Jeremiahchapter 25
38 verses · Jeremiah, written by Baruch · 7th to 6th century BC · The Prophets
And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
Introduction
Jeremiah, written by Baruch, The Prophets, Jeremiah Overview.
Jeremiah dated this word to the year Babylon became the ruling power of the world, after twenty-three years of preaching to Jerusalem. It closes the first large collection of his oracles. Its hearers had heard the same warning for a generation and had stopped listening. The chapter looks out from Judah to every nation on the map. Listen for a number of years that later readers counted with care, and for the cup that passes from one kingdom to the next. Read it as the hinge between Jeremiah's words to his own people and his words to the nations.
Context
- Who
- Judeans who had been hearing the same warning for twenty-three years and had stopped listening
- What
- A sermon counting twenty-three years of warnings, a sentence of seventy years under Babylon, and the cup of wrath passed to the nations.
- Where
- Jerusalem, in the year news came of the Babylonian victory at Carchemish on the Euphrates.
- When
- The fourth year of Jehoiakim and the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, 605 BC.
- Why
- To tell Judah that Babylon was God's instrument for a set time and that every nation, Babylon included, would answer to Him.
Historical context
The chapter dates itself with unusual care, and the date is the hinge of the age. In 605 BC the Babylonian crown prince Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Egyptian army at Carchemish on the upper Euphrates, chased the survivors south, and then took the throne when his father died. The Babylonian Chronicle, a court record now in the British Museum, describes that campaign and the accession in the same year.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
Jeremiah opens by counting: twenty-three years of preaching, from Josiah's thirteenth year to this one, with no result. That is a man doing the arithmetic on his own career in public.
Then comes the number that shaped the next century of Jewish life. These nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years, and then Babylon itself will be punished. Later readers, Daniel among them, counted from this text.
The second half hands round a cup. Ancient kings really did compel a defeated ruler to drink at a victory banquet, and the cup of wine passed from nation to nation here is a list of the whole known world in geographical order, Egypt, the Philistine cities, Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon, the Arabian tribes, Elam, Media, and last of all Babylon under a code name formed by swapping its letters.
Significance
The first hearers had just watched the balance of the world change in a single campaign season. This chapter told them what it meant: the empire everyone was now negotiating with was God's instrument, and even called his servant.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The seventy years did two things at once. It made the disaster certain and it made it finite. There was an end date, and Babylon was on the list of nations that would drink the same cup.
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 25, 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 the one commentator on this chapter whose English the corpus carries, quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY.
Rashi reads the fourth year of Jehoiakim as "The year that their decree was sealed" (Rashi on Jeremiah 25:1:1). He works the twenty-three years out from the reigns: thirty-one years of Josiah less twelve, and four of his son (Rashi on Jeremiah 25:3:1). The sound of the millstones he reads as a sign of a circumcision feast, when ingredients were ground to heal the wound (Rashi on Jeremiah 25:10:1).
The cup of the wine of wrath is "The prophecy of retribution" (Rashi on Jeremiah 25:15:1). Sheshach he reads as Babylon by the letter exchange called atbash (Rashi on Jeremiah 25:26:1).
The corpus carries ten 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 Radak on Jeremiah 25:2:1, 25:5:1, 25:7:1, 25:9:1, 25:12:1, 25:17:1 and 25:25:1. The same holds for Metzudat David on Jeremiah 25:4:1, 25:6:1 and 25:11:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries 34 rabbinic locators on the verses of this chapter, 9 in the Talmud and 25 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 7 it holds Tractate Soferim 7:4. On verse 9 it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 43:18, Midrash Lekach Tov on Lamentations 3:10:1 and Midrash Tehillim 79:1. On verse 11 it holds Midrash Tehillim 10:10. On verse 12 it holds Megillah 11b:6 and Sifrei Bamidbar 78:1. On verse 15 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 88:5, Jerusalem Talmud Pesachim 10:1:7, Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 40:11:2, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 40:23:2, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 12:20:209 and Otzar Midrashim, Midrash Shelosha v'Arba'ah 2:12.
