A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609), Jehoahaz (reign 609), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586).

The Targum is another source of the Bible, much like the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint; and to dismiss it as another testimony for spiritual inspiration and understanding, as virtually all the endtime Churches do, is an absolute disgrace.

The Targum was started by Ezra for those returning from the Babylon exile and for these returnees they could only understand the Scriptures in Aramaic. That is, the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us today from the Hebrew Bible quoted.

Hence, for ignoring the Targum as an authority for Understanding and Truth, the endtime Churches of God is being discribed as wretches, blind and naked; and would be thus justifiably destined to be spewed out of God’s mouth!

Jeremiah 23

¹ “Woe be unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” saith the Lord. — woe be unto the shepherds; they are wolves like Sanballat and Tobiah; Or “O ye shepherds” or “governors” as the Targum says;

— the civil rulers and magistrates, kings and princes of the land of Judah; since ecclesiastical rulers, the priests and prophets, are mentioned as distinct from them in Jeremiah 23:9; whose business it was to rule and guide, protect and defend the people;

— that destroy and scatter the sheep; set bad examples, led them into idolatry which were the cause of their ruin and of their being carried captive and scattered in other countries; inasmuch as these people were the Lord’s pasture sheep, whom he had committed them to the care and charge of these shepherds.

² Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds that 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.

— ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; they had been driven out of their dwellings, and out of their own land, and being among the nations of the world, and took no thoughts for their return;

— behold, I will visit you for your evil deeds, saith the Lord; that is, punish them for their iniquities; since they visited not the flock in a way of justice and kindness, as the duty of their office required, the Lord would visit them in a way of judgement, and punish them according to their doings.

³ “And I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. — and I will gather the remnant of my flock, out of all countries; such of them as did not perish by the sword, famine and pestilence, or died not in captivity, and chose not to remain in the kingdom where they were.

⁴ And I will set up shepherds over them who shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking,” saith the Lord.

— and God will set shepherds over his sheep, who shall feed them; these are good shepherds, rulers and governors, that shall rule them with wholesome laws, and protect and defend them; such as Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah and others, after the captivity.

⁵ “Behold, the days come,” saith the Lord, “that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch; and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgement and justice in the earth.

— that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch; the Messiah; so it is explained by the Targum, which calls him the Messiah of the righteous; and by the ancient Jews also; who is spoken of frequently by the prophets as a branch, Isaiah 4:2.

⁶ In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is His name whereby He shall be called: The Lord Our Righteousness. — He shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness; here the Messiah is spoken of by a name, in a figure, which is used also by Isaiah and Zechariah.

⁷ “Therefore, behold, the days come,” saith the Lord, “that they shall no more say, ‘The Lord liveth who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ — when God says it once, it’s important, but when He speaks it more than once, it has to be extremely significant; and this is repeated from Jeremiah 16:14;

— so severe shall be their bondage that their deliverance from it shall be a far greater Deliverance than that out of Egypt where they spent 210 years in slavery under their Egyptian taskmasters!

For more into another Captivity: see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years

For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah

For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!

⁸ but, ‘the Lord liveth who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.”

— which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the North, and from all countries whither I had driven them: which respects not only the deliverance of the Jews from Babylon, which lay North of Judea; but the return of the ten tribes, and also the gathering of them together at the latter day, when they shall turn to the Lord, and return to their own land;

Notice the subtle change in this verse: from the house of Judah to the house of Israel; that is, now it is the ten tribes; and second, out of all the countries or nations, rather than just one nation Babylon; hence this is prophetic regarding the ten tribes and for the endtimes.

⁹ Mine heart within me is broken because of the 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.

— mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets, the false prophets, like Sanballat and Tobiah, as the Targum rightly interprets it, because of their false doctrines and wicked lives; and because of the mischief they did the people, and the ruin they brought upon them and to themselves.

¹⁰ For the land is full of adulterers; for because of cursing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.

¹¹ “For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in My house have I found their wickedness,” saith the Lord. — for both prophet and priest are profane; being guilty of the mentioned sins;

— the Targum says, “the scribe and the priest;” and such were the false scribes and priests in the time of our Lord; they played “the hypocrite” as some render the word here; and are often charged with the sin of false doctrines and others called hypocrites.

The Targum is another source of the Bible, much like the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint; and to dismiss it as another testimony, as many Churches do, is a disgrace. The Targum was started by Ezra for those returning from the Babylon exile and for these returnees they could only understand the Scriptures in Aramaic. Hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us from the Hebrew Bible quoted.

¹² “Therefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness; they shall be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation,” saith the Lord. — for I will bring evil upon them: the evil of punishment, which is from the Lord: as sword, famine, pestilence and captivity;

— “even the year of their visitation” could also mean a day of visitation at the latter days; Jeremiah 23:20, “The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.”

¹³ “And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: They prophesied in Baal and caused My people Israel to err. — and God have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; the false prophets of the ten tribes of Israel; plenty now in the Anglosphere;

— among whom, in Ahab’s time there were many of Baal’s prophets, even four hundred and fifty; whose “folly” the Lord had formerly taken notice of; even their idolatry and impiety for giving into which the ten tribes had been carried captive years ago.

¹⁴ I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a 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 unto Me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.”

— I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing; or “so have I seen” as before observed even in the prophets of Jerusalem, where the Temple was, and where the pure worship of God was professed to be observed;

— and walk in lies; or “walking in lies” like Mike Pompeo does; constantly speaking lies in their common talk and conversation; so that they were not to be believed in anything they said; which was monstrous; and delivering out false doctrines in the name of the Lord, pretending they received them from him; which was worse than prophesying in the name of Baal.

“I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole,” former CIA director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on April 15, 2019 at a forum at Texas A&M University, TX. “It was like – we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.” Interestingly, a Christian religious news broadcaster was the only media that seemed to pick up on Pompeo’s words and described it as follows: “that’s not the resume of the Secretary of State… that’s the resume of Satan.”

¹⁵ Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.”

— therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets; concerning the false prophets, as the Targum says; their sin is before declared, and now their punishment: behold, I will feed them with wormwood; with some bitter affliction and calamity;

— so the Targum says, “behold, I will bring upon them distress bitter as wormwood;” and make them drink the water of gall: or “the juice of hemlock” or “poison” or “the savour of death,”

— as they poisoned the people with their false doctrines, they shall drink poison themselves; which is bitter and unpleasant and which is noxious and hurtful; not only a bitter potion, but a destructive one; the Targum says, “I will cause them to drink a cup of the curse, bad as the heads of serpent.”

¹⁶ Thus saith the Lord of hosts: “Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you. They make you vain; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. — they make you vain; they filled their heads with vain and empty things, and their hearts with vain hopes;

— so the Targum says, “they deceive you;” they taught vain things, and made them vain and sinful in their lives and conversations; and therefore were not to be hearkened to.

¹⁷ They say still unto them that despise Me, ‘The Lord hath said, “Ye shall have peace.”’ And they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’”

— the Lord hath said, ye shall have peace; all manner of prosperity; that they should dwell in their own land, and not go into captivity, and enjoy the good things of it in peace and prosperity; and not to tell any lie, especially to tell it in the name of the Lord.

¹⁸ For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard His word? Who hath marked His word and heard it? — had any of these false prophets stood in God’s Council?

¹⁹ Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind; it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. — behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury; or “behold, a whirlwind of the Lord, of the fury is gone forth” which latter clause explains the former;

— and, hews, that by “the whirlwind of the Lord” is meant his “fury” or “wrath” which, like a whirlwind, would come suddenly and at an unawares and be very boisterous and powerful;

— and which was gone forth from the Lord and the Chaldean army would quickly appear and invade Judea and besiege Jerusalem, compared to a full and fanning wind, and its chariots to a whirlwind, Jeremiah 4:11.

²⁰ The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. — in the “latter days” (Genesis 49:1; Numbers 24:14; Deuteronomy 4:30; Deuteronomy 31:29), that is, in the then distant future), in the then distant future — literally, the end of the days, the endtimes;

— in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly; when too late to avert it by repentance and reformation when all this shall be fulfilled, and the seventy years captivity take place;

— or, “in the end of days” in the latter part off time, when the house of Jacob seek the Lord their God, Hosea 3:5; then “shall they understand it with an understanding” as it may be rendered; when they shall have the veil removed from them, and turn to the Lord;

— in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly; or rather, in the latter days ye shall understand it clearly, viz. that the calamities which will have come upon you are the divine judgement upon your sins;

— here and there the Scriptures hint the message is prophetic, into our time, the endtimes; hence one may read the rest of this chapter with the endtimes in mind, especially there is a proliferation of false prophets around.

²¹ “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. — God have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied; wherefore what they prophesied was not the word of the Lord, but what they themselves devised;

— as the Targum adds “to do evil” it is a sad character of men when they speak in public neither by the will of God nor according to the word of God.

²² But if they had stood in My counsel and 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.

— but if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words, proclaiming them as they were truly revealed, then they should have turned them from their evil way and stayed away from their evil deeds;

— in other words, they would preach repentance from idolatry instead of confirming with false security, which has ever been a trick of such false messengers of the Lord.

²³ “Am I a God at hand,” saith the Lord, “and not a God afar off? — the Targum says, “I God have created the world from the beginning, saith the Lord; and I God will renew the world for the righteous.”

²⁴ Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him?” saith the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” saith the Lord. — God knows everything, is omniscient; and all powerful, being omnipotent;

²⁵ “I have heard what the prophets said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed.’ — saying, I have dreamed, I have a vision; not a common dream, but a divine dream;

— this was one way in which the Lord formerly made known his mind and will to his servants, Numbers 12:6; wherefore these false prophets, in imitation of the true ones, and in order to gain credit from the people, pretended they had a dream from the Lord, in which such and such things were revealed to them;

— two such examples of “prophesy lies in My name” during the America’s Second Great “Awakening” are (a) false prophet Joseph Smith; who claimed the angel Moroni gave him a vision leading him to discover the Golden Plates from which they which revealed to Smith to write the longest and most complex of his “revelations” called the Book of Mormon; and

— (b) false prophetness, Ellen G White, who claimed to have received over 2,000 visions and dreams from God; and this is revealed to her followers and to raise the people’s attention as to something very uncommon (like wine being grape juice), extraordinary and peculiar (like the investigative judgement). So the Targum confirms the Masoretic text: “saying, a word of prophecy has been shown to me in a dream.”

²⁶ How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, — how long shall this be in the heart of the prophets or prophetess, like one called Jezebel, a prophetess that prophesy lies? (Revelation 2:20) to invent such lies, and deceive the people;

— and turn them away from the true worship of God; agreeably to the preceding and following verses: this shows that this was not through ignorance and inadvertence; it was a meditated and studied thing by them; they contrived it in their hearts, and they were resolute and bent upon it, and took much delight and pleasure in it.

²⁷ who think to cause My people to forget My name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten My name for Baal. — they cause my name Yehovah (YHVH) to be forgotten, and substituted it by false prophets and have used Baal as my name and the prophesying in such a name;

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century; (more on this at the end)

²⁸ The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?” saith the Lord. — the prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; the Septuagint version is, “let him tell his dream” let him tell it as his own, and not as a dream from the Lord;

— let him speak my word faithfully; or “truly” as it is; teachers of the word are stewards, and it is required of such that they be faithful, and a more honourable character they cannot well have; and then may the word of the Lord to be spoken faithfully, when nothing else is spoken;

— or “let him speak my word, truth” which is truth; or for it is truth; so this is a reason why it should be spoken freely, fully, publicly and boldly, because it is truth and nothing but truth: or “let him speak my word as truth;”

— why do ye mix the chaff with the wheat? the Targum interprets this of persons, paraphrasing the words thus, “behold, as one separates between the chaff and the wheat, so I separate between the righteous and the wicked, saith the Lord.”

²⁹ “Is not My word like as a fire?” saith the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? — is not my Word like as a fire? saith the Lord, devouring and destroying all the philosophy of men which will not stand the test of his eternal truth;

— and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? its power overcoming even the hardest and the strongest fabric of men’s imagination.

³⁰ “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” saith the Lord, “that steal My words every one from his neighbor. — therefore, because the false prophets were practicing deceit and seducing the people, behold, I am against them, that steal my words.

³¹ Behold, I am against the prophets,” saith the Lord, “that use their tongues and say, ‘He saith.’ — the Targum says, “who prophesy according to the will of their own hearts; therefore, behold, I send my fury against the false prophets.”

³² Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams,” saith the Lord, “and do tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them. Therefore they shall not profit this people at all,” saith the Lord.

— behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, or the prophetess’ false visions, insisting that the fabric of their own thoughts was to be accepted as God’s revelation, and do tell them, and cause my people, as the Lord still calls them for the sake of the true believers in their midst;

— to err by their lies and by their lightness, by their boastful and wanton inventions; yet I sent them not nor commanded them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord, a most emphatic statement that their activity would result in nothing but injury to the people.

³³ “And when this people or the prophet or a priest shall ask thee, saying, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ thou shalt then say unto them, ‘What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the Lord.’

— saying, what is the burden of the Lord? according to a custom by which the prophet was asked concerning any new revelations, which they purposely designated as an unpleasant burden, thou shalt then say unto them, What burden?

— or “Thou shalt tell them what the burden of God is,” namely, I will even forsake you, saith the Lord, an unloading of the burden, a rejecting of the people;

— some translations have it as ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ which is errorous and misleading: the wicked complaint of humans give the impression that some requirements or duties on our part: “load, burden, lifting, bearing, tribute” are burdensome; which is what the text implied.

³⁴ And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who shall say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ I will even punish that man and his house. — I will even punish that man and his house, all the members of a man’s family who are guilty with him;

— this, in Israel today, could be the basis of a term known as “collective punishment,” when if a terrorist commits a terrorist act, his family home or apartment is bulldozed. Sometimes a whole village is punished, and on a broader term, even a whole region, such a Gaza.

³⁵ Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What hath the Lord answered?’ and, ‘What hath the Lord spoken?’ — thus shall ye say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, what hath the Lord answered? and what hath the Lord spoken? thus showing the proper respect for the prophecy of God.

³⁶ And the burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more, for every man’s word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.

— and the burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more, no more toss this expression about in mockery; for every man’s word shall be his burden, that is, this expression, if used in such a jeering sense, would become a burden to such a scorner, heavy enough to bear him down to the ground;

— for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts, our God, whose majesty is here emphatically declared, to give added weight to His proclamation.

³⁷ Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, ‘What hath the Lord answered thee?’ and, ‘What hath the Lord spoken?’ — what hath the Lord answered thee? and what hath the Lord spoken? this is repeated from Jeremiah 23:35; for the confirmation of it, and to show how much the Lord approved of such a way of behaving towards his prophet.

³⁸ But since ye say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ therefore thus saith the Lord: Because ye say this word, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ and I have sent unto you, saying, ‘Ye shall not say: The burden of the Lord,’

— for the words of God were delivered with a salutary tendency, to warn sinners of the danger of their situation, and to call them to repentance. Those, therefore, who made a right use of them would have no cause to complain. But those who despised and rejected them perverted that which should have been for their wealth into an occasion of falling.

³⁹ therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of My presence. — and the city that I gave you and your fathers; the city of Jerusalem, which he had given to you to dwell in, and your children after you; but now all having sinned against him and provoked him;

— the Targum says, “I will remove you far away, and the city which I save you and your fathers from my word;” it signifies their going into captivity.

⁴⁰ And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame which shall not be forgotten.” — and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you and a perpetual shame;

— namely, on the part of all her enemies and all the witnesses of her downfall, which shall not be forgotten; a similar fate awaits those who in our days purposely follow the lead of the false prophets and join them in jeering and mocking those who confess the truth of God’s Word.

Jeremiah 24

The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609), Jehoahaz (reign 609), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586).

¹ The Lord showed me, and behold, two 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 carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon.

— now Jeremiah is probably in another vision; a riddle: two baskets of figs; set before the Temple; that is, set before God.

² One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten they were so bad. — one basket had very good figs, being full of very fine specimens of this fruit, even like the figs that are first ripe, which were considered special delicacies;

— and the other basket had very naughty figs, bad, unwholesome, rotten fruit which could not be eaten; they were so bad.

³ Then said the Lord unto me, “What seest thou, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs: the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten they are so evil.” — then said the Lord unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah?

— and I replied, Figs; the good figs very good and the evil very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil; the purpose of the question was to impress the lesson upon Jeremiah’s mind, to call attention to the objects which were to symbolize his people.

⁴ Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

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 place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.

— thus saith the Lord, the God of the covenant to all who are Israelites; Like these good figs, so will he acknowledged them that are carried away captive of Judah, regarding them with favor, extending his pleasure to them;

— whom God have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good, to let them experience his blessings, to have them realize that his method of dealing with them was for their own benefit.

⁶ For I will set Mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up.

— for I will set mine eyes upon them for good, being most attentive to their wants in this respect, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them and not pull them down, as a building condemned to be wrecked;

— and led them to repentance in the land of their captivity, the result being that their condition was bettered; and I will bring them again to this land, and I will plant them and not pluck them up;

⁷ And I will give them a 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 unto Me with their whole heart.

— and I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord, the punishment of the Babylonian captivity directing their minds to the one true God, who could thus carry out his threats, so that they likewise looked for mercy to him alone;

— and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, thus restoring the original relation, which had been so rudely disturbed and made impossible by their idolatry; for they shall return unto me with their whole heart, or, “I will be their God when they return to Me with their whole heart.”

⁸ “‘And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten they are so evil’” — surely thus saith the Lord — “‘so will I deem Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt.

— and as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten they are so evil: surely thus saith the Lord, So will I give Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and his princes, all the rulers and nobles of the people;

— and the residue of Jerusalem that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt, the obstinate Jews, who refused to heed his warning and accept his advice to yield to the Chaldeans.

⁹ And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all places whither I shall drive them.

— and God will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, literally, “I will give them for a shaking-up, for evil to all kingdoms of the earth,” so that abuse and misfortune would strike them everywhere,

— to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them, they would be the object of blasphemous derision on the part of all those with whom they would come into contact.

¹⁰ And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.’”

— and I will send the sword, the famine and the pestilence, the great scourges of all times, among them, till they be consumed from off the land, exterminated, extirpated from the Land of Promise that I gave unto them and to their fathers;

— thus the Lord predicts further invasions and repeated sackings of Jerusalem. Thus was his curse, as uttered in the Law, Deuteronomy 28:37, carried out upon all those who refused him obedience according to his demand, as a warning to men of all times.

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah, which are embedded in the Masoretic text over 6000 times, yet when translated into our English language most had been translated as Lord, or LORD, which are titles, but not his name. His name is יהוה‎ Yehovah, or YEHOVAH (but there are no capital letters in Hebrew).

It wasn’t until 1524 that Gian Giorgio Trissino, an Italian Renaissance grammarian, invented the letter J that this new letter started to take a hold in the writings of western Europe. Even in 1611 when the English Bible the King James has our subject of study by the prophet Jeremiah, he was known as Ieremiah. So Jehovah is a very late comer.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32

“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Jeremiah

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20; that is, in the distant future; or in the latter days ye shall understand it clearly. Only in the endtime would we be able to understand this perfectly.

The Targum is another source of the Bible, much like the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint. The Targum was started by Ezra for those returning from the Babylon exile and for these returnees they could only understand the Scriptures in Aramaic. Hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us from the Hebrew Bible quoted.

Jeremiah 21

The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609), Jehoahaz (reign 609), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586).

Rashi is the acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, a well respected medieval French rabbi and author of a comprehensive commentary on the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud; hence his opinion, together with the Targum, is often quoted here.

¹ The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent unto him Pashhur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,

— Pashur, the son of Malchiah, was a priest, who was sent by king Zedekiah to Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord regarding the impending attack of King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon (Jeremiah 21:1). In Jeremiah 38:1-6, this Pashur was also one of four men who advised Zedekiah to put Jeremiah to death for his prophecies of doom but who ended up throwing him into a cistern.

— and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest; who was of the “twenty fourth” course; in Jeremiah 52:24, he is called the “second priests” like Pashhur; or “sagan” or deputies to the high priest.

² “Inquire, I pray thee, of the Lord for us (for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us), if so it be that the Lord will deal with us according to all His wondrous works, that he may go up from us.” — for Nebuchadnezzar maketh war against us; who was on his way up to Jerusalem, and was besieging it, as had been predicted;

— the Lord will deal with us according to his judgement; which God had done in times past for Israel; by bringing them out of Egypt; driving out the Canaanites before them; and particularly by destroying the Assyrian army in Hezekiah’s time, which was besieging the city of Jerusalem;

— that he may go up from us, Jeremiah prayed as he also hoped; namely, the king of Babylon; and causing their king to depart and flee in haste; and their present case being similar to that, it is very likely that that was more especially in view; that he may rise up, and raise the siege, and depart into his own country, as Sennacherib did.

³ Then said Jeremiah unto them, “Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah, — then said Jeremiah unto them; the two priests, Pashur and Zephaniah, after he had sought the Lord, and knew his mind and will: thus shall ye say to Zedekiah; by whom they were sent.

⁴ ‘Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith 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.

— behold, God will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands; they shall hurt yourselves, and be the occasion of your own destruction; so that they would not hurt their enemy, but recoil upon themselves; or like a boomerang;

— the meaning is, that they should be useless and unserviceable; that they should neither be defensive to them, nor offensive to their enemies; but rather hurtful to themselves. It seems to suggest, as if they should fall out with one another; and turn their swords upon one another, and destroy each other; that is, civil wars among themselves;

— wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans which besiege you outside the walls; by shooting arrows at them from outside; or by sallying within the city with swords in hand: this shows that the Chaldean army under the command of the king of Babylon was now just outside the walls of Jerusalem, besieging it;

— and God will assemble them into the midst of this city; he himself will assemble the Chaldean army, and there slay them; or so that its defenders, who were still attempting to repel the invaders outside the walls, would be compelled to take refuge in the center of the city, their weapons having proved powerless against the enemy.

⁵ And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and in fury and in great wrath. — and I, the Most High, will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, exhibiting a mighty power in punishing them, like the way he destroyed the Egyptian army;

— with an outstretched hand, and with a strong arm; such as he had used formerly in delivering Israel out of Egypt, but now in delivering them into the hands of their enemies; Exodus 6:6;

— even in anger and in fury and in great wrath; because of their sins and iniquities, this heap of words is used to show the depth of his indignation: the rebuke of an enemy in hot displeasure; a punishment inflicted in wrath by a righteous Judge, appearing in a warlike manner.

⁶ And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence. — and I will, that is, God himself will smite the inhabitants of this city Jerusalem, both man and beast; the Chaldean army being his instrument.

⁷ And afterward, saith the Lord, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants and the people and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life. And he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity nor have mercy.’

— God will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants; the king himself shall not escape; though he shall not die by the pestilence or famine or sword, yet he shall fall into the hands of the Chaldeans, and also “his servants” his courtiers and counsellors;

— he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; that is, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, or whoever the army under his command; for what was done by the one is ascribed to the other: this is to be understood of such that fell into their hands upon taking the city, and who endeavoured to make their escape; Jeremiah 39:4;

— he shall not spare them, neither have pity nor mercy; they had no regard to rank or figure, to age or sex; the sons of the king were slain before his eyes, and then his eyes were put out; princes were hanged up by the hand; and no compassion shown to old or young, man or maiden; Jeremiah 52:10.

⁸ “And unto this people thou shalt say, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.

— behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death; and this seems to be to a phrase used by Moses, when he gave the law; obedience to which would issue in life, and disobedience in death, Deuteronomy 30:15: “See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.”

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 who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him as a prey.

— but he that goeth out, he shall live; that is, surrender themselves unto the Chaldeans; submit to them, so as to obey them, and ye shall live; else death awaits: by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence.

¹⁰ For I have set My face against this city for evil and not for good, saith the Lord. It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.’

— and he shall burn it with fire; as he did, both the house of the Lord in it, the Temple, the king’s house or palace, the stately houses of the princes and nobles, and even the houses of all the people; Jeremiah 52:13.

¹¹ “And concerning the house of the king of Judah, say, ‘Hear ye the word of the Lord,

¹² O house of David. Thus saith the Lord: “‘Execute judgement in the morning, and deliver him that is despoiled 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. — O house of David, whose descendants were still occupying the throne of Judah;

— execute judgement in the morning; and not in any other part of the day; and the case judged ought, as they say, to be as clear as the morning; lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it; or put a stop to it, by all their prayers and entreaties, or by all that they can say or do;

— because of the evil of your doings; it is a sad thing when princes set bad examples; it is highly provoking to God, whose deputies they are; and to lead the people on, or they cannot expect safety for themselves and their people.

¹³ Behold, I am against thee, 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?” — O inhabitant of the valley and rock of the plain; a description of Jerusalem; between the lower and higher part of which lay a valley, which divided the two hills, on which the city was built;

— which say, who shall come down against us? who shall enter into our habitations? who of our neighbours dare to make an attack upon us? they are so weak and would be foolish in any attempt to break through our fortifications, natural and artificial, and enter into our houses, and take away our possessions, and spoil us of our goods?

¹⁴ But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the Lord; and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.’”

