51 -- We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach; confusion hath covered our face: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of Jehovah's house.
The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her precious things; for she hath seen the nations enter into her sanctuary, concerning whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation.
We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a mockery and a derision to them that are round about us.
Lift up thy steps unto the perpetual desolations: everything in the sanctuary hath the enemy destroyed. Thine adversaries roar in the midst of thy place of assembly; they set up their signs [for] signs. [A man] was known as he could lift up axes in the thicket of trees; And now they break down its carved work altogether, with hatchets and hammers. They have set on fire thy sanctuary, they have profaned the habitation of thy name to the ground.
Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a mockery and a derision for them that are round about us; Thou makest us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. All the day my confusion is before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me, Because of the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and the avenger.
Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us; consider, and see our reproach.
And there was given to me a reed like a staff, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship in it. And the court which [is] without the temple cast out, and measure it not; because it has been given [up] to the nations, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty-two months.
And mine enemy shall see [it], and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is Jehovah thy God? Mine eyes shall behold her; now shall she be trodden down, as the mire of the streets.
And forces shall stand on his part, and they shall profane the sanctuary, the fortress, and shall take away the continual [sacrifice], and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
And after the sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, and shall have nothing; and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with an overflow, and unto the end, war, -- the desolations determined. And he shall confirm a covenant with the many [for] one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and because of the protection of abominations [there shall be] a desolator, even until that the consumption and what is determined shall be poured out upon the desolate.
(And he magnified [himself] even to the prince of the host, and from him the continual [sacrifice] was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And a time of trial was appointed unto the continual [sacrifice] by reason of transgression.) And it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised and prospered. And I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that one who spoke, How long shall be the vision of the continual [sacrifice] and of the transgression that maketh desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden down under foot? And he said unto me, Until two thousand and three hundred evenings [and] mornings: then shall the sanctuary be vindicated.
And I will multiply the fruit of the trees and the increase of the field, so that ye may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations.
Say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and your soul's longing; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left behind shall fall by the sword.
And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go forth. And they went forth, and smote in the city.
And I will give it into the hands of strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall profane it. And I will turn my face from them; and they shall profane my secret [place]; and the violent shall enter into it, and profane it.
Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; confusion hath covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's sons; For the zeal of thy house hath devoured me, and the reproaches of them that reproach thee have fallen upon me. And I wept, my soul was fasting: that also was to my reproach; -- And I made sackcloth my garment: then I became a proverb to them. They that sit in the gate talk of me, and [I am] the song of the drunkards. But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, Jehovah, in an acceptable time: O God, in the abundance of thy loving-kindness answer me, according to the truth of thy salvation:
See, Jehovah, and consider to whom thou hast done this! Shall the women eat their fruit, the infants that they nursed? Shall priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
All that pass by clap [their] hands at thee; they hiss and shake their head at the daughter of Jerusalem: Is this the city which they called, The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? All thine enemies open their mouth against thee, they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed [her] up; this is forsooth the day that we looked for: we have found, we have seen [it]. Jehovah hath done what he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word which he had commanded from the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not spared, and he hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee; he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.
and he burned the house of Jehovah, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; and every great [man's] house he burned with fire.
Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after I knew myself, I smote upon [my] thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, for I bear the reproach of my youth.
-- Return, backsliding children; I will heal your backslidings. ... Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art Jehovah our God. Truly in vain [is salvation looked for] from the hills, [and] the multitude of mountains; truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel. But shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us; for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah our God.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that made us wail [required] mirth, [saying,] Sing us [one] of the songs of Zion.
Let mine adversaries be clothed with confusion, and let them cover themselves with their shame as with a mantle.
And render unto our neighbours, sevenfold into their bosom, their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.
Remember this, that an enemy hath reproached Jehovah, and a foolish people have contemned thy name. Give not up the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the wild beast; forget not the troop of thine afflicted for ever. Have respect unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the dwellings of violence. Oh let not the oppressed one return ashamed; let the afflicted and needy praise thy name.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 51
Commentary on Jeremiah 51 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 51
The prophet, in this chapter, goes on with the prediction of Babylon's fall, to which other prophets also bore witness. He is very copious and lively in describing the foresight God had given him of it, for the encouragement of the pious captives, whose deliverance depended upon it and was to be the result of it. Here is,
Jer 51:1-58
The particulars of this copious prophecy are dispersed and interwoven, and the same things left and returned to so often that it could not well be divided into parts, but we must endeavor to collect them under their proper heads. Let us then observe here,
Jer 51:59-64
We have been long attending the judgment of Babylon in this and the foregoing chapter; now here we have the conclusion of that whole matter.