Geneva Bible Notes on Jeremiah

Jer 1:1
1:1 The {a} words of Jeremiah the son of {b} Hilkiah, of the
    priests that [were] in {c} Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:

 The Argument - The prophet Jeremiah born in the city of
    Anathoth in the country of Benjamin, was the son of Hilkiah,
    whom some think to be he that found the book of the law and
    gave it to Josiah. This prophet had excellent gifts from
    God, and most evident revelations of prophecy, so that by
    the commandment of the Lord he began very young to prophecy,
    that is, in the thirteenth year of Josiah, and continued
    eighteen years under the king, three months under Jehoahaz
    and under Jehoiakim eleven years,  three months under
    Jehoiachin, and under Zedekiah eleven years to the time that
    they were carried away into Babylon. So that this time
    amounts to above forty years, besides the time that he
    prophesied after the captivity.  In this book he declares
    with tears and lamentations, the destruction of Jerusalem
    and the captivity of the people, for their idolatry,
    covetousness, deceit, cruelty, excess, rebellion and
    contempt of God's word, and for the consolation of the
    Church reveals the just time of their deliverance. Here
    chiefly are to be considered three things. First the
    rebellion of the wicked, who wax more stubborn and
    obstinate, when the prophets admonish them most plainly of
    their destruction.  Next how the prophets and ministers of
    God should not be discouraged in their vocation, though they
    are persecuted and rigorously handled by the wicked, for
    God's cause. Thirdly though God shows his just judgment
    against the wicked, yet will he ever show himself a
    preserver of his Church, and when all means seem to men's
    judgment to be abolished, then will he declare himself
    victorious in preserving his.

    (a) That is, the sermons and prophecies.
    (b) Who is thought to be he that found the book of the law
        under king Josiah, #2Ki 22:8|.
    (c) This was a city about three miles from Jerusalem and
        belonged to the priests, the sons of Aaron,
        #Jos 21:18|.

Jer 1:2
1:2 To whom the {d} word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah
    the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his
    reign.

    (d) This is spoken to confirm his calling and office, as he
        did not presume of himself to preach and prophecy, but
        was called to it by God.

Jer 1:3
1:3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king
    of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the
    {e} son of Josiah king of Judah, to the carrying away of
    Jerusalem captive in the fifth {f} month.

    (e) Meaning the nephew of Josiah: for Jehoahaz was his
        father, who reigned but three months, and therefore is
        not mentioned, nor is Jehoiakim that reigned no longer.
    (f) Of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, who was also called
        Mattaniah, and at this time the Jews were carried away
        into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.

Jer 1:5
1:5 Before I {g} formed thee in the womb I knew thee; and before
    thou wast born I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a
    prophet to the {h} nations.

    (g) The scripture uses this manner of speech to declare that
        God has appointed his minsters to their offices before
        they were born, as in #Isa 49:1, Ga 1:15|.
    (h) For Jeremiah did not only prophecy against the Jews, but
        also against the Egyptians, Babylonians, Moabites and
        other nations.

Jer 1:6
1:6 Then said I, {i} Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I
    [am] a child.

    (i) Considering the great judgments of God which according
        to his threatening would come on the world, he was moved
        with a certain compassion on the one hand to pity them
        that would thus perish, and on the other hand by the
        infirmity of man's nature, knowing how hard a thing it
        was to enterprise such a charge, as in
        #Isa 6:11, Ex 3:21,4:1|.

Jer 1:9
1:9 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and {k} touched my mouth.
    And the LORD said to me, Behold, I have put my words in thy
    mouth.

    (k) Which declares that God makes them meet and assures
        them, whom he calls to set forth his glory, giving them
        all means necessary for the same,
        #Ex 4:12, Isa 6:7|.

Jer 1:10
1:10 See, I have this day set thee over the {l} nations and over
     the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to
     destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

     (l) He shows what is the authority of God's true ministers,
         who by his word have power to bear down whatever lifts
         itself up against God: and to plant and assure the
         humble and such as give themselves to the obedience of
         God's word, #2Co 10:4,5, He 4:12|, and these are the
         keys which Christ has left to loose and bind,
         #Mt 18:18|.

Jer 1:11
1:11 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Jeremiah,
     what seest thou? And I said, I see a {m} rod of an almond
     tree.

     (m) He joins the sign with the word, for a more ample
         confirmation: signifying by the rod of the almond tree,
         which first buds, the hasty coming of the Babylonians
         against the Jews.

Jer 1:13
1:13 And the word of the LORD came to me the second time,
     saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a boiling {n}
     pot; and its face [is] toward the north.

     (n) Signifying that the Chaldeans and Assyrians would be as
         a pot to seethe the Jews who boiled in their pleasures
         and lust.

Jer 1:14
1:14 Then the LORD said to me, Out of the {o} north an evil
     shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

     (o) Syria and Assyria were northward in respect to
         Jerusalem, which was the Chaldeans dominion.

Jer 1:16
1:16 And I will utter my {p} judgments against them concerning
     all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned
     incense to other gods, and worshipped the works of their
     own hands.

     (p) I will give them charge and power to execute my
         vengeance against the idolaters who have forsaken me
         for their idols.

Jer 1:17
1:17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak to
     them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their
     faces, lest I {q} confound thee before them.

     (q) Which declares that God's vengeance is prepared against
         them who do not execute their duty faithfully, either
         for fear of man, or for any other reason,
         #1Co 9:16|.

Jer 1:18
1:18 For, behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city,
     and an {r} iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole
     land, against the kings of Judah, against her princes,
     against her priests, and against the people of the land.

     (r) Signifying on the one hand that the more that Satan and
         the world rage against God's ministers, the more
         present will he be to help them, #Jos 1:5, He 13:5|
         and on the other hand, that they are utterly unfit to
         serve God in his Church, who are afraid and do not
         resist wickedness, whatever danger depend on it,
         #Isa 50:7, Eze 3:8|.

Jer 2:2
2:2 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the
    LORD; I remember thee, the {a} kindness of thy youth, the
    love of thy espousals, when thou wentest after me in the
    wilderness, {b} in a land [that was] not sown.

    (a) According to that grace and favour which I showed you
        from the beginning, when I first chose you to be my
        people, and married you to myself, #Eze 16:8|.
    (b) When I had delivered you out of Egypt.

Jer 2:3
2:3 Israel [was] {c} holiness to the LORD, [and] the firstfruits
    of his increase: all {d} that devour him shall offend; evil
    shall come upon them, saith the LORD.

    (c) Chosen above all others to serve the Lord only and the
        first offered to the Lord of all other nations.
    (d) Whoever challenged this people, or else annoyed them,
        was punished.

Jer 2:5
2:5 Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found
    in me, that they have gone {e} far from me, and have walked
    after vanity, and have become {f} vain?

    (e) That is, fallen to vile idolatry.
    (f) Altogether given to vanity, and are become blind and
        insensible as the idols that they serve.

Jer 2:6
2:6 Neither said they, Where [is] the LORD that brought us out
    of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness,
    through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of
    drought, and of {g} the shadow of death, through a land that
    no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

    (g) Where for lack of all things needed for life, you could
        look for nothing every hour but present death.

Jer 2:7
2:7 And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit
    of it and the goodness of it but when ye entered, ye defiled
    {h} my land, and made my heritage an abomination.

    (h) By your idolatry and wicked manners,
        #Ps 78:58,106:38|.

Jer 2:8
2:8 The priests said not, {i} Where [is] the LORD? and they that
    handle the {k} law knew me not: the {l} rulers also
    transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by {m}
    Baal, and walked after [things that] do not profit.

    (i) They did not teach the people to seek after God.
    (k) As the scribes, who would have expounded the law to the
        people.
    (l) Meaning, the princes and ministers: signifying, that all
        estates were corrupt.
    (m) That is, spoke vain things, and brought the people from
        the true worship of God to serve idols: for by Baal,
        which was the chief idol of the Moabites, are meant all
        idols.

Jer 2:9
2:9 Wherefore I will yet {n} plead with you, saith the LORD, and
    with your children's children will I plead.

    (n) Signifying that he would not as he might, straightway
        condemn them, but shows them by evident examples their
        great ingratitude that they might be ashamed and repent.

Jer 2:10
2:10 For pass over the isles of {o} Chittim, and see; and send
     to {p} Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there is
     such a thing.

     (o) Meaning, the Grecians and Italians.
     (p) To Arabia.

Jer 2:11
2:11 Hath a nation changed [their] gods, which [are] yet no
     gods? but my people have changed their {q} glory for [that
     which] doth not {r} profit.

     (q) That is, God who is their glory, and who makes them
         glorious above all other people, reproving the Jews
         that they were less diligent to serve the true God,
         than were the idolaters to honour their vanities.
     (r) Meaning the idols who were their destruction,
         #Ps 106:36|.

Jer 2:12
2:12 Be astonished, O ye {s} heavens, at this, and be horribly
     afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.

     (s) He shows that the insensible creatures abhor this vile
         ingratitude, and as it were tremble for fear of God's
         great judgments against the same.

Jer 2:13
2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken
     me {t} the fountain of living waters, [and] hewed out for
     themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no
     water.

     (t) Signifying that when men forsake God's word, which is
         the fountain of life, they reject God himself, and so
         fall to their own inventions, and vain confidence, and
         procure to themselves destruction,
         #Jon 2:8, Zec 10:2|.

Jer 2:14
2:14 [Is] Israel a {u} servant?  [is] he a homeborn [slave]? why
     is he laid waste?

     (u) Have I ordered them like servants and not like dearly
         beloved children? #Ex 4:22| therefore it is their
         fault only, if the enemy spoil them.

Jer 2:15
2:15 The young {x} lions roared upon him, [and] yelled, and they
     made his land waste: his cities are burned without
     {y} inhabitant.

     (x) The Babylonians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians.
     (y) Not one will be left to dwell there.

Jer 2:16
2:16 Also the children of {z} Noph and Tahapanes have {a} broken
     the crown of thy head.

     (z) That is, the Egyptians, for these were two great cities
         in Egypt.
     (a) Have grievously vexed you at various times.

Jer 2:17
2:17 Hast thou not procured this to thyself, in that thou hast
     forsaken the LORD thy God, when he {b} led thee by the way?

     (b) Showing that God would have still led them correctly,
         if they would have followed him.

Jer 2:18
2:18 And now what hast thou to do in the way of {c} Egypt, to
     drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the
     way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the {d} river?

     {c} To seek help from man, as though God was not able
         enough to defend you, which is to drink from the
         puddles and to leave the fountain, #Isa 31:1|.
     (d) That is, Euphrates.

Jer 2:19
2:19 Thy own wickedness shall {e} correct thee, and thy
     backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see
     that [it is] an evil [thing] and bitter, that thou hast
     forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear [is] not in
     thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

     (e) Meaning, that the wicked are insensible, till the
         punishment for their sin waken them as in
         #Jer 2:26, Isa 3:9|.

Jer 2:20
2:20 For of old time I have broken thy yoke, [and] burst thy
     bands; and thou saidst, {f} I will not transgress; when
     upon every high hill and under every green tree thou
     wanderest, playing the harlot.

     (f) When I delivered you out of Egypt,
         #Ex 19:8, De 5:27, Jos 24:16, Ezr 10:12, He 8:6|.

Jer 2:22
2:22 For though thou shalt wash thee with {g} lye, and take thee
     much soap, [yet] thy iniquity is marked before me, saith
     the Lord GOD.

     (g) Though you use all the purifications and ceremonies of
         the law, you cannot escape punishment.

Jer 2:23
2:23 How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not {h} gone
     after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou
     hast done: [thou art] a swift {i} dromedary traversing her
     ways;

     (h) Meaning that hypocrites deny that they worship the
         idols, but that they honour God in them, and therefore
         they call their doings God's service.
     (i) He compares the idolaters to these beasts, because they
         never cease running to and fro: for both valleys and
         hills are full of their idolatry.

Jer 2:24
2:24 A wild {k} donkey used to the wilderness, [that] snuffeth
     up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn
     her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves;
     in her {l} month they shall find her.

     (k) He compares the idolaters to a wild ass: for she can
         never be tamed nor yet wearied: for as she runs she can
         take her wind at every opportunity.
     (l) That is, when she is with foal, and therefore the
         hunters wait their time: so though you cannot be turned
         back now from your idolatry, yet when your iniquity
         will be at the fall, God will meet with you.

Jer 2:25
2:25 Withhold thy foot from {m} being unshod, and thy throat
     from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I
     have loved strangers, and after them will I go.