— and God will kindle a fire in the forest thereof; not in the forest of Lebanon, but in the city of Jerusalem; whose houses stood as thick as trees in a forest, and which many of them, at least the most stately, might be built or ceiled with cedars from Lebanon;

— though some understand this of the cities and towns about Jerusalem; and so the Targum renders it, “in its cities” and it shall devour all things round about it; the mountains and trees upon them, the cities and towns adjacent.

More on (1) Ephraim / The United States; (2) Ephraim and Manasseh

Jeremiah 22

The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609), Jehoahaz (reign 609), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586).

¹ Thus saith the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, — thus saith the Lord, go down to the house of the king of Judah; to the palace of Jehoiakim, who was the reigning king;

— during the reign of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah 22:18; if so this would be a flashback of about 20 years; but why is this a flashback, from king Zedekiah back to king Jehoiakim, to have a rerun? Perhaps relaying more details into their abominations?

² and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sittest upon the throne of David, thou and thy servants and thy people who enter in by these gates.

— the prophet Jeremiah was bid to go down to see him, because he was then upon the mountain of the house, or in the Temple, from whence to the king’s house there was a descent;

³ Thus saith the Lord: Execute ye judgement and righteousness, and deliver the despoiled 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. — thus saith the Lord, execute ye judgement and righteousness; judge righteous Judgement;

— give the cause to whom it belongs, without respect of persons, and without a bribe or corruption; do no unrighteousness to any, by withholding from them what is due unto them, which was what this prince was chargeable with, Jeremiah 22:13;

— and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow: whom God has a peculiar regard unto; and therefore they who are his deputies and vicegerents, as kings and civil magistrates are ought to protect such persons, and neither grieve and injure them, nor suffer others to do it;

— neither shed innocent blood in this place; to grieve and wrong the above persons is a very great evil, but to shed the blood of innocent per tons is greater still; and such heinous sins as these the present reigning king of Judah was guilty of; which is the reason of their being mentioned: Jeremiah 22:17.

⁴ For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he and his servants and his people.

— the context here shows, that the prophecy is directed, not only to the king’s court in particular, but likewise to the whole city of Jerusalem, one part of which was called the city of David; and the whole looked upon as a royal city, kings sitting upon the throne of David;

⁵ But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by Myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.’” — the Targum says, “by my word I swear:” that this house shall become a desolation; meaning not the Temple, nor the city, but the king’s palace.

⁶ For thus saith the Lord unto the king’s house of Judah: “Thou art Gilead unto Me, and the head of Lebanon; yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited. — thus saith the Lord unto the king’s palace;

— yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited; though as fruitful as Gilead, yet shall become like a barren desert; and though full of children, courtiers, princes and nobles, yet shall be like cities quite depopulated.

⁷ And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons; and they shall cut down thy choice cedars and cast them into the fire. — thy enemies shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire; the sons of the king, the princes of the blood, the nobles of the land, and other persons of rank and distinction, comparable to the tall cedars of Lebanon;

— so the Targum says “and they shall slay the beauty of thy mighty ones, as the trees of a forest are cut down, and cast into the fire;”

— or else the stately palaces of the king and his nobles, and other beautiful buildings, including the Temple; which were lined and ceiled with cedar, are here meant; and which the Chaldeans burnt with fire, Jeremiah 52:13.

⁸ “And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbor, ‘Why hath the Lord done thus unto this great city?’ — wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city? so fortified and so full of people; the metropolis of the whole nation; the greatest city in the east;

— yea, the joy of the whole earth; a city peculiarly dear to the Lord; greatly honoured by him with his presence, worship, and ordinances, and yet now in ruins; how this can come to pass?

⁹ Then they shall answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshiped other gods and served them.’” — as the Targum says; they left the true God, and worshipped other gods; and served stocks and stones.

¹⁰ Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him, but weep sore for him that goeth away; for he shall return no more, or see his native country. — weep ye not for the dead, Jeremiah admonished the people of Judah, neither bemoan him, namely, Josiah, the last good king, who had stayed the doom pronounced upon the reprobate people;

— but weep sore for him that goeth away, whose departure in this case is truly an occasion for great sorrowing, for he shall return no more nor see his native country, being dragged into a shameful exile, from which there would be no deliverance.

¹¹ For thus saith the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went forth out of this place: “He shall not return thither any more,

— for thus saith the Lord touching Shallum; he was Shallum the fourth son of Josiah, 1 Chronicles 3:15; for it was likely that he should immediately succeed his father Josiah, after he was shot by archers during the battle against Neco of Egypt, where died upon his arrival on Jerusalem;

— Or, Josiah’s successor is Shallum indeed, the fourth son of Josiah; but that he was more commonly known as Jehoahaz; it seems probable that Shallum was his name before he ascended the throne, and that he changed it for Jehoahaz during his short reign;

¹² but he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive and shall see this land no more. — Shallum or Jehoahaz reigned only for 3 months before being deposed by the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II and taken into Egyptian captivity and died there.

¹³ “Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by wrong, that useth his neighbor’s service without wages, and giveth him nought for his work,

— woe unto him, so the Lord now proceeds to call out Jehoiakim, the next king, that buildeth his palace by unrighteousness, by unjust measures, by impressing people into work without compensation, that useth his neighbor’s service without wages.

¹⁴ that saith, ‘I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows, and it is ceiled with cedar and painted with vermilion.’

¹⁵ Shalt thou reign because thou enclosest thyself in cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgement and justice, and then it was well with him?

— shalt thou reign because thou closest thyself in cedar? making a show of wealth which he did not in reality possess and had no right to parade. Did not thy father eat and drink, enjoying the ordinary comforts of life;

— and issue judgement and justice? exercising these two virtues according to the demands of the laws. And then it was well with him, the blessing of the Lord resting upon him for his upright behavior.

¹⁶ He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him. Was not this to know Me?” saith the Lord. — the Targum says, “is not this the knowledge with which I am well pleased? saith the Lord.”

¹⁷ “But thine eyes and thine heart are for nothing but thy covetousness and to shed innocent blood, and for oppression and for violence.” — but thine eyes and thine heart are for thy covetousness, being directed only to the gaining of his own advantage.

¹⁸ Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: “They shall not lament for him, saying, ‘Ah, my brother!’ or, ‘Ah, sister!’ They shall not lament for him, saying, ‘Ah, lord!’ or, ‘Ah, his glory!’

— they shall not lament for him; these words contrast the death of Jehoiakim with that of Josiah. For him there should be no lamentation such as was made for the righteous king (II Chronicles 35:25), therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim;

— saying, ah my brother! or, ah sister! that is, “Alas, His Majesty!” a woman meeting her brother would not say to him, O my brother, what bad news is this! we have lost our king! nor he reply to her, O sister, it is so, the loss is great indeed!

¹⁹ He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

²⁰ “Go up to Lebanon and cry, and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the Abarim; for all thy lovers are destroyed. — for all thy lovers are destroyed; their friends and allies, with whom they had not only entered into leagues,

— but had committed spiritual fornication with them; that is, idolatry, as the Egyptians and Assyrians; but these were now subdued by Nebuchadnezzar, and were at least so weakened and destroyed by him, that they could give no assistance to the Jews; II Kings 24:7.

²¹ I spoke unto thee in thy prosperity, but thou saidst, ‘I will not hear.’ This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not My voice. — this hath been thy manner from thy youth; from the time they came out of Egypt, while they were in the wilderness;

— or when first settled in the land of Canaan: this was the infancy of their state; and from that time it was their manner and custom to reject the word of the Lord and turn a deaf ear to him.

²² The wind shall eat up all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity; surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness. — the Targum says, “all thy governors shall be scattered to every wind;” and thy lovers shall go into captivity: the Assyrians and Egyptians, as before; Jeremiah 52:31.

²³ O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail? — O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, this picture being chosen because, as the birds of Lebanon make their nests in the cedars, so the princes of Judah built their homes of the cedars of Lebanon;

— how gracious shall thou be, rather, “how shalt thou moan,” when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail! After this digression with its warning to the people as a whole the prophet turns to the consideration of Jehoiachin’s fate.

²⁴ “As I live,” saith the Lord, “though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet upon My right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;

— were the signet upon my right hand; ever so near to him, or ever so much valued by him, as he had been before, and so constantly cared for and regarded by him; as a ring, with anything respectable engraved on it, is constantly wore by persons, and greatly valued.

²⁵ and I will give thee into the hand of those who seek thy life, and into the hand of those whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

— and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life; cruel and bloodthirsty enemies, whom nothing would satisfy but his life; such were the persons following;

— and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest: being a terrible savage people, to be dreaded both for their number and their cruelty; a strange change this, to be removed out of the hand of God into the hand of such an enemy; even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

²⁶ And I will cast thee out, and thy mother who bore thee, into another country where ye were not born, and there shall ye die. — and I will cast thee out; out of his palace, out of the city of Jerusalem, and out of the land of Judea.

²⁷ But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.” — that is, they shall never come again to Jerusalem;

²⁸ Is this man Coniah a despised, broken idol? Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? — is Coniah a mere piece of common earthenware in which the potter has no pleasure, and therefore breaks it?

²⁹ O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord! — O earth, earth, earth; either the inhabitants of the whole earth, or of the land of Israel; or rather the earth on which men dwell, is here called upon as a witness to what is after said;

— to rebuke the stupidity of the people and to quicken their attention to somewhat very remarkable and worthy of notice, and therefore the word is repeated three times;

— so the Targum says, “out of his own land they carried him captive into another land; O land of Israel, receive the words of the Lord,”

— Rashi mentions another reason of this threefold appellation, because the land of Israel was divided into three parts: Judea, beyond Jordan (Transjordan), and Galilee.

³⁰ Thus saith the Lord: “Write ye this man as 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.”

— thus saith the Lord, write ye this man childless; that is, Coniah, or Jeconiah; who though he had children in the captivity, yet they died in it, or however never succeeded him in the throne;

— this speech is directed to the prophets; though the words may be rendered impersonally, “let this man be written childless” it may be written with a pen of iron, that he shall die without children, and have none to reign after him.

Posted in Jeremiah

Chapter 19 is foreshadowed, represented, and confirmed the destruction of Jerusalem, by the breaking of a potter’s vessel the prophet had in his hand; and by the place where he was bid to do this, and did it.

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20; that is, in the distant future; or in the latter days ye shall understand it clearly. Only in the endtime would we be able to understand this perfectly.

More on (1) Ephraim / The United States; (2) Ephraim and Manasseh

For more on Ephraim and Manasseh, or the Ox without the Unicorn

For more on the enemy from the South, see  A Sword from the South!

Jeremiah 19

¹ Thus saith the Lord: “Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people and the elders of the priests. — the prophet Jeremiah was asked to get or buy a earthen bottle and take the elders and the priests;

— those who were the greatest and principal men of the city, which include members of the Sanhedrin, and to go with the prophet to be witnesses of what were said and done, and to see the bottle broke.

² And go forth unto the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the East Gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee, — which is by the entry of the East gate; the main gate into and out of Jerusalem, which lay through the east of the city;

— the Targum calls it “the dung gate” through which the filth of the city was carried out, and laid near it. This dung gate is situated near the southeast corner of the Old City, southwest of the Temple Mount;

— but the original ”Dung Gate” was, in the Bible (Neh 3:13-14), the name of a gate in the Jerusalem wall which was near the Pool of Siloam in the days of the Second Temple.

³ and say, ‘Hear ye the word of the Lord, O 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, of which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.

— behold, God will bring evil upon this place; the evil of punishment for the evil of sin; such as the sword, famine and captivity; meaning not on that spot of ground where the prophet with the elders were, but upon the city of Jerusalem and upon all the land of Judea.

⁴ Because they have forsaken Me and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents.

— and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; young children sacrificed to idols in the valley of Hinnom, so that they were not only guilty of idolatry, but of murder; and of the murder even their own babes; cruelty which was shocking and unheard of!

⁵ They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not nor spoke it, neither came it into My mind.

— to burn their sons with fire unto Baal; from this as well as from some other places, it is plain that they slew and burned human victims to Baal as well as to Moloch; if these two names were not given, as some suppose they were, to one and the same idol.

⁶ Therefore behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. — that this place shall no more be called Tophet: nor the valley of the son of Hinnom;

— but the valley of slaughter; or “of the slain” as the Targum says; from the multitude of those that should be killed here, at the siege and taking of Jerusalem; or that should be brought hither to be buried.

⁷ And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of them that seek their lives; and their carcasses will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth.

— and GodI will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; the counsel which they took in this place and agreed to, in offering their sons and daughters to idols; and which they took with these idols and their priests;

— and he will cause them to fall by the Sword before their enemies: such as sallied out from the city, or attempted to make their escape; and by the hands of them that seek their lives; and so would not spare them, when they fell into them;

— and their carcasses will God give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth: signifying that they should have no burial, but their slain bodies should lie upon the earth and be fed upon by fowls and beasts.

⁸ And I will make this city desolate and a hissing. Every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss, because of all the plagues thereof. — and God will make this city desolate, and an hissing; an hissing to its enemies; an hissing because it was desolate; because of all the plagues thereof: by which it was brought to desolation, by the sword, famine, burning and captivity;

— everyone that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and hiss; surprised to see its desolation; that a city once so famous and flourishing should be reduced to such a miserable condition; and yet hiss by way of detestation and abhorrence of it, and others for joy at its ruin;

⁹ And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straits with which their enemies and they that seek their lives shall straiten them.’

— and God will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters; for want of food; the famine should be so great and pressing. Jeremiah, that foretells this, was a witness of it, and has left it on record, Lamentations 2:20;

— and they shall eat everyone the flesh of his friend; the Targum interprets it, the goods or substance of his neighbour; which is sometimes the sense of eating the flesh of another; as it is to be taken in a literal sense;

— in the siege by their enemies, they that seek their lives shall straiten them; the siege of Jerusalem would be so severe, that no provision could be carried into the city for the relief of its inhabitants;

— “women have cooked their own children” though this was fulfilled at the Babylonish captivity, yet more fully when Jerusalem was besieged by Vespasian and Titus, and in the times of Hadrian; Lamentations 4:10

¹⁰ “Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,

¹¹ and shalt say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel that cannot be made whole again; and they shall bury them in Tophet till there be no place to bury.

— and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place: where there should be such great numbers slain; or whither such multitudes of the slain should be brought out of the city to be buried there, that at length there would not be room to receive any more dead;

— or, as the Syriac version renders it, “and in Tophet they shall bury, for want of a place to bury” in; in such a filthy, abominable, and accursed place shall their carcasses lie, where they were guilty of idolatry and sacrificed their innocent babes, there being no other place to bury them.

¹² Thus will I do unto this place, saith the Lord, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet.

— make this city as Tophet; as full of slaughtered men and women as that had been of the blood of innocent children; and as filthy, abominable and execrable a place as that; and to lose its name as that is foretold it should, Jeremiah 19:6; and as Jerusalem did, after the desolation of it by Hadrian.

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 houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.’” — and the houses of the kings of Judah; the palaces of the king, princes, and nobles of Judah, one as well as their relatives;

— shall be defiled in Tophet; as that was defiled with the bodies and bones of the slain; so the houses of great and small, high and low, should be defiled with the carcasses of the slain that should lie unburied there; their houses should be their graves and they buried in the ruins of them;

— or, “the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled” with the idolatries after mentioned, shall be as Tophet, places of slaughter.

¹⁴ Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord’S house and said to all the people,

— and Jeremiah stood in the court of the Lord’s house, and said to all the people; this was the court of the Temple, called the outward court, or the court of the Israelites, where all the people met;

— here the prophet placed himself, on purpose to deliver his prophecy to all the people; even the same as he had delivered at Tophet to the people and the priests.

¹⁵ “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear My words.’” — all the evil that I have pronounced against it; or decreed against it;

— as the Targum says; all that he had purposed, and all that he had threatened, or spoke of by Jeremiah, for whatever he has said he will do, and whatsoever he has solved upon, and declared he will do, God will assuredly bring to pass;

— because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear his words; they turned their backs upon him, pulled away the shoulder, stopped their ears that they might not hear what was said by the prophets from the Lord; they neither inclined their ears to hearken to;

— but, on the contrary, as was their general character, a stiffnecked people and uncircumcised in heart and ears, obstinate and disobedient; and this was the cause of their ruin, by which it appeared to be just and righteous.

Jeremiah 20

Pashur, the son of Immer, was a captain, who was sent by king Zedekiah to Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord regarding the impending attack of King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon (Jeremiah 21:1). In Jeremiah 38:1-6, this Pashur was also one of four men who advised Zedekiah to put Jeremiah to death for his prophecies of doom but who ended up throwing him into a cistern.

¹ Now Pashhur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. — Pashur was not a high-priest, but only captain, or overseer of the Temple; in this capacity he had power to arrest and put in prison any deemed as false prophets and those who caused any disturbance in the Temple;

— Pashur was a distant son of and the head of the course of Immer, the sixteenth course of the priests fell by lot of of 24 courses 1 Chronicles 24:14; this Pashur was the son of Malchiah, (Jeremiah 21:1);

— the Targum calls him the “sagan” of the priests; who was called the “sagan” or deputy to the high priest, who upon certain occasions acted for him; and some think that this man was in the same office; though others take him to be the same with the captain of the Temple, Acts 4:1.

² Then Pashhur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the High Gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord. — then Pashur, by virtue of judicial power vested in him, smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks, a five-holed instrument of torture in which the neck, the two hands and the two feet were thrust;

— put him in stocks; מהפּכת, twisting, an instrument of torture by which the body was forced into a distorted unnatural posture; the culprit’s hands and feet were presumably bound, so as to keep the position in torture;

— Jeremiah the prophet; this official designation of Jeremiah is not found in chapters 1-19, but occurs here and frequently in succeeding chapters. It is used partly in contradistinction to the false prophets, Jeremiah 28:5-6, Jeremiah 28:10-12, Jeremiah 28:15, to the elders, priests and numerous false prophets.

³ And it came to pass on the morrow that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, “The Lord hath not called thy name Pashhur, but Magormissabib [that is, Fear round about, or Terror all around]. — but Magormissabib; or “fear round about” signifying that terrors should be all around him and he should be in the utmost fright and consternation;

— the Targum says, “but there shall be gathered together against thee those that kill with the sword round about;” meaning the Chaldeans, which would make him a “Magormissabib” – changing from place to place; that is, going into captivity; a stranger and wanderer.

⁴ For thus saith the Lord: ‘Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself and to all thy friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon and shall slay them with the sword.

— for thus saith the Lord, behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends; this is an interpretation of the name given, “Magormissabib” and shows that it was not a mere name he had, but that he should be what that signifies: terrors;

— his conscience should be filled with terror at the judgements of God coming for him; and which he should be seized with much tremblings and shakings, and be such a spectacle of horror, that his own familiar friends, should shun and run away from him.

⁵ Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city and all the labors thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, who shall despoil them and take them and carry them to Babylon.

— and all the precious things thereof; all their plate and jewels, the rich furniture of their houses, and whatsoever was laid up in their treasures as rare and valuable;

— and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies; which they in successive reigns had been laying up in store for years together; see Isaiah 39:6.

⁶ And thou, Pashhur, and all that dwell in thine 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 friends to whom thou hast prophesied lies.’” — and thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house, shall go into captivity; particularly he and his family should not escape;

— and thou shalt come to Babylon; though sore against thy will: and there thou shalt die and shalt be buried there; even in a defiled land and to be buried in such a land, al least not scattered to the beasts of the field and the birds of the air;

— to whom thou hast prophesied lies; not only because he had so ill used Jeremiah, a true prophet of the Lord; but because he was a false prophet, and his friends had hearkened to his lies and disbelieved those prophecies that came from the Lord himself.

⁷ O Lord, Thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived; Thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed. I am in derision daily; every one mocketh me. — O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived;

— what follows from hence to the end of the chapter is thought to have been said by the prophet, when in the stocks or in prison, and shows mixture of courage and weakness in him; a struggle between flesh and spirit, and the force of a temptation under which he laboured, arising from difficulties and discouragements in his work; and he not only complains to God, but of him; that he had deceived him;

— when God first called him to be a prophet, by telling him that he should be set over nations and kingdoms, to pull them down, Jeremiah 1:10; which he understood of foreign nations, but now found his own people were meant;

— or by giving him reason to expect honour and ease, whereas he met with nothing but disrespect and trouble; and that he should have divine protection and success against his opposers, Jeremiah 1:18; whereas he was now delivered into their hands; but be it so, this was all a mistake of the prophet, and no deception of God;

— I am in derision daily, everyone mocketh me; Jeremiah was the laughing stock of everyone of the people of Israel, from the highest to the lowest; princes, priests and people, all derided him and his prophecies, every day, and all the day long and especially when he was in the stocks.

⁸ For when I spoke, I cried out; I cried, “Violence and despoliation!” because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me and a derision daily. — because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a derision daily; which is a reason either why he cried with grief and sorrow; or why he cried violence and spoil, ruin and destruction:

— or, “though the word of the Lord was” yet he went on proclaiming it; or “surely the word of the Lord was made a reproach” either because of the matter of it, it not being believed, or the manner in which it was delivered; or because it was not immediately fulfilled.

⁹ Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name.” But His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not hold back. — then Jeremiah said, I will not mention him, nor in his name; not that he publicly said this before his enemies, or privately to friends;

— but he said it in his heart; he thought, nay, resolved, within himself, to prophesy no more; since no credit was given to him, but contempt cast on him; “there was in mine heart as a burning fire” which made him uneasy, and constrained him to break his former resolution: for the phrase, “his word” is not in the original text;

— though it is in like manner supplied by the Targum, “and his words became in mine heart as fire burning and overflowing my bones;” or “and the word of the Lord was in my heart as fire burning;” or Rashi says prophecy was as fire, to which it is compared, Jeremiah 23:29.

¹⁰ For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. “Report,” say they, “and we will report it!” All in my company watched for my halting, saying, “Perhaps he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him; and we shall take our revenge on him.”

— for Jeremiah heard the defaming of many, as they talked about him and his office in a derogatory manner: Fear on every side, or, “Terror all a round!” an attempt to deride the prophecy against Pashur;

— report, say they, that is, they want people to bring any sort of accusation against Jeremiah, and all his familiars, men whom he considered his friends, watched for his halting, for any indication of stumbling on his part,

— perhaps he will be enticed, be induced to commit some sin, and we shall prevail against him, getting the better of Jeremiah in this situation, and we shall take our revenge on him. Over against this behavior of his false friends the prophet states the firm conviction of his heart.

¹¹ But the Lord is with me as a mighty, fearsome 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. — but the Lord is with him as a mighty terrible one, as a mighty hero to defend him;

— therefore his persecutors shall stumble, come to grief in the very way in which they hoped to see the prophet humbled, and they shall not prevail, as they had hoped to; they shall be greatly ashamed, for they shall not prosper, have no success in their plotting and scheming against him;

¹² But, O Lord of hosts, who triest the righteous and seest the reins and the heart, let me see Thy vengeance on them, for unto Thee have I opened my cause. — let me see thy vengeance on them; his enemies and persecutors; he does not seek vengeance himself, but desires it of the Lord;

— Jeremiah does not ask to see his vengeance, but the Lord’s vengeance on them; he knew that vengeance belonged to the Lord, and therefore left it with him, and prayed for it from him; the Targum says, “let me see the vengeance of thy judgements on them.”

¹³ Sing unto the Lord, praise ye the Lord; for He hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers. — for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evil doers; or “the life of the poor” meaning himself, a poor destitute, few or none to stand by him but the Lord, who had delivered him out of the hand of Pashur and his accomplices.

¹⁴ Cursed be the day wherein I was born; let not the day wherein my mother bore me be blessed. — cursed be the day wherein I was born; it is not unlikely that these words of complaint were uttered before the foregoing, which are expressive of confidence in God and gratitude for deliverance;

— but at this sudden change of the prophet’s discourse, when in great anguish of spirit; he expressed a very striking parallel in Job 3:3-12, “Let the day perish wherein I was born.”

¹⁵ Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, “A manchild is born unto thee,” making him very glad. — making him very glad; such memory, or rather the thought of that day, the joy of father and another when their child was born.

¹⁶ And let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew, and repented not; and let him hear the cry in the morning and the shouting at noontide, — and let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew; whose sentence God never revoked: this was very severe and uncharitable, to wish for so sore a destruction upon an innocent person;

— and repented not; and were never recovered; to wish for so sore a destruction upon them; in his fury, as the Targum and Septuagint add; meaning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, who were utterly destroyed.

¹⁷ because he slew me not from the womb, or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.

¹⁸ Why came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame? — that my days should be consumed with shame? through the bad usage of him, the reproach that was cast upon him, and the contempt he had to carry for prophesying in the name of the Lord;

— all this shows that there are fragilities and vulnerabilities in the best of men, even God’s prophets; and what they are when left to themselves; how weak and fragile they could be;

— and Jeremiah recording all his weaknesses and failings is an argument of the uprightness and sincerity of the man himself; and of the truth and integrity of his records in the Scriptures.

Posted in Jeremiah

Chapter 17 continues with more prophecies of the destruction of the house of Judah, their sins of idolatry, of Sabbaths breaking, both houses were notorious for their violations; of which they were sinners and both were send into captivity.

