GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
But Yahweh said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you. Don’t be afraid because of them, for I am with you to rescue you,” says Yahweh.
Then Yahweh stretched out his hand, and touched my mouth. Then Yahweh said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
Jeremiah 1:7-9 sits inside this longer paragraph.
But Yahweh said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you. Don’t be afraid because of them, for I am with you to rescue you,” says Yahweh.
Then Yahweh stretched out his hand, and touched my mouth. Then Yahweh said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. Behold, I have today set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
But Yahweh said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you.
Don’t be afraid because of them, for I am with you to rescue you,” says Yahweh.
Then Yahweh stretched out his hand, and touched my mouth. Then Yahweh said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
But the LORD said unto me: say not: I am a child; for to whomsoever I shall send thee thou shalt go, and whatsoever I shall command thee thou shalt speak.
Be not afraid of them; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
Then the LORD put forth His hand, and touched my mouth; and the LORD said unto me: Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth;
47 distinct cross-references across this passage (48 total citations).
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv7–9 Now follows the answer given to him, Say not,…
Now follows the answer given to him, Say not, I am a child; for thou shalt go, etc. God not only predicts here what the Prophet was to do, but declares also what he designed him to do, and what he required from him, as though he had said, “It is thy duty to obey, because I have the right to command: thou must, therefore, go wheresoever I shall send thee, and thou must also proclaim whatsoever I shall command thee.” By these words God reminds him that he was his servant, and that there was no reason why a sense of his own weakness should make him afraid; for it ought to have been enough for him simply to obey his command.
And it is especially necessary to know this doctrine: for as we ought to undertake nothing without considering what our strength is, so when God enjoins anything, we ought, immediately to obey his word as it were with closed eyes. Prudence is justly praised by writers; and it is what ought to be attended to by all generally; they ought to consider what the shoulders can bear, and cannot bear. For whence is it that many have so much audacity and boldness, except that they hurry on through extreme self — confidence? Hence, in all undertakings, this should be the first thing, that every one should weigh well his own strength, and take in hand what comports with the measure of his capacity. Then no one would foolishly obtrude himself, and arrogate to himself more than what is right. But when God calls us, we ought to obey, however deficient we may in all things be: and this is what we learn from what God says here, Say not, I am a child; that is, “though thou, indeed, thinkest thyself destitute of every qualification, though thou art conscious of thine own weakness, yet thou shalt go, thou must go wheresoever I shall send thee.” God, then, requires this honor to be simply conceded to him, that men should obey his commands, though the qualification necessary to execute them be wanting. It afterwards follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v9 Which declareth that God maketh them meet, and assureth…
Which declareth that God maketh them meet, and assureth them, whom he calleth to set forth his glory: giving them all means necessary for the same, Exod. 4:12; Isa. 6:7.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv7–9 Jer 1:7 But the LORD said unto me, Say…
Jer 1:7 But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I [am] a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
Ver. 7. Say not, I am a child.] Plead no excuses, cast no perils; never dispute, but despatch; never reason, but run, {a} depending for direction and success upon God alone, in whom are all our fresh springs, and from whom is all our sufficiency, &c. Paul was a most unlikely piece of wood to make what he was afterwards called, a Mercury, {Act 14:12} yet God made use of him. {Act 9:13-15}
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For thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee.] Whether kings or captives, lords or losels. He preached before Jehoiakim concerning the office of a king, and threatened him with the burial of an ass; {Jer 22:18-19; Jer 36:30} he dealt plainly with the princes who beat him, and with the priests who stocked him with all sorts, to his great cost; he was a heroic and unexpugnable spirit; so are not many in these times, Verbi Dei truncatores et emasculatores, men pleasing preachers.
{a} God loveth not quarists, but currists, said Luther.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv7–9 Say not, I am a child; do not plead…
Say not, I am a child; do not plead excuses.
Thou shalt go: this is God’s answer to Jeremiah, in respect of his sense of his own inability. This may be by way of command, and then it is a check to his timorousness; Thou shalt go, therefore draw not back. Or by way of promise, and then it is a satisfactory answer to his excuse, as both proceeded from a sense of his own insufficiency: q.d. Fear not, I will make thee eloquent and courageous.
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To all: this relates either to persons or things.
