“Therefore now Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Why do you commit great evil against your own souls, to cut off from yourselves man and woman, infant and nursing child out of the middle of Judah, to leave yourselves no one remaining; in that you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to live; that you may be cut off, and that you may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.’
“Therefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah. I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to live there, and they will all be consumed. They will fall in the land of Egypt. They will be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They will die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine. They will be an object of horror, an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; so that none of the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, will escape or be left to return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there; for no one will return except those who will escape.’ ”
Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the people who lived in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, “As for the word that you have spoken to us in Yahweh’s name, we will not listen to you. But we will certainly perform every word that has gone out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of the sky, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
“When we burned incense to the queen of the sky, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands?”
Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people who had given him an answer, saying, “The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, didn’t Yahweh remember them, and didn’t it come into his mind? Thus Yahweh could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is today. Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against Yahweh, and have not obeyed Yahweh’s voice, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil has happened to you, as it is today.”
Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, “Hear Yahweh’s word, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt! Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying, “We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her.” “ ‘Establish then your vows, and perform your vows.’
“Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, I have sworn by my great name,’ says Yahweh, ‘that my name will no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “As the Lord Yahweh lives.” Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt will be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until they are all gone. Those who escape the sword will return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah few in number. All the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to live there, will know whose word will stand, mine or theirs.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28 He then adds, Why then do ye now this…
He then adds, Why then do ye now this great evil against your own souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, from the midst of Judah, that nothing may remain for you? here at length the passage is finished; for what we have hitherto read would have kept the reader in suspense, had not this been added. He then says, “Since the sin of your fathers ought to have been detested by you, and since God’s judgment had been dreadful, and that punishment ought at this day to fill, you with fear, how is it, that ye seek to bring on yourselves again the vengeance of God?” Why then, he says, now, etc. This now is emphatical, that is, after so many and so remarkable examples, after so many admonitions, after the most grievous punishment inflicted on the obstinate. He says, against your own souls; and by this he touched them very sharply, reminding them that what they were doing would be to their ruin, as though he had said, that God would receive no loss from their wickedness, but that they would become the authors of their own destruction, he indeed intimates, as I have already said, that their impiety would not be without its punishment; but he shews at the same time that God could, if he thought proper, look down with indifference on their impieties; for he would remain perfect even if they were the worst. For when God is robbed by men of his just and legitimate worship, there is nothing taken away from his greatness; for he ever remains the same, and is neither advanced nor diminished through the will of men. Then the Prophet shews that the Jews were acting madly for their own ruin, when he says, that they did evil against their own souls
And this he explains more fully by adding, To cut off man and woman, child and suckling, from the midst of Judah He intimates that God still manifested his mercy, while there was any remnant. They might have remained in Judea, even in their own inheritance; and the country might have been inhabited till the time of seventy years had elapsed, which God had fixed for the exile. Now the Prophet shews that they fought as it were against the goodness of God, for they sought to extinguish their own name, so that nothing should remain of that people, to whom God had still left some seed, that they might not wholly perish.
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 vv9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 25, 26, 28 He showeth that we ought to keep in memory…
He showeth that we ought to keep in memory God’s plagues from the beginning, that considering them, we might live in his fear, and know if he have not spared our fathers, yea, kings, princes, and rulers, and also whole countries, and nations for their sins, that we vile worms, cannot look to escape punishment for ours.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv7–28 Jer 44:7 Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the…
Jer 44:7 Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye [this] great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;
Ver. 7. Wherefore commit you this evll against your souls?] This land desolating, soul destroying sin of idolatry.
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, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 What prudence can guide you to do such actions…
What prudence can guide you to do such actions as these, by which you cannot hurt God, but yourselves only? You are now but a few of many; what love have you for your country, in taking courses which will certainly tend to the utter extirpation of those few, so as there shall be neither man, nor woman, nor child, nor suckling remaining of all the Jews?
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv15, 20 We have here the people's obstinate refusal to submit…
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,
I. The persons who thus set God and his judgments at defiance; it was not some one that was thus obstinate, but the generality of the Jews; and they were such as knew either themselves or their wives to be guilty of the idolatry Jeremiah had reproved, Jer 44:15. We find, 1. That the women had been more guilty of idolatry and superstition than the men, not because the men stuck closer to the true God and the true religion than the women, but, I fear, because they were generally atheists, and were for no God and no religion at all, and therefore could easily allow their wives to be of a false religion, and to worship false gods. 2. That it was consciousness of guilt that made them impatient of reproof: They knew that their wives had burnt incense to other gods, and that they had countenanced them in it, and the women that stood by knew that they had joined with them in their idolatrous usages; so that what Jeremiah said touched them in a sore place, which made them kick against the pricks, as children of Belial, that will not bear the yoke.