It also holds Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 147:1 there. On verse 26 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 18:21 and Megillah 6a:2. On verse 29 it holds Midrash Tehillim 48:1 and Tractate Kallah Rabbati 8:11. On verse 30 it holds Berakhot 3a:6, Berakhot 59a:6, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Berakhot 1:3, Ein Yaakov, Berakhot 1:6, Ein Yaakov, Berakhot 9:22, Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 9:2:4 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 15:17.
It also holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Shirah 10:7, Midrash Tehillim 18:10, Otzar Midrashim, Perek Shirah ('Chapter of Song') 1:81, Shemot Rabbah 29:9 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 253:2 there. It also holds Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 253:3 there. On verse 33 it holds Midrash Tehillim 111:1 and Midrash Tehillim 8:6. On verse 36 it holds Otzar Midrashim, Midrash Gadol u'Gedolah 42.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Jeremiah 25:1:1 to 25:27:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Jeremiah 25:4:1, 25:6:1 and 25:11:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Radak, Radak on Jeremiah 25:2:1, 25:5:1, 25:7:1, 25:9:1, 25:12:1, 25:17:1 and 25:25:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/jeremiah/25.json, the 34 Talmud and Midrash locators on the verses of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for Jeremiah 25: 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.
Twenty-Three Years of Warning; Seventy Years in Babylon
Jeremiah 25:1-3
in the fourth year of Jehoiakim: The date is doubled, since “the fourth year of Jehoiakim” was also “the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.” Verse 3 counts from “the thirteenth year of Josiah,” to this day, “twenty-three years” in which, Jeremiah says, “you have not listened.” Keil places the year at 605 BC.
Jeremiah 25:1
“The fourth year - See Dan 1:1 note. This invasion of Judaea, in which Daniel was carried captive to Babylon, was according to the date of the years the fourth, but according to the actual time the third, year of the Jewish king. Nebuchadnezzar was not yet fully king, but associated with his father Nabopalassar.”
spoke to all the people of Judah: Jeremiah speaks to the whole nation at once, “all the people of Judah and all the residents of Jerusalem.” Jerome notes that the Greek Bible leaves out the words about the first year of Nebuchadnezzar in verse 1. By his count, that year was the fourth of Jehoiakim.
the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon: Barnes counts the twenty-three years as nineteen under Josiah and four under Jehoiakim. The count starts from the call of the prophet in 1:2. Barnes then divides the chapter into three parts: judgment on Judah and on Babylon, the cup of wrath, and the judgment of the whole earth.
Jeremiah 25:3
“The three and twentieth year - i. e., nineteen under Josiah, and four under Jehoiakim. This prophecy divides itself into three parts, (1) the judgment of Judah Jer 25:3-11, and Babylon’s doom Jer 25:12-14; (2) the wine-cup of fury Jer 25:15-29; (3) the judgment of the world Jer 25:30-38.”
Jeremiah 25:4-7
And the LORD has sent all: The LORD sent “all His servants the prophets to you again and again,” the phrase verse 3 uses of Jeremiah's own preaching. Verse 7 puts the refusal in the people's own loss, “to your own harm, you have not listened to Me.”
Jeremiah 25:4
“But, besides those, there were many other of God's servants the prophets who preached awakening sermons, which were never published. And here God himself is said to rise early and send them, intimating how much his heart also was upon it, that this people should turn and live, and not go on and die, Ezek. xxxiii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The call to turn comes with a promise to dwell in the land the LORD gave their fathers. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear a play on sound in the Hebrew, shubu for turn and shebu for dwell. Each person must turn from his own evil ways.
do not provoke Me to anger: “Do not follow other gods,” and “do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands,” the idols they had made. The verse closes on a promise, “Then I will do you no harm.” Verse 7 answers it with the harm the people bring on themselves by refusing.