To all, i.e. to all persons to whom I shall send thee; thou shalt balk none: see Rev 10:11. Or,
upon all, so is the Hebrew; and then it is, Thou shalt go upon all errands and messages that I shall send thee. See Isa 55:11; Act 26:16.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv7–9 But the Lord said unto me, say not, I…
But the Lord said unto me, say not, I am a child,.... This excuse will not be admitted:
for thou shall go to all that I shall send thee; either to "every place", as the Targum paraphrases; or "to all persons to whom" he should be sent, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions render the words; or "to all things for which" he should send him, as the Syriac and Vulgate Latin versions. The sense is, that he should go everywhere, and to every person, and on every errand and message he should be sent unto and with:
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and whatsoever I command thee, thou shall speak; out and openly, and keep back nothing through the fear of men; as follows:
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv7, 9 Thou shalt speak - Fear not, I will make…
Thou shalt speak - Fear not, I will make thee eloquent and courageous.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv7–8 Verse 7. Whatsoever I command thee] It is my…
Verse 7. Whatsoever I command thee] It is my words and message, not thine own, that thou shalt deliver. I shall teach thee; therefore thy youth and inexperience can be no hinderance.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv7, 9 Jer 1:7-8. But the Lord said unto me, &c.…
Jer 1:7-8. But the Lord said unto me, &c. — God refuses to accept of his excuse, and renews his commission to him to execute the prophetic office. Thus God refused to accept the excuse of Moses, made on a like occasion. See Exo 6:30; and Exo 7:1-2. Thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee — This is not so much a command as a promise: as much as to say, I will enable thee, notwithstanding thy youth, to go with proper boldness to those to whom I send thee, and to declare my commands with that dignity and precision wherewith they ought to be uttered. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee, &c. — The style of God’s commission to his prophets and messengers commonly runs in these words, I am with thee, (see the margin,) importing that God, who sent them, would enable them to discharge the office he had committed to them, and would give them strength proportionable to the work in which they engaged. To reprove the faults of all persons, of the high as well as the low, the rich as well as the poor, with that plainness and impartiality which the prophets used, required a more than ordinary degree of courage, as well as of prudence, for which cause the promise of God’s presence with them was particularly necessary, to encourage them in the discharge of their duty.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv7, 9 Jeremiah suggested two difficulties, the first inexperience, the second…
Jeremiah suggested two difficulties, the first inexperience, the second timidity. God now removes the first of these. Inexperience is no obstacle where the duty is simple obedience His timidity is removed by the promise given him in the next verse.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v9 Mouth; perhaps (Haydock) with a coal, by means of…
Mouth; perhaps (Haydock) with a coal, by means of an angel, (Isaias vi. 5.) in a sort of dream. He found himself changed into a new man.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv7–9 to all that--to all "to whom" [ROSENMULLER]. Rather, "to…
to all that--to all "to whom" [ROSENMULLER]. Rather, "to all against whom"; in a hostile sense (compare Jer 1:8, Jer 1:17-19) [MAURER]. Such was the perversity of the rulers and people of Judea at that time, that whoever would desire to be a faithful prophet needed to arm himself with an intrepid mind; Jeremiah was naturally timid and sensitive; yet the Spirit moulded him to the necessary degree of courage without taking away his peculiar individuality.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv7, 9 7, 8. I shall send thee… I am with…
7, 8. I shall send thee… I am with thee — God sometimes seeks our weakness as well as our strength. Seeming disqualifications may even constitute special fitness: for all real sufficiency is of God. Young or old, wise or foolish, cultured or without culture, it is always enough that God says, “I send thee; I am with thee.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv7–9 7. Here again there is brought out the contrast…
7. Here again there is brought out the contrast between Moses and Jeremiah. The former had offered one objection after another (Exo_3:11; Exo_3:13; Exo_4:1; Exo_4:10; Exo_4:13), and consequently (Jer_4:14) “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.” But in Jeremiah’s case encouragement alone was needed, and it is given at once in word and then in act.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv7–9 (7) The Lord said unto me.—The misgiving, which was…
(7) The Lord said unto me.—The misgiving, which was not reluctance, is met by words of encouragement. God gave the work; He would also give the power.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv7, 9 Thou shalt go, etc. Thoughts of self are altogether…
Thou shalt go, etc. Thoughts of self are altogether out of place in one who has received a Divine commission. Jeremiah"s duty is simple obedience. In put-suing this path he cannot but be safe (ver. 8).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v9 To whom the Word of the Lord came.
Jer_1:9
To whom the Word of the Lord came.
