Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

I know, O LORD, that a man’s way is not his own; no one who walks directs his own steps.

“I know, O Jehovah, that the march of the Babylonian conqueror against me (Jeremiah identifying himself with his people) is not at his own discretion, but is overruled by Thee (Isa 10:5-7; compare Jer 10:19).”

What right has My beloved in My house, having carried out so many evil schemes? Can consecrated meat avert your doom, so that you can rejoice?

“Rather, "that great (or, manifold) enormity"; literally, "the enormity, the manifold"; namely, their idolatry, which made their worship of God in the temple a mockery (compare Jer 7:10; Eze 23:39) [HENDERSON].”

There will be no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.”

“(Jer 23:12). the year of . . . visitation--The Septuagint translates, "in the year of their," &c., that is, at the time when I shall visit them in wrath. JEROME supports English Version. "Year" often means a determined time.”

“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?

“Jehovah's reply to Jeremiah's complaint. horses--that is, horsemen: the argument a fortiori. The injuries done thee by the men of Anathoth ("the footmen") are small compared with those which the men of Jerusalem ("the horsemen") are about to inflict on thee.”

They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. They have exhausted themselves to no avail. Bear the shame of your harvest because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”

“Description in detail of the devastation of the land (Mic 6:15). they shall be ashamed of your--The change of persons, in passing from indirect to direct address, is frequent in the prophets.”

This is what the LORD says: “As for all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people Israel, I am about to uproot them from…

“Prophecy as to the surrounding nations, the Syrians, Ammonites, &c., who helped forward Judah's calamity: they shall share her fall; and, on their conversion, they shall share with her in the future restoration.”

This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.”

“GROTIUS understands a garment not bleached, but left in its native roughness, just as Judah had no beauty, but was adopted by the sole grace of God (Eze 16:4-6). "Neither wast thou washed in water," &c.”

“Take the loincloth that you bought and are wearing, and go at once to Perath and hide it there in a crevice of the rocks.”

“Euphrates--In order to support the view that Jeremiah's act was outward, HENDERSON considers that the Hebrew Phrath here is Ephratha, the original name of Beth-lehem, six miles south of Jerusalem, a journey easy to be made by Jeremiah.”

Therefore you are to tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Every wineskin shall be filled with wine.’

“Do we not . . . know . . . wine--The "bottles" are those used in the East, made of skins; our word "hogshead," originally "oxhide," alludes to the same custom.”

O Hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress, why are You like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays but a night?

“The reference is, not to the faith of Israel which had almost ceased, but to the promise and everlasting covenant of God. None but the true Israel make God their "hope." (Jer 17:13).”

“Ah, Lord GOD!” I replied, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’”

“Jeremiah urges that much of the guilt of the people is due to the false prophets' influence. assured peace--solid and lasting peace. Literally, "peace of truth" (Isa 39:8).”

You are to speak this word to them: ‘My eyes overflow with tears; day and night they do not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered…

“Jeremiah is desired to weep ceaselessly for the calamities coming on his nation (called a "virgin," as being heretofore never under foreign yoke), (Isa 23:4).”

I will make their widows more numerous than the sand of the sea. I will bring a destroyer at noon against the mothers of young men.

“Their widows--My people's (Jer 15:7). have brought--prophetical past: I will bring. mother of the young men--"mother" is collective; after the "widows," He naturally mentions bereavement of their sons ("young men"), brought on the "mothers" by "the spoiler"; it was owing to the number of men…”

The mother of seven will grow faint; she will breathe her last breath. Her sun will set while it is still day; she will be disgraced and humiliated.

“Seven being the perfect number indicates full fruitfulness. languisheth--because not even one is left of all her sons (Jer 15:8). sun is gone down while . . . yet day--Fortune deserts her at the very height of her prosperity (Am 8:9). she . . .”

Can anyone smash iron—iron from the north—or bronze?

“"Can one break iron, (even) the northern iron, and brass," on the ground that English Version makes ordinary iron not so hard as brass.”

You understand, O LORD; remember me and attend to me. Avenge me against my persecutors. In Your patience, do not take me away.

“Contrast in this the law with the gospel (Lu 23:34; Ac 7:60). take me not away in thy long-suffering--By Thy long-suffering towards them, suffer them not meanwhile to take away my life.”

Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my joy and my heart’s delight. For I bear Your name, O LORD God of Hosts.

“The Keri reads, "Thy word." thy word . . . joy-- (Job 23:12; Ps 119:72, 111; compare Mt 13:44). called by thy name--I am Thine, Thy minister. So the antitype, Jesus Christ (Ex 23:21).”

Why is my pain unending, and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You have indeed become like a mirage to me—water that is not there.

“"Pain," namely, the perpetual persecution to which he was exposed, and his being left by God without consolation and "alone." Contrast his feeling here with that in Jer 15:16, when he enjoyed the full presence of God, and was inspired by His words.”

Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal.

“(Eze 24:17, 22, 23). house of mourning-- (Mr 5:38). Margin, "mourning-feast"; such feasts were usual at funerals. The Hebrew means, in Am 6:7, the cry of joy at a banquet; here, and La 2:19, the cry of sorrow.”

But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them.

“It is remarkable, the same image is used in a good sense of the Jews' restoration, implying that just as their enemies were employed by God to take them in hand for destruction, so the same shall be employed for their restoration (Eze 47:9, 10).”

And I will first repay them double their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and they have filled My…

“Eze 16:20), and unclean animals (Isa 65:4; MAURER explains it, "the carcasses" of the idols: their images void of sense and life.”

“The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus, engraved with a diamond point on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.

“The first of the four clauses relates to the third, the second to the fourth, by alternate parallelism.”

Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles by the green trees and on the high hills.

“"Image of the grove." The Hebrew for "grove" is Asherah, that is, Assarak, Astarte, or Ashtaroth. by the green trees--that is, near them: the sacred trees (idol symbols) of Astarte being placed in the midst of natural trees: "green trees" is thus distinguished from "groves,"…”

This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.

“Referring to the Jews' proneness to rely on Egypt, in its fear of Assyria and Babylon (Isa 31:1, 3). trusteth--This word is emphatic.”

He will be like a shrub in the desert; he will not see when prosperity comes.

“Hab 3:9, the Hebrew is translated, "bare," "naked," "destitute"; but as the parallel in Jer 17:8 is "tree," some plant must be meant of which this is the characteristic epithet (Jer 48:6, Margin), "a naked tree."”