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II. The reply which these persons made to Jeremiah, and in him to God himself; it is in effect the same with theirs who had the impudence to say to the Almighty, Depart from us; we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
1. They declare their resolution not to do as God commanded them, but what they themselves had a mind to do; that is, they would go on to worship the moon, here called the queen of heaven; yet some understand it of the sun, which was much worshipped in Egypt (Jer 43:13) and had been so at Jerusalem (Kg2 23:11), and they say that the Hebrew word for the sun being feminine it may not unfitly be called the queen of heaven. And others understand it of all the host of heaven, or the frame of heaven, the whole machine, Jer 7:18. These daring sinners do not now go about to make excuses for their refusal to obey, nor suggest that Jeremiah spoke from himself and not from God (as before, Jer 43:2), but they own that he spoke to them in the name of the Lord, and yet tell him flatly, in so many words, "We will not hearken unto thee; we will do that which is forbidden and run the hazard of that which is threatened." Note, Those that live in disobedience to God commonly grow worse and worse, and the heart is more and more hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Here is the genuine language of the rebellious heart: We will certainly do whatsoever thing goes forth out of our own mouth, let God and his prophets say what they please to the contrary. What they said many think who yet have not arrived at such a degree of impudence as to speak it out. It is that which the young man would be at in the days of his youth; he would walk in the way of his heart and the sight of his eyes, and would have and do every thing he has a mind to, Ecc 11:9.
2. They give some sort of reasons for their resolution; for the most absurd and unreasonably wicked men will have something to say for themselves, till the day comes when every mouth shall be stopped.
(1.) They plead many of those things which the advocates for Rome make the marks of a true church, and not only justify but magnify themselves with; and these Jews have as much right to them as the Romanists have. [1.] They plead antiquity: We are resolved to burn incense to the queen of heaven, for our fathers did so; it is a practice that pleads prescription; and why should we pretend to be wiser than our fathers? [2.] They plead authority. Those that had power practised it themselves and prescribed it to others: Our kings and our princes did it, whom God set over us, and who were of the seed of David. [3.] They plead unity. It was not here and there one that did it, but we, we all with one consent, we that are a great multitude (Jer 44:15), we did it. [4.] They plead universality. It was not done here and there, but in the cities of Judah. [5.] They plead visibility. It was not done in a corner, in dark and shady groves only, but in the streets, openly and publicly. [6.] They plead that it was the practice of the mother-church, the holy see; it was not now learned first in Egypt, but it had been done in Jerusalem. [7.] They plead prosperity: They had we plenty of bread, and of all good things; we were well and saw no evil. All the former pleas, I fear, were too true in fact; God's witnesses against their idolatry were few and hid; Elijah though that he was left alone: and this last might perhaps be true as to some particular persons, but, as to their nation, they were still under rebukes for their rebellions, and there was no peace to those that went out or came in, Ch2 15:5. But, supposing all to be true, yet this does not at all excuse them from idolatry; it is the law of God that we must be ruled and judged by, hot the practice of men.
(2.) They suggest that the judgments they had of late been under were brought upon them for leaving off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, Jer 44:18. So perversely did they misconstrue providence, though God, by his prophets, had so often explained it to them, and the thing itself spoke the direct contrary. Since we forsook our idolatries we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword, the true reason of which was because they still retained their idols in their heart and an affection to their old sins; but they would have it thought that it was because they had forsaken the acts of sin. Thus the afflictions which should have been for their welfare, to separate between them and their sins, being misinterpreted did but confirm them in their sins. Thus, in the first ages of Christianity, when God chastised the nations by any public calamities for opposing the Christians and persecuting them, they put a contrary sense upon the calamities, as if they were sent to punish them for conniving at the Christians and tolerating them, and cried, Christianos ad leones - Throw the Christians to the lions. Yet, if it had been true, as they said here, that since they returned to the service of the true God, the God of Israel, they had been in want and trouble, was that a reason why they should revolt from him again? That was as much as to say that they served not him, but their own bellies. Those who know God, and put their trust in him, will serve him, though he starve them, though he slay them, though they never see a good day with him in this world, being well assured that they shall not lose by him in the end.
