to take care of the widows and the fatherless.

Jer 49:12

49:12 For thus saith the LORD; {n} Behold, they whose judgment [was] not to drink of the cup have assuredly drank; and [art] thou he [that] shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink [of it].

(n) I have not spared my own people and how should I pity you?

Jer 49:13

49:13 For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, that {o} Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes.

(o) Which was a chief city of Edom.

Jer 49:14

49:14 I have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent to the nations, [saying], Gather ye together, and come against {p} her, and rise up to the battle.

(p) That is, Bozrah.

Jer 49:19

49:19 Behold, {q} he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make {r} him run away from her: and who [is] a chosen [man, that] I may appoint over her? for who [is] like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who [is] that {s} shepherd that will stand before me?

(q) That is, Nebuchadnezzar after he has overcome Judah, which is meant by the swelling of Jordan, will come against mount Seir and Edom.
(r) That is, the Israelites whom the Edomites kept as prisoners to hast away from there.
(s) The captain and governor of the army meaning Nebuchadnezzar.

Jer 49:20

49:20 Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least {t} of the flock shall draw them out: surely {u} he shall make their habitations desolate with them.

(t) They will not be able to resist his petty captains.
(u) To visit the enemy.

Jer 49:22

49:22 Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, {x} and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

(x) As Jer 48:40 was said of Moab.

Jer 49:23

49:23 Concerning {y} Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; [there is] sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.

(y) Which was the chief city of Syria, by which he means the whole country.

Jer 49:24

49:24 Damascus hath become feeble, [and] turneth herself to flee, {z} and fear hath seized on [her]: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.

(z) When she heard the sudden coming of the enemy.

Jer 49:25

49:25 How is the {a} city of praise not left, the city of my joy!

(a) He speaks this in the person of the king and of them of the country who will wonder to see Damascus the chief city destroyed.

Jer 49:27

49:27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of {b} Benhadad.

(b) Who was king of Syria, 1Ki 20:26 and had built these palaces which were still called the palaces of Benhadad.

Jer 49:28

49:28 Concerning {c} Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the LORD; Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and lay waste the men of the east.

Jer 49:29

49:29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their {d} curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry to them, Fear [is] on every side.

(d) Because they used to dwell in tents, he names the things that belong to it.

Jer 49:30

49:30 Flee, go far off, {e} dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the LORD; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you.

(e) The enemies will dwell in your places.

Jer 49:31

49:31 {f} Arise, go up to the wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care, saith the LORD, which have neither gates nor bars, [which] dwell alone.

(f) He shows that they of Hazor will flee to the Arabians for comfort but that will not help them.

Jer 49:34

49:34 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against {g} Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,

(g) That is Persia, so called for Elam the son of Shem.

Jer 49:35

49:35 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the {h} bow of Elam, the chief of their might.

(h) Because the Persians were good archers, he shows that the thing in which they put their trust would not profit them.

Jer 49:38

49:38 And I will set my {i} throne in Elam, and will destroy from there the king and the princes, saith the LORD.

(i) I will place Nebuchadnezzar there, and in these prophecies Jeremiah speaks of those countries which would be subdued under the first of those four monarchies of which Daniel makes mention.

Jer 49:39

49:39 But it shall come to pass {k} in the latter days, [that] I will bring again the captives of Elam, saith the LORD.

(k) This may be referred to the empire of the Persians and Medes after the Chaldeans or to the time of Christ, as in Jer 48:47 .

Jer 50:2

50:2 Declare ye among the nations, and proclaim, and set up a standard; proclaim, [and] conceal not: say, {a} Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, {b} Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

(a) After God had used the Babylonian's service to punish other nations, this shows that their turn will come to be punished.
(b) These were two of their chief idols.

Jer 50:3

50:3 For out of the north {c} there cometh a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell in it: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.

Jer 50:4

50:4 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall {d} come, they and the children of Judah together, going and {e} weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.

(d) When Cyrus will take Babel.
(e) Read Jer 31:9 .

Jer 50:6

50:6 My people have been lost sheep: their {f} shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away [on] the mountains: they have gone from {g} mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.

