10 Therefore, I give their wives to others, Their fields to dispossessors, For from the least even unto the greatest, Every one is gaining dishonest gain, From prophet even unto priest, every one is dealing falsely.
And their houses have been turned to others, Fields and wives together, For I stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land, An affirmation of Jehovah. 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 even these through wine have erred, And through strong drink have wandered, Priest and prophet erred through strong drink, They have been swallowed up of the wine, They wandered because of the strong drink, They have erred in seeing, They have stumbled judicially.
And their wealth hath been for a spoil, And their houses for desolation, And they have built houses, and do not inhabit, And they have planted vineyards, And they do not drink their wine.
Therefore, because of your trampling on the poor, And the tribute of corn ye take from him, Houses of hewn work ye have built, And ye do not dwell in them, Desirable vineyards ye have planted, And ye do not drink their wine.
Its princes in its midst `are' as wolves, Tearing prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, For the sake of gaining dishonest gain. And its prophets have daubed for them with chalk, Seeing a vain thing, and divining for them a lie, Saying, `Thus said the Lord Jehovah:' And Jehovah hath not spoken.
For both prophet and priest have been profane, Yea, in My house I found their wickedness, An affirmation of Jehovah. Therefore is their way to them as slippery places, Into thick darkness they are driven, And they have fallen in it, For I bring in against them evil, The year of their inspection, An affirmation of Jehovah. And in prophets of Samaria I have seen folly, They have prophesied by Baal, And cause my people -- Israel -- to err. And in prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing, Committing adultery, and walking falsely, Yea, they strengthened the hands of evil doers, So that they have not turned back Each from his wickedness, They have been to me -- all of them -- as Sodom, And its inhabitants as Gomorrah. Therefore, thus said Jehovah of Hosts, concerning the prophets: Lo, I am causing them to eat wormwood, And have caused them to drink water of gall, For, from prophets of Jerusalem Hath profanity gone forth to all the land. Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Ye do not hearken unto the words Of the prophets who are prophesying to you, They are making you vain things, A vision of their own heart they speak, Not from the mouth of Jehovah. Saying diligently to those despising The word of Jehovah: Peace is for you, And `to' every one walking in the stubbornness of his heart they have said: Evil doth not come in unto you.
Blind `are' his watchmen -- all of them, They have not known, All of them `are' dumb dogs, they are not able to bark, Dozing, lying down, loving to slumber. And the dogs `are' strong of desire, They have not known sufficiency, And they `are' shepherds! They have not known understanding, All of them to their own way they did turn, Each to his dishonest gain from his quarter: `Come ye, I take wine, And we drink, quaff strong drink, And as this day hath been to-morrow, Great -- exceeding abundant!'
`A woman thou dost betroth, and another man doth lie with her; a house thou dost build, and dost not dwell in it; a vineyard thou dost plant, and dost not make it common; thine ox `is' slaughtered before thine eyes, and thou dost not eat of it; thine ass `is' taken violently away from before thee, and it is not given back to thee; thy sheep `are' given to thine enemies, and there is no saviour for thee. `Thy sons and thy daughters `are' given to another people, and thine eyes are looking and consuming for them all the day, and thy hand is not to God!
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?
And there did come also false prophets among the people, as also among you there shall be false teachers, who shall bring in besides destructive sects, and the Master who bought them denying, bringing to themselves quick destruction, and many shall follow out their destructive ways, because of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of, and in covetousness, with moulded words, of you they shall make merchandise, whose judgment of old is not idle, and their destruction doth not slumber.
for it behoveth the overseer to be blameless, as God's steward, not self-pleased, nor irascible, not given to wine, not a striker, not given to filthy lucre;
Her heads for a bribe do judge, And her priests for hire do teach, And her prophets for silver divine, And on Jehovah they lean, saying, `Is not Jehovah in our midst? Evil doth not come in upon us.'
