39 Therefore, lo, I -- I have taken you utterly away, And I have sent you out, And the city that I gave to you, And to your fathers, from before My face,
And when this people, or the prophet, Or a priest, doth ask thee, saying, What `is' the burden of Jehovah? Then thou hast said unto them: Ye `are' the burden, and I have left you, An affirmation of Jehovah.
And I also deal in fury, Mine eye doth not pity, nor do I spare, and they have cried in Mine ears -- a loud voice -- and I do not hear them.'
who shall suffer justice -- destruction age-during -- from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of his strength,
Then shall he say also to those on the left hand, Go ye from me, the cursed, to the fire, the age-during, that hath been prepared for the Devil and his messengers;
For though they nourish their sons, I have made them childless -- without man, Surely also, wo to them, when I turn aside from them. Ephraim! when I have looked to the rock, Is planted in comeliness, And Ephraim `is' to bring out unto a slayer his sons. Give to them, Jehovah -- what dost Thou give? Give to them miscarrying womb, and dry breasts. All their evil `is' in Gilgal, Surely there I have hated them, Because of the evil of their doings, Out of My house I do drive them, I add not to love them, all their heads `are' apostates. Ephraim hath been smitten, Their root hath dried up, fruit they yield not, Yea, though they bring forth, I have put to death the desired of their womb. Reject them doth my God, Because they have not hearkened to Him, And they are wanderers among nations!
For I `am' as a lion to Ephraim, And as a young lion to the house of Judah, I -- I tear and go, I bear away, and there is no deliverer.
Cut off have been My people for lack of knowledge, Because thou knowledge hast rejected, I reject thee from being priest to Me, And thou forgettest the law of thy God, I forget thy sons, I also!
For thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I -- even I, have required My flock, And I have sought it out.
aged, young man, and virgin, and infant, and women, ye do slay -- to destruction; and against any man on whom `is' the mark ye do not go nigh, and from My sanctuary ye begin.'
And thou hast said: Mountains of Israel, Hear ye a word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus said the Lord Jehovah To the mountains, and to the hills, To the streams, and to the valleys, Lo, I, I am bringing in against you a sword, And I have destroyed your high places.
Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I `am' against thee, even I, And I have done in thy midst judgments, Before the eyes of the nations.
`And I, lo, I am bringing in the deluge of waters on the earth to destroy all flesh, in which `is' a living spirit, from under the heavens; all that `is' in the earth doth expire.
and I have charged on him, and on his seed, and on his servants, their iniquity; and I have brought in on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto the men of Judah, all the evil that I have spoken unto them, and they hearkened not.'
therefore thus said Jehovah, God of Hosts, God of Israel: Lo, I am bringing in unto Judah, and unto all inhabitants of Jerusalem, all the evil that I have spoken against them, because I have spoken unto them, and they have not hearkened, yea, I call to them, and they have not answered.'
`Therefore, thus said Jehovah, Lo, I am giving this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he hath captured it; And come in have the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city, and they have set this city on fire, and have burned it, and the houses on whose roofs they made perfume to Baal, and poured out libations to other gods, so as to provoke Me to anger. For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been only doing evil in Mine eyes, from their youth; for the sons of Israel are only provoking Me with the work of their hands -- an affirmation of Jehovah. `For a cause of Mine anger, and a cause of My fury, hath this city been to Me, even from the day that they built it, and unto this day -- to turn it aside from before My face, Because of all the evil of the sons of Israel, and of the sons of Judah that they have done, so as to provoke Me -- they, their kings, their heads, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they turn unto Me the neck, and not the face, and teaching them, rising early and teaching, and they are not hearkening to accept instruction. `And they set their abominations in the house over which My name is called, so as to defile it; And they build the high places of Baal, that `are' in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come up on my heart to do this abomination, so as to cause Judah to sin.
And I have cast you from before My face, As I have cast out all your brethren, The whole seed of Ephraim.
I -- I `am' He -- your comforter, Who `art' thou -- and thou art afraid of man? he dieth! And of the son of man -- grass he is made!
Whoso is despising the Word is destroyed for it, And whoso is fearing the Command is repayed.
Cast me not forth from Thy presence, And Thy Holy Spirit take not from me.
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,