Jeremiahchapter 18
23 verses · Jeremiah, written by Baruch · 7th to 6th century BC · The Prophets
At any time I might announce that a nation or kingdom will be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed.
Introduction
Jeremiah, written by Baruch, The Prophets, Jeremiah Overview.
Jeremiah was sent to a potter's house for this chapter, in the last decades before Jerusalem fell. Every town had its potter, and every hearer had bought pots and watched them made on the wheel. The chapter moves from what the prophet sees in the workshop to what God says about nations. Listen for the word turn, which runs through the middle of the chapter in two directions. Then watch how the leaders answer the message. The prayer at the close is one that readers have always found hard to hear.
Context
- Who
- People who bought pots every week and had never thought about the man who made them
- What
- A lesson at the potter's wheel on how God deals with nations that turn, followed by a plot against Jeremiah and his prayer.
- Where
- A potter's workshop in Jerusalem, and then among the leaders who plotted against the prophet.
- When
- The last decades of the kingdom of Judah, about 609 to 597 BC.
- Why
- To call Judah to turn while the clay could still be reshaped.
Historical context
Pottery was the plastics industry of the ancient world, and every town had a potter's quarter, set on the edge of the settlement because of the smoke, near a clay source and water. The wheel was two stone discs on a shaft: the potter kicked or spun the lower one with his feet and worked the clay on the upper one with both hands.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The key detail is that the clay is still wet. A vessel that goes wrong on the wheel is not thrown away; it is crushed back into a lump and thrown down again, and the potter makes something else out of the same clay. That is the whole picture, while the clay is soft, the plan can change.
The chapter then states the rule behind prophecy plainly: if God announces disaster on a nation and that nation turns, he relents; if he announces blessing and they turn away, he relents from that too. Prophetic threats were not fate; they were the potter's hands still on the clay.
The plot at the end quotes the three professions Judah trusted, the priest for instruction, the wise man for counsel, the prophet for the word. The conspirators' argument is simply that the system will hold without this troublemaker, so they can attack him with their tongues and ignore anything he says.
Significance
The first hearers were meant to leave the workshop with a decision, not a doctrine. Nothing in the vision is fixed yet. The nation on the wheel could still be reshaped that week.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The plot immediately afterward is the answer they actually gave. It also shows what they were protecting, not idols, but their own institutions, staffed by their own relatives.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
No part of this chapter is read in the synagogue. Probed for this lane, the site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts printed parashot 0 and haftarah uses 0 for Jeremiah 18, and no festival reading for the book. Across chapters 1 to 26 of Jeremiah the same probe found a Haftarah only in chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 16 and 17.
How it is read
Rashi is quoted from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. Malbim and Metzudat David are quoted from the Sefaria Community Translation, which Sefaria reports as CC0.
Metzudat David reads the potter's house plainly. The potter "makes from it a different vessel after he has destroyed the first" (Metzudat David on Jeremiah 18:6:1). Malbim draws the purpose from it: God "only destroys for the purpose of the fixing" (Malbim on Jeremiah 18:7:1). On the ninth verse he reads the change of mind about good as itself aimed at returning a man to the good (Malbim on Jeremiah 18:9:1).
Rashi reads the plot of the eighteenth verse as the men of Anathoth again (Rashi on Jeremiah 18:18:1). On the pit dug for the prophet he reports the reading that they accused Jeremiah of adultery (Rashi on Jeremiah 18:22:1). The hissing of the passer-by is the whistle of one who sees ruins where he once saw good buildings (Rashi on Jeremiah 18:16:1).
The corpus carries eight further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. They stand cited and unquoted at Malbim on Jeremiah 18:2:1. The same holds for Metzudat David on Jeremiah 18:2:1. The same holds for Radak on Jeremiah 18:3:1, 18:4:1, 18:10:1, 18:11:1, 18:19:1 and 18:20:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries 40 rabbinic locators on the verses of this chapter, 9 in the Talmud and 31 in the Midrash. It carries the text of none, so each is cited by ref here and never quoted or paraphrased. The verse numbers are the Hebrew ones the corpus prints.