Jeremiah 25:6
“He instances one sin, idolatry, as representative of all their sins; as nothing is dearer to God than a pure worship of Himself.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Verse 7 gives the LORD's own verdict on the offer of verses 5 and 6. The harm they chose fell on themselves. Barnes places this verse inside the judgment in verses 3 to 11, and the word therefore in verse 8 turns the verdict into a sentence.
Jeremiah 25:7
“That ye might provoke - Ye would not hearken; but chose to provoke me with anger.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jeremiah 25:8-11
Therefore this is what the LORD: Its instrument is “My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” a pagan king called the LORD's servant. The desolation silences ordinary life: “the voices of the bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.” The seventy years are named here first in the book.
Jeremiah 25:8
“Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts,.... Of armies above and below; and so can do what he pleases in heaven and in earth: because ye have not heard my words; by the prophets, so as to obey them; they had heard them externally, but did not observe to do them.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 25:8
“Note, When men will not regard the judgments of God's mouth they may expect to feel the judgments of his hands, to hear the rod, since they would not hear the word; for the sinner must either be parted from his sin or perish in it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon: The LORD calls Nebuchadnezzar His servant, a title Barnes notes was used first of Moses and later of the Messiah. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown compare Cyrus, named the LORD's shepherd in Isaiah. A pagan king carries out God's plan without knowing it.
Jeremiah 25:9
“The term families is probably used here to signify the widespread empire of Nebuchadnezzar. My servant - This title, so remarkable in the Old Testament as the especial epithet, first of Moses, and then of the Messiah, is thrice given to Nebuchadnezzar, and marks the greatness of the commission entrusted to him.”
2 more voices on this verse
Jeremiah 25:9
“The fixing of time during which the captivity should last would be of great use, not only for the confirmation of the prophecy, when the event (which in this particular could by no human sagacity be foreseen) should exactly answer the prediction, but for the comfort of the people of God in their calamity and the encouragement of faith and prayer.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jeremiah 25:9
“The Medes and other northern peoples, confederate with Babylon, are included with the Chaldeans. my servant--My agent for punishing (Jer 27:6; 43:10; compare Jer 40:2). Cyrus, "My shepherd." God makes even unbelievers unconsciously to fulfil His designs.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
the sound of the millstones: The loss of the voices of bride and bridegroom was threatened in 7:34 and 16:9. Clarke explains why the millstones and the lamp stand together. Grain was ground by the light of a lamp, so a silent mill and a dark lamp mean a house with no one to feed.
Jeremiah 25:10
“I will take from them - See Jer 7:34, and Jer 16:9. The sound of the mill-stones, and the light of the candle - These two are conjoined, because they generally ground the corn before day, by the light of the candle. Sir J. Chardin has remarked, that every where in the morning may be heard the noise of the mills; for they generally grind every day just as much as is necessary for the day’s consumption.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
serve the king of Babylon for seventy years: The seventy years are named again in 29:10. Gill counts them from this fourth year of Jehoiakim, when Daniel was taken to Babylon, to the first year of Cyrus. Barnes notes that the empire of Babylon lasted a little less, so the years run on to the return home.
Jeremiah 25:11
“And this whole land shall be a desolation,.... Not only the city of Jerusalem, but all Judea, without inhabitants, or very few, and shall be uncultivated, and become barren and unfruitful: and an astonishment; to all other nations, and to all persons that pass through, beholding the desolations of it: and other nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years; both the Jews, and other nations of Egypt, reckoning from the date of this prophecy, the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign, when Daniel and others were carried captive, Dan 1:1; to the first year of Cyrus.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 25:11
“Seventy years - The duration of the Babylonian empire was really a little short of this period. But the 70 years are usually calculated down to the time when the Jews were permitted to return to their country (compare Jer 29:10).”
Jeremiah 25:12-14
But when seventy years are complete: The seventy years that measure Judah's servitude measure Babylon's reprieve: “when seventy years are complete, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation.” Verse 14 repays Babylon in kind, since “many nations and great kings will enslave them.”