     (m) By this he warns them that they should not go into
         strange countries to seek help: for they should but
         spend their labour, and hurt themselves, which is here
         meant by the bare foot and thirst, #Isa 57:10|.

Jer 2:26
2:26 As the {n} thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the
     house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes,
     and their priests, and their prophets,

     (n) As a thief will not acknowledge his fault, till he is
         taken with the deed, and ready to be punished, so they
         will not confess their idolatry, till the plagues due
         to the same light on them.

Jer 2:27
2:27 Saying to a tree, Thou [art] my {o} father; and to a stone,
     Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned [their]
     back to me, and not [their] face: but in the time of their
     trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.

     (o) Meaning, that idolaters rob God of his honour: and
         where as he has taught to call him the father of all
         flesh, they attribute this title to their idols.

Jer 2:28
2:28 But where [are] thy gods that thou hast made for thyself?
     let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy
     trouble: for [according {p} to] the number of thy cities
     are thy gods, O Judah.

     (p) You thought that your gods of blocks and stones could
         have helped you, because they were many in number and
         present in every place: but now let us see whether
         either the multitude or their presence can deliver you
         from my plague, #Jer 11:13|.

Jer 2:29
2:29 Why will {q} ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed
     against me, saith the LORD.

     (q) As though I did you injury in punishing you, seeing
         that your faults are so evident.

Jer 2:30
2:30 In vain have I smitten your children; they have received no
     correction: your {r} own sword hath devoured your prophets,
     like a destroying lion.

     (r) That is, you have killed your prophets, that exhorted
         you to repentance, as Zechariah, Isaiah, etc.

Jer 2:31
2:31 O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a
     {s} wilderness to Israel? a land of darkness? why say my
     people, We are lords; {t} we will come no more to thee?

     (s) Have I not given them abundance of all things?
     (t) But will trust in our own power and policy.

Jer 2:33
2:33 Why trimmest thou thy way to {u} seek love? therefore hast
     thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.

     (u) With strangers.

Jer 2:34
2:34 Also in thy {x} skirts is found the blood of the souls of
     the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search,
     but upon all these.

     (x) The prophets and the faithful are slain in every corner
         of your country.

Jer 2:36
2:36 Why dost thou go about so much to change thy way? thou also
     shalt be ashamed of Egypt, {y} as thou wast ashamed of
     Assyria.

     (y) For the Assyrians had taken away the ten tribes out of
         Israel and destroyed Judah even to Jerusalem: and the
         Egyptians slew Josiah, and vexed the Jews in various
         ways.

Jer 2:37
2:37 Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thy hands upon {z}
     thy head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and
     thou shalt not prosper in them.

     (z) In sign of lamentation, as in #2Sa 13:19|.

Jer 3:1
3:1 They {a} say, If a man shall put away his wife, and she
    shall go from him, and become another man's, shall he return
    to her again? shall not that land {b} be greatly polluted?
    but thou hast played the harlot with many {c} lovers; yet
    {d} return again to me, saith the LORD.

    (a) According as it is written, #De 24:4|.
    (b) If he take such a one to wife again.
    (c) That is, with idols, and with them whom you have put
        your confidence in.
    (d) And I will not cast you off, but receive you, according
        to my mercy.

Jer 3:2
3:2 Lift up thy eyes to the high places, and see where thou hast
    not been lain with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as
    the {e} Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted
    the land with thy harlotry and with thy wickedness.

    (e) Who dwells in tent and waits for them that pass by to
        rob them.

Jer 3:3
3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there hath
    been no {f} latter rain; and thou hadst an {g} harlot's
    forehead, thou didst refuse to be ashamed.

    (f) As God threatened by his law, #De 28:24|.
    (g) You would never be ashamed of your acts and repent: and
        this impudency is common to idolaters, who will not
        cease, though they are openly convicted.

Jer 3:4
3:4 Wilt thou not from this time cry {h} to me, My father, thou
    [art] the guide of my youth?

    (h) He shows that the wicked in their miseries will cry to
        God and use outward prayer as the godly do, but because
        they do not turn from their evil, they are not heard,
        #Isa 58:3,4|.

Jer 3:6
3:6 The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king,
    Hast thou seen [that] which backsliding {i} Israel hath
    done? she hath gone up upon every high mountain and under
    every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.

    (i) Meaning the ten tribes.

Jer 3:8
3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes by which backsliding
    Israel committed adultery I had put {k} her away, and given
    her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah
    feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

    (k) And gave her into the hands of the Assyrians.

Jer 3:9
3:9 And it came to pass through the {l} lightness of her
    harlotry, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery
    with stones and with trees.

    (l) The Hebrew word may either signify lightness and
        wantonness, or noise and brute.

Jer 3:10
3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not
     turned to me with {m} her whole heart, but deceitfully,
     saith the LORD.

     (m) Judah pretended for a time that she returned, as under
         Josiah and other good kings, but she was never truly
         touched, or wholly reformed, as appeared when
         opportunity was offered by any wicked prince.

Jer 3:11
3:11 And the LORD said to me, The backsliding Israel hath {n}
     justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

     (n) Israel has not declared herself as wicked as Judah, who
         yet has had more admonitions and examples to call her
         to repentance.

Jer 3:12
3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward {o} the north, and say,
     Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; [and] I
     will not cause my anger to fall upon you: for I [am]
     merciful, saith the LORD, [and] I will not keep [anger] for
     ever.

     (o) While the Israelites were now kept in captivity by the
         Assyrians, to whom he promises mercy, if they will
         repent.

Jer 3:13
3:13 Only acknowledge thy iniquity, that thou hast transgressed
     against the LORD thy God, and hast {p} scattered thy ways
     to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not
     obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

     (p) There was no way which you did not hunt to seek after
         the idols, and to go on a pilgrimage.

Jer 3:16
3:16 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall be multiplied and
     increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they
     shall say no more, The {q} ark of the covenant of the LORD:
     neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember
     it; neither shall they miss [it]; neither shall [that] be
     done any more.

     (q) This is to be understood of the coming of Christ: for
         then they will not seek the Lord by ceremonies, and all
         figures will cease.

Jer 3:17
3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem {r} the throne of
     the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to
     the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk
     any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

     (r) Meaning, the Church, where the Lord will be present to
         the world's end, #Mt 28:20|.

Jer 3:18
3:18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house
     of Israel, and they shall come together from the land of
     the {s} north to the land that I have given for an
     inheritance to your fathers.

     (s) Where they are now in captivity.

Jer 3:20
3:20 Surely [as] a wife treacherously departeth from her {t}
     husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of
     Israel, saith the LORD.

     (t) The Hebrew word signifies a friend or companion, and
         here may be taken for a husband, as it is used also in
         #Ho 3:1|.

Jer 3:21
3:21 {u} A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping [and]
     supplications of the children of Israel: for they have
     perverted their way, [and] they have forgotten the LORD
     their God.

     (u) Signifying, that God, whom they had forsaken, would
         bring their enemies to them, who would lead them
         captive, and make them to cry and lament.

Jer 3:22
3:22 Return, ye backsliding children, [and] I will heal your
     backslidings. {x} Behold, we come to thee; for thou [art]
     the LORD our God.

     (x) This is spoken in the person of Israel to the shame of
         Judah, who stayed so long to turn to God.

Jer 3:24
3:24 For shame hath devoured the labour of our {y} fathers from
     our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and
     their daughters.

     (y) For their idolatry God's vengeance has light on them
         and theirs.

Jer 3:25
3:25 We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us:
     {z} for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our
     fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not
     obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

     (z) They justify not themselves, or say that they would
         follow their fathers, but condemn their wicked doings
         and desire forgiveness for the same, as in
         #Ezr 9:7, Ps 106:6, Isa 64:6|.

Jer 4:1
4:1 If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, {a} return to
    me: and if thou wilt put away thy abominations out of my
    sight, then shalt thou not be removed.

    (a) That is, wholly and without hypocrisy, not dissembling
        to turn and serve God as they do who serve him by
        halves, #Ho 7:16|.

Jer 4:2
4:2 And thou shalt {b} swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in
    judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless
    themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.

    (b) You will detest the name of idols, #Ps 16:4| and
        will with reverence swear by the living God, when your
        oath may advance God's glory, and profit others: and
        here by swearing he means the true religion of God.

Jer 4:3
4:3 For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem,
    Break up {c} your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

    (c) He wills them to pluck up the impiety and wicked
        affection and worldly respects out of their heart, that
        the true seed of God's word may be sown in it,
        #Ho 10:12| and this is the true circumcision of the
        heart, #De 10:16, Ro 2:29, Col 2:11|.

Jer 4:5
4:5 {d} Declare ye in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem; and say,
    Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, confirm, and say,
    Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified
    cities.

    (d) He warns them of the great dangers that will come on
        them by the Chaldeans, unless they repent and turn to
        the Lord.

Jer 4:6
4:6 Set up the standard toward Zion: {e} retire, stay not: for I
    will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.

    (e) He speaks this to admonish them of the great danger when
        every man will prepare to save himself, but it will be
        too late, #2Ki 25:4|.

Jer 4:7
4:7 The {f} lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer
    of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his
    place to make thy land desolate; thy cities shall be laid
    waste, without an inhabitant.

    (f) Meaning Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, #2Ki 24:1|.

Jer 4:9
4:9 And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD,
    [that] the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of
    the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the
    {g} prophets shall wonder.

    (g) That is, the false prophets who still prophesied peace
        and security.

Jer 4:10
4:10 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly {h}
     deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have
     peace; though the sword reacheth to the soul.

     (h) By the false prophets who promised peace and
         tranquillity: and thus you have punished their
         rebellious stubbornness by causing them to hearken to
         lies who would not believe your truth,
         #1Ki 22:23, Eze 14:9, 2Th 2:11|.

Jer 4:11
4:11 At that time shall it be said to this people and to
     Jerusalem, A dry {i} wind of the high places in the
     wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not {k} to
     fan, nor to cleanse,

     (i) The north wind by which he means Nebuchadnezzar.
     (k) But to carry away both corn and chaff.

Jer 4:13
4:13 Behold, he shall come up as {l} clouds, and his chariots
     [shall be] as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than
     eagles. {m} Woe to us! for we are laid waste.

     (l) Meaning that Nebuchadnezzar would come as suddenly as a
         cloud that is carried with the wind.
     (m) This is spoken in the person of all the people, who in
         their affliction would cry thus.

Jer 4:15
4:15 For a voice declareth from {n} Dan, and proclaimeth
     affliction from mount {o} Ephraim.

     (n) Which was a city in the utmost border of Israel north
         toward Babylon.
     (o) Which was in the middle between Dan and Jerusalem.

Jer 4:17
4:17 As keepers of a {p} field, they are against her on all
     sides; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith
     the LORD.

     (p) Who keep the fruits so straitly, that nothing can come
         in or out so would the Babylonians compass Judah.,

Jer 4:19
4:19 My distress, my {q} distress!  I am pained at my very
     heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my
     peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the
     trumpet, the alarm of war.

     (q) He shows that the true ministers are lively touched
         with the calamities of the Church, so that all the
         parts of their body feel the grief of their heart, even
         though with zeal to God's glory they pronounce his
         judgments against the people.

Jer 4:20
4:20 Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land
     is laid waste: suddenly are my {r} tents ruined, [and] my
     curtains in a moment.

     (r) Meaning, the cities which were as easily cast down as a
         tent.

Jer 4:22
4:22 For my people [are] foolish, they have not known me; they
     [are] silly children, and they have no understanding: {s}
     they [are] wise to do evil, but to do good they have no
     knowledge.

     (s) Their wisdom and policy tend to their own destruction
         and pulls them from God.

Jer 4:23
4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, [it was] without form, and {t}
     void; and the heavens, and they [had] no light.

     (t) By this manner of speech he shows the horrible
         destruction that would come on the land and also
         condemns the obstinacy of the people who do not repent
         at the fear of these terrible kings, seeing that the
         insensible creatures are moved therewith, as if the
         order of nature would be changed,
         #Isa 13:10,24:23, Eze 32:7, Joel 2:31,3:15|.

Jer 4:27
4:27 For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be
     desolate; yet will I {u} not make a full end.

     (u) But for his mercies sake, he will reserve himself a
         residue to be his Church, and to praise him in earth,
         #Jer 5:18|.

Jer 4:30
4:30 And [when] thou [art] laid waste, what wilt thou do? Though
     thou {x} clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest
     thee with ornaments of gold, though thou enlarge thy eyes
     with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; [thy]
     lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

     (x) Neither your ceremonies nor rich gifts will deliver
         you.

