Destined to be Caught in a Snare, how this Prophecy is to be Fulfilled: And notice a Composite Message of Sweetness and Bitterness! “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities” Amos 3:2
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sounded an alarm earlier this month, warning that China is rapidly closing in on the US in the global race to AI dominance. And DeepSeek’s sudden rise earlier this year showed just how quickly the balance of power can shift.
That competition is playing out not just in Silicon Valley and Shenzhen, but also on university campuses. Beijing has been steadily building an AI powerhouse of its own at Tsinghua University—challenging the cutting-edge tech dominance of the US Ivy League.
Tsinghua has produced more of the world’s 100 most-cited AI research papers than any other school, and the university generates more AI-related patents each year than MIT, Stanford, Princeton and Harvard combined. Between 2005 and the end of 2024, Tsinghua researchers filed 4,986 AI and machine-learning patents—including more than 900 last year—according to LexisNexis data analyzed by Bloomberg.
Still, the US maintains an edge. American institutions hold many of the most influential AI patents, and according to Stanford’s 2025 AI Index Report, the US has produced 40 “notable AI models” compared to China’s 15. However, the Chinese models have rapidly closed the quality gap.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm for AI and machine learning within government, industry and academic circles,” Jun Liu, a former Harvard professor who joined Tsinghua this year to lead the school’s new statistics and data science department, told Bloomberg. “The draw of AI talent is due to capital, and the Chinese government’s support for scientific research, including in AI and related areas.”
China is building a massive AI talent pipeline—and US companies are tapping it China’s tech strategy doesn’t start at the university level—the country has begun teaching the foundations of AI to students as young as six. This fall, schools in Beijing rolled out at least eight hours of AI instruction per academic year, covering topics like how to use chatbots and other tools, general background on the technology, and AI ethics.
That early focus has helped China build out a vast tech workforce. China graduated 3.57 million STEM students in 2020—compared with 820,000 in the US—according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. State media has since reported that the number could exceed five million annually. (China’s population is more than four times that of the US)
American tech companies have taken notice—and rushed to snatch up Chinese talent. Over the summer, Meta announced a new Superintelligence Lab aimed at building a machine more powerful than the human brain. All 11 founding researchers were educated outside of the US—and seven were born in China, according to The New York Times.
A 2020 Paulson Institute study found Chinese AI researchers made up nearly one-third of the world’s 100 top AI scientists—most of whom worked for US universities and corporations. Follow-up research from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace found that despite rising geopolitical tensions, 87% of those researchers have continued working in the US.
As Matt Sheehan, an analyst who worked on both studies, put it to the NYT:
“The US AI industry is the biggest beneficiary of Chinese talent.”
Chapter 9 starts with “rejoice not” when Ephraim or Israel return to Egypt and Assyria, eating unclean food in both places where Israel have been in captivity. But another prophetic Captivity is destined for the endtime.
“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,” or even “you will understand it fully in the latter days.”
1 Rejoice not for joy, O Israel, as other people, for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God; thou hast loved for reward upon every threshing floor.
— for thou hast gone a whoring; playing the harlot with many nations; committing adultery; worshipping idols, making feasts and dancing before them; and so departing from God;
— the Targum says it this way: “for you have strayed after the worship of your God; you loved to serve idols on every threshing floor,” alluding to the hire of a harlot, prostituting herself for it on a corn floor or anywhere else.
2 The floor and the wine press shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.
— nothing seems to satisfy her as idolatrous Israel is personified as a harlot; and wine-drinking was, in fact, so closely connected with the customs of idolatry.
3 They shall not dwell in the Lord’S land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.
— Ephraim returning to Egypt and Assyria. and eating unclean food in both places where they have been in captivity; the indication of this word “shall” used three time above is prophetic; reverting back into Captivity, another time in “Egypt” for 190 years perhaps.
4 They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord, neither shall they be pleasing unto Him; their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners. All that eat thereof shall be polluted, for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the Lord.
— in other words, the bread eaten at funeral meals; this was regarded as unclean, because the corpse defiled the mourners and then the house, and all who came in contact with it, for seven days (Numbers 19:14).
— they have gone too deep into idolatry that any sacrifices would be viewed as the bread of mourners; and instead of being acceptable to God, were abominable to him; and all that partook them should consider them as funeral feasts; God’s feasts are always joyous.
5 What will ye do in the solemn day (moed H4150), and in the day of the feast (cḥaḡ H2282) of the Lord?
— here “the solemn day” would the referring mō‛ēd (H4150 appointed time) and feasts of the Lord would be of a different kind: cḥaḡ (H2282);
— the three feasts at which Israel was to appear before the Lord, viz., the Passover (cḥaḡH2282Leviticus 23:6), Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles (cḥaḡH2282Leviticus 23:34), are described as chaggı̄m; and every other joyous festival is also called a chag;
— whereas mō‛ēd (H4150) simply expresses the idea of a holy assembly; the two words are synonymous, but they are so arranged that by chag the idea of joy is brought into greater prominence, and the feast-day is thereby designated as a day of holy joy before Yehovah; whereas mō‛ēd simply expresses the idea of a feast established by the Lord, and sanctified to Him;
— another word miqra (H4744 a convocation) is used very often in Leviticus 23 and elsewhere.
6 For lo, they are gone because of destruction. Egypt shall gather them up; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess the pleasant places for their silver; thorns shall be in their tabernacles.
— in Egypt they hope to be quiet, and survive these desolations, and to return into their own land; but they shall die in Egypt, and Egyptians shall lay them out and prepare them to their grave.
7 The days of visitation have come, the days of recompense have come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool; the man of the spirit is mad because of the multitude of thine iniquity and great hatred.
— the prophet is a fool; so Israel said, before those days came, of a true prophet of the Lord, that he was a fool for prophesying of evil things, but now they shall find it otherwise;
— so the Targum says: “they of the house of Israel shall (note the subtle change of present ‘is’ to future tense ‘shall’) know that they who had prophesied to them were true prophets;”
— but there are going to be false prophets, who, when the day of God’s visitation shall come on Israel in a way of wrath and vengeance, will appear both to themselves and others to be fools, for prophesying good things to them, when evil was at hand;
— “the prophet is a fool” indicates their prophets today don’t know much about the prophecies of the Old Testament; mainly their false prophets pretend to much inspiration and flattered their faithfuls with false hopes and vain promises of safety and prosperity.
“The days of punishment have come, the days of requital for sins have arrived. The house of Israel shall know that true prophets were prophesying to them, but they treated them as fools, and false prophets they considered delightful—because your sins multiplied and your transgressions grew strong.” Hosea 9:7 Jonathan
8 The watchman of Ephraim was with my God; but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.
— the watchman of Ephraim was with my God; formerly the watchmen of Ephraim such as Elijah and Elisha were with the true God, with revelations and instructions from him; and were under the inspiration of his spirits, and prophesied in his name things according to his will;
— but now the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways; these are false prophets, instead of guiding and directing Ephraim in the right way in which he should go, they lay snares for him in all the ways he takes, to lead him wrong, and draw him into sin, particularly into false doctrines and false prophecies;
— these false prophets, as well as those of Judah in her latter years, flattered the kings who supported them, misled them, encouraged them in disbelieving the threats of God, and so led to their destruction; and after everything is over, these prophets become detestable in the house of God.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah. Therefore He will remember their iniquity; He will visit their sins.
— as recorded in Judges 19:16-22, when the abominable conduct of the men of Gibeah in connection with the concubine of a Levite from Bethlehem, Judah, took place; the consequence of which her body was cut into twelve pieces and send to all the twelve tribes of Israel; and the tribe of Benjamin was almost exterminated;
— this same depravity on the part of Israel could be equally punished; he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins: that is, God, my God, as the prophet calls him in Hosea 9:8, will not forgive and forget their sins; pardon being often expressed by a non-remembrance of sins;
— but God will make inquiry after them, who persisting in their sins, like the men of Gibeah and Benjamin; and “he will visit their sins” that is, visit them in a way of wrath and judgement,
— and punish for them (who prided themselves as “liberal” democracies, promoting their LGBTqia agenda and other filths by coercing other countries with threats and falsehoods) as they deserve: perhaps, by the same Lord in the latter days.
10 “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first ripe of the fig tree at her first season. But they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame, and their abominations were according as they loved.
— Baalpeor was the place where Moabitic idolatry was practised. This great disgrace had burned itself into their national traditions and literature (Numbers 25; Deuteronomy 4:3; Psalm 106:28-31).
11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.
— the greatest glory, perhaps, of Ephraim was their fruitfulness; “double fruitfulness” being the meaning of their blessings; now that glory of populousness was to vanish speedily: no birth, no pregnancy and no conception, like birds winging their way swiftly out of sight.
12 Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left; yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!
— yet will I bereave them; their parents of them, by the Sword, Famine, Pestilence, or by carrying them Captive into a foreign country;
— that there shall not be a man left; in the whole land of Israel, but all shall be destroyed, or carried captive; or either from being men, as though they are brought up to some ripeness, and a more adult age than others, yet arrive not to such a time and age as to be called men.
13 Ephraim, as I saw Tyre, is planted in a pleasant place; but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.”
— the reference to Tyre seems prophetic and read it as: “I look on Ephraim even as I look on Tyre, planted in a secure resting-place.” The impregnable fortress of Tyre was a conspicuous object in the days of Hosea; her strength, her pride, and in the end, her fall;
— so as in today’s Ephraim; the United States has seven fleets plowing up and down the five oceans effortlessly without any challenge;
— the Septuagint continues with a dark ending: “Ephraim, even as I saw, gave their children for a prey; yea, Ephraim was ready to bring out his children to slaughter.”
— a parallel Scripture in Isaiah: “Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!” Isaiah 28:1
14 Give them, O Lord — what wilt Thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
— give them, O Lord; what wilt Thou give? the question interrupting the flow of thought showing the deep indignation of the prophet Hosea over the willful corruption of his people;
— give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts, sterility being considered a disgrace and a reproach, one of the sternest punishments of the Lord; population decline are prominent among the children of Israel, due to their collapse of fertility rate, especially among the countries in the northern kingdom;
15 “All their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I hated them; for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of Mine house. I will love them no more; all their princes are revolters.
— the wickedness of the northern kingdom had its focus there, at Gilgal, seems like it was their capital during the early years, their crimes recorded in Judges 19:16-22, were, perhaps in a provincial Gibeah, belongeth to Benjamin;
— of violating a travellor from Bethleham from Judah by certain sons of Belial of committing a sin, LGBTqia, described as “so vile a thing!” Judges 19:24. As a result concubine body was cut “into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the regions of Israel.”
16 Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit; yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.”
— Ephraim is smitten, like a plant struck by the direct rays of the sun; or suffer to be slain, either by the Sword of the enemy, or by Famine, or by Pestilence, or by some disease or another;
— their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit; yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb, by permitting their children to be killed by civil wars, conspiracies and murders among themselves.
17 My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto Him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
— and they shall be wanderers among the nations, being dispersed by their enemies, having no settled place of their own, nowhere where they can be called a people, or are for such owned: exiles, fugitives, and vagabonds. Deuteronomy 28:65.
Hosea 10
1 Israel is an empty vine; he bringeth forth fruit unto himself. According to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images. — the people of Israel are often compared to a vine, but “empty ” in the English translation is ambigious;
— Israel is an empty [or perhaps a luxuriant] vine; and such an one from whence fruit might be expected, planted in good soil, pouring out much fruits, emptying itself;
— the Septuagint understands it in a positive sense, rendering it, “a flourishing vine, her fruit is abundant” putting forth branches, leaves and fruit;
— but the Targum renders it posiviely initially and in reverse eventually:
“Israel is a luxuriant vine, established by its practice of Torah. But the fruit of their deeds brought exile. When I increased their prosperity, they increased idol worship. When I brought goodness to their land, they built altars before their images.” Hosea 10:1 Jonathan
— although Israel is likened positively to a “luxuriant vine” the fruit of their deeds caused them to be yielding unrighteousness, their abundance should bring blessing, more fruit or material wealth, the better the harvests, but it soon brings more altars to their gods; the more the obelisks or pillars to pagan gods;
— and in the context of this chapter, the Targum rendering is more complete and correct, as the text below says Israel’s hearts are divided between God and their idols, rather than wholly belonging to God.
2 Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty. He shall break down their altars; He shall despoil their images.
— Israel’s heart is divided; between God and their idols, as in Ahab’s time between God and Baal; or for today, between God and the world;
— as the Targum says; their hearts were divided between God and their idols; as in Ahab’s time between God and Baal; they pretended to worship God when they worshipped the calves, as if they had done that which was right and good, and were guilty of no evil;
— or further back, the heart of “Thy calf, O Samaria” (refering to Israel; Hosea 8:5-6), are divided between worshipping the God of Israel and worshipping the Sun.
Like shit stuck to a shovel, the golden calves of Ephraim are intrinsicaly linked with the golden calves of Samaria!
3 For now they shall say, “We have no king, because we feared not the Lord. What then should a king do to us?”
— when Israel is in captivity, they shall say, we have no king; they had none to protect and defend them.
4 They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant; thus judgement springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.
— swearing falsely, by perjury deceiving those they treated with, in making a covenant; either among themselves, accepting a usurper, promising and swearing fealty to him; or with their allies;
— judgements, divine judgement shall prevail not as a blessing, but as a curse; not as a precious harvest, but as a poisonous plant;
5 The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven; for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof who rejoiced on it for the glory thereof, because glory has departed from it.
— for the people thereof shall mourn over it; either the people of Samaria [but read Israel]; who would mourn over their loss, being taken away from their land, and disposed of as in the next verse;
— again, the link between verse 5 and verse 6 shows that the golden calves of Samaria, are intrinsicaly linked with the calves of Ephraim;
“Because they worshiped the calf in Bethel, the king with his army will rise against them and exile them. They will carry away from them the calf of Samaria. For its people will mourn over it, and its worshipers will tremble for its glory, because it has departed from it.”
6 It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to King Jareb. Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.
— and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel; of giving in to such idolatry, contrary to the counsel, mind and will of God;
— or of the counsel which they and Jeroboam took to set up the golden calves at Dan and Bethel, and thereby to keep the people from going up to Jerusalem, whereby they cut themselves off from the true God.
7 As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water.
— again, this is talking of the kings of Ephraim; after three years’ siege she shall be cut off. Her king is cut off; for all the rest of the kingdom was lost, and now he is rather a prisoner than a king.
8 The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
— shall say to the mountains, Cover us! and to the hills, Fall on us! That is the cry of the unbelievers, mockers, when they see the judgement approaching them, when it is too late for salvation. Cf Isaiah 2:19; Luke 23:30.
9 “O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah. There they stood. The battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them.
— O Israel, thou hast sinned; you of the ten tribes, headed by Ephraim, with such consent have sinned, that you seem to do it as one man;
— Gibeah is emblematic of gross and cruel sensuality, in allusion to Judges 19:20, just as Sodom and Gomorrah is used for unnatural vice.
10 It is in My desire that I should chastise them, and the people shall be gathered against them when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows.
— when I shall chastise them for their two iniquities; namely, the calves of Dan and Bethel.
11 And Ephraim is as a heifer that is taught and loveth to tread out the corn, but I passed over upon her fair neck. I will make Ephraim to ride, Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.”
— and Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, that is teachable; and loveth to tread out the corn; like a heifer taught to bear the yoke, and to plough; but learned it not,
— as the Targum; does not like it; chooses to tread out the corn where it can feed upon it, its mouth not being then muzzled, according to the law; oxen or heifers were used both in ploughing and treading out corn;
— “to pass over,” says some commentators, especially when it is said of God, “always signifies inflictions and troubles.”
12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you.
“O house of Israel, do for yourselves good works; walk in the way of truth; establish for yourselves the doctrine of the law; behold, at all times the prophets say to you, return to the fear of the Lord; now shall he be revealed, and bring righteousness to you.”
13 Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity, ye have eaten the fruit of lies, because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.
— Septuagint: “ye have eaten false fruit; for thou hast trusted in thy sins, in the abundance of thy power;”
— “the fruit of lies” is destruction; the lies of the law being done away with; the lies surrounding Easter rabbits and Christmas, an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25; the lies of the trinity.
14 Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be despoiled, as Shalman despoiled Betharbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.
— all thy fortresses shall be spoiled; every one of thy strong holds, those impregnable fortifications on which thou hast laid out all that art and diligence could, to make them able to break the power of the enemy that dares besiege them, these, every one of them, shall be wasted;
— as the plunder of a peaceful people by an ambush: Like plunderers who come upon a tranquil people suddenly with an ambush, for they did not beware of them to flee from before them, and they plunder everything; (for more see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline and The Flaming Sword and Fire from the South!)
— in the day of battle; the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children, in an excess of unnatural cruelty; underscoring the completeness of the calamity.
15 So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness; in a morning shall the king of Israel be utterly cut off.
— in a morning shall the king of Israel be utterly cut off; meaning Hoshea, Hosea, or Osee, the last king of Israel, and the kingdom entirely destroyed; so that afterwards there was no more king in Israel, leaving neither root nor branch.
— during the life of Hosea, it was in the days of Hezekiah (Hosea 1:1); the kingdom of Israel was already exiled into captivity or in the process of doing so, so this message is prophetic; it was meant for the last days;
“Thus your sins that you committed in Bethel have caused this for you, because of the wickedness of your deeds. In the end it will happen, and the king of Israel will be cut off.”
In the 1970s, the case rate for autism was 1 in 10,000 in the United States. In 1995, it was already 1 in 1,000.
“But now, in 2025, it is at 1 in 31,” epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher, MPH, says. “This is just skyrocketing. That is over 2% of all children here in the US. This is not something to joke around about.
26.7% of these cases have what is called profound autism, where they require 24/7 daily care. They can’t live on their own. They are not able to hold a job. They can’t even speak, some of them. Their parents’ lives will be shattered, their lives will be shattered,” Hulscher says.
The US childhood averages 72 vaccine doses by the age of 18
So what might be the cause for such a dramatic increase? Increased screening? Or could it be vaccines?
Since the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which effectively lifted all financial liability for vaccine injuries from the vaccine manufacturers, the childhood vaccine schedule has expanded enormously. Currently, the US childhood vaccine schedule consists of 72 doses for children up to the age of 18.
Now Hulscher, who also serves as the administrator of the McCullough Foundation, is, alongside Dr Peter A McCullough and others, one of the authors of a new study on the links between vaccines and autism. Although vaccines have been discussed as a direct or at least a contributing cause of autism for a long time, there has never been any comparable effort to sort this question out, according to Hulscher.
Their new study—“Determinants of Autism Spectrum Disorder”—looks at over 300 peer-reviewed papers and draws a conclusion that “combination and early-timed routine childhood vaccination emerges as the single most significant driver of autism risk, supported by convergent mechanistic, clinical and epidemiologic evidence.”
“We found in 12 studies with real unvaccinated control groups that all 12 of them found that the vaccinated had higher rates of neurodevelopmental disorders. Not just autism, but tics, ADHD, as well as chronic diseases including asthma, autoimmune disorders, skin disorders, allergic disorders. The evidence was quite clear,” Hulscher says.
In the episode, we will discuss why it is still the case that such reports and concerns are largely met with accusations of spreading misinformation rather than triggering further studies by the authorities.
We will also look at the current state of health policies under HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and ask why the US health authorities have not been making any moves against the provably hazardous mRNA platform.
15 “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee:
21 The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee until He have consumed thee from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. 22 The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blight, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. Deuteronomy 28:15, 21-22
Right at the start of this chapter, the first verse, the message is directed at the “iniquity of Ephraim” and the “wickedness of Samaria.” Ephraim is referred collectively as leader of the northern ten tribes; and elsewhere Ephraim and Manasseh has been established as the United States and the United Kingdom.
And eventually Ephraim will be caught in a snare: “My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in My [not China’s nor Russia’s] snare; and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there,” Ezekiel 12:13.
“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 understand it perfectly,” Jeremiah 23:20. The important point is that only “in later days” will we be able to “understand it fully.”
1 “When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, and the wickedness of Samaria. For they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers despoileth without.
— the house of Israel is associated with the wholedom of Samaria; troop of robbers despoileth from outside Ephraim’s borders; by a gang of robbers in the streets, or on the highway: so the Targum says: “in the night they thieve in houses, and in the day they plunder in the streets;”
— the wordings of “the iniquity of Ephraim” and “the wickedness of Samaria” are written as if they are like the attraction of the north and south poles; or Siamese twins, or as intimate as hand in glove; that is, the wickedness of Samaria is intrinsically linked with the iniquity of Ephraim!
— when I would have healed Israel; this is hypothetical and prophetic; but the thief came in; as after returning from the Babylonian captivity, when the Lord attempted to remove their corruption, then the wickedness of Samaria was discovered, when Sanballat attempted to corrupt by offering his help in building the Temple in Jerusalem; failing which, he went on to built a rival temple on Mount Gerizim;
— Tobiah, an Ammonite and an ally of Sanballet, a Samaritan, was allowed and managed to infiltrate and influence Eliashib the Jewish high priest to pollute God’s Sanctuary in Jerusalem, Nehemiah 13:4; hence not only the Temple was desecrated, but their teachings, too;
— their sabbaths, which is Sundays, where the original keepers were the Samaritans, brought from Assyria, had infiltrated the house of Judah; and even modern Israel: “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;
— today more than 98.5 percent of Christians are worshipping the Sun by observing Sunday, worshipping on a pagan sabbath. 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 judgement is to be stoned to death (Deuteronomy 17:3-5) – ’till they die (for more, see the Samaritans at the end).
The ancient Sun-worshipping Samaritans of Israel: From Mount Gerizim
2 And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own doings have beset them about; they are before My face.
— God remember all their wickedness; this is the root of “all their wickedness.” They would not stop to say to themselves that God not only saw, but “remembered their wickedness” and not only this but that he remembered them all;
— they are before my face; so the Targum says, “which are revealed before me;” manifesting “all their wickedness” in God’s sight, but this they did not know, and therefore they went on in their bold and daring their evil deeds as they did.
3 They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.
— but what about the kings? kings in the plural as in the Septuagint, meaning the succession of the kings of Israel from Jeroboam; who were highly delighted with their priests in offering sacrifice to the calves;
— by which they hoped to secure the kingdom of Israel to themselves, and prevent the people from going to worship in Jerusalem: it made them glad to the heart to hear them say that God was as well pleased with sacrifices offered at Dan and Bethel;
— “the princes with their lies” – modern version of Princely Mike Pompeo freely admitted those lies about the CIA: We lied, We cheated, We stole. Lying, that is, deception both in word and deed towards God and man, theft and highway robbery that are openly committed and have no fear of the vengeance of God;
4 They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened.
— they: kings, princes, priests and people, are all adulterers, all in a spiritual and corporeal sense; they were all idolaters, given to idols;
— the Targum says, “they all desire to lie with their neighbours’ wives;” Jeremiah 5:7. So after passion has once been gratified, it smoulders on for a time, but is afterwards kindled to a greater heat than before when some attractive object comes within its range.
5 In the day of our king, the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.
— kings and princes, as in the Septuagint, have made him sick with bottles of wine, such as those named in the Espstein Files: that is, the courtiers, prominent figures among the swarms of Washington DC, who attended at court on such a day to compliment their kings upon their inauguration, birthdays, Halloweens, to drink in large glasses of good wine.
6 For they have made ready their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait; their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.
— whiles they lie in wait; their king, prince and scorners being heated with wine and their lust enraged, were ready for any chance of adultery, lying in wait for any young interns to appear to debauch them;
— or for rebellion and treason against their king, and even the murder of him, made drunk by them, whom they now despised, and waited for an opportunity to dispatch him.
7 They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen; there is none among them that calleth unto Me.
— and have devoured their judges; that stood in the way of making impartial judgements, but instead, subject themselves to politics;
— and there is none among these kings or judges that calleth upon biblical principles.
8 “Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.
— Ephraim is a cake not turned, like a pancake burned on the lower side, while the upper side is not yet done; the entire cake is then not fit for food; just a pretender, neither a heathen idolater nor a true worshipper of God.
9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not; yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.
— signs of senility are upon him; yet he knoweth not, being blind to all evidences of the inevitable end.
10 And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face; and they do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek Him for all this.
“If we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future, and we see the danger here to all of us,” says Madeleine Albright regarding the US as an ‘indispensable nation.’
— their pride [of Israel] testifieth to his face: “Only the United States [that is, not God’s] had the power to guarantee global security: without our presence or support, multilateral endeavors would fail.” ~ this phase, or with small variation, used by numerous American politicians.
11 “Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart; they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.
— silly dove; birds were captured with nets spread on the ground, in traps and snares; in this powerful metaphor, no creature is less able to defend itself than the dove, which flies from the bird of prey to the net of the fowler;
— and according to the Targum; but will fall by its flying right into the net of the bird-catcher, without suspecting or observing it in its search for food; instead of being faithful to God, Israel flutters between foreign powers.
12 When they shall go, I will spread My net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard.
— though they fly on high, soar aloft, God will spread my net upon them; as fowlers spread the net, watch the birds, and cast it over them to catch them, so will God do to Ephraim;
— God will chastise them, as their congregation hath heard; what was written in the law, and in the prophets, if they did not observe the laws and statutes of the Lord their God, but neglected and broke them, see Leviticus 26:1,14-39.
13 Woe unto them, for they have fled from Me! Destruction unto them, because they have transgressed against Me! Though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against Me.
— yet they have spoken lies against me; cast off my law and government, spoke against his being and providence, or pretending repentance for their sins, when they were hypocrites, or setting up idols in opposition to him.
14 And they have not cried unto Me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds; they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against Me.
— they howled upon their beds; lying sick or wounded there; or, as some, in their idol temples, those beds of falsehood and deceits, where they pretended to worship God in his churches, and to pray to him through them; but such idolatrous prayers were no better than the howlings of wolves at night.
15 Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they contrive evil against Me. — here we have another instance of God’s goodness and Israel’s ingratitude; devising mischief against him.
16 They return, but not to the Most High; they are like a deceitful bow. Their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue; this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.
— like a deceitful bow; religious observance has the appearance of a bow with the arrow on the string, apparently aimed at some object, but the string being slack, the aim is diverted;
— the word rendered “rage” is used as of the wrath of God elsewhere; but here, of the “wrath” and “foaming” of man against God; thus their tongue was raging like a “sharp sword” against God;
— they misled the people; taught them to trust in science and security, not in God; persuaded them to believe in themselves, and to disbelieve God; to believe, that the enemy should depart from them and nothing would carry them away as captives.
~~~~
Worshipping their SUN-God on the slope of Mount Gerizim
The Samaritans, they have succeeded in having their heretic teachings adopted by the Sadducees and the Boethusians in the NT time. And today, such teaching are clinging to the Churches of God communities like shit stuck to a shovel: they just couldn’t shake it off!
The Samaritans are adversaries to the returning Jews because of (a) differences in defining what time at ben ha’arbayim when the Pascha lamb should be killed: the Jewish definition of ben ha’arbayim “between the two evenings” is “after noon and until nightfall,”
— whereas the Samaritans is sunset or dusk; (b) when is omer, which translated to English is rendered “wave sheaf” offering to be made: the Jews definition has it on the annual Sabbath after Pascha, whereas the Samaritans has it the day after the weekly Sabbath during the days of unleavened bread;
— (c) after counting seven weeks after the omer, on what day Shavuot is to be kept: the Jews have it on Sivan 6th, whereas the Samaritans always have it on a weekly Sabbath;
— (d) the three annual feasts are to be kept in Jerusalem, whereas the Samaritans have their feasts on Mount Gerizim, which they consider a sacred mountain; and (e) once in roughly three years, the Samaritan calendar starts one month later than the Jewish calendar.
Here is what Wikipedia says about the Samaritans: “There has been a history of genetic disorders within the group due to the small gene pool,” and as such, resulting in various reports of high incidence of autism and cripples within their community, Genesis 12:3; but of course they manage to deflect from mentioning the downside of God’s curses upon those who show hostilities to the rebuilding of the house of God in Jerusalem.
Hosea 8
1 “Set the trumpet to thy mouth! He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed My covenant, and trespassed against My law.
— “Set the trumpet to thy mouth,” or, as the Targum says, “O prophet, cry with thy throat as with a trumpet, saying;” called upon to blow his trumpet bidding them a warning concerning the approach of judgement.
— or as God bids the prophet Isaiah, “Cry aloud, spare not, llft up thy voice like a trumpet” Isaiah 58:1. As watchman, the prophets were set by God to give warnings of his coming judgements.