(3.) They plead that, though the women were most forward and active in their idolatries, yet they did it with the consent and approbation of their husbands; the women were busy to make cakes for meat-offerings to the queen of heaven and to prepare and pour out the drink-offerings, Jer 44:19. We found, before, that this was their work, Jer 7:18. "But did we do it without our husbands, privately and unknown to them, so as to give them occasion to be jealous of us? No; the fathers kindled the fire while the women kneaded the dough; the men that were our heads, whom we were bound to learn of and to be obedient to, taught us to do it by their example." Note, It is sad when those who are in the nearest relation to each other, who should quicken each other to that which is good and so help one another to heaven, harden each other in sin and so ripen one another for hell. Some understand this as spoken by the husbands (Jer 44:15), who plead that they did not do it without their men, that is, without their elders and rulers, their great men, and men in authority; but, because the making of the cakes and the pouring out of the drink-offerings are expressly spoken of as the women's work (Jer 7:18), it seems rather to be understood as their plea: but it was a frivolous plea. What would it avail them to be able to say that it was according to their husbands' mind, when they knew that it was contrary to their God's mind?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv7–28 Therefore now thus saith the Lord, the God of…
Therefore now thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel,.... The same epithets as before, Jer 44:2; with an addition, that his words might carry more weight with them:
wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls; the sin of idolatry, which is a great evil; a sin against God; a giving the glory to another, that belongs to him and not only so, but is against the souls of men; pernicious and ruinous to them, which brings destruction, even eternal wrath and damnation, on them; and this is an interesting argument why it should not be committed; nay, it was not only against God, and against themselves, but against their families, and the interest of them:
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to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain; not that they did this great evil or committed idolatry with this intention, to ruin their families and posterity; but so it was eventually; hereby they provoked the Lord to anger, to cut off the men that offered incense to idols; and the women their wives, whom they allowed so to do; and their children, who were brought up in the same practices; so that they would have none to succeed them, to bear their name, and inherit their land; unless God should be merciful, and not deal according to their deserts; for such was the nature of their crime, as to deserve an utter extirpation of them.
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 vv14, 15, 26 For none - Only such shall escape, as have…
For none - Only such shall escape, as have been forced into Egypt against their wills; and as did not fall in with the idolatry of the Egyptians.
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, 9, 15, 19, 22 Verse 7. This great evil against your souls] Will…
Verse 7. This great evil against your souls] Will not self-interest weigh with you? See what ruin your conduct has brought upon your country. Your fathers sinned as you are doing; and where are they now? Either destroyed, or in captivity. And you are now taking the same way to your own destruction.
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 vv8, 11, 15, 16, 20, 24 Jer 44:8-10. Ye provoke me unto wrath with the…
Jer 44:8-10. Ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands — By making and setting up idols to worship. That ye might cut yourselves off, &c. — This is not to be so taken as if they did these things with a design to cut off themselves and their posterity: but only as signifying that their utter ruin would be the certain consequence of their continuing so to act. Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers? &c. — Have you forgotten what great wickedness your fathers committed, and what great punishments were in consequence thereof inflicted upon them? We may be truly said to have forgotten that the sight of which, or reflection thereon, makes no such impression upon us as produces a suitable practice. Which they have committed in the land of Judah, &c. — To have practised these things in any place would have been to contract great guilt; but to have done them in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, in the valley of vision, and in the holy city, where there were such means of information and such helps to piety, was still more aggravated and inexcusable wickedness. They are not humbled even unto this day — Neither they nor you are yet properly humbled, and prepared for receiving mercy. Neither have they feared, nor walked in my law — Hence we learn, that reformation and obedience are the proper fruit of true contrition and humiliation; God does not account those to be humbled, but hardened, who are not reformed and made obedient, let their pretended contrition or humiliation be, in outward appearance, what it may.
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, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24 Your souls - i. e., your own selves.
Your souls - i. e., your own selves.
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 vv8, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 21, 26 Gods. Their blindness and malice was inconceivable. They attribute…
Gods. Their blindness and malice was inconceivable. They attribute their past miseries to the neglect of worshipping the moon! ver. 18. They may be compared to a mixture of iron and brass, which is put through the crucible in vain, chap. vi. 29., and Ezechiel xxii. 18.