On verse 3 it holds Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 1:16:1, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 1:16:2, Midrash Tanchuma, Vayetzei 8:1, Midrash Tanchuma, Vayetzei 8:2, Shemot Rabbah 1:14 and Sotah 11b:15. On verse 5 it holds Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 8 and Otzar Midrashim, Midrashim on Missing and Extra Letters 2:7. On verse 6 it holds Berakhot 32a:3, Bereshit Rabbah 72:6, Ein Yaakov, Berakhot 5:8, Ein Yaakov, Sukkah 5:13, Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 9:3:8 and Midrash Aggadah, Exodus 29:1:2. On verse 7 it holds Shemot Rabbah 45:1.
On verse 10 it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Kaspa 2:9 and Tractate Soferim 7:2. On verse 13 it holds Eikhah Rabbah 2:18. On verse 14 it holds Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Bereshit 30, Pesikta Rabbati 21:1 and Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 12 7. On verse 15 it holds Pesikta Rabbati 27:1. On verse 16 it holds Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 12 9.
On verse 17 it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 14:19, Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Vayehi Beshalach 5:10, Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Vayehi Beshalach 5:12 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 14:21:2. It also holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 14:21:2 and Midrash Tehillim 11:6 there. On verse 19 it holds Otzar Midrashim, Letter of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai from Jerusalem 1:5. On verse 20 it holds Midrash Tehillim 109:2. On verse 21 it holds Introductions to Tanaitic Literature, Introductions to Tractates of the Mishnah, Shabbat 10.
On verse 22 it holds Bava Kamma 16b:20 and Ein Yaakov, Bava Kamma 1:7. On verse 23 it holds Bava Batra 9b:11, Bava Kamma 16b:22, Bava Kamma 16b:23, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Bava Batra 1:14, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Bava Kama 1:2 and Ein Yaakov, Bava Batra 1:16.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Jeremiah 18:3:1 to 18:23:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Jeremiah 18:6:1, Sefaria Community Translation, reported CC0; Malbim, Malbim on Jeremiah 18:7:1 to 18:9:1, Sefaria Community Translation, reported CC0; Malbim, Malbim on Jeremiah 18:2:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Jeremiah 18:2:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Radak, Radak on Jeremiah 18:3:1, 18:4:1, 18:10:1, 18:11:1, 18:19:1 and 18:20:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/jeremiah/18.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators on the verses of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for Jeremiah 18: parashot 0, haftarah uses 0, and no festival reading for the book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
The Potter's House: Marred Clay Made Again
Jeremiah 18:1-4
This is the word that came: The LORD sends Jeremiah “down at once to the potter’s house” to watch an ordinary craft carry His message. The same clay is remade to a new pattern in the same hand.
Jeremiah 18:1
“The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying. The word of prophecy, as the Targum: this is a distinct prophecy from the former, though it may be connected with it; it referring to the destruction threatened in the latter part of the preceding chapter.”
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read go down as the walk from the temple heights to the low ground of a known potter's house. Albert Barnes places the potters' clay field south of Jerusalem, just past the Valley of Hinnom. The LORD's message waits in an ordinary workshop.
Jeremiah 18:2
“Go down to the potter's house - By this similitude God shows the absolute state of dependence on himself in which he has placed mankind. They are as clay in the hands of the potter; and in reference to every thing here below, he can shape their destinies as he pleases. Again; though while under the providential care of God they may go morally astray, and pervert themselves, yet they can be reclaimed by the almighty and all-wise Operator, and become such vessels as seemeth good for him to make.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
So I went down to the: Albert Barnes describes the wheel as two wheels. The potter turned the lower one with his feet, and it spun a flat wooden disc above, where he shaped the clay with his fingers. John Gill notes that Jeremiah did as the LORD commanded.