2 Israel shall cry unto Me, ‘My God, we know Thee!’ — “they shall cry unto me” Israel turns to God only when calamity strikes; these transgressors of the covenant and the law,
— these hypocrites, shall only pray to God when in trouble, saying, “my God, we Israel” or Israelites, “know thee” and to this sense is the Targum, “in every time that distress comes upon them, they pray before me, and say, now we know that we have no God besides thee; redeem us, for we are thy people Israel.”
Remember, as a recollection, the Targum could be traced to the work of Ezra, highly regarded as a second Moses, and hence has prominence and enlightenment in giving us further understanding of biblical concepts which, oftentimes, where the message in the Masoretic Text are vague, uncertain, indefinite or unclear, the Targum provides greater clarity, wider insight and deeper intellect.
The verse above is another example. The original Masoretic lacks context, and the English King James version doesn’t make much sense until enlighted and provided with deeper insight by the Targum.
3 Israel hath cast off the thing that is good; the enemy shall pursue him.
— in the past, “Israel hath cast off” that is, Israel had rebelled against God, and the enemy came from the North, the Assyrian; but in the future, the enemy shall come from the South: see The Flaming Sword and Fire from the South!
— the Targum says of an adverse event in the future tense, “the house of Israel have erred from my worship, for the sake of which I brought good things upon them; henceforward the enemy shall pursue them.”
4 They have set up kings, but not by Me; they have made princes, and I knew it not. Of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.
— Israel have set up kings, but not by me; not by God’s authority, order and command; not by asking advice from him, but of themselves: starting with the case of Jeroboam their first king;
— but the United States is a democracy, hence selection of its kings are not from God, but by and from wealthy campaign contributors influencing their electorates in their selection for their kings [read presidents] and princes [read governors, senators, congressmen, etc]; and is not from God.
5 “Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; Mine anger is kindled against them. How long will it be ere they attain to innocency? — Samaria, that is, Ephraim, is identified with a calf; or a bull;
— the subject in question (verses 2 &3) is still Israel, yet God address Israel as “thy calf, O Samaria”
— hath cast thee off; or is the cause of thy being cast off by the Lord, and of being cast out of thine own land, and carried captive into another; the past tense is used for the future, as is common in prophetic writings;
— according to Samaritan tradition, key parts of the Jewish text were fabricated by Ezra. ‘Samaritan and Islamic scholars, as well as several of the Church Fathers, argue that Ezra falsified the Bible when he rewrote it and that the Torah we have now could not be the same as the one that Moses dictated; (Wiki: Samaritans).[t]
6 For from Israel was it also: the workman made it, therefore it is not God; but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces. — again, the calf of Samaria;
— as stated before, the wickedness of Samaria or “the calf of Samaria” is intrinically linked with the iniquity of Ephraim!
— but the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces; or the calf of Ephraim being the reason it could not be God’s; this surely be broken to pieces by the enemy, from whom it could not save itself.
7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. It hath no stalk; the bud shall yield no meal. If so it shall yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
— for they (Samaria and Ephraim) have sown the wind; their idolatry sun worship, which spread throughout the world like a whirlwind!
— for their idolatry and continuance in it, the whirlwind of God’s wrath would be raised up against them, thus another “Assyrian army” like a storm of wind would rush in and destroy them; so they that sow, shall reap;
— if so it shall yield, the strangers shall swallow it up; the Targum says, “if they got substance, the nations shall spoil them of it.”
8 “Israel is swallowed up; now shall they be among the nations as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.
— when Shalmaneser took Ephraim from Samaria, he carried them as captives and placed them among the nations in the cities of the Medes, II Kings 17:6; where they lived poor and abject, and were treated with the utmost neglect and contempt; no better than a vassal state.
9 For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself; Ephraim hath hired lovers.
— “Ephraim hath hired lovers;” as head of Nato, the United States had incorporated many Central and Eastern European countries as “allies and confederates, patrons and defenders” right up to the Russian bounder into her alliance;
— and is trying to extend this alliance into the Asia-Pacific:Japan and South Korea; but eventually she will be caught in a snare: “My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in God’s [not China’s nor Russia’s] snare;
— and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there” Ezekiel 12:13; and shall dwell in captivity like a wild ass.
10 Yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.
— yea, though they have hired; namely, allies; that is, allies among the nations; now will God gather them and will bring those very allies against their kings and princes.
— as the Targum says, “Even if the house of Israel were to place My fear upon their hearts; or if Israel belatedly acknowledged God’s authority, it would not undo the consequences of their rebellion.” These Ephraimites shall be gathered together to be led away in chains and dispersed among the nations.
11 “Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.
— God had appointed only “one” altar at Jerusalem; that is, any altar in Ephraim, from Dan to Bethel, and in all high places and tops of mountains, are an abomination; they had many high places and erected altars in all of them;
— the Targum says, “for the house of Ephraim hath multiplied altars to sin, the altars of their idols shall he to them for a stumbling block.”
Latter-days Counterfeit Temple at Salt Lake City
12 I have written to him the great things of My law, but they were counted as a strange thing.
— God have written to Ephraim the great things of his Law, literally, God presented to him the goodness of his laws and statutes; his true Sabbaths and true festivals;
— Great things; for their importance, weighty; for their excellency, precious; and for multitude of precepts, counsels, and directions, sufficient; my law had all this in it for their conduct in all righteousness towards God and man;
— the many precepts by which the Israelites might fulfill his will and be blessed; but they were counted as a strange thing; as though they did not concern them, dismissing or condemning them as “ceremonial” laws or as “the ancient Mosaic law;”
— replacing it with a “covenant of grace” so as to get rid of the law, statutes, ordinances; and any thoughts about the Sabbaths.
13 They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of Mine offerings, and eat it; but the Lord accepteth them not. Now will He remember their iniquity and visit their sins; they shall return to Egypt.
— they have sacrificed the choicest sacrifices, and have eaten flesh: yet Yehovah taketh no delight in them.
— they shall return to Egypt, back to Captivity, once more be delivered into extreme misery, where they suffered for 210 years in bondage; but another one is coming, cut short to 190 years.
14 For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fortified cities. But I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.”
— God himself has allowed only one Temple, and it should be in Jerusalem, but today there are many counterfeit temples, such as those Latter-days Counterfeit Temples!
— but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof; that is, from “an enemy” that will set fire to their national icons, palaces, castles or towers, particularly New York, Paris, London, Jerusalem, their chief cities;
— and palaces of their king and nobles, and all the fine houses of their great men; as were destroyed by fires in the past by Shalmaneser the king of the Assyria; and 135 years later, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Jeremiah 52:13.
In 2005, China only had two EV battery manufacturers. Twenty years later, it produces more than three-quarters of the world’s lithium-ion cells. How did it happen?
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, athletes, journalists and officials from all over the world were transported by a fleet of sleek buses sporting a white, blue and green design as they zipped between different venues in the Chinese capital.
Different from the diesel-powered vehicles that ruled Beijing’s streets at the time, the Olympic buses, numbering around 50, ran on lithium-ion batteries to help Beijing host a “green and high-tech” Olympic Games. It also marked the country’s first foray into creating a lithium-ion battery industry for electric vehicles (EVs), laying the groundwork for China’s ascension to world leader of this technology two decades later.
The Olympic e-bus campaign had been set in motion as soon as Beijing won the bid in 2001, according to a 2020 documentary aired by China’s state media. But developing and producing EV batteries for the global event was no easy feat.
In late 2003, Mo Ke and his colleagues at the Beijing New Materials Development Centre – a government-affiliated research institute – were tasked to analyse China’s lithium battery industry as part of Beijing’s preparatory work for the Olympics.
But back then, China’s lithium battery industry was “very small” with only two EV battery producers, as Mo’s team found. In 2005, they hosted China’s first conference for the lithium battery industry as a part of their research.
“All companies in the industry came, but there were only around 200 people in total,” Mo says.
At the time, CATL, the world’s current largest EV battery maker, was a department of ATL, a Japanese-owned company that made lithium batteries for electronic gadgets. BYD, the world’s current second-largest EV battery maker and a leading EV maker, had just entered the auto industry after earning its first barrel of capital by supplying batteries to phone giants.
Twenty years later, China is the king of the industry indispensable to the world’s 2050 net-zero goal. It produces more than three-quarters of all lithium-ion batteries worldwide and is home to six out of the 10 largest battery makers on the planet.
Olympic buses, numbering around 50, ran on lithium-ion batteries to help China host a “green and high-tech” Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
What led to its meteoric rise? The answer lies in a combination of factors.
Two of them are a huge domestic market “walled off and preserved” for local firms and coordinated government support across the supply chain, says Xie Yanmei, an independent analyst of Chinese political economy and industrial policy. Consumer subsidies, state-sponsored rollout of charging networks and a policy mandating automakers to make EVs also helped, she notes.
But policy is only part of the story. Chinese companies also proved adept at large-scale production and controlling cost – both key to EV battery manufacturing.
“They have strong survival instinct and will proactively explore new ideas to help them stay competitive,” says Song Xin, who advises Chinese companies ranging from car to robot makers aiming to go global. “This is the foundation of the industry’s continuous growth.”
International roots
The story of lithium batteries began beyond China’s shores about 50 years ago with three chemists: British-American Stanley Whittingham, American John Goodenough and Japanese Akira Yoshino.
Their separate research – which earned them a joint Nobel Prize in 2019 – rode on each other’s strength and led to the invention of the first commercially viable lithium-ion battery in 1985, built by Yoshino for Tokyo-based chemical company Asahi Kasei.
In 1991, Japanese electronics company Sony worked with Asahi Kasei to bring the world’s first lithium-ion batteries to the market. Five years later, Nissan teamed up with Sony to launch the world’s first car powered by a lithium-battery.
In the following decade, Japan was the global number one lithium-ion battery producer, with South Korea keenly vying for supremacy. At the turn of the century, Japanese firms accounted for a staggering 93% of the global market share, with electronics company Sanyo leading the charge. It wasn’t until 2011 that South-Korean Samsung SDI overtook Japanese Panasonic to top the chart.
Chinese policy makers decided that EVs could be an opportunity for the Chinese auto industry to leapfrog the west – Xie Yanmei
When Mo was researching China’s lithium battery industry in the early 2000s, Mengguli and Wanxiang were the only two companies making EV batteries in the country.
“They supplied most of the batteries for the e-buses that served the Beijing Olympics and the World Expo in Shanghai in 2010,” says Mo, now the founder and chief analyst of Chinese battery-research firm, RealLi Research.
But before the Olympics, China had already planned a long game. In 2006, its cabinet launched a science and technology scheme that would cover the next 15 years. It included “low-emission and new-energy vehicles [NEVs]” as one of the 62 priority areas the country should pursue, and listed “rechargeable power battery” as a key technology for this area.
NEVs, a term frequently used by the Chinese government, refers to pure electric, plug-in hybrids, and fuel cell vehicles powered by alternative fuels such as hydrogen and methanol.
China’s goal was clear: to upgrade its vast manufacturing industry by 2020 so that it would stop relying on cheap labour and start winning with technological advantages.
More than 800 hydrogen buses at the Beijing Winter Olympics: a gold medal result
In 2009, with a smooth run of the Olympics e-buses in the bag, China made a major move to “adjust and revitalise” its auto industry.
For years, Beijing had tried but failed to be a global contender in the conventional auto industry that featured internal combustion engines. But it believed it was time for a reboot.
“Chinese policy makers decided that EVs could be an opportunity for the Chinese auto industry to leapfrog the west, because it was like a blank field where everybody was starting from scratch,” says Xie.
A national plan guided regional governments to build supply chains and charging networks for NEVs. It also supported domestic companies to spearhead the research and development of technologies related to EVs, including batteries.
In the same year, the country began its large-scale rollout of new-energy buses, with the “10 Cities and Thousand Vehicles” programme.
Sluggish American competition
In Mo’s view, China’s determination to promote EVs was vital for its battery ascension, and that vision was partly inspired by the US.
The US saw a wave of interest in developing and making battery-powered vehicles first during the 1970s after the breakout of the oil crisis, and then again in the 1990s after the federal government published a regulation to tackle air pollution.
As early as 1990, California launched a zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) programme to improve air quality by encouraging the adoption of EVs. The programme led to the introduction of ZEV mandate, which essentially forced car companies like General Motors to invest in EVs, says Anders Hove, senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies in the UK.
Actions on the other side of the ocean led the Chinese government to realise that EVs were “a stepping stone” to what was later described as the “fourth industrial revolution” – an era characterised and driven by digital technologies – and China wanted a place in it, according to Mo.
But the EV push by California did not lead to the establishment of a US lithium-ion battery industry, partly because car and oil companies lobbied California to “water down” the ZEV mandate to give more support for fuel cells powered by hydrogen and hybrid cars, whose batteries used non-lithium chemistries, Hove says.
In the 2000s, the George W Bush administration introduced measures to fund the research and development of EVs. US startups made major progress on both batteries and cars, Hove says, but then came the financial crisis in 2008.
BYD cars waiting at ports waiting to be loaded for overseas markets
“[The first wave of US startups] all ran into a lot of financial difficulty and the window kind of closed on investing in clean energy,” Hove says. “All the people who had invested in that, they were burned.”
In the following year, the Obama administration launched a new round of funding, but it was too late to save that first wave of renewable companies from collapsing or selling their technologies, Hove says. Many of them were bought by Chinese firms, according to him, including battery company A123, a rising-star that boasted advanced lithium-ion battery technology developed at MIT. A123 was acquired by China’s Wanxiang in 2013.
At the same time, China launched an enormous four-trillion-yuan (roughly £394bn or $649bn then) stimulus plan to counter the impact of the global financial crisis and part of it was directed towards “energy-saving and emissions-reduction” projects. The move ignited the country’s interest in renewable technologies, including NEVs, according to a 2010 report published by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and China’s Research Institute of Resources and Environment Policies.
China’s industry snowballs
The years between 2012 and 2020 proved to be critical for China’s battery makers as the government doubled down its effort in putting EVs on the road.
An industrial roadmap for new-energy vehicles set targets on the number of EVs the country should deploy over the period. More importantly, it also set technical requirements for EV and battery manufacturers to apply for state support – a push for them to grow. In 2013, China made EV purchase subsidies available to individual consumers, not just the public sector, opening the floodgate to private car ownership.
The scale of the state backing was enormous. In 2014, China’s central and regional governments spent nearly 10bn yuan (roughly £986m or $1.6bn then) on subsidies, according to a report at the time. Over the next eight years, the country would go on to hand out 200bn yuan (£21bn or $28bn) in tax rebates in total for new-energy vehicles.
The investment yielded almost instant result. Both the number of NEVs produced and sold in the country grew more than threefold in 2014 and 2015, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade body. Their market share would snowball from 1.3% in 2015 to 41% in 2024.
But a bigger boost for the battery industry was yet to arrive. In 2015, China introduced a key rule that – in Xie’s words – “walled off” its huge domestic market for Chinese battery firms. EV makers were mandated to use batteries produced by one of the selected suppliers if their cars were to qualify for consumer subsidies. All of the 57 companies that appeared on a government “white list” turned out to be Chinese.
“It was very cleverly designed technical specifications that narrowly defined that only Chinese battery companies would be eligible,” Xie says. At that time, some South Korean companies had already started building factories in China, “only to find out that they were completely shut out the market,” she adds.
Those Chinese EV makers that had been using foreign suppliers had to make a last-minute switch to battery manufacturer CATL and few other domestic firms complied with the policy, The Economic Observer reported. That rule ended up lasting four years.
In the fast lane
A sudden influx of new customers propelled CATL – which split from ATL in 2011 – to become the world’s largest EV battery producer in 2017, based in Ningde, China, beating Panasonic and its compatriot BYD, Chinese news site Caixin reported. CATL has held the title since.
The policy drive continued with the “Made in China 2025” strategy, which aimed at helping the country “grab the global vantage point for manufacturing” by the mid-2020s through technological innovation. NEVs were listed as a “key area” the country should “vigorously promote.”
Riding on the momentum, China introduced a “dual-credit” system for automakers in 2017. Partly based on California’s ZEV programme, the policy essentially demanded that all automakers in China produce EVs to “balance off” the conventional cars they made through a complex formula. A “one-way street” design pushed automakers to make more EVs in order to avoid unnecessary cash spending.
“As an automaker, on the one hand, you had to produce EVs in China or face a [financial] penalty. On the other, the EVs you were forced to produce would not sell without Chinese batteries,” Xie explains. “So, every automaker, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Americans, Germans, had to use Chinese batteries.”
The ballooning and protected market allowed CATL to work with advanced Western car makers on joint innovation. The process “quickly brought up its skill and capability,” Xie adds.
The way China’s EV and battery industries grew was also fundamentally different from the West. The key was the close partnership between the government and the industry, says Song, founder of Sinnvoll Global Strategy, a think tank with offices in Beijing and Berlin.
The government’s massive investment had come with a clear goal: to build a strong EV manufacturing industry. And that goal was delivered via fierce competition within the industry to decide which companies or technologies would survive and thrive, according to Song.
This method – like running rounds and rounds of industrial-wide “horse races” to pick the fastest – is much more effective than the conventional model in Europe, North America and Japan, where industrial growth is often driven by few major companies or consortiums, she explains. “This also means that China can bring a technology from the lab to mass production very quickly.”
Secrets to success
There are other important elements that set China’s battery industry apart. “It’s the supply chain, know-how and manufacturing,” says Taylor Ogan, chief executive of Shenzhen-based Snow Bull Capital, which invests in China’s clean-tech sector.
For one, top Chinese battery makers, such as CATL and BYD, run on a “vertically integrated” business model, which means that they often own their suppliers fully or partly.
“This helps control cost and ensure the security and reliability of their supply chains,” says Chen Shan, a Shanghai-based analyst on battery markets at Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy.
CATL produces nearly 40% of the global EV battery market in 2024, more than double second-place BYD, totally 60 of global EVs
Their capability at managing large-scale manufacturing matters enormously, too.
“Modern EV battery packs string hundreds of small cells side by side or end by end. One weak cell would drag down the whole chain, cut range and raise safety risks,” explains Liu Chengguang, who researches battery materials in Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in China. “Every cell must be almost identical.”
Achieving the feat “demands massive, highly automated plants with strict process control and real-time testing and smart sorting,” he notes.
This is precisely the strength of CATL, which grabbed nearly 40% of the global EV battery market in 2024, more than double second-place BYD.
“The secret to CATL’s success is that it can use less money to make better batteries while maintaining a huge manufacturing capacity,” according to Cheng Manqi, a journalist with Chinese business outlet Late Post, who has investigated the firm.
Constant innovation is another factor helping Chinese battery makers stay ahead of the game. For example, BYD’s signature “blade battery,” a lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery, was launched in 2020 partly because it was cheaper to make: the battery did not use cobalt, a mineral for which China had to rely on imports.
But BYD significantly improved the performance of previous LFPs, making them more powerful, safer and smaller. It became so popular that it altered the prevailing type of lithium-ion battery in China.
“There will not be a time that I can ever envision another country catching up with the Chinese in terms of battery manufacturing,” says Hove of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. “They’re just so much further ahead.”
Behind such a rapid tech revolution is a large pool of Chinese battery engineers, who came through a targeted education and vocational training system offered by colleges, universities and battery companies.
“Chinese companies have a generation of incredibly skilled technical researchers,” says Cory Combs, head of critical mineral and supply chain research at consultancy Trivium China.
“They are not just PhDs who work upstream in the lab. They’re not just floor workers in the factories,” says Combs. They are “practicing engineers,” who know the production processes thoroughly, understand what the market wants and can use their knowledge to improve existing technology quicky to win consumers. “That’s what you need to make batteries cost effective to produce,” he says.
CATL employs more than 20,000 technical engineers while BYD’s battery arm, FinDreams Battery, has more than 10,000 of them.
Can China maintain its dominance?
Today, China dominates the production at every stage of the battery supply chain, apart from the mining and processing of some raw minerals, according to the International Energy Agency.
It is home to nearly 85% of the battery production capacity globally, compared to North America’s 5% and Europe’s 7%, according to research by consultancy Wood Mackenzie, seen by the BBC.
A consensus among researchers is that it will be extremely difficult for other countries to challenge China’s dominance over the current generation of battery technologies.
China’s CJ2000 Aircraft Engine Achieves Astonishing Results | China C929
“Some aspects that led to China’s leadership, such as the existence of industrial clusters and vertical integration of supply chains, will be difficult to replicate,” says Kate Logan, a director at Asia Society Policy Institute who focuses on China’s climate and clean energy policies.
The fact that Chinese companies have already achieved scale manufacturing batteries and are expanding its production overseas is another huge hurdle for perspective competitors.
“Chinese batteries are cheaper, they are high-performing, they are available,” says Francesca Ghiretti, a researcher on China and economic security at RAND Europe, a non-profit research organisation. China’s production scale “makes it really difficult for others to catch up – not to catch up with the technology, but the commercial success of that technology,” she says.
But in Mo’s view, the door isn’t completely shut for other countries. What China is really good at is taking existing technologies and making them better and cheaper, but the country’s weakness is in cutting-edge research, he says.
If other countries can get ahead with next-generation battery technologies, such as solid-state batteries, “there may still be chances” for them to compete, Mo says. Traditional lithium-ion batteries use a liquid electrolyte to transfer ions between the electrodes, but solid-state batteries use a solid electrolyte. What is unique about them is that it may not need the existing supply chain meant for liquid-based cells, potentially opening space for non-Chinese contenders, Mo says.
Companies such as China’s CATL and BYD, South Korea’s Samsung SDI and the US’s QuantumScape are developing solid-state batteries. But for the US – which heavily relies on China for lithium-ion batteries at present – scaling up manufacturing to a competitive level is expected to challenging, according to an analysis published by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Obstacles include lagging know-how, uncertain demand and high energy costs, the analysis said.
But growing one’s own battery industry doesn’t automatically mean competing with China, as some point out.
“It is only possible in the near term by working with Chinese companies because they are at the forefront of the technology,” says Hove of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. “If you don’t have that manufacturing expertise, you won’t be able to scale up any breakthrough technology.” Instead, it is the expansion of the know-how that will enable the catch up, he says.
But this is no easy feat, given China’s 20-year lead in building a battery-manufacturing ecosystem. For some, such as Ogan of Snow Bull Capital, the past two decades may have sealed China’s long-lasting lead in the global battery supply chain.
“There will not be a time that I can ever envision another country catching up with the Chinese in terms of battery manufacturing,” he says. “They’re just so much further ahead.”
And here is a prophecy for the endtime children of Israel:
43 The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high, and thou shalt come down very low.
44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee and overtake thee till thou be destroyed, because thou hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded thee. Deuteronomy 28:43-45
The Prophecy of Hosea is primarily to the house of Ephraim. Being the chief tribe of the ten tribes, Ephraim is often used in place of Israel when it is referring to northern kingdom. Elsewhere on this site Ephraim has been established as the United States.
So although Hosea may refer to situation in his time, the encrypted message of Ephraim and Israel today is specially meant primarily for the United States or the “Anglosphere” and secondarily its European allies.
1 “Hear ye this, O priests! And hearken, ye house of Israel! And give ye ear, O house of the king! For judgement is against you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor. — Hosea (born in the 8th century, around 784 BC), directs his message to the “house of Israel;”
— Hear ye this, O priests, the spiritual leaders of the people; and hearken, ye house of Israel, the family of the ten tribes as such; for judgment is against you;
— and give ye ear, in paying most careful attention, O house of the king, as the temporal rulers of the nation; for judgement is against you, it is intended all of them, to strike them down in due time.
2 And the revolters are deep in slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all.
— the revolters; all those that have cast off the law of God, both in matters of religion and civil government;
— are profound; dig deep to hide their counsels, or have taken deep root since their apostasy from God, and revolt from the house of David; to make slaughter: all their religion is but a butchering of cattle to baal, and no sacrifice to God; or, which is worse, a murdering of men;
— so the Targum says, “the people are not just guilty of idolatry, but of multiplying sacrifices to falsehood;” instead of worship directed to God, they, priests, leaders, and people alike, lavish offerings on deceptive practices.
3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from Me; for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled. — “Ephraim” and “Israel” are repeatedly mentioned, for emphasis;
— Ephraim and Israel are not hidden from me; though Ephraim may cover their designs from other nations;
— and seek deep to hide their counsel from them, and make plausible pretenses for what they do, and put on a good outward appearance; yet God, who knows Ephraim and their hearts cannot be deceived.
4 “They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God; for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord.
— their unclean mind and inclination stands bent and fixed upon spiritual whoredoms, and they are incited to it by the seducing evil spirit.
5 And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face; therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.
— the way this verse is phrased, it seems like Ephraim will fall first, then Judah will fall also; which is true with historical records:
— Judah also fell into idolatry and were guilty of the same crimes as Israel, so should be involved in the same punishment, though not at the same time; for the Babylonish captivity, in which Judah was carried captive, was about 135-150 years after Ephraim;
— this sequence could re-occured at the endtime, where Israel would fall into captivity first, then after 150 years, Judah would join the fall; and together, for another 40 years; (for more, see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline).
6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord, but they shall not find Him; He hath withdrawn Himself from them.
— but they shall not find God; now as a punishment, and to leave them remediless, God will not be found of them; he may not accept a sacrifice, or pardon their sin, or return to save them.
7 They have dealt treacherously against the Lord, for they have begotten strange children. Now shall a month devour them with their portions.
— now shall a month devour; the word indicates the nearness and suddenness of God’s judgements; the term “month,” their rapidity. A “month” is not only a brief time, but is almost visibly passing away;
8 “Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah! Cry aloud at Bethaven! After thee, O Benjamin!
— according to the Targum, the words are directed to the prophets, “O ye prophets, lift up your voice like a trumpet”
— to declare to the house of Israel their sins and transgressions, and the punishment that would be inflicted on them for them; or it may be, this is a call of the people to fasting, mounting, and lamentation, as in Joel 2:1.
9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke; among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be. — Ephraim was taken away for a long time ago; and was never restored;
— the head of the ten tribes shall be laid desolate, their inhabitants destroyed either by the Sword, or Famine, or Pestilence, and the rest carried as Captives, as they were by Shalmaneser; and again in the “days afar off” – our time, of the Lord’s rebuke and chastisement.
10 The princes of Judah were like them that remove the landmarks; therefore I will pour out My wrath upon them like water. — Judah will also go down, following Ephraim, as history recorded them;
— this sequence could be repeated at the endtime, where Israel would fall into Captivity first, then after 150 years, Judah would join the fall; and together, for another 40 years; (for a more indepth Study, see Ezekiel 4 – 190/40 Years of captivity.
11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgement, because he willingly walked after the commandment [of man].
— or as the Targum says “The nobles of the house of Ephraim are subdued in their judgments, for their judges turned aside to pursue false money,” which clarifies this uncertainty; by the tyranny of their kings or nobles, and the injustice of their judges, who looked only monetary gains, not God’s commandment.
Remember, as a recollection, the Targum could be traced to the work of Ezra, highly regarded as a second Moses, and hence has prominence and enlightenment in giving us further understanding of biblical concepts which, oftentimes, where the message in the Masoretic Text are vague, uncertain, indefinite or unclear, the Targum provides greater clarity, wider insight and deeper intellect.
The verse above is one such example. The original Masoretic is uncertain, and the English King James version doesn’t make sense until enlightened and corrected by the Targum.
12 Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.
— will I be unto Ephraim as a moth; as had been from Jeroboam’s death to this day, which eats garments, penetrates into them, feeds on them quietly, secretly, and gradually consumes them; but at last utterly, they are just of no use left.
13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to King Jareb. Yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.
— then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, looking for assistance from the heathens instead of consulting the Lord; again, Ephraim is recorded first, Judah following behind in going down; its significance could be prophetic.
14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah; I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.
— I, even I, will tear and go away, as a lion withdrawing to his den; I will take away, and none shall rescue Ephraim and Judah, for with the Lord’s merciful presence removed, there is no hope of deliverance;
— I, even I, in an emphatic way, will tear and go away; as a lion tears its prey in pieces it seizes upon, and goes away, and leaves it torn, having satisfied itself;
15 I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offense and seek My face; in their affliction they will seek Me early.”
— this is flashing forward, as if it is a Second Coming, where redemption becomes available again, but the house of Israel will have to go into captivity; perhaps for a period of 190 years! On reflection they were in Egypt for about 210 years, so some solemn cheers; this coming captivity is 20 years shorter.
— and those who consistently break the Law of Moses (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28) in their Judgement shall be more than horsewhipped!
There is a great time gap from their detestable filthy and abominable stage in chapter 5 to one where the house of Israel would be ready to accept God’s statues, judgements and new spirits in chapter 6; in fact in the book of Ezekiel, it flashes from chapter 2 to chapter 37.