The most important issue in Chapter 17 is to observe the Sabbath!

“Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord who doth sanctify you” Exodus 31:13

Jeremiah 17

¹ “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved upon the tablet of their heart and upon the horns of your altars, — with a pen of iron; this is an allegory; that is to say that it is deeply engraved, and cannot be erased with a pen of iron, with a diamond point;

— as expressed by Jeremiah, it’s called ‘an iron wall,’ and by Ezekiel, it was said (Ezekiel 3:9): “As a diamond, harder than flint have I made your forehead;”

— there is no need to limit the sin of Judah to idolatry, but it includes all other sins, like breaking the Sabbaths; and so the Targum expresses it in the plural number, “the sins of Judah;” though, if any particular sin is intended, its main one seems to be idolatry.

² whilst their children remember their altars and their wooden idols by the green trees upon the high hills. — their children remember their altars; which is a further proof of their continuance in idolatrous practices; who, when grown up imitated them and went on in the same evil ways.

³ 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.

— O my mountain in the midst of the field; a poetic phrase for either the Temple, called the mountain of the house, and of the Lord’s house, Micah 3:12, or else Jerusalem, which stood on a hill in the midst of a plain, surrounded with fruitful fields and gardens; or in the midst of a land like a field;

— the Targum says, “because thou worshippest idols upon the mountains in the field;” God will give thy substance and all thy treasures to the spoil; all the riches of the city and Temple to be the spoil and plunder of the enemy; and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy borders.

⁴ And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not; for ye have kindled a fire in Mine anger which shall burn for ever.” — God will cause Israel to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not; the Babylonians in Chaldea; or, later, the Romans;

— the Targum takes in the whole of the sense, “and I will bring an enemy upon your land; and it shall be desolate as in the year of intermission: and I will take vengeance of judgement upon you, until I remove you from your inheritance which I have given unto you.”

⁵ Thus saith the Lord: “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. — cursed be the man that trusteth in man, who places that confidence in the wisdom or power, the kindness or faithfulness of any man;

⁶ For he shall be like the heath (a tract of wasteland) in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. — the “heath” or other like shrubs standing alone in a barren land;

⁷ “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. — blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord; trusteth in the Word of the Lord, as the Targum says.

⁸ 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 disquieted in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? — and it is a mistake to think their own hearts a great deal better than they really are; the truth is, the heart of man, in his corrupt and fallen state, is false and deceitful above all things.

¹⁰ “I, the Lord, search the heart; I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” — I the Lord search the heart; the inward parts of it, every ‘vessel’ and corner in it;

— and know the thoughts of it; all its intents, purposes, designs, contrivances and imaginations; all the secret motions and emotions of it, and any wickedness that is in it.

¹¹ 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. — the partridge (a name for a medium-sized bird) sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not, or, a partridge hatching eggs which it has not laid;

— but not by his labour; thus the Targum says, “at his end he is called a wicked man;” because of the unjust manner in which he got his riches, and which appears by his end; every filthy rich is an abomination.

¹² A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. — Jeremiah’s thought of the throne of glory on high from the beginning, the place of our sanctuary, the hope of Israel, is in Yehovah.

¹³ O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake Thee shall be ashamed. “And they that depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.” — those who forsake thy law which thou hast given them, will sooner or later be ashamed.

¹⁴ Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for Thou art my praise.

¹⁵ Behold, they say unto me, “Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now.” — where is the fulfilment of the threats which thou didst utter from God? speaking like the scoffers, mentioned by Peter, II Peter 3:4, saying, Where is the promise of his coming?

¹⁶ As for me, I have not hastened from being a shepherd to follow Thee; neither have I desired the woeful day, Thou knowest; that which came out of my lips was right before Thee. — the Targum paraphrases it, “and the evil day which thou shall bring upon them, I have not desired:” that which came out of my lips was right before thee;

¹⁷ Be not a terror unto me; Thou art my hope in the day of evil. — a terror; namely, by deserting me, Jeremiah said: all I fear is thine abandoning me; if thou art with me, I have no fear of evil from any enemies.

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, and destroy them with double destruction.

— bring thy punishment upon them the day of evil; which they put far away, and scoff at; though Jeremiah did not desire the woeful day to come upon his people, only upon his persecutors in particular.

¹⁹ Thus said the Lord unto me: “Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; — the gate is one within the city and leading to the palace, thus accounting for its use by both the rulers, and those who sought an audience from them;

— or a gate of the Temple rather than of the city, perhaps the special gate by which the kings and people of Judah entered into the enclosure of the Temple.

²⁰ and say unto them, ‘Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye kings of Judah and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem that enter in by these gates. — Jeremiah begins with the kings, as they ought to have repressed such a glaring profanation.

²¹ Thus saith the Lord: Take heed for yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; — neither carry forth a burden on the Sabbath, neither do ye any work; servile work is also forbidden to be done upon all solemn festivals, Leviticus 23:8; Leviticus 23:35;

“Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord who doth sanctify you” Exodus 31:13

— but hallow ye the sabbath days; as the sabbath was instituted as a sign or token of God’s covenant with his people. This is God’s true Sabbath, in contrast to the world’s pagan holidays, which they also call sabbath! (more at the end);

²² neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. — neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day; not of dirt and soil only, but of any ware or merchandise, in order to be sold in the city or elsewhere:

— neither do ye any work; any servile work, any kind of manufacture, either within doors or without; or exercise any kind of trade, or barter and merchandise, or do any sort of worldly business; nothing but what was of mere necessity for the preservation of life; see Exodus 20:10;

— the penalty for breaking the Sabbath is death; but the gift of observing it is the identification of being of his chosen ones (more at the end).

²³ But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction. — but made their neck stiff; or “hard” and would not bend it, to take upon them the yoke of the commandments: a metaphor taken from untamed oxen, that will not submit the neck to the yoke, but draw back from it.

²⁴ “‘And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto Me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day to do no work therein,

— but hallow ye the Sabbath; or, “sanctify it” by separating it from all worldly business and devoting it to the worship of God in public and private, spending it wholly in acts of religion and piety:

— one part of the sanctification of the Sabbath lay in a cessation from all servile work, though not wholly, but also in the observance of religious worship, and the one was in order to the other; for, unless they abstained from worldly business, they could not be at leisure to attend divine service;

— lighting a fire in ancient time was an elaborate process; unlike today, just a switch; thus kindled a fire on the Sabbath was profaned, it was that Jerusalem was destroyed and its people carried away as captives because they profaned the Sabbath;

²⁵ then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain for ever.

²⁶ And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the South, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, and meat offerings and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise unto the house of the Lord.

²⁷ But if ye will not hearken unto Me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.’”

— and the observance of it was the distinguishing character of one santified by God, whereby he declared himself to be a worshipper of the true God, who also ordained the Sabbath day as a memorial of the creation. So that for the Jews to profane the Sabbath, was in effect to renounce their share in God’s creation;

— the Sabbath was instituted as a sign or token of God’s covenant with his people, Exodus 31:13; it was to identify the people to God “that ye may know that I am the Lord,” and God to his people “that I am the Lord who doth sanctify you.” It’s a two-way streets.

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God’s Sabbaths contrast to the world’s pagan sabbaths; which “Christians” understand and practice are:

(a) her sabbaths which is Sundays, where the original Sun-keepers were the Samaritans, brought from Assyria: And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof, II Kings 17:24;

(b) Christmas, which honor the Mithraism – a form of nature worship based on the Sun-Goddess Mithra who on the darkest night of the year (December 20/21), gives birth to “Light” causing each day thereafter to grow longer until the Summer solstice; and

(c) Easters, a celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. Her symbols (like the egg and bunny) were and still are fertility and sex symbols; and to those who actually think eggs and bunnies have something to do with the resurrection.

Jeremiah 18

¹ The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, — the Word of prophecy, as the Targum says: this is a distinct prophecy from the former.

² “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear My words.”

— and there God will cause thee to hear his words; there the Lord would tell him what he had further to say to him, and what he should say to the people; and by sensible objects before him, he would cause him to understand more clearly what he will say to them.

³ Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

— then Jeremiah went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels, literally, “on the disks,” for the potter’s lathe consisted of two horizontal wooden plates, the lower one larger than the upper, the clay being molded into shape on the upper disk.

⁴ And the vessel that he made of 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. — meaning, God has authority and power to form and fashion kingdoms and nations as he pleases. He may dispose of us as he thinks fit;

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁶ “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter?” saith the Lord. “Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in Mine hand, O house of Israel. — the lower wheel was worked by the feet to give motion to the upper one;

— in previous chapters God’s words were usually directed against Jerusalem, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, their elders and priests, but here, it is to the house of Israel again;

— O house of Israel; since the house of Israel had been in exiled over a hundred years ago, so this renew warning must be prophetic, for the endtime; emphasis here is the house of Israel; but also include the house of Judah, for they committed the same sins and would certainly share the same punishments.

⁷ At the instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it, — this could be speaking of the house of Judah; pluck up into Babylon, and later, Babylon was destroyed; but this could be another prophecy which parallels Ezekiel 17, a riddle of two eagles;

⁸ if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. — if that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil; as Nineveh did; then I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them;

⁹ And at the instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, — to build and to plant, the royal family of the house of David; which applied to the planting of Jewish princesses to Ireland;

— the destruction of Zedekiah’s Pharez line; to the planting of the Zarah line ruling in the British Isles! (for more see “Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright” by J.H. Allen).

¹⁰ if it do evil in My sight, that it obey not My voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them. — unless men and women repent and turn from their evil ways; and his promises of good must be understood with this condition.

¹¹ Now therefore go to speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I frame evil against you and devise a device against you. Return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.’”

— behold, God would frame evil against you; as the potter frames his clay upon the wheel, to which the allusion is; which is to be understood of the evil of punishment, in the mind of God to bring upon them;

¹² And they said, “There is no hope; but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.” — in our society today there is no hope of these three repentence:

(a) her sabbaths which is Sundays, where the original Sun-keepers were the Samaritans; (b) Christmas, which honor Mithraism; (c) Easters, a celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess.

— the only way we could repent is if God would give us a Mt Sinai experience: “The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again” Isaiah 24:20

¹³ Therefore thus saith the Lord: “Ask ye now among the heathen: Who hath heard such things? The virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.

— the people of Israel, ironically so called; have the most perversions; LGBTqia being the most prominent; so pervalent that even the Gentiles ask, why so? Such obduracy is unheard of amongst the Gentiles!

¹⁴ Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?

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 ancient paths, to walk in paths, on a road not cast up, — they have caused; to stumble, namely the false prophets and idolatrous teachers they have.

¹⁶ to make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.

¹⁷ I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.” — God will scatter them as with an east wind, a violent wind from the desert, before the enemy;

— he will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity, the metaphor is from the custom of kings and princes, which is, to turn their backs, that is, will not look upon them in a favourable way, nor hear their cries; but turn his back upon them, and a deaf ear unto them.

¹⁸ Then said they, “Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law 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 tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”

— then said they, come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; being enraged at the warning messages threatening them, they propose to enter into a confederacy together, to think of ways and means to stop the mouth of the prophet, and even to take away his life;

— since he had told them that God had devised a device against them, they would scheme for devising devices against him; so that they might walk after their own devices, without being teased and tormented by this prophet:

— nor counsel from the wise; we have wise rulers and governors, and members of the Sanhedrin, and judges of all controversies, and who are capable of giving advice upon any occasion; does he think to know better than our statesmen and sages, our counsellors in the Temple and state affairs?

— nor the word from the prophet; we have prophets among us, that prophesy as well as he; and whose words of prophecy shall be fulfilled, when his will not; who assure us that we shall have peace and prosperity; and therefore let us not regard what this man says, or be intimidated by his threats:

— and so the Targum says, “let us bear false witness against him;” or “let us smite him in the tongue” cut it out; or stop his mouth, and hinder him from speaking any more in this manner to the people; or, “let us smite him for the tongue” because of the words he says, or the prophecies he delivers.

¹⁹ Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.

²⁰ Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before Thee to speak good for them, and to turn away Thy wrath from them.

— they have digged a pit for Jeremiah; that is, they have laid snares for him as for a wild beast; for pits are digged for wild beasts to fall into, that they may be taken;

²¹ Therefore deliver up 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. — so wicked were they that God would deliver their children to the famine; and the sword;

— and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; let them have neither husbands nor children; which latter might be a comfort to them, when they are being stripped of these men and children, their affliction and distress would be much greater.

²² Let a cry be heard from their houses, when Thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.

— let a cry be heard from their houses, as the attacking forces enter, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them, namely, the murderous hordes of the invaders; for they have digged a pit to take me and hid snares for my feet, as the fowler does for the bird.

²³ Yet, Lord, Thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me; forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from Thy sight, but let them be overthrown before Thee; deal thus with them in the time of Thine anger.