Jeremiah 18:3
“Then I went down to the potter's house,.... He did as the Lord commanded him; he was obedient to the divine will; he went to hear what the Lord had to say to him there, and to observe such things, from whence he might learn instruction for himself and others: and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels; the Targum renders it "upon a seat"; or "his seats", as Junius and Tremellius; but it signifies not the instrument on which the potter sat while he worked, but that on which he did his work.”
2 more voices on this verse
Jeremiah 18:3
“The wheels - literally, “the two wheels.” The lower one was worked by the feet to give motion to the upper one, which was a flat disc or plate of wood, on which the potter laid the clay, and moulded it with his fingers as it revolved rapidly.”
Jeremiah 18:3
“On the upper the potter moulded the clay into what shapes he pleased. They are found represented in Egyptian remains. In Ex 1:16 alone is the Hebrew word found elsewhere, but in a different sense.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
But the vessel that he was shaping: Adam Clarke says the clay may have lost its shape, or a bit of gravel in it may have broken the vessel on the wheel. The potter kneaded the clay again and formed another vessel. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hold that from the clay is the true Hebrew reading.
Jeremiah 18:4
“The vessel - was marred in the hands of the potter - It did not stand in the working; it got out of shape; or some gravel or small stone having been incorporated with the mass of clay, made a breach in that part where it was found, so that the potter was obliged to knead up the clay afresh, place it on the wheel, and form it anew; and then it was such a vessel as seemed good to the potter to make it.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 18:4
"Of clay" is the true reading, which was corrupted into "as clay" (Margin), through the similarity of the two Hebrew letters, and from Jer 18:6, "as the clay."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 18:5-10
Then the word of the LORD: The LORD applies the picture, “so are you in My hand, O house of Israel,” the verse Paul stands on at Romans 9:20-21. Verses 7 to 10 state the rule of prophetic warning. A nation that “does evil in My sight” sees Him “relent of the good.”
Jeremiah 18:5
"And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Shall I not be able to do to you as the potter, O house of Israel? says the Lord." Each one understands the things written according to his ability, the one more superficially, as though drawing his understanding from them from a surface spring, the other more deeply, as one drawing up from a well. And both can be helped, since the same thing is for one a spring and for the other a well.
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Homilies on Jeremiah 18patristic
A ruined vessel was never thrown away, Albert Barnes notes. The potter crushed it, set it on the wheel, and began again until the clay took the shape he intended. Barnes reads Judah's troubles as that crushing, which kept God's plan for the nation and the coming Messiah moving forward.
Jeremiah 18:6
“Cannot I do with you as this potter? - Have I not a right to do with a people whom I have created as reason and justice may require? If they do not answer my intentions, may I not reject and destroy them; and act as this potter, make a new vessel out of that which at first did not succeed in his hands? It is generally supposed that St. Paul has made a very different use of this similitude from that mentioned above.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
At any time I might announce: The Hebrew behind at any time, Albert Barnes notes, means in a moment. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, following Calvin, read it as a reminder of how fast God once lifted Israel to the most favored of nations. The words uprooted and torn down echo Jeremiah's call in 1:10.
Jeremiah 18:7
“At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, etc. - If that nation, against whom, etc. - And at what instant, etc. - If it do evil, etc. - These verses contain what may be called God’s decree by which the whole of his conduct towards man is regulated. If he purpose destruction against an offending person, if that person repent and turn to God, he shall live and not die. If he purpose peace and salvation to him that walketh uprightly, if he turn from God to the world and sin, he shall die and not live.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Jeremiah 18:7
“It was Nineveh's case, and we wish it had oftener been Jerusalem's; see 2 Chron. vii. It is an undoubted truth that a sincere conversion from the evil of sin will be an effectual prevention of the evil of punishment; and God can as easily raise up a penitent people from their ruins as the potter can make anew the vessel of clay when it was marred in his hand.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jeremiah 18:7
“At what instant--in a moment, when the nation least expects it. Hereby he reminds the Jews how marvellously God had delivered them from their original degradation, that is, In one and the same day ye were the most wretched, and then the most favored of all people [CALVIN].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
But if that nation I warned turns: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hold that God's fixed principle is to do what is best, so He takes account of a nation's turn from evil. Albert Barnes calls all God's dealings here conditional. God stays the same, and the disaster turns on the nation's own ways.