1 Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. — sound like what Yeshua had gone through: his flesh was torn to heal us; but most translations say “he has torn us to pieces”
— it’s very prophetic, yet from a rather historical perspective as Rashi comments; he smites, and He will bind us up: Heb. It is a present tense. He smites us, and He will bind us up;
“They will say: ‘Come, let us return to the service of the Lord, for He is the one who struck us and will heal us; the one who brought affliction upon us will bind our wounds and give us rest.’”
2 After two days will He revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight. — a fulfillment of Luke 24:46, “Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,
— after two days; and in the third day; this and the preceding expression could be passages refering to the death and resurrection of Christ; 1 Corinthians 15:4; the Targum only hints at; which says “He will raise us up on the third day,” this interprets as a reference to techiyat hametim (resurrection of the dead, a metaphor of healing and restoration into a doctrinal statement about eschatology;
— hence, other interpretation: as a thousand years is to God a single day (II Peter 3:8); the first day is the captivity of the ten tribes by the Assyrians, and of the other two tribes under the Babylonians, considered as one judgement upon the nation and both were in the fourth millennium (1 BC to 999 BC);
— beginning with the captivity of the ten; the second day is the fifth millennium, beginning with the first coming of the Messiah and the dispersion of the house of Judah by the Romans. The third day is the sixth millennium (1000 AD to 1999 AD), scattered with some restoration of the Messiah to the house of Israel.
Flashing forward into the third millennium will bring the scene to our time, when the house of Israel will be revived; the United States gained independence on July 4, 1776 and grew into a great united nation; then the revival of many churches (Catholics, Protestants; LDS, SDA, CoGs, JW, Pentecostal, Evangelical) but toward the end, to be preceded by 190 years of captivity for the house of Israel and 40 years for the house of Judah (Ezekiel 4).
3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord; His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
— after the 190 years of captivity for the house of Israel; and 40 years for the house of Judah, then “shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.” Only then they would known, so today they don’t know, though they pretend very hard to know; very strange people!
4 “O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.
— God is expressing his predicament, thus asking O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee?
— for your goodness is as a morning cloud; your goodness or godliness as morning cloud; soon easily dispersed by the sun; and as the early dew; they vanish quickly and without effect;
5 Therefore have I hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; and [My] judgements are as the light that goeth forth.
— Rashi: Because I have hewed by the prophets: Heb. עַל-כֵּן. Because I hewed My words upon them through the prophets, but they did not take heed, therefore…the Targum is, “my judgment goes forth as the light.”
— the Targum says it clearer for the whole: “Therefore, because I warned you through the mission of the prophets and you did not return, I brought upon you those who kill, because you transgressed against the word of My will. And My judgment goes forth like a river.”
— The revelation above as to the consequence of rejecting God’s prophets is another example where the Targum offers greater clarity and deeper insight where the Masoretic Text is subject to ambiguities.
6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
— for I desired mercy, and not sacrifice, that is, rather than sacrifice, this being spoken comparatively. I am better pleased with true goodness, ethical conduct, compassion and charity towards men, than with the most exact observance of the duties of sacrifices:
— a parallel verse in I Samuel 15:22 says “And Samuel said, “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams;”
— and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings; which were reckoned the greatest and most excellent sacrifices; but knowledge of God is preferred to them; not just knowing the laws of Moses as a lawgiver, judge, and consuming fire;
— but how to execute them justly and at times where situations require, mercifully; that is, to have a form and shell of godliness, but to deny its substance, is the essence of hypocrisy.
7 But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant; there have they dealt treacherously against Me.
— in the covenant they entered into, and then breaking it by offering sacrifices to idols, under a pretense of offering them to God, was dealing treacherously against him.
8 Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood.
— Gilead is a city inhabited by Gad, Reuben and the half tribe of Manasseh; and is polluted with blood; murders committed there have polluted it, or murderers protected there against the law of God, who provided these cities a relief; and so belonged to the ten tribes;
9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder on the way by consent; for they commit lewdness.
— “in the way of Shechem” as good people passed by Gilead to Shechem, and so to Jerusalem, to worship there at the solemn feasts, they lay in wait for them, scheming for ambush and murdered them; because they did not give into up their idolatrous worship of the calves at Dan and Bethel.
10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel; there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
— I have seen an horrible thing in the house of Israel; idolatry, starting with the calves set up at Dan and Bethel, which God saw with abhorrence and detestation;
— and later, at Mount Gerizim, they corrupted themselves with a new version of their passover at sunset, at dusk, worshipping the Sun, yet pretending to worship God!
— a parallel Scripture in Jeremiah 8:2; 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; these pretenders casting their utmost contempt for God.
Pretenders worshipping God on the slope of Mount Gerizim
11 Also, O Judah, he hath set a harvest for thee, when I returned My people from captivity.
— Israel, in verse 10 above, is always mentioned first, followed here by Judah, who didn’t have the wisdom to take the warning seriously, hence they, too, will go into captivity after Israel has gone into captivity for 150 years. Another 40 years to add towards 190 years in total (Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline).
Chapter 3 starts with a parable expressing the love of God to Israel, but their ingratitude to him would have much reflection again upon the house of Ephraim today. This chapters often flash forward when they repent or back as as the state of Ephraim now, and concludes with a prophecy of their conversion to God in the latter days.
Elsewhere on this site Ephraim has been established as the United States. So although the prophet Hosea may refer to situation in his time, the encoded message of Ephraim and Israel is meant, primarily, for the United States or the “Anglosphere” or the “Five Eyes;” and, secondarily, its European allies.
Ephraim, where the nerve center is located in Washington DC, not London
Hosea 3
1 Then said the Lord unto me, “Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love flagons of wine.”
— then said the Lord unto me; or, as the Targum says, “Go again, prophesy about the House of Israel” for the Hebrew expression shows that this is a new vision, prophecy or parable; and is a different woman from Gomer, the person whom he had espoused before seems evidently to be intended.
2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver, and for a homer of barley and a half homer of barley.
— fifteen pieces of silver; an indication she’s made herself very cheap, for a slave would normally be sold for twice the number of silvers; Exodus 21:32.
3 And I said unto her, “Thou shalt abide for me many days. Thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man. So will I also be for thee.”
— and I said unto her; having bought or hired her; this was the covenant or agreement he made with her.
4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim.
— here begins a more plain and full explication of the symbolical action of the prophet, namely, that it signified what should befall the children of Israel; for they shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince;
— that is, in a state of captivity, but more importantly as seen from God’s point of view, no man of character of the likes of David, Hezekiah or Josiah among the northern kings.
5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God and David their king, and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.
— after almost three thousand years, “in the latter days,” the house of Israel will end their abandonment and captivity with the appearance of “My servant David” in the “valley full of dry bones” scenario (Ezekiel 36-37) where they will dwell securely.
Hosea 4
1 Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel; for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the land.
— “there is no truth;” which is extremely true; a majority (99.99%) of professing “Christians” didn’t know the simplest of what constitutes the Oracles of God; and here.
2 “By swearing and lying, and killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. — the repetition of “and” builds a rhythm of relentless wrongdoing;
— by swearing, and lying; false swearing, as the Targum interprets it; for it not only takes in all cursing and imprecations, profane oaths, and taking the name of God in vain;
— and eager to be engaged in crimes of the worst kind, and blood toucheth blood, one act of mass-shooting of bloodshed following another. Mike Pompeo admitted, ‘We Lied, We Cheated, We Stole’ in the CIA;
“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. “It was like – we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.”
Interestingly, a Christian religious news broadcaster that described Pompeo’s words with such precision as follows: “that’s not the resume of the Secretary of State… that’s the resume of Satan.”
— and blood toucheth blood; the US is on track to set record in 2023 for mass shootings and killings. No other industrialised country outside war and conflict zones experiences such habitual gun violence in civic life.
3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
— yea, Famine, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away; whether by drying up the waters of rivers, lakes and ponds, or by corrupting them with blood and other carcasses.
4 Yet let no man strive with, nor reprove another; for this people are as they that strive with the priest.
— yet let no man strive nor reprove another, that is, conditions being so bad as they are, all attempts to change the corruption would be vain.
5 Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night; and I will destroy thy mother.
— individuals are spoken of as children; the whole nation as their mother; their state, or kingdom and their false synagogues or churches; they were to be cut off, root and branch;
— and God will destroy thy mother; the northern Israelites; and as the Targum says, you shall stumble in the daytime; and the false prophets that are with them shall stumble as in the night.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to Me. Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
— the Christians reject that the Jews have the Sceptre, the law, hence their main pretenders altered the Sabbath to Sunday worship; others always have Pentecost on Sundays; these ‘Christians’ could not know God; his law, his judgement and his true Sabbaths! both penetrated by Samaritan teachings;
— further, the Oracles of God are inferred here; but his people reject these truths;
— the Jews are blinded as to find their Messiah (revealed plainly in Isaiah 52:13 Targum as their Messiah); Hence numerous repeats of the Son of God in the OT; repeats and reminders; but they couldn’t find their Mashiach. To God, these lacks of knowledge are serious blindness!
7 “As they were increased, so they sinned against Me; therefore will I change their glory into shame. — therefore will I change their glory into shame, so that their greatness and prosperity would become a mockery in the eyes of the nations.
8 They eat up the sin of My people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.
— they eat up the sin of my people; that is, the priests of Jeroboam; they ate up the sacrifices which the people brought for their sins: pastors and ministers today, they eat the sin-offering of my people in their tithes and offerings;
— but they have no concern to instruct the people in the right way; all that they regarded are good eating and drinking, and living voluptuously; and careless about instructing the people in the nature of sacrifices, and of their duty.
9 And it shall be: like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
— and I will punish them for their ways; their evil ways, as the Targum says;
Two parallel verses reveal more details in Ezekiel:
2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds: Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe yourselves with the wool, ye kill the ones that are fed; but ye feed not the flock. Ezekiel 34:2-3 — but ye feed not the flock; did not govern the people well by doing justice and judgment among men, as became civil magistrates; did not deliver out words of faith and sound teachings, to feed the minds of men with, which is the duty of those that preside in the church of God.
10 For they shall eat and not have enough; they shall commit whoredom and shall not increase, because they have left off taking heed of the Lord.
— this comes true in those, who, through bodily disease, are not nourished by their food; also, including those who, through their own insatiate desires, are never satisfied, but crave the more greedily, the more they have.
11 “Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
— once a man turns to prostitutes and intoxicating drink for pleasure, he loses his sense of balance and judgement. Harlots and wine take away a man’s mind.
12 My people ask counsel from their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them; for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from their God.
— my people ask counsel at their stocks; Hebrew, בעצו, at their wood, that is, the images of their idols made of wood; these they consulted as oracles, that they might foretel to them what was to come, or give them advice, what measures to take;
— for the spirit of whoredom hath caused them to err; a violent inclination and bias of mind to idolatry, which is spiritual adultery, and a strong affection for it, stirred up by an evil spirit, the devil; which so wrought upon them, and influenced them, as to cause them to wander from the true God.
13 They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good; therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.
— therefore your daughters shall commit whoredoms, and your spouses shall commit adultery; or their daughters spouses;
14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery; for the men themselves consort with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: Therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall.
— God will not punish their daughters when they commit whoredoms, nor their spouses when they commit adultery; the words are rendered interrogatively, “shall I not punish your daughters?” Verily I will; and not them only, but their parents and husbands too, who deserve more severe corrections;
— the Targum says, “they associated themselves with whores, and ate and drank with harlots.”
— the people that doth not understand the law, what is to be done, and what to be avoided; the difference between true and false religion; have no knowledge of divine and spiritual things, at least are very wavering and unsettled in their minds about religion, having thought little, and know less, of the matter.
15 “Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, ‘The Lord liveth.’
— though the Ephraimites or people of the ten tribes committed adultery, both corporeal and spiritual, in their idolatrous worship, let Judah be warned of the same crimes.
16 For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer; now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place.
— slideth back as a backsliding heifer; rather, is stubborn like a stubborn heifer; as a stubborn cow; the object of their idolatrous worship, the calves at Dan and Bethel.
17 “Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone.
— Ephraim is joined to idols; that is, the ten tribes of Israel, because Jeroboam, by whom the revolt was made, was the top dog, and Samaria, the metropolis of their kingdom, was in it: and
— so the Targum renders it, “the house of Israel has joined themselves to lustful desires;” lust and idolatry: to the calves at Dan and Bethel; to Baal, and other idols, they worshipped; leave him alone; that is, let him that is filthy be filthy still.
18 Their drink is sour; they have committed whoredom continually; her rulers with shame do love, ‘Give ye.’
— their drink is sour in their stomachs, having drank so much that they cannot digest it; hence nauseous eructations, with a filthy stench, are belched out; so it is a charge of drunkenness which Ephraim or the ten tribes were addicted to, and are accused of.
19 The wind hath bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
— the wind hath bound her up in her wings; that is, the wind in its wings hath bound up Ephraim, or the ten tribes; meaning, that the wind of God’s wrath and vengeance, or the enemy, the Assyrian, should come like a whirlwind, and carry them swiftly, suddenly, and irresistibly, out of their own land, into a foreign country, into captivity;
— the Targum says, “the works of their great men are not right, as it is impossible to bind the wind in a wing;” referring to the sins of their rulers, as before: or rather the sense is, the wind shall get into the loose skirts of the garments of the Israelites.
Remember, as a recollection, the Targum, whose origin in the Aramaic language, could be traced to the work of Ezra, and hence has prominence and enlightenment in giving us further understanding of biblical concepts which, oftentimes, where the message in the Masoretic Text are vague, uncertain, indefinite or unclear, the Targum provides greater clarity, wider insight and deeper intellect.
Trump Reportedly Presented Updated List Of Targets In Venezuela With Aircraft Carrier Already In The Caribbean. ‘Operation Southern Spear’ the he targets are mainly strikes on ports, airports and labs and hubs on land.
The aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R Ford (CVN 78), steaming toward the Caribbean
President Donald Trump was reportedly presented with an updated list of targets to strike Venezuela if he were to give the order, according to a new report.
CBS News detailed that senior military officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, presented Trump with the options, which include strikes on land. No final decision has been made, the outlet noted.
Earlier this week the Washington Post reported that there are four broad target categories that US planners might prioritize should Trump decide to strike.
(1) The first are drug production and transit nodes, including clandestine cocaine labs and large storage sites in states such as Sucre and border zones where drugs are consolidated for shipment. Hitting those nodes could be intended to degrade the financial base of corrupt officials and traffickers.
(2) A second category is small, often improvised airstrips and “parking lots” where light aircraft land to pick up shipments. Apure and the Catatumbo region were singled out as areas where traffickers use makeshift runways and where operations have increased amid recent crackdowns on maritime smuggling. Strikes on those strips would be tactically attractive because they are discrete and directly linked to trafficking networks.
(3) Third are ports and airports that could serve as hubs for cocaine shipments. Defense analysts named commercial seaports and major airports as potential targets if planners decide to disrupt larger-scale shipping and logistics. Any plan to strike such facilities would likely include parallel efforts to neutralize or degrade Venezuelan air defenses first, since even partially operational systems represent a threat to US aircraft.
(4) Fourth are political and security apparatus nodes, including units of the Venezuelan security services. US officials have discussed the possibility of targeting the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence, known as DGCIM, or other elite security formations if the administration concluded that pressure on the Maduro leadership was the primary goal. That step would carry greater political risk and the possibility of broader confrontation.
Analysts and retired officers cautioned that strikes would have uncertain results. Venezuela retains some advanced air-defense systems and a sizable, if degraded, military. Even so, some experts believe the goal for the US would be precision kinetic operations rather than a full-scale ground invasion, aiming to signal to President Nicolás Maduro and his inner circle that their hold on power is not secure.
At the same time, Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado said that Venezuela is living through “decisive hours,” hinting at potential operations.
Speaking remotely at a forum hosted by the IDEA Group — an organization of former Ibero-American presidents — at Miami Dade College, Machado urged Venezuelans and regional leaders to take an active role in the country’s political turning point, as Infobae points out. “What is happening in Venezuela is not only a national event; it is a turning point for all of Latin America,” she said. “These are decisive hours for Venezuela’s destiny.”
Machado said she was confident in the strength of the civic movement that backs her. “A united people, like no Venezuelan generation before, is the guarantee of an orderly, peaceful, irreversible transition,” she said.
She described the country as being “on the threshold of freedom and an unprecedented transformation,” pledging that her government would take control of national institutions “from the first day” to address the humanitarian crisis, ensure transparency in public finances, and begin social and economic reforms.
And below is a Prophecy between the rivarly between Esau and Jacob:
And upon thy sword shalt thou depend, entering at every place: yet thou shalt be supple and credulous, and be in subjection to thy brother; but it will be that when his sons become evil, and fall from keeping the commandments of the law, thou shalt break his yoke of servitude from off thy neck. Genesis 27:40 Jonathan
“And Esau harbored hatred in his heart against Jacob, his brother, because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.
“And Esau said in his heart, ‘I will not do as Cain did, who killed Abel during their father’s lifetime and then their father had another son, Seth.
“Rather, I will wait until the days of mourning for my father have passed, and then I will kill Jacob my brother, and I will be the sole heir.’” Genesis 27:41 Jonathan
JERUSALEM (AP) — The election of Zohran Mamdani as New York City’s next mayor has sent a chill across Israel as people come to terms with the victory of a politician propelled by an outspoken pro-Palestinian message that is rare in US politics.
Israelis across the political spectrum fear that Mamdani’s election — in the city with the world’s second-largest Jewish population — could foreshadow icier relations with the US, Israel’s most important ally. Support for Mamdani from almost one-third of Jewish voters only added to the pain.
“Very bad,” said Hana Jaeger, a Jerusalem resident, assessing the news the day after the election. “For the Jews, for Israel, for everyone, it’s very bad. What else can you say?”
Zohran Mamdani, the Ugandan-born politician of Indian heritage, who came to the United States as a child, promised to be “a mayor for all New Yorkers.” While he embraced and centered America’s progressive political tradition in his campaign, he also was proudly Muslim, refusing to hide or downplay his faith, culture or beliefs.
Across Europe, North America, Australia and beyond, antisemitism is surging once again. The same ancient hatred that drove Jews from England, Spain, Portugal and Ukraine, now reemerges — this time dressed in the language of politics, activism, and anti-Israel violence.
Aliyah, the Return of the Jewish People back to the Levant
Israelis react to the news
Israel has traditionally had a special connection with New York City. It is a popular destination for Israeli tourists and politicians, filled with kosher restaurants and home to an Israeli consulate that focuses heavily on relations with the Jewish community. Hebrew can often be heard on the streets and subways.
Mamdani has called the war in Gaza a genocide, a charge Israel’s government denies. He’s vowed to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if the premier steps foot in the city and signaled he may cut ties with Israeli industry and academia over the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s minister of diaspora affairs, Amichai Chikli, a member of Netanyahu’s nationalist Likud party, posted a stream of anti-Mamdani graphics on social media, including a retweeted photo of the Twin Towers being engulfed in flames after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, with the caption “New York already forgot.”
Chikli also encouraged Jews in New York to relocate to Israel. “The city that was once a symbol of global freedom has handed over its keys to a Hamas supporter,” he said in a social media post.
The extreme rhetoric reflected a deep-seated fear in Israel that American politics are headed in a new direction.
“For a long, long time, American domestic politics were dominated by pro-Israel politicians, pro-Israel views. In large part, they still are,” said Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group. “Mamdani’s win represents that American Jews, specifically the younger generation, are changing and there’s no longer this monopoly of pro-Israel politics in domestic US politics.”
Across Europe, North America and beyond, antisemitism is surging once again
Palestinians celebrate Mamdani’s win
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the sentiment among Palestinians was far from gloomy.
“The election of Mr Mamdani is truly inspiring,” said Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti. “It reflects a great uprising among the younger generation of the United States, including the Jewish young generation, against political and social injustice.”
“It also shows that the Palestinian issue has become an internal election issue all over the world, including in the United States of America.”
In the United States, antisemitic incidents have spiked on college campuses and murders have occurred in major cities. The old assumption — that America would remain immune to the hatred —is wrong.
With the mayor-elect of New York allowing the globalization of the intifada onto the streets of New York, it is time for Jews in America to do what my aunts and European Jewry failed to do in 1930s.
Zohran Mamdani’s election as New York’s next mayor exposed a deepening rift between traditional Democratic Jewish voters and younger progressives — one that could reshape politics for years in the city with the world’s largest Jewish population.
Zohran Mamdani’s election as New York’s next mayor exposed a deepening rift between traditional Democratic Jewish voters and younger progressives — one that could reshape politics for years in the city with the world’s largest Jewish population.
Jewish opponents of Mamdani expressed concern about his refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” a slogan of support for Palestinians that many Jews interpret as a call to violence against Jewish people and Israel. After his nomination, Mamdani privately told a group of business leaders that he would not use the phrase and would discourage others from using it, according to a July New York Times report.
He has said he supports the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, or BDS, movement, which calls for the economic and cultural boycott of Israel.
In Britain and France, thousands have already packed their bags and left
The Diaspora was never the destination — only the journey. Living in America is and always was “Exile”-galut, as a divine intermission, not a permanent home.
In Great Britain and France, thousands have already packed their bags and left — weary of armed guards at synagogues and Jewish schools.
The words of the Prophet Isaiah are unfolding before us in real time:
“And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people . . . And He shall set up an ensign for the nations [H1471 goyim], and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” Isaiah 11:11-12
And the following from the Prophet Jeremiah:
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,’
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. Jeremiah 16:14-15
And more from Prophet Ezekiel:
CSB says: therefore, you will no longer devour people and deprive your nation of children. This is the declaration of the Lord God. 15 I will no longer allow the insults of the nations to be heard against you, and you will not have to endure the reproach of the peoples anymore; you will no longer cause your nation to stumble. This is the declaration of the Lord God.’” Ezekiel 36:14-15
This is not a punishment. It is a fulfilment of Jewish destiny as God promised through Moses in Deuteronomy:
5 And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and He will do thee good and multiply thee above thy fathers. Deuteronomy 30:5.
The Prophecy of Hosea is primarily to the house of Ephraim (mentioned 32 times in this book, Hosea, which is more than in any other books of the Bible). Often, as Ephraim being the chief tribe of the ten tribes, the name is used in place of Israel (used 41 times) when it is referring to the northern kingdom.
Elsewhere on this site Ephraim has been established as the United States. So although the prophet Hosea may refer to situation in his time, the encoded message of Ephraim and Israel is meant, primarily, for the United States or the “Anglosphere” or the “Five Eyes,” and, secondarily, its European allies.
In Ezekiel, there are parallel passages expounding on what is written in Hosea:
In Ezekiel 6:2-3 it say:“Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them
3 and say: ‘Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys: Behold I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.
— this message to the “mountains of Israel” — these mountains refer to the United States, the United Kingdom and France. . . .
— “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys” ~ the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Finland and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
In Ezekiel 7:2 it says, “Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God unto the land of Israel: “An end! The end is come upon the four corners of the land.
— the Targum version for the above is: “the punishment of the end,” or “the punishment determined to come upon the four winds of the earth.” The Targum recognizes that the Israelites are all over the face of the earth, spread over the four winds at the endtime!
This landscape in Ezekiel 6:2-3 symbolizes various countries that would include Australia, New Zealand, Canada (and perhaps South Africa; that is, the Anglosphere) and numerous small islands around the world.
And in this context, “the land of Israel” and “over the face of the earth” would most probably include the modern state of Israel in Palestine.
Hosea 1
1 The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
— Hosea; (born in the 8th century, around 784 BC), a contemporary of the prophet Isaiah, whose name is the same with Joshua and Yeshua/Jesus, and signifies a savior;
— Hosea’s mission was to deliver Israel’s souls from going into the pit, as all true prophets are to be; so rouse and ripple up these drunkards of Ephraim with their crown of pride, Isaiah 28:1;
— in the days of Hezekiah: the throne of Judah had some periods of good princes: but the message was to Israel, which had no good princes at all.
2 The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea: And the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms; for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.”
— for the land hath committed great whoredoms most frequently and most filthily; Ezekiel 23:2-4; Aholah, that is, Israel, played the harlot when she was mine, Ezekiel 23:5;
— the Targum interprets it, “go, prophesy a prophecy against the inhabitants of the idolatrous city, who add to sin,” for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord;
— and just a recollection; the Targum, whose origin in the Aramaic language, could be traced to the work of Ezra, and hence has prominence and enlightenment in giving us further understanding of biblical concepts which, oftentimes, where the message in the Masoretic Text are vague, uncertain, indefinite or unclear, the Targum provides greater clarity, wider insight and deeper intellect.
God asks Hosea to marry a harlot, so he finds a harlot and marries Gomer
3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, who conceived and bore him a son.
— the Targum, whose origin in the Aramaic language could be traced to Ezra, has the following: “and he went and prophesied against them, that if they returned, it should be forgiven them: but, if not, as fig tree leaves drop off, so should they; but they continued to do evil deeds.”
— Rabbi Rashi (1040-1105 France): that was her name by dint of her harlotry, for all would gratify their lust on her (גּוֹמְרִין) and they would tread upon her like a pressed fig (דְּבֵלָה; that is a euphemism for sexual contact). Jonathan, however, paraphrases: גֹּמֶר, that if they would return from their way, their retribution would be finished, and if not, they will be like unripe figs falling from the fig tree.
4 And the Lord said unto him, “Call his name Jezreel; for in yet a little while I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. — note, this is a prophecy to the house of Israel;
— and will cause to cease; that is, in the family of Jehu; his reign only for six months; and second, this could also has a reference to the utter cessation of this kingdom of the house of Israel as such in the times of Hoshea by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, II Kings 17:6;
— Rashi: name him Jezreel: Jonathan renders: Call their name the scattered ones; i.e. prophesy over them that they will be exiled, and they will be sown among the peoples.
5 And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.” — in the valley of Jezreel: next to Samaria, and thus greatly greatly influenced by idoltary; a prophecy to the house of Israel;
— Jezreel was a beautiful and a broad valley or plain, stretching, from West to East, from Mount Carmel and the sea to the Jordan; here Ahab had a palace in his days, near to which was Naboth’s vineyard, and where God revenged his blood;
— the Targum says, “I will break the strength of the warriors of Israel in the valley of Jezreel;” that is, a prophecy to the house of Israel;
6 And she conceived again, and bore a daughter. And God said unto him, “Call her name Loruhamah [that is, Not having obtained mercy]; for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away.
— and God said unto him, call her name Loruhamah; which signifies, “she hath not obtained mercy;” no more have mercy upon the house of Israel;
— the Targum explains the same sense: “and they added and did evil works; and he said unto him call their name, who obtained not mercy by their works.”
7 But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.”
— no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I will have mercy on the house of Judah; the three tribes of Judah, Levi and Benjamin, which retained the true worship of God among them; see Hosea 11:12;
— and though they often sinned against the Lord, God showed them mercy; and though they suffered being carried captives into Babylon, they returned after seventy years. This could be an aggravation of the perverseness and ingratitude of Israel that Judah was spared, when Israel were not.
8 Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.
— in the times of Pekah, king of Israel, who reigned twenty years; he was too powerful for Judah, and slew multitudes of them, and even assisted Rezin king of Syria against Ahaz king of Judah;
— the Targum says, “and the generation of them who are carried captive among the nations are found not to have obtained mercy by their works, but they added and did evil works.”
9 Then said God, “Call his name Loammi [that is, Not My people], for ye are not My people, and I will not be your God. — this, the third child, must be directed to the house of Israel, a prophecy;
— for ye are not my people; though he had chosen them to be his people; but they offered back the calves at Dan and Bethel; and therefore did not deserve the designation of God’s people;
— the Targum says, “for ye are not my people; because ye do not confirm the words of my law, my word shall not be your help,”
— this time lap to the next verse is so huge that some Orthodox Bibles (including the Chabad Bible) end Chapter 1 here and pushes the next few verses into chapter 2.
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, ‘Ye are not My people,’ there it shall be said unto them, ‘Ye are the sons of the living God.’
— according to the promise made to Abraham, the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, and the stars of heaven; which, as the one cannot be measured in the place where they have been carried captive;
— there seems a great time gap of over two thousand years, from “Ye are not My people,” to “Ye are the sons of the living God,” and like every Bollywood movies, they end with lots of high notes – HOOPLALA!