(f) Their governors and ministers by their examples have provoked them to idolatry.
(g) They have committed idolatry in every place.

Jer 50:7

50:7 All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, {h} the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.

(h) For the Lord dwelt among them in his temple and would have maintained them by his justice against their enemies.

Jer 50:8

50:8 {i} Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth from the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the male goats {k} before the flocks.

(i) When God will deliver you by Cyrus.
(k) That is, most forward and without fear.

Jer 50:10

50:10 And Chaldea shall be a prey: all that spoil her {l} shall be satisfied, saith the LORD.

(l) Shall be made rich by it.

Jer 50:11

50:11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of my heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, {m} and bellow as bulls;

(m) For joy of the victory that you had against my people.

Jer 50:13

50:13 Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, {n} and hiss at all her plagues.

(n) In sign of contempt and disdain.

Jer 50:14

50:14 {o} Put yourselves in array against Babylon on every side: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath {p} sinned against the LORD.

(o) He speaks to the enemies the Medes and Persians.
(p) Though the Lord called the Babylonians his servants and their work his work in punishing his people, yet because they did it not to glorify God, but for their own malice and to profit themselves, it is here called sin.

Jer 50:16

50:16 Cut off the {q} sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.

(q) Destroy her so that no one is left to work the ground or to take the fruit of it.

Jer 50:17

50:17 Israel [is] a scattered sheep; the lions have driven [him] away: first the king of {r} Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath broken his {s} bones.

(r) Meaning Tiglath-pilesar who carried away the ten tribes.
(s) He carried away the rest, that is Judah and Benjamin.

Jer 50:21

50:21 Go up against the land of {t} Merathaim, [even] against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.

(t) That is, Babylon: thus the Lord raised up Cyrus.

Jer 50:23

50:23 How is the {u} hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!

(u) Nebuchadnezzar, who had smitten down all the princes and people of the world.

Jer 50:27

50:27 Slay all her {x} bulls; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, the time of their judgment.

(x) Her princes and mighty men.

Jer 50:28

50:28 The voice of them that {y} flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.

(y) Of the Jews who would be delivered by Cyrus.

Jer 50:34

50:34 Their Redeemer [is] strong; the LORD of hosts [is] his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, {z} and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

(z) He shows that when God executes his judgments against his enemies, that his Church will then have rest.

Jer 50:38

50:38 A {a} drought [is] upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it [is] the land of graven images, and they are mad over [their] idols.

(a) For Cyrus cut the river Euphrates and divided the course of it into many streams, so that it might be passed over as though there had been no water: which he did by the counsel of two of Belshazzar's captains, who conspired against their king, because he had gelded one of them in spite and slain the son of the other.

Jer 50:39

50:39 Therefore the {b} wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the isles shall dwell [there], and the owls shall dwell in it: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.

(b) Read Isa 13:21 .

Jer 50:41

50:41 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from {c} the ends of the earth.

Jer 50:43

50:43 The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands {d} became feeble: anguish took hold of him, [and] pangs as of a woman in travail.

(d) Which is meant of Belshazzar, Dan 5:6 .

Jer 50:44

50:44 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan to the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who [is] a chosen [man, that] I may appoint over her? for who [is] like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who [is] that {e} shepherd that will stand before me?

(e) Read Geneva "Jer 49:19"

Jer 51:1

51:1 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise against me, a destroying {a} wind;

(a) The Medes and Persians who will destroy them as the wind does the chaff.

Jer 51:5

51:5 For Israel [hath] not [been] {b} forsaken, nor Judah by his God, by the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.

(b) Though they were forsaken for a time, yet they were not utterly cast off as though their husbands were dead.

Jer 51:6

51:6 {c} Flee from the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this [is] the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will render to her a recompence.

Jer 51:7

51:7 Babylon [hath been] a golden cup in the {d} LORD'S hand, that made all the earth drunk: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are {e} mad.

(d) By whom the Lord poured out the drink of his vengeance, to whom it pleased him.
(e) For the great afflictions that they have felt by the Babylonians.