— deal thus with them in the time of thine anger; the set time for thy wrath to come upon them to the uttermost; then do unto them according to all the imprecations or curses now being prepared; which the prophet foresaw, and believed he would do; and therefore thus spake.

~~~

More about keeping the Sabbaths:

“Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord who doth sanctify you,” Exodus 31:13.

“Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you. Every one who defileth it shall surely be put to death; for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people,” Exodus 31:14.

“Six days may work be done, but on the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whosoever doeth any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death,” Exodus 31:15.

Keeping the Sabbaths identify the people to God “that ye may know that I am the Lord,” and God to his people “that I am the Lord who doth sanctify you.” It’s a two-way streets.

Even in the New Testament, Jews and Gentiles converted to Christianity, called Nazarenes, were meeting in synagogues on the Sabbath (Mark 6:2; Luke 4:31; Luke 13:10–16; Acts 13:14, 27, 42–44; 15:21; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4). Obviously, with no work being done on the Sabbath day, the Sabbath day would be the ideal day to have organized worship services.

All the evidence show that early Christian believers believe that the Sabbath be the day of rest as well as a day of worship. Besides being a sign of identity, of affiliation, before God and his chosen ones, the Sabbath is also the fourth of the Ten Commandments; and the penalty for profaning its observance is death.

Posted in Jeremiah

In these chapters, God replies to the preceding supplications, the Lord’s answer to the prophet’s prayers, by declaring that not even the intercession of his favoured servants, Moses and Samuel, should divert him from executing his purpose of vengeance against Judah; which is denounced in terms of great severity to come.

The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Jehoahaz (reign 609), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586).

For more on the Sword from the South, see  A Sword from the South!

Jeremiah 15

¹ Then said the Lord unto me, “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. — the meaning is, that even if Moses and Samuel were alive and made intercession for the people, their prayers would not be regarded;

— for as God had forbidden Jeremiah before to intercede for them, even so if Moses and Samuel were alive and made intercession for them, God couldn’t have any delight in them; could not be reconciled to them, that the favours asked for should be granted or that they should continue in their own land;

— cast them out of my sight; as persons loathsome and abominable; God cannot look upon them, or have anything to say to them, in a favourable way; and now God had made up his mind.

² And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, ‘Whither shall we go forth?’ then thou shalt tell them, ‘Thus saith the Lord: “‘Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.’

— then thou shall tell them, thus saith the Lord, such as for death, to death; such as were appointed to death or to die by the pestilence, which is often signified by death; they shall go forth unto it; or it shall meet them and seize upon them and take them away:

— and such are for the Sword, to the Sword; who are appointed to die by the Sword of the enemy, into whose hands they should fall by attempting to escape out of the city, shall perish by it:

For more on the Sword from the South, see  A Sword from the South!

— and such are for famine, to famine; such are appointed to die by that, shall die of it in the city, where they shall be besieged, and not be able to get out to fetch in any provisions, and where none can be brought, because of the enemy:

— and such are for the captivity, to captivity; such are spared from the pestilence, Sword, and famine and are designed to be carried captive into a strange land, to which they are appointed of God; the latter of these is more grievous than the former; as the sword than death, and famine than the Sword, so captivity than them all.

³ “And I will appoint over them four kinds,” saith the Lord: “the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. — the Targum says “four evil punishments;”

— (1) the Sword to slay: the first and chief of the four families or punishments, which had a commission from the Lord to sheath itself in his people, the Jews; even the sword of the enemy, the Chaldeans, drawn against them by a divine order and appointment:

— (2) and the dogs to tear; the carcasses of those that are slain with the sword: or “to draw” as the word signifies; it being the usual way of dogs to draw and drag the flesh about they are feeding on;

— (3) and the fowls of the heaven, and (4) the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy; or “to eat, and to corrupt”, the bodies of those that are slain by the sword. The meaning is that such should not have a burial, but should be the food of fowls and wild beasts.

⁴ And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem. — and God will cause them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth;

— not only into Babylon, but into all other countries of the earth indicates this could be prophetic, yet in the future, and not just the house of Judah but also the larger house of Israel.

⁵ “For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? Or who shall bemoan thee? Or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?

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 weary with repenting. — thou art gone backward; they had set up idols and idol worship; and this was the cause of the Sword, pestilence, famine and captivity, and of all the evils that befell them:

— therefore will I stretch out mine hand against thee, and destroy thee; his hand of power and vengeance, which when stretched out and falls with weight, whether on particular persons or on a nation, brings inevitable ruin and destruction with it.

⁷ And I will winnow them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children; I will destroy My people, since they return not from their ways. — God will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; either of their own land, the land of Judea; and so the Septuagint says, “in the gates of my people,”

— and by fanning is meant the dispersion of the Jews, and as the Targum paraphrases it; gates being put for them frequently; whither they should be scattered by the fan of the Lord; for what was done by the enemy, as an instrument, is ascribed to him:

— yet they return not from their ways; though fanned with the fan of affliction, bereaved of their children and threatened with destruction: it expresses their obstinate continuance in their evil ways and the reason of God’s dealing with them as above.

⁸ Their widows are increased to Me above the sand of the seas; I have brought upon them, against the mother of the young men, a despoiler at noonday; I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.

— their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas; their husbands slain; not only in the times of Ahaz, when a hundred and twenty thousand men were slain in one day in Judah, by Pekah the son of Remaliah, II Chronicles 28:6;

— but in the times of Zedekiah, at the siege of Jerusalem, and the taking of it, and during the Assyrian captivity before predicted. The children of Israel were to be as the sand of the sea; and here the widows are said to be so too; their husbands being dead;

— mention is made of “seas” in the plural; there being many in or near Judea, as the Red sea, the sea of Galilee, and the Mediterranean sea; but could be prophetic for the endtime: all around the world and throughout the five oceans.

¹⁰ 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 lent on usury, nor have men lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me. — woe is Jeremiah, his mother,

— that she hast borne a man of strife to the whole earth! that is, one with whom the whole world, all men with whom he came into contact, were anxious to pick a quarrel for no other reason than for his faithful discharge of his office.

¹¹ The Lord said, “Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to deal with thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. — the Lord promised, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; the latter words of this verse expound the former:

— for by remnant or residue, is meant the remnant of days that Jeremiah had to live; for Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, begged him, “If it pleases you to come with me to Babylon:”

“And now behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which were upon thine hand. If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come, and I will look well after thee; but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear. Behold, all the land is before thee. Wherever it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go,” Jeremiah 40:4.

— or another explanation: it could be a remnant of Jeremiah’s close family; in obedience to God, he wasn’t known to have a wife (Jeremiah 16:2), thus may not have children; but the king’s daughters, who could be his nieces entrusted to him for care and protection.

¹² “Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? — can iron break iron, especially that which comes from the North, which was harder than the common iron; or steel, the hardest of them all? though the Jews were as hard as iron, they could not prevail against and overcome those iron from the North.

¹³ Thy substance and thy treasures will I give as the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. — God turns his speech from the prophet to the people:

— thy substance and thy treasures, all the Temple’s treasure, all the wealth of Judah, even all within thy borders, will I give to the spoil without price, they will be theirs, the Babylonians, to take away, and all because of thy sins.

¹⁴ And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not; for a fire is kindled in Mine anger, which shall burn upon you.” — for a fire is kindled in anger; meaning the wrath of God, compared to fire, which was kindled and excited by their sins, and which would continue upon them until it had destroyed them.

¹⁵ O Lord, Thou knowest; remember me and visit me, and avenge me on my persecutors. Take me not away in Thy longsuffering; know that for Thy sake I have suffered rebuke. — and visit me; in mercy for good; and so the Targum adds, “that thou mayest do well unto me.”

¹⁶ Thy words were found, and I ate them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart; for I am called by Thy name, O Lord God of hosts.

— for Jeremiah was called by his name, O Lord God of hosts; it was revealed to the Prophet, he was called as a servant or messenger of his Word. He had, therefore, devoted himself to this calling with all seriousness.

¹⁷ I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of Thy hand, for Thou hast filled me with indignation.

— filled Jeremiah with indignation; so Jeremiah 6:11, “full of the fury of the Lord” so full was he of the subject (God’s “indignation” against the ungodly) with which God had inspired him, hence he was not able to contain himself from expressing it.

¹⁸ Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? Wilt Thou be altogether unto me as a liar and as waters that fail? — these words are the words of Jeremiah and complaining of the hard task which God had put upon him, continually filling his mouth;

— pain and a wound, for which was no remedy but patience. Jeremiah, though a great prophet of the Lord, was (as Elijah) a man subject to like passions with other men;

— wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar and as waters that fail? These words express a bitter sense of Jeremiah’s failure and disappointment as humans do.

¹⁹ Therefore thus saith the Lord: “If thou return, then will I bring thee back, and thou shalt stand before Me; and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as My mouth. Let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them.

— let Israel return unto thee, but return not thou unto them; this is said of the people of Judah, to whom the prophet was sent; and the sense is, that he should not at all comply with them, or conform to their humours or flatter and sooth them in their sins, as the false prophets did.

²⁰ And I will make thee unto this people a fortified brazen wall, and they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee,” saith the Lord. — they will still continue their wickedness; and contradict his prophecies; or so as to take away his life, but they shall not prevail.

²¹ “And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.” — and God will deliver Jeremiah out of the hand of the wicked; the wicked Zedekiah and his courtiers, who imprisoned him:

— the power of the terrible Chaldeans, into whose hands thou shalt come, but shalt be prevented from any harm by the workings of God’s providence in Jeremiah’s favour.

Jeremiah 16

¹ The word of the Lord came also unto me, saying, — the Targum say the Word of prophecy from the Lord: whether this is a new prophecy, or the former continued, is not certain;

² “Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.” — thou shall not take thee a wife; not because it was unlawful; but because it was on account of the calamities and distresses which were coming upon the nation; which would be more bearable by him alone, than if he had a wife and children.

— but he was put in charge of the king’s daughters, who could be his nieces entrusted to him for care and protection.

³ For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who begot them in this land: — the times were such that for “the present distress” it was wise for all to abstain from marriage

⁴ “They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried, but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth. And they shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.”

— they shall die of grievous deaths, such as the Sword, famine and pestilence; and not be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth; lie and rot there; for their filthy and abominable actions committed in the land:

— the Targum particularly adds famine. It may be rendered, “deaths of diseases, or sicknesses” such are brought on by long sickness and lingering contagious diseases; by which a man suffers slowly as by famine and is not snatched away at once; and which are more grievous to bear.

⁵ For thus saith the Lord: “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.

— neither go to lament nor bemoan them; neither go to the house of mourning, or the mourning feast; to the houses of the deceased to express sorrow by shedding tears or shaking the head, or by any other gesture or ceremony as mentioned;

— for God have taken away his peace from this people; all peace or prosperity is of God, and therefore called his and which he can take away from a people when he pleases; and having determined to take it away from this people because of their sins.

⁶ Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them. — both the nobles as well as the common people, high and low, rich and poor; none shall be exempted from the grievous deaths by the Sword, famine and pestilence.

⁷ Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. — but now these drinks should be omitted for the dead; the calamity would be so great and so universal that there wouldn’t be any time left to perform such ordinances.

⁸ Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting to sit with them to eat and to drink.” — thou shall not also go into the house of feasting; which was lawful to do and which the prophet doubtless had done at other times; but now a time of calamity coming on, it was not proper he should; and that he was to abstain from such places.

⁹ For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, in your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

— such wild partyings the likes of Paris Hilton’s would ease and instead they would ask, “Why hath the Lord pronounced all these evils against us? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?”

¹⁰ “And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, ‘Why hath the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’

¹¹ Then shalt thou say unto them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ saith the Lord, ‘and have walked after other gods and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My law.

— because you have walked after your father’s gods and have served them and have worshipped them; were guilty of gross idolatry, serving and worshipping these creatures than their Creator; even idols of gold, silver, brass, wood and stones;

— after other gods and have served them: Dagon, Chemosh, Molech, Bel, Astarte, Mithra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th, which they christianised as Christmas), Zeus and others; and you worship these earthly gods, Protestants or Catholics alike, even men from every nation of the earth.

¹² And ye have done worse than your fathers, for behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto Me. — and ye have done worse than your fathers; not only committed the same sins,

— but greater, or, however, attended with more aggravating circumstances; they were wilfully and impudently done, and obstinately persisted in; and therefore deserving of the great evil of punishment pronounced against them.

¹³ Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’ — therefore will I call you out of this land; by force and against their wills, whether they would or not, and with abhorrence and contempt:

— it is to be understood of their captivity, which was but a just punishment for the above sins; for since they had cast off the Lord and his worship, it was but just that they should be cast off by him and cast out of their land which they held by their obedience to him:

— the Targum says, “and there shall ye serve people that worship idols day and night” that as they had served idols, now they should serve the people, the worshippers of those idols; the former was their sin, the latter their punishment.

¹⁴ “Therefore behold, the days come,” saith the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord liveth who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ — this is after another captivity in “Babylon;” in fact, the latter in a latter date will be more remarkable than the former, the former that was in Egypt led by Moses;

— so severe shall be their bondage that their deliverance from it shall be a far greater Deliverance than that out of Egypt where they spent 210 years in slavery under their Egyptian taskmasters!

For more into another Captivity: see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years

For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah

For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!

¹⁵ but, ‘the Lord liveth who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither He had driven them.’ And I will bring them back into their land that I gave unto their fathers.

— the Targum says: “that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north” that is, from Babylon, which lay North of Judea.

¹⁶ “Behold, I will send for many fishers,” saith the Lord, “and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. — the “fishers,” as in Amos 4:2; Habakkuk 1:15, are the invading nations,

— others interpret this of the deliverance of the Jews by the Medes and Persians under Cyrus, who searched for them in all places, and sent them into their own land; or of Zerubbabel, and others with him, who used all means to persuade the Jews in the captivity to return to Judea and to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.

¹⁷ For Mine eyes are upon all their ways. They are not hid from My face, neither is their iniquity hid from Mine eyes. — the context shows that sins of Israel have not escaped the all-seeing eye of the Most High.

¹⁸ And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have defiled My land; they have filled Mine inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable things.”

— “because they have defiled My land” is indicative of defiling the land Sabbath; but when ye entered ye defiled my land by not giving them their Sabbath rest; where the commandment is given in Leviticus 25:4;

“Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; but in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of Rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord; thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed; for it is a year of rest unto the land” Leviticus 25:3-5

The length of the house of Judah’s captivity of in Babylon was directly linked from the length of time they neglected to observe the land Sabbath according to II Chronicles 36:19-21:

And they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. ²⁰ And those who had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia,

²¹ to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years, II Chronicles 36:19-21: “spoken by Jeremiah” this is a reference to the seventy years of captivity as spelt out in Jeremiah 25:11.

¹⁹ O Lord, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations shall come unto Thee from the ends of the earth and shall say, “Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.”

— and nations shall come; eventually, the nations will come to you and worship you of one accord, and they will say, “How did they make gods of woods and stones for themselves, as if they have no God?”

²⁰ Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?

²¹ “Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know Mine hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is the Lord.

— God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah (not Jehovah since the letter J wasn’t around but only after the sixteenth century;

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah, which are embedded in the Masoretic text over 6000 times, yet when translated into our English language most had been translated as Lord, or LORD, which are titles, but not his name. His name is יהוה‎ Yehovah, or YEHOVAH (but there are no capital letters in Hebrew).

It wasn’t until 1524 that Gian Giorgio Trissino, an Italian Renaissance grammarian, invented the letter J that this new letter started to take a hold in the writings of western Europe. Even in 1611 when the English Bible the King James has our subject of study by the prophet Jeremiah, he was known as Ieremiah. So Jehovah is a very late comer.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32

“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Posted in Jeremiah

“The US is the World’s biggest terrorist,” Noam Chomsky said over the years. “Dangerous Allies,” writes former Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Frazer; “I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated,” said the former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo; and now the US is behind the Nord Stream sabotage, NYT journalist and Pulitzer prize winner Seymour Hersh has confirmed all the above.

Biden Preparing to Ask US Congress for Biggest Defense Budget!

Years could have passed and now Jeremiah was asked to prophecy again, probably in the year 602 BC during the reign of Jehoiakim.

This chapter contains a single and distinct prophecy, which, under two symbols, a linen girdle left to rot, and all vessels being filled with wine, foretells the utter destruction that was destined to fall upon the whole Jewish nation, including the individuals of every rank and denomination.

More on (1) Ephraim / The United States; (2) Ephraim and Manasseh

For more on Ephraim and Manasseh, or the Ox without the Unicorn

For more on the enemy from the South, see  A Sword from the South!

Jeremiah 13

¹ Thus saith the Lord unto me, “Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.” — go and get thee a linen gird; the prophet was commanded not to put the girdle in water, that is, not to wash it, this girdle represents the people of Judah with their corruption;

— but to leave it in that state of filthiness which it had contracted in wearing it; when they were a people near unto the Lord, when they cleaved unto him, and served him: “and put it upon thy loins” near the reins, the seat of affection and that it might be visible and ornamental.

² So I got a girdle according to the word of the Lord and put it on my loins. — a prophet do as being asked by God, even where he has no clue what’s coming; according to the word of the Lord; according to God’s command.

³ And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, — and the word of the Lord; the Targum says, “the word of prophecy from before the Lord.”

The Targum is another source of the Bible, much like the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint. The Targum was started by Ezra for those returning from the Babylon exile and for these returnees they could only understand the Scriptures in Aramaic. Hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us from the Hebrew Bible quoted.

⁴ “Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a hole of the rock.” — and arise, go to Euphrates; the Euphrates is specified as being near Babylon, the Jews future place of exile; and hide it there in a hole of the rock; by the river side;

— this signifies the carrying of the Jews captive to Babylon, by which city the river Euphrates ran, and the obscure state and condition they would be in there; and where all their pride and glory would be marred, as afterwards declared.

⁵ So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. — so Jeremiah went and hid it by Euphrates; or “in” it; in a hole of the rock, upon the banks of it.

⁶ And it came to pass after many days, that the Lord said unto me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.” — and the Lord said unto me, arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which God had commanded thee to hide;

— which may indicate the return of these people from captivity, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah; to express the wretched state and condition these people were in; especially before the captivity, which was the chief cause for their captivity.

⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and behold, the girdle was marred (rotten); it was profitable for nothing. — and, behold, the girdle was marred; or “corrupted” it become rotten by the washing of the water over it, and its long continuance in such a place:

— it was profitable for nothing; it could not be put upon a man’s loins, or be wore any more; nor was it fit for any other use, it was so sadly spoiled and so thoroughly rotten. It was not fit for anything.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

⁹ “Thus saith the Lord: ‘In this manner will I mar (destroy) the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. — will I destroy the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem?

— or their glory, or excellency; that which they were proud of; their city which was burnt, and their Temple which was destroyed by the Chaldeans; their king, princes and nobles, who were carried captive into Babylon, stripped of all their grandeur, honour and glory;

— the Targum says, “so will I corrupt the strength of the men of Judah, and the strength of the inhabitants of Jerusalem;” meaning the proud or haughty men of Judah, and the many haughty men of Jerusalem would be destroyed.

¹⁰ This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle which is good for nothing. — this evil people, which refuse to hear my words; sent by the prophets, to whom they turned a deaf ear;

— shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing: as they were corrupt; so they would be carried captive into a foreign country, where they would be inglorious or shameful, and unprofitable, uncomfortable in themselves and of no use to one another.

¹¹ For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto Me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah,’ saith the Lord, ‘that they might be unto Me as a people, and as a name, and as praise, and as glory; but they would not hear.’

— so have God caused the whole house of Israel, and the whole house of Judah to cleave unto him; whom ne had chosen above all people to dwell in his courts; whom he favoured with his presence and cleave to him; so that they were a people near unto him as a man’s girdle is to his loins;

— but they would not hear the words of the Lord, nor obey his voice; but served other gods, departed from the Lord, to whom they should have cleaved, and so became like this rotten girdle.

¹² “Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word: ‘Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Every bottle shall be filled with wine.’ And they shall say unto thee, ‘Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?’

— every bottle shall be filled with wine; God’s judgements are often represented under the figure of a cup full of intoxicating liquor: see this metaphor pursued at large, Jeremiah 25:15.

¹³ Then shalt thou say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land — even the kings that sit upon David’s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem — with drunkenness. — behold, God will fill all the inhabitants with drunkenness; there is a wine of astonishment and confusion, Psalms 60:3;

— with that wine, saith God, I will fill all orders of persons, kings, priests, prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will dash them one against another I will permit an evil spirit of strife and division to arise among them; a sort of civil strife out of nothing;

— with drunkenness; as wine brings on a state of intoxication, so the effect of God’s wrath and judgements upon the entire nation would be to reduce all its members to a state of helpless distraction, which would cause them to rush to their own ruin, with tribulation;

— with drunkenness; as the Targum interprets by adding, “and shall be like a drunken man;” giddy, stupid, unable to help themselves or to advise one another.

¹⁴ And I will 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 shall destroy them.’”

— and God will dash them one against another; he will permit an evil spirit of civil strife and division to arise among them, as Judges 9:23, so that they shall be set one against another, fathers against sons, and sons against fathers, and family against family;

— he will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them: everything was according to his will; he would not prevent the enemy’s invading, besieging, and taking them, nor hinder themselves from destroying one another; but suffer from one calamity to another.

¹⁵ Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken. — speaking to the “whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah” verse 11 above.

¹⁶ Give glory to the Lord your God before He cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, He turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. — and before your feet stumble; before the time come when ye shall be forced to flee by night unto the mountains for fear of your enemies;

— or, more generally, before you find yourselves overtaken by the pursuing judgements of God, notwithstanding all your endeavours to outrun and escape from them;

— the Targum says, “before tribulation comes upon you, and ye be like to those that walk in darkness.”

¹⁷ But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock is carried away captive.

— Jeremiah shall weep in secret places for their pride; their haughtiness, stubbornness and vain confidence; and his eye shall weep sore; because the Lord’s flock, his people, the sheep of his pasture, are carried away captive.

¹⁸ Say unto the king and to the queen, “Humble yourselves, sit down; for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory.” — humble yourselves, sit down; or sit down humbled, come down from your thrones, and sit in the dust; humble yourselves before the Lord for your own sins, and the sins of the people;

— in times of general corruption and which threatens a nation with ruin, it becomes kings and princes to set an example of repentance, humiliation and repentence; and be in a low and abject condition, than an exhortation to what was their usual dominance;

— even the crown of their glory; or glorious crown which should fall from their heads or be taken from them when they should be no more served or treated as crowned heads.

¹⁹ The cities of 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. — the cities of the South shall be shut up, and the walls of the cities of the South shall close even before those coming upon them from the North because of their fear of Nebuchadnezzar.

²⁰ Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north. Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock? — the state and whole body of the people being called upon to observe the Chaldean army, which came from the North; and is on the march, just at hand to invade, besiege, take, and carry them captive;

— the Septuagint renders it, “lift up thine eyes, O Jerusalem” or as the Targum interprets it, “O Israel: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?” that is, the people, which were committed to the care and charge of the king,

— as sheep into the hands of a shepherd; and were a fine body of people, chosen of God; a precious and distinguished above all others by their righteous laws and statutes, with special privileges;

— a people who were to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, and a peculiar people, the glory and a light to the whole earth; but now carried or about to be carried away as captives.

²¹ What wilt thou say when He shall punish thee? For thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee. Shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail? — the Targum says, “when he shall visit on thee thy sin;” when God shall punish thee for thy sins;

— for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee; some Jews showed the Chaldeans the way into their country, and taught them how to conquer them, and be masters over them; or “hast taught them against thee” to thy hurt and detriment;

— king Hezekiah earlier even showed the emissaries of Merodachbaladan of the Chaldeans his entire treasure house:

And Hezekiah was glad with them, and showed them the house of his precious things — the silver and the gold, and the spices and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah showed them not; Isaiah 39:2;

And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and showed them all the house of his precious things: the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah showed them not, II Kings 20:13.

— shall not sorrows take thee as a woman in travail? denoting the suddenness of their calamities; the sharpness and severity of them; and that they would be inevitable, even all the treasures of the temple to be carried away, and could no longer be prevented.

²² And if thou say in thine heart, “Why come these things upon me?”—for the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts uncovered, and thy heels made bare. — the Targum says, “because thy sins are multiplied, thy confusion is revealed, thy shame is seen;”

— are thy skirts uncovered, and thy heels made bare; being obliged to walk naked and barefoot, their buttocks uncovered, and their legs and feet naked, without stockings or shoes, as captives used to be led, to their great shame and disgrace; see Isaiah 20:2.

²³ Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil. — can the Ethiopian change his skin, turning it to a white color, or the leopard his spots, characteristic as they have become of him?

— then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil; the one was practically as impossible as the other; they were entirely given over to wickedness.

²⁴ “Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness. — by the wind of the wilderness; which blows freely and strongly; so the Chaldean army is as a dry wind of the high places in the wilderness, even a full wind that should scatter and destroy, Jeremiah 4:11;

— or “to the wind of the wilderness” and so may indicate the wilderness of the people, or the land of Babylon, whither they should be carried captive, and from whence the wind should come that should bring them.

²⁵ This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from Me,” saith the Lord; “because thou hast forgotten Me, and trusted in falsehood.

²⁶ Therefore will I uncover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear. — the Targum says, “and I also will reveal the confusion of thy sin upon thy face, and thy shame shall be seen;” that their sins might appear to themselves and others, of which they had reason to be ashamed.

²⁷ I have seen thine adulteries and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom and thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! Wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be?”

— wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be? The Lord is still stretching out arms of mercy to an apostate nation, a proof of the greatness of his love and patience for sinners.

Jeremiah 14

¹ The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth: — dearth; literally, bad tidings of the drought, when the showers were restrained; when the heaven was shut up. 

² “Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. — the Targum says; these mourned because of the drought and famine that were upon the land:

— they are black unto the ground; that is, the inhabitants of the cities, and those that sit in the gates, their faces are black through famine; see Lamentations 4:8, so the Targum says “their faces are covered with blackness, they are black as a pot.”

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 covered their heads.

— their menial servants came to the pits and found no water; according to order to the pools and cisterns, or to the deep wells, and to such places where there used to be a great confluence of water, and plenty of it, but now they could find none.

⁴ Because the ground is chapped, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed; they covered their heads.— and covered their heads; the extremest sign of a grief as persons ashamed or as mourners used to do, being full of anguish and distress because of the drought.

5 Yea, the hind also calved in the field and forsook it, because there was no grass. — because there was no grass; for the hind (the female of the red deer) famed for her affection to her young, abandons them.

⁶ And the wild asses stood in the high places; they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes failed, because there was no grass.”

⁷ 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. — Jeremiah here applies himself to God, who alone could remove it, confessing that their many and great sins and backslidings had well deserved to be thus severely scourged.

⁸ O the Hope of Israel, the Savior thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest Thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? — why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land; or a “sojourner” who abides but for a while; and it not being his native place, is not so solicitous for the welfare of it.

⁹ Why shouldest Thou be as a man amazed, as 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. — yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us; having his residence and dwelling in the Temple at Jerusalem; and therefore was not a stranger and foreigner among us.

¹⁰ Thus saith the Lord unto this people: “Thus have they loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord doth not accept them; He will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins.”

— God will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins; but by his punishment of them for their sins, he will let them know, that as he hath seen and taken notice of, so he hath not forgot what they have done.

¹¹ Then said the Lord unto me, “Pray not for this people for their good. — pray not for this people for their good; for rain, that the famine might cease; and for deliverance from their enemies, that they might not go into captivity; for these things were already determined by the Lord.

¹² When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.” — and God will his judgement by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence;

— the Lord not only determines the continuance of the famine, notwithstanding the prayers of the prophet; but adds two other judgements, the sword and pestilence; and therefore it was to no purpose to pray to him on their behalf, he was inexorable, unrelenting.

¹³ Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, the prophets say unto them, ‘Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’” — behold, the prophets say unto them; that is, the false prophets, who were influencing the people for evil.

¹⁴ Then the Lord said unto me, “The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke unto them. They prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought and the deceit of their heart.

— the prophets prophesy lies in my name; it is a wicked thing to tell lies; it is more so to foretell them, and that in the name of the Lord; pretending they have his authority, and are under the influence and guidance of his Spirit;

— and it was sinful for the people to give credit to them, and the more so in that they were forewarned of these prophets and their lies, and had the reverse told them by a true prophet of the Lord, and therefore were inexcusable.

¹⁵ Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophesy in My name, whom I sent not, yet they say, ‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land’: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.

— yet they say, sword and famine shall not be in the land; though the Lord by his true prophet had said there should be both; which proves that they were not sent by the Lord, since what they said was in direct opposition to the word of the Lord; wherefore their doom in righteous judgement follows:

— by sword and famine shall these prophets be consumed; they should be among the first, if not the first that should perish by these calamities; and show that their lies could neither secure themselves nor others from the judgements which the Lord had said should come upon them.

¹⁶ And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them — them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters — for I will pour their wickedness upon them.

— shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, because of the famine and the sword; they dying of the famine and of the sword, their carcasses should be cast out of their houses into the open streets, and there lie unburied, as a punishment for disbelieving the words of the Lord, and giving heed to the lies of the false prophets:

— them: their wives, their sons, their daughters; or rather, “they” – “their wives, and their sons, and their daughters” ~ these shall die by the famine and the sword, and shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem.

For more on the Sword from the South, see  A Sword from the South!

¹⁷ “Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them: ‘Let mine eyes run down with 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. — the Septuagint, “bring down upon your eyes tears night and day, and let them not cease;”

— for the virgins of my people is broken with a great breach; cities are called virgins, which were never taken; and so Jerusalem have never been taken since it was in the hands of the people of Judah; nor were its inhabitants, but now together with the famine and the sword by which many should perish resulting in sorrows and mournings.

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 into a land that they know not.’”

— then behold them that are sick with the famine! just ready to die, being starved for want of provisions; their multitudes dead and their carcasses lying in the streets unburied; the prophet does not make mention of the dead indeed, only of the sick with famine; the reason of which is because the sick were more than the dead.

¹⁹ Hast Thou utterly rejected Judah? Hath Thy soul loathed 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!

— hast thou utterly rejected Judah? the prophet, though forbidden, proceeds to prayers and expostulations on account of this people, of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin: or “in rejecting hast thou rejected Judah?” from being a nation? hast thou cast them away, and wilt thou suffer them to go into captivity as the ten tribes?