11 Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head; and they shall come up out of the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
— this is time flashing forward, into the Millennium, to the appearance of “My servant David,” in the “valley full of dry bones” scenario (Ezekiel 37) where the full house of Israel would dwell securely rather than in captivity;
— the Targum paraphrases it as: “one head of the house of David;” or “And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together as one;”
— “the day of Jezreel;” it has been a great and long day of trouble and affliction to them, signified by Jezreel; but now by the arm of God, by his power and mercy, and that in large numbers, of great comfort, joy, and happiness; so great will be on that day;
— so the Targum ended it: “for great will be the day of their [re]gathering.”
Hosea 2
1 “Say ye unto your brethren, ‘Ammi’ [that is, My people], and to your sisters, ‘Ruhamah’ [that is, Having obtained mercy].
— these words are to be considered either in connection with the latter part of the preceding chapter, and as directed to the sons of the living God, who had not been, but now were, “Ammi,” the Lord’s people; and who had not, but now have, “Ruhamah,” obtained mercy.
2 “Plead with your mother, plead; for she is not My wife, neither am I her Husband. Let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts,
— let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, namely, the shameless idolatry which was practiced throughout Israel at the time, and her adulteries from between her breasts, for Israel, in her shamelessness like a public harlot, who displays her profession with her bare breasts.
3 lest I strip her naked and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
— lest God would strip her naked as a punishment for her shameless exposure of herself in the practice of her spiritual wantonness, and set her as in the day that she was born.
4 And I will not have mercy upon her children, for they are the children of whoredoms.
— the above verse (and probably until verse 13) is best read:
(a) as a flashback before their repentance; or
(b) in context of the first word of the previous verse, “lest,” — lest I will not have any mercy upon her children, for they are children of whoredoms, all of them being guilty of the same shameless idolatry.
5 For their mother hath played the harlot; she that conceived them hath done shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.’
6 “Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them. Then shall she say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now.’
— I will go and return to my first husband; the God of Israel, whom the ten tribes departed from by worshipping the calves Jeroboam set up;
— but in the latter day will seek the Lord their God again, who was a husband to them, and shall cleave to him again, and all Israel shall be saved:
— so the Targum says, “I will go and return to the service of my first master, for it was well with me when I served him; henceforth I will not serve idols.”
8 For she did not know that I gave her corn and wine and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
9 Therefore will I return and take away My corn at the harvest thereof, and My wine in the season thereof, and will recover My wool and My flax given to cover her nakedness.
10 And now will I uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of Mine hand.
11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. — “mirth” amusements, especially as expressed with laughters; her feast days; which “Christians” understand and practice are:
(a) Christmas, which honors Mithraism – a form of pagan nature worship based on the Persian bull-slaying 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 Sunday was especially sacred; and
Outside the cavern, top left, is Sol the sun, with his flaming crown.
(b) Easters, a celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex; “the Queen of Heaven.” 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; and
(c) her sabbaths which is Sundays, where the original 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.
12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, ‘These are my rewards that my lovers have given me’; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
— a parallel Scripture 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
13 And I will visit upon her the days of the Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot Me,” saith the Lord.
14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortingly unto her.
— parallel verses in Scripture are:
“And many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken, and be snared and be taken” Isaiah 8:15.
“And I will spread My net upon him, and he shall be taken in My snare, and I will bring him to Babylon and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against Me” Ezekiel 17:20.
15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the Valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
16 “And it shall be at that day,” saith the Lord, “that thou shalt call Me ‘Ishi’ [that is, My husband], and shalt call Me no more ‘Baali’ [that is, My Lord].
17 For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
— the sense is, that idolatry shall be utterly abolished, even of every kind; not the worship of Baalim only, but of all other idols, Exodus 23:13,
— and so the Targum says, “and I will remove the name of any idols of the nations from their mouths.”
18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the heavens, and with the creeping things of the ground; and I will break the bow and the sword and warfare out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.
— and I will break their bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth; all the instruments of war shall be no more, these mentioned being put for all the rest; the Pentagon and West Point will be demolished, swords shall be beat into ploughshares,
— and spears into pruning hooks; people will enjoy being farmers, and lots of them; some go on learning folk songs, dancing away, like Tibetan and Mongolian folk songs and dances, practicing their vocal cords praising God;
19 And I will betroth thee unto Me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
20 I will even betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord.
21 “And it shall come to pass in that day I will hear,” saith the Lord, “I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth.
22 And the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel.
— see, people will enjoy being farmers, and even herders, lots of them; and with plenty of good wine and time, many will go on learning folk songs, dancing away into the clouds.
23 And I will sow her unto Me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to those who were not My people, ‘Thou art My people’; and they shall say, ‘Thou art my God.’”
~~~~~
— as said in v18,22 above, people will enjoy being farmers and herders, lots of them; and with plenty of time on hand and during in-between breaks along their open fields, they will go on learning and perfecting their folk songs, of their ethnic groups that had been accumulated over hundreds and even thousands of years, now singing and dancing away, like Mongolian, Pashtuni, Kashmiri among numerous other ethnic groups hills and valleys;
— and especially the Tibetan, among their shangri la idyllic hideaway mountains, and with good wine, their vocal cords moist and loosen further, singing and praising God with sweeter songs: “Thou art our God, too,” beaming with an even higher pitch from the roof of the world, like this Tibetan;
— and during the annual Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem: Zechariah 14, these ethnic groups singing and dancing with their finest ethnic colorful silk costumes from the enlarged outer court of a new Temple could pose a challenge to those Levites singing from inside the confine of the inner court; “Don’t be so loud,” some annoyed-looking officials appears from the inner court admonishing those singing too loud outside;
— but the loudest and most uncontrollable cheers comes upon the appearance of the dancing and singing Gypsies: “Beyond Our Wildest Dream” whose fortunes had greatly fallen since the great days of the great Pharaohs of Egypt; now their honor restored, displaying much renew joy and restraint cool pride than others, which greatly enlighten the whole world following some surrealistic chills running down their spines flooding their face with socking tears and more applause in response;
“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” Jeremiah 3:17
— and of course, the Shekinah has returned, filling the much bigger Ezekiel Temple and its precinct with nice smell incense (five hundred cubits in length with five hundred in breadth: Ezekiel 45:2 – “875 by 875 feet”); the whole idyllic atmosphere permeanting all our five senses with surreal clouds rolling overhead and moving continuously along with the Glory of God.
China is developing a new rare earth licensing system that could speed up exports, though it’s unlikely to fully reverse restrictions as hoped by Washington, according to industry sources cited by Reuters on Friday. It’s a headline that furthers growing doubts about China’s trade deal with the US that we have been writing about for days.
Friday it was reported that the Ministry of Commerce has told some exporters they will eventually be able to apply for streamlined, one-year permits allowing higher export volumes. Companies are preparing documentation, but officials say the process could take months, and many firms have yet to receive formal notice.
Reuters writes that the new regime would simplify approvals compared to the rules introduced in April and expanded in October, which require a license for each shipment and have caused significant delays and shortages. Beijing’s curbs—covering over 90% of the world’s processed rare earths and magnets—have become a key point of leverage in its trade dispute with Washington.
Despite a recent US-China agreement pausing some restrictions for a year, insiders say broader export controls remain in place. General licenses are expected to be harder to obtain for buyers linked to defense or sensitive sectors. Since April, EU firms have filed roughly 2,000 applications, with just over half approved.
Yesterday, Nikkei reported that not only is China making inroads with new export controls, but the question over the old ones still hasn’t been accurately resolved.
Recall, we had speculated about how close the deal could be to collapse as recently as yesterday, and earlier this week we said that it felt like “‘the cracks in this latest trade deal are already starting to show, whether it is Beijing ordering Trump what he can’t talk about, or quietly ring-fencing its domestic data center by banning US Al chips” and further said that “while China granted Trump a 1 year reprieve on rare earths, it is quietly tightening the export noose on other, just as important minerals. According to the Global Times, China has introduced new export controls on silver, antimony, and tungsten.”
We concluded that “the game of export whack-a-mole in the second World Trade War continues: today the US is getting rare earths (at least until Trump has another Truth Social meltdown), but just got stopped out on other, just as important materials. This export control rotation will continue until the day the US is self-sufficient, which however due to the abovementioned environmental limitations, will take a very long time…”
Rabobank added to the skepticism Friday morning: “The China-US deal to ease rare-earth export controls for a year may have hit a snag. China’s regional authorities have reportedly said export controls from April remain in place so there is still a need for special export licenses and intrusive questions.”
They continued: “That’s a week into the one-year Trump-Xi deal. The US also added silver and copper to its critical minerals list, as Trump hosted Central Asian leaders, aiming for their rare earths, as Japan and the US announced they would mine deep-sea rare earths together. Does any of this read like they expect the deal to hold long-term?”
“The Financial Times reported recent US trade deals with ASEAN countries contain ‘poison pills’ which mean they can be cancelled by the White House if any action signatories take with China threatens “essential US interests” or “poses a material threat” to it. Do you think this kind of logic will only apply to those particular counterparties? No: it will apply to everyone who struck a deal,” the note continued.
China has revealed the ‘world’s largest’ nuclear-powered container ship; and this thorium breakthrough could power ships for ten years on a single charge.
China has unveiled critical details of a revolutionary cargo ship under development: a nuclear-powered vessel that can carry 24,000 standard shipping containers.
But what makes this ship truly groundbreaking is that it will be powered by a thorium-based molten salt reactor (TMSR) with a thermal output of 200 megawatts – matching the power level of the S6W pressurised water reactor used in the US Navy’s most advanced Seawolf-class nuclear attack submarines.
Unlike traditional nuclear reactors that rely on uranium and require massive cooling systems and high-pressure containment, this new Chinese reactor uses thorium, a safer, more abundant and proliferation-resistant nuclear fuel.
China’s thorium breakthrough could power ships for ten years on a single charge
Military applications and secrecy surrounding the project
While the potential military applications of the technology remain undisclosed, unveiling China’s first thorium-powered reactor earlier this year sparked speculation. The reactor in the Gobi Desert is part of China’s ambitious efforts to develop advanced nuclear technologies, with scientists claiming its adaptability for various applications, including maritime use.
The design has already received international certification from the DNV Classification Society, instilling confidence in potential global buyers. Jiangnan Shipyard‘s initiative aligns with growing concerns about climate change and energy conservation in the shipping industry, as highlighted by Maritime China: “The proposed design of super-large nuclear container ships will truly achieve ‘zero emissions’ during the operation cycle of this type of ship.”
While China is not the first to explore nuclear-powered container ships, its design dwarfs previous attempts by shipbuilders in Japan, the United States, South Korea, and Europe; China’s rapidly advancing shipbuilding industry is responsible for over 60 percent of global new ship orders this year, positions the nation as a leader in maritime technology, including advanced naval capabilities.
Thorium-based molten salt reactor: A technical breakthrough
The KUN-24AP’s thorium-based molten salt reactor, developed independently by China, claims to introduce innovation that surpasses previous nuclear-powered cargo ships like the United States’ NS Savannah. The reactor’s design offers advantages such as lower circuit pressures, enhanced safety features, and the ability to be swiftly stopped in case of an accident, minimizing potential risks.
One notable design aspect is the nuclear ‘battery,’ a replaceable component that addresses concerns related to fuel costs and refueling challenges. However, challenges, including the use of fluorinated salt as a medium and potential environmental impacts, must be addressed for successful implementation.
A test ship for nuclear aircraft carriers?
The unveiling of the KUN-24AP has sparked discussions among military enthusiasts, with some speculating on its potential role as a precursor to nuclear-powered military vessels. However, the maintenance interval of the thorium-based molten salt reactor presents challenges for military applications, raising questions about the feasibility of adapting the design for combat ships.
China’s unveiling of the KUN-24AP marks a pioneering step toward sustainable shipping, aligning with global efforts to reduce emissions in the maritime industry. While challenges and speculations surround its military applications, the innovative design positions China at the forefront of maritime technology, paving the way for a new, clean, and efficient transportation era.
In chapter 3 of 66 verses, Jeremiah proposes his own experience under afflictions, as an example as to how the Jews should behave under theirs, so as to have hope of a restoration; hence the change from singular to plural (Lamentations 3:22, 40-47). The stanzas consist of three lines, each of which begins with the same Hebrew letter א Aleph.
Lamentations 3
1I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
2 He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
3 Surely against me is He turned; He turneth His hand against me all the day.
1 I am that man who has seen affliction by the rod that chastises in his anger. 2 He has led and brought me to darkness, and not to light. 3 Indeed, against me he will turn, heaping upon me his blows all day.
4 My flesh and my skin hath He made old; He hath broken my bones.
5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
6 He hath set me in dark places, as they that are dead of old.
4 My flesh is worn out from beatings, my skin from the blow. He has shattered my bones. 5 He has built siege works and surrounded the city. He has uprooted the heads of the people and wearied them. 6 He has caused me to dwell in a dark prison like the dead who have gone to the other world.
7 He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out; He hath made my chain heavy.
8 Also when I cry and shout, He shutteth out my prayer.
9 He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone; He hath made my paths crooked.
7 He has locked me in so that I cannot go out from the prison. He has put heavy brass fetters on my feet. 8 Even when I cry out and pray the house of my prayer is blocked. 9 He has closed my paths with hewn marble stones. He has confounded my paths.
10 He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
11 He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces; He hath made me desolate.
12 He hath bent His bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
10 He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion hiding in a hallow. 11 He has confounded my path and rent me. He has made me desolate. 12 He draws his bow and has set me as a target for the arrow.
13 He hath caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my reins.
14 I was a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.
15 He hath filled me with bitterness; He hath made me drunken with wormwood.
13 He made the arrows of his quiver enter my vitals. 14 I have become a laughing stock to all the degenerate of my people; they mock me in song all day. 15 He has sated me with gall of snakes and made me drunk with wormwood.
16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones; He hath covered me with ashes.
17 And Thou hast removed my soul far off from peace; I forgot prosperity.
18 And I said, “My strength and my hope are perished from the Lord,”
16 And he crushed my teeth with gravel; he has pressed me into ashes. 17 And my soul shrinks from asking for peace; I have forgotten goodness. 18 And I said, “My strength is destroyed and the goodness which I had longed for from before the Lord.
19 remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
20 My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
21 This I recall to my mind; therefore have I hope:
19 “Remember the affliction of my soul and how my foes embittered me and caused me to drink wormwood and the poison of snakes.” 20 My soul surely will remember and bow down within me due to affliction. 21 This consolation I call to mind, therefore I have hope:
22 It is through the Lord’S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” saith my soul, “Therefore will I hope in Him.”
22 The goodness of the Lord, for his mercies do not end nor have they ceased. 23 He brings forth new wonders in the mornings; great is your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul; therefore I will hope in him.
25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him.
26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
25 The Lord is good to those who hope for his salvation; to the soul who seeks his instruction. 26 It is good to wait and be silent until the salvation of the Lord comes. 27 It is good for a man to train his soul to bear the yoke of the commandments in his youth.
28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so it be, there may be hope.
30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him; he is filled full with reproach.
28 Let him sit alone and be silent, bearing the corrections which have come upon him, for the sake of the unity of the name of the Lord, which have been sent to punish him for the minor sins which he has committed in this world, until he have mercy upon him and lift them from him so that he may receive him perfected in the world to come. 29 Let him put his mouth to the dust and prostrate himself before his master perhaps there is hope. 30 Let him turn his cheek to the one that smites, for the sake of the fear of the Lord, let him be filled with insult.
31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
32 But though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.
33 For He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
31 For the Lord will not neglect his servants forever, giving them over into the hand of their enemy. 32 But first he breaks and afterwards he repents and has mercy on the righteous in the abundance of his goodness. 33 For since man did not afflict his soul nor removed arrogance from his heart, therefore he caused destruction to come upon the sons of men.
34 To crush under His feet all the prisoners of the earth,
35 to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High,
36 to subvert a man in his cause—the Lord approveth not.
34 Humbling and subduing all the prisoners of the earth under his feet, 35 And perverting the justice of a poor man in the presence of the Most High, 36 Confounding a poor man in his quarrels; is it possible that this will not be revealed before the Lord?
37 Who is he that saith and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
38 Out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good?
39 Why then doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
37 Who is the man who has spoken and an evil thing had been done in the world, unless because they did that which they were not commanded by the mouth of the Lord? 38 From the mouth of God Most High there does not issue evil, rather by the hint of a whisper, because of the violence with which the land is filled. But when he desires to decree good in the world it issues from the holy mouth. 39 What profit shall a man find who sins all the days of his life; a wicked man for his sins?
40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
42 We have transgressed and have rebelled; Thou hast not pardoned.
40 Let us search and examine our ways; and turn in repentance before the Lord. 41 Let us lift our cleansed hearts and cast away theft and robbery from our hands. And let us repent before God the dwelling of whose Shekinah is in heaven above. 42 We have rebelled and been disobedient and since we did not return to you, you have not forgiven.
43 Thou hast covered Thyself with anger and persecuted us; Thou hast slain, Thou hast not pitied.
44 Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.
45 Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.
43 You have covered us in anger and pursued us in exile. You have killed and have not pitied. 44 You have covered the heavens with your clouds of glory so that our prayers cannot cross to you. 45 You have made us like wanderers and vagabonds among the nations.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Fear and a snare have come upon us, desolation and destruction.
48 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us, to announce evil decrees against us. 47 Panic and fear have come upon us because of them, trembling and destruction have seized us. 48 Like streams of water my eyes flowed with tears because of the destruction of the Congregation of my people.
49 Mine eye trickleth down and ceaseth not, without any intermission,
50 till the Lord look down and behold from heaven.
51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.
49 My eye weeps tears and does not cease from crying. There is no respite from my anguish or anyone to comfort me; 50 Until the Lord looks out and sees my humiliation from heaven. 51 The weeping of my eyes is the cause of the affliction of my soul over the destruction of the districts of my people and the humiliation of the daughters of Jerusalem, my city.
52 Mine enemies chased me sorely like a bird, without cause.
53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54 Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, “I am cut off!”
52 My enemies, without cause, laid a trap for me like a bird. 53 They caused my life to pass in the pit and cast stones at me. 54 Waters flowed over my head. I said in my word, “I am cut off from the world.”
55 I called upon Thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon.
56 Thou hast heard my voice: “Hide not Thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.”
57 Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee; Thou saidst, “Fear not.”
55 I prayed to your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit. 56 You received my prayer at that time, and now do not cover your ears from receiving my prayer to give me relief because of my plea. 57 You brought the angel near to save me, in the day that I prayed to you. You said by your Memra, “Do not fear.”
58 O Lord, Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; Thou hast redeemed my life.
59 O Lord, Thou hast seen my wrong; judge Thou my cause.
60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginings against me.
58 You have fought, O Lord, against those who made a quarrel with my soul. You delivered my life from their hands. 59 You have seen, O Lord, the wrong by which they wronged me. Judge my case. 60 All their vengeance has been revealed before you, all their evil plans against me.
61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, and all their imaginings against me,
62 the lips of those that rose up against me, and their devices against me all the day.
63 Behold their sitting down and their rising up; I am their — music.
61 Their taunts were heard before you, O Lord, all their evil plans against me. 62 The lips of the enemies are against me and their mutterings are against me all day. 63 Look at their sitting and rising! I am [the object of] their taunt-songs.
64 Render unto them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them sorrow of heart, Thy curse unto them.
66 Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord.
64 May you return to them evil recompense, O Lord, according to the works of their hands. 65 May you give them brokenness of heart and may your weariness wear them out. 66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the high heaven of the Lord.
Lamentations 4
Lamentations 4:1-22. The sad capture of Jerusalem, the hope of Restoration, and the retribution awaiting Edom and Idumea for joining Babylon against Judea.
1How the gold hath become dim! How the most fine gold hath changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.
2 The precious sons of Zion which were comparable in their appearance to that of fine gold, how the unclean people brought them down near to their beds and stare at them, so that their wives might bear sons as beautiful as they and they are considered as [clay] vessels the work of the hands of the potter.
3 Even the seamonsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones; but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
3 Even the pampered daughters of Israel untie their breasts to the nations who are like the basilisk. And the young men of the Congregation of my people are handed over to cruel men and their mothers mourn over them like ostriches in the desert.
4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst; the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.
4 The tongue of the youth clings to his palate from thirst. Children ask for bread, but there is no one who offers it to them.
5 They that fed on delicacies are desolate in the streets; they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
The Targum: ה
5 Those who used to eat delicacies were desolate in the markets. Those who were reared in the color crimson embrace dunghills.
6 For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.
The Targum: ו
6 The sin of the Congregation of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom that was overthrown in a moment. And no prophets were left in her to prophesy, to turn her back in repentance.
7 Her Nazirites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk; they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire.
The Targum: ז
7 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, smoother than milk. Their appearance was ruddier than crimson and their faces like sapphires.
8 Now their visage is blacker than coal; they are not known in the streets; their skin cleaveth to their bones, it is withered, it has become like a stick.
The Targum: ח
8 Their appearance was darker than the blackness of the exile; they were not recognized in the markets. Their skin clung to their bones; brittle as a twig.
9 They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
The Targum: ט
9 Better were those who were slain by the sword than those who were slain by hunger, for those slain by the sword perished when pierced in their bellies because they ate of the gleanings of the field; and those who were bloated from hunger; their bellies burst from food.
10 The hands of the pitying women have sodden their own children; they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
The Targum: י
10 The hands of women who were merciful towards the poor boiled their young, they became sustenance for them when the day of famine broke, when the Congregation of my people was destroyed.
11 The Lord hath accomplished His fury; He hath poured out His fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.
The Targum: כ
11 The Lord has finished his anger; he has poured out his fierce wrath upon Jerusalem and he has brought up a raging fire in Zion, and it consumed her foundations.
12 The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.
The Targum: ל
12 The kingdoms of the earth did not believe, nor did those who dwell in the world, that the wicked Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuzaradan the enemy would enter to slaughter the people of the House of Israel in the gates of Jerusalem.
13 For the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,
The Targum: מ
13 The Attribute of Justice spoke up and said, “All this would not have happened but for the sins of her prophets who prophesied to her false prophesies and the iniquity of her priests who offered up burning incense to idols. They themselves caused the blood of the innocent to be shed in her midst.”
14 they have wandered as blind men in the streets; they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments.
The Targum: נ
14 The blind wandered about in the markets, defiled with the blood of those slain by the sword and since they could not see they touched their clothes.
15 They cried unto them, “Depart ye; it is unclean! Depart, depart, touch not!” When they fled away and wandered, it was said among the heathen, “They shall no more sojourn there.”
The Targum: ס
15 “Turn away from the unclean!” cried the nations, “Turn away, turn away! Do not touch them!” For they quarreled, indeed they wandered. They said, when they were peacefully established among the nations, “They shall not continue to dwell [here].”
16 The anger of the Lord hath divided them; He will no more regard them; they respected not the persons of the priests, they favored not the elders.
The Targum: ע
16 They were dispersed from before the face of the Lord, he no longer regarded them. Therefore the wicked peoples did not respect the priests nor did they spare the elders.
17 As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.
The Targum: פ
17 Our eyes still fail to see our help which we expected to come from the Romans, but which turned to naught for us. In hope we watched for the Edomites who were a nation that could not save.
18 They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets; our end is near, our days are fulfilled, for our end has come.
The Targum: צ
18 They prowled our paths so that we could not walk safely in our open places. We said, “Our end is near; our days are fulfilled,” for our end had come.
19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heavens; they pursued us upon the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
The Targum: ק
19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens; unto the mountains they chased us, in the desert they lay in wait for us.
20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, “Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.”
The Targum: ר
20 King Josiah, who was as dear to us as the breath of the spirit of life in our nostrils and was anointed with the anointing oil of the Lord, was entrapped in Egypt’s snare of corruption. It was he of whom we said, “In the shadow of his merit we will live among the nations.”
21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz. The cup also shall pass through unto thee; thou shalt be drunken and shalt make thyself naked.
The Targum: ש
21 Rejoice and be of good cheer Constantinople, city of wicked Edom, which is built in the land of Armenia with crowds from the people of Edom. Retribution is about to come upon even you, and the Parkevi will destroy you and the accursed cup shall pass to you and you shall become drunk and exposed.
22 The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; He will no more carry thee away into captivity. He will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; He will uncover thy sins.
The Targum: ת
22 And after this your iniquity will be finished, O Congregation of Zion and you will be freed by the hands of the King Messiah and Elijah the High Priest and the Lord will no longer exile you. And at that time I will punish your iniquities, wicked Rome, built in Italy and filled with crowds of Edomites. And the Persians will come and oppress you and destroy you because your sins have been made known before the Lord.
The end of chapter 4 seems like a supplement to The Flaming Sword and Fire from the South! in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:7! It seems to offer the connection and reasons why events are to go off the way they would. Here again it is the children of Edom that shall be upon the neck of the children of Israel, “He will uncover thy sins.” If so, could this also tie in with Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline?
Lamentations 5
The coloured light blue is from the Targum:
1Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us; consider, and behold our reproach.
א Remember, [O Lord], what was decreed to befall us; look from heaven and see our disgrace.
2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
ב Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers; our house to foreign peoples.
3 We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.
ג We have become like orphans who have no father, our mothers like widows whose husbands have gone into the cities of the sea and it is uncertain if they are alive.
4 We have paid money for water we drink; our wood is sold unto us.
ד We drink our water for money and our wood comes at a price.
5 Our necks are under persecution; we labor and have no rest.
ה Upon the bone of our necks we were laden when we went into exile. The wicked Nebuchadnezzar saw that the commanders of the Israelites were going without any load [and] he ordered that they sew Torah scrolls and make sacks out of them. And they filled them with pebbles from the edge of the Euphrates and they loaded them upon their necks. At that time we were tired and there was no rest for us.
6 We have given the hand to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians to be provided with bread.
ו We gave support to Egypt so that we might be sustained there and to Assyria so that we might have enough bread.
7 Our fathers have sinned, and are no more; and we have borne their iniquities.
ז Our fathers sinned and are no longer in the world, but we have borne their iniquities after them.
8 Servants have ruled over us; there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.
ח The sons of Ham, who were given as slaves to the sons of Shem, ruled over us and there was no one to deliver us from their hands.
9 We got our bread with the peril of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.
ט At the risk of our lives we gather bread to sustain us from before the slaying sword that comes from across the wilderness.
10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.
י Our skin has become black like an oven, because of the exhaustion of starvation.
11 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.
כ Women who were married to men in Zion were raped by Romans and virgins in the cities of Judah by Chaldeans.
12 Princes are hanged up by their hand; the faces of elders were not honored.
ל Princes were impaled by their hands and the faces of the elders they did not respect.
13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
מ The young men carried millstones; and the boys staggered under the beam of wood.
14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music.
נ The elders ceased from the gates of the Sanhedrin; and the young men from their houses of music.
15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.
ס The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has turned into mourning.
16 The crown is fallen from our head. Woe unto us that we have sinned!
ע The crown of our head has fallen; Woe to us! for we have sinned.
17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.
פ Because of our Temple, which is desolate, our heart was weak. And because of these people of the House of Israel who went into exile from there our eyes have become dim.
18 Because of the mountain of Zion which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.
צ Because of Mount Zion which is desolate; foxes prowled on it.
19 Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever, Thy throne from generation to generation.
ק You are the Lord. Forever your dwelling place is in the heavenly heights. Your glorious throne is from generation to generation.
20 Why dost Thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long a time?
ר Will you forget us forever and forsake us for a long time?
21 Turn Thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned! Renew our days as of old!
ש Restore us, O Lord, to yourself and we will return in complete repentance. May you renew our days for good as the festival days of old.
22 But Thou hast utterly rejected us; Thou art very wroth against us.
ת For you have utterly loathed us; you have been extremely angry with us.
The colonial Monroe Doctrine covers not only South America but to Australia as well. The dramatic Dismissal of Gough Whitlam in 1975 demonstrated this Doctrine in Australian politics. It was really a coup.
“Well may we say, ‘God save the Queen,’ because nothing will save the governor-general,” Gough Whitlam refers to Sir John Kerr
I was familiar with many of the events leading to the Dismissal on 11 November 1975. That knowledge was greatly increased by Professor Jenny Hocking with her long and successful campaign to have the Palace letters released.
Then, in Pearls and Irritations in May this year, articles by Jon Stanford, particularly on the role of the CIA and MI6, were very helpful. And Brian Toohey added to our knowledge in shining a light in the dark world of spies. I am indebted to them all.
The revelation that came latest to me was the role of the CIA and MI6.
I was conscious of governor-general Sir John Kerr’s great interest in security matters. That was clear in the many meetings I had with him. But I discounted direct CIA/MI6 involvement.
I have changed my mind on that as more information has become available and security reports declassified. The CIA was involved, not by supporting a military coup as in Iran or Chile, but by backing a constitutional coup by Kerr in co-operation with the Palace and MI6.