Jeremiah 25:12
“And that nation - הגוי ההוא haggoi hahu. Dr. Blayney contends that this should be translated his nation, and that ההוא hahu is the substantive pronoun used in the genitive case. It is certainly more clear and definite to read, “I will punish the king of Babylon, and His nation.” Will make it perpetual desolations - See the note on Isa 13:19, where the fulfillment of this prophecy is distinctly marked.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 25:12
“Accomplished - Counted from the time that the Jews were carried away in the time of Jeconiah or Jehoiakim, 2 Kings xxiv, 15, 16. Desolations - This was fulfilled by Darius, the king of Persia, Dan. iv, 31, of these seventy Nebuchadnezzar reigned thirty six, 2 Kings xxv, 27.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
all that is written in this book: The book is the written record of the words of Jeremiah, and chapter 36 dates his first scroll to this fourth year. Barnes notes the Greek Bible ends the sentence after book and sets the oracles against the nations right here. The Hebrew keeps them for chapters 46 to 51.
Jeremiah 25:13
“The Septuagint places a full stop after “book,” and take the rest as a title “what Jeremiah prophesied against the nations,” which series there immediately follows. In the Masoretic Text, this series is deferred to the end Jer. 46–49, and with Jer. 50–51, forms one entire series. Other reasons make it probable that the Septuagint has preserved for us an earlier text, in which all direct mention of the king of Babylon is omitted and the 70 years are given as the duration of Judah’s captivity, and not of the Babylonian empire.”
many nations and great kings will enslave them: Babylon made the nations serve, and in turn it will serve them. Jerome notes that the verse is missing from the Greek Bible. He reads it as judgment on Babylon and on the other nations that fought in its army against the people of the Lord.
Jeremiah 25:14
“Many nations and great kings - The Medes and the Persians, under Cyrus; and several princes, his vassals or allies.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Jeremiah 25:14
“Under the similitude of a cup going round, which all the company must drink of, is here represented the universal desolation that was now coming upon that part of the world which Nebuchadrezzar, who just now began to reign and act, was to be the instrument of, and which should at length recoil upon his own country.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jeremiah 25:14
“Shall serve themselves of them also - i. e., shall impose forced labor upon the Chaldaeans, and reduce them also to servitude.”
The Wine Cup of Fury Passed Among the Nations
Jeremiah 25:15-17
This is what the LORD, the: The sign is a cup, “this cup of the wine of wrath,” which Jeremiah must make “all the nations to whom I send you drink.” Jeremiah obeys, “So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand,” and Revelation 14:10 and 16:19 take up the same cup of wrath.
Jeremiah 25:15
“The pouring out of the cup—and that a cup of pure or unmixed wine (which is called akratos in Greek)—is a sign of the Lord's wrath so that all the nations who have waged war against the people of God will drink from the cup of the wrath of the Lord. Also, Isaiah writes concerning this cup against Jerusalem, "You have drunk and emptied the drinking cup of wrath, the cup of destruction; therefore, arise!" But that cup is being drunk by all nations so that they can vomit and be maddened.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Six Books on Jeremiah 5:14patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 25:15
“Saith - Or, hath said. This prophecy - placed by the Septuagint after those against the nations - forms an impressive statement of the manner in which the new kingdom of Babylon was to execute Yahweh’s wrath upon the nations far and near.”
they will drink and stagger: The drunkenness is the reeling of nations at war. The verse names the cause as the sword the LORD sends, so the cup stands for battle and defeat. Jerome calls it a cup of pure wine, drunk until the nations vomit and go mad.
Jeremiah 25:16
“It is the wine-cup of his fury. It is the just anger of God that sends this judgment. The nations have provoked him by their sins, and they must fall under the tokens of his wrath.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 25:16
“Take the wine cup of this fury - For an ample illustration of this passage and simile, see the note on Isa 51:21.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
So I took the cup: Barnes reads the act as a spoken one. Jeremiah proclaimed this prophecy in Jerusalem, the center of the dealings of God with men, and left it to find its way to the nations. The list of those who drink begins in the next verse with Jerusalem itself.