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The Word of God
Words are often used in two ways--one specific, definite; the other general, figurative. Thus, when we use the word heart, we mean specifically that organ which pumps the blood throughout our being; on the other hand, we use it broadly as the seat of the affections and centre of highest being. So it is with the term word, Primarily, it stands for a written or spoken term composed of letters; then we enlarge its content and use it in the sense of a message, What word did our friend send? Then as the Psalmist used it, where the heavens have a word for us, a message. Then we go on until we come to find that any expression of God is called a Word of God. This is the use of word in the Bible. The Word of God is always an expression of Gods being.
I. There is a Word of God for us in nature. The very heavens have a Word of God for us. They tell us that an attribute of His is glory, majesty, far-reaching grandeur. Days and nights all speak of His glory and infinite resource. How many words of God come to us through Nature! How the writers of the Psalms saw it! How Jesus saw in Nature the Word of Gods care and watchfulness!
1. Thus honesty is a Word of God, written on all the face of Nature as an attribute. Nature tells us God is honest, true to Himself, to the laws He has made, to man. The foundation Principle of the physical universe is honesty. The stars swing true to their courses. Suns rise and set and do not deceive us. If we did not know this universe was run honestly, we would not dare enter a new day.
2. As we are reading, in these days, more and more deeply into Nature, we are hearing another great Word of God, namely, that God is a God of purpose. This is a great message. Many people think He is not a God of purpose, but that the universe is being run with no end in view. Nature is full of prophecy, life everywhere throbs with expectancy of greater being; God begins with the simplest and works towards the greatest, He starts with a cell of living matter, and ends with the wonderful human frame, He starts with a spark of life and ends with a spirit in His own image. The best lies before us, the golden age is yet to be. God has great destinies in view for the human soul.
II. There has been a distinctive Word of God spoken through prophets and statesmen who have been wrapped up in the progress of nations. We might see this in the history of any nation, of old or of today, but I will take Israel, because we are more familiar with its history and its prophets. One Word of God that came through Israel was justice. God was a just God. He was not like the gods of the Babylonians, fickle, full of whims, acting by impulse, but He was a God who weighed and considered; who looked at motives as well as deeds; who meted out rewards and punishments by desert. Another Word of God that came to Israel was that He was a shield and reward, a defender of His people. The Word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Ah, how well Israel learned that word in all her devious history! And how deeply impressed upon her was the word that God was a jealous God--jealous for the welfare of His people, a present help, a refuge, and a strength. Another word that came through Israel was that God was a patient, long-suffering God. The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah were continually giving this Word of God. And every other nation through its people and prophets has some great Word of God to give to the world. For God is not dumb, and His prophets today are not deaf.
III. It is through life that God must speak His largest word, make the fullest revelation of His Being. It is life that speaks to life, heart that comforts heart. All the prophets of Israel saying that God is long-suffering will not move a man to see it so much as one soul here exhibiting the forbearance of God. Preachers may preach forever that God is love, and it will not have the force of one God-filled deed of love. So it is with all the attributes of God. They cannot be revealed in their great, Divine reality except as they are manifest in human life. So when the fulness of time had come God spoke to men through a human soul. Then was His true glory revealed, then His nature made manifest. It was when the word, the expression, the character of God became flesh and dwelt among us that we beheld His glory. Jesus is the living manifestation of the Word of God. Now I have seen Jesus I know God identifies Himself with men. For He has come into our humanity. I ask God what word He has for me in my sorrows and loneliness, and the answer comes to me in the life of Jesus that God is love. I see God living as love before me. I see His love going out to wretched men and women. I see Him serving as only love can serve. I see Him gathering to Himself outcasts and sinners, and recreating them in a new atmosphere of love. I see Him taking little children upon His knee and blessing them. I see Him suffering because He loved the world. What is the nature of God? In Jesus see how He is a Father. See how Jesus whole life was a living word speaking the Fatherhood of God. How does God treat sinful beings? Look how Jesus treated sinful women who came to Him, and see how God treats sinners. How does God feel over the sins of the world? See Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. Will God suffer to save men? See Jesus giving His rest, and strength, and life, that men may see to what ends God will go to save His children. Let us remember that it was because Jesus was one with the Father that He could be the medium of the Word of God. But when He said, I and the Father are one, He referred to a spiritual oneness. So wherever there is a soul today who is one with the Father, there you will find a living Word of God. There is a very striking scene in George Macdonalds Robert Falconer which shows how today a Word of God may come through life. Eric Ericson, a poor Scotch student, tramping on to Edinburgh, stops footsore and weary at the Boars Head, the inn kept by Letty Napier. After resting awhile, he starts to go on, although so footsore he can hardly walk. But Miss Letty makes him go up to a room and take off his shoes, and let her bathe his feet. He expostulates, for he has not a shilling in the world. But Miss Letty makes him stay three days and rest, while she ministers to him, and then starts him off to Edinburgh, a new man, and a couple of pieces in his pocket. Eric had been a sceptic, but as he walks with Robert he says, with the tears welling up in his eyes, If I only knew that God was as good as that woman, I should die content. Robert answers, But surely ye dinna think Gods nae as guid as she is? Surely Hes as guid as He can be. He is good, ye know. Eric answers, Oh, yes, they say so. And then they tell you something about Him that isnt good, and go on calling Him good all the same. But calling anybody good doesnt make him good, you know. Yes, poor Eric was right--calling Him good does not make Him good. But when Eric felt love in this godly woman it set him to thinking about the goodness in God. It was a living word from God straight to his heart. So, every time you do a deed of love, you are speaking a word of God. (F. Lynch.)