I knew the CIA was in the background. I am now confident that it was very much in the foreground together with MI6.
At the time of the Cold War and its aftermath, both major parties had differing views about security/intelligence services.
During the Cold War, the Liberal Party was supportive of the political role of the US and allied intelligence/security services. The misuse of these services for political ends was revealed to me not long after the 1975 election when Malcolm Fraser instructed foreign minister Andrew Peacock to open an embassy in Baghdad so ASIS could operate under cover to investigate Gough Whitlam’s abortive attempt before the 1975 election to raise campaign funds in Iraq.
On the other political side, the ALP had been a long-term critic of ASIO, ASIS and the CIA for their partisan political behaviour. Menzies’ politicisation of the Petrov Royal Commission rankled. Although not specific about Pine Gap, Whitlam mentioned to me many times that foreign bases were unacceptable in any country unless in an emergency or under strict United Nations mandate. I also knew of Whitlam’s reservations about ASIS. As deputy leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party, he learned about ASIS not through any Australian briefing, but from the Malaysian prime minister when he visited Malaysia in 1963.That was a real shock. I was present.
In the Cold War, the US/CIA had attempted to overthrow 72 foreign governments who refused to do what they were told. Venezuela may be the next.
Both president Nixon and Kissinger, and later president Ford, had concerns about Whitlam. His comments in December 1972 about the US bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong upset them greatly, leading to their conclusion that “Australia should be regarded as a North Vietnamese collaborator.” Australia was number 2 on Nixon’s shit list, headed only by Sweden.
At the briefing before he was appointed ambassador to Australia, Nixon told Marshall Green, “Marshall I can’t stand that c**t.” Nixon contended that Whitlam was a peacenik and was setting Australia on a very dangerous course.
The Americans were also worried about Dr Jim Cairns. To assist the selective media pressure being applied to the Whitlam Government, Cairn’s ASIO dossier was leaked to The Bulletin in 1974. That confirmed in many minds that ASIO’s loyalty was not to the Australian Government.
The Pine Gap facilities consist of a massive computer complex with 38 radomes protecting radio dishes and operates with over 800 employees
The key US concern was Pine Gap which, in company with its sister station in the UK, could intercept almost all the world’s electronic communications. After the 1972 election, the secretary of Defence, Sir Arthur Tange, briefed Whitlam about Pine Gap and told him that the base was operated by the Pentagon in association with our Defence Department in monitoring compliance with strategic arms limitation agreements. Sir Arthur did not tell his Prime Minister that, in fact, Pine Gap was run by the CIA. On one occasion, Tange told the US ambassador that Whitlam had not followed the brief he had provided to him on Pine Gap. Full marks for disloyalty on that. Heads of departments have been sacked for far less improper behaviour.
In Parliament, in April 1974, just before the May election, Whitlam announced that “there should not be foreign military bases, stations, installations in Australia. We will honour agreements covering existing stations. We do not favour extensions or prolongation of any of those existing ones”. The lease on Pine Gap was due to expire in December 1975. The US was appalled by that.
Pine Gap was the beginning of a string of US bases around Australia, over which Australia has little or no control. Use of our real estate is of more value to the US than AUKUS submarines. Pine Gap has supported Israeli precision bombings and assassinations of Palestinians in Gaza.
The announcement in April 1974 by Whitlam did not surprise me as some loss of judgment. It was not an off the cuff comment. It was consistent with what Whitlam often told me about foreign bases in Australia. But Whitlam never specifically mentioned Pine Gap to me. However, he did focus on Pine Gap when he discovered that the CIA operated the base.
Before Nixon was forced out in August 1974, he commissioned National Security Study Memorandum 204. It was not declassified until 2014.
As set out by James Curran in his book Unholy Fury: Whitlam and Nixon at War, published in 2015, US defence secretary James Schlesinger a former CIA head, in Option 1 in the National Security Study Memorandum 204 took the “hardest line” on Whitlam, Curran said. Option 1 recommended that the White House,
“begin immediately to attenuate certain ties in the US-Australia relationship on the assumption that this will induce the Whitlam Government to reverse those major elements of its foreign policy which are inimical to US interests.” Option 1 continued that if this was unsuccessful (the US) “could undermine (the Labor Government) with the Australian people, setting the stage for opposition victory.”
That could hardly be more specific. The former head of the CIA and then defence secretary was proposing “setting the stage for Opposition victory.”
Option 1 was ultimately rejected. Curran says the White House then decided to persevere with the Labor Government, to “test and clarify Whitlam’s intentions over the remainder of 1974” and make “selective use of pressure on Whitlam, if necessary.”
Toohey, in advice from a former station CIA chief in Canberra, wrote, “the pressure suddenly increased, with a new CIA station chief Milton Wonus in charge in the latter half of 1975, as well as being head of Pine Gap. He had never held a job in the covert action side of the CIA before he had been assigned the task of bringing Whitlam down.”
On 16 October 1975, Sir Michael Palliser, permanent secretary of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, arrived in Australia to meet the governor-general. He also saw the NSW governor Sir Rodan Cutler As Hocking relates from a study of FCO records, by October 1975, [the FCO] was actively considering possible intervention in Australian politics. The very limited nature of this visit to Australia was revealed in the fact that Sir Michael did not see either the foreign minister Don Willesee, the secretary of Foreign Affairs Alan Renouf or the secretary of PM&C – me!
The Pine Gap location is strategically significant because it controls United States spy satellites as they pass over one-third of the globe, including China, North Korea, the Asian parts of Russia, and the Middle East
What an unusual visit! A meeting with Kerr, Cutler and no one else. It seems unlikely that Sir Michael was acting on behalf of MI6, although it operated within the Foreign Office portfolio. It is more likely that he was acting to safeguard the interests of the Queen with plausible deniability.
After the May 1974 election, Justice Hope was commissioned by the Whitlam Government to lead a review of intelligence services. As part of that review Whitlam signalled to Justice Hope that he wanted the Australian intelligence agencies to distance themselves from the CIA and MI6.
Whitlam did not know that Hope was improperly passing this information on to the Five Eyes.
Hope and Robertson, the head of ASIS and Oldfield of MI6 became pivotal players in undermining the Whitlam Government. Jon Stanford describes ASIS as a branch office of MI6, sharing office accommodation and training facilities around the world.
Both ASIS and MI6 were, and are, dependent on the CIA for about 95% of their source material. So, there is no surprise that advice to our ministers is mainly recycled material from the CIA. Imperialism takes many forms!
When Hope was later conducting an inquiry into our intelligence services for the Fraser Government, he interviewed me. I outlined the ASIS/Iraqi political collaboration. In anger, Hope told me that he did not want to hear about it. I was then secretary of Trade. Hope had a love affair with ASIS.
Having been introduced by ASIS head Bill Robertson, Oldfield, chief of MI6, had developed a close working relationship with Hope. This contact with MI6 would be useful for the CIA because it needed to be careful in acting against a Commonwealth country that was a member of the Five Eyes. MI6 guidance would be helpful.
Significantly, Oldfield had previously worked in military intelligence with Martin Charteris, the Queen’s principal private secretary, who was a critical player in advising the Queen and Kerr on the Dismissal. MI6 regularly briefed the Palace on sensitive matters.
When on 21 October 1975, Whitlam dismissed Bill Robertson, the head of ASIS, over alleged activities in East Timor, he also threatened to abolish ASIS. Whitlam was very angry with Robertson. This would have been seen by Oldfield and Hope as an attack on the Five Eyes.
Whitlam advised Fraser of Robertson’s dismissal. When Fraser was later justifying his unprecedented actions in deferring supply, the main circumstance he cited was not the Loans Affair, but the dismissal of Robertson.
Robertson’s sacking also concerned the governor-general, who requested advice from the solicitor-general before he would sign the notice of dismissal. Robertson had regularly briefed Kerr on intelligence issues.
The security services in both the US and the UK were getting primed for action and to apply pressure on Kerr.
Whitlam’s speech at Port Augusta on 2 November 1975 brought out all the spooky spiders from under the rocks.
As Hocking, in Gough Whitlam, His Time Vol 2, p 293, put it:
“… Whitlam accused the CIA of channelling funds into domestic Australian political matters specifically funding the National Country Party.”
He knew of two instances, he said, where the CIA had provided money for domestic political influence. Most recently the leader of the NCP, Doug Anthony, had received money — Whitlam claimed — from a CIA operative who rented Anthony’s house. While Whitlam did not name the CIA employee, Anthony soon did so. In a personal statement to Parliament, Anthony acknowledged his friendship with the former CIA operative, Richard Stallings, that he had rented his house to him and that their two families had taken holidays together, but denied any knowledge of Stallings working for the CIA.
In Washington, the US secretary of state Henry Kissinger fired off a furious telegram to the ambassador in Canberra: “Such a charge against the NCP leader Anthony could have damaging fallout on other aspects of US-Australia relations.”
Stallings, who had helped establish and was the first head of the American base at Pine Gap, had indeed worked for the CIA, but his name had not been included on the official department of foreign affairs list of declared CIA officials provided to Whitlam at his request.
“…Furious that the department had placed him in the position of potentially misleading Parliament, … he would continue to restate the allegation until the correct response was given …
“As Whitlam repeated his claims, Anthony challenged him to prove that Starlings was a former CIA operative. Whitlam prepared to do just that using the information previously provided to him by the Department of Defence … Despite the most concerted efforts of [Sir Arthur] Tange to convince both Anthony and Whitlam that they must withdraw on the grounds of national security, neither would yield.
“Tange could see no way of preventing what seemed certain to unfold over the next few days …the prime minister would answer the leader of the National Party’s question, confirming that the former head of Pine Gap had worked for the CIA and, by implication, revealing Pine Gap to be a CIA operation. The flinty Tange was horrified. This is the greatest breach of security ever, he told John Menadue. “The country will be cut adrift.”
Following Kissinger’s fury about Whitlam, which he expressed to his US ambassador, Ted Shackley, chief of the CIA East Asia Division, who had been deeply involved with Kissinger in the overthrow of the Allende Government in Chile, sent a demarche to ASIO on 8 November. He had Kissinger’s permission, he told Toohey. It said the US could not see how the issues raised by Whitlam could do other than blow the lid off installations in Australia and unless the problems could be resolved, the Americans could not see how its mutually beneficial relationships could continue.
The demarche from Shackley was sent via intermediaries to Kerr. I never saw it. I was excluded. I was not one of the Austral American club, even though I was head of the Prime Minister’s Department.
Tange received it and interpreted it as an ultimatum with the alliance at risk.
He instructed John Farrands to deliver the message to Kerr immediately, three days before the Dismissal. Farrands was Defence’s chief scientist and the Australian official most associated with, and knowledgeable about, Pine Gap. He advised Toohey of the meeting, but told Toohey that he would deny it.
The pressures were building on both the domestic and foreign fronts to sack the Whitlam Government. Kerr was ready to strike. With CIA and MI6 encouragement, he pushed Whitlam over the cliff.
Interestingly Government House guestbooks for the period went missing.
Whitlam’s ASIO file, as well as mine, have also been “culled.”
I have found intelligence agencies are prone to believe that they are better informed and more patriotic, even than prime ministers. These agencies handle a lot of material, but in my experience have poor judgment.
There is little effective oversight and accountability. There is a Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, but members are invariably seduced by “secret” and recycled CIA material. They join the insiders club that they should be supervising. It is known as regulatory capture.
I have been grievously deceived by these agencies on several occasions.
In the House of Representatives in 1977, Gough Whitlam said,
“There is profoundly increasing evidence that foreign espionage and intelligence activities are being practised in Australia on a wide scale… I believe the evidence is so grave and so alarming in its implications that it demands the fullest explanation. The deception over the CIA and the activities of foreign installations on our soil… are an onslaught on Australia’s sovereignty.”
In July 1977, Warren Christopher, deputy secretary of state under the new Democrat president, Jimmy Carter, flew into Sydney exclusively for a brief meeting at the airport with the leader of the Opposition, Gough Whitlam. As Whitlam records in his memoirs, Christopher told me that President Carter had instructed him to say that:
“The Democratic Party and the ALP were fraternal parties. He respected deeply the democratic rights of the allies of the United States. The US administration would never again interfere in the domestic political processes of Australia. He would work with whatever government the people of Australia elected.”
Could anything be clearer than that?
On becoming prime minister, one of the first things Fraser did was to renew the Pine Gap lease.
For a Biblical understanding of these endtime prophecies, see
The Donald Trump administration seeks to forcibly impose the US empire’s hegemony in Latin America. While hypocritically using “war on drugs/terror” rhetoric, it is reviving the colonial Monroe Doctrine, which top officials now call the Donroe Doctrine.
The Donald Trump administration is waging war on Venezuela, but this is part of a larger political war on Latin America.
In the first year of Trump’s second term as president, the US government has:
killed dozens of people without charges and trial in US military strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, executing humble fishermen from not only Venezuela but also Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago;
imposed sanctions on the democratically elected left-wing president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro;
hit Brazil with 50% tariffs, one of the highest rates on Earth, to try to destabilize democratically elected left-wing President Lula da Silva;
threatened to forcibly “take over” and colonize the Panama Canal, in violation of the Central American nation’s sovereignty;
tightened the illegal, six-decade blockade of Cuba; and
waged a regime-change war aimed at overthrowing the government of Venezuela, and ordered the CIA to kidnap or even assassinate its President Nicolás Maduro.
Those are the sticks of Trump’s new Big Stick Policy, aimed at Latin America’s left-wing leaders.
As for the carrots, Trump has pledged to economically bail out right-wing US allies in the region.
For instance, the Trump administration offered $40 billion to try to save Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei, a close Trump ally who has overseen a severe economic crisis.
The US empire’s goals in Latin America
The US government has always meddled in Latin America’s internal affairs. This is far from new.
The United States overthrew at least 41 governments in Latin America from 1898 to 1994, according to research by Columbia University historian John Coatsworth.
In the past three decades, Washington has backed dozens more coups, coup attempts, regime-change operations, and “color revolutions” in the region.
The US military has intervened in every single country in Latin America, according to data from the Congressional Research Service. (The only exception is French Guiana, which is a colony of France.)
US imperialism has always been bipartisan in Washington, and has continued under both Republican and Democratic presidents.
However, Donald Trump has brought back the most overt, aggressive form of interventionism.
In its flagrant attacks on the sovereignty of Latin America, the US empire has three main goals.
Exploit the region’s resources
One, the US wants to exploit Latin America’s plentiful natural resources, including oil and natural gas; gold, iron ore, lithium, copper, and other minerals; agricultural products; and fresh water. (As the climate crisis worsens, water will become increasingly important geopolitically.)
Trump has been very open about the fact that he wants US corporations to take over and profit from the region’s natural resources.
At a 2023 rally, Trump boasted that he wanted to “take over” Venezuela, and “we would have gotten all that oil.”
The Wall Street Journal wrote, Trump is “treating the hemisphere as an extension of the US homeland, where Washington will act unilaterally to root out perceived enemies. Loyalty is rewarded, and defiance can carry a price.”
Cut off relations with China
The second goal of the US empire is to prevent all governments in Latin America from having close ties with China. Washington would like to cut off regional relations with Russia and Iran as well, but China is the top priority.
China is already the number one trading partner of South America, and economic exchange is growing more and more by the year.
The United States is waging a Second Cold War, or Cold War Two, which seeks to isolate China. US strategists want to turn not only Latin America but all of the western hemisphere into an imperial “sphere of influence.”
It is not a coincidence that, in the first trip that Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio took abroad, he went to Panama, where he successfully pressured the country to withdraw from China’s global infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
And below is a Prophecy between the rivarly between Esau and Jacob:
And upon thy sword shalt thou depend, entering at every place: yet thou shalt be supple and credulous, and be in subjection to thy brother; but it will be that when his sons become evil, and fall from keeping the commandments of the law, thou shalt break his yoke of servitude from off thy neck. Genesis 27:40 Jonathan
“And Esau harbored hatred in his heart against Jacob, his brother, because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.
“And Esau said in his heart, ‘I will not do as Cain did, who killed Abel during their father’s lifetime and then their father had another son, Seth.
“Rather, I will wait until the days of mourning for my father have passed, and then I will kill Jacob my brother, and I will be the sole heir.’” Genesis 27:41 Jonathan
In the Hebrew Bible these elegies (a poem of serious reflection) of Jeremiah, five in number, are placed among the Chetuvim, or “Holy Writings” between Ruth and Ecclesiastes. But though in classification of compositions it belongs to the Chetuvim, it probably followed the prophecies of Jeremiah originally. For this reason alone we can account this book inclusive of the minor prophetical books as enumerated by Josephus [Against Apion, 1.1.8] as thirteen.
The Jews read it in their synagogues on the ninth of the month Ab, which is a fast for the destruction of their holy city. As in II Chronicles 35:25, “lamentations” are said to have been “written” by Jeremiah on the death of Josiah, besides it having been made “an ordinance in Israel” that “singing women” should “speak” of that king in lamentations.
Lamentations 1
1How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! How she has become as a widow! She that was great among the nations and princess among the provinces, how she has become tributary! — these are the words of Jeremiah; so the Targum introduces them, “Jeremiah the prophet and high priest said,” How doth the city sit solitary;
— Jerusalem is here represented as a weeping female, sitting solitary on the ground without any attendant or comforter, the multitude of her inhabitants being dispersed or destroyed;
— the description shows the miseries of the Jewish nation. Jerusalem became a captive and a slave, by reason of the greatness of her sins; and had no rest from suffering.
Jeremiah the Prophet and High Priest said, “How was it decreed that Jerusalem and her people should be punished with banishment and that they should be mourned with ´ekah (lamentations).
Just as when Adam and Eve were punished and expelled from the Garden of Eden and the Master of the Universe mourned them with ´ekah?” The Attribute of Justice replied and said, “Because of the greatness of her rebellious sin that was within her, thus she will dwell alone as a man plagued with leprosy upon his skin who sits alone.
And the city that was full of crowds and many peoples has been emptied of them and she has become like a widow. She who was great among the nations and a ruler over provinces that had brought her tribute has become lowly again and gives head tax to them from thereafter.”
2 She weepeth sorely in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.
— the prophet Jeremiah sometimes speaks on his own; at other times Jerusalem as a distressed female, is the speaker, or some of the Jews. The description shows the miseries of the Jewish nation. Jerusalem became a captive and a slave, by reason of the greatness of her sins; and had no rest from suffering;
— all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies; those who pretended great friendship to her, and were in strict alliance with her, acted the treacherous part, and withdrew from her, leaving her to the common enemy; and not only so, but behaved towards her in a hostile manner themselves.
When Moses the Prophet sent messengers to spy out the land, the messengers returned and gave forth a bad report concerning the land of Israel. This was the night of the ninth of Ab. When the people of the House of Israel heard this bad report which they had received concerning the land of Israel, the people lifted up their voice and the people of the House of Israel wept that night.
Immediately the anger of the LORD was kindled against them and he decreed that it should be so in that night throughout their generations over the destruction of the Temple.
When it was told through prophecy to Jeremiah the High Priest that Jerusalem would be destroyed at the hand of the wicked Nebuchadnezzar unless they repented, he immediately entered and rebuked the people of the House of Israel, but they refused to accept it. Therefore the wicked Nebuchadnezzar came and razed Jerusalem and set fire to the Temple on the ninth day in the month of Ab.
On that night, the Congregation of Israel wept bitterly and her tears flowed down her cheeks. There was no one to speak comfortingly to her heart from among all her idols after whom she loved to follow. As a result, all her friends were wicked to her; they turned against her and became her enemies.
— Remember, the Targum, whose origin in the Aramaic language, could be traced to the work of Ezra, and hence has prominence and enlightenment in giving us further understanding of biblical concepts which, oftentimes, where the message in the Masoretic Text are vague, uncertain, indefinite or unclear, the Targum provides greater clarity, wider insight and deeper intellect;
— The revelation of the ninth of Ab as the date the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and set fire to God’s Temple is one such example where the Targum provides greater clarity, wider insight and deeper intellect here.
3 Judah has gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude. She dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest; all her persecutors overtook her in her straits.
— Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction; her miseries have received their finishing stroke in a total captivity among, and bondage to, heathen and infidels, because of the oppression exercised by her rulers and others, and the servitude to which they obliged their subjects and inferiors;
— and retaining them in a state of bondage after their seven years’ servitude, contrary to the law of God; for which they were threatened with captivity, Jeremiah 34:13; including keeping their servants beyond the year of jubilee, when they ought to have set them at liberty;
The House of Judah went into exile because they were oppressing the orphans and the widows and because of the great servitude to which they were subjecting their brothers, the sons of Israel, who had been sold to them. And they did not declare freedom to their servants and handmaids who were of the seed of Israel.
As a result they themselves were delivered into the hand of the nations. And the Congregation of the House of Judah dwells among the nations and finds no rest from the hard labor to which they subject her. All who pursued her overtook her as she was hiding in the border regions and they persecuted her.
4 The highways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts; all her gates are desolate. Her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. — because none come to the solemn feasts; this of the sanctuary itself, because all Israel were supposed to convene there; and the Targum interprets it of the feasts, the three solemn feasts of the Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles at which all the males in Israel were obliged to appear;
— all her gates are desolate; the gates of the temple; none passing through them into it to worship God, pray unto him, praise him or offer sacrifice; or the gates of the city, none going to and fro in them; nor the elders sitting there in council as in courts of judicature to try causes and do justice and judgement;
All the while that Jerusalem was built, the sons of Israel refused to go up to be seen before the LORD three times a year. Because of Israel’s sins Jerusalem was destroyed and the roads to Zion are made mournful, for there is no one entering her at the time of the festivals.
All the gates are desolate and her priests groan because the sacrifices have ceased. Her virgins mourn because they have stopped going out on the fifteenth of Ab and on the Day of Atonement (which is on the tenth day of Tishri) to dance the dances. Therefore she too is very bitter in her heart.
— The revelation as to why the House of Judah went into Captiviry is another example above where the Targum provides greater clarity and wider insight where the Masoretic Text is less precise.
5 Her adversaries are the master, her enemies prosper; for the Lord hath afflicted her. For the multitude of her transgressions, her children have gone into captivity before the enemy. — her adversaries are their chief; or “for the head” or are the head as was threatened, Deuteronomy 28:44; and now fulfilled; the Chaldeans having got the dominion over the Jews, and obliged them to be subject to them:
— for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy; that is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea were carried captive by the enemy, and drove before them as a flock of sheep, and that for the sins of the nation; and these not a few, but were very numerous, as Mordecai and Ezekiel, and others, who were carried captive young with Jeconiah, as well as many now;
Those who oppress her were appointed over her as leaders and her enemies were dwelling at ease since the LORD had broken her due to her great rebelliousness. Her children go before the oppressor into captivity.
6 And from the daughter of Zion, all her beauty is departed; her princes have become like harts that find no pasture, and they have gone without strength before the pursuer. — and from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed; the kingdom removed; the priesthood ceased; the temple, their beautiful house, burnt; the palaces of their king and nobles demolished; and everything in church and state that was glorious were now no more:
— her princes are become like harts that find no pasture; that are heartless and without courage, fearful and timorous, as harts are, especially when destitute of food. The Targum says, “Her nobles were wandering for food, like stags who wander in the desert and find no suitable place for their pasture.”
— and they are gone without strength before the pursuer; having no spirit nor courage to oppose the enemy, nor strength to flee from him, they fell into his hands, and so were carried captive; see Jeremiah 52:8.
All the glory of the Congregation of Zion has gone out from her. Her nobles were wandering for food, like stags who wander in the desert and find no suitable place for their pasture. They went out in great weakness and they had no strength to flee to safety (from) before the pursuer.
7 Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the enemy and none did help her, the adversaries saw her, and mocked at her Sabbaths. — remembered, or rather “remembers” now in her afflicted state. In the days of her prosperity she did not appreciate, as she ought the favors of God to her. Now, awakening out of her past lethargy, she feels from what high privileges she has fallen;
— they have mocked at her sabbath-keepings; or sabbath-keepings, the cessation from labor every seventh day struck foreigners as something strange, mocked and provoked their ridicule by way of derision; Sabbaths, plural, including the three solemn feasts of the Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles at which all the males in Israel were obliged to appear.
Jerusalem remembered the days of old, when she was surrounded by walled cities and strong open towns, rebelling and reigning over all the earth, and all her lovely things which she had in earlier times. But because of her sins, her people fell into the hands of the wicked Nebuchadnezzar and he oppressed them and there was no one to save her. The persecutors watched her go into captivity and they laughed because her good fortune had ceased from her.
8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she has become a wanderer. All that honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness; yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward. — Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; in sinning hath sinned or hath sinned sin: that is, sinned wilfully and deliberately; hath sinned that sin which of all others is the abominable thing which the Lord hates, the sin of idolatry.
— because they have seen her nakedness; being stripped of all her good things she before enjoyed; and both her weakness and her wickedness being exposed to public view. The allusion is either to harlots, or to modest women when taken captive whose nakedness is uncovered by the brutish and inhuman soldiers: yea, she sighs and turns backward; being covered with shame because of the ill usage of her, as modest women would.
Jerusalem sinned a great sin, therefore she has become a wanderer. All the nations that had honored her in earlier times treat her with contempt for they have seen her nakedness. But she groans and shrinks back.
9 Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembereth not her last end. Therefore she came down wondrously; she had no comforter. “O Lord, behold my affliction, for the enemy hath magnified himself!” — her filthiness is in her skirts; her sin is manifest to all, being to be seen in her punishment. The allusion is to a menstruous woman, to whom she is compared, both before and after; whose blood flows down to the skirts of her garments, and there seen; by which it is known that she is in her separation;
— she remembers not her last end; she did not consider in the time of her prosperity what her sins would bring her to; what would be the issue of them; nay, though she was warned by the prophets and was told what things would come to at last, yet she laid it not to heart, nor did she lay it up in her mind or reflect upon it, but went on in her sinful courses;
The impurity of the menstrual blood in her skirts has not been cleansed from her. And she did not regret her sins, nor did she think of what would befall her in the end of days. And she went down and fell and was set aside. And there was no one to speak comfortingly to her. Look, O Lord and see for my enemies have exalted themselves over me.
10 The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things; for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom Thou didst command that they should not enter into Thy congregation. — the enemy hath spread out his hands on all her pleasant things; not the wealth and riches or the rich furniture in their own houses,
— but the precious things in the house of God: the ark, the table, the altar, the priests garments and vessels of the sanctuary, and the gifts of the temple and everything valuable in it; these the enemy stretched out his hands and seized upon, and claimed them as his own; took them as a booty, prey, and plunder;
— for she hath seen that the heathens entered into her sanctuary; not into the land of Israel only, the holy land, but into the temple, the sanctuary of the Lord; but called hers, because it was built for her use, that the congregation of Israel might worship the Lord in it; into this with her own eyes, though forced to it, and sore against her will, and to her great grief and trouble, she saw the Chaldeans enter, and ravage and spoil it:
The Targum
The wicked Nebuchadnezzar stretched out his hand and drew forth his sword and cut off all her lovely things. Indeed, the Congregation of Israel began to howl for she saw foreign nations go into her Temple; those about whom you commanded by Moses the prophet concerning Ammon and Moab, that they were not worthy to enter your assembly.
11 All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul. “See, O Lord, and consider, for I have become vile.” — all her people sigh, not her priests only, Lamentations 1:4; but all the common people, because of their affliction, particularly for want of bread. So the Targum says, “all the people of Jerusalem groan because of the famine;”
— they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: or, “to cause the soul to return” to fetch it back when fainting and swooning away through famine; and therefore would give anything for food; part with their rich clothes, jewels and precious stones; with whatsoever they had that was valuable in their cabinets or coffers that they might have meat to keep from fainting and dying;
The Targum
All the people of Jerusalem groan from hunger and search for bread to eat. They gave their precious things for the sustenance of bread in order to stay alive. Look O Lord and see for I have become voracious.
12 “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger. — Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? O ye strangers and travellers that pass by and see my distress, does it not at all concern you? does it not in the least affect you? can you look upon it, and have no commiseration?
— or is there nothing to be learned from hence by you, that may be instructive and useful to you? Some consider the words as deprecating; may the like things never befall you that have befallen me, O ye passengers; be ye who ye will; I can never wish the greatest stranger, much less a friend to suffer what I do; nay, I pray God they never may: others, as adjuring.
The Targum
I adjure you, all who pass by on the road, turn around here. Look and see. Is there any pain like my pain, that which has been visited upon me because the Lord shattered me in the day of his great anger?