Jer 4:31
4:31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, [and]
     the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child,
     the voice of the daughter of Zion, [that] bewaileth
     herself, [that] spreadeth her hands, [saying], {y} Woe [is]
     me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

     (y) As the prophets were moved to pity the destruction of
         their people, so they declared it to the people to move
         them to repentance, #Isa 22:4, Jer 9:1|.

Jer 5:1
5:1 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see
    now, and know, and seek in its broad places, if ye can find
    a man, if there is [any] that executeth judgment, that
    seeketh the truth; and I will pardon {a} it.

    (a) That is, the city.

Jer 5:2
5:2 And though they say, The {b} LORD liveth; surely they swear
    falsely.

    (b) Though they pretend religion and holiness, yet all is
        but hypocrisy: for under this kind of swearing is
        contained the true religion.

Jer 5:3
5:3 O LORD, [are] not thy eyes upon the {c} truth?  thou hast
    {d} stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast
    consumed them, [but] they have refused to receive
    correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock;
    they have refused to return.

    (c) Do you not love uprightness and faithful dealing?
    (d) You have often punished them, but all is in vain,
        #Isa 9:13|.

Jer 5:5
5:5 I will go to the {e} great men, and will speak to them; for
    they have known the way of the LORD, [and] the judgment of
    their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, [and]
    burst the bonds.

    (e) He speaks this to the reproach of them who would govern
        and teach others, and yet are farther out of the way
        than the simple people.

Jer 5:6
5:6 Wherefore a {f} lion from the forest shall slay them, [and]
    a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall
    watch over their cities: every one that goeth out from there
    shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are
    many, [and] their backslidings are increased.

    (f) Meaning, Nebuchadnezzar and his army.

Jer 5:7
5:7 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken
    me, and {g} sworn by [them that are] no gods: when I had fed
    them to the full, then they committed adultery, and
    assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.

    (g) He shows that to swear by anything other than by God is
        to forsake him.

Jer 5:10
5:10 {h} Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a
     full end: {i} take away her battlements; for they [are] not
     the LORD'S.

     (h) He commands the Babylonians and enemies to destroy
         them.
     (i) Read #Jer 4:27|.

Jer 5:12
5:12 They have {k} lied about the LORD, and said, [It is] not
     he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see
     sword nor famine:

     (k) Because they gave no credit to the words of his
         prophets, as in #Isa 28:15|.

Jer 5:13
5:13 And the prophets shall become {l} wind, and the word [is]
     {m} not in them: thus shall it be done to them.

     (l) Their words will be of no effect, but vain.
     (m) They are not sent from the Lord, and therefore that
         which they threaten to us will come on them.

Jer 5:14
5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye
     speak this word, behold, I will make my words in {n} thy
     mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

     (n) Meaning, Jeremiah.

Jer 5:15
5:15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you {o} from far, O house of
     Israel, saith the LORD: it [is] a mighty nation, it [is] an
     ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not,
     neither understandest what they say.

     (o) That is, the Babylonians and Chaldeans.

Jer 5:16
5:16 Their quiver [is] as an {p} open sepulchre, they [are] all
     mighty men.

     (p) Who will kill many with their arrows.

Jer 5:18
5:18 Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make
     a full end with {q} you.

     (q) Here the Lord declares his unspeakable favour toward
         his Church, as in #Jer 4:27|.

Jer 5:19
5:19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why doeth the
     LORD our God all these [things] to us? then shalt {r} thou
     answer them, As ye have forsaken me, and served foreign
     gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land
     [that is] not yours.

     (r) Meaning, the prophet Jeremiah.

Jer 5:25
5:25 Your {s} iniquities have turned away these [things], and
     your sins have withheld good [things] from you.

     (s) If there is any stay, that we receive not God's
         blessings in abundance, we must consider that it is for
         our own iniquities, #Isa 59:1,2|.

Jer 5:28
5:28 They have become fat, they shine: yea, they exceed the
     deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of
     the fatherless, yet they {t} prosper; and the right of the
     needy do they not judge.

     (t) They feel not the plague of God for it.

Jer 5:31
5:31 The {u} prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear
     rule by their means; and my people love [to have it] so:
     and what will ye do in its end?

     (u) Meaning that there could be nothing but disorder, where
         the ministers were wicked and corrupt.

Jer 6:1
6:1 O ye children of {a} Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out
    of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in {b}
    Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in {c} Bethhaccerem: for
    evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

    (a) He speaks to them chiefly because they should take heed
        by the example of their brethren the other half of their
        tribe, who were now carried away prisoners.
    (b) Which was a city in Judah, six miles from Bethlehem,
        #2Ch 11:6|.
    (c) Read #Ne 3:14|.

Jer 6:2
6:2 I have likened the daughter of Zion to {d} a comely and
    delicate [woman].

    (d) I have intreated her gently, and given her abundance of
        all things.

Jer 6:3
6:3 The shepherds with their flocks {e} shall come to her; they
    shall pitch [their] tents against her on every side; they
    shall feed every one in his place.

    (e) She will be so destroyed that the sheep may be fed in
        her.

Jer 6:4
6:4 {f} Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at
    noon. Woe to us! for the day departeth, for the shadows of
    the evening are lengthened.

    (f) He speaks this in the person of the Babylonians, who
        complain that the time fails them before they have
        brought their enterprises to pass.

Jer 6:7
6:7 As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her
    wickedness: {g} violence and destruction is heard in her;
    before me continually [are] grief and wounds.

    (g) He shows the reason why it would be destroyed, and how
        it comes from themselves.

Jer 6:8
6:8 Be thou instructed, O {h} Jerusalem, lest my soul depart
    from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.

    (h) He warns them to amend by his correction, and turn to
        him by repentance.

Jer 6:9
6:9 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean
    the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn {i} back thy hand as a
    grapegatherer into the baskets.

    (i) He exhorts the Babylonians to be diligent to search out
        all and to leave none.

Jer 6:10
6:10 To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may
     hear?  behold, their ear [is] {k} uncircumcised, and they
     cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is to them a
     reproach; they have no delight in it.

     (k) They delight to hear vain things, and to shut up their
         ears to true doctrine.

Jer 6:11
6:11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary
     with holding in: {l} I will pour it out upon the {m}
     children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men
     together: for even the husband with the wife shall be
     taken, the aged with [him that is] full of days.

     (l) As the Lord had given him his word to be as a fire of
         his indignation to burn the wicked, #Jer 5:14| so
         he kindles it now when he sees that all remedies are
         past.
     (m) No one will be spared.

Jer 6:14
6:14 They have healed also the hurt [of the daughter] of my
     people slightly, saying, {n} Peace, peace; when [there is]
     no peace.

     (n) When the people began to fear God's judgments, the
         false prophets comforted them by flatterings, showing
         that God would send peace and not war.

Jer 6:16
6:16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask
     for the {o} old paths, where [is] the good way, and walk in
     it, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said,
     We will not walk [in it].

     (o) In which the patriarchs and prophets walked, directed
         by the word of God: signifying that there is no true
         way, but that which God prescribes.

Jer 6:17
6:17 Also I set {p} watchmen over you, [saying], Hearken to the
     sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

     (p) Prophets who would warn you of the dangers that were at
         hand.

Jer 6:18
6:18 Therefore hear, ye {q} nations, and know, O congregation,
     what [is] among them.

     (q) God takes all the world to witness and the insensible
         creatures of the ingratitude of the Jews.

Jer 6:20
6:20 To what purpose cometh there to me {r} incense from Sheba,
     and the sweet cane from a distant country? your burnt
     offerings [are] not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet
     to me.

     (r) Read #Isa 1:11, Am 5:21|.

Jer 6:22
6:22 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the {s}
     north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the
     sides of the earth.

     (s) From Babylon by Dan, which was north of Jerusalem.

Jer 6:24
6:24 We have heard the report of it: our hands become {t}
     feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, [and] pain, as of a
     woman in travail.

     (t) For fear of the enemy: he speaks this in the person of
         the Jews.

Jer 6:27
6:27 I have set {u} thee [for] a tower [and] a fortress among my
     people, that thou mayest know and try their way.

     (u) Meaning, Jeremiah, whom God had appointed to try out
         the godly from the wicked, as a founder does the pure
         metal from the dross.

Jer 6:29
6:29 The {x} bellows is burned, the lead is consumed by the
     fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not
     plucked away.

     (x) All the pain and labour that has been taken with them
         is lost.

Jer 7:4
7:4 Trust ye not in {a} lying words, saying, The temple of the
    LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, [are]
    these.

    (a) Believe not the false prophets, who say that for the
        temple's sake, and the sacrifices there the Lord will
        preserve you, and so nourish you in your sin, and vain
        confidence.

Jer 7:7
7:7 Then {b} will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the
    land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.

    (b) God shows on what condition he made his promise to this
        temple that they would be a holy people to him, as he
        would be a faithful God to them.

Jer 7:11
7:11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become {c} a den
     of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen [it],
     saith the LORD.

     (c) As thieves hidden in holes and dens think themselves
         safe, so when you are in my temple, you think to be
         covered with the holiness of it, and that I cannot see
         your wickedness, #Mt 21:13|.

Jer 7:12
7:12 But go ye now to my place which [was] in Shiloh, {d} where
     I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for
     the wickedness of my people Israel.

     (d) Because they depended so much on the temple, which was
         for his promise, that he would be present and defend
         them where the ark was, he sends them to God's
         judgments against Shiloh, where the ark had remained
         about 300 years, and after was taken, the priests
         slain, and the people miserably discomfited,
         #1Sa 4:11, Jer 26:6|.

Jer 7:13
7:13 And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the
     LORD, and I spoke to you, {e} rising early and speaking,
     but ye heard not; and I called you, but {f} ye answered
     not;

     (e) That is, I never ceased to warn you, as in
         #Isa 65:2, Pro 1:23|.
     (f) He shows the only remedy to redress our faults: to
         allow God to lead us in the way, and to obey his
         calling, #Isa 66:4|.

Jer 7:15
7:15 And I will cast {g} you out of my sight, as I have cast out
     all your brethren, [even] the whole seed of Ephraim.

     (g) I will send you into captivity as I have done Ephraim,
         that is, the ten tribes.

Jer 7:16
7:16 Therefore {h} pray not thou for this people, neither lift
     up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to
     me: for I will not hear thee.

     (h) To assure them that God had determined with himself to
         punish their wickedness, he shows the prayer of the
         godly cannot help them, while they remain in their
         obstinacy against God, and will not use the means that
         he uses to call them to repentance,
         #Jer 11:14,14:11|.

Jer 7:18
7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire,
     and the women knead dough, to make cakes to {i} the queen
     of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods,
     that they may provoke me to anger.

     (i) That is, they sacrifice to the sun, moon and stars,
         which they called the queen of heaven,
         #Jer 44:17, 2Ki 23:5|.

Jer 7:22
7:22 For {k} I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded them in
     the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt,
     concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:

     (k) Showing that it was not his chief purpose and intent,
         that they should offer sacrifices, but that they should
         regard, why they were ordained: that is, to be joined
         to the word as seals and confirmations of remissions of
         sins in Christ: for without the word they were vain and
         unprofitable.

Jer 7:25
7:25 Since the day that your fathers came forth from the land of
     Egypt to {l} this day I have even sent to you all my
     servants the prophets, daily {m} rising early and sending
     [them]:

     (l) Which was about fourteen hundred years.
     (m) Read #Jer 7:13|.

Jer 7:27
7:27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words to them; but
     they {n} will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call to
     them; but they will not answer thee.

     (n) By which he shows that the pastors should not leave
         their flocks in their obstinacy, for the Lord will use
         the means of his servants to make the wicked more
         faulty and to prove his.

Jer 7:29
7:29 Cut off thy {o} hair, [O Jerusalem], and cast [it] away,
     and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath
     rejected and forsaken the generation of his {p} wrath.

     (o) In sign of mourning, as in #Job 1:20|.
     (p) Against whom he had just opportunity to pour out his
         wrath #Mic 1:6|.

Jer 7:31
7:31 And they have built the high places of {q} Tophet, which
     [is] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons
     and their daughters in the fire; which I {r} commanded
     [them] not, neither came it into my heart.

     (q) Of Topheth, read #2Ki 23:10|.
     (r) But commanded the opposite, as in
         #Le 18:21,20:3, De 18:10|.

Jer 8:1
8:1 At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring the bones of
    the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the
    bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the
    bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their {a}
    graves:

    (a) The enemy for greediness will rifle your graves and lay
        you before those idols, who in your life you worshipped,
        to see if they can help you.