The call of Jeremiah
It is not to be expected that a superficial gaze will discern the special qualifications that attracted the Divine choice to Jeremiah. But that is no wonder. The instruments of the Divine purpose in all ages have not been such as man would have selected. There were several reasons why Jeremiah might have been passed over.
1. He was young. How young we do not know; but young enough for him to start back at the Divine proposal with the cry, Ah! Lord God! behold, I cannot speak; for I am a child. Without doubt, as a boy he had enjoyed peculiar advantages. God has often selected the young for posts of eminent service: Samuel and Timothy; Joseph and David; Daniel and John the Baptist.
2. He was naturally timid and sensitive. By nature he seemed cast in too delicate a mould to be able to combat the dangers and difficulties of his time. He reminds us of a denizen of the sea, accustomed to live within its shell, but suddenly deprived of its strong encasement, and thrown without covering on the sharp edges of the rocks. The bitter complaint of his afterlife was that his mother had brought him into a world of strife and contention. Many are moulded upon this type. They have the sensitiveness of a girl, and the nervous organism of a gazelle. They love the shallows, with their carpet of silver sand, rather than the strong billows that test a mans endurance. For them it is enough to run with footmen; they have no desire to contend with horses. Yet such, like Jeremiah, may play an heroic part on the worlds stage, if only they will let God lay down the iron of His might along the lines of their natural weakness. His strength is only made perfect in weakness. It is to those who have no might that He increaseth strength.
3. He specially shrank from the burden he was summoned to bear. His chosen theme would have been Gods mercy--the boundlessness of His compassion, the tenderness of His pity. But to be charged with a message of judgment; to announce the woeful day; to oppose every suggestion of heroic resistance; to charge home on the prophetic and the priestly orders, to each of which he belonged, and the anger of each of which he incurred, the crimes by which they were disgraced--this was the commission that was furthest from his choice (Jer_17:16).
4. He was conscious of his deficiency in speech. Like Moses, he could say, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. The best speakers for God are frequently they who are least gifted with human eloquence; for if that be richly present--the mighty power of moving men--there is an imminent peril of relying on it, and attributing the results to its magnetic spell. God cannot give His glory to another. He may not share His praise with man. He dare not expose His servants to the temptation of sacrificing to their own net or trusting their own ability. Do not, then, despair because of these apparent disqualifications. Notwithstanding all, the Word of the Lord shall come to thee; not for thy sake alone, but for those to whom thou shalt be sent. The one thing that God demands of thee is absolute consecration to His purpose, and willingness to go on any errand on which He may send thee. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
In the days of Josiah . . . also in the days of Jehoiakim.
Mutations of life
When one sea floweth, another ebbeth. When one star riseth, another setteth. When light is in Goshen, darkness is in Egypt. When Mordecai groweth into favour, Haman groweth out of favour. When Benjamin beginneth, Rachel endeth. Thus we are rising or setting, getting or spending, winning or losing, growing or fading, until we arrive at heaven or hell. (Henry Smith.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7, 9 Do not be afraid of them
Do not be afraid of them
"Do not be afraid of the people I will send you to speak to"
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this is Yahweh's declaration
The word "this" refers to what Yahweh just said in verses 7 and 8.
this is Yahweh's declaration
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. AT: "this is what Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
translationWords
Yahweh
send
command
fear
declare
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7, 9 1:7-8 God urged Jeremiah to look beyond himself to…
1:7-8 God urged Jeremiah to look beyond himself to the importance of the task he was called to fulfill. He had to meet God’s requirements for a royal messenger, which included willingness to travel and the faithful delivery of the Lord’s messages.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.