Jeremiah 25:17
“Then took I the cup - Not actually offering the wine-cup - Holy Scripture has suffered much from this materialistic way of explaining it: but publicly proclaiming this prophecy in Jerusalem, as the central spot of God’s dealings with men, and leaving it to find its way to the neighboring states.”
Jeremiah 25:18-26
to make them a ruin, an: The cup passes to “Jerusalem and the cities of Judah,” so judgment begins at the city called by the LORD's name, the pattern Peter states. It closes on “the king of Sheshach,” Babylon's name written in atbash cipher, so the empire that carries out the sentence must drink it last.
Jeremiah 25:18
“Jerusalem--put first: for "judgment begins at the house of God"; they being most guilty whose religious privileges are greatest (1Pe 4:17). kings--Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah. as it is this day--The accomplishment of the curse had already begun under Jehoiakim. This clause, however, may have been inserted by Jeremiah at his final revision of his prophecies in Egypt.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 25:18
“As it is this day - Words omitted by the Septuagint, and probably added by Jeremiah after the murder of Gedaliah had completed the ruin of the land.”
Pharaoh king of Egypt, his officials: Egypt comes first among the foreign nations. Jerome notes that the cup passes from Pharaoh to his officials and then to all his people. His reading takes in the foreigners living in Egypt too, the mixed tribes named in verse 20.
Jeremiah 25:19
“Pharaoh king of Egypt - This was Pharaoh-necho, who was the principal cause of instigating the neighboring nations to form a league against the Chaldeans.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Jeremiah 25:19
“The Philistines had been vexatious to Israel, but now their cities and their lords become a prey to this mighty conqueror. Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Zidon, are places well known to border upon Israel; the Isles beyond, or beside, the sea, are supposed to be those parts of Phœnicia and Syria that lay upon the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jeremiah 25:19
“The arrangement is remarkable. Jeremiah begins with the south, Egypt; next Uz on the southeast, and Philistia on the southwest; next, Edom, Moab, and Ammon on the east, and Tyre, and Sidon, and the isles of the Mediterranean on the west; next, in the Far East, various Arabian nations, then northward to Media and Elam, and finally the kings of the north far and near.”
all the kings of the Philistines: Clarke takes the mixed tribes as foreigners settled in Egypt and places Uz in Arabia near Edom. Wesley notes that Gath is missing from the Philistine cities. Jerome holds that Gath is counted in the remnant of Ashdod, its near neighbor.
Jeremiah 25:20
“Of Uz - Some part of Arabia Petraea, near to Idumaea. Of the Philistines - Uzzah, Ekron, Ashdod, and Askelon, were four of their cities, the fifth which was Gath is not here named.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 25:20
“All the mingled people - The strangers and foreigners; Abyssinians and others who had settled in Egypt. Land of Uz - A part of Arabia near to Idumea. See on Job 1:1 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites: These three nations bordered Judah to the east and south. Jerome places Edom at the mountains of Seir and names Moab and Ammon as the sons of Lot, near the Dead Sea. Jeremiah returns to each of them in chapters 48 and 49.
Jeremiah 25:21
“Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon. All well known and implacable enemies of Israel. The Edomites descended from Esau; and the Moabites and Ammonites from Moab and Ammon, the two sons of Lot by his daughters. Their destruction is prophesied of in the forty eighth and forty ninth chapters.”
the kings of the coastlands across the sea: Tyre and Sidon were the chief ports of the Phoenician coast. Jerome notes that the Babylonians took them, and that Carthage was one of their colonies. He reads the coastlands across the sea as Cyprus, Rhodes and the islands beyond.