²⁰ We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against Thee. — we acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers; this is said by the prophet in the name of the few faithful that were among this people, who were sensible of their own sins;

— the sins of their ancestors and which they confess; their fathers had sinned, and they had imitated them; and continued in the same, and therefore might justly expect the displeasure of the Lord, and his controversy with them; for we have sinned against thee; Jeremiah 14:7.

²¹ Do not abhor us, for Thy name’s sake; do not disgrace the throne of Thy glory; remember, break not Thy covenant with us. — do not abhor us, for thy name’s sake; which was called upon them, and which they called upon; they deserved to be abhorred;

— they had done those things which might justly render them abominable, being what was abhorrent to him; and they deprecate this, not, for their own sake, who were unworthy of any favour, but for his own sake, for the sake of his honour and glory, which, as it is dear to the Lord, so to his people.

²² Are there any among the 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. — the challenge to “the Gentiles” should be to all the nations (Goyim); any of the (seventy) nations upon the earth.

— art not thou he, O Lord, our God? Since he had sent the dreadful droughts under whose hardships the land was groaning, therefore he alone could provide relief.

Posted in Jeremiah

“The US is the World’s biggest terrorist,” Noam Chomsky said in multiple forums over the years; and now the US is behind the Nord Stream sabotage, NYT journalist and Pulitzer prize winner Seymour Hersh has added.

Jeremiah’s message were written about a hundred years after the house of Israel had been exiled to Assyria, when God called upon Jeremiah to deliver his message against the elders of Jerusalem of an enemy coming out from the North and an impending exile to follow if they continue with their wickedness and idolatries.

But as in mnumerous cases show, Jeremiah’s message is also make reference specifically for the northern house of Israel, which could only be rendered at the endtime, but as was before, they don’t hear and so our societies have ended with so much troubles:

“‘Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen’” Deuteronomy 27:26

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 unto Me, I will not hearken unto them” Jeremiah 11:11

More on (1) Ephraim / The United States; (2) Ephraim and Manasseh

For more on Ephraim and Manasseh, or the Ox without the Unicorn

For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!

Jeremiah 11

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

² “Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; — here begins the prophecy against the house of Judah; but in verses 10 and 17 below, it includes the northern house of Israel;

³ and say thou unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant, — here begins a series of direct references to Deuteronomy:

— Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant; which Moses, who would have in his hands, the book of the law and held it forth unto Israel, said to them as in Deuteronomy 27:26; and the people responded, saying, Amen, testifing their assent.

⁴ which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt from the iron furnace, saying, “Obey My voice, and do them, according to all which I command you; so shall ye be My people and I will be your God,”

— according to all that God command you; everything was to be done that was commanded, and a perfect and uniform obedience is to be yielded to the law, in order to enjoy the blessing, or a penalty is incurred.

⁵ that I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.’” Then answered I, and said, “So be it, O Lord.” — that God may perform the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, the special promises given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Deuteronomy 7:8;

— to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day, this beautiful and rich land being still in the possession of the children of Israel.

⁶ Then the Lord said unto me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Hear ye the words of this covenant and do them. — proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: with a loud voice, and openly, that all may hear.

⁷ For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, “Obey My voice.”

⁸ Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart. Therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not.’”

⁹ And the Lord said unto me, “A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁰ They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear My words, and they went after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.

— in previous verses God’s words were usually directed against Jerusalem, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, their elders and priests, but here, it also includes the house of Israel.

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 unto Me, I will not hearken unto them.

— and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them: because their prayers were hypocritical, and not attended true repentance; otherwise, when men cry to God, under a sense of sin, being truly sorry for it, he hears them, and delivers them;

— many prayers are offered today, but God wouldn’t hear them; these would be concerned only for the evils that would come upon them, and not the evils they needed to be repented of; and such sinners, when they pray to him, the Lord hears not;

— the Targum says, “and they shall pray before me, and I will not receive their prayers.” Thus evils shall pour upon them which they shall not be able to escape.

¹² Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense; but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.

— go and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense; Baal; to Astarte, the queen of heaven; to a Christianised Mithra, the Persian sun-god, who was born on December 25th, on the winter solstice; to the moon, planets, and other hosts of heaven.

— a parallel Scripture in Amos for reflection:

“Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” Amos 3:6

¹³ 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 unto Baal.’

— for according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah, practically a different idol for every city; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars, a different one for every open place;

— to that shameful thing, to the idol which is the essence of all that is shameful and even altars to burn incense unto Baal. The Lord, having thus set forth the wickedness of Judah, turns to his punishment upon the apostate nation.

¹⁴ “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto Me for their trouble. — neither their prayers nor the prophet’s for them would be acceptable to God; he being determined to bring evil upon them.

— the Targum understands this of the prayers of Jeremiah the prophet for them, paraphrasing the words thus, “for there is no acceptance before me (or it is not pleasing to me) when thou shall pray for them before me, in the time of their evil.”

¹⁵ What hath My beloved to do in Mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? When thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest. — when thou doest evil, thou rejoicest; thou gloriest in thy wickedness;

— or, at a time when thou offendest against my laws, thou rejoicest and celebrated as if thou didst every thing that is right.

¹⁶ The Lord called thy name, ‘A Green Olive Tree,’ fair and of goodly fruit. With the noise of a great tumult He hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.

— the Targum interpretates it this way:

“as an olive tree that is beautiful in form and comely of sight, whose branches overshadow the trees, so the Lord hath magnified thy name among the people; but now that thou hast transgressed the law, the armies of the people, who are strong as fire, shall come against thee, and helps shall be joined to them.”

¹⁷ For the Lord of hosts, who planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.”

— for the evil of the house of Israel; the ten tribes, who had committed sin, and for which the evil pronounced had been executed on them already, being some time ago carried captive:

— this message includes the house of Israel (who were already exiled and beyond Jeremiah’s message then) again; this reminder could be historic but more probably, it is prophetic: the evil of whose heinous sins shall be met with the most dreadful punishments.

¹⁸ And the Lord hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it; then Thou showed me their doings. — Jeremiah knows that a general conspiracy or a special plot against him was revealed to him by God.

¹⁹ But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.”

— like a lamb or an ox; the Targum translates it “as a choice lamb;” that is brought to the slaughter; to be sacrificed or killed by the butcher; so ignorant was the prophet of the designs of his townsmen against him, and not at all jealous that they wished him ill; since he meant none to them, but sought their good:

— let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof and let us cut him off from the land of the living that his name may be no more remembered; they wanted to bring ruin, if possible, death, to Jeremiah and his family and cause his warning be buried; or be forgotten. Therefore the prophet calls upon the Lord for vengeance in his just cause.

²⁰ But, O Lord of hosts, who judgest righteously, who triest the reins and the heart, let me see Thy vengeance on them, for unto Thee have I revealed my cause. — but, O Lord of hosts, that judgest righteously; this is the prophet’s appeal to God,

— as the Judge of the whole earth, who will do right; he found there was no justice to be done him among men; he therefore has recourse to God, who he knew judged righteous judgement:

— let me see thy vengeance on them; the Targum says “I shall see the vengeance of thy judgement on them;” for unto thee have I revealed my cause; as a client to his patron, told his whole case and left it with him, believing he would execute justice for him.

²¹ “Therefore thus saith the Lord of the men of Anathoth, who seek thy life, saying, ‘Prophesy not in the name of the Lord, that thou die not by our hand’ — saying, prophesy not in the name of the Lord; without their leave, and such hard things as he did, unless he would prophesy smooth things, and then he might go on, otherwise he must expect to die:

— that thou die not by our hand; they intimate that should he persist in prophesying, they should not stay to carry on a judicial process against him, before a judge or the Sanhedrin, but should do as those called zealots did in later times; lay violence upon him.

²² therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine. — the young men shall die by the sword, being cut down by the enemy in battle, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, the result of the unmerciful siege begun by the enemies.

²³ And there shall be no remnant of them; for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.’” — and there shall be no remnant of them, the Lord being determined to carry out his sentence of extermination upon them;

— this seems more prophetic than historical; for during their historical moment their remnants were carried off to either Assyria for the house of Israel or to Babylon for the house of Judah; so if there is no remnant left then it has to be prophetic, into our time;

— but in the book of Ezekiel more details were given about putting an end to even the remnants. Ezekiel 11:13 And it came to pass when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice and said, “Ah, Lord God! Wilt Thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?”

— the conditions around Israel would be so bad that those few, if any, who survive would ask, “Would God make a full end to the remnant of Israel?”

Jeremiah 12

¹ Righteous art Thou, O Lord, when I plead with Thee; yet let me talk with Thee of Thy judgements: Why doth the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all they happy that deal very treacherously? — yet let me talk with thee of thy judgements; of his laws, statutes, word, and ordinances;

— the Targum says, “but I will ask a question of judgements before thee;” things that are right; that are agreeable to the word of God and sound reason; things that are consistent with God, particularly his justice;

— why doth the way of the wicked prosper? The prosperity of the wicked hath in all times been a riddle, and a sore temptation to the best of God’s people; Why is it that they seem to be fortunate in all their dealings? Why are their designs and projects successful?

— why are they all happy that deal very treacherously? How may the fact be explained that the very ones who are guilty of the worst crimes, who practice hedious sins, live in peace: their families increase, their trade flourishes, their flocks and herds grow large and numerous, and they have plenty of all outward blessings?

² Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root; they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit. Thou art near in their mouth, but far from their reins. — thou art near in their mouth; they often made use of the name of God, either in swearing by it, or praying to him in an external manner;

— they called themselves the Lord’s people and boasted of being his priests, and employed in his service; they took his covenant, and the words of his law, into their mouths, and taught them the people, and yet had no sincere regard for these things;

— and far from their reins; from the affections of their hearts and the desires of their souls; they had no true love for God, nor fear of him, nor keep his laws. The Targum says, “near are the words of thy law in their mouth, and far is thy fear from their reins.”

³ But Thou, O Lord, knowest me; Thou hast seen me and tried mine heart toward Thee. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter. — prepare them for the day of slaughter; or “sanctify them” set them apart for it: this, doubtless, refers to the time of Jerusalem’s destruction by the Chaldeans.

⁴ How long shall the land mourn and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? The beasts are consumed, and the birds, because they said, “He shall not see our last end.” — how much longer shall the land mourn and the herbs of every field wither before we see judgement? Or maybe we’ll never see one?

⁵ “If thou hast run with the footmen and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, wherein thou trusted, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of the Jordan?

— if you couldn’t cope with small things how could you cope with big issues? if crossing the Jordan already wearied you, wait till you come cross the Euphrates?

⁶ For even thy brethren and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee; believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.

⁷ “I have forsaken Mine house, I have left Mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies. — God have forsaken his house; the Temple; the Targum says, “I have forsaken the house of my sanctuary;”

— this was fulfilled in the first Temple, when it was destroyed by the Chaldeans; and more fully in the second, when that voice was heard in it, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, as Josephus relates, “let us go hence.”

⁸ Mine heritage is unto Me as a lion in the forest: it crieth out against Me; therefore have I hated it. — as a lion in the forest; which roars, and terrifies passerby and which rends and tears in pieces all it meets with; it expresses the clamours of these people against God and their rage, fierce and cruel, terrifies even his prophets.

⁹ Mine heritage is unto Me as a speckled bird: the birds round about are against her. Come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field; come to devour. — speckled bird, some translate, “a ravenous beast, the hyena.”

¹⁰ Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard, they have trodden My portion under foot, they have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. — many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; shepherds that destroyed them are from with their own pastors, elders, princes or governors, civil or religious.

¹¹ They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto Me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.

¹² The despoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness; for the sword of the Lord shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land. No flesh shall have peace.

— the spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness; of Judea; or which lay between Chaldea and Judea, through which the Chaldean army came; called the “spoilers” here, because they spoiled and plundered all places where they came;

— for the Sword of the Lord shall devour from the one end; of the land even the other end of the land; the Sword of the Chaldeans is called the Sword of the Lord, because it was drawn by his order and appointment, and by him to do execution, and the calamity thereof;

— no flesh shall have peace; no inhabitant of Judea (and Israel) shall be in safety, but be exposed to the Sword, or to captivity.

For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!
For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah

¹³ They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns; they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit; and they shall be ashamed of your produce because of the fierce anger of the Lord. — the earth’s bringing forth thorns and thistles was part of the curse for the first transgression of man, Genesis 3:18.

¹⁴ “Thus saith the Lord against all Mine evil neighbours, who 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.

— evil neighbours: Egyptians, Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Tyre and Sidon; because they were near the Land of Promise, his presence and where the Temple was in which he took up his residence; and his “evil” neighbours, because they perverted and afflicted his people with idolatries;

— for example: Jezebel, a Phoenician (from Sidon) princess whom king Ahab married, defiled Israel with her idolatrous practices; amd in Revelation 2:20, a new Jezebel who calleth herself a prophetess would follow suit; no other church group has a better fit than one among the Seventh-day Adventists, a Ellen G White, who fulfils this prophecy to a T;

— God will pluck them (and their children) out of their land; cause them to be carried captive into other lands, or be destroyed; and pluck out the house of Judah from among them; such of the Jews they had formerly carried captive, or who had fled to them upon the Chaldean invasion.

¹⁵ And it shall come to pass after I have plucked them out, I will return and have compassion on them, and will bring them back, every man to his heritage and every man to his land. — and will bring them again every man to his heritage; thus, after God had threatened severe judgements upon several countries;

— he promises of their return from their captivity in the latter days; which probably relates chiefly to their conversion to indicate the conversion of the Gentiles in the latter day, when the fullness of them shall be brought in.

¹⁶ And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘The Lord liveth,’ as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then shall they be built in the midst of My people.

— then shall they be built in the midst of my people; become part of the building of God’s physical and spiritual government; being laid upon the same foundation of the patriarchs, the prophets and the apostles;

— the Targum says, “and they [Goyim] shall be established in the midst of my people.”

¹⁷ But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,” saith the Lord. — God will utterly pluck up and destroy that Gentile nation: root it up from being a nation, strip it of all its privileges and enjoyments, and destroy it with an everlasting destruction.

Posted in Jeremiah

Noam Chomsky: “the US is the World’s biggest terrorist.”

Jeremiah sympathises with the calamities of his people, that they should humble themselves before God. It begins with an exhortation to hear the word of the Lord, and not to learn the way of the heathens which is against the true worship of God.

The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Jehoahaz (reign 609), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586).

For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!
For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah

Jeremiah 9

¹ Oh, that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! — Oh that my head were waters! the prophet Jeremiah sympathizes with the calamities of his people; he wept much, yet wished he could weep more;

— the daughter of my people; such was God’s sympathy for his countrymen, his people in distress, whom he affectionately calls the daughter of his people;

² Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for wayfaring men, that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. — a lodging place of wayfaring men; a place of shelter from his treacherous enemies, “adulterers,” both literal or figurative; the latter being full of idolatrous practices.

³ “And they bend their tongues like their bow for 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. — the words may be rendered, “they bend their tongues, their bow is a lie” either deceitful, or carries a lie in it, and shoots one out of it for a kill;

— their tongues were like bows, and their lying words like arrows that injure or kill; see Psalms 64:3, or “like their deceitful bow” to which the Targum says, “they teach their tongues words of falsehood, they are like to a deceitful bow.”

— today we have four Great Lies permeating our societies resulting in four Great Deceptions that could get us horsewhipped in a Great Judgement ahead on schedule:

(a) Easters, a celebration of the Queen of heaven: Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. Her symbols (like the egg and bunny) were and still are fertility and sex symbols; and to those who actually think eggs and bunnies have something to do with the resurrection; Jeremiah 7:18 the women knead their dough to make cakes to the Queen of heaven; in Egypt, Jeremiah 44:17-19, 25, this is Ishtar: pronounced ‘Easter.’

(b) Christmas; Ezekiel 8:16 five and twenty men with their backs toward the temple; their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east; Christmas, which honor Mithraism, birthday on December 25th – a form of nature worship based on the Sun-Goddess Mithra who on the darkest night of the year (December 20/21), gives birth to “Light” causing each day thereafter to grow longer until the Summer solstice;

(c) Sundays; her sabbaths which is Sundays, where the original Sun-worshippers were the Samaritans, brought from Assyria: And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof, II Kings 17:24;

(d) Holy Ghost or holy ghost in the Trinity? – Revelation 4:5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; if the Spirit is a Being or an independent Personage; there would be seven Holy Spirits.

⁴ “Take ye heed every one of his neighbor, and trust ye not in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanders. — take heed of one’s neighbor; being vigilant always, since they are given to lies and deceit; so be ready to stay away from them; else your thoughts might be supplanted; 

⁵ And they will deceive every one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. — Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, God says, and the house of Israel with deceits; Hosea 11:12;

— they have taught their tongue to speak lies; the tongue, as it were, being almost compelled, as though unable to become recognize much wickedness, and become so accustomed to lying that they cannot do otherwise; it is as if it were natural to them:

— Ephraim is prone to telling lies; or Ephraim is a chronic liar, full of deceits; Hosea 11:12; (more at the end)

⁶ Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me,” saith the Lord. — the Targum interprets the words not of the habitation of the prophet, but of the people, thus, “they sit in the house of their own congregation, and talk of their iniquities deceitfully.”

— if they are given to deceits; mentioned in the four above (a to d), it means, if you wouldn’t want to keep God’s Sabbaths nor his feasts as spelt out in Leviticus 23! then the chances of knowing God is zero: “they refuse to know Me.”

⁷ Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will melt them and try them; for how else shall I do for the daughter of My people? — calls the daughter of my people; such was God’s compassion for his countrymen, his people in distress, whom he addresses affectionately;

— “I will melt them” by afflicting them with heatwaves in some areas while freezing them with chilling blizzards in others; “to try them” by having droughts in one place while torrential rains and floods in another; and ask, Do they cry to me? If not what else shall I do? if still no repentence, into Captivity again?

⁸ Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in heart he lieth in wait. — before, Jeremiah 9:3, their tongue was compared to a bow; now, it is as an arrow;

— that is, already prepared, and furnished with a purpose contriving their wickedness, Psalm 11:2; and here as an arrow shot out, it is to kill, executing what they have being designed to do.

⁹ Shall I not visit them for these things?” saith the Lord. “Shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?” — Shall I not visit them for these things? the previous use of the same warning in Jeremiah 5:9; Jeremiah 5:29 gives these words the emphasis of iteration. The Targum adds, “to bring evil upon them?”

¹⁰ For the 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.

— Jeremiah intent to weep on the mountains alone, a lamentation in the dwellings of the wilderness; for they are desolate, because there is no traveller; nor is the voice of cattle heard in them; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast have fled.

¹¹ “And I will make Jerusalem heaps and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.” — to extract confession, God will add more weight to the winepress; so that more juice could be pressed out;

— and after serving King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the house of Judah produced such diamonds as Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego; Queen Esther; Zerubbabel, Haggai, Ezra and Nehemiah among others.

¹² Who is the 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 why has the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through? — nobody seems to understand the various symbols and riddles in these prophetic books to put all the puzzles into a coherent picture;

— Jews couldn’t understand what or how the house of Israel could have any relevance since the days they went into exile; Christians mislead themselves that they have already replaced the Israelites and God’s promises of eternity are now theirs! Hence neither could understand the meaning of “The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet” Isaiah 28:3.

¹³ And the Lord saith, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, neither walked therein, — they have forsaken my laws, statutes and ordinances, Deuteronomy 6:1, Leviticus 26:46; replacing them with apostacy and idols;

¹⁴ but have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them.” — they walk after Baalim; one is the Queen of heaven: Ishtar; and, second, after the Sun-Goddess Mithra on the darkest night of the year so that each day thereafter it grow longer until the Summer solstice;

— which their fathers taught them; it was not the sin of one generation that brought upon them: it was a sin accumulative, which had been handed down from fathers to sons, generation to generation.

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 to drink. — the word rendered wormwood here, it seems, signifying an herb which is not only bitter and nauseous but noxious; hence the Targum says, “I will bring tribulation upon them, bitter as wormwood:”

— and give them water of gall to drink; meaning either of the entrails of a beast so called, or of the juice of the herb hemlock, as the word is rendered in Hosea 10:4, as poison of a serpent, and so the Targum says, “and I will give them the cup of cursing to drink as the heads of serpents:” signifying that their punishment would be very severe.

¹⁶ I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send a sword after them till I have consumed them.” — this new enemy is coming from the SOUTH: a different enemy, one “whom neither they nor their fathers have known!” hence not Babylon, and “a Sword after them!” till I have consumed them!

— more details are given by Prophet Ezekiel!

Ezekiel 20:45 Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
⁴⁶ “Son of man, set thy face toward the South, and drop thy word toward the South, and prophesy against the forest of the Southland.
⁴⁷ And say to the forest of the South: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the South to the North shall be burned therein.
⁴⁸ And all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.’”
⁴⁹ Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Doth he not speak parables?’”

Ezekiel 21: And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
² “Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel;
³ and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My Sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
⁴ Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My Sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the South to the North,
⁵ that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn forth My Sword out of his sheath. It shall not return any more.’

Q: Who is this enemy from the SOUTH, and it warns “My Sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked” and should we be curious how such scenarios would be played out?

For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!
For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah

¹⁷ Thus saith the Lord of hosts: “Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for skillful women, that they may come. — mourning women; funeral mourners hired for the purpose; chiefly women, their hair dishevelled; so that their sorrows appear more authentic giving vent to their grief going about through the streets;

¹⁸ And let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush out with waters. — our eyelids gush out with waters: this to bewail the heights of their sorrows, setting forth their miseries and distresses to express the prophet’s lamentation, Jeremiah 9:1.

¹⁹ For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion: ‘How are we despoiled! We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.’” — because we have forsaken the land, forsaken how the land should be maintained;

— but they defiled my land by not giving them their needed Sabbath rest; where the commandment is given in Leviticus 25:4;

“Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; but in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of Rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord; thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard” Leviticus 25:1-7

— “have cast us out” that is, the reason for Judah’s captivity, cast out, in Babylon was directly linked from the defilement and length of time they neglected to observe the land Sabbath, which is more explicitively expressed in II Chronicles 36:19-21;

“to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years” II Chronicles 36:21

²⁰ Yet hear the word of the Lord, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation. — teach your daughters wailing; the thought of Jeremiah 9:9 continues here;

— the expression rests upon the idea that wailing would continue, from generation to generation; its cries and tones skilfully adapted to the special sorrows which is coming; so be ready, “O ye daughters of Jerusalem.”

²¹ For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets. — death would be coming; so terribly “into our windows” that the demand for mourners would be greater than the supply, and that now many must be trained to meet it in anticipation;

— entered into our palaces; the homes of our royalties, which are well built and greatly fortified, these could not keep out the enemy: and death spares none, not just the low and poor, but the high, the rich and the mighty;  

²² Speak, “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Even the carcasses of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.’” — the carcass of a man, noting here and there a scattered carcass;

— shall fall as dung upon the open field; as Jezebel was, II Kings 9:37, “And the carcass of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they shall not say, “This is Jezebel.”’

²³ Thus saith the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory in his riches. — thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, not in his intellect or knowledge of things: this is often but an appearance of wisdom, but not a true knowledge of God;

— the Targum paraphrases them, “thus saith the Lord, let not Solomon the son of David the wise man praise (or please himself) in his wisdom; nor let Samson the son of Manoah the mighty man please himself in his might; nor let Ahab [his wife, Jezebel, her casrass scattered as dung] the son of Omri the rich man please himself in his riches.”

²⁴ But let him that glorieth glory in this: that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord who exercise lovingkindness, judgement, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight,” saith the Lord.

— True Wisdom; it is not a reliance on one’s own wisdom and strength that brings glory, but the knowledge of the Lord and of his dealings with his subject in judgement, mercy and righteousness.

²⁵ “Behold, the days come,” saith the Lord, “that I will punish all them that are circumcised with the uncircumcised— the “circumcised” principally the house of Judah together with the house of Israel; in mentioning the heathen nations whom he would punish, he places those circumcised among the uncircumcised.

²⁶ Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.” — the house of Judah and the house of Israel are listed above among the heathens as “uncircumcised.”

Jeremiah 10

¹ Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel. — in previous chapters God’s words were usually directed against Jerusalem, the elders of Judah and priests, but popup here, it is to the O house of Israel;

— but other chapters are also directed at Israel: “Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel,” (Jeremiah 2:4,26); so the book of Jeremiah should be read in this context.

² Thus saith the Lord: “Learn not the way of the heathens, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

— of the nations around, particularly the Chaldeans, whom the Jews were destined to live in captivity; meaning their religious ways, their ways of worship, their superstition and idolatry, and yet they shouldn’t learn from them; from the Samaritans to the Chaldeans;

— the Chaldeans were addicted to astrology; this naturally tended to beget a religious dread and awe of those objects: the sun, moon, and planets are believed to be the firmament for signs; from the eclipse of the sun to the eclipse of the moon; which yield a considerable influence over human affairs; but be not dismayed at their idolatries.

³ For the 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 ax. — “one cutteth a tree out of the forest” that is, the start of the Christmas tree;

— while it is true that many ancient pagans started with just a palm tree and progressed to any associated evergreen with decorating their homes with cuttings from them, it is also clear that further association of evergreen trees with the wintry holiday is a continuous development from the very simple into our sophisticated modern era;

— “which their fathers taught them” Jeremiah 9:14; that is, from one generation to the next, accumulative in their pagan collections: in toys, in madeups and in fantasies.

⁴ They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. — the prophet Jeremiah shows the glory of Israel’s God, and exposes the folly of idolaters.

⁵ They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not; they must be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.”

— according to History.com,

“Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce.

It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. Walking toward his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens.

To recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles,” see History of Christmas Trees;

— today, we worship Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th which we christianised as Christmas), Zeus and others; called “gods of the earth” in distinction from the God of heaven; and men shall worship these earthly gods, acknowledging their supremacy, everyone, Protestants or Catholics alike.

— thus saith the Lord: “Learn not the way of the heathens,” verse 2 above; his wrath and subsequent judgement is the central theme of Jeremiah’s message against idolatrous worship!

⁶ Inasmuch as there is none like unto Thee, O Lord—Thou art great, and Thy name is great in might” — Jeremiah cried, “O Lord, thou art great, so that there is none like unto thee, and thy name is great, because of thy might. Who would not fear thee?”

⁷ who would not fear Thee, O King of nations? For to Thee doth it appertain, inasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto Thee. — the Targum renders it, “King of all people;”

— among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like unto thee; no matter where a person searches for a god who might stand a comparison with Yehovah, the quest will be useless: He, and he the Most High, alone, is the only Being worthy of worship.

⁸ But they are altogether brutish and foolish; the stock is a doctrine of vanities. — thus they believe in doctrines of vanities, of fantasies; of bunnies and eggs, or a Santa ho-ho-ho, or praying to a non existent holy ghost with their foreheads.

⁹ Silver beaten into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman and of the hands of the founder. Blue and purple is their clothing; they are all the work of skillful men. — from Tarshish; probably from Spain, whence the best gold, silver, iron, tin and lead came from, Ezekiel 27:12,

¹⁰ But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and an everlasting King. At His wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide His indignation. — at his wrath the earth shall tremble, shrinking back in terror before his wrath as the children of Israel had experienced at Mount Sinai;

— and the nations shall not be able to withstand his indignation; none being able to stop it or bear it, the wicked will not be able to stand in judgement, Psalm 1:5, Psalm 76:7;

¹¹ “Thus shall ye say unto them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.’” — this verse is, unlike the rest of the chapter, written in Aramaic (presumely to those already exiled);

— the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth; shall perish from the earth and from under heavens; which the Targum paraphrases, “they and their worshippers shall perish from the earth, and shall be consumed from under these heavens.”

¹² He hath made the earth by His power; He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion. — he hath made the earth by his power; the Targum considers these words as a continuation of the answer of the Jews to the Chaldeans;

— paraphrasing them thus, “and so shall ye say unto them, `we worship him who hath made the earth by his power’,” who stands in contrast to their gods, made of stones and woods, that made neither the heavens nor the earth.

¹³ When He uttereth His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He maketh lightning with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasuries.

— when he uttereth his voice; the rushing downpour of torrential rain following his thunders; causing much floodings and deaths; but the house of Jacob ignores the thunders;

— he maketh lightnings with rain: though fire and water be contrary, yet it opens the clouds to make way for the rain and is produced in the midst of waters, all of which are spectacular.

¹⁴ Every man is brutish in his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. — in contrast, the idols of man are useless; for his molten image is falsehood;

— it is a lie, when it is said to be a god where there is no breath in them; thus a time will come when God will execute vengeance upon idolaters, and utterly destroy their idols.

¹⁵ They are vanity and the work of errors; in the time of their visitation they shall perish. — and the work of errors, of deceit and mockery, causing their worshipers to be mocked and derided when the nothingness of the idols becomes evident;

— in the time of their visitation they shall perish, that is, when God shall punish the idol-worshippers, the idols themselves shall likewise perish.

¹⁶ The 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. — the portion of Jacob; the true God of Jacob, Deuteronomy 32:9; he is not like gods made by a carpenter and goldsmith;

— Israel is the stock of his inheritance, that is, the house of Jacob, Isaiah 41:8; which belongs to him as a peculiar possession; the servant of the Lord.

¹⁷ Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress. — “inhabitant of the fortress” it is rather therefore directed to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that being the chief place of security in Judea; be prepared to flee with their ware, if they can.

¹⁸ For thus saith the Lord: “Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so.” — I will sling out; the same bold metaphor, though not the same word, for violent expulsions found in the prophecy of the fate of Shebna; Isaiah 22:18.

¹⁹ Woe is me for my hurt! My wound is grievous; but I said, “Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.” — Jeremiah bewails its calamity: my wound is grievous; causes grief, is very painful and hard to struggle with or endure.

²⁰ My tabernacle is despoiled, and all my cords are broken; my children are gone forth from me, and they are no more; there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. — tabernacle; my “tent” Jerusalem laments that her tent is plundered and her children carried into exile, and so “are no more,” are silently dead.

²¹ For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord; therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered. — their pastors, their shepherds, meaning the governors, both civil and ecclesiastical, are brutish (brutal, barbarous); acting like brute beasts,

— and therefore they shall not prosper; or because they have not done wisely; hence all their flocks shall be scattered; all that have been committed to their care shall be carried into captivity, and divers of them dispersed abroad into several countries for their sakes.

²² Behold, the noise of the clamor is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons. — a den of dragons; or rather, a den of jackals;

— here in Jeremiah, the house of Judah had been constantly warned of an enemy coming out from the North, but in Ezekiel 20-21, the house of Israel had been warned of a yet ‘unknown’ enemy of the future coming from the opposite direction, the South.

²³ O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. — O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; even such mighty warrior as Nebuchadnezzar, whose way was not in himself, and was not master of his own destiny, but was under the influence and direction of divine Providence;

— the same is said about Prophet Jeremiah;

“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” Jeremiah 1:5.

²⁴ O Lord, correct me, but with judgement, not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing. — O Lord, correct me: seeing thou wilt bring the Chaldeans upon us to punish us for our sins, let it be a correction only, not a destruction and utter ruin.

²⁵ Pour out 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.

— pour out thine indignation upon the heathen that know thee not; let thy justice be made known by bringing an exemplary punishment upon the Chaldeans and their allies.

