8 Undergo teaching, O Jerusalem, or my soul will be turned away from you, and I will make you a waste, an unpeopled land.
Even though their children have come to growth I will take them away, so that not a man will be there; for their evil-doing will be complete and they will be put to shame because of it.
So her loose behaviour was clearly seen and her shame uncovered: then my soul was turned from her as it had been turned from her sister.
I said, Certainly you will go in fear of me, and come under my training, so that whatever I may send on her may not be cut off before her eyes: but they got up early and made all their works evil.
This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said: Go and say to the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, Is there no hope of teaching you to give ear to my words? says the Lord. The orders which Jonadab, the son of Rechab, gave to his sons to take no wine, are done, and to this day they take no wine, for they do the orders of their father: but I have sent my words to you, getting up early and sending them, and you have not given ear to me. And I have sent you all my servants the prophets, getting up early and sending them, saying, Come back, now, every man from his evil way, and do better, and go not after other gods to become their servants, and you will go on living in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but your ears have not been open, and you have not given attention to me.
Seeing that you have no desire for my teaching, turning your back on my words.
And I will make Jerusalem a mass of broken stones, the living-place of jackals; and I will make the towns of Judah a waste, with no man living there.
And in one month I put an end to the three keepers of the flock; for my soul was tired of them, and their souls were disgusted with me. And I said, I will not take care of you: If death comes to any, let death be its fate; if any is cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest take one another's flesh for food.
Truly, after I had been turned, I had regret for my ways; and after I had got knowledge, I made signs of sorrow: I was put to shame, truly, I was covered with shame, because I had to undergo the shame of my early years.
Then will the land take pleasure in its Sabbaths while it is waste and you are living in the land of your haters; then will the land have rest.
So this is what the Lord God has said: See, my wrath and my passion will be let loose on this place, on man and beast, and on the trees of the field, and on the produce of the earth; it will be burning and will not be put out.
The Lord of armies, the God of Israel, says, Let your ways and your doings be changed for the better and I will let you go on living in this place. Put no faith in false words, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, are these. For if your ways and your doings are truly changed for the better; if you truly give right decisions between a man and his neighbour; If you are not cruel to the man from a strange country, and to the child without a father, and to the widow, and do not put the upright to death in this place, or go after other gods, causing damage to yourselves: Then I will let you go on living in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers in the past and for ever.
The young lions have made an outcry against him with a loud voice: they have made his land waste; his towns are burned up, with no one living in them.
Take learning in your hands, do not let her go: keep her, for she is your life.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 6
Commentary on Jeremiah 6 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 6
In this chapter, as before, we have,
Jer 6:1-8
Here is
Jer 6:9-17
The heads of this paragraph are the very same with those of the last; for precept must be upon precept and line upon line.
Jer 6:18-30
Here,