Jeremiah 25:22
“Tyrus and - Zidon - The most ancient of all the cities of the Phoenicians. Kings of the isles which are beyond the sea - As the Mediterranean Sea is most probably meant, and the Phoenicians had numerous colonies on its coasts, I prefer the marginal reading, the kings of the region by the sea side.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Jeremiah 25:22
“And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon,.... Two very ancient cities in Phoenicia, frequently mentioned together in Scripture, being near each other. Their ruin is foretold in Jer 47:4; and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea; which some understand of Greece and Italy; others of Rhodes, Cyprus, and Crete, and other islands in the Mediterranean sea; the Cyclades, as Jerom: but the words may be rendered, "and the kings of the country by the seaside"; and may design those that dwell upon the coast of the Mediterranean sea.”
Jeremiah 25:22
“The isles - Rightly explained in the margin; it probably refers here to Cyprus.”
Dedan, Tema, Buz: Dedan, Tema and Buz were desert peoples to the south and east of Judah. Gill traces Buz to a son of Nahor named in Genesis 22:21, and he places these tribes in Edom or Arabia. Gill cites Jerome, who links the cut hair to the Saracens.
Jeremiah 25:23
“Dedan, and Tema, and Buz,.... These seem to be places in Edom or Idumea, of whose destruction Jeremiah prophesies in Jer 49:7; or rather in Arabia and Mesopotamia. Jerom reckons them among the Ishmaelites and Saracens, The persons from whom they descended are mentioned in Gen 22:21; and all that are in the utmost corners; that is, either of the above countries, or of the whole earth: or "all that had their hair shorn" (m); or the corners of their beards; which Jerom says is applicable to the Saracens. (m) כל קצוצי פאה "universis qui attonsi sunt in comam", V.”
all the kings of Arabia: Barnes takes Arabia here as the land next to Judah, held mainly by Ishmaelites. He reads the mixed tribes as desert clans of blended descent. Gill cites the Targum, which pictures them living in tents in the desert, and points ahead to 49:28.
Jeremiah 25:24
“And all the kings of Arabia,.... Of Arabia Petraea; and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert; the other Arabians or mixed people, that dwell in Arabia Deserta, as the Scenites, Nomades, Kedarenes, and others; and so the Targum, "and all the kings of the Arabians, that dwell in tents in the desert.'' Of these, see the prophecy in Jer 49:28.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 25:24
“Arabia - That part which bordered on Palestine, and was inhabited mainly by Ishmaelites. The mingled people - Compare the Jer 25:20 note. In Arabia there seem to have been many tribes of Cushite origin, who by intermarriage with other tribes had become of mixed blood.”
all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media: Gill traces Zimri to Zimran, a son of Abraham by Keturah in Genesis 25:2. Elam lay east of Babylon, and Jeremiah gives it an oracle of its own in 49:34. Jerome notes that the Medes would one day capture Babylon.
Jeremiah 25:25
“And all the kings of Zimri,.... Of Arabia Felix, so called from Zimran, a son of Abraham by Keturah, Gen 25:2; the same whom Pliny (n) calls Zamerenes; and all the kings of Elam; or Persia; who are prophesied against in Jer 49:34; and all the kings of the Medes; who commonly go together with the Persians. (n) Nat. Hist. I. 6. c. 28.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 25:25
“Zimri--perhaps the Zabra mentioned by PTOLEMY between Mecca and Medina. Zimran also, as Dedan, was one of Abraham's sons by Keturah (Ge 25:2). Elam--properly, west of Persia; but used for Persia in general.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
the king of Sheshach will drink it too: After every kingdom has drunk, Babylon drinks last. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read Sheshach as Babel in a letter code, used to hide the name while Nebuchadnezzar stood near Jerusalem. Clarke takes Sheshach as an old king of Babylon who stands for the city or its king.
