11 For both prophet and priest have been profane, Yea, in My house I found their wickedness, An affirmation of Jehovah.
Her prophets unstable -- men of treachery, Her priests have polluted the sanctuary, They have violated the law.
For from their least unto their greatest, Every one is gaining dishonest gain, And from prophet even unto priest, Every one is dealing falsely,
And He bringeth me in unto the inner court of the house of Jehovah, and lo, at the opening of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, about twenty-five men, their backs toward the temple of Jehovah, and their faces eastward, and they are bowing themselves eastward to the sun.
`And they set their abominations in the house over which My name is called, so as to defile it;
For the sons of Judah Have done the evil thing in Mine eyes, An affirmation of Jehovah, They have set their abominations in the house On which My name is called -- to defile it,
And ye have come in and stood before Me, In this house on which My name is called, And have said, `We have been delivered,' In order to do all these abominations. A den of burglars hath this house, On which My name is called, been in your eyes? Even I, lo, I have seen, an affirmation of Jehovah.
A conspiracy of its prophets `is' in its midst, as a roaring lion tearing prey; The soul they have devoured, Wealth and glory they have taken, Its widows have multiplied in its midst. Its priests have wronged My law, And they pollute My holy things, Between holy and common they have not made separation, And between the unclean and the clean they have not made known, And from my sabbaths they have hidden their eyes, And I am pierced in their midst.
And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and did cast forth all those selling and buying in the temple, and the tables of the money-changers he overturned, and the seats of those selling the doves, and he saith to them, `It hath been written, My house a house of prayer shall be called, but ye did make it a den of robbers.'
And he buildeth altars to all the host of the heavens in the two courts of the house of Jehovah.
And He saith unto me, `Son of man, lift up, I pray thee, thine eyes the way of the north.' And I lift up mine eyes the way of the north, and lo, on the north of the gate of the altar this figure of jealousy, at the entrance. And He saith unto me, `Son of man, art thou seeing what they are doing? the great abominations that the house of Israel are doing here, to keep far off from My sanctuary; and again thou dost turn, thou dost see great abominations.'
As to the beauty of his ornament, For excellency He set it, And the images of their abominations, Their detestable things -- they made in it, Therefore I have given it to them for impurity,
What -- to My beloved in My house, Her doing wickedness with many, And the holy flesh do pass over from thee? When thou dost evil, then thou exultest.
The prophets have prophesied falsely, And the priests bear rule by their means, And My people have loved `it' so, And what do they at its latter end?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 23
Commentary on Jeremiah 23 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 23
In this chapter the prophet, in God's name, is dealing his reproofs and threatenings,
When all have thus corrupted their way they must all expect to be told faithfully of it.
Jer 23:1-8
Jer 23:9-32
Here is a long lesson for the false prophets. As none were more bitter and spiteful against God's true prophets than they, so there were none on whom the true prophets were more severe, and justly. The prophet had complained to God of those false prophets (ch. 14:13), and had often foretold that they should be involved in the common ruin; but here they have woes of their own.
Jer 23:33-40
The profaneness of the people, with that of the priests and prophets, is here reproved in a particular instance, which may seem of small moment in comparison of their greater crimes; but profaneness in common discourse, and the debauching of the language of a nation, being a notorious evidence of the prevalency of wickedness in it, we are not to think it strange that this matter was so largely and warmly insisted upon here. Observe,