3 You said, Sorrow is mine! for the Lord has given me sorrow in addition to my pain; I am tired with the sound of my sorrow, and I get no rest.
And let us not get tired of well-doing; for at the right time we will get in the grain, if we do not give way to weariness.
For which cause we do not give way to weariness; but though our outer man is getting feebler, our inner man is made new day by day.
Give thought to him who has undergone so much of the hate of sinners against himself, so that you may not be tired and feeble of purpose. Till now you have not given your blood in your fight against sin: And you have not kept in mind the word which says to you as to sons, My son, do not make little of the Lord's punishment, and do not give up hope when you are judged by him;
For though he sends grief, still he will have pity in the full measure of his love.
I am the man who has seen trouble by the rod of his wrath. By him I have been made to go in the dark where there is no light. Truly against me his hand has been turned again and again all the day. My flesh and my skin have been used up by him and my bones broken. He has put up a wall against me, shutting me in with bitter sorrow. He has kept me in dark places, like those who have been long dead. He has put a wall round me, so that I am not able to go out; he has made great the weight of my chain. Even when I send up a cry for help, he keeps my prayer shut out. He has put up a wall of cut stones about my ways, he has made my roads twisted. He is like a bear waiting for me, like a lion in secret places. By him my ways have been turned on one side and I have been pulled in bits; he has made me waste. With his bow bent, he has made me the mark for his arrows. He has let loose his arrows into the inmost parts of my body. I have become the sport of all the peoples; I am their song all the day. He has made my life nothing but pain, he has given me the bitter root in full measure. By him my teeth have been broken with crushed stones, and I am bent low in the dust. My soul is sent far away from peace, I have no more memory of good. And I said, My strength is cut off, and my hope from the Lord. Keep in mind my trouble and my wandering, the bitter root and the poison.
From on high he has sent fire into my bones, and it has overcome them: his net is stretched out for my feet, I am turned back by him; he has made me waste and feeble all the day.
O Lord, you have been false to me, and I was tricked; you are stronger than I, and have overcome me: I have become a thing to be laughed at all the day, everyone makes sport of me. For every word I say is a cry for help; I say with a loud voice, Violent behaviour and wasting: because the word of the Lord is made a shame to me and a cause of laughing all the day. And if I say, I will not keep him in mind, I will not say another word in his name; then it is in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am tired of keeping myself in, I am not able to do it. For numbers of them say evil secretly in my hearing (there is fear on every side): they say, Come, let us give witness against him; all my nearest friends, who are watching for my fall, say, It may be that he will be taken by deceit, and we will get the better of him and give him punishment. But the Lord is with me as a great one, greatly to be feared: so my attackers will have a fall, and they will not overcome me: they will be greatly shamed, because they have not done wisely, even with an unending shame, kept in memory for ever. But, O Lord of armies, testing the upright and seeing the thoughts and the heart, let me see your punishment come on them; for I have put my cause before you. Make melody to the Lord, give praise to the Lord: for he has made the soul of the poor man free from the hands of the evil-doers. A curse on the day of my birth: let there be no blessing on the day when my mother had me. A curse on the man who gave the news to my father, saying, You have a male child; making him very glad. May that man be like the towns overturned by the Lord without mercy: let a cry for help come to his ears in the morning, and the sound of war in the middle of the day; Because he did not put me to death before my birth took place: so my mother's body would have been my last resting-place, and she would have been with child for ever. Why did I come from my mother's body to see pain and sorrow, so that my days might be wasted with shame?
Sorrow is mine, my mother, because you have given birth to me, a cause of fighting and argument in all the earth! I have not made men my creditors and I am not in debt to any, but every one of them is cursing me. ... Is it possible for iron to be broken; even iron from the north, and brass? I will give your wealth and your stores to your attackers, without a price, because of all your sins, even in every part of your land. They will go away with your haters into a land which is strange to you: for my wrath is on fire with a flame which will be burning on you. O Lord, you have knowledge: keep me in mind and come to my help, and give their right reward to those who are attacking me; take me not away, for you are slow to be angry: see how I have undergone shame because of you from all those who make little of your word; But to me your word is a joy, making my heart glad; for I am named by your name, O Lord God of armies. I did not take my seat among the band of those who are glad, and I had no joy; I kept by myself because of your hand; for you have made me full of wrath. Why is my pain unending and my wound without hope of being made well? Sorrow is mine, for you are to me as a stream offering false hope and as waters which are not certain. For this cause the Lord has said, If you will come back, then I will again let you take your place before me; and if you give out what is of value and not that which has no value, you will be as my mouth: let them come back to you, but do not go back to them. And I will make you a strong wall of brass to this people; they will be fighting against you, but they will not overcome you: for I am with you to keep you safe, says the Lord. I will keep you safe from the hands of the evil-doers, and I will give you salvation from the hands of the cruel ones.
If only my head was a stream of waters and my eyes fountains of weeping, so that I might go on weeping day and night for the dead of the daughter of my people!
