10 Thus said Jehovah concerning this people: Well they have loved to wander, Their feet they have not restrained, And Jehovah hath not accepted them, Now doth He remember their iniquity, And inspect their sin.
They have gone deep -- have done corruptly, As `in' the days of Gibeah, He doth remember their iniquity, He doth inspect their sins.
The sacrifices of Mine offerings! They sacrifice flesh, and they eat, Jehovah hath not accepted them, Now doth He remember their iniquity, And inspect their sin, They -- `to' Egypt they turn back.
For though ye cause burnt-offerings and your presents to ascend to Me, I am not pleased, And the peace-offering of your fatlings I behold not.
Why `is' this to Me? frankincense from Sheba cometh, And the sweet cane from a land afar off, Your burnt-offerings `are' not for acceptance, And your sacrifices have not been sweet to Me.
because I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawlessnesses I will remember no more;' --
And when ye bring nigh the blind for sacrifice, `There is no evil,' And when ye bring nigh the lame and sick, `There is no evil;' Bring it near, I pray thee, to thy governor -- Doth he accept thee? or doth he lift up thy face? Said Jehovah of Hosts. And now, appease, I pray thee, the face of God, And He doth favour us; From your own hand hath this been, Doth He accept of you appearances? Said Jehovah of Hosts. Who `is' even among you, And he shutteth the two-leaved doors? Yea, ye do not kindle Mine altar for nought, I have no pleasure in you, said Jehovah of Hosts, And a present I do not accept of your hand. For, from the rising of the sun to its going in, Great `is' My name among nations, And in every place perfume is brought nigh to My name, and a pure present, For great `is' My name among nations, Said Jehovah of Hosts. And ye are polluting it in your saying, `The table of Jehovah -- it is polluted, As to its fruit -- despicable is its food.' And ye have said, `Lo, what a weariness,' And ye have puffed at it, said Jehovah of Hosts, And ye have brought in plunder, And the lame and the sick, And ye have brought in the present! Do I accept it from your hand? said Jehovah.
`Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, I have looked after that which Amalek did to Israel, that which he laid for him in the way in his going up out of Egypt.
`The perfume that ye made in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your heads, and the people of the land, hath not Jehovah remembered it? yea, it cometh up on His heart. And Jehovah is not able any more to accept `you', because of the evil of your doings, because of the abominations that ye have done, and your land is for a waste, and for an astonishment, and for a reviling, without inhabitant, as `at' this day. `Because that ye have made perfume, and because ye have sinned against Jehovah, and have not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah, and in His law, and in His statutes, and in His testimonies ye have not walked, therefore hath this evil met you as `at' this day.'
And they do not teach any more Each his neighbour, and each his brother, Saying, Know ye Jehovah, For they all know Me, from their least unto their greatest, An affirmation of Jehovah; For I pardon their iniquity, And of their sin I make mention no more.
Wherefore hath this people of Jerusalem Turned back -- a perpetual backsliding? They have kept hold on deceit, They have refused to turn back.
Saying, `Lo, one sendeth away his wife, And she hath gone from him, And she hath been to another man, Doth he turn back unto her again? Greatly defiled is not that land? And thou hast committed whoredom with many lovers, And turn again to Me, an affirmation of Jehovah. Lift thine eyes to the high places, and see, Where hast thou not been lain with? On the ways thou hast sat for them, As an Arab in a wilderness, And thou defilest the land, By thy fornications, and by thy wickedness.
How sayest thou, `I have not been defiled, After the Baalim I have not gone?' See thy way in a valley, know what thou hast done, A swift dromedary winding her ways, A wild ass accustomed to a wilderness, In the desire of her soul she hath swallowed up wind, Her meeting -- who doth turn her back? None seeking her do weary themselves, In her month they find her. Withhold thy foot from being unshod, And thy throat from thirst, And thou sayest, `It is incurable, No, for I have loved strangers, and after them I go.'