~~~

Ephraim is prone to telling lies; full of deceits:

Below are some classic examples of lying and deceits in the house of Ephraim for reflection:

The Gulf of Tonkin incident was a perceived confrontation that led to the United States engaging in the Vietnam War. It involved a falsely claimed clash between ships of North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. The original American report blamed North Vietnam for an attack on the USS Maddox, but the Pentagon Papers, the memoirs of Robert McNamara, and NSA publications from 2005, proved that the US government lied to justify a war against Vietnam.

The outcome of this deception was the passage by US Congress of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which granted President Lyndon Johnson the authority and justification for deploying US forces against “communist aggression”.

“But I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I’m going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie. Not a single time. Never,” Bill Clinton testified before the nation, Jan. 26, 1998. For his deceit, Clinton became the second president in American history impeached by the House of Representatives.

In an August 2002 speech that kicked off the Bush White House administration’s campaign for war against Iraq, Cheney asserted, “Simply stated, there’s no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.”

In October 2002, the late Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed he had “bullet-proof” evidence that Saddam was tied to Osama bin Laden. And a National Intelligence Estimate said Iraq had “continued its weapons of mass destruction program.”

“However, there is no doubt at all that the development of weapons of mass destruction by Saddam Hussein poses a severe threat not just to the region, but to the wider world.” – Tony Blair, House of Commons, 10 April 2002.

Prime Minister Tony Blair defended himself in 2005: “I have never told a lie. No. I don’t intend to go telling lies to people. I did not lie over Iraq.”

Colin Powell, the former and late Secretary of State and Joint Chiefs of Staff in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on June 7, 2020, called Donald Trump a chronic liar. “The one word I have to use with respect to what he’s been doing for the last several years is the word I would never have used before, never would have used with any of the four presidents I worked for, he lies,” said Colin Powell. “He lies about things. And he gets away with it because people will not hold him accountable.”

For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!
For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah

Posted in Jeremiah

We have read of the house of Israel and the house of Judah both have idolatries, but what are they? Perhaps, the following chapters could shed further light giving us more details about what walking after other gods means.

(1) Astarte, the queen of heaven; from whom Easter is derived
(2) Christmas honors Mithraism, birthday on the Winter solstice
(3) Sunday, worshipping of heavenly bodies, especially the Sun

Hence professing Christians have shifted from God’s festivals to man’s festivals, and from the Sabbath on Saturday to Sunday by outlawing the keeping of the true Sabbath.

The Targum is another source of the Bible, much like the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint. The Targum was started by Ezra for those returning from the Babylon exile and for these returnees they could only understand the Scriptures in Aramaic. Hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us from the Hebrew Bible quoted.

Jeremiah 7

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:

² “Stand in the gate of the Lord’S house, and proclaim there this word and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord! — stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, the Temple and the court outside. This gate is believed to be the eastern gate, which was the principal gate of all; see Jeremiah 26:2:

— and proclaim there this word, and say as follows: hear ye the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah; which came to the Temple to worship; very probably it was a feast day, either the Passover, or Pentecost or feast of Tabernacles when all the males in Israel appeared in court.

³ Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

⁴ Trust ye not in lying words, saying, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.” — these were the lying words on which they trusted, and against trusting in which the prophet here solemnly cautions them;

— the three-fold repetition of the words, the Temple of the Lord, was, perhaps every Jew was obliged to visit the Temple thrice a year. But it seems more likely that they are thus repeated, to express the importance of the Temple where the Most High dwells;

— trust ye not in lying words; not the words of the lying prophets, as the Targum, “do not trust in lying words, for the false prophets do not profit you in anything.”

⁵ For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if ye thoroughly execute judgement between a man and his neighbor, — a major shift in outlook and lifestyle is needed to “thoroughly amend your ways and your doings.”

⁶ if ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt, — our civil courts are filled of such problems; but the spiritual court of judgement willl soon follows.

⁷ then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.

⁸ “‘Behold, ye trust in lying words that cannot profit. — today we have four Great Lies or four Great Deceptions permeating our societies:

(a) Easters, a celebration of the Queen of heaven: Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. Her symbols (like the egg and bunny) were and still are fertility and sex symbols; and to those who actually think eggs and bunnies have something to do with the resurrection; Jeremiah 7:18 the women knead their dough to make cakes to the Queen of heaven; in Egypt, Jeremiah 44:17-19, 25, this is Ishtar: pronounced ‘Easter.’

(b) Christmas; Ezekiel 8:16 five and twenty men with their backs toward the temple; their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east; Christmas, which honor Mithraism, birthday on December 25th – a form of nature worship based on the Sun-Goddess Mithra who on the darkest night of the year (December 20/21), gives birth to “Light” causing each day thereafter to grow longer until the Summer solstice;

(c) Sundays; her sabbaths which is Sundays, where the original Sun- worshippers were the Samaritans, brought from Assyria: And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof, II Kings 17:24;

(d) Holy Ghost or holy ghost in the Trinity? – Revelation 4:5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; if the Spirit is a Being or an independent Personage; there would be seven Holy Spirits.

⁹ Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not, — worshipping baals and burn incense other gods are all mentioned above; the Egyptian Ishtar, the Babylon Mithra, the Samaritan Sun god and the fallen angel, Satan, whom the Romans call Lucifer!

¹⁰ and come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, “We are delivered” — to do all these abominations? — which is called by his name; the Temple of God, where his name, Yehovah, is to be called upon.

¹¹ Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord. — the Temple is the place God dwell with man, which is to be called by his name; יהוה (YHVH), and is to be called upon; hence its importance.

¹² “‘But go ye now unto My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. — but go ye now unto my place, which was in Shiloh, a city in the tribe of Ephraim, on the north of Bethel, and not far from Shechem;

— here lies the tabernacle, the ark and altar of the Lord, and the sacrifices; and therefore the tabernacle is called the tabernacle of Shiloh; and here the Lord calls it his place; the place of the house of his Shekinah.

¹³ And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spoke unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not, and I called you, but ye answered not, — speaking, but ye hear not; would not listen to the words of the prophets or the Lord; but turned a deaf ear, which aggravates their stubbornness, obstinacy and wickedness.

¹⁴ therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by My name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. — for since the Lord has seen how they have profaned his Temple, he would also destroy it as the sanctuary at Shiloh was destroyed.

¹⁵ And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.’ — as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim; or as the Targum says, the ten tribes; so called because Ephraim was their principal tribe and Jeroboam was their first king;

— as Ephraim were carried captive off into Assyria, so would the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin; who could not expect to fare better than their brethren, who were more numerous than they; but both were guilty of the same sins.

¹⁶ Therefore 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. — once their wickedness have reach a certain threshold, God forbids his prophets to pray for them in any kind by any cry or intercession.

¹⁷ “Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? — and in the streets of Jerusalem? these words, with what is said next, show the reason why the prophet was forbidden to pray for this people, and the Lord was so provoked with them as to cast them out of his sight;

— and he appeals to the prophet, and to what he saw; for what was done was done not in secret, but openly in the very streets of the city; by which he might be sufficiently convinced it was what God wanted to do and what he determined to do with them.

¹⁸ The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. — the queen of heaven;

— to make cakes to the queen of heaven, the female goddess Ashtoreth, or Astarte, the counterpart of the male idol Baal, in whose honor the cakes, made of honey, fine flour, and other ingredients, bore a round, flat surface to resemble the disk of the moon,

— and to pour out drink-offerings, the libations made as sacrifices, unto other gods that they may provoke me to anger, the expression implying design on their part, the deliberate intention to arouse his wrath;

— from the queen of heaven, Astarte; and their worshipping thereof, to Easter today (more at the end)

¹⁹ Do they provoke Me to anger? saith the Lord. Do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? — because of their provocation, for worshipping the queen of heaven, Astarte; the wrath of the Lord will be poured over the land in a consuming fire.

²⁰ Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, Mine anger and My fury shall be poured out upon this place — upon man and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn and shall not be quenched.

— behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place; as the flood of waters was poured upon the old world or the shower of fire and brimstone upon Sodom.

²² For I spoke not unto your fathers nor commanded them, in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. — for God spake not unto your fathers; not Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but Moses, Aaron and others; showing that it was not his chief purpose and intent that they should offer sacrifices.

²³ But this thing commanded I them, saying, “Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people; and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.” — sacrifice may not be the final outcome of the covenant, it is always obedience; but by offering sacrifices God knows who is obedient.

²⁴ But they hearkened not nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. — and went backward, and not forward; but walked back into idoltary. The Targum says, “they turned the back in my worship, and did not put my fear before their face.”

²⁵ Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day, I have even sent unto you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. — his servants the prophets, who rose early in the morning, indicating their care and diligence in conveying God’s message so that they don’t have to face adverse consequences.

²⁶ Yet they hearkened not unto Me nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck; they did worse than their fathers.’ — but my people hardened their neck; and so became stiffnecked, and would not submit to bear the yoke of the law.

²⁷ “Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them, but they will not hearken to thee; thou shalt also call unto them, but they will not answer thee. — but they will not hearken to thee: this must be a trial to the prophet, that he is assured that he shall speak to them in vain; so that he would not be discouraged at the end result.

²⁸ But thou shalt say unto them, ‘This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction. Truth has perished and is cut off from their mouth. — but thou shalt say unto them, this is a nation, being obstinate, obeyeth not the voice of the Lord, not want to be instructed;

— nor receiveth correction, hardened to the point that all rebukes make no impression upon them; truth is perished, all reliability, all fidelity is lost, and is cut off from their mouth; for the Jews confessed the Lord (like professing Christians today do) with their mouths only, and not with their hands and hearts.

²⁹ “‘Cut off thine 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 wrath. — Jeremiah addresses Jerusalem under the figure of a woman, who, in grief for her lost children, deprives her head of its chief ornament and goes up to the hills to mourn;

— the Targum says, “pluck off the hair for thy great ones that are carried captive, and take up a lamentation for the princes.”

³⁰ “‘For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight, saith the Lord. They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it. — God’s house which is called by my name; this abomination had been committed by Ahaz (II Chronicles 28:2);

— and after the Temple had been cleansed by Hezekiah (II Chronicles 29:5) this abomination had been repeated by Manasseh (II Chronicles 33:3-7). Josiah’s revival checked the fall back into idolatry (II Chronicles 34:3); but the pendulum swung back again until they all went into captivity.

³¹ And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I commanded them not, neither came it into My heart.

— and they built the high places of Tophet; where the idol Moloch was; that the parents of the children that were burnt might not hear the cry of them: which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom; a valley near Jerusalem, and lay to the south of it.

³² Therefore behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place.

— valley of slaughter; so named because of the great slaughter of the Jews, slain by the Chaldeans, to take place at Jerusalem: a just retribution of their sin in slaying their children to Moloch in Tophet.

³³ And the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall frighten them away. — the birds and beasts of prey shall feed on them, being exposed to open view for want of interment;

— another parallel Scripture in Jeremiah:

“And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of them that seek their lives; and their carcasses will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth” Jeremiah 19:7.

³⁴ Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall be desolate. — while the likes of Paris Hilton’s wild partying shall cease, silence and desolation are destined to settle upon the whole land.

~~~~

More on Astarte, Easter:

Easter (which is how you pronounce Ishtar) is originally the celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, in its entry “Easter,” states:

“The term ‘Easter’ is not of Christian origin. It is another form of Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven. The festival of Pasch [Passover] held by Christians in post-apostolic times was a continuation of the Jewish feast . . . From this Pasch the pagan festival of ‘Easter’ was quite distinct and was introduced into the apostate Western religion, as part of the attempt to adapt pagan festivals to Christianity” (W.E. Vine, 1985).

Ishtar was an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, fertility, and sex. She is featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the “Ishtar Gate” was part of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. Her worship involved animal sacrifices; objects made of her sacred stone, lapis lazuli; and temple prostitution.

Superimposed over an image of Ishtar are these words: “This is Ishtar: pronounced ‘Easter.’ From Ishtar the name Easter was derived. It’s well known that Easter was originally the celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. Her symbols (like the egg and the bunny) were and still are fertility and sex symbols.

Back at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, Constantine read out the letter that he would subsequently send to churches everywhere: “When the question arose concerning the most holy day of Easter it was decreed by common consent to be expedient, that this festival should be celebrated on the same day by all, in every place… Let us then have nothing in common with … the Jews” sums up one of the key movement for the establishment of Easter to be celebrated in the Church today.

After Constantine decided to Christianize the Empire, Easter was changed to represent Jesus. And everything Jewish were understood to be totally incompatible with Christianity. But at its roots, Easter is outwardly all about celebrating fertility and sex but inwardly it’s paying homage to a Mesopotamian goddess, the queen of heaven, Ishtar.

Jeremiah 8

¹ “‘At that time, saith the Lord, they shall bring out 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 graves.

— the first three verses of this chapter should belong to the preceding; at that time; there is no break in the discourse and the time is therefore that of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldæans and of the burial of the slain;

— the motives of this desecration of the sepulchres might be either the wanton ferocity of barbarian conquerors, bent, after the manner of savage warfare, on the mutilation of the dead, or the greed of gain and the expectation of finding concealed treasures.

² And they shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped. They shall not be gathered nor be buried: they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.

— worshipping of heavenly bodies are forbidden, Deuteronomy 17:3-5, whose penalty is death; “then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman who has committed that wicked thing unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones till they die.”

— a parallel Scripture is in Ezekiel 8:16 “And He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’S house, and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east,” thus they worshipped the sun;

— the heads of the twenty-four courses of the priesthood, led by the high priest, making up the “twenty five men” were not only worshipping the sun: they were doing so in the very temple of God, with their backs turned upon the presence of God! (more at the end)

³ And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the Lord of hosts.’ — the residue of them that remain, that is, “the remnant of a remnant,”

— and death shall be chosen rather than life; a description of the unexpressibleness of their misery, as that death would be more eligible to them than life since every kind of hardship in exile and imprisonment amongst the heathen is awaiting them.

⁴ “Moreover thou shalt say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord: “‘Shall they fall and not arise? Shall he turn away and not return? — it is a natural instinct, that if one falls, he rises again; but no man needing repentance, asks, What have I done?

— none of them did so much as take the first step toward repentance; “What should I do?” they did not even examine their conduct, and call themselves to an account for their actions.

⁵ Why then has this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. — they hold fast to deceits; being obstinate they refuse to return;

— today we have four Great Deceits hiding behind four Great Lies:

(a) Easters, a celebration of the Queen of heaven: Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. Her symbols (like the egg and bunny) were and still are fertility and sex symbols; and to those who actually think eggs and bunnies have something to do with the resurrection; Jeremiah 7:18 the women knead their dough to make cakes to the Queen of heaven; in Egypt, Jeremiah 44:17-19, 25, this is Ishtar: pronounced ‘Easter.’

(b) Christmas; Ezekiel 8:16 five and twenty men with their backs toward the temple; their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east; Christmas, which honor Mithraism, birthday on December 25th – a form of nature worship based on the Sun-Goddess Mithra who on the darkest night of the year (December 20/21), gives birth to “Light” causing each day thereafter to grow longer until the Summer solstice;

(c) Sundays; her sabbaths which is Sundays, where the original Sun-worshippers were the Samaritans, brought from Assyria: And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof, II Kings 17:24;

(d) Holy Ghost or holy ghost in the Trinity? – Revelation 4:5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; if the Spirit is a Being or an independent Personage; there would be seven Holy Spirits.

⁶ I hearkened and heard, but they spoke not aright; no man repented of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. — hearkened and heard; God, before passing sentence, carefully listens to the words of the people, but none repented as they rushed into wars and battles.

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 judgement of the Lord. — they knoweth not her appointed times; as was true in those days, and so much more true today;

— Jews and Christians don’t know the the significance of the events leading to the 70 AD inferno in Jerusalem; why did the Sadducees and Essenes died in the inferno while the Pharisees and Nazarenes escaped?

— Christians don’t know what are the Oracles of God; what the components are; some claim, “we don’t need the oral law” is this true?

— Jews don’t know that the Messiah they look so much for had came, but he went off and will come again; and they will morn for him one day as one morns for his firstborn; from Sabbath to Sabbath, they read the Scriptures diligently but couldn’t identify the second Being, the one sitting on the right side of the Most High, in Psalm 110:1-5;

— no body seems to understand the various symbols and riddles in the book of Ezekiel to put all the puzzles into a big picture; Jews couldn’t neither do Christians!

— nobody knows who Ephraim is, neither anyone knows about the United States; and who or where her enemy will come from and what her destination is. All are written in encrypted codes by Ezekiel; hence God says “but My people know not the judgement of the Lord.”

For more on Ephraim and Manasseh, or the Ox without the Unicorn.

For more on the enemy from the South, see A Sword from the South!

For more about the Calendar, see Is there a Calendar Omen?

⁸ “‘How do ye say, “We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us”? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain. — (MEV and many other translations) How do you say, “We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us”? Certainly the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.

— the Targum says, “therefore, lo, in vain the scribe hath made the lying pen to falsify.” Examples of such lying pen of the scribes to falsify the Masoretic Text are:

(1) Isaiah 7:14 – a “virgin” shall conceive and bear a Son – changed to a young woman which renders the text meaningless as any young woman could have a child;

(2) Isaiah 9:6 “the Everlasting Father” – the Son has never been known as the father; this lying pen is just to run contrary to the characteristic of the Son; who would be the Messiah in the name of Yeshua which the Orthodox have confused themselves in a maze.

⁹ The wise men are ashamed; they are dismayed and taken. Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord: and what wisdom is in them?

— their wise men are ashamed; they trusted to their refuge of lies, but when God shall bring them judgement, the wisest will find that they shall be confounded, not sure what to do with all their wisdom.

¹⁰ Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them. For every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

— everyone is given to covetousness; so greedy after their own private gain, that they took no care of equity or justice.

¹¹ For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightingly, saying “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. — these verses are almost identical with Jeremiah 6:12-15.

¹² Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore shall they fall among them that fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.

¹³ “‘I will surely consume them, saith the Lord. There shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.’”

— God will surely consume them; or he will gather them together into their several cities to be besieged, that it shall be no hard matter to destroy them.

¹⁴ Why do we sit still? 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 gall to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord. — God hath put us to silence, let us be silent; stay still and be reflective. Selah! For our sins are numerous!

¹⁵ We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold, trouble! — instead of peace and safety hoped for, there come calamity and terror.

¹⁶ The snorting of His horses was heard from 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 therein.

— heard from Dan; as the invasion by war chariots and an army from the North would be a special terror to Israelites even as far North as the northern boundary at Dan.

¹⁷ “For behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you,” saith the Lord. — the Targum says, “for, lo, I will raise up against you people that kill as the destroying serpents.” And they shall bite you, or kill you; for the bite of a serpent is deadly.

¹⁸ When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint within me. — the Targum takes them to be the words of the prophet Jeremiah, paraphrasing them, “for them, saith the prophet, my heart grieves.”

¹⁹ Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people, because of them that dwell in a far country: “Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in her?” “Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images and with strange vanities?”

— behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people; such was God’s sympathy for his countrymen, his people in distress, whom he affectionately calls the daughter of his people;

— “Is not the Lord in Zion? If they return to God, he will allow himself to be found by them;

— the Targum says “lo, the voice of the cry of the congregation of my people from a far country,” the cry of them that dwell in a far country; perhaps this could be a reference to those of the Assyrian exiles, of the northern house of Israel?

²⁰ “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!” — “The harvest is past,” and there has been no crop for the people to harvest.

— the house of Judah had expected the Egyptians to come to their relief; but now the summer were past, yet there was no appearance of deliverance as expected; the Targum says, “the congregation of Israel said, the time is passed, the end is up, and we are not redeemed.”

²¹ For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. — for the hurt; now the prophet Jeremiah again speaks from his own perspective; he is crushed to see the crushing of his people. His face is darkened, in pain, as one that mourns; (Joel 2:6)

²² Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? — don’t they not have any righteous men from whom to learn so that they should improve their ways? Are there no means of healing, no healer to apply them, for the spiritual wounds of Israel? 

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Facing the East, worshipping the Sun:

— the worship of heavenly bodies was against God’s will which Moses had warned the people (Deuteronomy 4:19, 17:3, whose penalty is to be stoned to death, Deuteronomy 17:5 ’till they die). Those 25 men in Ezekiel 8:16 corrupted themselves by worshipping the sun; and so the Targum renders it, “and, lo, they corrupted themselves, worshipping facing the east the sun; their backs toward the temple of the Lord” — they turned their backs against the most holy place; which is an aggravation of their impiety; casting the utmost contempt for God:

Moses’ warnings in Deuteronomy 17

³ And [if you] hath gone and served other gods and worshipped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, ⁴ and it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it and inquired diligently, and behold, it be true and the thing certain that such abomination is wrought in Israel, ⁵ then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman who has committed that wicked thing unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones till they die. Deuteronomy 17:3-5

The following quotation show that the first Christians understood the Sabbath but were made forbidden and gathered for worship on Sunday: “Christians should not Judaize and should not be idle on the Sabbath, but should work on that day; they should, however, particularly reverence the Lord’s day and, if possible, not work on it, because they were Christians” (Canon 29 AD 360);

— also, Days of the Week Names: “Sunday” is the Sun’s day and “Monday” is the Moon’s day. “Tuesday” is Tiw’s day; Tiw is an Anglo-Saxon god of war. “Wednesday” comes from Woden, the Anglo-Saxon king of the gods; in Saxon the name is Wodnesdaeg. “Thursday” is Thursdaeg, Thor’s day; Thor is a Norse god of thunder, lightning and storms. “Friday” is Frigedaeg, Frigga’s day; Frigg is a Norse goddess of home, marriage and fertility. “Saturday” is Saeterndaeg, Saturn’s day; Saturn is an ancient Roman god of fun and feasting;

— Months of the Year Names: January (derived from the Latin Januarius) is to honor their Roman gods Janus; and March, named for Mars, is the Roman mighty god of war; February is derived from the Februa festival or its eponymous februa (“purifications, expiatory offerings”); April relates to what the Romans called the month Aprilis; from a word meaning “to open” and further back from Aphrodite, the Greek name for the goddess of love. May – named for Maia, is the Roman goddess of spring and growth;

— June is a name attributed to Juno, the female mighty wife of Jupiter in Roman mythology. She is also called the “Queen of Heaven” and “Queen of Mighty Ones.” July is to honor Julius Caesar; the Roman Senate named it “Julius” in honor of Roman emperor Julius Caesar. August honor Julius Caesar’s successor, the emperor Augustus; and the months September, October, November, and December are archaic adjectives derived from the ordinal numbers 7 to 10;

— today, more than 98.5 percent of Christians are honouring the Sun by observing Sunday worship. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the SUN toward the east; whose Godly penalty is to be stoned to death – ’till they die.

— also, following the SUN-worshipping Samaritans, most Church of God Communities are showing their contempt for God by having their “wavesheaf offering” and Pentecost on a Sunday; always on a Sunday. And these are supposedly in God’s Sanctuary, but God says He is a jealous God, so these pretentious Christians could be spewed out of His mouth! A death penalty – ’till they die!

Posted in Jeremiah

The chapters below were written around 628 BC, which is about a hundred years after the house of Israel had been exiled to Assyria, when God called upon Jeremiah to deliver his message against the elders of Jerusalem of an enemy coming out from the north and an impending exile to follow if they continue with all their wickedness and idolatries.

The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Jehoahaz (reign 609), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586).

Jeremiah 5

¹ “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now and know, and seek in the broad places thereof if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgement, that seeketh the truth, and I will pardon it.

— run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem; to go through the whole city, in the wider streets and intersections; there were not ten righteous men found in Sodom (Genesis 18:32); but could there be one in Jerusalem that administers justice?

— if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgement, carrying out justice and righteousness; one that seeketh the truth of doctrine and worship; if you could find one righteous, God will grant a pardon to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

— in “broad places” a man; as the pious Baruch and Jeremiah lived in Jerusalem at that time, God must mean one in public office, one for the mass of the people; the righteous, if any, most probably would have gone into hiding, fear of the “wild men of Sodom”

— king Josiah, in public office, died early; Zephaniah and other prophets, if they live in Jerusalem, probably would have just make brief appearance and faded away like Elijah did, even though he didn’t live in Jerusalem. Most prophets were hearders or farmers that lived off the land; or just living with a low profile!

² And though they say, ‘The Lord liveth,’ surely they swear falsely.”

³ O Lord, are not Thine eyes upon the truth? Thou hast 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.

⁴ Therefore I said, “Surely these are poor, they are foolish; for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgement of their God. — therefore God said, Surely these are poor, their shepherds are interrupting themselves to voice an objection to the Lord; they are foolish, acting foolishly on account of their ignorance;

— for they know not the way of the Lord nor the judgement of their God. The elites assume that only the untaught poor are guilty of such depravity, and that a better state of affairs may be expected in the higher ranks of society;

— and the on-going of today’s stories of Jeffrey Epstein, Virginia Giuffre, Ghislaine Maxwell, UK royals Prince Andrew, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with scandles after scandles with other royals; and those hovering around in Epstein’s private airplane: ex-presidents Clinton and Trump; how are they going to face judgement from the Most High?

⁵ I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgement of their God.” But these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

— Jeremiah will get acquainted with the great men, and speak unto them, the princes, nobles and judges, the elders of the people, the scribes and doctors of the law: for they should have known the way of the Lord, and his judgement;

— it might be reasonably expected that they had, having had a good education and being at leisure from worldly business to attend to the law and the knowledge of it, and whatsoever God had revealed in his word, both in a way of doctrine and duty.

⁶ Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall despoil them; a leopard shall watch over their cities. Every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

— wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities, lurking for his prey nearby, the most ravenous and the swiftest of the beasts being chosen as types to represent the formidable character of the Babylonian invaders;

— everyone that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many and their backslidings are increased, their acts of rebellion against God had become a great multitude. That is the feature which ever makes sin so reprehensible: it always amounts to a rebellion against God, the Father of all mankind.

⁷ “How shall I pardon thee for this? Thy children have forsaken Me, and sworn by them that are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.

— how shall God pardon thee for this? It would be inconsistent with God’s holiness to overlook the transgressions of Israel, to let their wickedness go unpunished. Thy children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods, or more emphatic, “by that which is no god,” worshipping a creature of their own imagination;

— when God had fed them to the full in distributing the blessings of his bounty, or “I bound them by the oath of allegiance and loyalty,” but they then committed adultery in the most flagrant manner, probably in connection with the idolatrous customs which they accepted,

— and assembled themselves with troops in the harlots’ houses, rushing forward in companies in their eagerness to commit this beastly sin.

⁸ They were as fed horses in the morning; every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.

⁹ Shall I not visit for these things?” saith the Lord. “And shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this? — shall God ignore these things, punishing the guilty ones to the limit, and shall not God avenge on such a nation as this?

— how could his anger be withheld under such circumstances? The Lord therefore turns to the Chaldeans, calling upon them to carry out his punishment upon Israel.

¹⁰ “Go ye up upon her walls and destroy, but make not a full end; take away her battlements, for they are not the Lord’S.

¹¹ For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against Me,” saith the Lord. — for the house of both Israel and Judah, the entire nation of God’s chosen people, have dealt treacherously against me, saith the Lord, their faithlessness being the Lord’s chief reason for complaint.

¹² They have belied the Lord, and said, “It is not He; neither shall evil come upon us, neither shall we see sword nor famine. — they have belied the Lord, denying Jehovah, the God of the covenant, and said, It is not He, insisting that He was not the true and only God;

— neither shall evil come upon us, neither shall we see sword nor famine, thus both denying and challenging the threat of the Lord regarding the punishment which he had threatened for their apostasy.

¹³ And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them; thus shall it be done unto them.”

¹⁴ Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts: “Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make My words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

— wherefore, thus saith the Lord God, because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire; Jeremiah being given a sharp and scathing message to the rebellious people whom the Lord put in him;

— and this people wood, fuel which is easily kindled, and it shall devour them, they would be consumed as a consequence of the denunciation which Jeremiah would make by God’s command.

¹⁵ Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from afar, 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 house of Israel; this saying seems a bit late, since the house of Israel had been in exiled over a hundred years ago, so this renew warning must be prophetic, for the endtime.

¹⁶ Their quiver is as an open sepulcher; they are all mighty men.

¹⁷ And they shall eat up thine harvest and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat; they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds; they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees. They shall impoverish thy fortified cities, wherein thou trusted, with the sword.

— and they shall eat up thine harvest, the standing grain, and thy bread which thy sons and thy daughters should eat, which was intended for their food;

— they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds; they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees, everything that in any manner yielded food; they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, destroying all of Israel’s proud fortresses, wherein thou trustedst with the sword.

¹⁸ “Nevertheless in those days,” saith the Lord, “I will not make a full end with you. — nevertheless in those days; this seems futuristic, a prophecy that when this severe punishment strikes the nation, saith the Lord, I will not make a full end with you.

¹⁹ And it shall come to pass when ye shall say, ‘Why doeth the Lord our God all these things unto us?’ Then shalt thou answer them, ‘As ye have forsaken Me and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

²⁰ “Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying: — this warning is prophetic; it is meant for our time; or the lost ten tribes, it could be for those who were carried captive into Assyria before this prophecy; it is meant for the house of Israel today, yet it also has a message for the Jews, now in the land of Judea;

²¹ Hear now this, O foolish people and without understanding, who have eyes and see not, who have ears and hear not: — which have eyes and see not; which have ears and hear not; like the idols they served, Psalms 115:4;

— it is upbraiding of them with their folly and stupidity, their want of common sense, their blindness and ignorance; notwithstanding they had the means of light and knowledge, the law and the prophets.

²² Fear ye not Me?” saith the Lord. “Will ye not tremble at My presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it; and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?

²³ But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone.

²⁴ Neither say they in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the Lord our God, who giveth rain, both the former and the latter in his season; He reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’

²⁵ Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you.

²⁶ For among My people are found wicked men; they lie in wait as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. — they lay wait as he that setteth snares; or “they look about” that is, every man looks in the ways to see if a man passed by, that he might rob him; as a man that lays snares or sets a trap to catch birds.

²⁷ As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; therefore they have become great and have waxed rich. — the Targum renders it, a house or place of fattening. The word is rendered a “basket” in Amos 8:1 and may here design one in which birds taken in snares, or by hawking, were put;

— the Septuagint version renders it, “a snare” which agrees with what goes before. It seems to intend a decoy, in which many birds are put to allure others; and, what with them, and those that are drawn in by them;

— “their houses full of deceit” four examples of their deceits are the followings:

(a) Easters, a celebration of the Queen of heaven: Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. Her symbols (like the egg and bunny) were and still are fertility and sex symbols; and to those who actually think eggs and bunnies have something to do with the resurrection; Jeremiah 7:18 the women knead their dough to make cakes to the Queen of heaven; in Egypt, Jeremiah 44:17-19, 25, this is Ishtar: pronounced ‘Easter.’

(b) Christmas; Ezekiel 8:16 five and twenty men with their backs toward the temple; their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east; Christmas, which honor Mithraism, birthday on December 25th – a form of nature worship based on the Sun-Goddess Mithra who on the darkest night of the year (December 20/21), gives birth to “Light” causing each day thereafter to grow longer until the Summer solstice;

(c) Sundays; her sabbaths which is Sundays, where the original Sun- worshippers were the Samaritans, brought from Assyria: And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof, II Kings 17:24;

(d) Holy Ghost or holy ghost in the Trinity? – Revelation 4:5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; if the Spirit is a Being or an independent Personage; there would be seven Holy Spirits.

²⁸ They have waxed fat, they shine; yea, they surpass the deeds of the wicked; they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

²⁹ Shall I not visit for these things?” saith the Lord. “Shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this? — if they are given to deceits; mentioned in the four above (a,b,c and d), would God judge them? “Shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

³⁰ “An astonishing and horrible thing is committed in the land: — “Such is an horrible act!” God said, “An astonishing and horrible thing is committed in the land.”

³¹ The 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 the end thereof?

— their prophets prophesied falsely; not only proclaiming lies, but enhancing them; that the people would have peace and prosperity under Grace, and not be carried captive into Babylon, as Jeremiah and other prophets had predicted:

— these messages are for both houses of Jacob: Israel and Judah, who has returned to dwell in the land of Judea, names the state of Israel.

Jeremiah 6

¹ “O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem! And blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem! For evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

— O ye children of Benjamin, who was with the tribe of Judah, and Jerusalem at least part of it was in the tribe of Benjamin and particularly Anathoth, which was Jeremiah’s birth place, and this could be a reason why the children of Benjamin are so distinctly addressed;

— today, Tekoa is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, located 20 km northeast of Hebron, 16 km south of Jerusalem; and Bethhaccerem; this place lay between Jerusalem and Tekoa;

— the trumpets be blown, that it might be heard far and near; so the warning is generally to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

— during Jeremiah’s time, he warned of an enemy coming from the North, but Ezekiel waned of an enemy coming from the South; so what is it? (more at the end); or The Sword from the South!

² I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman. — the daughter of Zion is a comely and delicate woman; that dwells at home and lives in peace and quietness, in ease and security, in no fear of enemies, or apprehension of danger; and so it describes the secure state of Israel.

³ The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.” — the Targum says, “everyone shall help his neighbour.” The sense is, one king or general shall lay siege against a city, or against cities and so another, until they have consumed and subdued the whole land.

⁴ “Prepare ye war against her! Arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! For the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

⁵ Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.”

⁶ For thus hath the Lord of hosts said: “Hew ye down trees, and cast a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

— hew ye down trees and cast a mount against Jerusalem: the reason is because there were ditches around the city; and into these they poured in stones, dirt, trees, pieces of wood and so filled them up, and cast up a mount on which they could raise their batteries, and demolish the walls, making Jerusalem defenceless.

⁷ As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness. Violence and spoil are heard in her; before Me continually are grief and wounds.

⁸ Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest My soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.”

⁹ Thus saith the Lord of hosts: “They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine; turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets.”

¹⁰ To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken; behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it. — even their prophets wouldn’t want to hear; they prophesied falsely;

— not only proclaiming lies, but enhancing those lies already told; their ears are uncircumcised and they cannot hear; that their people would have salvation under Grace, claiming they are now under a Covenant of Grace; and they frown upon the thought that they are going into another captivity, as Ezekiel and other prophets had prophecised.

¹¹ Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord; I am weary with holding in. “I will pour it out upon the 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.

— God was weary with holding on, restraint was no longer a virtue; he will pour it out his fury upon the children abroad, those playing in the streets and lanes; and upon the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged, the one who is just growing old, with him that is full of days;

— thus the sentence of the Lord would strike all classes of people and every age without exception, the whole nation being included in the outpouring of his wrath.

¹² And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together; for I will stretch out My hand upon the inhabitants of the land,” saith the Lord.

— their houses shall be turned unto others; that is, their houses and their lands, and “their fields and wives” shall be devolved and turned over to strangers, Jeremiah 8:10, even that land which they thought had been entailed upon them.

¹³ “For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them, every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely.

— from the prophet even unto the priest everyone dealeth falsely; their false prophet, as the Septuagint and other versions; the priest of Baal, both acted deceitfully; the one in prophesying lies to the people, the other in drawing them off from the pure worship of God;

— the Targum says, “from the scribe to the priest” from the lowest order of teachers to the highest in ecclesiastical office; the whole shows a most general and dreadful corruption.

¹⁴ They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of My people slightingly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. — such was God’s sympathy for his countrymen, his people in distress, whom he affectionately calls the daughter of my people.

¹⁵ Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among them that fall; at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down,” saith the Lord.

¹⁶ Thus saith the Lord: “Stand ye in the highways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk therein.’

¹⁷ Also I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Hearken to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not hearken.’

¹⁸ Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. — hear, ye nations (Goyim); the heathen are called upon to take notice of these warnings of God’s wrath against both the Israselites and the Jews,

— what sins were among them; what ransgressions are committed by them; which were the cause of the Lord’s threatening them with judgements, and bringing consequences upon them; so the Targum says “and let the congregation of Israel know their sins.”

¹⁹ Hear, O earth: Behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto My words nor to My law, but rejected it. — even the fruit of their thoughts; the Targum renders it, “the retribution or reward of their works.”

²⁰ To what purpose cometh there to Me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto Me.”

— your burnt offerings are not acceptable nor your sacrifices sweet unto me; because your offerings offered at Dan and Bethel where the Lord have not designated those places; and at Jerusalem, they were offered with idols and idolatry in their midst.

²¹ Therefore thus saith the Lord: “Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish.”

— stumbling blocks before this people; by which God meant his judgements upon them, raising up enemies against Israel, and suffering them as they invaded their land;

²² Thus saith the Lord: “Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth. — and a great nation shall be raised; that is, by the Lord, who would stir them up to this undertaking; the Targum says, “many people shall come openly.”

— during Jeremiah’s time, God warned of an enemy coming from the North, but more relevant for us today, Ezekiel waned of an enemy coming from the South; so what is it? (more at the end) or see The Sword from the South!

²³ They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel and have no mercy. Their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.” — such was God’s sympathy for his countrymen, his people in distress, whom he affectionately calls the daughter of Zion, which is my people Israel;

— they shall lay hold on bow and spear; that is, everyone of them should be furnished with both these pieces of armour, that they might be able to fight near and afar off; they had bows to shoot arrows at a distance, and spears to strike with when near.

²⁴ We have heard the fame thereof; our hands wax feeble. Anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain as of a woman in travail. — and pain as of a woman in travail; which comes suddenly, and is very sharp; and this indicates that their destruction would come suddenly upon them, before they were aware, and be very severe.

²⁵ Go not forth into the field nor walk by the way, for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side. — and fear is on every side; all round the city, being encompassed by the Babylon army from the North: or the enemy’s sword from the South, as “is fear on every side” causes fear in all parts round the city;

— the Targum says, “because the sword of the enemy kills those who are gathered round about;” or on every side.

²⁶ O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes. Make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the despoiler shall suddenly come upon us. — and wallow thyself in ashes; or roll thyself in them, as the Targum says, “cover your heads with ashes.”

²⁷ “I have set thee as a tower and a fortress among My people, that thou mayest know and try their way. — that is, God tells the prophet that he hath placed him as a watchman in a high tower to take an account of the people’s behaviour, and to warn them accordingly.

²⁸ They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders; they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters. — the Targum says “they are all corrupters; as such that mix metals are; they are corrupters of themselves and of others, of the doctrines and manners of men, and of the ways and worship of God.”

²⁹ The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed by the fire; the founder melteth in vain, for the wicked are not plucked away. — the bellows are burned, worn out by continual blowing; the prophet has exhausted all his efforts;

— the founder melteth in vain; let the artist use his greatest skill and industry, yet all is in vain: their wickedness and filthiness are not removed.

³⁰ Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.” — reprobate silver; so full of alloy as to be utterly worthless; because God, who knew their hypocrisy in boasting of themselves, had rejected them.

