1Under the types of the prophet's abstaining from marriage, and from the houses of feasting and mourning, the utter ruin of the Jews is foreshewed; 10and that because they were even worse than their fathers. 14Their return from captivity shall be more memorable than their deliverance out of Egypt. 16God will recompense their idolatry double, and the Gentiles shall turn to God.
1THE word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,
2Thou shalt not 1take thee a wife, neither shalt thou 2have sons or daughters in this place.
1 That is, marry. See Gen. 19 on verse 14.
2 Which thou mightest beget; whereby the misery of the times, that were coming, is represented.
3For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;
4They shall die of 3grievous deaths;a they shall not be lamented;b neither shall they be buried;c but they shall be as dungd upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their 4carcasese shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
3 Hebr. deaths of sicknesses, or diseases, painfulnesses, which may likewise be understood of deadly diseases.
a Jer. 15:2.
b Jer. 25:33.
c Jer. 14:16.
d Jer. 9:22.
4 Hebr. dead body, as verse 18; Jer. 7:33, etc.
e Jer. 7:33; 15:3; 34:20.
5For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house 5of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have 6taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies.
5 Or, of the mourning-steward, of him that hath the rule and managing of affairs in mourning-banquets, which feasts were ordained and kept to mourn and grieve at the death of their friends, or to comfort one another that grieved for the loss of their friends by death, but they committed at and in those feasts all manner of pride, wantonness and excess, as may be gathered from Amos 6:7, where the same Hebrew word is used, and nowhere else in Holy Scripture, for which cause it is also diversely translated. See further of the scope of this command on verse 8, and compare Job 27:15; Psalm 78:64; Ezek. 24:22; Amos 6:10. Especially does all this agree with that which God caused to be prophesied in Babylon unto the people of the Jews by the prophet Ezekiel, and to be portrayed by a miracle the time that Jerusalem was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, Ezekiel 24.
6 Hebr. properly, gathered. See of the Hebrew word Psalm 26 on verse 9.
6Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, 7neither shall men lament for them, nor 8cutf themselves, nor make themselves 9bald for them:
7 Hebr. they shall not lament for them, that is, one shall not lament for them, or they shall not be lamented. See Job 4 on verse 19. Also in the sequel.
8 Namely, in the flesh of their bodies, as Lev. 19:27, 28; 21:5, 6, unto a sign of mourning.
f Lev. 19:28; Deut. 14:1.
9 Unto the same end, after the manner of the Gentiles, which the Jews did imitate, contrary to God’s command. See Lev. 21:5; Deut. 14 on verse 1, and compare Jer. 41:5; 47:5; 48:37.
7Neither shall men 10tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.
10 Understand: no bread, that is, food (which is joined with the Hebrew verb in Isa. 58:7; Lam. 4:4), which the friends and neighbors did use to send or to carry into the house of mourning, or to the place where the friends met together at the mourning banquet, to comfort and cheer up those who were sad and heavy, eating and drinking with them. See Deut. 26 on verse 14; Ezek. 24:17, 22. This does very well agree with the sequel, where mention is made of drinking. Some understand it of the dividing or stretching out and wringing of the hands, which indeed was wont to be done in great mourning.
8Thou shalt not also go into the house 11of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
11 Other, house of drinking. Understand where a merry feast or great banquet is kept; as if God said: Thou shalt have nothing to do with their sorrow or joy. From the previous 5th verse and the following 8th verse, some take both these commands to be as it were predictions of such a multitude of dead persons, and of such a general calamity and therewith such a curse of God, as that there shall be no desire, time, nor opportunity for mourning or rejoicing.
9For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, Ig will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the 12voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.
g Isa. 24:7, 8; Jer. 7:34; 25:10; Ezek. 26:13.
12 Which was wont to be heard at joyful feasts and weddings.
10¶And it shall come to pass, whenh thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?
h Jer. 5:19.
11Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
12And ye have done 13worsei than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the 14imaginationj of his evil heart, that they may not hearkenk unto me:
13 Hebr. have done evil, doing, or more than, etc.
i Jer. 7:26.
14 See Jer. 3 on verse 17.
j Jer. 3:17; 9:14; 13:10.
k Jer. 11:10; 13:10; 17:23.
13Therefore will I cast you outl of this land into a land that ye 15know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; 16where I will not shew you favour.
l Deut. 4:27; 28:64, 65.
15 That is, have not seen, or wherein ye have not lived or conversed; for, otherwise they knew well enough that there was a land that was called Chaldea or Babel; so elsewhere often.