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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv15, 20, 24 b. The Replication of the People
b. The Replication of the People
Jer_44:15-19
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15Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by a [there in the] great multitude [assembly], even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros answered Jeremiah , 16 saying, As for the word12 that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the 17Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing [word] goeth forth [has gone forth] out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well,13 and saw 18no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed1419by the sword and by the famine. And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her,15 and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
From the purport of this passage it is manifest that the people had come together to celebrate a festival in honor of the queen of heaven, and to perform the vows they had made. The assembly consisted principally of women. Hence they were the chief speakers. They now declare to the prophet that they will not obey his words (Jer_44:16), but perform their vows, and make their offerings to the queen of heaven, as they had also done at home. It was then well with them (Jer_44:17), only since they neglected her worship, has it gone badly with them (Jer_44:18). In addition, they (the women) had devoted themselves to the service of this goddess only with the concurrence of their husbands.
Jer_44:15. Then all … saying. The assembly consisted (1) of men, who well knew that their wives offered incense to other gods (comp. rems. on Jer_44:3); (2) of women, who were a great multitude. From the circumstance that the “great assembly” is designated as consisting of women, it has been rightly concluded that they formed the majority, which explains the emphasis laid on the women in Jer_44:24-25.—The Jewish women thus appear to have come together from all parts of Egypt to a festival of the queen of heaven, which was held in a place of upper Egypt (Pathros), not more particularly designated, in order there to perform their vows made to this goddess. The men seem to have been both those who lived in the neighborhood and those who had come from a distance as husbands of a part of the women mentioned. The assembly consisted (3) of representatives of all the people, who were settled in Egypt, among whom we must suppose individuals, who were neither husbands nor wives—In Pathros accordingly designates the place of meeting, and is not to be connected with lived but with answered. The prophet had endeavored by his discourse, Jer_44:2-14, to hinder the observance of this idolatrous festival, but was not successful.
Jer_44:16-19. As for the word … without our men.—We will not hearken. Comp. Jer_7:16.—The expression whatsoever word has gone forth out of our mouth indicates vows that had been made (comp. Num_30:3; Num_30:13; Num_32:24; Jdg_11:36). On the queen of heaven comp. rems. on Jer_7:18—And when we burned. According to the apodosis this ought properly to be in the feminine instead of the masculine, as in Jer_44:15 (מקטרוֹת). The masculine form has not only a general justification, as being the chief form, and frequently occurring for the feminine (comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 60, 5, 4), but also a special, since the speakers had in view the entire number who took part in the offering. According to Num_30:7 sqq., the women were responsible for the observance of their vows only when approved by their husbands (or fathers, comp. Jer_44:4). Hence they now declare, that in consequence of having obtained the concurrence of their husbands they are at any rate free from all personal responsibility. On cakes comp. rems. on Jer_7:18. It is evident from the latter passage, that this cult was not first adopted in Egypt, but imported from home.
Footnotes:
[12]Jer_44:16.—הַדָּבָר is to be regarded as accusative of restriction. Not generally, but only with respect to this particular word, do they declare that they will not obey the prophet. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 70, f.
[13]Jer_44:17.—טובים felices. Comp. Isa_3:10, and Delitzsch ad loc.
[14]Jer_44:18.—On the form תַּמְנוּ, which is found only in the root תָּמַם, comp. Olsh., S. 483, f.
[15]Jer_44:19.—להעציבה. The Hiph. here only. The Piel only in Job_10:8 decidedly in the meaning of “to form, shape.” Compare further עֶצֶב,עֲצַבִּים (Jer_22:28), so the meaning of the Hiph. in this place cannot be other than “to form, copy,” with reference to the moon-shaped form of the cakes. Comp. rems. on Jer_7:18. The circumstance that the ה is written without Mappik (which however is found in some MSS.) does not stand in the way of this. (Comp. Olsh., § 96, e; Isa_21:2; Isa_23:17-18). [We must then render: make her cakes to copy her.—S. R. A.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28 now--after so many warnings.
now--after so many warnings.
commit . . . this . . . evil against your souls-- (Jer 7:19; Num 16:38; Pro 8:36). It is not God whom you injure, but yourselves.
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, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28 7. Against your souls — Lives. This is more…
7. Against your souls — Lives. This is more fully set forth in the language to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling. Sin is simply an all-comprehending suicide!