~~~

More on a prophecy of an “enemy” coming from the SOUTH:

Ezekiel 20:45 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
⁴⁶ “Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the southland.
⁴⁷ And say to the forest of the south: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
⁴⁸ And all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.’”
⁴⁹ Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Doth he not speak parables?’”

Ezekiel 21:1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
² “Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel;
³ and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
⁴ Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north,
⁵ that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn forth My sword out of his sheath. It shall not return any more.’

Q: Who is this enemy from the SOUTH, and it warns “My sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked” and should we be curious how such scenarios would be played out?

For more, see The Sword from the South!

For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah

Posted in Jeremiah

In Chapter 2, God’s words were directed against Jerusalem, the elders of Judah and priests (Jeremiah 2:2): “Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem,” but later in the chapter it was also directed at Israel (Jeremiah 2:4,26): “Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel,” so Chapter 3 continues in this context.

Rashi is the acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, a well respected medieval French rabbi and author of a comprehensive commentary on the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud; hence his opinion is often quoted here.

The Targum is another source of the Bible, much like the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint. The Targum was started by Ezra for those returning from the Babylon exile and for these returnees they could only understand the Scriptures in Aramaic. Hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us from the Hebrew Bible quoted.

Jeremiah 3

¹ “They say, ‘If a man put away his wife, and she go from him and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? Shall not that land be greatly polluted?’ But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to Me,” saith the Lord.

— but thou, the house of Jacob, hast played the harlot with many lovers, none of them her husband; yet, in spite of the fact that it is not in accordance with legal regulations, return to me, saith the Lord;

² “Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where hast thou not been lain with. By the wayside hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.

— see if there is a hill or mountain or any high place, where thou hast not committed idolatry; and see where thou hast not been lien with;

— their harlotry was so notorious and the facts and instances so many, there was no denying it; every hill and mountain witnessed to their idolatry;

— to which the Targum says, “see where thou hast not joined thyself to worship idols,” in the ways hast thou sat for them; for the idolaters, waiting for them, to join in their idolatries as harlots used to sit by the wayside to solicit their lovers.

³ Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there hath been no latter rain. And thou had a whore’s forehead; thou refused to be ashamed. — the showers have been withdrawn according to God’s warning, Leviticus 26:19; Deuteronomy 28:23-24; that is, droughts were sent upon their land as a punishment as a judgement against her.

⁴ Wilt thou not from this time cry unto Me, ‘My Father, Thou art the guide of my youth? — Rashi: will you not from now: if only you repent of your evil and call me “My Father.” If you do so, will your Lord bear a grudge forever for what you have sinned? Will He keep it to eternity? He will not keep it;

— thou art the Guide of my youth? She uses the endearing term “Companion of my youth,” in speaking to the Lord as though to win him back.

⁵ Will He reserve His anger for ever? Will He keep it to the end?’ Behold, thou hast spoken, and done evil things as thou couldest.” — the Targum says, “is it possible that thy sins should be kept for thee for ever, or the stroke (of punishment) be strengthened upon thee to the end?”

⁶ The Lord said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king: “Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? She hath gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.

— hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? the ten tribes; that is, hast thou not heard? or dost thou not know the idolatry of the ten tribes, which was the cause of their captivity?

— for the facts or the idolatrous actions of the ten tribes were not done in Jeremiah’s time; for they were carried captive in the sixth year of Hezekiah and therefore the house of Judah should have taken note, as a warning and stopped following the path that the house of Israel had taken, least they should also be taken into captivity.

⁷ And I said after she had done all these things, ‘Return thou unto Me.’ But she returned not, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

— and God said after she had done all these things, turn thou unto me, but the northern kingdom consistently rejecting the Lord’s call; and though her sister Judah saw it, being influenced by Israel’s evil example, she also treacherously rejected any return.

⁸ And I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. — the Targum says, “I caused them to go into captivity as those that give a bill of divorce (to their wives) and dismiss them:”

— yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not: committed idolatry and offended the Lord, nor stood in awe of his judgements; but went and played the harlot; committed idolatry, as the ten tribes did, taking no warning by what befell them.

⁹ And it came to pass, because she made so light of her whoredom, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. — and committed adultery with stones and stocks; that is, with images made of stone and wood;

— which they served and worshipped as gods; and is the adultery or idolatry they are charged with and by which the land was defiled; the Targum says, “she erred or committed idolatry with the worshippers of stone and wood.”

¹⁰ And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto Me with her whole heart, but feignedly,” saith the Lord. — there was some repentence in Josiah’s time, but it was but a outward show; there was no hearty turn around for the sin of idolatry, only a feigned one;

— Rashi: Josiah’s generation would show themselves as righteous although the others were wicked. They would make forms of pagan deities on the inside of their doors, half on this door and half on this one, and when the destroyers of idols would inspect, the door would be open, and they would not notice it.

Rashi is the acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, a well respected medieval French rabbi and author of a comprehensive commentary on the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud.

¹¹ And the Lord said unto me, “The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. — the backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah; that is, was comparatively more righteous of the two; though neither of them could vindicate their conduct, or justify themselves before God;

— Judah was more to blame because after Israel committed idolatry and was carried captive, Judah took no warning, but fell into the same trap; and in Manasseh’s time committed greater idolatries than ever Israel did; and more than even the Amorites or other heathen nations had done, II Kings 21:6;

¹² Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: “‘Return, thou backsliding Israel,’ saith the Lord, ‘and I will not cause Mine anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful,’ saith the Lord, ‘and I will not keep anger for ever.

— and I will not cause Mine anger to fall upon you, not continue to frown upon them in wrath and displeasure; for I am merciful, saith the Lord, preferring to show grace and mercy rather than indignation.

¹³ Only acknowledge thine iniquity: that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed My voice,’ saith the Lord.

— only acknowledge thine iniquity, freely confessing her transgressions and her guilt, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord, thy God, against whom in the last analysis every sin is directed;

— Rashi: and spreading her private parts to strangers under every leafy tree, wandering back and forth in her harlotry, and have not obeyed My voice, saith the Lord.

¹⁴ ‘Turn, O backsliding children,’ saith the Lord, ‘for I am married unto you; and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. — the Targum says, “for I am well pleased with you;” to which Rashi adds “because I am your Lord, and it is not my honour to leave you in the hand of my enemies.”

¹⁵ And I will give you pastors according to Mine heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.’ — and God will give you good shepherds, leaders in both the spiritual and the civil domain, as Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, according to his own heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

¹⁶ “And it shall come to pass when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days,” saith the Lord, “they shall say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ Neither shall it come to mind, neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it, neither shall that be done any more.

— Rashi: they will no longer say, “The ark of the Lord’s covenant”: For your entire assembly will be holy, and I will dwell therein as though it were an ark;

— neither shall that be done any more; the Targum paraphrases the last clause, “neither shall they make war with it any more.”

¹⁷ At that time they shall call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. — this is during the Millennium when they shall call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord.

¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.

— in those days the two houses of Israel shall walk together, all true Israelites being united in the land of Israel, the Land of Promise, the Land between the great rivers.

— and they shall come together out of the land of the North, from all the countries of the dispersion, to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers, to enjoy their blessings together.

¹⁹ “But I said, ‘How shall I put thee among the children and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations?’ And I said, ‘Thou shalt call Me “My Father,” and shalt not turn away from Me.’ — but God asked, how shall I put thee among the host of other children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage compared to all the other hosts of nations?

— and he replied, thou shall call me, my Father, returning once more to the true God; and shall not turn away from me, fully restored to the favor of the Most high, Yehovah is his name.

²⁰ Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,” saith the Lord. — surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband,

— forsaking the companion of her youth, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord. Upon this final accusation of the Lord the sorrow of the people and their confession of sins is brought out with dramatic intensity;

— emphasis here is the full house of Israel, the lost ten tribes; but also include the house of Judah, for they committed the same sins and share the same destination.

²¹ 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. — again, the emphasis here is the house of Israel, who have perverted their ways, went into captivity and now known as the lost ten tribes;

— here at least of a contrast to the house of Judah who had always remember the Sabbath, thus always known as God’s people to the outside world (Exodus 31:13), and were never considered lost; but the ten tribes house of Israel is confused today and totally lost.

²² “Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.” “Behold, we come unto Thee, for Thou art the Lord our God. — the Targum says, “I will forgive you when ye return;”

— and I will heal your backslidings; that is, God will forgive your sins; sins are the breaking of his commandments and the wounds that resulted from it; and pardoning them is healing them.

²³ Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of mountains. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. — truly, in vain they awaited salvation from the hills and the mountains where they worshipped idols there,

— but it is a delusion and a snare to expect help from them; for truly, in the Lord our God, is the salvation of Israel; he alone can bring about the deliverance of His people.

²⁴ For shame hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth — their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

— the idolatry with which they occupied themselves and had turned themselves into a shameful thing from the days of their fathers in their youth; the idols, whose worship brought shame and disgrace upon themselves;

— because of the iniquity of idols worship, their toil of the flocks and herds were pillaged, or as a steady stream of sacrifices, but their worship also brought down by which their children were torn from them; or that evils have befallen upon their sons and daughters.

²⁵ We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

— their consciences for the sins against God have surrounded them and filled them with shame, from the days of their fathers, from their youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, the Most High;

— a full and unequivocal confession of sins, a complete acknowledgement of guilt, is the first step in true repentance; he that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whosoever confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

Jeremiah 4

The first two verses of this chapter seem to be closely connected with the preceding, being directed to Israel, the ten tribes, by way of reply to their compliance with God’s call, encouraging them to keep and execute their resolution. The rest of the chapter concerns Judah and Jerusalem.

¹ “If thou wilt return, O Israel,” saith the Lord, “return unto Me; and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of My sight, then shalt thou not be removed.

— if you return to me, O Israel, you shall not be exiled; and if you remove your detestable things, you will return to your former glory and greatness.

² And thou shalt swear, ‘The Lord liveth,’ in truth, in judgement, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him shall they glory.” — and thou shalt swear, the Lord liveth, in truth, not in hypocrisy; and in righteousness, in a just cause and with genuine uprightness of heart;

— and the nations under the influence of this confession shall bless the Most High, and in him shall they be glorified, thereby becoming partakers of the blessings which were promised to the patriarchs.

³ For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. — unless the fallow ground is broken up, it will be no better than sowing among thorns;

— and unless the hearts of men are opened to God, they will not attend to the things that are spoken; preaching and eating the word will be like sowing among thorns; the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, are comparable to thorns.

⁴ Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

— lest God’s come forth like fire; to which his wrath is sometimes compared, Nahum 1:6 and is sometimes signified by a furnace and lake of fire, even his eternal wrath and vengeance.

⁵ “Declare ye in Judah and publish in Jerusalem, and say, ‘Blow ye the trumpet in the land!’ Cry, gather together and say, ‘Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities!’ — declare ye in Judah, Blow ye the trumpet in the land, as a signal calling the inhabitants to arms;

— Cry aloud, gather together, and say, rather, “cry fully,” that is, with a loud voice, shouting; assemble yourselves and let them go into the fortified cities behind their strongest fortresses.

⁶ Set up the standard toward Zion. Retire, stay not! For I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.” — set up the standard toward Zion, raising their banners as a signal to make the city of God their refuge; retire, stay not, but flee, do not try to make a stand;

— for God will bring evil from the North, from Babylon, followed by a great destruction.

⁷ The lion has come up from his thicket (thick wood), and the destroyer of the nations is on his way. He has gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.

— the lion is come up from his thicket; meaning Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon who is compared to a lion for his strength, fierceness and cruelty; see Jeremiah 50:17;

— he is gone forth from his place, to make thy land desolate; from Babylon, where his royal palace was, in order to lay waste the land of Judea; and he is represented as being on the road to strike the inhabitants of Judea with great terror, their destruction being determined and certain.

⁸ For this, gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl; for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned back from us. — for the fierce anger of the Lord; although Josiah repented wholeheartedly, others were not (II Kings 23:26) “the Lord did not turn back from his great wrath, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked Him.”

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 prophets shall wonder.”

— Rashi: and it shall be on that day: On the day of Josiah they will wonder why so much befell him, for they do not know that his generation did not repent properly. When he came to abolish idolatry, what did the scorners of the generation do? They would engrave an image of a pagan deity on their doors, half of it on this door and half of it on this door. When he would open it, it was not discernible, and when he went away from there, he would close it, and it would join together;

— that the heart of the king shall perish; meaning Zedekiah king of Judah, who should be in the utmost fright and consternation, not knowing what to do, being devoid both of wisdom and courage; see Jeremiah 39:4;

— and the heart of the princes; who being seized with the same panic, and at their wits’ end, would not be able to give any advice and counsel to the king; so that the people would have no help from the king and his nobles, in whom they put their confidence.

