23 `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 have said, Because that they have forsaken Jehovah their God, who brought out their fathers from the land of Egypt, and they lay hold on other gods, and bow themselves to them, and serve them; therefore hath Jehovah brought in upon them all this evil.'
and all Israel have transgressed Thy law, to turn aside so as not to hearken to Thy voice; and poured on us is the execration, and the oath, that is written in the law of Moses, servant of God, because we have sinned against Him. `And He confirmeth His words that He hath spoken against us, and against our judges who have judged us, to bring in upon us great evil, in that it hath not been done under the whole heavens as it hath been done in Jerusalem,
Near have been my wicked pursuers, From Thy law they have been far off.
and they are mocking at the messengers of God, and despising His words, and acting deceitfully with His prophets, till the going up of the fury of Jehovah against His people -- till there is no healing.
Far from the wicked `is' salvation, For Thy statutes they have not sought.
And now, because of your doing all these works, An affirmation of Jehovah, And I speak unto you, rising early and speaking, And ye have not hearkened, And I call you, and ye have not answered, I also to the house on which My name is called, In which ye are trusting, And to the place that I gave to you, and to your fathers, Have done, as I have done to Shiloh. And I have cast you from before My face, As I have cast out all your brethren, The whole seed of Ephraim.
`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 Jehovah bringeth `it' in, and doth as He spake, because ye have sinned against Jehovah, and have not hearkened to His voice, even this thing hath been to you.
by provoking Me to anger by the works of your hands, by making perfume to other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye are going in to sojourn, so as to cut yourselves off, and so as to your being for a reviling and for a reproach among all nations of the earth?
`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.
A sin hath Jerusalem sinned, Therefore impure she hath become, All who honoured her have esteemed her lightly, For they have seen her nakedness, Yea, she herself hath sighed and turneth backward.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 44
Commentary on Jeremiah 44 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 44
In this chapter we have,
Jer 44:1-14
The Jews in Egypt were now dispersed into various parts of the country, into Migdol, and Noph, and other places, and Jeremiah was sent on an errand from God to them, which he delivered either when he had the most of them together in Pathros (v. 15) or going about from place to place preaching to this purport. He delivered this message in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, and in it,
Jer 44:15-19
We have here the people's obstinate refusal to submit to the power of the word of God in the mouth of Jeremiah. We have scarcely such an instance of downright daring contradiction to God himself as this, or such an avowed rebellion of the carnal mind. Observe,
Jer 44:20-30
Daring sinners may speak many a bold word and many a big word, but, after all, God will have the last word; for he will be justified when he speaks, and all flesh, even the proudest, shall be silent before him. Prophets may be run down, but God cannot; nay, here the prophet would not.
The sacred history records not the accomplishment of this prophecy, but its silence is sufficient; we hear no more of these Jews in Egypt, and therefore conclude them, according to this prediction, lost there; for no word of God shall fall to the ground.