Jer 51:9

51:9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let {f} us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth to heaven, and is lifted [even] to the skies.

(f) Thus the people of God exhort one another to go to Zion and praise God.

Jer 51:10

51:10 The LORD hath brought forth our {g} righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.

(g) In approving our cause and punishing our enemies.

Jer 51:11

51:11 Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his purpose [is] against Babylon, to destroy it; because it [is] the vengeance of the LORD, the {h} vengeance of his temple.

(h) For the wrong done to his people and to his temple, Jer 50:28 .

Jer 51:13

51:13 O thou that dwellest upon many {i} waters, abundant in treasures, thy end is come, [and] the measure of thy covetousness.

(i) For the land of Chaldea was full of rivers which ran into the Euphrates.

Jer 51:17

51:17 Every man is senseless by [his] {k} knowledge; every goldsmith is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image [is] falsehood, and [there is] no breath in them.

(k) Jer 10:14 .

Jer 51:18

51:18 They [are] vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their {l} judgment they shall perish.

(l) When God will execute his vengeance.

Jer 51:19

51:19 The {m} portion of Jacob [is] not like them; for he [is] the one who formed of all things: and [Israel is] the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts [is] his name.

(m) That is, the true God of Israel is not like these idols: for he can help when all things are desperate.

Jer 51:20

51:20 Thou [art] my {n} battle axe [and] weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

(n) He means the Medes and Persians, as before he called the Babylonians his hammer, Jer 50:23 .

Jer 51:25

51:25 Behold, I [am] against thee, O destroying {o} mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the {p} rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

(o) Not that Babylon stood on a mountain but because it was strong and seemed invincible.
(p) From your strongholds and fortresses.

Jer 51:27

51:27 Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of {q} Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers.

(q) By these three nations he means Armenia the higher, Armenia the lower and Scythia; for Cyrus had gathered an army of various nations.

Jer 51:31

51:31 One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at {r} [one] end,

(r) By turning the course of the river one side was made open and the reeds that grew in the water were destroyed which Cyrus did by the counsel of Gobria and Gabatha Belshazzar's captains.

Jer 51:33

51:33 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon [is] like a threshingfloor, [it is] time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest {s} shall come.

(s) When she will be cut up and threshed.

Jer 51:34

51:34 Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon hath {t} devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicacies, he hath cast me out.

(t) This is spoken in the person of the Jews bewailing their state and the cruelty of the Babylonians.

Jer 51:36

51:36 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy {u} cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.

(u) Thus the Lord esteemed the injury done to his Church as done to himself because their cause is his.

Jer 51:39

51:39 In their {x} heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.

(x) When they are inflamed with surfeiting and drinking, I will feast with them, alluding to Belshazzar's banquet, Da 5:2 .

Jer 51:41

51:41 How is {y} Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an horror among the nations!

(y) Meaning Babel as in Jer 25:26 .

Jer 51:42

51:42 The {z} sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of its waves.

(z) The great army of the Medes and Persians.

Jer 51:44

51:44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which {a} he hath swallowed: and the nations shall not flow together any more to him: even the wall of Babylon shall fall.

(a) That is, his gifts and presents which he had received as part of the spoil of other nations, and which the idolaters brought to him from all countries.

Jer 51:46

51:46 And lest your heart should faint, and ye should fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come [one] {b} year, and after that in [another] year [shall come] a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.

(b) Meaning that Babylon would not be destroyed all at once but little by little would be brought to nothing for the first year came the tidings, the next year the siege and in the third year it was taken: yet this is not that horrible destruction which the prophets threatened in many places: for that was after this when they rebelled and Darius over came them by the policy of Zopyrus, and hanged three thousand gentlemen beside the common people.

Jer 51:48

51:48 Then the heaven and {c} the earth, and all that [is] in them, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come to her from the north, saith the LORD.

(c) All creatures in heaven and earth will rejoice and praise God for the destruction of Babylon the great enemy of his Church.

Jer 51:49

51:49 As Babylon [hath caused] the {d} slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.

(d) Babylon not only destroyed Israel, but many other nations.

Jer 51:50

51:50 Ye that {e} have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

(e) Yet that are now captives in Babylon.