Jeremiah 25:26
“The kings of the north, far and near - The first may mean Syria; the latter, the Hyrcanians and Bactrians. And the king of Sheshach shall drink after them - Sheshach was an ancient king of Babylon, who was deified after his death. Here it means either Babylon, or Nebuchadnezzar the king of it. After it has been the occasion of ruin to so many other nations, Babylon itself shall be destroyed by the Medo-Persians.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 25:26
“In the Cabalistic system (called Athbash, the first Hebrew letter in the alphabet being expressed by the last) Sheshach would exactly answer to Babel. Jeremiah may have used this system (as perhaps in Jer 51:41) for concealment at the time of this prediction, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, while Nebuchadnezzar was before Jerusalem.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 25:27-29
“If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it,” Jeremiah is to answer, “You most certainly must drink it!” Verse 29 gives the reason: “I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears My Name, so how could you possibly go unpunished?”
Jeremiah 25:27
“Men in drink often fall and rise no more; it is a sin that is its own punishment. How wretchedly are those intoxicated and besotted that suffer themselves at any time to be intoxicated, especially to be by the frequent commission of the sin besotted with wine or strong drink! (2.) To make us dread the judgments of war.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
Jeremiah 25:27
“Be drunken, and spue - Why did we not use the word vomit, less offensive than the other, and yet of the same signification?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jeremiah 25:27
“The metaphors denote the helplessness to which the nations are reduced by drinking the wine-cup of fury Jer 25:15.”
If they refuse to take the cup: Those who refuse the cup must still drink it. Matthew Henry notes that Isaiah had spoken against most of these nations long before, in chapter 13 and after. Now the LORD of Hosts makes that old word certain, and the burden of the word becomes the burden of judgment.
Jeremiah 25:28
“That the burden of the word of the Lord will at last become the burden of his judgments. Isaiah had prophesied long since against most of these nations ( ch. xiii. , &c.) and now at length all his prophecies will have their complete fulfilling. That those who are ambitious of power and dominion commonly become the troublers of the earth and the plagues of their generation.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the city that bears My Name: That city is Jerusalem, and her disaster comes first. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown link this order to 1 Peter 4:17, where judgment begins at the house of God. If His own city suffers, the other nations will face the sword as well.
Jeremiah 25:29
“The city which is called by my name - Jerusalem, which should be first given up to the destruction.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The LORD Roars from on High; No Way to Flee for the Shepherds
Jeremiah 25:30-31
So you are to prophesy all: The lion figure returns, “The LORD will roar from on high,” the voice Amos uses of judgment on the nations. Verse 31 speaks in the language of a lawcourt: “the LORD brings a charge against the nations.” The case reaches “all mankind,” and the sword falls on “the wicked.”
Jeremiah 25:30
“Yahweh has risen like a lion from His covert, and at His roaring the whole world is filled with terror and confusion. Upon his habitation - Against His pasture; i. e., Judaea. Yahweh comes forth as the lion to destroy the sheep which lie terrified within the circle of the tents. A shout - The vintage-shout, here used for the war-cry. Compare Isa 16:9; Isa 63:3.”
the LORD brings a charge against the nations: Barnes hears the tumult as the tramp of an army on the move, as in Amos 2:2. The charge is a lawsuit, and the LORD is the judge. As judge, He hands the wicked over to the sword.
Jeremiah 25:31
“A noise - The trampling of an army in motion. Compare Amo 2:2. A controversy - i. e., a suit at law. Will plead - Or, will hold judgment. As judge He delivers the wicked to the sword.”
Jeremiah 25:32-33
This is what the LORD of: The judgment moves like weather: “Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth.” The picture of the dead “like dung lying on the ground” was used of Jerusalem in chapters 8 and 16, and it covers the nations.
Jeremiah 25:32
“A great whirlwind - Or, storm. The coasts of the earth - See Jer 6:22 note. The thunderstorm seen first on the edge of the horizon overspreads the heaven, and travels from nation to nation in its destructive course.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 25:32
“The Chaldean army shall be like a hurricane raised in the north, but thence carried on with incredible fierceness and swiftness, bearing down all before it. It is like the whirlwind out of which God answered Job, which was exceedingly terrible, Job xxxvii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Those slain by the LORD on that day: The storm of verse 32 leaves its dead “from one end of the earth to the other.” So many are slain that no one is left to mourn them, and they will not be “mourned, gathered, or buried.” They lie “like dung lying on the ground” where they fell.