Jer 8:3
8:3 And death shall be chosen {b} rather than life by all the
    remnant of them that remain of this evil family, who remain
    in all the places where I have driven them, saith the LORD
    of hosts.

    (b) Because of the afflictions that they will feel through
        God's judgments.

Jer 8:4
8:4 Moreover thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall
    they {c} fall, and not rise? shall he turn away, and not
    return?

    (c) Is there no hope that they will return?

Jer 8:6
8:6 I hearkened and heard, [but] they spoke not aright: no man
    repented of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every
    {d} one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth to the
    battle.

    (d) They are full of hypocrisy, and everyone follows his own
        fantasy without any consideration.

Jer 8:7
8:7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times;
    and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the
    time of their coming; but my people know not the {e}
    judgment of the LORD.

    (e) He accuses them in that they are more ignorant of God's
        judgments, than these birds are of their appointed
        seasons to discern the cold and heat.

Jer 8:8
8:8 How do ye say, We [are] wise, and the law of the LORD [is]
    with us? Lo, certainly in vain he hath made [it]; {f} the
    pen of the scribes [is] in vain.

    (f) The law does not profit you neither need it to have been
        written for all that you have learned by it.

Jer 8:9
8:9 The {g} wise [men] are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken:
    lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom
    [is] in them?

    (g) They who seem wise may be ashamed of their ignorance for
        all wisdom consists in God's word.

Jer 8:11
8:11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people
     slightly, saying, {h} Peace, peace; when [there is] no
     peace.

     (h) \\See Geneva "Jer 6:14"\\

Jer 8:14
8:14 Why do we sit still? {i} assemble yourselves, and let us
     enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent
     there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and
     given us water of {k} gall to drink, because we have sinned
     against the LORD.

     (i) He speaks in the person of the people, who when the
         enemy comes will turn about to hide themselves and
         acknowledge that it is God's hand.
     (k) That is, has brought us into extreme affliction, and
         thus they will not attribute this plague to fortune,
         but to God's just judgment, #Jer 9:15,23:15|.

Jer 8:16
8:16 The snorting of his horses was heard from {l} Dan: the
     whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his
     strong ones; for they have come, and have devoured the
     land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell
     in it.

     (l) \\Read Geneva "Jer 4:15"\\

Jer 8:17
8:17 For, behold, I will {m} send serpents, cockatrices, among
     you, which [will] not [be] charmed, and they shall bite
     you, saith the LORD.

     (m) God threatens to send the Babylonians among them who
         will utterly destroy them in such sort, as by no means
         they will escape.

Jer 8:18
8:18 [When] I would {n} comfort myself against sorrow, my heart
     [is] faint in me.

     (n) Read #Jer 4:19|.

Jer 8:19
8:19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people
     because of them that dwell in a distant country: [Is] not
     the LORD in Zion?  [is] not her king in her? Why {o} have
     they provoked me to anger with their graven images, [and]
     with foreign vanities?

     (o) Thus the Lord speaks.

Jer 8:20
8:20 The {p} harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are
     not saved.

     (p) The people wonder that they have for so long a time
         looked for comfort in vain.

Jer 8:21
8:21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I {q} hurt; I
     am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.

     (q) The prophet speaks this.

Jer 8:22
8:22 [Is there] no balm {r} in Gilead; [is there] no physician
     there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my
     people recovered?

     (r) Meaning,that no man's help or means could save them:
         for in Gilead was precious balm, #Jer 46:11| or
         else deriding the vain confidence of the people, who
         looked to their priests for help, who would have been
         the physicians of their soul, and dwelt at Gilead,
         #Ho 6:8|.

Jer 9:1
9:1 O that my head were {a} waters, and my eyes a fountain of
    tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the
    daughter of my people!

    (a) The prophet shows the great compassion that he had
        toward this people, seeing that he could never
        sufficiently lament the destruction that he saw to hang
        over them, which is a special note to discern the true
        pastors from the hirelings. \\See Geneva "Jer 4:19"\\


Jer 9:2
9:2 O that I had in the wilderness a {b} lodging place of
    wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from
    them! for they [are] all {c} adulterers, an assembly of
    treacherous men.

    (b) He shows that there was more peace and greater safety
        for him to dwell among the wild beasts than among this
        wicked people except that God has given him this charge.
    (c) Utterly turned from God.

Jer 9:3
9:3 And they bend their tongues [like] their bow [for] {d} lies:
    but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for
    they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith
    the LORD.

    (d) To belie and slander their neighbours.

Jer 9:4
9:4 Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in
    any {e} brother: for every brother will utterly supplant,
    and every neighbour will walk with slanders.

    (e) Meaning, that all were corrupt, and none could find
        an honest man.

Jer 9:5
9:5 And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not
    speak the truth: they {f} have taught their tongue to speak
    lies, [and] weary themselves to commit iniquity.

    (f) They have so practised deceit, that they cannot forsake
        it.

Jer 9:6
9:6 Thy habitation [is] in the midst of deceit; {g} through
    deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.

    (g) They would rather have forsaken God than left their
        wicked trade.

Jer 9:7
9:7 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will {h}
    melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter
    of my people?

    (h) With the fire of affliction.

Jer 9:10
9:10 For the {i} mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing,
     and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation,
     because they are burned up, so that none can pass through
     [them]; neither can [men] hear the voice of the cattle;
     both the fowl of the heavens and the beast have fled; they
     are gone.

     (i) Signifying that all the places about Jerusalem would be
         destroyed.

Jer 9:12
9:12 Who [is] the {k} wise man, that may understand this? and
     [who is he] to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that
     he may declare it, for what the land perisheth [and] is
     burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?

     (k) Meaning that they are all without sense and
         understanding and that God has taken his spirit from
         them.

Jer 9:14
9:14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart,
     and after Baalim, which {l} their fathers taught them:

     (l) He shows that the children cannot excuse themselves by
         their fathers: for both father and child if they are
         wicked will perish.

Jer 9:15
9:15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;
     Behold, I will feed them, [even] this people, with
     wormwood, and give them water of gall {m} to drink.

     (m) Read #Jer 8:14|.

Jer 9:17
9:17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for {n}
     the skilful women, that they may come; and send for skilful
     [women], that they may come:

     (n) Seeing you cannot lament your own sins, call for those
         foolish women, whom of a superstition you have to
         lament for the dead, that they by their feigned tears
         may provoke you to some sorrow.

Jer 9:19
9:19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we
     laid waste!  we are greatly confounded, because we have
     forsaken the land, because our dwellings {o} have cast [us]
     out.

     (o) As though they were weary of us, because of our
         iniquities, #Le 18:28,20:22|.

Jer 9:20
9:20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear
     receive the word of his mouth, and {p} teach your daughters
     wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation.

     (p) He derides the superstition of the women who made an
         art of mourning, and taught to weep with feigned tears.

Jer 9:21
9:21 For death hath come up into our {q} windows, [and] hath
     entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from
     outside, [and] the young men from the streets.

     (q) Signifying that there is no means to deliver the wicked
         from God's judgments: but when they think to be most
         sure, and most far off, then they are soonest taken.

Jer 9:23
9:23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the {r} wise [man] glory in
     his wisdom, neither let the mighty [man] glory in his
     might, let not the rich [man] glory in his riches:

     (r) As none can save himself by his own labour, or any
         worldly means, he shows that it is vain to put our
         trust in it, but that we trust in the Lord, and rejoice
         in him, who only can deliver.

Jer 9:24
9:24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he
     understandeth and knoweth me, that I [am] the LORD who {s}
     exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in
     the earth: for in these [things] I delight, saith the LORD.

     (s) These three points are necessary to know correctly his
         mercy, in which consists our salvation: his judgment,
         which he executes continually against the wicked, and
         his justice, by which he defends and maintains the
         faithful.

Jer 9:25
9:25 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish
     all [them who are] {t} circumcised with the uncircumcised;

     (t) Meaning, both Jews and Gentiles, as in this next verse
         he shows the cause, #Jer 4:4|.

Jer 10:2
10:2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the nations, and
     be not dismayed at the {a} signs of heaven; for the nations
     are dismayed at them.

     (a) God forbids his people to give credit or fear the
         constellations and conjunctions of stars and planets
         which have no power of themselves but are governed by
         him, and their secret motions and influences are not
         known to man and therefore there can be no certain
         judgment of it, #De 18:9|.

Jer 10:3
10:3 For the {b} customs of the people [are] vain: for [one]
     cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of
     the workman, with the axe.

     (b) Meaning not only in the observation of the stars, but
         their laws and ceremonies by which they confirm their
         idolatry, which is forbidden, #De 12:30|.

Jer 10:4
10:4 They deck it {c} with silver and with gold; they fasten it
     with nails and with hammers, that it may not move.

     (c) The prophets use thus plainly and simply to set forth
         the vile absurdity of the idolaters that men might
         learn to be ashamed of that to which their corrupt
         nature is most subject, #Isa 44:12|.

Jer 10:6
10:6 Forasmuch as [there is] none like thee, O LORD; {d} thou
     [art] great, and thy name [is] great in might.

     (d) He teaches the people to lift up their eyes to God, who
         has all power and therefore ought only to be feared:
         and in this he shows them not only the evil that they
         ought to hate: but the good which they ought to follow,
         #Re 15:4|.

Jer 10:8
10:8 But they are altogether senseless and foolish: the stock
     [is] a {e} doctrine of vanities.

     (e) Because the people thought that to have images was a
         means to serve God, and to bring them to the knowledge
         of him, he shows that nothing more displeases God, nor
         brings man into greater errors and ignorance of God:
         and therefore he calls them the doctrine of vanity, the
         work of errors, #Jer 10:15|. #Hab 2:18| calls
         them the teachers of lies: contrary to that wicked
         opinion, that they are the books of the lay people.

Jer 10:9
10:9 Silver beaten into plates is brought from Tarshish, and
     gold {f} from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman, and of the
     hands of the goldsmith: blue and purple [is] their
     clothing: they [are] all the work of skilful [men].

     (f) Where they found the best gold; showing that they
         thought nothing too dear for their idols, some read
         Ophir as in #1Ki 9:28|.

Jer 10:11
10:11 Thus shall ye say to them, The gods {g} that have not made
      the heavens and the earth, [even] they shall perish from
      the earth, and from under these heavens.

      (g) This declares that all that has been spoken of idols
          in this chapter, was to arm the Jews when they would
          be in Chaldea among the idolaters, and now with one
          sentence he instructs them both how to protest their
          own religion against the idolaters and how to answer
          them to their shame who would exhort them to idolatry,
          and therefore he writes this sentence in the Chaldean
          tongue for a memorial while all the rest of his
          writing is in Hebrew.

Jer 10:14
10:14 Every man is {h} senseless in [his] knowledge: every
      goldsmith is confounded by the graven image: for his
      molten image [is] falsehood, and [there is] no breath in
      them.

      (h) The more man thinks to do anything well by his own
          wisdom, and not as God instructs him, the more he
          proves himself to be a vile beast.

Jer 10:16
10:16 The {i} portion of Jacob [is] not like them: for he [is]
      the former of all [things]; and Israel [is] the rod of his
      inheritance: The LORD of hosts [is] his name.

      (i) By these words, portion and rod, he signifies their
          inheritance, meaning that God would be all sufficient
          for them: and that their happiness consisted in him
          alone, and therefore they ought to renounce all other
          help and comfort as of idols, etc.
          #De 32:9, Ps 16:5|.

Jer 10:17
10:17 {k} Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of
      the fortress.

      (k) The prophet wills the Jews to prepare themselves for
          this captivity, showing that it was now at hand that
          they would feel the things of which he had told them.

Jer 10:19
10:19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said,
      Truly this {l} [is] a grief, and I must bear it.

      (l) It is my just plague, and therefore I will take it
          patiently: by which he teaches the people how to
          behave themselves toward God.

Jer 10:20
10:20 {m} My tabernacle is laid waste, and all my cords are
      broken: my children are gone from me, and they [are] not:
      [there is] none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to
      set up my curtains.

      (m) He shows how Jerusalem will lament.

Jer 10:21
10:21 For the shepherds {n} have become senseless, and have not
      sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all
      their flocks shall be scattered.

      (n) The governors and ministers.

Jer 10:22
10:22 Behold, the sound of a rumour is come, and a great
      commotion from the {o} north country, to make the cities
      of Judah desolate, [and] a den of dragons.

      (o) Read #Jer 4:15|.