13 From above hath He sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them. He hath spread a net for my feet, He hath turned me back; He hath made me desolate and faint all the day. — from above; these words are probably figurative: the judgements that had fallen on Jerusalem were as a fire from heaven, piercing even to “the joints and marrow,” the innermost recesses of life;
— He hath spread a net for my feet; that is, God had brought me into a condition wherein I am entangled, and could not get out; to be the first cause of all the evil we suffered, and entitles God to our various kinds of afflictions, for the benefits of repentance;
The Targum
From heaven he sent fire into my strong cities and conquered them. He spread a net for my feet. He caused me to shrink back before my enemies. He caused me to be desolate all day, unclean and weak.
14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound up by His hand; they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck. He hath made my strength to fall; the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up. — bound by his hand; as the plowman binds the yoke upon the neck of oxen so God compels Judah to bear the punishment of her sins;
— he hath made my strength to fall; by the weight of punishment laid upon her, which she could not stand up under, but sunk and fell: this may be understood of her strong and mighty men; her men of valour and courage, who yet stumbled and fell;
— the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up; meaning the Chaldeans; nor were the Jews at last delivered from them by their own strength, but by the means of Cyrus the Persian conquering Babylon.
The Targum
The yoke of my rebellion was heavy in his hand. Intertwined like the tendrils of a vine, they climbed upon my neck. My strength is weakened. The Lord has given me into the hands of one whom I cannot withstand.
15 The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me; He hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men; the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a wine press. — the Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me; as a causeway is trodden; or as mire is trodden under foot in the streets; so were the mighty and valiant men, the soldiers and men of war, trodden under foot and destroyed by the Chaldeans in the streets of Jerusalem, and in the midst of Judea; the Lord so permitting it:
— he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men; the army of the Chaldeans, which were brought against Jerusalem by a divine appointment and call; against whom the choicest and stoutest of them, even their young men, could not stand; but were crushed and broken to pieces by them. The word for “assembly” sometimes signifies an appointed time; a time fixed for solemn festivals, and for calling the people to them;
The Targum
The Lord has crushed all my mighty ones within me; he has established a time against me to shatter the strength of my young men. The nations entered by the decree of the Memra of the Lord and defiled the virgins of the House of Judah until their blood of their virginity was caused to flow like wine from a wine press when a man is treading grapes and the wine of his grapes flows.
16 For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the Comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me. My children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.” — for these things I weep; the congregation of Judah, the godly among them, particularly Jeremiah, who represented them wept for the sins the people had been guilty of and for the punishment inflicted on them, or the sore calamities that were brought upon them;
— my children are desolate: those which should help and relieve her and be a comfort to her were destitute themselves: or were “destroyed” and were not and which was the cause of her disconsolate state, as was Rachel’s, Jeremiah 31:15;
The Targum
Because of the infants who were smashed and the pregnant mothers whose bellies were ripped open, the Congregation of Israel said, “I weep and my eyes flow with tears, a spring of water, for far from me is any comforter to revive me and speak words of comfort for my soul. My sons are desolate for the enemy has become master over them.”
17 Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her. The Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him; Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them. — Zion spreads forth her hands, either as submitting to the conqueror and imploring mercy; or rather as calling to her friends to help and relieve her. The Targum is, “Zion spreadeth out her hands through distress, as a woman spreads out her hands upon the seat to bring forth;”
— like a woman in labor-throes; menstruous woman, held unclean and shunned by all; separated from her husband and from the temple.
The Targum
Zion spreads out her hands from anguish like a woman spread upon the birth stool. She screams but there is no one to speak comfortingly to her heart. The Lord commanded the House of Jacob to keep the commandments and Torah, but they transgressed the decree of his Memra. Therefore his oppressors completely encircle Jacob. Jerusalem is like an unclean woman amongst them.
18 “The Lord is righteous, for I have rebelled against His commandment. Hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow; my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity. — for I have rebelled against his commandment; or “his mouth” – the word of his mouth which he delivered by word of mouth at Mount Sinai or by his prophets since; and therefore was righteously dealt with and justly chastised;
— my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity; in Babylon; being taken and carried thither by the Chaldeans; had it been only her ancient men and women, persons worn out with age that could have been of little use, and at most but of a short continuance, the affliction had not been so great; but her virgins and young men, the flower of the nation and by whom it might have been supported and increased; for these to be carried away into a strange land must be matter of grief and sorrow;
The Lord told the people of the House of Israel that they should not allow those who kill by the sword to pass through their land. Josiah the king went forth and drew his sword against Pharaoh the Lame on the plain of Megiddo, which he had not been commanded [to do] and he had not sought instruction from before the Lord.
Therefore archers shot arrows at King Josiah and he died there. Before his spirit left him he moved his lips and said, “The Lord is blameless for I have transgressed against his Memra.” Hear now all peoples, the lamentations that Jeremiah made over Josiah and see my affliction that has come upon me after his death. My virgins and young men have gone into exile.
19 I called for my lovers, but they deceived me; my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls. — I called for my lovers, but they deceived me, either her idols with whom she had committed spiritual adultery, that is, idolatry; but these could not answer her expectations and help her: or the Egyptians that courted her friendship and with whom she was in alliance and in whom she trusted; and these in the times of her distress she called upon to make good their engagements, but they disappointed her and stood not to their covenant and promises, but left her to stand and fall by herself;
— my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city; or died in the city of Jerusalem; not by the sword of the enemy but through famine; and so in the Arabic language, the word signifies to labour under famine and want of food and perish through it; and if this was the case of their priests that officiated in holy things and of their elders or civil magistrates, what must be the case of the common people?
Jerusalem said, when she was delivered into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, “I called to my friends, the sons of the nations, with whom I had made treaties to come to my aid. But they deceived me and turned to destroy me. (These are the Romans who entered with Titus and the wicked Vespasian and they built siege works against Jerusalem.)
My priests and my elders within the city perish from hunger, because they searched for the sustenance of bread for themselves to eat, in order to preserve their souls.
20 “Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress; my bowels are troubled. Mine heart is turned within me, for I have grievously rebelled. Abroad the sword bereaveth; at home there is as death. — behold, O Lord, for I am in distress, thus she turns from one to another; sometimes she addresses strangers, people that pass by; sometimes she calls to her lovers; and at other times to God which is best of all to have pity and compassion on her in her distress; and from whom it may be most expected, who is a God of grace and mercy:
— my bowels are troubled; as the sea agitated by winds which casts up mire and dirt; or as any waters moved by anything whatsoever, become thick and muddy; or like wine in fermentation; it signifies expressive of great disturbance, confusion and uneasiness:
“Look, O Lord, for I am in anguish. Therefore my bowels are piled up and my heart turns within me, for I have surely transgressed the decree of the Memra of the Lord. Consequently, outside the sword bereaves and inside the agony of starvation, like the Destroying Angel who is appointed over death.
21 They have heard that I sigh; there is none to comfort me. All mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that Thou hast done it! Thou wilt bring the day that Thou hast proclaimed, and they shall then be like unto me. — they have heard that I sigh; the nations contiguous to me, Egypt and others that before pretended to be my friends and allies have been no strangers to my bitter afflictions which have forced sighs from me;
— but there is none to comfort me, none of them can or will relieve my distress, but abandon me as in a desperate situation. They are glad that thou hast done it; they have even expressed gladness at the calamities that have befallen me; and they please themselves with the thought that thou our God, of whose favour and protection we used to boast, should forsake us and give us up as a prey to our enemies.
“The nations heard that I am groaning and there is no one to comfort me. All my enemies heard of the evil that overcame me and were glad. For you Lord are the one who has done it. You have caused them to bring upon me a day of retribution. You have summoned against me a coalition to destroy me. May you summon against them that they may be made desolate like me.
22 Let all their wickedness come before Thee, and do unto them as Thou hast done unto me for all my transgressions; for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.” — let all their wickedness come before thee; the Targum adds, “in the day of the great judgement;”
— for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint; her sighs were many because of her afflictions, and her heart faint because of her sighing.
“May there enter before you on the great judgement day all their evil deeds which they have done to me. May you turn against them as you have turned against me because of my many rebellions, for my groans are many and my heart is weak.”
Lamentations 2
1How the Lord hath covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in His anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not His footstool in the day of His anger! — how hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, by a pillar of cloud by day and a column of fire by night, as he did the Israelites at the Red sea, and in the wilderness, which he blots out as a thick cloud;
— and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel; all its glory, both in sanctuary and state; this was brought down from the highest pitch of its excellency and dignity to the lowest degree of infamy and reproach; particularly this was true of the temple which was the beauty and glory of the nation, but now utterly demolished: and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger; again referring to the house of the sanctuary or the temple itself;
How the Lord has detested the Congregation of Zion in his fierce anger. He threw down from the heavens to the earth the glory of Israel and he did not remember the Temple that was his footstool nor did he spare it in the day of his fierce anger.
2 The Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied; He hath thrown down in His wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He hath brought them down to the ground; He hath polluted the kingdom and the princes thereof. — the Lord hath swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and hath not pitied; as he regarded not his own habitation the temple nor the ark his footstool;
— it is no wonder he should be unconcerned about the habitations of the land of Judea and of Jerusalem, particularly of the king, his nobles and the great men; these the Lord swallowed up in an earthquake, or by invasion so as to be seen no more;
The Lord destroyed and did not spare any of the choice dwellings of the House of Jacob. In his anger he destroyed the Congregation of the House of Judah and brought them to the ground. He broke the kingdom, crushed her leaders.
3 He hath cut off in His fierce anger all the horn of Israel. He hath drawn back His right hand from before the enemy, and He burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about. — all the horn of Israel; the horn here as in elsewhere is the symbol of strength, aggressive or defensive and may therefore stand here for every element of strength, warriors, rulers, fortresses; the cutting off of every horn means the depriving Israel of all power of defence or warfare;
— he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy; either his own right hand, with which he had used to fight for his people, and protect them, but now withdrawing it, left them to the mercy of their enemies; or Israel’s right hand, which he so weakened, that they had no power to resist the enemy, and defend themselves:
In his fierce anger he cut off all the glory of Israel. He drew back his right [hand] and did not help his people from before the enemy and he burned in the House of Jacob like a searing fire which consumes on all sides.
— Note: if these lamentations were restricted to Jeremiah’s warnings against the house of Judah, then this verse shouldn’t have reference to JACOB; thus the reference to Jacob means it is a prophetic message to both the house of Israel and the house of Judah in the latter days, our days!
— Parallel Scriptures in
Isaiah 28:1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! — that is, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, the proud state and kingdom of the ten tribes. This pride is about Ephraim, the United States: “But if we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future, and we see the danger here to all of us,” Madeleine Albright; and the many and excellent vines among them, showing that the prophet’s work was not limited to Judah and Jerusalem, but extended to the northern kingdom, Israel;
— parallel Scriptures in Ezekiel 36, “the mountain of Israel” this prophecy is concerning the desolations of the United States, UK and France; “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys” these are the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Finland and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg;
— shoot forth your branches; that is, the trees that grew upon them should; the vines, and the olive trees, planted on hills and mountains; these are their colonies: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa; American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands (US); Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Virgin Islands (UK); Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Mayotte, Réunion (France).
— is a fading flower; beauty (Isaiah 28:1) “whose glorious beauty or ornament is a fading flower” – the image of “drunkards” it was the custom at feasts to wreathe with flowers; so this indispensable Ephraim stood upon the head of the fertile valley,” that is, situated on a hill surrounded with the rich valleys as the best of a garland; but that garland is “fading,” and this intoxicated Ephraim is now close to ruin, not to be depended upon, soon to be destroyed and discarded away quickly.
— this maybe where Judah shall bear his iniquity for forty days: I have appointed thee a day for a year. Ezekiel 4:4-6 Septuagint. — after the start of the 10 tribes house of Israel and last for 150 years, the house of Judah shall join in for 40 years. (for more, see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline)
4 He hath bent His bow like an enemy; He stood with His right hand as an adversary, and slew all that were pleasant to the eye in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion; He poured out His fury like fire. — He hath bent his bow like an enemy; God sometimes appears as if he was an enemy to his people, when he is not, by his conduct and behaviour; by his providence they take him to be so; he bends his bow, or treads it, for the bending or stretching the bow was done by the foot;
— he stood with his right hand as an adversary; with arrows in it, to put into his bow or with his sword drawn, as an adversary does. The Targum says, “he stood at the right hand of Nebuchadnezzar and helped him, when he distressed his people Israel:”
— and slew all that were pleasant to the eye; princes and priests, husbands and wives, parents and children, young men and maids; desirable to their friends and relations, both the house of Israel and the house of Judah, and even of the daughter of Zion;
The Targum
He drew his bow and shot arrows at me like an enemy. He stood ready at the right of Nebuchadnezzar and aided him as if he were oppressing his people, the House of Israel. And he killed every young man and everything that was beautiful to see. In the tent of the Congregation of Zion he poured out his anger like a burning fire.
5 The Lord was as an enemy; He hath swallowed up Israel, He hath swallowed up all her palaces. He hath destroyed his strongholds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. — the Lord was as an enemy; who formerly was on their side, their God and guardian, their protector and deliverer, but now against them; and a terrible thing it is to have God for an enemy, or even to be as one; this is repeated, as being exceeding distressing, and even intolerable;
— God had use Nebuchadnezzar to do his will as he was described as “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant,” Jeremiah 25:9, 27:6, 43:10; and so was Cyrus, His anointed Isaiah 45:1; ‘He is My shepherd and shall perform all My pleasure,’ Isaiah 44:28.
The Targum
The Lord has become like an enemy. He destroyed Israel. He destroyed all her forts and razed all her open cities. He has increased in the Congregation of the House of Judah mourning and grief.
6 And He hath violently taken away His tabernacle, as if it were of a garden; He hath destroyed His places of the assembly. The Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of His anger the king and the priest. — and he hath violently taken away his tabernacle as if it were of a garden; the house of the sanctuary or the temple, which was demolished at once with great force and violence and no more account made of it than of a cottage or lodge in a vineyard or garden, set up while the fruit was, either to shelter from the heat of the sun in the day, or to lodge in at night;
— the Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion; there being neither places to keep them in, nor people to observe them: the weekly and annual Sabbaths: “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words,” Isaiah 58:13.
The Targum
He uprooted his Temple like a garden. He razed the place appointed for the atonement of his people. The Lord has caused the joy of the festival and the Sabbath to be forgotten and in his fierce anger he hates the king and high priest.
He (God) hates their kings and high priests:
— a) and the house of Israel is still indulging in idolatry; worshipping Easter, which is another form of worshipping Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the 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;
— b) and Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th which they 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 from his place today, Protestants or Catholics alike;
7 The Lord hath cast off His altar; He hath abhorred His sanctuary. He hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast. — the Lord hath cast off his altar; whether of incense or of burnt offerings, the sacrifices of which used to be acceptable to him, but now the altar being cast down and demolished, there were no more offerings; nor did he show any desire of them, but the reverse:
— he hath abhorred his sanctuary; the temple, by suffering it to be profaned, pulled down and burnt, it looked as if he had an abhorrence of it, and the service in it;
The Targum
The Lord has abandoned the house of his altar. He has trampled his Temple. He has handed over the walls of the forts to the enemy. They raised a shout in the Temple of the Lord like the shout of the people of the House of Israel praying in it on the day of Passover.
8 The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He hath stretched out a line, He hath not withdrawn His hand from destroying. Therefore He made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together. — He hath stretched out a line; the phrase implies the systematic thoroughness of the work of destruction;
— He made the rampart; even the very stones of the walls of Zion are thought of as “crying out” and wailing over their own downfall;
The Targum
The Lord resolved to destroy the wall of the Congregation of Zion. He swung the plummet and did not turn back his hand from destroying it. He caused the rampart and the wall to mourn; they were destroyed together.
9 Her gates are sunk into the ground; He hath destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the Gentiles; the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the Lord. — her gates are sunk into the ground; so completely destroyed that one might suppose they had been swallowed up in an abyss;
— her king and her princes are among the Gentiles; Zedekiah, and the princes that were not slain by the king of Babylon, were carried captive thither; and there they lived, even among the heathens that knew not God, and despised his worship:
The Targum
Her gates have sunk into the earth because they slaughtered a pig and brought its blood over them. He has destroyed and shattered her doorposts. Her king and rulers were exiled among the nations because they did not keep the decrees of Torah, as if they had not received it on Mount Sinai. Even her prophets had the holy spirit of prophecy withheld from them and they were not told a word of prophecy from before the Lord.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground and keep silence; they have cast up dust upon their heads. They have girded themselves with sackcloth; the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground. — the elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, and keep silence; who used to sit in the gate on thrones of judgement, and passed sentence in causes tried before them; or were to give advice and counsel, and were regarded as oracles, now sit on the ground, and dumb, as mourners; see Job 2:13;
— they have cast up dust upon their heads; on their white hairs and gray locks, which bespoke wisdom, and made them grave and venerable: they have girded themselves with sackcloth: after the manner of mourners; who used to be clothed in scarlet and rich apparel, in robes suitable to their office as civil magistrates:
— the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground: through shame and sorrow; who used to look brisk and gay, and walk with outstretched necks, and carried their heads high, but now low enough.
The Targum
The Elders of the Congregation of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They throw wood ashes upon their heads. They gird sackcloth upon their bodies. The virgins of Jerusalem bow their heads to the dust of the earth.
11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled; my liver is poured upon the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. — my bowels are troubled; all his inward parts were distressed: my liver is poured upon the earth; his gall bladder, which lay at the bottom of his liver, broke, and he cast it up, and poured it on the earth;
— because the children and sucklings swoon in the streets of the city; through famine, for want of bread, with those that could eat it; and for want of the milk of their mothers and nurses, who being starved themselves could not give it; and hence the poor infants fainted and swooned away; which was a dismal sight, and heart melting to the prophet.
The Targum
My eyes are spent with tears, my bowels are piled up, my liver is spilt onto the ground because of the destruction of the Congregation of my people as youths and infants cried out in the open places of the cities.
12 They say to their mothers, “Where is corn and wine?” when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom. — they say to their mothers, where is corn and wine? Not the sucklings who could not speak, nor were used to corn and wine, but the children more grown;
— both are before spoken of, but these are meant, even the young men of Israel, as the Targum says; and such as had been brought up in the best manner, had been used to wine, and not water, and therefore ask for that as well as corn; both take in all the necessaries of life; and which they ask of their mothers, who had been used to feed them, and not knowing what was the reason of it, inquire after them, being pressed with hunger:
The Targum
The young men of Israel ask their mother, “Where is the bread and wine?” as they thirst in the same way as one wounded by the sword [suffers] from thirst in the open places of the cities, as their life is poured out from hunger into their mother’s bosom.
13 What thing shall I take to witness for thee? What thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy breach is great like the sea. Who can heal thee? — what thing shall I take to witness for thee? what can I bring forward as a witness to prove that others have sustained as grievous ills as thou? what can be called to convince thee, and make it a clear case to time that ever any people or nation was in such distress and calamity, what with sword, famine, pestilence, and captivity, as thou art?
— what thing shall I liken thee to, O daughter of Jerusalem? what kingdom or nation ever suffered the like? no example can be given, no instance that comes up to it; not the Egyptians, when the ten plagues were inflicted on them; not the Canaanites, when conquered and drove out by Joshua; not the Philistines, Moabites, Edomites, and Syrians, when subdued by David; or any other people;
— for thy breach is great like the sea; as large and as wide as that: Zion’s troubles were a sea of trouble; her afflictions as numerous and as boisterous as the waves of the sea; and as salt, as disagreeable, and as intolerable, as the waters of it: or her breach was great, like the breach of the sea; when it overflows its banks, or breaks through its bounds, there is no stopping it, but it grows wider and wider:
The Targum
What can I bring to bear witness to you? Or to what can I compare you, O Congregation of Jerusalem? How shall I befriend you that I may console you, O Virgin of the Congregation of Zion? For great is your breaking, as great as the breaking of the waves of the Great Sea during the season of their gales. And who is the doctor who can heal you of your affliction?
14 Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee; and they have not exposed thine iniquity, to return you from captivity, but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment. — thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things; the words are eminently characteristic of Jeremiah, whose whole life had been spent in conflict with the false prophets (Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 5:13; Jeremiah 6:13; Jeremiah 8:10; Jeremiah 14:14; Jeremiah 28:9, and elsewhere), who spoke smooth things, and prophesied deceit. They did not call men to repent of their iniquity;
— and they have not exposed thine iniquities: they did not tell them of their sins; they took no pains to convince them of them, but connived at them; instead of reproving them for them, they soothed them in them; they did not “remove” the covering that was “over their iniquity” as it might be rendered;
Example of not exposing their iniquities are:
— a) indulging in idolatry; worshipping Easter, which is worshipping Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, fertility and sex;
— b) worshipping Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th which they christianised as Christmas), everyone from his place today, Protestants or Catholics alike;
— c) more than 98.5 percent of Christians are worshipping the Sun by observing Sunday, worshipping on a pagan sabbath. 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 judgement is to be stoned to death (Deuteronomy 17:3-5) – ’till they die.
The false prophets within you, they have seen falsehood for you and there is no substance to their prophecies. Nor did they make known the punishment that would overtake you as a result of your sin, in order to make you turn back in repentance. Rather, they prophesied to you vain prophecies and erring words.
15 All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city that men call ‘The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth’?” — all that pass by clap their hands at thee; strangers and travellers (Gypsies included) that passed by, and saw Jerusalem in ruins, clapped their hands at it by way of rejoicing as well pleased at the sight;
— they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem; by way of scorn and derision; hereby expressing their contempt of her, and the pleasure and satisfaction they took in seeing her in this condition;
The Targum
All those who passed by the way clapped their hands at you. They hissed with their lips and wagged their heads at the Congregation of Jerusalem. They said with their mouths, “Is this the city which our fathers and elders of old called the perfection of beauty and loveliness; the joy of all the earth’s inhabitants?”
16 All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee; they hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, “We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it.” — all thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee; or “widened” them; stretched them out as far as they could, to reproach, blaspheme and insult; or like gaping beasts, to swallow up and devour:
— they hiss and gnash their teeth; hiss like serpents, and gnash their teeth in wrath and fury; all expressing their extreme hatred and abhorrence of the Jews, and the delight they took in their ruin and destruction;
— they say, we have swallowed her up; all her wealth and riches were corns into their hands, and were all their own; as well as they thought these were all their own doings, owing to their wisdom and skill, courage and strength; not seeing and knowing the hand of God in all this. These words seem to be the words of the Chaldeans particularly;
— certainly this is the day that we have looked for; we have found, we have seen it: this day of Jerusalem’s destruction, which they had long looked for, and earnestly desired; and now it was come; and they had what they so much wished for; and express it with the utmost pleasure.
The Targum
All your enemies open their mouths at you. They hissed with their lips and gnashed their teeth and say, “We have destroyed! Surely this is the day we have waited for. We have found it; we have seen it.”
17 The Lord hath done that which He had devised; He hath fulfilled His word that He had commanded in the days of old. He hath thrown down, and hath not pitied; and He hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee; He hath set up the horn of thine adversaries. — the Lord hath done that which he had devised; it was not so much the Chaldeans that did it, though they ascribed it to themselves; but it was the Lord’s doing, and what he had deliberately thought of, purposed and designed within himself; all whose purposes and devices certainly come to pass;
— God’s will was to use Nebuchadnezzar to do his will and three times he was described as “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant,” Jeremiah 25:9, 27:6, 43:10; and so was Cyrus, His anointed Isaiah 45:1; ‘He is My shepherd and shall perform all My pleasure,’ Isaiah 44:28.
The Targum
The Lord has done what he planned. He completed the Memra of his mouth that he commanded to Moses the prophet long ago: that if the children of Israel did not keep the commandments of the Lord he was going to punish them. He destroyed and had no mercy. He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you for he has exalted your oppressors.
18 Their heart cried unto the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease. — their heart cried unto the Lord; the heart of the Jews in their distress, when they saw the walls of the city breaking down, they cried unto the Lord for help and protection;
— O wall of the daughter of Zion! this is an address of the prophet to the people of Jerusalem carried captive, which was now without houses and inhabitants, only a broken wall standing, some remains and ruins of that; which is mentioned to excite their sorrow and lamentation: let tears run down like a river, day and night; incessantly, for the destruction and desolation made;
The Targum
The heart of Israel cried out before the Lord, to have mercy on them. O wall of the city of Zion, weep tears like a torrent day and night. Give no comfort to your sorrows, to slacken in the prayer that is yours. May your eyes not cease from weeping.
19 Arise, cry out in the night; in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up thy hands toward Him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger on top of every street. — arise, cry out in the night; that is, O daughter of Zion, or congregation of Israel, as the Targum; who are addressed and called upon by the prophet to arise from their beds, and shake off their sleep, and sloth, and stupidity, and cry to God in the night season; and be earnest and importunate with him for help and assistance;
— pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord; use the utmost freedom with him; tell him, in the fullest manner thy whole case, fit thy complaints; unbosom thyself to him; keep nothing from him; speak out freely all lily soul needs; do all this publicly and in the most affectionate way and manner, thy soul melted in floods of tears, under a sense of sin, and pressing evils for it.
The Targum
Arise, O Congregation of Israel dwelling in exile. Busy yourself with Mishnah in the night, for the Shekinah of the Lord is dwelling before you, and with the words of Torah at the beginning of the morning watch. Pour out like water the crookedness of your heart and turn in repentance. And pray in the synagogue before the face of the Lord. Raise your hands to him in prayer for the life of your children who thirst with hunger at the head of every open market.
20 Behold, O Lord, and consider to whom Thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, their children of a span long? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? — behold, O Lord, and consider to whom thou hast done this; on whom thou hast brought these calamities of famine and sword; not upon thine enemies but upon thine own people, that are called by thy name and upon theirs, their young ones who had not sinned as their fathers had;
— shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? as very probably some were, who fled for safety when the city was broken up; but were not spared by the merciless Chaldeans who had no regard to their office and character; nor is it any wonder they should not, when the Jews themselves slew Zechariah, a priest and prophet, between the porch and the altar;
The Targum
See, O Lord, and observe from heaven against whom you have turned. Thus is it right for the daughters of Israel to eat the fruit of their wombs due to starvation, the lovely boys wrapped in fine linen? The Attribute of Justice replied, and said, “Is it right to kill priest and prophet in the Temple of the LORD, as when you killed Zechariah son of Iddo, the High Priest and faithful prophet in the Temple of the Lord on the Day of Atonement because he admonished you not to do evil before the Lord?”
21 The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword. Thou hast slain them in the day of Thine anger; Thou hast killed and not pitied. — the young and the old lie on the ground in the streets; young men and old men, virgins and aged women; these promiscuously lay on the ground in the public streets, fainting and dying for want of food; or lay killed there by the sword of the enemy; the Chaldeans sparing neither age nor sex;
— my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; by the sword of the Chaldeans, when they entered the city: thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger: thou hast killed, and not pitied; the Chaldeans were only instruments; it was the Lord’s doing; it was according to his will; it was what he had purposed and decreed;
The Targum
The young and the old who were accustomed to recline on pillows of fine wool and upon ivory couches were prostrate on the earth of the open markets. My virgins and youths have fallen, killed by the sword. You have killed in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered and shown no pity.
22 Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the Lord’S anger none escaped nor remained; those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed. — thou hast called, as in a solemn day, my terrors round about; terrible enemies, as the Chaldeans were; these came at the call of God, as soldiers at the command of their general; and in as great numbers as men from all parts of Judea flocked to Jerusalem on the solemn feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles;
— so that in the day of the Lord’s anger none escaped or remained in the city of Jerusalem and in the land of Judea; either they were put to death, or were carried captive; so that there was scarce an inhabitant to be found, especially after Gedaliah was slain, and the Jews left in the land were carried into Egypt:
The Targum
You will declare freedom to your people, the House of Israel, by the hand of King Messiah just as you did by the hand of Moses and Aaron on the day when you brought Israel up from Egypt. My children will gather all around, from every place to which they had been scattered in the day of your fierce anger, O Lord, and there was no escape for them nor any survivors of those whom I had wrapped in fine linen. And my enemies destroyed those whom I had raised in royal comfort.
Russia could provide its most advanced hypersonic missiles to Venezuela, amid frayed relations with the United States.
The Kremlin claims the Oreshnik missile is impossible to intercept and can carry conventional and nuclear warheads.
Alexei Zhuravlyov, the deputy chairman of Russia’s parliamentary defence committee, warned that “the Americans may be in for some surprises” as he opened the door to a weapons transfer to Venezuela.
“I see no obstacles to supplying a friendly country with new developments such as the Oreshnik or, let’s say, the well-proven Kalibr missiles,” Mr Zhuravlyov told the Russian news website Gazeta.Ru.