Jeremiah 25:33
“From one end of the earth - From one end of the land to the other. All Palestine shall be desolated by it.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Jeremiah 25:33
“The day of vengeance is in his heart, and now his hand shall find out all his enemies, wherever they are, Ps. xxi. Note, When our neighbour's house is on fire it is time to be concerned for our own.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jeremiah 25:33
“Lamented - See the marginal reference and Jer 8:2.”
Jeremiah 25:34-36
Wail, you shepherds, and cry out: The address turns to the rulers under the shepherd figure: “Wail, you shepherds, and cry out; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock.” They “will fall and be shattered like fine pottery,” a costly thing made worthless. Verse 36 gives the reason, “the LORD is destroying their pasture.”
Jeremiah 25:34
“Howl, ye shepherds - Ye kings and chiefs of the people. Ye shall fall like a pleasant tresses - As a fall will break and utterly ruin a precious vessel of crystal, agate, etc., so your overthrow will be to you irreparable ruin.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 25:34
“Howl, ye shepherds, and cry,.... The Targum is, "howl, ye kings, and cry;'' and the rulers and governors of the nations before threatened with destruction are meant; who are here called upon to lamentation and mourning for the ruin and loss of their kingdoms; though Calvin thinks that this is an apostrophe to the Jewish nation, and the rulers of it.”
Flight will evade the shepherds: The shepherds are the kings and leaders of the flock. Gill reads the verse as flight perishing from the shepherds, so that no rank, power or riches would give them a way to escape. He sees it fulfilled in Zedekiah and his princes in chapter 39.
Hear the cry of the shepherds: The pasture is the land the shepherds ruled. Jerome notes that the Greek Bible has the rams shouting for joy where the Hebrew has the leaders wailing. With their pasture destroyed, the shepherds lose their living and their rule together.
Jeremiah 25:36
“And a voice of the cry of the shepherds,.... Or of the kings, as the Targum: and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard; of the mighty of the people, as the same; what is before called for is here represented as in fact, because of the certainty of it: for the Lord hath spoiled their pastures: their kingdoms, provinces, cities, and towns; or their people, as the Targum, among whom they lived, and by whom they were supported; still keeping up the metaphor of the shepherd and flock.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 25:36
“Those are great calamities indeed that strike such a terror upon the great men, and put them into this consternation. The Lord hath spoiled their pasture, in which they fed their flock, and out of which they fed themselves; the spoiling of that makes them cry-out thus.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jeremiah 25:37-38
The peaceful meadows have been silenced: The oracle ends where it began, with settled life silenced: “The peaceful meadows have been silenced because of the LORD’s burning anger.” The lion that roared in verse 30 now “has left His den like a lion,” the LORD leaving the cover that had sheltered the land.
Jeremiah 25:37
“The peaceable habitations - The pastures of peace, the peaceable fields where the flocks lately dwelt in security. See Jer 25:30 note.”
He has left His den like a lion: Clarke pictures a lion driven from its den by the Jordan flood, coming into the land in fierce anger. Gill reports a reading that the lion is the LORD leaving His temple in Jerusalem. The land then lay open to the oppressor’s sword.
Jeremiah 25:38
“He hath forsaken his covert as a lion,.... Which some understand of God leaving Jerusalem, or the temple, where he dwelt; who, while he made it his residence, protected it; but when he forsook it, it became exposed to the enemy. Kimchi says it may be understood of the destruction of the first temple by Nebuchadnezzar; but he thinks it is most correct to interpret it of the destruction of the second temple; that is, by the Romans, when it was left desolate by Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.”
1 more voice on this verse
Jeremiah 25:38
“As the lion - Leaving the banks of Jordan when overflowed, and coming with ravening fierceness to the champaign country.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Keep studying
Studies8
Words12
Subjects1
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 & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome; John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.