Jeremiah 18:8
“I will repent of the evil ... I will repent of the good - All God’s dealings with mankind are here declared to be conditional. God changeth not, all depends upon man’s conduct.”
And if at another time I announce: The promise of verse 9 runs the other way from the warning of verse 7. Origen pairs the words of building here with uprooting there, one set spoken to a nation raised up and one to a nation brought down. Good also carries a condition.
and if it does evil in: Matthew Henry calls sin the great mischief-maker between God and a people, a thing that forfeits His promises. John Gill reads the evil as sin done openly and boldly, and the refusal to listen as a deaf ear turned to the prophets. The promised good can be withdrawn.
Jeremiah 18:10
“If it do evil in my sight,.... What is sinful, contrary to the law and will of God, openly and publicly, in a bold and daring manner: that it obey not my voice: in my word, and by my prophets, but turn a deaf ear to them, and slight and despise all instructions, admonitions, and reproofs: then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them; or, "do them good" (t); that is, withhold it from them, and not bestow it on them; but, on the contrary, correct or punish them according to their deserts.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 18:10
"At the end I will speak against a nation or also against a kingdom." It will seem that "the end" is said simply. But it is said in this way. In the "I will speak against a nation or a kingdom," the "end" is of this sort: "I will raze" is said to the former nation as the "end"; to the second nation, "I will build you up." And again, "I will uproot" is said to the former ones, and "I will plant" to the second.
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Homilies on Jeremiah 18patristic
Jeremiah 18:11-13
Now therefore, tell the men of: The LORD’s warning comes with an offer: “Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways.” The people answer, “It is hopeless,” and add, “We will follow our own plans.” The LORD bids them “Inquire among the nations: Who has ever heard things like these?”
Jeremiah 18:11
The word rendered “frame” is a present participle, and is the same which as a noun means “a potter.” God declares that He is as free to do what He will with the Jews as the potter is free to shape as he will the clay. Devise a device - “I am purposing a purpose.”
But they will reply: The people choose their own plans, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear them admit that every warning is wasted on them. Matthew Henry notes they call the stubbornness of the evil heart freedom, though slavery to one's own lusts is the worst kind. They will make no promise to change.
Jeremiah 18:12
“They call it liberty to live at large; whereas for a man to be a slave to his lusts is the worst of slaveries. See how strangely some men's hearts are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin that they will not so much as promise amendment; nay, they set the judgments of God at defiance: "We will go on with our own devices, and let God go on with his; and we will venture the issue." IV.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The Snow of Lebanon Forsaken; Stumbling in Bypaths
Albert Barnes sets the pure name Virgin Israel against her eager chase after idols. Adam Clarke notes that three Hebrew copies and one Greek copy read Jerusalem in place of Israel. The LORD calls the nations to witness a most terrible thing.
Jeremiah 18:13
“Even among the heathen it was a thing unheard of, that a nation should lay aside its gods for foreign gods, though their gods are false gods. But Israel forsook the true God for foreign false gods. virgin of Israel-- (2Ki 19:21). It enhances their guilt, that Israel was the virgin whom God had specially betrothed to Him. horrible thing-- (Jer 5:30).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 18:13
“Note, It is a horrible thing, enough to make one tremble to think of it, that those who have made their condition sad by sinning should make it desperate by refusing to reform. Wilful impenitence is the grossest self-murder; and that is a horrible thing, which we should abhor the thought of.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jeremiah 18:14-17
Does the snow of Lebanon ever: The LORD argues from the constancy of nature: “Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave its rocky slopes?” “Yet My people have forgotten Me,” leaving “the ancient roads to walk on rutted bypaths instead of on the highway.” The scattering “like the east wind” recalls the desert wind.