Then Jacob, giving signs of grief, put on haircloth, and went on weeping for his son day after day. And all his sons and all his daughters came to give him comfort, but he would not be comforted, saying with weeping, I will go down to the underworld to my son. So great was his father's sorrow for him.
Sorrow is mine because I am strange in Meshech, and living in the tents of Kedar.
I will keep God in memory, with sounds of grief; my thoughts are troubled, and my spirit is overcome. (Selah.) You keep my eyes from sleep; I am so troubled that no words come.
Deep is sounding to deep at the noise of your waterfalls; all your waves have gone rolling over me.
I had almost given up my hope of seeing the blessing of the Lord in the land of the living.
Even today my outcry is bitter; his hand is hard on my sorrow.
God gives me over to the power of sinners, sending me violently into the hands of evil-doers. I was in comfort, but I have been broken up by his hands; he has taken me by the neck, shaking me to bits; he has put me up as a mark for his arrows. His bowmen come round about me; their arrows go through my body without mercy; my life is drained out on the earth.
And Joshua said, O Lord God, why have you taken us over Jordan only to give us up into the hands of the Amorites for our destruction? If only it had been enough for us to keep on the other side of Jordan! O Lord, what am I to say now that Israel have given way before their attackers? For when the news comes to the Canaanites and all the people of the land, they will come up, shutting us in and cutting off our name from the earth: and what will you do for the honour of your great name?
And Moses said to the Lord, Why have you done me this evil? and why have I not grace in your eyes, that you have put on me the care of all this people? Am I the father of all this people? have I given them birth, that you say to me, Take them in your arms, like a child at the breast, to the land which you gave by an oath to their fathers? Where am I to get flesh to give to all this people? For they are weeping to me and saying, Give us flesh for our food. I am not able by myself to take the weight of all this people, for it is more than my strength. If this is to be my fate, put me to death now in answer to my prayer, if I have grace in your eyes; and let me not see my shame.
And Jacob their father said to them, You have taken my children from me: Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone, and now you would take Benjamin away; all these things have come on me. And Reuben said, Put my two sons to death if I do not come back to you with him; let him be in my care and I will give him safely back to you. And he said, I will not let my son go down with you; for his brother is dead and he is all I have: if evil overtakes him on the journey, then through you will my grey head go down to the underworld in sorrow.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Jeremiah 45
Commentary on Jeremiah 45 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 45
Jer 45:1-5. Jeremiah Comforts Baruch.
After the completion of the prophecies and histories appertaining to the Jewish people and kings, Jeremiah subjoins one referring to an individual, Baruch; even as there are subjoined to the epistles of Paul addressed to churches, epistles to individuals, some of which were prior in date to the former. Afterwards follow the prophecies referring to other nations, closing the book [Grotius]. The date of the events here told is eighteen years before the taking of the city; this chapter in point of time follows the thirty-sixth chapter. Baruch seems to have been regularly employed by Jeremiah to commit his prophecies to writing (Jer 36:1, 4, 32).
1. these words—his prophecies from the thirteenth year of Josiah to the fourth of Jehoiakim.
3. Thou didst say, &c.—Jeremiah does not spare his disciple, but unveils his fault, namely, fear for his life by reason of the suspicions which he incurred in the eyes of his countrymen (compare Jer 36:17), as if he was in sympathy with the Chaldeans (Jer 43:3), and instigator of Jeremiah; also ingratitude in speaking of his "grief," &c., whereas he ought to deem himself highly blessed in being employed by God to record Jeremiah's prophecies.
added—rescued from the peril of my first writing (Jer 36:26). I am again involved in a similar peril. He upbraids God as dealing harshly with him.
I fainted—rather, "I am weary."
no rest—no quiet resting-place.
4. that which I have built … planted I will pluck up—(Isa 5:5). This whole nation (the Jews) which I founded and planted with such extraordinary care and favor, I will overthrow.
5. seekest thou great things for thyself—Thou art over-fastidious and self-seeking. When My own peculiar people, a "whole" nation (Jer 45:4), and the temple, are being given to ruin, dost thou expect to be exempt from all hardship? Baruch had raised his expectations too high in this world, and this made his distresses harder to be borne. The frowns of the world would not disquiet us if we did not so eagerly covet its smiles. What folly to seek great things for ourselves here, where everything is little, and nothing certain!
all flesh—the whole Jewish nation and even foreign peoples (Jer 25:26).
but thy life … for a prey—Esteem it enough at such a general crisis that thy life shall be granted thee. Be content with this boon of life which I will rescue from imminent death, even as when all things are given up to plunder, if one escape with aught, he has a something saved as his "prey" (Jer 21:9). It is striking how Jeremiah, who once used such complaining language himself, is enabled now to minister the counsel requisite for Baruch when falling into the same sin (Jer 12:1-5; 15:10-18). This is part of God's design in suffering His servants to be tempted, that their temptations may adapt them for ministering to their fellow servants when tempted.