Jer 10:23
10:23 O LORD, I know that {p} the way of man [is] not in
      himself: [it is] not in man that walketh to direct his
      steps.

      (p) He speaks this because Nebuchadnezzar purposed to have
          made war against the Moabites and Ammonites, but
          hearing of Zedekiah's rebellion he turned his power to
          go against Jerusalem, #Eze 21:21| therefore the
          prophet says that this was the Lord's direction.

Jer 10:24
10:24 O LORD, correct me, but with {q} judgment; not in thy
      anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.

      (q) Considering that God had revealed to him the certainty
          of their captivity #Jer 7:16| he only prays that
          he would punish them with mercy which Isaiah calls in
          measure, #Isa 27:8| measuring his rods by their
          infirmity #1Co 10:13| for here by judgment is
          meant not only the punishment but also the merciful
          moderation of the same as in #Jer 30:11|.

Jer 10:25
10:25 Pour out {r} thy fury upon the nations that know thee not,
      and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they
      have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him,
      and have made his habitation desolate.

      (r) As God cannot only be known and glorified by his
          mercy that he uses toward his Church, but also by his
          justice in punishing his enemies, he prays that this
          glory may fully appear both in the one and the other,
          #Ps 79:6|.

Jer 11:3
11:3 And say thou to them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel;
     {a} Cursed [be] the man that obeyeth not the words of this
     covenant,

     (a) He calls the Jews to the consideration of God's mercy,
         who freely chose them, made a covenant of eternal
         happiness with them and how he ever performed it on his
         behalf and how they ever showed themselves rebellious
         and ingrate toward him, and broke it on their part, and
         so are subject to the curse of the law, #De 27:26|.

Jer 11:5
11:5 That I may perform the oath which I have sworn to your
     fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey,
     as [it is] this day.  Then answered {b} I, and said, So be
     it, O LORD.

     (b) Thus he speaks in the person of the people, who agreed
         to the covenant.

Jer 11:7
11:7 For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day [that]
     I brought them out of the land of Egypt, [even] to this
     day, {c} rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my
     voice.

     (c) Read #Jer 7:13|.

Jer 11:8
11:8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked
     every one in the imagination of their {d} evil heart:
     therefore I will bring upon them all the {e} words of this
     covenant, which I commanded [them] to do; but they did
     [them] not.

     (d) According to his own fantasy, and not as my word
         appointed him.
     (e) Meaning, the menaces and curses contained in the law,
         #Le 26:14, De 28:16|.

Jer 11:9
11:9 And the LORD said to me, A {f} conspiracy is found among
     the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

     (f) That is, general consent to rebel against me.

Jer 11:11
11:11 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil
      upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and
      though they shall cry to me, {g} I will not hearken to
      them.

      (g) Because they will not pray with true faith and
          repentance, but for the pain and grief which they
          feel, #Pr 1:28|.

Jer 11:13
11:13 {h} For [according to] the number of thy cities were thy
      gods, O Judah; and [according to] the number of the
      streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to [that]
      shameful thing, [even] altars to burn incense to Baal.

      (h) Read #Jer 2:28|.

Jer 11:14
11:14 Therefore {i} pray not thou for this people, neither lift
      up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear [them] in
      the time when they cry to me for their trouble.

      (i) Read #Jer 7:16,14:11|.

Jer 11:15
11:15 What hath my {k} beloved to do in my house, [seeing] she
      hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh {l} is
      passed from thee?  when thou doest evil, then thou
      rejoicest.

      (k) My people of Israel whom I have greatly loved till
          now.
      (l) Meaning, that they offer not in the temple to God, but
          on the altars of Baal and the idols and so rejoiced in
          their wickedness.

Jer 11:16
11:16 The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, [and]
      of goodly fruit: with the {m} noise of a great tumult he
      hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are
      broken.

      (m) Of the Babylonians and Chaldeans.

Jer 11:18
11:18 And the LORD hath given me knowledge [of it], and I know
      [it]: then thou didst show me {n} their doings.

      (n) Who went about secretly to conspire my death.

Jer 11:19
11:19 But I [was] like a lamb [or] an ox [that] is brought to
      the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised plots
      against me, [saying], Let us {o} destroy the tree with its
      fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living,
      that his name may be no more remembered.

      (o) Let us destroy the prophet and his doctrine. Some read
          "Let us corrupt his meat with wood", meaning poison.

Jer 11:20
11:20 But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that
      triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy {p}
      vengeance on them: for to thee have I revealed my cause.

      (p) Thus he spoke not out of hatred, but being moved with
          the Spirit of God, he desires the advancement of God's
          glory, and the verifying of his word, which is by the
          destruction of his enemies.

Jer 11:21
11:21 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the men of {q}
      Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, {r} Prophesy not in
      the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand:

      (q) That is, both the priests and the rest of the people:
          for this town was the priests, and they dwelt in it,
          #Jer 1:1|.
      (r) Not that they could not abide to hear God named; (for
          in this they would show themselves most holy) but
          because they could not abide to be sharply reproved,
          and therefore desired to be flattered #Isa 30:10|,
          to be maintained in their pleasures #Mic 2:11| and
          not to hear vice condemned #Am 7:12|.

Jer 12:1
12:1 {a} Righteous [art] thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee:
     yet let me speak with thee of [thy] judgments: Why doth the
     way of the wicked {b} prosper?  [why] are they all happy
     that deal very treacherously?

     (a) The prophet confesses God to be just in all his doings,
         although man is not able to give a reason for all his
         actions.
     (b) This question has been always a great temptation to the
         godly, to see the wicked enemies of God in prosperity,
         and his dear children in adversity, as in
         #Job 21:7, Ps 37:1,73:3, Hab 1:3|.

Jer 12:2
12:2 Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they
     grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou [art] near in their
     mouth, and far from their {c} reins.

     (c) They profess God in mouth, but deny him in heart, which
         is here meant by the reins, #Isa 29:13, Mt 15:8|.

Jer 12:3
12:3 But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried
     my heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the
     slaughter, and {d} prepare them for the day of slaughter.

     (d) The Hebrew word is "sanctify them", meaning that God
         would be sanctified in the destruction of the wicked to
         whom God for a while gives prosperity, that afterward
         they would the more feel his heavy judgment when they
         lack their riches which were a sign of his mercy.

Jer 12:4
12:4 How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field
     wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell in it? the
     beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, {e}
     He shall not see our last end.

     (e) Abusing God's leniency and his promises, they flattered
         themselves as though God would ever be merciful and not
         utterly destroy them therefore they hardened themselves
         in sin, till at length the beasts and insensible
         creatures felt the punishment of their stubborn
         rebellion against God.

Jer 12:5
12:5 If thou hast run with the {f} footmen, and they have
     wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and
     [if] in the land of peace, [in which] thou didst trust,
     [they wearied thee], then how wilt thou do in the swelling
     of Jordan?

     (f) Some think that God reproves Jeremiah, in that he would
         reason with him, saying that if he was not able to
         march with men, then he was far unable to dispute with
         God.  Others, by the footmen mean them of Anathoth: and
         by the horsemen, them of Jerusalem who would trouble
         the prophet worse than his own countrymen did.

Jer 12:7
12:7 I have forsaken {g} my house, I have left my heritage; I
     have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of
     her enemies.

     (g) God wills the prophet to denounce his judgments against
         Jerusalem, even though they will both by threatenings
         and flatteries labour to silence him.

Jer 12:8
12:8 My heritage is to me as a {h} lion in the forest; it crieth
     out against me: therefore have I hated it.

     (h) Ever ranting and raging against me and my prophets.

Jer 12:9
12:9 My heritage [is] to me [as] a {i} speckled bird, the birds
     around [are] against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts
     of the field, come to devour.

     (i) Instead of bearing my livery and wearing only my
         colours, they have change and diversity of colours of
         their idols and superstitions therefore their enemies
         as thick as the fowls of the air will come about them
         to destroy them.

Jer 12:10
12:10 Many shepherds have destroyed my {k} vineyard, they have
      trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant
      portion a desolate wilderness.

      (k) He prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem, by the
          captain of Nebuchadnezzar, whom he calls pastors.

Jer 12:11
12:11 They have made it desolate, [and being] desolate it
      mourneth to me; the whole land is made desolate, because
      no man layeth {l} [it] to heart.

      (l) Because no man regards my word, or the plagues that I
          have sent on the land.

Jer 12:13
12:13 {m} They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they {n}
      have put themselves to pain, [but] shall not profit: and
      they shall be ashamed of {o} your revenues because of the
      fierce anger of the LORD.

      (m) That is, the prophets.
      (n) They lamented the sins of the people.
      (o) For instead of amendment, you grew worse and worse, as
          God's plagues testified.

Jer 12:14
12:14 Thus saith the LORD against all my evil {p} neighbours,
      that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people
      Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their
      land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.

      (p) Meaning the wicked enemies of his Church who
          blasphemed his Name, and whom he would punish after he
          had delivered his people.

Jer 12:15
12:15 And it shall come to pass, after I have plucked them out I
      {q} will return, and have compassion on them, and will
      bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man
      to his land.

      (q) After I have punished the Gentiles I will have mercy
          on them.

Jer 12:16
12:16 And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn
      the {r} ways of my people, to swear by my name, The {s}
      LORD liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal;
      then shall they be built {t} in the midst of my people.

      (r) The true doctrine and manner to serve God.
      (s) Read #Jer 4:2|.
      (t) They will be of the number of the faithful, and have a
          place in my Church.

Jer 13:4
13:4 Take the sash that thou hast bought, which [is] upon thy
     loins, and arise, go to {a} Euphrates, and hide it there in
     a cleft of the rock.

     (a) Because this river was far from Jerusalem, it is
         evident that this was a vision, by which it was
         signified that the Jews would pass over the Euphrates
         to be captives in Babylon, and there for length of time
         would seem to be rotten, although they were joined to
         the Lord before as a girdle about a man.

Jer 13:12
13:12 Therefore thou shalt speak to them this word; Thus saith
      the LORD God of Israel, Every {b} skin shall be filled
      with wine: and they shall say to thee, Do we not certainly
      know that every skin shall be filled with wine?

      (b) Every one of you will be filled with spiritual
          drunkenness, and be without all knowledge to seek how
          to help yourselves.

Jer 13:14
13:14 And I will {c} dash them one against another, even the
      fathers and the sons together, saith the LORD: I will not
      pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.

      (c) It will be as easy for me to destroy the greatest and
          the strongest as it is for a man to break earthen
          bottles.

Jer 13:16
13:16 Give glory to the LORD your God, before he shall cause {d}
      darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark
      mountains, and, while ye look for {e} light, he shall turn
      it into the shadow of death, [and] make [it] gross
      darkness.

      (d) That is, affliction and misery by the Babylonians,
          #Isa 8:22|.
      (e) Meaning, for help and support of the Egyptians.

Jer 13:17
13:17 But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall {f} weep in
      secret places for [your] pride; and my eye shall weep
      bitterly, and run down with tears, because the LORD'S
      flock is carried away captive.

      (f) You will surely be led away captive and I, according
          to my affection toward you, will weep and lament for
          your stubbornness.

Jer 13:18
13:18 Say to the {g} king and to the queen, Humble yourselves,
      sit down: for your principalities shall come down, [even]
      the crown of your glory.

      (g) For Jehoiachin and his mother rendered themselves by
          Jeremiah's counsel to the king of Babylon,
          #2Ki 24:12|.

Jer 13:19
13:19 The cities of {h} the south shall be shut up, and none
      shall open [them]: Judah shall be carried away captive all
      of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive.

      (h) That is, of Judah, which lies south of Babylon.

Jer 13:20
13:20 Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the
      north: where [is] the {i} flock [that] was given thee, thy
      beautiful flock?

      (i) He asks the king, where his people is become.

Jer 13:21
13:21 What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou
      hast {k} taught them [to be] captains, [and] as chief over
      thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?

      (k) By seeking to strangers for help, you have made them
          skilful to fight against you.

Jer 13:22
13:22 And if thou shalt say in thy heart, Why come these things
      upon me? For the greatness of thy iniquity are thy skirts
      {l} uncovered, [and] thy heels made bare.

      (l) The cloak of hypocrisy will be pulled off, and your
          shame seen.

Jer 13:26
13:26 Therefore will I uncover thy skirts upon thy face, {m}
      that thy shame may appear.

      (m) As your iniquities have been revealed to all the
          world, so shall your shame and punishment.