The Oreshnik missile, translating as “hazel tree,” is capable of striking any target across the European continent in under an hour if launched from Russia or Belarus, according to Moscow.
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has insisted that the missiles are so mighty that using several of them in a strike with conventional warheads would be just as catastrophic as a nuclear attack.
The Oreshnik was first used in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024 in what Putin said was a reprisal to Ukraine’s use of long-range weaponry hailing from the US and UK, including Storm Shadow missiles, to hit targets inside Russia.
It is understood Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president, reached out to Putin personally to plead for military assistance amid increased US military presence in the Caribbean.
Mr Maduro asked for Russia to boost air defences, including restoring Russian Sukhoi Su-30MK2 aircraft already in Venezuela’s possession and acquiring 14 sets of missiles, The Washington Post reported last week.
In a letter to the Russian president, Mr Maduro reportedly said that the Sukhoi fighters were “the most important deterrent the Venezuelan national government had when facing the threat of war.”
Caracas also reached out to China and Iran to upgrade its military capabilities and expand defensive ties, according to the paper.
The US deployment in the Caribbean Sea has been swelling for months as Washington dispatched fighter jets, warships, bombers, marines, drones and spy planes in a move that the US president claimed was necessary to sever the flow of drugs into the US.
More than a dozen US strikes on alleged drug traffickers, most of whom departed from Venezuelan shores, have killed more than 60 people since September.
On Saturday, Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokesman, said that Moscow condemns “the use of excessive military force in carrying out anti-drug tasks” by the US, reiterating its “firm support” for Venezuela’s leadership.
Russia and Venezuela have celebrated close ties over the past two decades and signed a strategic partnership treaty in Moscow last year.
Mr Zhuravlyov, describing Russia on Tuesday as “one of Venezuela’s key military-technical partners,” said that it “supplies the country with almost the full range of weaponry.”
On Tuesday, Putin announced that the Sarmat intercontinental heavy missile will enter Russia’s combat service from next year.
The nuclear missile, nicknamed Satan II, has been touted as the “world’s deadliest weapon.”
In the Study, we’ll find Jeremiah’s prophecies were not solely meant for the house of Judah; although some of them were, but the prime focus of God’s warnings were for the house of Israel as well, and is relevant for a latter time, our time; so be vigil.
Jeremiah, a Prophet to the house of Judah and Israel
A Study Index of Jeremiah
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
— calling of Jeremiah before he was born — “I have put my words in thy mouth” — to root out and to plant the royal family — out of the North an evil shall break forth — prophecy of a Sword coming from the North
~ Chapter 2
— the Lord brought them out through a land of deserts — from shadow of death, scorpions and fiery serpents — a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates — and olives, a land flowing with milk and honey — the way of going to Assyria or going to Egypt
— Judah played the harlot with many lovers — “Hast thou seen what backsliding Israel hath done?” — “Her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned to Me” — “We lie down in our shame”
~ Chapter 4
— “If thou wilt return, O Israel” — “Declare ye in Judah and publish in Jerusalem” — “The whole land shall be desolate” — “Woe is me now, for my soul is wearied”
— “Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem” — “How shall I pardon thee for this?” — they lie in wait as he that setteth snares — as a cage full of birds so are houses full of deceits — “justice” on Epstein: Ghislaine, HRH Andrew
~ Chapter 6
— “Prepare ye war against her! Arise” — “Hew trees, cast a mound against Jerusalem” — ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace — “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable” — “Behold, a people cometh from the North”
— “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house” — women knead cakes for the Queen of heaven — “Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem and cast it away” — from Queen of heaven, Astarte; to Easter today
~ Chapter 8
— worshipping of heavenly bodies are forbidden — but My people know not God’s judgement — wise men ashamed; they are dismayed and taken — over 98.5% of Christians honouring the Sun
— they bend their tongues like their bow for lies — “Behold, I will melt them and try them” — Who is the wise man that may understand this? — “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom”
~ Chapter 10
— “Learn not the way of the heathens” — the palm tree proliferates during Christmas — “At His wrath the earth shall tremble” — Ephraim is a chronic liar, full of deceits
— “Proclaim these words in the cities of Judah” — “Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof” — behold, thy young men shall die by the Sword — their sons and daughters shall die by famine — and there shall be no remnant of them
~ Chapter 12
— why doth the way of the wicked prosper? — “If thou run with footmen and have wearied thee — then how canst thou contend with horses?” — “but if all mine evil neighbours will not obey — I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation”
— “Go and get thee a linen girdle” — every bottle shall be filled with wine — and I will dash them one against another — Can the Ethiopian change his skin — or the leopard his spots?
~ Chapter 14
— “Judah mourneth and its gates languish” — “Pray not for this people for their good” — “The prophets prophesy lies in My name” — “Sword and famine shall not be in this land — by Sword and famine shall they be consumed”
— “Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me” — “And I will appoint over them four kinds” — “Verily it shall be well with thy remnant” — I sat not in the assembly of mockers
~ Chapter 16
— “Thou shalt not take thee a wife” — “Enter not into the house of mourning” — there shall ye serve other gods day and night — “Surely our fathers have inherited lies”
— “The sins of Judah is written with an iron pen” — “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man” — let them be confounded that persecute me — “Hallow the Sabbath day and do no work”
~ Chapter 18
— “O house of Israel, what do I do with this potter?” — a kingdom, to build and to plant it — I will scatter them as with an east wind — let wives bereaved their children and be widows — more about keeping the Sabbaths
— “Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle” — “Hear the word of the Lord at the East Gate” — this place shall no more be called Tophet — but the Valley of Slaughter — your carcasses shall be meat for the fowls — and for the beasts of the earth
~ Chapter 20
— Pashhur the son of Immer the priest — he smote Jeremiah and put him in stocks — “Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself” — O Lord, Thou deceived me and I was deceived — cursed be the day wherein I was born
— King Zedekiah sent Pashhur unto Jeremiah — Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Behold — I will turn back the weapons of war in your hands — weapons that recoil like a boomerang — “And I myself will fight against you — with an outstretched hand and in great wrath”
~ Chapter 22
— “Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah” — spare them not, neither have pity nor mercy — King Jehoahaz, taken into Egypt and died there — King Jehoiakim carried to Babylon and died there — Coniah son of Jehoiakim with signet but childless
— “Woe be unto the shepherds of Israel — that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” — I will bring evil upon them, even a year of visitation — in the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly — prophets who prophesy lies in My name — saying, “I have dreamed, I have dreamed”
~ Chapter 24
— and behold, two baskets of figs — one basket the figs that are good and ripe — the other basket that are bad and evil — more on God’s name, Yehovah יהוה YHVH
— Jeremiah spoke unto all the people of Judah — and this land be a desolation and an astonishment — and shall serve Babylon for seventy years — “Take the wine cup of this fury at My hand — all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it — evil shall go forth from nation to nation — howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow in ashes”
~ Chapter 26
— “Speak unto all the cities of Judah — I will make this house like Shiloh” — the priests, prophets and people took Jeremiah — saying, “Thou shalt surely die!” — “This man is not worthy to die”
— to kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon — all these shall serve Nebuchadnezzar, My servant — hearken not to your prophets, nor your dreamers — the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord — they shall also be carried to Babylon
~ Chapter 28
— false prophet Hananiah the Gibeonite — within two years the vessels of the Lord’s house — will be restored back to Jerusalem — within a year Hananiah died (two months) — according to the word of Jeremiah
— to the captives Nebuchadnezzar carried away — build ye houses and dwell in them — and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them — take ye wives and beget sons and daughters — take wives for sons; daughters to husbands — false prophet Shemaiah shall not have seed
~ Chapter 30
— write these words that I have into a book — it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble — “in destroying I will not destroy thee” — all thy lovers have forgotten thee — all thy lovers will turned against thee
— O virgin of Israel; Oh house of Joseph — “Rachel, weeping for her children” — but planters shall plant and shall not eat them — the watchmen upon Mount Ephraim shall cry — “Arise, let us go to Zion unto the Lord our God” — Ephraim a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke
~ Chapter 32
— Jeremiah the prophet thrown into the prison — Zedekiah king of Judah caught trying to flee — Jeremiah obliged Hanameel’s request to buy a field — the fear of the Lord is not in the house of Israel — Israel turns his back and not his face unto Me
— Yehovah, not the Lord, is his name — “They come to fight with the Chaldeans — but it is to fill them with dead bodies — whom I slain in Mine anger and fury — and for all whose wickedness — I have hid My face from this city”
~ Chapter 34
— “Thus saith the Lord: I will give this city — into the hand of the king of Babylon — and he shall burn it with fire” — every seven years man let go his bond servant free — they agreed but having cold feet, they relented
— “Go to the Rechabites and speak unto them — and give them wine to drink” — “But we will drink no wine, nor our sons forever — nor build a house, sow seed nor plant a vineyard” — “Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man — to stand before Me forever”
~ Chapter 36
— “Take thee a scroll of a book — write the words that I’ve spoken unto thee — against Israel and against Judah — against all the nations I’ve spoken unto thee — from the days of Josiah even unto this day”
— Zedekiah petitions false prophets to pray for him — “The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us” — the princes smote Jeremiah and put him in prison — Zedekiah commanded that Jeremiah be at court — that they should give him daily a piece of bread
~ Chapter 38
— “He that remaineth in this city shall die by the Sword — by the famine and by the pestilence — but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live” — “I’m afraid of the Jews who are fallen to the Chaldeans — lest they deliver me into their hand and mock me”
— Nebuchadnezzar and his army against Jerusalem — came and besieged it — Zedekiah tried to escape — the Chaldeans army pursued and overtook Zedekiah — the sons of Zedekiah were slewed before his eyes — and bound him with chains to Babylon
~ Chapter 40
— Jeremiah given protection by Nebuzaradan — and was freed from his chains — Gedaliah, made governor of Judea — but Ishmael the son of Nethaniah plan to kill him — won’t listen to Johanan the son of Kareah
— Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came — and smote Gedaliah, the governor of Judea — carried away captives, even the king’s daughters — and plan to go over to the Ammonites — but Johanan the son of Kareah rescued them
~ Chapter 42
— but Johanan were bent on going to Egypt — they obey not the voice of the Lord their God — then shall the Sword which ye feared — shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt — shall die by the Swords, famines and pestilences
— Jeremiah speaks to all the people of Judea — “Thou speakest falsely,” says Johanan, son of Kareah — so they came into the land of Egypt — the obelisks of Bethshemesh, the temple of the Sun — “And I will kindle a fire to the gods of Egypt”
~ Chapter 44
— they hearkened me not, nor inclined their ears to me — but their wives burned incense unto other gods — and the burning incense to the Queen of heaven — “I will punish by the Sword, famine and pestilence” — but they vow to burn incense to the Queen of heaven — more on the Queen of heaven: Astarte, Easter
— Jeremiah spoke unto Baruch the scribe — “Woe is me now! — for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow — that I have built will I break down — that which I have planted I will pluck up — even this whole land”
~ Chapter 46
— the word came to Jeremiah against the nations — against Egypt, the Ethiopians and the Libyans — against the Pharaoh king of Egypt — against the daughters dwelling in Egypt — against their gods
— the word of the Lord against the Philistines — the noise of stamping hoofs by horses — and at the rushing of his chariots — against Gaza; against Ashkelon — O thou Sword of the Lord
~ Chapter 48
— against Moab, saith the Lord of hosts — every head shall be bald and beard clipped — “Behold, Nebuchadnezzar shall fly as an eagle — and he shall spread his wings over Moab” — Moab shall be destroyed from being a people
— the Targun; Edom, Esau “land of the South” — prophecy on Esau: drunken, bare and despised — the Targun; the Southland, Sepharad, is Spain — of Teman, Dedan, Bozrah of Idumea — of Damascus, Kedarenes or Arabians — of Elamites or Persians “land of the East”
~ Chapter 50
— the Lord spoke against Babylon — “Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded” — an assembly of great nations from the North — “A Sword is upon the Chaldeans” the liars — a snare and archers against Babylon
— “Behold, I will raise up against Babylon” — Babylon is a golden cup in the Lord’s hand — “I am against thee, O destroying mountain — thus saith the Lord: Set up the watchmen! — thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise”
~ Chapter 52
— Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar — who slewed the sons of Zedekiah before his eye — and slewed also all the princes of Judah — then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah — and he burned the house of the Lord
Netherlands-based chipmaker Nexperia is at the heart of a standoff between the European Union, the U.S. and China that has triggered a near-crisis for global automakers.
Meetings are underway in Europe on Saturday to try to defuse the issue.
Chinese and U.S. authorities appear to be opening up a pathway for Nexperia’s China-based operations to resume exporting critical chips.
For now, the auto industry’s supply chain hangs in the balance, threatening vehicle production worldwide as companies warn of looming shortages of the chipmaker’s components.
Netherlands-based chipmaker Nexperia is at the heart of a standoff between the European Union, the US and China that has triggered a near-crisis for global automakers.
The Dutch government seized control of Nexperia, owned by the Chinese company Wingtech, in October, citing national security concerns. The move prompted Beijing to block Nexperia products from leaving China.
Meetings are underway in Europe Saturday to attempt to defuse the escalating issue, and Chinese and U.S. authorities appear to be opening up a pathway for Nexperia’s China-based operations to resume exporting critical automotive chips.
The dispute is threatening vehicle production worldwide as automakers warn of looming shortages of the chipmaker’s components, which are critical to basic electrical functions in cars and challenging to replace on short notice.
The battle has unfolded amid heightened scrutiny of Chinese-linked tech firms from Western governments, including the US, which recently tightened export-control rules to limit technology transfers to Chinese-owned entities.
Nexperia’s owner, Wingtech, was put on a US blacklist in December 2024 for its alleged role “in aiding China’s government’s efforts to acquire entities with sensitive semiconductor manufacturing capability.”
Why are Nexperia chips so important?
Nexperia manufactures billions of so-called foundation chips — transistors, diodes and power management components — that are produced in Europe, assembled and tested in China, and then re-exported to customers in Europe and elsewhere. Around 70% of chips made in the Netherlands are sent to China to be completed and re-exported to other countries.
The chips are basic and inexpensive, but are needed in almost every device that uses electricity. In cars, those chips are used to connect the battery to motors, for lights and sensors, for braking systems, airbag controllers, entertainment systems and electric windows.
Nexperia had sales of $2 billion last year.
In late October, automakers, such as Volkswagen, Nissan Motor and Mercedes-Benz, sounded the alarm about potential production cuts if Nexperia’s chip exports are curtailed for long.
While automakers typically have some stockpiles and alternative suppliers, it is difficult to switch supply sources overnight.
What happened and where do things stand?
In September, the Dutch government invoked a Cold War-era law to effectively take control of Nexperia, amid concerns that its Chinese owner was planning to shift intellectual property to another company it owned. A Dutch court also suspended Nexperia CEO, Wingtech founder Zhang Xuezhen, citing mismanagement.
Beijing retaliated weeks later by imposing export controls on certain Nexperia products made in China, escalating tensions and fueling fears of a broader supply chain shock. That prompted the company to tell carmakers it could no longer guarantee supplies.
But signs of a breakthrough have started to emerge.
On Friday, reports said the US plans to announce that Nexperia will resume sending chips under a framework agreement reached during talks between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, citing sources familiar with the matter. And on Saturday, China said it will exempt some Nexperia chips from its export ban. Chinese officials did not specify what those exemptions could entail.
“We will comprehensively consider the actual situation of the enterprise and exempt eligible exports,” The Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement.
If finalized, the exemptions could ease immediate pressure on automakers. But the broader dispute over ownership, technology control and security oversight remains unresolved.
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.
False shepherds and false teachings abound everywhere so much so that, if possible, even the elect are deceived! Thus for correction, it is with certainty that when it is spewed out of God’s mouth, it is into the Fire! Selah!
“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, we wouldn’t be able to understand these prophecies until the “latter days.” In the latter days could be our time, the endtime, or soon to be, then we shall understand these prophecies clearly: a foretaste of which is that the calamities which will have come upon us are the divine judgement upon our sins. We are all trying, but only in the endtime would we be able to appreciate these prophecies perfectly.
Jeremiah 51
The Chaldeans, especially under Nebuchadnezzar their king, has been described by God as “the king of Babylon, My servant” in multiple places (Jeremiah 25:9, Jeremiah 27:6, Jeremiah 43:10). So this and the previous chapter contain a long prophecy concerning the destruction of Babylon following their judgement as well.
1 Thus saith the Lord: “Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against Me, a destroying wind.
— thus saith the Lord, behold, I will raise up against Babylon; the Babylonians being the last and most notorious enemies of the Jews, yet Nebuchadnezzar was God’s servant, his horsewhip, but as they were against the Lord’s people the Lord was against them;
— the Targum renders it, “against the inhabitants of the land of the Chaldeans;” a destroying wind; a northern one by the army of the Medes and Persians, which should sweep away all before it.
Nebuchadnezzar was God’s servant, his horsewhip, but as they were against the Lord’s people, the Lord was against them
2 And will send unto Babylon winnowers that shall fan her, and shall empty her land; for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
— and God will send unto Babylon farmers that shall fan her, and shall empty her land; or “strangers that shall fan her” meaning the Medes and Persians, who should be like a strong wind upon the mountains, where corn, having been threshed was fanned and the chaff carried away by the wind;
—and such would the Chaldeans be in the hand of the Persians, scattered and dispersed among the nations as chaff with the wind and their cities be emptied of inhabitants and of their wealth and riches; the Targum says, “I will send against Babylon spoilers, that shall spoil and exhaust the land.”
3 Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine; and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.
— against him let the archer bend his bow; these are either the words of the Lord to the Medes and Persians, to the archers among them, to bend their bows and level their arrows against the Chaldeans who had bent their bows and shot their arrows against others; or of the Medes and Persians stirring up one another to draw their bows and fight manfully against the enemy;
— and spare ye not her young men; because of their youth, beauty and strength: destroy ye utterly all her host; her whole army, whether officers or common soldiers; or let them be accoutred in what manner they will. The Targum says “destroy all her possessions completely.”
4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets. — thus the slain shall fall by the Sword or by Arrows and Darts of the Medes and Persians; and they that are thrust through in her streets.
5 For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah by his God, by the Lord of hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.”
— though their land was filled with wickedness and sin, rather, but the land of the Israelites is filled with sins; therefore the Lord addresses himself to his people living in Babylon, urging the proper behavior at the time of Babylon’s downfall.
6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of the Lord’S vengeance; He will render unto her a recompense.
— flee out of Babylon and deliver every man his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity, by taking part in the idolatry which brought destruction upon her; for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; he will render unto her a recompense.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’S hand, that made all the earth drunken; the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. — Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, a nation noted for power and glory;
— gold, the grandeur, splendour and riches of the empire, all is due to the Lord’s blessing that made all the earth drunken, drawn the nations of the earth into idolatry; drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad, intoxicated and deprived of a sound mind, are bound for destruction.
8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: Howl for her! Take balm for her pain; if so be she may be healed. — Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed; or “broken” even into shivers, as a cup is;
— for when it had been used to answer the purposes designed by the Lord, he let it fall cut of his hands at once and it was broken; or rather he dashed it in pieces as a potter’s vessel.
9 We woud have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country, for her judgement reacheth unto heaven and is lifted up even to the skies.
10 The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness; come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.
11 Make bright the arrows! Gather the shields! The Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; for His device is against Babylon to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of His temple.
12 Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon! Make the watch strong! Set up the watchmen! Prepare the ambushes! For the Lord hath both devised and done that which He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
— get ready the watchmen! God would set up numerous watchmen at the endtime! thus this chapter must be prophetic instead of historical, although there is always some elements of them being historical;
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, unless He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets,” Amos 3:7
— prepare the ambushes; or “lies in wait” to second or relieve those on the walls upon occasion; or seize unawares the besiegers, should they attempt to scale the walls and enter the city.
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness. — O thou that dwellest upon many waters; here Babylon is addressed as dwelling in many waters, that is, in numerous coastlines, island and land, perhaps indication of numerous nations;
— who, by the great river Euphrates; being branched out into several canals or rivers, both ran through it and encompassed it; hence mention is made of the rivers of Babylon, Psalms 137:1; and a fit emblem this city was of mystical Babylon, which is also said to sit on many waters, interpreted as of many people and nations, Revelation 17:1;
— thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness; this flourishing city was now near its end and with it the whole Babylonish monarchy; the Targum says, “the day of thy destruction is come, and the time of the visitation of thy wickedness.”
14 The Lord of hosts hath sworn by Himself, saying, “Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillars, and they shall lift up a shout against thee.”
15 He hath made the earth by His power; He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by His understanding. — the Lord and Creator of the whole world will destroy the idols of Babylon, and break the mighty kingdom that rules the world.
16 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 lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasures.
— through thunders, he makes a roaring sound of water in the heavens, he causes clouds to ascend from the end of the earth, makes lightnings for rain, and brings forth the wind out of His treasures.
17 Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. — he brings ruin on the whole earth by subjugation of the nations and devastation of their molten inages.
18 They are vanity, the work of errors; in the time of their visitation they shall perish. — all idols will be destroyed before the almighty power of the Creator and Ruler of the whole world on the day of judgement,
19 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. — and Israel shall then learn that he who formed the universe will show himself by the fall of Babylon.
20 “Thou art My battleax and weapons of war; for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms. — for with thee will I break the nations into pieces and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; or “with thee I have broke in pieces” as the nations surrounding the kingdom of Judea: Tyre, Egypt, Edom, Moab, Ammon and others.
21 And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider.
22 With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid.
23 I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.
24 And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight,” saith the Lord.
— all their evil that they have done in Zion, in your sight, saith the Lord; for all the evil the Chaldeans had done in Judea; the ravages they had made there, the blood they had shed and the desolation they had made; and particularly for what they had done in Jerusalem and especially in the Temple, burning, spoiling and profaning;
— God would now righteously punish them and retaliate all this evil on them; and which should be done publicly before all the nations of the world and particularly in the sight of God’s own people: for this phrase, “in your sight” does not refer to the evils done in Zion but to the recompense that should be made for them.
25 “Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain,” saith the Lord, who destroyest all the earth; “and I will stretch out Mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.
— behold, God is against thee, O destroying mountain; Babylon was situated in a plain, but is called a mountain here; because a mountain being a strong nation, even an empire; a hill being a smaller nation;
— and God will stretch out his hand upon thee: in a way of vindictive wrath, pouring it out upon her and inflicting his judgements on her; laying hold on and seizing her in a furious manner as a man does his enemy when he has found him.
26 And they shall not take from thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever,” saith the Lord. — God threateneth to Babylon an utter ruin and desolation, so as they should not have a stone left fit to lay a foundation,
— or to make a corner-stone; or, as some others interpret it, that city should never be rebuilt, there should never from the rubbish of it be taken a stone to lay the foundation.
27 Set ye up a standard in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations against her; call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillars.
— kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; these were countries under the dominion of the Medes.
28 Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion. — prepare the nations against her: animate them, stir up their spirits against her, and furnish them with armour to engage with her.
29 And the land shall tremble and sorrow; for every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without an inhabitant.
— and the land shall tremble with sorrow; the land of Chaldea, the inhabitants of it, should tremble; to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.
30 The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have remained in their strongholds; their might hath failed, they have become as women; they have burned her dwelling places, her bars are broken.
— her bars are broken; the bars of the gates of the city, or of the palaces of the king and nobles and of the houses of the people, by the soldiers to get the plunder; see Isaiah 45:1.
31 One courier shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, — one post should be after another, and one messenger after another, post upon post, and messenger upon messenger, as fast as they could run;
— when one had been with his message and delivered it, and returned, he meets another; or they met one another, coming from different places: to show the king of Babylon his city is taken.
32 and that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted. — the reeds; literally, the marshes or pools, which formed an important part of the defenses of Babylon, were dried up as completely as a piece of wood would be consumed by fire.
33 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor; it is time to thresh her; yet a little while and the time of her harvest shall come.” — the daughter of Babylon is like a thrashing-floor; God’s people have been sorely bruised and trodden under foot by the Babylonians,
34 “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me; he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel. He hath swallowed me up like a dragon; he hath filled his belly with my delicacies, he hath cast me out.
— Nebuchadnezzar hath swallowed God’s people like a dragon; or “whale” or any large fish which swallow the lesser ones whole.
35 The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,” shall the inhabitant of Zion say; “and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea!” shall Jerusalem say. — the violence done to me, and to my flesh, be upon Babylon; that is, let the injuries done to Zion and her children, be avenged on Babylon;
— the Targum says, “the sin of the innocent blood which is shed in me;” let that be imputed to them, and vengeance come upon them for it.
36 Therefore thus saith the Lord: “Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.
37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing, without an inhabitant.
38 They shall roar together like lions; they shall yell as lions’ whelps.
39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,” saith the Lord.
40 “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with hegoats. — God will bring Babylon down like lambs to the slaughter; to the place of slaughter; who shall be able to make no more resistance than lambs; this explains what is meant by being made drunk, both the Chaldeans, or Israelites;
— like Boris Johnson, intoxicated and deprived of a sound mind, purposely flew over to Kyiv to sabotage the Peace Deal between Ukraine and Russia way back in April, 2022; and as a result, over three year on, Ukraine is being ravaged and destroyed! and the UK is sleeping a perpetual sleep, with high inflation; even destruction and a slow death.
41 “How Sheshach is taken! And how the praise of the whole earth is surprised! How Babylon has become an astonishment among the nations! — how is Sheshach taken! Not the city Shushan but Babylon as is plain from a following clause; and so the Targum says, “how is Babylon subdued!”
— how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations! or “a desolation” and indeed it had being a desolation was the reason of its being an astonishment among the nations; who were amazed to see so strong, rich and splendid a city brought to ruin in a very short time
— same as the Israelites:
“And I will persecute them with the Sword, with the Famine, and with the Pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and an astonishment and a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations whither I have driven them,” Jeremiah 29:18
42 The sea has come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof. — by a grand metaphor the invading army is compared to the sea; the image is appropriately taken from the Euphrates.
43 Her cities are a desolation, a dry land and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby. — Babylon is abundant in treasures, yet neither her waters nor her wealth shall secure her; destruction comes when they least think of it.
44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him. Yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
— and I will punish Bel in Babylon, the chief deity of the Babylonians, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up, taking away from him what he had robbed and devoured through the hands of those who worshiped him;
— and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him, flocking to Babylon in streams to consecrate their treasures to him; yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall so that the city would be open to all enemies.
45 “My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord. — my people, go ye out of the midst of her; this is a call of the Jews to go out of Babylon, not before the taking of the city by Cyrus;
— but when he should issue out a proclamation, giving them liberty to return to their own land; which many of them, being well settled in Babylon, would not be ready to accept the offer, but choose to continue to live there;
— wherefore they are urged to depart from thence, because of the danger they would be exposed unto their idols; for though the city was not destroyed by Cyrus upon his taking it, yet it was by Darius Hystaspes sometimes after. The same call is given to the people of God to come out of mystical Babylon, Revelation 18:4.
46 And lest your heart faint and ye fear for the rumor that shall be heard in the land—a rumor shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumor and violence in the land, ruler against ruler” — for rumours after rumours shall come; the war, then, will last some time, and all kinds of rumours will be in the air.
47 therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgement upon the graven images of Babylon; and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. — and the whole land of Chaldea shall be confounded, when they shall see that their idols will do them no more service.
48 Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon, for the despoilers shall come unto her from the north,” saith the Lord.
— then the heaven and the earth and all that is therein shall sing for Babylon, rejoicing over her fall; for the spoilers shall come unto her from the North, saith the Lord, and the sentence executed by him is the cause of their jubilation.
49 As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth. — as Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel; in Jerusalem, when that city was taken the Chaldeans, and destroyed;
— so at Babylon shall all the slain of all the earth; or “land” that is, the land of Chaldea; the inhabitants of which fled to Babylon upon the invasion of the Medes and Persians, both for their own safety, and the defence of that city; and where being slain they fell; and this was a just judgement for what they had done to Israel.
50 Ye that have escaped the sword, go away; stand not still. Remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. — let those in exile in Babylon, who have escaped death, hasten their return to Jerusalem, while there is still time.
51 We are confounded because we have heard reproach; shame hath covered our faces, for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the Lord’S house. — for strangers; the “reproach” which has stung us, came when they taunted us with the fact that they had burned the Temple.
52 “Therefore behold, the days come,” saith the Lord, “that I will do judgement upon her graven images; and through all her land the wounded shall groan. — for which profanation of my holy place, I will revenge their graven images.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from Me shall despoilers come unto her,” saith the Lord.