Jeremiah 18:14
“Lebanon means the "white mountain"; so called from the perpetual snow which covers that part called Hermon, stretching northeast of Palestine. that come from another place--that come from far, namely, from the distant lofty rocks of Lebanon.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 18:14
“Of Lebanon - Lebanon had rocks, and also fruitful valleys; snow fell upon these rocks, and upon a thaw ran down into the lower places. Reason teaches men not to forsake a greater good for a less, tho' that greater good was but a poor creature comfort, not to be compared with God.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Yet My people have forgotten Me: To forget God, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note, Judah first had to know Him, so the lapse was willful. They blame the false prophets and idol priests for the stumbling. Albert Barnes notes that the word for worthless idols means falsehood, so idol worship does harm as well as fail.
Jeremiah 18:15
“Because my people hath forgotten me,.... Or, "that they have forgotten me" (z); this is the horrible thing they have done, which was unheard of among the Gentiles, who were always tenacious of their gods, and the worship of them; and that foolish and unwise thing, which was like leaving pure flowing streams of water for dirty puddles.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 18:15
“This implies a previous knowledge of God, whereas He was unknown to the Gentiles; the Jews' forgetting of God, therefore, arose from determined perversity. they have caused . . . to stumble--namely the false prophets and idolatrous priests have. ancient paths-- (Jer 6:16): the paths which their pious ancestors trod.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
They have made their land a desolation: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the verse sets the desolation down as the people's own purpose, since their ways made it certain. Albert Barnes reads the shaken heads of all who pass by as shock and pity, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read them as mockery.
Jeremiah 18:16
“Hissing - Not derision, but the drawing in of the breath quickly as men do when they shudder. Way his head - Or, “shake his head,” a sign among the Jews not of scorn but of pity. The desolation of the land of Israel is to fill people with dismay.”
I will scatter them before the enemy: John Wesley calls the east wind the fiercest in that region, and it scatters Judah as it scatters chaff. Matthew Henry notes that calamity is easily borne while God looks toward His people. Turned away, He leaves them undone.
Jeremiah 18:17
“I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy,.... As the east wind, which is generally strong and boisterous, drives the chaff and stubble, and anything that is light, before it, and scatters it here and there; so the Lord threatens to scatter the people of the Jews over the face of the earth, before their enemies, whom they should not be able to withstand.”
3 more voices on this verse
Jeremiah 18:17
I will scatter them as with an east wind - It is the property of this wind, almost every where, to parch up, blast, and destroy grain and trees, and even cattle and men suffer from it. Hence the old metrical proverb: - “When the wind blows from the east, ‘Tis good for neither man nor beast.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jeremiah 18:17
“East wind - The east wind was in those parts the fiercest wind. As the east-wind scatters the chaff, so saith God, I will scatter them. In their calamity - And when they shall be in great calamity, I will turn my back upon them, I will not regard their prayers.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Jeremiah 18:17
“Our calamities may be easily borne if God look towards us, and smile upon us, when we are under them, if he countenance us and show us favour; but if he turn the back upon us, if he show himself displeased, if he be deaf to our prayers and refuse us his help, if he forsake us, leave us to ourselves, and stand at a distance from us, we are quite undone.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Come, Let Us Smite Him with the Tongue
Then some said, “Come, let us: The plotters say, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah,” a human plan set against the LORD’s own plan announced in verse 11. Their weapon is speech: “let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.”
Jeremiah 18:18
This expresses the thought both of the Jews at that time against Jeremiah, or the Lord our Savior, and of the heretics today against the Lord's servants. They seek to spread slander and to precede holy people with an accusation, nor do they think about the truthfulness of what they say but only of the lies that they disseminate. For they boast that the law and the counsel and the speech of God remain in their priests and wise people and false prophets, even though Scripture says, "Wisdom will not enter a deceptive soul."