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, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27 7. against your own souls] See on Jer_42:20, and…
7. against your own souls] See on Jer_42:20, and cp. Jer_26:19.
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 vv8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 24 (8) Burning incense unto other gods in the land…
(8) Burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt.—The words imply that the exiles were not only carrying on the old idolatrous practices with which they had been familiar in their own lands, but had adopted those of the Egyptians. This was the evil which the prophet had all along dreaded, and which had made him from the first, like his predecessor, Isaiah (Isa_30:2; Isa_31:1), hostile to every plan of an alliance with Egypt.
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, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28 Against your souls; i.e. against yourselves. The "soul" is…
Against your souls; i.e. against yourselves. The "soul" is the personality.
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 v16 As for the word which thou hast spoken to…
Jer_44:16
As for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will net hearken unto thee.
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The ministerial message and its reception
I. It devolves on ministers to speak to sinners in the name of the Lord.
1. They represent to them their deplorable situation; they describe to them the horrors of the pit wherein there is no water, in which they lie; the miseries of that prison in which they are closely confined; the unprofitableness of the drudgery in which they are engaged; and the tribulation and anguish which they have to expect. Knowing the terrors of the Lord, they persuade men; and sensible that, if they are unfaithful, the blood of souls will be required at their hands, they are instant in season and out of season, if by any means they Could persuade them to flee from the wrath to come.
2. They do all this in the name of the Lord.
(1) They speak in obedience to His command.
(2) They speak in perfect agreement with the Divine word.
(3) They preach in the hope of promoting His glory.
II. The unpleasant reception with which their message often meets. We will not hearken.
1. We hope that there are but few who would plainly say this in words; who are so hardened as to glory in their shame; or so incorrigible as to tell Gods ministers that they cast His words behind their back, as unworthy of attention, and beneath their notice: yet we are persuaded that there are many professors who say this in their hearts, and who will not see when the hand of God is lifted up; for if this were not the case, would ministers so often have to lament over them, saying, Oh, that they were wise; and, Oh, that there were such a heart in them, to keep His commandments and do them? Careless hearers all say, We will not hearken unto Thee. And oh, how few are there that will hear believingly! The word does not profit, not being mixed with faith in them that hear it; men often reject the counsel of God against themselves, and disbelieve the record that God has given of His Son. Their conduct shows that they believe not in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.
2. What is the reason that they will not attend to those things, which, it is evident, belong to their peace?
(1) Because they are in league with sin.
(2) What your ministers preach loudly speaks your condemnation.
I would say, by way of inference, In what an awful state are those persons who are making the resolution contained in the text. They are evidently exposed to the loss of their privileges; to hardness of heart, and contempt of Gods Word and commandments; and to utter and eternal destruction. (T. Spencer.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv10, 17 (See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
feared
(See Scofield "Psa 19:9").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v15 The Answer of the Jews and the Lord’s Prophecy…
The Answer of the Jews and the Lord’s Prophecy of Punishment
v. 15. Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, the female contingent apparently being in the majority, from which many have concluded that the festival was one in honor of the Queen of Heaven herself, in whose service the women were very zealous, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, where this meeting was held, answered Jeremiah, saying,
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v. 16. As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee, they flatly refused to obey.
v. 17. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, the vows which they had made when they embraced idolatry, to burn incense unto the Queen of Heaven, that is, Ashtaroth, or Astarte, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, this statement amounting to the worst form of self-accusation, with a tinge of revolting boastfulness; for then had we plenty of victuals, literally, "we were satisfied with bread," having food of every kind in sufficient amounts, and were well and saw no evil, they enjoyed good fortune and happiness, as they believed. Fools attribute what they consider prosperity to the fact that God connives at their sin, so that they finally deny His very existence.
v. 18. But since we left off to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, very likely due to the reformation under Josiah, 2Ki 23:4-20, we have wanted all things, they had lacked those things which they had enumerated, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
v. 19. And when we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink-offerings unto her, did we make her cakes, the customary cakes used with sacrifices, 7:18, to worship her and pour out drink-offerings unto her without our men? So the women, who made up the majority of the assembly, boldly stated that their husbands had not only connived at their idolatry, Cf Num 30:9 ff. but had even become guilty with them. The reference seems to be to the custom of giving their sacrificial cakes the form of a half-moon or even of the full moon, after the manner of other heathen cults. In this manner the demands of the Lord were met by a flat refusal on the part of the Jews.