Jer 13:27
13:27 I have seen thy adulteries, and thy {n} neighings, the
      lewdness of thy harlotry, [and] thy abominations on the
      hills in {o} the fields. Woe to thee, O Jerusalem! wilt
      thou not be made clean? when [shall it] once [be]?

      (n) He compares idolaters to horses inflamed after mares.
      (o) There is no place so high nor low, where the marks and
          signs of your idolatry do not appear.

Jer 14:1
14:1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the
     {a} dearth.

     (a) Which came for lack of rain as in #Jer 14:4|.

Jer 14:2
14:2 Judah mourneth, and her gates languish; they are {b} black
     to the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

     (b) The word signifies extreme sorrow.

Jer 14:3
14:3 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters:
     they came to the pits, [and] found no water; they returned
     with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded,
     and {c} covered their heads.

     (c) That is, with ashes in token of sorrow.

Jer 14:5
14:5 Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook {d}
     [it], because there was no grass.

     (d) Meaning, that the brute beasts for drought were
         compelled to forsake their young, contrary to nature,
         and to go seek water which they could not find.

Jer 14:6
14:6 And the wild donkeys stood in the high places, they snuffed
     up the wind like {e} dragons; their eyes failed, because
     [there was] no grass.

     (e) Who are so hot by nature, that they cannot be cooled by
         drinking water, but still gasp for the air to refresh
         them.

Jer 14:7
14:7 {f} O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do
     thou [it] for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are
     many; we have sinned against thee.

     (f) He shows the only way to remedy God's plagues, which is
         by true confession of our sins, and returning to him by
         repentance.

Jer 14:8
14:8 O the hope of Israel, his saviour in time of trouble, why
     shouldest thou be as a {g} stranger in the land, and as a
     wayfaring man [that] turneth aside to tarry for a night?

     (g) That takes no care for us.

Jer 14:9
14:9 Why shouldest thou be as a man astonished, as {h} a mighty
     man [that] cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, [art] in the
     midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.

     (h) That takes no care for us.

Jer 14:11
14:11 Then said the LORD to me, {i} Pray not for this people for
      [their] good.

      (i) Read #Jer 7:16,11:14|.

Jer 14:13
14:13 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the {k} prophets say to
      them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have
      famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.

      (k) He pities the people, and accuses the false prophets
          who deceived them: but the Lord answered that both the
          prophets who deceived and the people who permitted
          themselves to be seduced, will perish,
          #Jer 23:15,27:8,9,29:8|.

Jer 14:17
14:17 Therefore thou shalt say this word to them; Let my eyes
      run down with {l} tears night and day, and let them not
      cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with
      a great breach, with a very grievous blow.

      (l) The false prophets promised peace and assurance, but
          Jeremiah calls to tears, and repentance for their
          affliction, which is at hand, as in
          #Jer 9:1, Lam 1:16,2:18|.

Jer 14:18
14:18 If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with
      the sword!  and if I enter into the city, then behold them
      that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the
      priest go about {m} into a land that they know not.

      (m) Both high and low will be led captive into Babylon.

Jer 14:19
14:19 Hast thou utterly rejected {n} Judah?  hath thy soul
      abhorred Zion?  why hast thou smitten us, and [there is]
      no healing for us? we looked for peace, and [there is] no
      good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!

      (n) Though the prophet knew that God had cast off the
          multitude, who were hypocrites and bastard children,
          yet he was assured that for his promise sake he would
          still have a Church, for which he prays.

Jer 14:20
14:20 We {o} acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, [and] the
      iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.

      (o) He teaches the Church a form of prayer to humble
          themselves to God by true repentance, which is the
          only way to avoid this famine, which was the beginning
          of God's plagues.

Jer 14:22
14:22 Are there [any] among the {p} vanities of the Gentiles
      that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers?
      [art] not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait
      upon thee: for thou hast made all these [things].

      (p) Meaning their idols, read #Jer 10:15|.

Jer 15:1
15:1 Then said the LORD to me, {a} Though Moses and Samuel stood
     before me, [yet] my mind [could] not [be] toward this
     people: cast [them] out of my sight, and let them go forth.

     (a) Meaning that if there were any man living moved with so
         great zeal toward the people as were these two, yet he
         would not grant this request, as he had determined the
         contrary, #Eze 14:14|.

Jer 15:3
15:3 And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD:
     the sword to slay, and the {b} dogs to tear, and the fowls
     of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and
     destroy.

     (b) The dogs, birds and beasts would devour them that were
         slain.

Jer 15:4
15:4 And I will {c} cause them to be removed into all kingdoms
     of the earth, {d} because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah
     king of Judah, for [that] which he did in Jerusalem.

     (c) The word signifies to run to and fro for fear and
         unquietness of conscience as Cain did.
     (d) Not that the people were punished for the king's sin
         only, but for their own sins also, because they
         consented to his wickedness.

Jer 15:6
15:6 Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone
     backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against
     thee, and destroy thee; I am {e} weary with repenting.

     (e) That is, I will not call back my plagues or spare you
         any more.

Jer 15:7
15:7 And I will fan them with a fan {f} in the gates of the
     land; I will bereave [them] of children, I will destroy my
     people, [since] they return not from their ways.

     (f) Meaning, the cities.

Jer 15:8
15:8 Their widows {g} are multiplied to me above the sand of the
     seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the
     young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused [him] to fall
     upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.

     (g) Because I had slain their husbands.

Jer 15:9
15:9 She that hath borne {h} seven languisheth: she hath
     breathed her last; her sun is {i} gone down while [it was]
     yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the
     remnant of them will I deliver to the sword before their
     enemies, saith the LORD.

     (h) She who had many lost all her children.
     (i) She was destroyed in the midst of her prosperity.

Jer 15:10
15:10 {k} Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of
      strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have
      neither {l} lent on interest, nor have men lent to me on
      interest; [yet] every one of them doth curse me.

      (k) By these are the prophet's words, complaining of the
          obstinacy of the people and that he was reserved to so
          wicked a time: in which also he shows what is the
          condition of God's ministers, that is, to have all the
          world against them, though they give no opportunity.
      (l) Which is an opportunity for contention and hatred.

Jer 15:11
15:11 The LORD said, {m} Verily it shall be well with thy
      remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee
      [well] in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

      (m) In this perplexity the Lord comforted me, and said
          that my last days would be quiet: and by the enemy he
          means here Nebuzaradan the captain of Nebuchadnezzar,
          who gave Jeremiah the choice either to remain in his
          country or to go where he would; or by the enemy he
          means the Jews, who would later know Jeremiah's
          faithfulness, and therefore favour him.

Jer 15:12
15:12 Shall {n} iron break the northern iron and the steel?

      (n) As for the people, though they seemed strong as iron,
          yet they would not be able to resist the hard iron of
          Babylon, but would be led captives.

Jer 15:15
15:15 O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and
      avenge me of my {o} persecutors; take me not away in thy
      longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered
      rebuke.

      (o) He does not speak this out of a desire for revenge,
          but wishing that God would deliver his Church from
          them who he knew to be hardened and incorrigible.

Jer 15:16
15:16 Thy words were found, and I {p} ate them; and thy word was
      to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called
      by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.

      (p) I received them with a great joy, as he that is
          famished eats meat.

Jer 15:17
15:17 I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I
      sat alone {q} because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me
      with indignation.

      (q) I had nothing to do with the wicked contemners of your
          word, but lamented bitterly for your plagues: showing
          what the faithful should do when they see tokens of
          God's anger.

Jer 15:18
15:18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, [which]
      refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether to me {r}
      as a liar, [and as] waters [that] fail?

      (r) And have not assisted me according to the promise? In
          which it appears that in the saints of God is
          imperfection of faith, which through impatience is
          often assailed as in #Jer 20:7|.

Jer 15:19
15:19 Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou shalt {s} return,
      then will I bring thee again, [and] thou shalt stand
      before me: and if thou shalt separate the {t} precious
      from the vile, thou shalt be {u} as my mouth: let them
      return {x} to thee; but return not thou to them.

      (s) If you forget these carnal considerations and
          faithfully execute your charge.
      (t) That is, seek to win the good from the bad.
      (u) That is, as my mouth has pronounced, #Jer 1:18|
          and as here follows in #Jer 15:20|.
      (x) Do not conform yourself to their wickedness, but let
          them follow your godly example.

Jer 15:20
15:20 And I will make thee to this people a fortified brasen
      wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall
      not {y} prevail against thee: for I [am] with thee to save
      thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.

      (y) I will teach you with an invincible strength and
          constancy, so that all the powers of the world will
          not overcome you.

Jer 16:2
16:2 Thou shalt not take {a} thee a wife, neither shalt thou
     have sons nor daughters in this place.

     (a) Meaning that the affliction would be so horrible in
         Jerusalem that a wife and children would only increase
         his sorrow.

Jer 16:5
16:5 For thus saith the LORD, {b} Enter not into the house of
     mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have
     taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD,
     [even] lovingkindness and mercies.

     (b) Signifying that the affliction would be so great that
         one would not have leisure to comfort another.

Jer 16:6
16:6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they
     shall not be buried, neither shall [men] lament for them,
     {c} nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:

     (c) That is, should not tear their clothes in sign of
         mourning.

Jer 16:7
16:7 Neither shall [men] tear [themselves] for them in mourning,
     to comfort them for the dead; neither shall [men] give them
     the {d} cup of consolation to drink for their father or for
     their mother.

     (d) For in these great extremities all consolation and
         comfort will be in vain.

Jer 16:10
16:10 And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show this
      people all these words, and they shall say to thee, Why
      hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us?
      or what [is] {e} our iniquity? or what [is] our sin that
      we have committed against the LORD our God?

      (e) Because the wicked are always rebellious and conceal
          their own sins and murmur against God's judgments, as
          though he had no just cause to punish them, he shows
          him what to answer.

Jer 16:15
16:15 But, The LORD liveth, that brought the children of Israel
      from the land of the north, and {f} from all the lands
      where he had driven them: and I will bring them again into
      their land that I gave to their fathers.

      (f) Signifying that the blessing of their deliverance out
          of Babylon would be so great that it would abolish the
          remembrance of their deliverance from Egypt: but he
          has here chiefly respect to the spiritual deliverance
          under Christ.

Jer 16:16
16:16 Behold, I will send for many {g} fishermen, saith the
      LORD, and they shall fish them; and afterwards will I send
      for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every
      mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of
      the rocks.

      (g) By the fishers and hunters are meant the Babylonians
          and Chaldeans who would destroy them in such sort,
          that if they escaped the one, the other would take
          them.

Jer 16:18
16:18 And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin
      double; because they have defiled my land, they have
      filled my inheritance with the {h} carcases of their
      detestable and abominable things.

      (h) That is, their sons and daughters, who they offered to
          Molech.

Jer 16:19
16:19 O LORD, my {i} strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in
      the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come to thee
      from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our
      fathers have inherited {k} lies, vanity, and [things] in
      which [there is] no profit.

      (i) He wonders at the great mercy of God in this
          deliverance which will not only extend to the Jews but
          also to the Gentiles.
      (k) Our fathers were most vile idolaters therefore it
          comes only of God's mercy that he performs his promise
          and has not utterly cast us off.

Jer 16:21
16:21 Therefore, behold, I will this once {l} cause them to
      know, I will cause them to know my hand and my might; and
      they shall know that my name [is] JEHOVAH.

      (l) They will once again feel my power and mercy for their
          deliverance that they may learn to worship me.

Jer 17:1
17:1 The sin of Judah [is] {a} written with a pen of iron, [and]
     with the point of a diamond: [it is] graven upon the {b}
     tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of your {c}
     altars;

     (a) The remembrance of their contempt of God cannot pass,
         although for a time he defers the punishment, for it
         will be revealed to men and angels.
     (b) Instead of the law of God, they have written idolatry
         and all abomination in their heart.
     (c) Your sins appear in all the altars that you have
         erected to idols.

Jer 17:2
17:2 {d} While their children remember their altars and their
     idols by the green trees upon the high hills.

     (d) Some read, "So that their children remember their
         altars", that is, follow their father's wickedness.

Jer 17:3
17:3 {e} O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance
     [and] all thy treasures to the spoil, [and] thy high places
     for sin, throughout all thy borders.

     (e) Zion that was my mountain, will now be left as a waste
         field.

Jer 17:4
17:4 And thou, even {f} thyself, shall discontinue from thy
     heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve
     thy enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have
     kindled a fire in my anger, [which] shall burn for ever.

     (f) Because you would not give the land rest, at such
         times, days and years as I appointed, you will after
         this be carried away and it will rest for lack of
         labourers.