Jerome · written before 420 · Six Books on Jeremiah 4:8.2patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Jeremiah 18:18
“Come, and let us devise devices - Let us form a conspiracy against him, accuse him of being a false prophet, and a contradicter of the words of God, for God has promised us protection, and he says we shall be destroyed, and that God will forsake his people. Let us smite him with the tongue - On the tongue; so it should be rendered. Lying and false testimony are punished in the eastern countries, to the present day, by smiting the person on the mouth with a strong piece of leather like the sole of a shoe.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jeremiah 18:18
“The wicked plots against the just. Caiaphas, and the chief priests and elders, did so against our blessed Saviour himself. The opposition which the gates of hell give to the kingdom of heaven is carried on with a great deal of cursed policy.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jeremiah 18:19-23
Attend to me, O LORD. Hear: Jeremiah’s harshest recorded prayer asks God to “hand their children over to famine” because “they have dug a pit for me.” He reminds God how he “stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your wrath from them.”
Jeremiah 18:19
“They would not regard a word he said, would not admit his complaints, nor take any notice of his grievances; but, Lord (says he), do thou give heed to me. It is matter of comfort to faithful ministers that, if men will not give heed to their praying.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Should good be repaid with evil?: Albert Barnes pictures the people treating Jeremiah like a pest in a field, a creature farmers trap in a dug pit. Yet he had pleaded for them. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown set his stand before the LORD to turn away wrath beside that of Moses in Psalm 106:23.
Jeremiah 18:20
“They have digged a pit for my soul - For my life; this they wish to take away. Stood before thee to speak good for them - I was their continual intercessor.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 18:20
“In the particulars here specified, Jeremiah was a type of Jesus Christ (Ps 109:4, 5; Joh 15:25). my soul--my life; me (Ps 35:7). I stood before thee . . . to turn away thy wrath--so Moses (Ps 106:23; compare Eze 22:30).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Therefore, hand their children over to famine: Adam Clarke reads these curses as a prophet's word of what God was about to pour out. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear the Spirit speak through a prophet who has ceased to plead for them. John Wesley says a Christian must pray for his worst enemies to be saved.
Jeremiah 18:21
“Therefore - But is it lawful for God's servants to pray for evil against their enemies? It is not lawful for Christians. It is doubtless our duty, to pray for the conversion, forgiveness, and eternal salvation of our worst enemies.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 18:21
“In this prayer he does not indulge in personal revenge, as if it were his own cause that was at stake; but he speaks under the dictation of the Spirit, ceasing to intercede, and speaking prophetically, knowing they were doomed to destruction as reprobates; for those not so, he doubtless ceased not to intercede.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Let a cry be heard from their houses: Albert Barnes sees the sack of the city in these lines, with all the cruelty of such a day. The raiders come suddenly, and the cry rises from the houses. The pit and the snares repeat the charge of verse 20.
Jeremiah 18:22
“The sack of the city follows with all the horrible cruelties practiced at such a time.”
But You, O LORD, know all: The plotters hide their schemes, Albert Barnes notes, yet God knows them and so must judge. Barnes reads the time of Your anger as a set season of wrath, the reverse of the day of salvation, and points to Psalm 109. They hunted a precious life, Matthew Henry notes.
Jeremiah 18:23
“Yet, Lord - Better, But, Lord. They conceal their plots, but God knows, and therefore must punish. Neither blot out ... - Or, “blot not out their sin from before Thy face that they may be made to stumble before Thee.” Thus - Omit this word. Since there is an acceptable time and a day of salvation, so there is a time of anger, and Jeremiah’s prayer is that God would deal with his enemies at such a time, and when therefore no mercy would be shown. On imprecations such as these, see Ps. 109 introductory note.”
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 18.