¹⁰ Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! Surely Thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘Ye shall have peace,’ whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.” — then said I, Ah, Lord God! The Hebrew word, Aha, is a word expressive both of admiration and lamentation;

¹¹ At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem: “A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of My people — toward the daughter of My people, the children of God’s chosen nation, not to fan nor to cleanse, not the gentle breeze which ordinarily carried off the chaff as the threshed grain was winnowed;

— the Targum says, “as the south wind upon the heads of floods of water in the wilderness, so is the way of the congregation of my people; but rather the north wind is designed, since that is a dry one, and the south wind a moist one; and the rather, since this wind intends Nebuchadnezzar and his army, which should come from Babylon, from the north.

¹² even a full wind from those places shall come unto Me. Now also will I give sentence against them.” — a wind full of those punishments which God had warned, and determined to bring upon this people, and would not turn from, nor repent of: and the phrase “shall come unto me.”

¹³ Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles! Woe unto us, for we are despoiled! — the metaphor indicates the swiftness of the lion, Nebuchadnezzar’s coming, and the multitudes he should come with, and that darkness and distress he should bring with him upon the house of Judah.

¹⁴ O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? — O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, for a mere outward change of behavior is not sufficient; heart and mind and soul must undergo a complete transformation,

— that thou may be saved, for only he who truly repents may partake of the Lord’s deliverance. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? It was high time for all sinful thoughts to be dismissed.

¹⁵ For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from Mount Ephraim: — and publish affliction from Mount Ephraim: which lay on the border of the tribe of Benjamin, and near to Jerusalem; and this publication represents the enemy as advancing nearer, and being just at hand;

— the word for “affliction” signifies “iniquity” and it denotes that the affliction spoken of, which is the destruction of the house of Judah, and their captivity in Babylon, were occasioned by their sins. Some think that Dan and Ephraim are mentioned, because of the calves that were worshipped in Dan and in Bethel, which was in the tribe of Ephraim;

— thus the Targum paraphrases the words, “for the voice of the prophets that prophesied against them that go into captivity, because they worshipped the calf, which is at Dan; and they that bring evil tidings, shall come upon them, because they served the image which Jeroboam set up in the mount of the house of Ephraim.”

— Q: who was Ephraim or is Ephraim? Wasn’t he Jeroboam? Perhaps Jeroboam set the alters in Dan and Bethel, but later false prophets came and set up other idols in some of the mountains of Ephraim today, hence Mount Ephraim?

For more on Ephraim and Manasseh, or the Ox without the Unicorn.

¹⁶ “Make ye mention to the nations. Behold, publish against Jerusalem that watchers come from a far country and give out their voice against the cities of Judah. — the Targum says, “the army of a rapacious people, like the grape gatherers, come from a far country:”

— and give out their voice against the cities of Judah; threaten the ruin of them; blow the trumpet, the alarm of war; give the orders to besiege; and being sure of victory, triumph before the attack is made.

¹⁷ As keepers of a field are they against her round about, because she hath been rebellious against Me,” saith the Lord.

¹⁸ “Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee: this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.”

¹⁹ My heart, my heart! 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. — I, Jeremiah, writhe in pain; an expression of writhing in pain and shuddering;

— my heart makes a noise in me; palpitates, beats and throbs, being filled with fears and dread, with sorrow and concern, at what was coming on; it represents an aching heart, all in disorder and confusion;

— the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war, the shout of battle, as the enemy advances to subdue the land of Israel.

²⁰ Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is despoiled; suddenly are my tents despoiled, and my curtains in a moment. — suddenly Jeremiah’s tents spoiled, and his curtains in a moment were destroyed; or the cities, towns and habitations of his countrymen which he compares to tents as being easily overthrown;

— and so the Targum interprets it of cities; and the prophet seems to intimate that this destruction would reach to Anathoth, where his tent; cottage, and curtains were. So sudden destruction some times comes when men are crying “Peace, Peace.”

²¹ How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

²² “For My people are foolish, they have not known Me; they are sottish children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.” — my people are wise to do evil; cunning inventors of evil things, crafty schemers that way, may be full of all wicked subtlety,

— and expert at over reaching and defrauding their brethren; when professors of religion especially ought to be wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil;

²³ I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

²⁴ I beheld the mountains, and lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. — God beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, because the very foundations of the earth were shaken,

— and all the hills moved, as heavy bodies which shake with the slightest disturbance.

²⁵ I beheld, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled. — and all the birds of the heavens had fled; at the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war; at the blackness of the heavens, filled with smoke; at the barrenness of the earth;

— there being no seed sown; and the earth as at the first creation, having no herb, nor trees bearing fruit and so no food for birds; and therefore they went elsewhere, both wild and tame.

²⁶ I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord and by His fierce anger. — and behold, the fruitful field: the land, planted with all good like a forest has become like a desert.

²⁷ For thus hath the Lord said: “The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. — yet will God not make a full end; he would not bring about a total annihilation at this time.

²⁸ For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken it; I have purposed it and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.

²⁹ The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets and climb up upon the rocks; every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein. — the whole city, or “every city,” all the cities of the land, shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen as the invading army draws near;

— they shall go into thickets, their hiding-places, and climb up upon the rocks, seeking refuge before the attacking hordes; every city shall be forsaken and not a man dwell therein.

³⁰ And when thou art despoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rendest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair. Thy lovers will despise thee; they will seek thy life.

— though thou clothest thyself with crimson, in garments of the most expensive material, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, in decking herself for the purpose of coquetting with heathen nations;

— though thou rentest thy face with painting, applying antimony black to the eyelids, in order to increase the luster of the eyes, yet thy lovers will despise thee, no longer attracted by such artifices, they will seek thy life.

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, ‘Woe is me now, for my soul is wearied because of murderers!’

— for God have heard a voice as of a woman in travail and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, heartrending wails and moans, the voice of the daughter of Zion that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, panting in her agony;

— Woe is me now! for my soul is as one who yields to murderers, unable to withstand any longer. Such is the usual fate of men who disregard the warnings and pleadings of the Lord: when it is too late, they begin to mourn and lament, bewailing their fate.

Posted in Jeremiah

“In the elite US mainstream media division of labor, the New York Times is very close to the State Department; and the Washington Post to the CIA” Pepe Escobar

Around 629 BC, which is about a hundred years after the house of Israel had been exiled to Assyria, the words of the Lord came to Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah; hence Jeremiah is the general title of this prophecy and includes all his discourses and sermons; and designs not in Jeremiah’s own words, but the words of the Lord which were put into his mouth, and he delivered under divine inspiration.

The Septuagint version renders it, “the word of God;” the Targum, “the words of the prophecy of Jeremiah” who is described by his descent and parentage, “the son of Hilkiah.” This Hilkiah could be the same high priest, who in the days of king Josiah, of the southern house of Judah, found the book of the law.

The Targum is another source of the Bible, much like the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint. The Targum was started by Ezra for those returning from the Babylon exile and for these returnees they could only understand the Scriptures in Aramaic. Hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us from the Hebrew Bible quoted.

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20; “In latter days you will understand it fully,” that is, it means as a whole, “we wouldn’t fully understand these prophecies until we are living in the latter days after God had executed his judgement in anger and pertformed the thoughts of his heart!”

Jeremiah 1

¹ The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, — Jeremiah was of a priestly family; also a Levite, but he lived in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin; Jerusalem was designated to Benjamin, not Judah, which is further south, centred around Bethlehem;

— to be more specific, Anathoth was a city about three miles north of Jerusalem in the tribe of Benjamin, but designated and belonged to the priests, Joshua 21:18.

² to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. — in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign: in the twenty first of his age;

— for he began to reign when he was eight years old, and he reigned eighteen years after, for he reigned in all thirty one years; and it was five years after this that the book of the law was found by Hilkiah the high priest;

— king Josiah was said to have reigned 640–609 BC; so the thirteenth year of his reign would be around 628 BC.

³ It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

— and it came also in the days of Jehoiakim (reign: 609–598 BC), the son of Josiah, king of Judah; in the beginning of his reign, and in the fourth year of his reign; see Jeremiah 25:1.

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

⁵ “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”

— before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee not merely by his omniscience, but knows Jeremiah before his conception and birth; in the sense the Lord knows those that are his;

— unto the nations (Goyim); to the outlying Gentile nations; this was the distinguishing characteristic of Jeremiah’s work: other prophets were sent to Israel and Judah, with occasional parentheses of prophecies that affected the Gentiles.

⁶ Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child.” — then said I, Ah, Lord God! the word אהה, “Ah” is used in distress and grief, showing that the prophet was troubled and uneasy at his call, and would gladly have been excused on the following account;

— behold, I cannot speak; or “I know not how to speak” properly, politely or eloquently, especially before great personages, kings and princes, and the citizens of Jerusalem; a similar excuse Moses made, Exodus 4:10;

— the Targum says, “I know not to prophesy: for I am a child” ~ meaning either in knowledge and understanding, or in years; not a mere child, but a “junior” as the Septuagint version renders it: a “young man.”

The Targum is another source of the Bible, much like the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint. The Targum was started by Ezra for those returning from the Babylon exile and for these returnees they could only understand the Scriptures in Aramaic. Hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us from the Hebrew Bible quoted.

⁷ But the Lord said unto me, “Say not, ‘I am a child,’ for thou shalt go to all whom I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. — for thou shall go to all that I shall send thee; either to “every place” as the Targum paraphrases: “to all persons to whom” he should be sent;

— or as the Septuagint renders the words; or “to all things for which” he should send him. The sense is, that he should go everywhere, to every person and with any message he should be sent unto and with.

⁸ Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee,” saith the Lord. — be not afraid of their faces; their stern looks, their frowning brows, or angry countenances, which would threaten him with destruction and death;

— for I am with thee, to deliver thee, saith the Lord; out of their hands when in the most imminent danger.

⁹ Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, “Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth. — behold, I have put my words in thy mouth;

— by the seeing of this symbolical action in his vision, and the hearing of these words, Jeremiah could not but be assured that he should be able to speak in the proper language of a prophet.

¹⁰ See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull down, and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.” — to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down; that is, to foretell that such a kingdom and nation should be rooted out;

— as a tree or plant that is plucked up by the roots; and that such an one should be pulled, and thrown down and destroyed as may be understood of the destruction of the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar, of their temple, city and nation;

— to build and to plant the royal family of the house of David; which applied to the planting of Jewish princesses to Ireland;

— the destruction of Zedekiah’s Pharez line; to the planting of the Zarah line ruling in the British Isles! (for more, see “Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright” by J.H. Allen).

¹¹ Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, “Jeremiah, what seest thou?” And I said, “I see a rod of an almond tree.” — and I said, I see a rod of an almond tree; a dry stick, without leaves or fruit upon it, and yet he knew it to be an almond tree stick; though some think it had leaves and fruit on it, by which it was known;

— the Targum says, “and I said, a king hastening to do evil I see;” meaning Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, hastening to bring destruction upon the house of Judah.

¹² Then said the Lord unto me, “Thou hast well seen, for I will hasten My word to perform it.” — for l will hasten my word to perform it; the name of the almond tree in Hebrew; which is so called because it is quick and early,

— and hastens to bring forth its flowers, leaves and fruit; in like manner the Lord says he would hasten to perform what he had said or should say by him concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, and the captivity of the people.

¹³ And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, “What seest thou?” And I said, “I see a seething pot, and the face thereof is toward the north.” — the Targum paraphrases the words thus, “and I said, I see a king boiling as a pot, and the banner of his army, which was brought and came from the north;”

— a boiling pot or a boiling cauldron denoting Judea or Jerusalem, expressed by same figure, Ezekiel 11:3; 11:7; 24:3.

— much like the four angel asked to let loose the river of Euphrates, for the 200 million on horseback to ride over in Revelation 9:15-16 to slay a third part of men.

¹⁴ Then the Lord said unto me, “Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. — out of the North an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land; that is, out of Babylon, which lay North,

— and so the Talmud says: northeast to the land of Israel; from hence came Nebuchadnezzar and his army, which are meant by “the evil” that should break forth, or be opened and let loosed, which before were bound and hindered by the providence of God;

— here in the prophecy of Jeremiah, the house of Judah had been constantly warned of an enemy coming out from the NORTH, but in Ezekiel 20-21, the house of Israel had been warned of a yet ‘unknown’ enemy of the future coming from the SOUTH (more at the end).

¹⁵ For lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” saith the Lord; “and they shall come and they shall set every one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.

— and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah; not only besiege Jerusalem, and take that, but also all the rest of the cities of the land.

¹⁶ And I will utter My judgements against them concerning all their wickedness, who have forsaken Me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

— and God will utter his judgements against them; not against the kingdoms of the North, but against the people of the house of Judah; the sense is, that God would enter into judgement with this people and pass sentence upon them and execute it;

— for they worshipped the works of their own hands: idols of gold, silver, brass and wood, which their own hands formed and carved, and which argued great stupidity and ignorance.

¹⁷ Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise and speak unto them all that I command thee. Be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. — and arise; and go from Anathoth to Jerusalem; and arise and speak unto them all that God command thee,

— the fact of his being the Lord’s messenger and envoy once more being stressed; be not dismayed at their faces, shrinking back before them, lest God confound thee before them so that he would be rejected, crushed and overcome before them.

¹⁸ For behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land — against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof and against the people of the land.

— against the whole land of Judea, against all its inhabitants and the kings of Judah; in successive reigns, as Jehoahaz (reign 609), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586);

— against the priests who all of them dealt falsely and were given to covetousness, Jeremiah 8:10; and against the people of the land; who were grievously addicted to idolatry and all manner of wickedness.

¹⁹ And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee,” saith the Lord, “to deliver thee.” — and they shall fight against thee; the Targum adds, “that they may hide the words of thy prophecy;”

— for I am with thee, saith the Lord to deliver thee; as he did; he hid him when they sought for him, and delivered him out of the dungeon and bonds into which he was cast by them.

~~~

More on a prophecy of an “enemy” coming from the SOUTH:

Ezekiel 20:45 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
46 “Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the southland.
47 And say to the forest of the south: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
48 And all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.’”
49 Then said I, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Doth he not speak parables?’”

Ezekiel 21: And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 “Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel;
3 and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
4 Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall My sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north,
5 that all flesh may know that I, the Lord, have drawn forth My sword out of his sheath. It shall not return any more.’

Q: Who is this enemy from the SOUTH, and how would such scenarios be played out?

Jeremiah 2

¹ Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, — the Targum says, “the word of the prophecy from the Lord.”

² “Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus saith the Lord: “‘I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. — in the wilderness in a land that had not been cultivated; where you passed through many difficulties;

— the Targum says, “and they walked after my two messengers, after Moses and Aaron, in the wilderness forty years without food, in a land that was not sown;”

— and lived upon the providence of God, which, in a wonderful manner, supported them with the necessaries of life, which otherwise they could have died.

³ Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the firstfruits of His increase. All that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them,’” saith the Lord.

— evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord; his punishment descended upon the Amalekites, the Amorites, and upon all other nations that interfered with his plans for his chosen people. Such were the manifestations of God’s kindness to Israel and therefore his rebuke certainly came with good reason.

⁴ Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. — this in respects the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the ten tribes had long been carried away captives to Assyria.

⁵ Thus saith the Lord: “What iniquity have your fathers found in Me, that they are gone far from Me, and have walked after vanity, and have become vain? — the Targum says, “what falsehood have your fathers found in my word?” None at all; God is a covenant keeping Godly Being.

⁶ Neither said they, ‘Where is the Lord that brought us up 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 the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through and where no man dwelt?’

— the Lord that brought them out through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death; where there were scorpions, fiery serpents, drought,

— and no water, and so very dangerous as well as uncomfortable travelling; and yet through all these obstacles they were led and wonderfully supplied and preserved.

⁷ And I brought you into a plentiful country to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled My land and made Mine heritage an abomination.

— the Targum paraphrases it; with wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates and olives; in a land flowing with milk and honey, Deuteronomy 8:8; but when ye entered ye defiled my land by not giving them their Sabbath rest; where the commandment is given in Leviticus 25:4;

“Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; but in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of Rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord; thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard” Leviticus 25:1-7;

The length of the house of Judah’s captivity of in Babylon was directly linked from the length of time they neglected to observe the land Sabbath according to II Chronicles 36:19-21:

And they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. ²⁰ And those who had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia,
²¹ to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years, II Chronicles 36:19-21: “spoken by Jeremiah” this is a reference to the seventy years of captivity as spelt out in Jeremiah 25:11;

From the above, it could be established that the length of captivity has something to do with Israel’s neglect in their observance of the Sabbath, and in this case the observance of the land Sabbath; for more on understanding the coming 190 years of Israel’s captivity and 40 years for Judah, see Ezekiel Timeline – 190/40 Years.

⁸ The priests said not, ‘Where is the Lord?’ And they that handle the law knew Me not; the pastors also transgressed against Me; and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

— and they that handle the law knew me not; and according to Rashi, the Sanhedrin, the lawyers and scribes, the rabbis and doctors of the law, whose business it was to read and explain it; these they did not understand;

— and the prophets prophesied by Baal; in his name; pretending to be inspired by that idol, and to receive the spirit of prophecy from him.

⁹ “Therefore I will yet plead with you,” saith the Lord, “and with your children’s children will I plead. — wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord; either verbally, by reasoning with them and reproving them for their ignorance, stupidity and idolatry; or by deeds, inflicting punishment upon them;

— so the Targum says, “therefore I will take vengeance on you, or punish you, saith the Lord.”

¹⁰ For pass over to the isles of Chittim and see; and send unto Kedar and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. — and send unto Kedar; which was in Arabia, and lay to the east, as Chittim to the west; and so the Targum paraphrases it, “send to the provinces of the Arabians.”

¹¹ Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? But My people have changed their Glory for that which doth not profit. — hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? In spite of the fact that their gods were false idols, the heathen at least had the pride and the decency of clinging to their gods;

— but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit, exchanging their possession of their true God for vain idols, with less consistency than that shown by their ignorant heathens.

¹² Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be ye very desolate,” saith the Lord. — in astonishment and horror the Lord cries out: Be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate,” saith the Lord; all which may be signified by storms and tempests, by thunder and lightning and by the sun’s withdrawing its light.

¹³ “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn them out cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.

— for my people have committed two evils, thus exceeding even the heathen with their one transgression of foolish idolatry: (1) they have forsaken me, the Fountain of living waters, the only true and living God,

— and (2) hewed them out cisterns, whose waters lack the freshness and the sparkle of spring- or well-water, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Putting aside the one and only Source of spiritual life and power, they placed their trust in gods which belied even the outward appearance that men had given them.

¹⁴ “Is Israel a servant? Is he a home born slave? Why is he despoiled? — is Israel a servant? that he does not abide in the house, in his own land, but is carried captive, becomes subject to others and is used as a slave.

¹⁵ The young lions roared at him and yelled, and they made his land waste; his cities are burned without inhabitant.

— the young lions roared upon him, and yelled; or “gave out their voice” meaning the kings of the nations, as the Targum explains it; and are to be understood of the kings of Assyria and Babylon, and particularly of Nebuchadnezzar; see Jeremiah 50:17.

¹⁶ Also the children of Noph and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of thy head.

¹⁷ Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God when He led thee by the way?

— hast thou not procured this unto thyself, the Israelites having brought this calamity upon themselves, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord, thy God, when he led thee by the way? on the good path of his will, on the road of righteousness.

¹⁸ And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? Or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? — Or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria; to send to them for help; for this was the usual method of first the house of Israel and later the house of Judah;

— when the Assyrians oppressed them, then they sent to Egypt for help; and when the Egyptians were upon them, then they applied to the Assyrians; and in both cases acted wrong, for they ought to have sought the Lord their God only.

¹⁹ Thine own wickedness shall 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 the fear of Me is not in thee,” saith the Lord God of hosts.

— thine own wickedness shall correct thee; that is, either their wickedness in going to Egypt and Assyria, and the ill success they had in so doing might be an instruction to them to act otherwise, and a correction of their sin and folly; or that their wickedness was a reason and a very just one, why they were chastened and corrected by the Lord.

²⁰ “For of olden time I have broken thy yoke and burst thy bonds; and thou saidst, ‘I will not transgress,’ when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.

— upon every high hill and under every green tree, thou wanderest, playing the harlot; that is, committing spiritual whoredom or idolatry with idols, set on high hills and mountains and under green trees, groves and shady places; going from one idol to another as harlots go from one stew to another; or as whoremongers go from harlot to harlot.

²¹ Yet I had planted thee, a noble vine, wholly a right seed. How then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Me? — yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed; it is usual to compare the children of Israel to a vineyard, and to vines; and their settlement in the land of Canaan to the planting of vines in a vineyard; see Isaiah 5:1.

²² For though thou wash thee with soda and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me,” saith the Lord God. — the sense is, let this backsliding and degenerate people take whatever methods they need to cleanse themselves from their sins;

— as by their ceremonial ablutions and sacrifices, which was the usual method they had recourse to, to purify themselves, and in which they rested: yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God; or “will retain its spots” these remain; the filth are not washed away; their iniquities are not hidden and covered;

— the Targum says, “for if you think to be cleansed from your sins, as they cleanse with nitre, or make white with “borith” or soap; lo, as the mark of a spot which is not clean, so are your sins multiplied before me, saith the Lord God.”

²³ “How canst thou say, ‘I am not polluted; I have not gone after the Baalim’? See thy way in the valley; know what thou hast done. Thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways, — God have not gone after Baalim? or “the Baalim” the idols of the people as the Targum interprets it; for there were many Baals, as Baalzephon, Baalpeor, Baalzebub and others.

²⁴ a wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure. In her need who can turn her away? All they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.

²⁵ Withhold thy foot from 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.’

²⁶ “As the 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,

— as the thief is only ashamed when he is caught, put to shame by the evidences in front of the public, so will the house of Israel be ashamed; they, their kings, their princes and their priests, and their prophets, be exposed in like manner.

²⁷ saying to a stock, ‘Thou art my father,’ and to a stone, ‘Thou hast brought me forth.’ For they have turned their back unto Me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us!’

²⁸ But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? Let them arise if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble; for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.

— but where are thy gods that thou hast made? Let them save thee in times of thy troubles, O Judah! Idolaters of all times and places have the same experience, namely, that idols of any kind cannot deliver them from trouble, no matter how great their numbers.

²⁹ “Why will ye plead with Me? Ye all have transgressed against Me,” saith the Lord. — ye all have transgressed against me, saith the Lord; high and low, rich and poor, great and small;

— men of all ranks, degrees, and character; kings, priests and prophets; and therefore ought not to contend with God, and charge him with injustice or unkindness, but themselves with folly and wickedness.

³⁰ “In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction. Your own sword hath devoured your prophets like a destroying lion. — the rod of chastisement was used in vain; the afflictions that came upon them had no effect on them to amend and reform them; they were never the better for them:

— your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like Isaiah, who were sent to them to reprove and correct them, but they were so far from receiving their correction, that they put them to death.

³¹ O generation, see ye the word of the Lord! Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? A land of darkness? Why say My people, ‘We are lords; we will come no more unto Thee’?

³² Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number. — yet my people have forgotten me; which shows great stupidity and ingratitude; the Lord not being so much to them, from whom they had received so many favours, as the ornaments of a maid and the attire of a bride, are to them.

³³ Why readiest thou thy way to seek love? Therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways. — the Targum says: “why dost thou make thy way beautiful, to procure loves (or lovers) to be joined to the people?”

— or the sense is, why art thou so diligent and industrious to make thy way, which is exceeding bad, look a good one, by sacrifices and ceremonies, oblations and ablutions, in order to seek and obtain my love and favour, which is all in vain? it is not to be gained by such methods.

³⁴ Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents; I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these. — in thy skirts is found the blood of poor innocents, of holy men and prophets who dared to reprove Israel for her sins;

— God have not found it by secret search, such a careful scrutiny was not necessary in this case, but upon all these, on account of the sin of idolatry, which finally led to the murder of the Lord’s servants.

³⁵ Yet thou sayest, ‘Because I am innocent, surely His anger shall turn from me.’ Behold, I will plead with thee because thou sayest, ‘I have not sinned.’

— surely his anger shall turn from me, Jeremiah; the anger of God, since innocent; or “let his anger be turned from me” or as the Septuagint says; pleading for the removing of judgements upon the foot of innocency, which is pretended.

³⁶ Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? Thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt as thou wast ashamed of Assyria. — sometimes going one way, and sometimes another; sometimes to Egypt, and then to Assyria; seeking sometimes to the one for help, and sometimes to the other;

— why change thy way? in forming alliances with her heathen neighbors. Thou also shall be ashamed of Egypt, whose vassal Israel was for a while as thou wast ashamed of Assyria, after King Ahaz had sent there for help, but ultimately ended up being their captives.

³⁷ Yea, thou shalt go forth from him with thine hands upon thine head; for the Lord hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them. — and thine hands upon thine head; plucking and dishevelling the hair as women in distress; so Tamar, when abused by her brother, laid her hand on her head, and went out crying, II Samuel 13:19

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