Jer 17:5
17:5 Thus saith the LORD; {g} Cursed [be] the man that trusteth
     in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth
     from the LORD.

     (g) The Jews were given to worldly policies and thought to
         make themselves strong by the friendship of the
         Egyptians, #Isa 31:3| and strangers and in the mean
         time did not depend on God, and therefore he denounces
         God's plagues against them, showing that they prefer
         corruptible man to God, who is immortal,
         #Isa 2:22, Jer 48:6,7|.

Jer 17:8
17:8 {h} For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and
     [that] spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not
     see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and
     shall not be anxious in the year of drought, neither shall
     cease from yielding fruit.

     (h) Read #Ps 1:3|.

Jer 17:9
17:9 {i} The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and
     desperately wicked: who can know it?

     (i) Because the wicked always have some excuse to defend
         their doings he shows that their own lewd imaginations
         deceive them and bring them to these hardships: but God
         will examine their deeds by the malice of their hearts,
         #1Sa 16:7,1Ch 28:9,Ps 7:10,Jer 11:20,10:12,Re 2:13|.

Jer 17:11
17:11 {k} [As] the partridge sitteth [on eggs], and hatcheth
      [them] not; [so] he that getteth riches, and not by right,
      shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end
      shall be a fool.

      (k) As the patriarch by calling gathered others who
          forsake her when they see she is not their mother: so
          the covetous man is forsaken of his riches because he
          comes by them falsely.

Jer 17:12
17:12 A glorious {l} high throne from the beginning [is] the
      place of our sanctuary.

      (l) Showing that the godly ought to glory in nothing, but
          in God who exalts his, and has left a sign of his
          favour in his temple.

Jer 17:13
17:13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be
      ashamed, [and] they that depart from me shall be written
      {m} in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the
      fountain of living waters.

      (m) Their names will not be registered in the book of
          life.

Jer 17:14
17:14 Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; {n} save me, and I
      shall be saved: for thou [art] my praise.

      (n) He desires God to preserve him that he fall not into
          temptation, considering the great contempt of God's
          word, and the multitude that fall from God.

Jer 17:15
17:15 Behold, {o} they say to me, Where [is] the word of the
      LORD? let it come now.

      (o) The wicked say that my prophecy will not come to pass,
          because you deferred the time of your vengeance.

Jer 17:16
17:16 As for me, {p} I have not hastened from [being] a shepherd
      to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day;
      thou knowest: that which was uttered by my lips was
      [right] before thee.

      (p) I am assured of my calling, and therefore know that
          the thing which you speak by me will come to pass, and
          that I speak not of any worldly affection.

Jer 17:17
17:17 Be not {q} a terror to me: thou [art] my hope in the day
      of evil.

      (q) However the wicked deal rigorously with me, yet let me
          find comfort in you.

Jer 17:18
17:18 Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me
      be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be
      dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, {r} and destroy
      them with double destruction.

      (r) Read #Jer 11:20|.

Jer 17:19
17:19 Thus said the LORD to me; Go and stand in the {s} gate of
      the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah
      come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of
      Jerusalem;

      (s) While your doctrine may best be understood both by
          high and low.

Jer 17:21
17:21 Thus saith the LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no
      burden on the {t} sabbath day, nor bring [it] in by the
      gates of Jerusalem;

      (t) By naming the Sabbath day, he comprehends the thing
          that is signified by it, for if they transgressed in
          the ceremony, they must be guilty of the rest, read
          #Ex 20:8| and by the breaking of this one
          commandment, he makes them transgressors of the whole
          law, as the first and second table are contained in
          it.

Jer 18:4
18:4 And the vessel that he made of {a} clay was marred in the
     hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as
     it seemed good to the potter to make [it].

     (a) As the potter has power over the clay to make what pot
         he will, or to break them, when he has made them: so
         have I power over you to do with you as seems good to
         me, #Isa 45:9, Ro 9:20,21|.

Jer 18:8
18:8 If that nation, against which I have pronounced, shall turn
     from their evil, I will {b} repent of the evil that I
     thought to do to them.

     (b) When the Scripture attributes repentance to God, it is
         not that he does contrary to that which he has ordained
         in his secret counsel: but when he threatens it is a
         calling to repentance, and when he gives man grace to
         repent, the threatening (which ever contains a
         condition in it) takes no place: and this the scripture
         calls repentance in God, because it so appears to man's
         judgment.

Jer 18:12
18:12 And they said, {c} There is no hope: but we will walk
      after our own plots, and we will every one do the
      imagination of his evil heart.

      (c) As men who had no remorse but were altogether bent to
          rebellion and to their own selfwill.

Jer 18:14
18:14 Will [a man] leave the snow of Lebanon [which cometh] from
      the rock of the field? {d} [or] shall the cold flowing
      waters that come from another place be forsaken?

      (d) As no man that has thirst refuses fresh waters which
          he has at home, to go and seek waters abroad to quench
          his thirst: so they should not seek help and comfort
          from strangers and leave God who was present with
          them.

Jer 18:15
18:15 Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned
      incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in
      their ways [from] the {e} ancient paths, to walk in paths,
      [in] a way not cast up;

      (e) That is, the way of truth which God had taught by his
          law, #Jer 6:16|.

Jer 18:17
18:17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy;
      I will show them the back, and {f} not the face, in the
      day of their calamity.

      (f) I will show my anger and not my favour toward them.

Jer 18:18
18:18 Then said they, Come, and let us devise plots against
      Jeremiah; for the law {g} shall not perish from the
      priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the
      prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the {h} tongue,
      and let us not give heed to any of his words.

      (g) This argument the wicked have always used against the
          servants of God. The church cannot err: we are the
          Church, and therefore whoever speaks against us, they
          ought to die, #1Ki 22:24, Jer 7:4,20:2, Mal 2:4|
          and thus the false Church persecutes the true Church,
          which stands not in outward pomp, and in multitude,
          but is known by the graces of the Holy Spirit.
      (h) Let us slander him and accuse him: for we will be
          believed.

Jer 18:21
18:21 Therefore {i} deliver their children to the famine, and
      pour out their [blood] by the force of the sword; and let
      their wives be bereaved of their children, and [be]
      widows; and let their men be put to death; [let] their
      young men [be] slain by the sword in battle.

      (i) Seeing the obstinate malice of the adversaries, who
          grew daily more and more, the prophet being moved with
          God's Spirit, without any carnal affection prays for
          their destruction because he knew that it would be to
          God's glory, and profit of his Church.

Jer 19:3
19:3 And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O {a} kings of
     Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of
     hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon
     this place, which whoever heareth, his ears shall {b}
     tingle.

     (a) By kings here and in other places are meant counsellors
         and governors of the people; who he calls the ancients,
         #Jer 19:1|.
     (b) Read of this phrase in #1Sa 3:11|.

Jer 19:5
19:5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their
     sons with fire [for] burnt offerings to Baal, which I {c}
     commanded not, nor spoke [it], neither came [it] into my
     mind:

     (c) By which is declared that whatever is not commanded by
         God's word concerning is service is against his word.

Jer 19:6
19:6 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this
     place shall no more be called {d} Tophet, nor The valley of
     the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.

     (d) Read #Jer 7:31, 2Ki 23:10, Isa 30:33|.

Jer 19:11
19:11 And shalt say to them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even
      so will I break this people and this city, as [one]
      breaketh a {e} potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole
      again: and they shall bury [them] in Tophet, till [there
      be] no place to bury.

      (e) This visible sign was to confirm them concerning the
          assurance of this plague, which the Lord threatened by
          his prophet.

Jer 19:13
19:13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings
      of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because
      of all the {f} houses upon whose {g} roofs they have
      burned incense to all the host of heaven, and have poured
      out drink offerings to other gods.

      (f) He notes the great rage of the idolaters who left no
          place free from their abominations, in that they
          polluted their own houses with it, as we see yet among
          the papists.
      (g) Read #De 22:8|.

Jer 20:2
20:2 Then Pashur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the
     {a} stocks that [were] in the high gate of Benjamin, which
     [was] by the house of the LORD.

     (a) Thus we see that the thing which neither the king nor
         the princes nor the people dared to undertake against
         the prophet of God, this priest as a chief instrument
         of Satan first attempted, read #Jer 18:18|.

Jer 20:6
20:6 And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thy house shall go
     into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there
     thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all
     thy {b} friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.

     (b) Who have allowed themselves to be abused by your false
         prophecies.

Jer 20:7
20:7 O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was {c} deceived: thou
     art stronger than I, and hast {d} prevailed: I am in
     derision daily, every one mocketh me.

     (c) In this appears the impatiency which often overcomes
         the servants of God when they do not see their labours
         profit, and also feel their own weakness.
         \\See Geneva "Jer 15:18"\\
     (d) You thrust me forth to this work against my will.

Jer 20:8
20:8 For since I spoke, I cried out, I cried violence and {e}
     spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach to
     me, and a derision, daily.

     (e) He shows that he did his office in that he reproved the
         people of their vices and threatened them with God's
         judgments: but because he was derided and persecuted
         for this, he was discouraged, and would have stopped
         preaching, except that God's spirit forced him to it.

Jer 20:10
20:10 For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side.  {f}
      Report, [say they], and we will report it. All my friends
      watched for my fall, [saying], Perhaps he will be enticed,
      and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our
      revenge on him.

      (f) Thus the enemies conferred together to know what they
          had heard him say, that they might accuse him of it,
          read #Isa 29:21|.

Jer 20:11
20:11 {g} But the LORD [is] with me as a mighty terrible one:
      therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not
      prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not
      prosper: [their] everlasting confusion shall never be
      forgotten.

      (g) Here he shows how his faith strove against temptation
          and sought the Lord for strength.

Jer 20:14
20:14 {h} Cursed [be] the day in which I was born: let not the
      day in which my mother bore me be blessed.

      (h) How the children of God are overcome in this battle of
          the flesh and the Spirit, and into what inconveniences
          they fall till God raises them up again: read
          #Job 3:1, Jer 15:10|.

Jer 20:16
20:16 And let that man be as the {i} cities which the LORD
      overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in
      the morning, and the shouting at noon;

      (i) Alluding to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,
          #Ge 19:25|.

Jer 20:17
20:17 Because he slew me not at my birth; or that my mother
      might have been my grave, and she had not been {k}
      delivered.

      (k) Meaning that the fruit of it might never come to
          profit.

Jer 21:2
21:2 {a} Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for
     Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; it
     may be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his
     wondrous works, that he may go up from us.

     (a) Not that the king was touched with repentance of his
         sins and so sought God, as did Hezekiah when he sent
         for Isaiah, #2Ki 19:1, Isa 37:2| but because the
         prophet might pray to God to take this present plague
         away, as Pharaoh sought Moses #Ex 9:28|.

Jer 21:4
21:4 Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will {b} turn
     back the weapons of war that [are] in your hands, with
     which ye fight against the king of Babylon, and [against]
     the Chaldeans, who besiege you outside the walls, and I
     will assemble them into the midst of this city.

     (b) That is, from your enemies to destroy yourselves.

Jer 21:8
21:8 And to this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD;
     Behold, I set before you the {c} way of life, and the way
     of {d} death.

     (c) By yielding yourselves to Nebuchadnezzar.
     (d) By resisting him.

Jer 21:9
21:9 He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by
     the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out,
     and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall
     live, and his life shall be to him for a {e} prize.

     (e) As a thing recovered from extreme danger,
         #Jer 37:2,39:18,45:5|.

Jer 21:12
21:12 O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment
      {f} in the morning, and deliver [him that is] made
      desolate out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go
      out like fire, and burn that none can quench [it], because
      of the evil of your doings.

      (f) Be diligent to do justice.

Jer 21:13
21:13 Behold, I [am] against thee, {g} O inhabitant of the
      valley, [and] rock of the plain, saith the LORD; who say,
      Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into
      our habitations?

      (g) Meaning, Jerusalem which was built part on the hill
          and part in the valley and was compassed about with
          mountains.

Jer 21:14
21:14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your
      doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire {h} in
      its forest, and it shall devour all things around it.

      (h) That is, in the houses of it, which stood as thick as
          trees in the forest.

Jer 22:3
22:3 Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and {a}
     righteousness, and deliver him that is laid waste out of
     the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence
     to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither
     shed innocent blood in this place.

     (a) This was his ordinary manner of preaching before the
         kings from Josiah to Zedekiah which was about forty
         years.

Jer 22:5
22:5 But if ye will not hear these words, I {b} swear by myself,
     saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.

     (b) Showing that there is no one greater than he is,
         #He 6:13| and that he will most certainly perform
         his oath.