The iniquity of his fathers Is remembered unto Jehovah, And the sin of his mother is not blotted out. They are before Jehovah continually, And He cutteth off from earth their memorial.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 14
Commentary on Jeremiah 14 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
The Word Concerning the Droughts - Jeremiah 14-17
The distress arising from a lengthened drought (Jeremiah 14:2-6) gives the prophet occasion for urgent prayer on behalf of his people (Jeremiah 14:7-9 and Jeremiah 14:19-22); but the Lord rejects all intercession, and gives the people notice, for their apostasy from Him, of their coming destruction by sword, famine, and pestilence (Jeremiah 14:10-18 and Jeremiah 15:1-9). Next, the prophet complains of the persecution he has to endure, and is corrected by the Lord and comforted (Jeremiah 15:10-21). Then he has his course of conduct for the future prescribed to him, since Judah is, for its sins, to be cast forth into banishment, but is again to be restored (16:1-17:4). And the discourse concludes with general considerations upon the roots of the mischief, together with prayers for the prophet's safety, and statements as to the way by which judgment may be turned aside.
This prophetic word, though it had its origin in a special period of distress, does not contain any single discourse such as may have been delivered by Jeremiah before the people upon occasion of this calamity, but is, like the former sections, a summary of addresses and utterances concerning the corruption of the people, and the bitter experiences to which his office exposes the prophet. For these matters the special event above mentioned serves as a starting-point, inasmuch as the deep moral degradation of Judah, which must draw after it yet sorer judgments, is displayed in the relation assumed by the people to the judgment sent on them at that time. - The favourite attempts of recent commentators to dissect the passage into single portions, and to assign these to special points of time and to refer them to particular historical occurrences, have proved an entire failure, as Graf himself admits. The whole discourse moves in the same region of thought and adheres to the same aspect of affairs as the preceding ones, without suggesting special historical relations. And there is an advance made in the prophetic declaration, only in so far as here the whole substance of the discourse culminates in the thought that, because of Judah's being hardened in sin, the judgment of rejection can no in no way be turned aside, not even by the intercession of those whose prayers would have the greatest weight.
The Uselessness of Prayer on behalf of the People. - The title in Jeremiah 14:1 specifies the occasion for the following discourse: What came a word of Jahveh to Jeremiah concerning the drought. - Besides here, אשׁר היה is made to precede the דבר יהוה in Jeremiah 46:1; Jeremiah 47:1; Jeremiah 49:34; and so, by a kind of attraction, the prophecy which follows receivers an outward connection with that which precedes. Concerning the matters of the droughts. בּצּרות , plur. of בּצּרה , Psalms 9:10; Psalms 10:1, might mean harassments, troubles in general. But the description of a great drought, with which the prophecy begins, taken along with Jeremiah 17:8, where בּצּרת occurs, meaning drought, lit., cutting off, restraint of rain, shows that the plural here is to be referred to the sing. בּצּרת (cf. עשׁתּרות from עשׁתּרת ), and that it means the withholding of rain or drought (as freq. in Chald.). We must note the plur., which is not to be taken as intensive of a great drought, but points to repeated droughts. Withdrawal of rain was threatened as a judgment against the despisers of God's word (Leviticus 26:19.; Deuteronomy 11:17; Deuteronomy 28:23); and this chastisement has at various times been inflicted on the sinful people; cf. Jeremiah 3:3; Jeremiah 12:4; Jeremiah 23:10; Haggai 1:10. As the occasion of the present prophecy, we have therefore to regard not a single great drought, but a succession of droughts. Hence we cannot fix the time at which the discourse was composed, since we have no historical notices as to the particular times at which God was then punishing His people by withdrawing the rain.
Description of the distress arising from the drought. - Jeremiah 14:2. Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, like mourning on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goeth up. Jeremiah 14:3. Their nobles send their mean ones for water: they come to the wells, find no water, return with empty pitchers, are ashamed and confounded and cover their head. Jeremiah 14:4. For the ground, which is confounded, because no rain is fallen upon the earth, the husbandmen are ashamed, cover their head. Jeremiah 14:5. Yea, the hind also in the field, she beareth and forsaketh it, because there is no grass. Jeremiah 14:6. And the wild asses stand on the bare-topped heights, gasp for air like the jackals; their eyes fail because there is no herb."