v. 20. Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people "which had given him that answer, saying,
v. 21. The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, of which they, in their wickedness, now presumed to boast, did not the Lord remember them, and came it not into His mind? Did not the present desolation of their homeland testify to the fact that the Lord was very well aware of their wickedness, and that He had repaid their evil-doing?
v. 22. So that the Lord could no longer bear because of the evil of your doing’s and because of the abominations which ye have committed, with all His long-suffering He could no longer endure it; therefore is your land a desolation and an astonishment and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. The evidences of His wrath upon the Land of Promise were still evident, and all on account of their idolatry, as the prophet now repeats once more, for the sake of emphasis.
v. 23. Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the Lord, chiefly in the customs connected with their idolatry, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord nor walked in His Law, in following the precepts of the Moral Law, nor in His statutes, the ordinances of the Ceremonial Law, nor in His testimonies, the judicial sayings of the Lord throughout His Word, therefore this evil is happened unto you as at this day.
v. 24. Moreover, Jeremiah said unto all the people and to all the women, Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt, whom he now proceeds to admonish in a most solemn manner,
v. 25. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her; ye will surely accomplish your vows and surely perform your vows. Here is a bit of holy irony; for, as Jeremiah states, no one could accuse them of unsteadiness in keeping their idolatrous promises. If they had only been as steadfast toward Jehovah, the God of the covenant!
v. 20. Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt, Behold, I have sworn by My great name, saith the Lord, by Himself as He has revealed Himself in His great and mighty acts, the most solemn oath which He could swear, that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord God liveth. Since they had rejected Him, He would also reject them, He would bring about their destruction.
v. 27. Behold, I will watch over them for evil and not for good, the same God whose tender solicitude watches over His children to do them good would in this instance just as solicitously bring evil upon the rebellious Jews; and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine until there be an end of them. This is true in general; it presents the fulfillment of His threat.
v. 28. Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, a band readily counted on account of its smallness, whereas the entire contingent had planned to return to their former homeland; and all the remnant of Judah that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall know whose words shall stand, Mine or theirs, literally, "the word from Me or that from them," that by which the Lord had predicted ruin to them or that by which they had predicted good fortune to themselves.
v. 29. And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that My words shall surely stand against you for evil:
v. 30. thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will give Pharaoh-hophra, king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of them that seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah, king of Judah, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life. Pharaoh-hophra lost his life in consequence of a revolt of the Egyptians, who caused him to be executed by strangulation about 570 B. C. If people persist in their opposition to God, He gives them up to the powers of evil to their complete destruction.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26 Why are you doing ... yourselves? Why are you…
Why are you doing ... yourselves? Why are you causing ... and babies?
Yahweh uses these questions to rebuke the people for doing things that cause him to punish them. AT: "You are doing ... yourselves. You are causing ... and babies." (See: Rhetorical Question)
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Why are you doing great wickedness against yourselves?
The abstract noun "wickedness" can be stated as "wicked." AT: "Why are you doing these wicked things that harm yourselves?" or "You are doing wicked things that cause terrible things to happen to you." (See: Abstract Nouns)
Why are you causing yourselves to be cut off from among Judah ... and babies?
Being separated from the people of Judah is spoken of as if the people are cut off from Judah the way a person may cut off a branch from a vine or cut off a piece of cloth. This can be stated in active form. AT: "Why are you causing me to remove you from the people of Judah ... and babies?" or "You are causing me to remove you from the people of Judah ... and babies." (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)
By your wickedness you have offended me with the deeds of your hands
The abstract noun "wickedness" represents actions that are "wicked." Here "hand" represents the whole person. AT: "You have offended me with the wicked things you have done" (See: Abstract Nouns and Synecdoche)
You have gone there so that ... so that
"The result of going to Egypt is that ... and that"
you will be destroyed
This can be stated in active form. AT: "you will cause me to destroy you" or "you will destroy yourselves" (See: Active or Passive)
you will be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth
Here "nations" represent the people. AT: "all the people of all the nations of the earth will curse you and hate you" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
Yahweh
Yahweh of hosts
Israel
evil
cut off
remnant
works
hand
incense
curse
reproach
nation
earth
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 vv9, 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, 20, 24, 26 44:9 These Judean refugees had learned nothing; they had…
44:9 These Judean refugees had learned nothing; they had already forgotten their former sins and how God had judged them.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.