16 Or, because, etc. Other, as long as I shall give you no favor, that is, until the time that I shall give you grace and favor in the eyes of king Cyrus, who shall release you, to return again into your own country, etc. which favor I would not give unto you under the reign of the previous kings of Babel. Compare Deut. 28:65, 66, 67.
14 ¶ 17Therefore, behold,m the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall 18no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
17 Compare Hosea 2:13 with the annotation.
m Jer. 23:7, 8.
18 That is, not so much, nor so feelingly as before. (Compare the manner of speech with Prov. 8 on verse 10; Jer. 3 on verse 16; Hosea 6 on verse 6.) Partly, because the misery, which they would suffer from the Babylonians, would be far greater and more cruel (which God inculcates upon them in these two verses) than that which they had suffered from the Egyptians, and consequently this new deliverance would be the more glorious; partly, because in this respect is likewise had to their future deliverance or redemption from the spiritual Babel, which Christ the Savior would not only bring to the elect remnant of the Jews, but also to the Gentiles, whereof is clearly spoken in the last verses of this chapter; for which transcendent benefit they would all of them serve and honor their Savior, which is likewise intimated by the following formula of oath. Compare Isa. 43:18, 19, etc.; Jer. 23:7, 8.
15But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the 19north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
19 Babel, and the spiritual captivity and misery thereby typified.
16¶Behold, I will 20send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the 21holes of the rocks.
20 That is, I will by My Divine and righteous Providence raise up enemies unto them, who shall deal with them as fishermen are wont to deal with fish, and hunters with wild beasts, that is, hunt, hurt, catch and carry away. Some understand hereby the fishermen the Egyptians, who (living in a land abounding with water) dealt much in fishing, Isa. 19:8; see 2 Kings 23:29, 33, etc.; by the hunters the Babylonians. Compare Gen. 10:8, 9. Others understand by both the Babylonians. Compare Hab. 1:14, 15. Other, I will send forth many or great fishers, etc. Some understand this sending out of the apostles unto the conversion of the Jews. Compare Ezek. 47:9, 10, with the annotations.
21 That they may be nowhere secure, even in such secret places where otherwise men are commonly wont to hide themselves.
17For mine 22eyesnare upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
22 That is, I take notice of all their purposes and practices. It is spoken of God after the manner of men. How such kind of speech is also used for good, see 1 Kings 8 on verse 29.
n Job 34:21; Prov. 5:21; Jer. 32:19.
18And 23first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin 24double; because they have defiledo25my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the 26carcasesp of their detestable and abominable things.
23 Before I show them mercy and favor, mentioned in verse 15.
24 That is, to the full, as Isa. 40:2; Jer. 17:18.
o Jer. 3:2.
25Canaan. See Psalm 68 on verse 9.
26 Hebr. dead body, as verse 4. Namely, of people, whom they slew and offered unto idols. See Jer. 19:5; Ezek. 16:20, 21. Or (as some understand it) with all their idols and idolatrous offerings, which stank in the sight and presence of God like a dead rotten corpse, because they were unlawful and idolatrous. See Lev. 26:30. You may likewise compare herewith Ezek. 43:7.
p Ezek. 43:7.
19 O 27LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have 28inherited lies, 29vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.
27 The prophet, being grieved at the people’s abominations, and troubled at God’s sore judgments, raises up himself by his faith and the certainty of God’s promises; as if he said: In all this I take Thee for my God alone, and abhor all manner of idolatry; and though Thou therefore wouldst be constrained to cut off this people, and to remove them away out of Thy presence, yet I know that Thou wilt most gloriously fill up the room again, by the gracious calling and conversion of the Gentiles, who with the elect remnant of the Jews shall know and serve Thee better, than does this wicked people.
28 Or, left for an inheritance. Have lived a very long time, successively, in ignorance of the true God, and in idolatry, and have taken comfort and delight, and left the same for an inheritance unto their children.
29 See Jer. 14 on verse 22.
2030Shall a man make gods unto himself, and 31they are no gods?
30 This may be taken in general, as a detestation and an abhorring of all idolatry whatsoever, both of Jews and Gentiles.
31 Namely, the gods that are made, that is, idols. As Jer. 2:11. Or (as some) whereas they themselves (namely, the people) are no gods, as if the prophet said: It is the most foolish thing that can be, that a man, who is indeed no god himself, would undertake to make a god.
21Therefore, behold, I will this once cause 32them to know, I will cause them to know mine 33hand and my might; and they shall know that my nameqis 34The LORD.
32 This idolatrous people.
33 That is, show by My judgments that I am the only almighty God.
q Jer. 33:2.
34 See Gen. 2 on verse 4. Or, JEHOVAH.