Because of the sins of her prophets, The iniquities of her priests, Who are shedding in her midst the blood of the righteous,
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.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 8
Commentary on Jeremiah 8 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
But even then the judgment has not come to a height. Even sinners long dead must yet bear the shame of their sins. "At that time" points back to "days come" in Jeremiah 7:32. The Masoretes wished to have the ו before יוציאוּ deleted, apparently because they took it for ו consec . But it here stands before the jussive, as it does frequently, e.g., Jeremiah 13:10, Exodus 12:3. They will take the bones of the kings, princes, priests, and prophets, the rulers and leaders of the people (cf. Jeremiah 2:26), and the bones of the other inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves, and spread them out before the sun, the moon, and the stars, i.e., expose them under the open sky to the influence of the heavenly bodies, so that they shall rot away, become "dung on the face of the earth." The worst dishonour that could be done to the dead, a just return in kind for their worship of sun, moon, and stars: cf. Exodus 7:18; 2 Kings 21:5; 2 Kings 23:11. This worship the prophet describes in its various stages: "Inclination of the heart, the act of devoting and dedicating themselves to the service, the frequenting of gods' sanctuary in order to worship and to obtain oracles; while he strives to bring out in strong relief the contrast between the zeal of their service and the reward they get by it" (Hitz.). They shall not be gathered, i.e., for burial: cf. 2 Samuel 21:13.; 1 Samuel 31:13. The dead shall suffer this at the hands of enemies despoiling the land. The reason for so doing was, as Jerome observes, the practice of burying ornaments and articles of value along with the dead. Seeking for such things, enemies will turn up the graves (cf. acts of this kind the case of Ibn Chaldun, in Sylv. de Sacy, Abdollat . p. 561), and, in their hatred and insolence, scatter the bones of the dead all about.
Not less dreadful will be the fate of those who remain in life; so appalling that they will prefer death to life, since every kind of hardship in exile and imprisonment amongst the heathen is awaiting them: cf. Leviticus 26:36-39; Deuteronomy 28:65-67. המּקמות strikes us as peculiar, seeing that the latter word cannot be adjective to the former; for "in all the remaining places of Judah" (Umbr.) gives no suitable sense, and "in all remaining places outside of Judah" is contrary to usage. But הנּשׁארים may be taken as genitive, in spite of the article prefixed to the stat. constr . מקמות ; and we may then translate, with Maur.: in all the places of those who remain whither I have driven them. The lxx have omitted the second word; and it is possible it may have found its way hither from the preceding line by an error of transcription. And so Hitz., Ew., and Graf have deleted it as a gloss; but the arguments adduced have little weight. The lxx have also omitted "and say to them," Jeremiah 8:4, have changed כּה into כּי , and generally have treated Jeremiah in a quite uncritical fashion: so that they may have omitted the word from the present verse because it seemed awkward to them, and was not found in the parallel passages, Jeremiah 29:14; Jeremiah 23:3, which are not, however, precisely similar to the present verse.
The People's Obstinacy in Wickedness, and the Dreadfulness of the Judgment. - Since the people cleaves stedfastly to its sin (Jeremiah 8:4-13), the Lord must punish sorely (Jeremiah 8:14 -23). - Jeremiah 8:4-13. "And say to them, Thus hath the Lord said: Doth one fall, and not rise again? or doth one turn away, and not turn back again? Jeremiah 8:5. Why doth this people of Jerusalem turn itself away with a perpetual turning? They hold fast by deceit, they refuse to return. Jeremiah 8:6. I listened and heard: they speak not aright; no one repenteth him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? They all turn to their course again, like a horse rushing into the battle. Jeremiah 8:7. Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and turtle-dove, and swallow, and crane, keep the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of Jahveh. Jeremiah 8:8. How can ye say, Wise are we, and the law of Jahve we have? Certainly the lying pen of the scribes hath made it a lie. Jeremiah 8:9. Ashamed the wise men become, confounded and taken; lo, the word of Jahveh they spurn at; and whose wisdom have they? Jeremiah 8:10. Therefore will I give their wives unto others, their fields to new heirs: for from the small to the great, they are all greedy for gain; from the prophet even unto the priest, they all use deceit. Jeremiah 8:11. And they heal the hurt of the daughter of my people as it were a light matter, saying, Peace, peace; and yet there is no peace. Jeremiah 8:12. They have been put to shame because they have done abomination; yet they take not shame to themselves, ashamedness they know not. Therefore they shall fall amongst them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall stumble, that Jahve said. Jeremiah 8:13. Away, away will I sweep them, saith Jahveh: no grapes on the vine, and no figs on the fig-tree, and the leaf is withered; so I appoint unto them those that shall pass over them."