Jer 51:51

51:51 We are {f} confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for foreigners are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD'S house.

(f) He shows how they would remember Jerusalem by lamenting the miserable affliction of it.

Jer 51:53

51:53 Though Babylon should mount up to {g} heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, [yet] from me shall spoilers come to her, saith the LORD.

(g) For the walls were two hundred feet high.

Jer 51:57

51:57 And I will {h} make drunk her princes, and her wise [men], her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name [is] the LORD of hosts.

(h) I will so astonish them by affliction that they will not know which way to turn themselves.

Jer 51:58

51:58 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The {i} broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the people in the fire, and they shall be weary.

(i) The thickness of the wall was fifty feet.

Jer 51:59

51:59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the {k} fourth year of his reign. And [this] Seraiah [was] a quiet prince.

(k) This was not in the time of his captivity but seven years before, when he went either to congratulate Nebuchadnezzar or to intreat of some matters.

Jer 51:63

51:63 And it shall be, when thou hast finished reading this book, [that] thou shalt bind a {l} stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates:

(l) John in his Revelation alludes to this place when he says that the angel took a millstone and cast it into the sea: signifying by it the destruction of Babylon, Re 18:21 .

Jer 51:64

51:64 And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall {m} be weary. Thus far [are] the words of Jeremiah.

(m) They will not be able to resist but will labour in vain.

Jer 52:3

52:3 {a} For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

(a) So the Lord punished sin by sin and gave him up to his rebellious heart, till he had brought the enemy on him to lead him away and his people.

Jer 52:7

52:7 Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth from the city by night by the {b} way of the gate between the two walls, which [was] by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans [were] by the city on all sides:) and they went by the way of the plain.

(b) Read Jer 39:4 .

Jer 52:9

52:9 Then they took the king, and carried him to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; {c} where he gave judgment upon him.

Jer 52:12

52:12 Now in the fifth month, in the {d} tenth [day] of the month, which [was] the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, [who] {e} served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,

(d) In 2Ki 25:8 is it called the seventh day, because the fire began then and so continued to the tenth.
(e) That is, who was his servant, as in 2Ki 25:8 .

Jer 52:17

52:17 Also the {f} pillars of brass that [were] in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that [was] in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.

(f) Of these pillars read 1Ki 7:15 .

Jer 52:18

52:18 The caldrons also, and the {g} shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered, they took away.

(g) Which were also made of brass, as in 1Ki 7:45 .

Jer 52:20

52:20 The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brasen bulls that [were] under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brass of all these vessels was without {h} weight.

(h) It was so much in quantity.

Jer 52:23

52:23 And there were ninety and six pomegranates on a side; [and] all the pomegranates upon the network [were] an {i} hundred on all sides.

(i) But because of the roundness, no more could be seen but ninety-six.

Jer 52:24

52:24 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah {k} the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:

(k) Which served in the high priests stead, if he had any necessary impediment.

Jer 52:25

52:25 He took also out of the city an eunuch, who had the charge of the men of war; and {l} seven men of them that were near the king's person, who were found in the city; and the principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.

(l) In 2Ki 25:19 is read but of five: those were the most excellent and the other two, which were not so noble are not there mentioned with them.

Jer 52:28

52:28 This [is] the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the {m} seventh year three thousand Jews and three and twenty:

(m) Which was the latter end of the seventh year of his reign and the beginning of the eighth.

Jer 52:29

52:29 In the {n} eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons:

(n) To the latter end also of that year, and the beginning of the nineteenth.

Jer 52:31

52:31 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth [day] of the month, [that] Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the [first] year of his reign {o} lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him out of prison,

(o) That is, restored him to liberty and honour.

Jer 52:33

52:33 And changed his prison {p} garments: and he continually ate bread before him all the days of his life.

(p) And gave him princely apparel.

Jer 52:34

52:34 And [for] his food, there was a {q} continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

(q) That is he had allowance in the court, and thus at length he had rest and quietness because he obeyed Jeremiah the Prophet, while the others were cruelly ordered that would not obey him.

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