Jer 22:6
22:6 For thus saith the LORD to the king's house of Judah; Thou
     [art] {c} Gilead to me, [and] the head of Lebanon: [yet]
     surely I will make thee a wilderness, [and] cities [which]
     are not inhabited.

     (c) He compares Jerusalem to Gilead which was beyond Jordan
         and the beauty of Judea to Lebanon.

Jer 22:7
22:7 And I will {d} prepare destroyers against thee, every one
     with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice
     {e} cedars, and cast [them] into the fire.

     (d) The Hebrew word signifies to sanctify because the Lord
         dedicates to his use and purpose such as he prepares to
         execute his work, #Isa 13:3, Jer 6:4,12:3|.
     (e) Your buildings made from cedar trees.

Jer 22:8
22:8 {f} And many nations shall pass by this city, and they
     shall say every man to his neighbour, Why hath the LORD
     done thus to this great city?

     (f) As they who wonder at a thing which they thought would
         never have come to pass, #De 29:24, 1Ki 9:8|.

Jer 22:10
22:10 Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: [but] weep
      bitterly for him {g} that goeth away: for he shall return
      no more, nor see his native country.

      (g) Signifying that they would lose their king: for
          Jehoiachin went forth to meet Nebuchadnezzar and
          yielded himself, and was carried into Babylon,
          #2Ki 24:12|.

Jer 22:11
22:11 For thus saith the LORD concerning {h} Shallum the son of
      Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his
      father, who went forth from this place; He shall not
      return there any more:

      (h) Whom some think to be Jehoiachin and that Josiah was
          his grandfather: but it seems this was Jehoiakim, as
          in #Jer 22:18|.

Jer 22:13
22:13 Woe to him that buildeth his house by {i} unrighteousness,
      and his chambers by wrong; [that] useth his neighbour's
      service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;

      (i) By bribes and extortion.

Jer 22:15
22:15 Shalt thou reign, because thou closest [thyself] in cedar?
      did not thy {k} father eat and drink, and do judgment and
      justice, [and] then [it was] well with him?

      (k) Meaning Josiah, who was not given to ambition and
          superfluity, but was content with mediocrity, and only
          delighted in setting forth God's glory, and to do
          justice to all.

Jer 22:18
22:18 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son
      of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for {l}
      him, [saying], Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall
      not lament for him, [saying], Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!

      (l) For everyone will have enough to lament for himself.

Jer 22:19
22:19 He shall be {m} buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn
      and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

      (m) Not honourably among his fathers, but as carrion are
          cast in a hole, because their stink should not infect,
          read #1Ki 14:10|.  Josephus writes that the enemy
          slew him in the city and commanded him to be cast
          before the walls unburied, see #Jer 36:30|.

Jer 22:20
22:20 Go up to {n} Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in
      {o} Bashan, and cry from the passes: for all thy lovers
      are destroyed.

      (n) To call to the Assyrians for help.
      (o) For this was the way out of India to Assyria, by which
          is meant that all help would fail: for the Chaldeans
          have subdued both them and the Egyptians.

Jer 22:22
22:22 The wind shall eat up all thy shepherds, {p} and thy
      lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be
      ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.

      (p) Both your governors and they that would help you will
          vanish away as wind.

Jer 22:23
22:23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the {q}
      cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon
      thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!

      (q You that are built of the fair cedar trees of Lebanon.

Jer 22:24
22:24 [As] I live, saith the LORD, though {r} Coniah the son of
      Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right
      hand, yet would I pluck thee from there;

      (r) Who was called Jehoiachin or Jeconiah, whom he calls
          here Coniah in contempt who thought his kingdom could
          never depart from him, because he came of the stock of
          David, and therefore for the promise sake could not be
          taken from his house, but he abused God's promise and
          therefore was justly deprived of the kingdom.

Jer 22:29
22:29 O {s} earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

      (s) He shows that all posterity will be witnesses of his
          just plague, as though it were registered for
          perpetual memory.

Jer 22:30
22:30 Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this {t} man childless, a
      man [that] shall not prosper in his days: for no man of
      his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David,
      and ruling any more in Judah.

      (t) Not that he had no children (for later he begat
          Salathiel in the captivity, #Mt 1:12|) but that
          none would reign after him as king.

Jer 23:1
23:1 Woe be to {a} the shepherds that destroy and scatter the
     {b} sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.

     (a) Meaning the prince's governors and false prophets as in
         #Eze 34:2|.
     (b) For which I have special care, and have prepared good
         pastures for them.

Jer 23:2
23:2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the
     shepherds that {c} feed my people; Ye have scattered my
     flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them:
     behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings,
     saith the LORD.

     (c) Whose charge is to feed the flock but they eat the
         fruit of it, #Eze 34:3|.

Jer 23:3
23:3 And I will gather the {d} remnant of my flock from all
     countries where I have driven them, and will bring them
     again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and
     increase.

     (d) Thus the prophets always used to mix the promises with
         the threatenings lest the godly should be too much
         beaten down and therefore he shows how God will gather
         his Church after this dispersion.

Jer 23:5
23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise to
     David a righteous {e} Branch, and a King shall reign and
     prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice upon the
     earth.

     (e) This prophecy is of the restitution of the Church in
         the time of Jesus Christ, who is the true branch, read
         #Isa 11:1,45:8, Jer 35:15, Da 9:24|.

Jer 23:7
23:7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they
     shall no more say, The {f} LORD liveth, who brought the
     children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

     (f) Read #Jer 16:14|.

Jer 23:9
23:9 My heart within me is broken because of the {g} prophets;
     all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man
     whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because
     of the words of his holiness.

     (g) Meaning, the false prophets who deceive the people: in
         which appears his great love toward his nation, read
         #Jer 14:13|.

Jer 23:10
23:10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of
      swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the
      wilderness are dried up, and their {h} course is evil, and
      their force [is] not right.

      (h) They run headlong to wickedness and seek vain help.

Jer 23:11
23:11 For both prophet and priest are profane; even, in my {i}
      house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.

      (i) My temple is full of their idolatry and superstitions.

Jer 23:14
23:14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem {k} an
      horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies:
      they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none
      doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them {l}
      to me as Sodom, and the inhabitants of it as Gomorrah.

      (k) They who should have profited by my rods against
          Samaria, are become worse than they.
      (l) Though to the world they seem holy fathers, yet I
          detest them as I did these abominable cities.

Jer 23:15
23:15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the
      prophets; Behold, I will feed them with {m} wormwood, and
      make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets
      of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.

      (m) Read #Jer 8:14|.

Jer 23:16
23:16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not to the words of
      the prophets that prophesy to you: they make you vain:
      they speak a vision of their own {n} heart, [and] not from
      the mouth of the LORD.

      (n) Which they have invented of their own brain.

Jer 23:17
23:17 They say still to them that despise me, The LORD hath
      said, Ye {o} shall have peace; and they say to every one
      that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No
      evil shall come upon you.

      (o) Read #Jer 6:14,8:11|.

Jer 23:18
23:18 For {p} who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and
      hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his
      word, and heard [it]?

      (p) Thus they derided Jeremiah as though the word of God
          was not revealed to him, so also spoke Zedekiah to
          Micaiah, #1Ki 22:24|.

Jer 23:20
23:20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he shall
      have executed, and till he shall have performed the
      thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye {q} shall
      consider it perfectly.

      (q) Both that God has sent me, and that my words will be
          true.

Jer 23:22
23:22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and {r} had caused my
      people to hear my words, then they should have turned them
      from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

      (r) He shows the difference between the true prophets and
          the false, between the hireling and the true minister.

Jer 23:23
23:23 [Am] I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God {s}
      afar off?

      (s) Do I not see your falsehood, however you cloak it, and
          wherever you commit it?

Jer 23:25
23:25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in
      my name, saying, I {t} have dreamed, I have dreamed.

      (t) I have a prophecy revealed to me as in #Nu 12:6|.

Jer 23:27
23:27 Who think to cause {u} my people to forget my name by
      their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour,
      as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.

      (u) He shows that Satan raises up false prophets to bring
          the people from God.

Jer 23:28
23:28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him {x} tell a dream;
      and he that hath my word, let him speak my word
      faithfully. {y} What [is] the chaff to the wheat? saith
      the LORD.

      (x) Let the false prophet declare that it is his own
          fantasy, and not slander my word as though it were a
          cloak to cover his lies.
      (y) Meaning, that it is not enough for God's ministers to
          abstain from lies and to speak the word of God but
          that there is judgment in alleging it, and that it
          may appear to be applied to the same purpose that it
          was spoken, #Eze 3:27, 1Co 2:13,4:2, 2Ti 2:25|.

Jer 23:30
23:30 Therefore, behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the
      LORD, that {z} steal my words every one from his
      neighbour.

      (z) Who set forth in my Name that which I have not
          commanded.

Jer 23:31
23:31 Behold, I [am] against the prophets, saith the LORD, that
      use their tongues, and say, {a} He saith.

      (a) That is, the Lord.

Jer 23:33
23:33 And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall
      ask thee, saying, What [is] the {b} burden of the LORD?
      thou shalt then say to them, What burden? I will even
      forsake you, saith the LORD.

      (b) The prophets called their threatenings God's burden,
          which the sinners were not able to sustain, therefore
          the wicked in deriding the word, would ask of the
          prophets, what was the burden as though they would
          say, "You seek nothing else, but to lay burdens on our
          shoulders" and thus they rejected the word of God as a
          grievous burden.

Jer 23:34
23:34 And [as for] the prophet, and the priest, and the people,
      that shall say, The {c} burden of the LORD, I will even
      punish that man and his house.

      (c) Because this word was brought to contempt and
          derision, he will teach them another manner of speech,
          and will cause this word burden to cease and teach
          them to ask with reverence, "What says the Lord?"

Jer 23:36
23:36 And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for
      every man's {d} word shall be his burden; for ye have
      perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of
      hosts our God.

      (d) The thing which they mock and contemn will come on
          them.

Jer 24:1
24:1 The LORD showed me, and, behold, two {a} baskets of figs
     [were] set before the temple of the LORD, after
     Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive
     Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the
     princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from
     Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.

     (a) The good figs signified them that were gone into
         captivity and so saved their life, as in
         #Jer 21:8|, and the bad figs them that remained,
         who were yet subject to the sword, famine and
         pestilence.

Jer 24:5
24:5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good
     figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away
     captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this {b} place
     into the land of the Chaldeans for [their] good.

     (b) By which he approves the yielding of Jeconiah and his
         company because they obeyed the prophet, who exhorted
         them to it.

Jer 24:7
24:7 And I will give them {c} an heart to know me, that I [am]
     the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their
     God: for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

     (c) Which declares that man of himself can know nothing
         till God gives the heart and understanding.

Jer 24:8
24:8 And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so
     bad; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah
     the king of Judah, and his princes, and the remnant of
     Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell
     {d} in the land of Egypt:

     (d) Who fled there for comfort.

Jer 25:1
25:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of
     Judah in the {a} fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah
     king of Judah, that [was] the first year of Nebuchadnezzar
     king of Babylon;

     (a) That is, in the third year accomplished and in the
         beginning of the fourth: for though Nebuchadnezzar
         began to reign in the end of the third year of
         Jehoiakim's reign yet that year is not counted here
         because it was almost over, #Da 1:1|.

Jer 25:3
25:3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of
     Judah, even to {b} this day, that [is] the three and
     twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come to me, and I
     have spoken to you, {c} rising early and speaking; but ye
     have not hearkened.

     (b) Which was the fifth year and the ninth month of
         Jehoiakim's reign.
     (c) That is, I have spared no diligence or labour,
         #Jer 7:13|.

Jer 25:5
25:5 They {d} said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil
     way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the
     land that the LORD hath given to you and to your fathers
     for ever and ever:

     (d) He shows that the prophets, wholly with one consent
         laboured to pull the people from those vices, which
         then reigned, that is, from idolatry and the vain
         confidence of men: for under these two all others were
         contained, #2Ki 17:13, Jer 18:11,35:15, Jon 3:8|.

Jer 25:9
25:9 Behold, I will send and take all the {e} families of the
     north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of
     Babylon, my {f} servant, and will bring them against this
     land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these
     nations {g} around, and will utterly destroy them, and make
     them an horror, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

     (e) The Chaldeans and all their power.
     (f) So the wicked and Satan himself are God's servants,
         because he makes them serve him by constraint and turns
         that which they do out of malice to his honour and
         glory.
     (g) As the Philistines, Ammonites, Egyptians and others.

Jer 25