— though Babylon should mount up to heaven; could their walls, which were very high, two hundred cubits high, as Herodotus says, be carried up as high as heaven; or their towers, which were exceeding high,
— the Targum says, “if Babylon should be built with buildings as high as heaven, and should fortify the strong holds on high:” yet from me shall spoilers come, saith the Lord; the Medes and Persians.
54 A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans, — the cry of the distressed was then heard upon the great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans;
55 because the Lord hath despoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice. When her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered, — the prophet Jeremiah heard the cry of the captured city like great running waters.
56 because the despoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken; every one of their bows is broken. For the Lord God of recompenses shall surely requite. — the prophet Jeremiah in the spirit sees these destroyers as already come.
57 “And I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her captains and her rulers and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,” saith the King, whose name is the Lord of Hosts.
— and God will make her princes and wise men drunk, the counselors of the kingdom, her captains and her rulers and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, namely, the sleep of death, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
58 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: “The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain, and the folk in the fire; and they shall be weary.”
— thickness of the walls of Nineveh and Babylon shall be utterly broken; nor are we to be astonished, that no remains, not the least traces of these prodigious works are to be found today.
59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.
— the word which Jeremiah commanded Seraiah; the order the prophet gave this prince to take a copy of it with him to Babylon and read it there and cast it into the river Euphrates, with a stone bound it. Of this Seraiah: he is further described as:
— the son of Neriah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign; Zedekiah, in the fourth year of his reign, went to Babylon, to reconcile himself to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and took Seraiah with him.
60 So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. — so Jeremiah wrote all the evil that should come upon Babylon; the punishment prophecised by God:
— this Jeremiah delivered, not by word of mouth to Seraiah to relate when he came to Babylon; but he wrote it in a book for him to read and reread; and he wrote it himself; Baruch, his scribe, not one who transcripted for him here;
— even all these words that are written against Babylon; in this and the preceding chapter: this book written by Jeremiah was a copy of them.
61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When thou comest to Babylon and shalt see, and shalt read all these words, — thou shalt see to it and read, or see to it and read; who is to read it to his countrymen in captivity; not in public, but in private, for the Chaldeans would not have understood Hebrew.
62 then shalt thou say, ‘O Lord, Thou hast spoken against this place to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.’ —
63 And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates.
— that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates; the book being read was to be rolled up again and then a stone tied to it and cast into the middle of the river, from whence it could not be taken up;
— and this was a sign confirming the above prophecy; compare with this what was done by a mighty angel concerning mystical Babylon, in which there is an allusion to this, Revelation 18:21.
64 And thou shalt say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her; and they shall be weary.’” Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
— thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her; as this book, with the stone bound to it does, and shall no more rise than that can;
— the evil of punishment brought on Babylon will sink her to such a degree that she will never be able to bear up under it; but be so depressed by it as never to rise to her former state and grandeur any more.
Jeremiah 52
The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609 BC), Jehoahaz (reign 609 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC)
1 Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
— and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; so that he was thirty two years of age when he was taken and carried captive into Babylon.
2 And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. — and he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord; though we do not read of any idolatry he was guilty of;
— yet he was disobedient to the word of the Lord, and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet; and particularly he rebelled against the king of Babylon and violated the oath he made to him, II Chronicles 36:12.
3 For because of the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till He had cast them out from His presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
— for through the anger of the Lord against Jerusalem and Judah, his wrath over their disobedience causing him to cast them from his presence and to permit the rebellion of Zedekiah, which resulted in the final overthrow of the southern kingdom, till he had cast them out from his presence, (the Shekinah left the Temple, out of Jerusalem and finally out of the land of Judea).
4 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came — he and all his army — against Jerusalem, and encamped against it and built forts against it round about. — this would be around 588 BC.
5 So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. — the siege continued about eighteen months; from the tenth day of the tenth month, in the ninth of Zedekiah’s reign to the ninth day of the fourth month, in the eleventh year of his reign; from 588 to 586 BC.
6 And in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. — the month Tammuz, which is part of June and part of July; hence the fast of the fourth month, for the taking of the city, Zechariah 8:19; in the year 586 BC.
7 Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about), and they went by the way of the plain.
8 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. — not finding him in his palace, and being informed of his flight, and which way he took, they overtook him in the plains of Jericho.
9 Then they took the king and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgement upon him. — and carried him up unto Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath; which is Antioch in Syria;
10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah. — and the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; or, however, ordered them to be slain;
— Nebuchadnezzar slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah; who together with the king’s sons were taken with him; or, however, were taken in Jerusalem and brought to Riblah; which of them is not certain, very probably the former.
11 Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah. And the king of Babylon bound him in chains and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. — and for his treason, Nebuchadnezzar put out the eyes of Zedekiah;
12 Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem. — came Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, or chief marshal; which served the king of Babylon,
13 And he burned the house of the Lord, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem and all the houses of the great men burned he with fire. — and burnt the house of the Lord; the Temple built by Solomon, after it had stood four hundred and seventy years, six months and ten days, according to Josephus: but the Jews say it stood but four hundred ten years;
— and all the houses of the great men burnt he with fire; of the princes and nobles in Jerusalem; it is in the singular number, “and every house of the great one” or “every great house.” Rashi interprets it of the synagogue, where prayer was magnified; but others, understood it of the schools, where the law was magnified.
14 And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. — a picture is worth a thousand words!
The Fall of Jerusalem: a picture is worth a thousand words!
15 Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away captive certain of the poor of the people and the residue of the people who remained in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. — some of the poor people he carried as captives, but some of them he left behind.
16 But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen. — but Nebuzaradan left certain of the poor of the land there; of the land of Judea who lived in the country and had not been concerned in defending the city against the Chaldeans;
— for vinedressers and for husbandmen; to look after the vineyards and fields and dress and manure them, that the king of Babylon might receive some tributes in return by the conquest he had made.
17 Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the brazen sea that was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke, and carried all their brass to Babylon.
— also the pillars of brass that were in the Tenple; on either aide of the main entrance of the Sanctuary, 1 Kings 7:15, and the bases and the brazen sea that was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke, in order to make all these pieces fit for transportation and carried all the brass to Babylon.
18 The cauldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.
— the cauldrons are large pots made of bright brass used for sacrificial worship and the shovels and the snuffers and the bowls and the spoons, vessels for incense and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, they took away all those used for the altar of burnt offerings in the Court of the Priests.
19 And the basins, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the cauldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups — that which was of gold in gold and that which was of silver in silver — took the captain of the guard away.
— and the basins and the firepans and the bowls and the cauldrons and the candlesticks and the spoons and the cups, all these used chiefly in the ministrations of the Temple; that which was of gold in gold and that which was of silver in silver, in either case of solid metal, not of some cheap alloy or merely plated, took the captain of the guard away.
20 The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brazen bulls that were under the bases, which King Solomon had made in the house of the Lord — the brass of all these vessels was beyond weighing.
— the two pillars, one sea and twelve brazen bulls that were under the bases, 1 Kings 7:23:, which King Solomon had made in the house of the Lord. The brass of all these vessels was without weight, its mass beyond calculation.
21 And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it, and the thickness thereof was four fingers; it was hollow.
— and concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it, that in round numbers, being the circumference of either of the pillars and the thickness thereof was four fingers; it was hollow. The thirty-five cubits of II Chronicles 3:15 either refer to a different cubit, or they give the sum total of both pillars less the bases.
22 And a capital of brass was upon it; and the height of one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the capitals round about, all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these.
— and a capital or column of brass was upon it and the height of its upper part, where it curved away from the shaft, was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the capitals round about, all of brass, in the nature of ornaments in chains or festoons. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these;
— the bases (1 Kings 7:27), and the brazen sea (1 Kings 7:23), which were too vast in their proportions to be easily carried away to Babylon, were broken to pieces by the Chaldeans, who carried off the brass of which they were made.
23 And there were ninety and six pomegranates on a side; and all the pomegranates upon the network were a hundred round about. — to the four winds; towards every corner or wind twenty four, which make up ninety six;
— and all the pomegranates upon the network were an hundred round about; four, standing upon the four winds, added to the ninety six to make a hundred;
24 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door. — the three keepers of the door; these were not the ordinary porters, who were taken from among the Levites, but were priests who stood at the door to receive the offerings of the people, and thus were keepers of the sacred treasury.
25 He took also out of the city a eunuch who had the charge of the men of war, and seven men from those who were near the king’s person who were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host who mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city.
— and threescore men of the people of the land; persons of prime note, who, upon the invasion, betook themselves from the country to the city of Jerusalem with their effects, and to defend it. Josephus calls them rulers or governors.
26 So Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. — and brought them to Nebuchadnezzar in Riblah; to knew his thought concerning them; how they should be disposed of; and for him to pass sentence on them,
27 And the king of Babylon smote them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land. — but Nebuchadnezzar smote them and put them to death: and according to Josephus, by having them smitten with the sword; to have their heads cut off.
28 These are the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year, three thousand Jews and three and twenty; — in the seventh year, at the first captivity under Jehoiachin, three thousand Jews and three and twenty, these being of the tribe of Judah only, those from other tribes being more than twice as many;
29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons; — in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, after his actual accession to the throne, but nineteen years after he had gotten into power, II Kings 25:8, he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons;
30 in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.
— in the three and twentieth year, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away captive seven hundred forty and five persons; evidently Jews only, were four thousand and six hundred, not including the general multitude and the women and children.
31 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him forth out of prison;
— and it came to pass in the seven-and-thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, the decree being issued, II Kings 25:27, that Evilmerodach, king of Babylon (or during Nebuchadnezzar’s exclusion from men among beasts), son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison, in which he had been held all these years,
32 and he spoke kindly unto him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon, — and spoke kindly unto him, treated him with great respect, and set his throne above the throne of the king’s that were with him in Babylon, captive monarchs of other conquered nations,
33 and changed his prison garments. And Jehoiachin continually ate bread before him all the days of his life. — giving the captive king new garments, more suitable to his royal dignity than those he wore in prison, filthy and of ill smell.
34 And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life. — every day a portion, until the day of his death, all the days of his life; that is, of Jeconiah’s; how long he lived after this is not known;
— he was now fifty five years of age and cannot be thought to have lived a great while after, having been imprisoned so many years; and it is certain he did not live to the return from the captivity. Of the death of Zedekiah we have no account, only that he died in prison. The Jews say he died at this very time, when Jeconiah was advanced;
— the account here given of Jeconiah has led some to conclude that this chapter was not written by Jeremiah; since it cannot be well thought he should live so long as to the death of this prince; and besides had given an account of the destruction of Jerusalem in the thirty ninth chapter, which he would hardly repeat: though that he might do, partly for the sake of new circumstances here added; and partly as an introduction to the book of the Lamentations, which follows the book of Jeremiah. Amen!
Last thought!
“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, we wouldn’t be able to understand all these prophecies until the “latter days.” In the latter days could be our time, the endtime, or soon to be, then we shall understand these prophecies clearly: a foretaste of which is that the calamities which will have come upon us are the divine judgement upon our sins. We are all trying, but only in the endtime would we be able to understand these things perfectly. Amen!
China solves ‘century-old problem’ with new analog chip that is 1,000 times faster than high-end Nvidia GPUs. This explains why President Xi couldn’t be bothered to ask President Trump to ease restrictions on selling Nvidia’s most advanced chip, the state-of-the-art Blackwell chips, to Chinese companies.
Designed by Chinese scientists at Peking University, the analogue chip utilises resistive memory materials that may enable faster and more efficient data handling.
China’s new chip is 1,000 times faster than high-end Nvidia GPUs
Scientists in Peking University have developed a new chip, with a twist: it’s analog, meaning it performs calculations on its own physical circuits rather than via the binary 1s and 0s of standard digital processors.
What’s more, its creators say the new chip is capable of outperforming top-end graphics processing units (GPUs) from Nvidia and AMD by as much as 1,000 times.
In a new study published Oct. 13 in the journal Nature Electronics, researchers from Peking University said their device tackled two key bottlenecks: the energy and data constraints digital chips face in emerging fields like artificial intelligence (AI) and 6G, and the “century-old problem” of poor precision and impracticality that has limited analog computing.
Assistant Professor Sun Zhong, a co-author of the study, said in a university release that achieving both precision and scalability in analogue systems has been a “century-old problem” for scientists worldwide.
When put to work on complex communications problems — including matrix inversion problems used in massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems (a wireless technological system) — the chip matched the accuracy of standard digital processors while using about 100 times less energy.
By making adjustments, the researchers said the device then trounced the performance of top-end GPUs like the Nvidia H100 and AMD Vega 20 by as much as 1,000 times. Both chips are major players in AI model training; Nvidia’s H100, for instance, is the newer version of the A100 graphics cards, which OpenAI used to train ChatGPT.
The new device is built from arrays of resistive random-access memory (RRAM) cells that store and process data by adjusting how easily electricity flows through each cell.
Unlike digital processors that compute in binary 1s and 0s, the analog design processes information as continuous electrical currents across its network of RRAM cells. By processing data directly within its own hardware, the chip avoids the energy-intensive task of shuttling information between itself and an external memory source.
“With the rise of applications using vast amounts of data, this creates a challenge for digital computers, particularly as traditional device scaling becomes increasingly challenging,” the researchers said in the study. “Benchmarking shows that our analogue computing approach could offer a 1,000 times higher throughput and 100 times better energy efficiency than state-of-the-art digital processors for the same precision.”
“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!” Isaiah 28:1
“The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle” Psalm 78:9
Chapter 49 contains prophecies concerning the judgements of God on several nations and kingdoms, chiefly bordering on the land of Israel; on the Ammonites; which lies to the east of the Jordan; and of Edomites, Edom, which lay south to the land of Israel; the kingdom of Damascus, or the Syrians, the Kedarenes or Arabians, and on the Elamites or Persians.
The fate of the modern state of Jordan lies in this prophecy!
Of particular interest is a prophecy of Esau, Edom: the Targum identifies the Southland, Sepharad, as Spain, Obadiah 1:20; south of both houses of Israel.
A prophecy of Esau, Edom: the Targum identifies the Southland, Sepharad, as Spain, Obadiah 1:20. This prophecy is now playing a critical role in world affairs today.
“And Esau harbored hatred in his heart against Jacob, his brother, because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.
“And Esau said in his heart, ‘I will not do as Cain did, who killed Abel during their father’s lifetime and then their father had another son, Seth.
“Rather, I will wait until the days of mourning for my father have passed, and then I will kill Jacob my brother, and I will be the sole heir.’” Genesis 27:41 Jonathan
“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 understand it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20.
That is, we wouldn’t be able to understand these prophecies until the “latter days.” In the latter days could be our time, the endtime, or soon to be, then we shall understand these prophecies clearly: a foretaste of which is that the calamities which will have come upon all mankind are the divine judgement upon our sins. We are all trying to understand, but only in the endtime would we be able to appreciate all these things perfectly.
Jeremiah 49
1 Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the Lord: “Hath Israel no sons? Hath he no heir? Why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities? — hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? certainly he has, and who ought to possess the land east of the Jordan;
— is there no posterity of Israel that the king of the Ammonites hath taken possession of Gad, as if he had a right to it, and his people dwell in the cities of it? or, why did Gad lost their land to the children of Ammon?
— this is speaking retrospectively of the ten tribes, for these had been long ago carried captive, and left no heirs of their tribes to inherit their land there; except for the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; who would be their next in blood, the lawful heirs of their lands;
— 1 Kings 11:5; the Ammonites having got possession of the land set up their idol, Milcom, in it where their temples were built for him and altars erected and sacrifices offered to him, and must be very offensive to and highly resented by the God of Israel;
— from the Message Bible
“God’s Message on the Ammonites: “Doesn’t Israel have any children, no one to step into her inheritance? So why is the god Milcom taking over Gad’s land, his followers moving into its towns? But not for long! The time’s coming” MSG
2 Therefore behold, the days come,” saith the Lord, “that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire; then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs,” saith the Lord.
— therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord; or “are coming” as in many translations, indicating the latter days; this being their case, its timing could be as well meant for the endtime; thus a prophecy;
— that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; the metropolis of the Ammonites; it was their royal city in the times of David; this the Lord threatens with the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war or the noise of warriors as the Targum says;
— the Chaldean army under Nebuchadnezzar, who, about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem subdued the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap; be utterly destroyed; its walls broken down, and houses demolished, and made a heap of rubbish:
— her daughters shall be burnt with fire: Rabbah was the mother city, and the other cities of the Ammonites were her daughters, which are threatened to be destroyed with fire; or it may mean the villages round Rabbah, it being usual in Scripture for villages to be called the daughters of cities; so the Targum paraphrases it, “the inhabitants of her villages shall be burnt with fire,”
— then shall Israel be heirs unto them that were his heirs: that is, shall inherit their land again which the Ammonites pretended to be theirs; yea, not only possess their own land but the land of Israel too: this was fulfilled not immediately upon the destruction of Ammon, but in part upon the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity when they repossessed their own country; and will against today’s Jordan when the full ten tribes return from their Second Exodus;
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will cause the sound of battle to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon. It shall become a desolate heap, and its villages shall be burned with fire. Then Israel shall take possession of the property of those nations who had dispossessed them, says the Lord” the Tagum
3 “Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is despoiled! Cry, ye daughters of Rabbah; gird you with sackcloth! Lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.
— howl, O Heshbon, at that time occupied by the Ammonites; for Ai is spoiled, had already been subdued by the invaders; cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, the towns and villages near the capital, gird you with sackcloth, in token of deep mourning;
— lament and run to and fro by the hedges in the fenced encampment, such as were quickly erected out in the open fields, since the cities no longer offered any protection; for their king shall go into captivity, in this case their idol Melchom with whom the heathen king was pleased to identify himself and his priests and princes together.
4 Why gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter, that trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who shall come unto me?’ — wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, flowing with abundance, with milk and honey,
— O backsliding daughter? so called because the children of Ammon had denied their descent from Lot and had turned to idolatry;
— that trusted in her treasures, in her wealth of resources and goods, saying, Who shall come unto me? namely, in a hostile attack. Today’s Jordan could well boast that no enemy could successfully launch a campaign against their land.
5 Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee,” saith the Lord God of hosts, “from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out, every man straight forth, and none shall gather up him that wandereth.
— behold, God will bring a fear upon today’s Jordan, whose misfortune and overthrow would bring terror upon them; and ye shall be driven out, every man, right forth, straight ahead, without turning; this is the fate of modern Jordan!
6 And afterward I will bring back the captives of the children of Ammon,” saith the Lord. — and afterwards God will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, perhaps by another Cyrus;
— for, in the times of Judas Maccabeus, the children of Ammon were again a large and mighty people, “Afterward he passed over to the children of Ammon, where he found a mighty power and much people, with Timotheus their captain” (1 Maccabees 5:6).
7 Concerning Edom, thus saith the Lord of hosts: “Is wisdom no more in Teman? Is counsel perished from the prudent? Is their wisdom vanished? — concerning a subtle shift from the Ammonites to Edom, thus saith the Lord of hosts; or “unto Edom;”
— or “against Edom” all which also true, the Idumeans, the posterity of Esau, who was called Edom; Herod the Great, an Idumean, king over Judea; was an example of the Idumean cruelty over the Jews; which could be as yet future, points at the destruction of Rome and the Romans, who with the Jews frequently go by the name of Edom;
— is wisdom no more in Teman? a city in Edom which had its name from Teman, a grandson of Esau, Genesis 36:11; whose descendants were called Temanites; one of which was Eliphaz, a friend of Job’s, Job 2:11; it was a principal city, famous for men of wisdom.
— the Targum says, “is there no more wisdom in the south?” but Rashi interprets it as Edom, which lay south to the land of Israel; “And your south side shall be from the desert of Zin close by the side of Edom” (Numbers 34:3).
— one other theory is that the Ottoman Turks (or today’s Turkey) are the sons of Teman. Perhaps, from Chief Teman, they could be another branch of the numerous sons or grandson of Esau.
8 Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, at the time that I will visit him. — flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; another city in Idumea; though some take it to be a country in Arabia, bordering on Edom, and subdued by the Edomites: the inhabitants of this place are advised to “flee” for their lives;
— since the enemy was just upon them; and “turn back” lest they should fall into his hands; and hide themselves in some deep caverns, in holes, and dens of rocks and such like places. It is a prophecy that they should flee from and turn their backs on their enemies to some very secret places for safety;
— for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him; which was determined concerning him, threatened to utter destruction of the whole land: the time of his visitation; the time fixed to visit him in a way of wrath and punishment to come.
9 If grape-gatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough. — the Targum renders it, “if thy spoilers, as grape gatherers, should come to thee,” would not they leave some for the poor to glean? certainly they would and not take every cluster;
— if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough who break into houses, these will eat and drink as much as is sufficient, and carry off what serves their turn; but they seldom take away everything they find in a house; but it is suggested that the Chaldeans should take away all from the Edomites and leave them nothing; see Obadiah 1:5.
10 But I have made Esau bare; I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself; his seed is despoiled, and his brethren and his neighbors, and he is no more. — but I have made Esau bare; by the hand of the Chaldeans;
— stripped him of everything that is valuable; of his cities, castles, villages, people, wealth and treasure; I have uncovered his secret places; where either his substance was hid, or his people; these were made known to their enemies, who seized on both;
— and he shall not be able to hide himself; even in his deep places in the caves and dens of the earth, but his enemy shall find him out:
— his seed is spoiled and his brethren and his neighbours, his children, as the Targum says; and his brethren, the Ammonites and Moabites; and his neighbours, the Philistines; or as many as were with him and belonged unto him:
— and he is not: his kingdom is not; he is no more a people and nation, but all destroyed by the sword or carried captive; or there should be none left of his brethren, and neighbours, and friends to say to him what follows: “leave thy fatherless children.”
11 Leave thy fatherless children; I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in Me.” — the Targum takes them to be an address to the people of Israel, paraphrasing them thus: “you, O house of Israel, your orphans shall not be left, I will sustain them and your widows shall trust in my word.”
12 For thus saith the Lord: “Behold, they whose judgement was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunk. And art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? Thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.
— they whose judgement was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; meaning some of the other nations, who had not dealt so ill with the Jews as the Edomites had, at least their sins were not so aggravated as theirs were in a comparative sense; for otherwise it was but just that they should be treated in the manner they were; since they were not so guilty as these were;
— and art thou he that shalt altogether go unpunished? if lesser sinners are not let go free, how should it be thought that greater ones should? and especially if judgement had begun at God’s own people, the wicked Edomite could not expect to escape.
13 For I have sworn by Myself,” saith the Lord, “that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.” — but Bozrah of Idumea is the royal city of Edom, Isaiah 63:1; shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste and a curse.
14 I have heard a word from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, “Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle!”
15 “For lo, I will make thee small among the heathen and despised among men. — for, lo, I will make thee small among the nations; Or “I have given thee” or “made thee”
— as if Edom was a people few in number, and their country not large, and which was the reason of gathering the Chaldeans against them, to reduce their number, weaken their strength, and destroy their substance and so make them a small, feeble and contemptible people;
— and despised among men: for the fewness of their men, the desolation of their country, the consumption of their wealth and riches, their poverty and meanness; see Obadiah 1:2 “Behold, I have made thee small among the nations; thou art greatly despised (“Behold, I have made thee small among the nations; thou art greatly despised.
— thou art greatly despised; a parallel here in Jeremiah 49:15 “For lo, I will make thee small among the heathen and despised among men,” as the term beaners (Latinx or Latinos?) could allude to); the Targum identifies the Southland, Sepharad, as Spain (more at the end).
16 Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill; though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence,” saith the Lord.
— thy arrogance has misled you, the fact that other nations seemed to stand in awe of Edom had caused him to think that he was really formidable, and the pride of thine heart, insolence usually having this influence upon the heart of the proud to deceive them, wherefore the Lord now calls out;
— O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that boldest the height of the hill, some of the forts of Idumea being situated on almost inaccessible cliffs, though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord, showing that before Him no stronghold is impregnable;
— one Report by McKinsey & Company says of the 60 millions Latinos in US, they often live in ‘deserts’ where adequate housing, groceries are hard to find. “Nearly 9 in 10 of the Latino residents in such communities lived in five states: California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas.”
McKinsey & Company: Latinos are projected to make up 22.4 percent of the US labor force by 2030 and more than 30 percent by 2060 (Latinos population to 111.2 million by ’60).
17 “Also Edom shall be a desolation; every one that goeth by it shall be astonished and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof. — also Edom shall be a desolation; not only Bozrah, its principal city, before spoken of, but the whole country of Idumea should be laid waste;
— its fortified cities destroyed; its riches plundered; and its inhabitants slain with the sword; every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, filled with horrified surprise at the total overthrow of the country and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof with a sound expressing derision and mockery.
18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof,” saith the Lord, “no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it. — as in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah; which was so sudden and general, that nothing was left, or any spared; so should it be with Edom;
— no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it; it would be an uninhabited desert;
— the Lord was asked to remember in Psalms 137 against the Edomites who had asked that Jerusalem be razed to its foundations:
Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem’s fall, who said, “Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof!” Psalms 137:7
— to call for the razing of the Temple of God “Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof!” is a abomination and heavy disrespect against the Most High. The Most High God dwelled there and these Edomites cheered the Babylonians to burn it down? Madness! Just Madness!!!
19 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of the Jordan against the habitation of the strong; but I will suddenly make him run away from her. And who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? For who is like Me? And who will appoint Me a time? And who is that shepherd that will stand before Me?”
— behold, a king shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan; the Targum interprets it of a king and his army, paraphrasing the words thus, “behold, a king with his army shall come up against them, as a lion comes up from the height of Jordan”
— as Nebuchadnezzar and his army that should come up against the Edomites from the land of Judea, where Jordan was; against the habitation of the strong the land of Edom, a country well fortified in which mighty men dwelt; particularly Mount Seir, where their king was and which was “the fold of the mighty”
— and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? or king, as the Targum says, any king, prince or potentate, who are often called shepherds; the king of Edom is particularly pointed at whose habitation or fold is before observed: alas! what could such a shepherd do? or how could he stand before the almighty God or any lion he should send?
20 Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord that He hath taken against Edom, and His purposes that He hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman. Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely He shall make their habitations desolate with them.
— surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them; or “their folds” the sheep shall be destroyed and their folds shall be demolished; that is, the inhabitants of Edom shall be slain with the sword, and their cities, towns and villages, shall be laid waste;
— who is Edom/Esau today? The answer lies in the book of Obadiah; and Jonathan Targum identifies Esau (Sepharad of the Southland identified) as Spain! Obadiah 1:20; the Targums identified Sepharad with Spain, hence, Spanish Jews are called Sephardim;
— Wikipedia: Sepharad (/sɛfəræd/or səˈfɛərəd/ Hebrew: סְפָרַד Sp̄āraḏ; also Sefarad, Sephared, Sfard) is the Hebrew name for the Iberian peninsula. A place called Sepharad, probably referring to Sardis in Lydia (‘Sfard’ in Lydian), in the Book of Obadiah (Obadiah 1:20, 6th century BC) of the Hebrew Bible. The name was later applied to Spain and is analogous to Tzarfat or Ashkenaz.
21 The earth is moved at the noise of their fall; at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red Sea. — the earth is moved at the noise of their fall, quaking with its intensity, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red Sea, or, as the Targum says, “a crying the noise of it is heard at the Red Sea.”
22 Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah; and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
— behold, he, the conqueror, Nebuchadnezzar; was a great eagle with his famed cruelty over the Jews as king over Judea; shall come up and fly and spread his wings as the eagle over Bozrah, to pounce down upon the whole country;
— and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. No matter how impregnable the position of God’s enemies may seem in the eyes of human beings, they will quickly fall before the attack of the Lord.
23 Concerning Damascus: “Hamath is confounded, and Arpad, for they have heard evil tidings; they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet. — concerning Damascus. Hamath, a powerful city on the Orontes, is confounded, and Arpad, another mighty city, both of them now within the confines of Syria;
— for they have heard evil tidings; they are faint-hearted, full of concern on account of the reports which they have heard; there is sorrow on the sea, terror among the inhabitants along its shores; it cannot be quiet, there is no rest for worry over the outlook.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her; anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail. — Damascus is waxed feeble, utterly discouraged and enfeebled; and turneth herself to flee, anguish and sorrows have taken her as a woman in travail, the terror of utter despair.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of My joy! — how is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy? How was it that the place of delight as Damascus was called of old, was not abandoned by its inhabitants, so that they might have saved their lives by a speedy flight?
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day,” saith the Lord of hosts. — her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off, saith the Lord of hosts;
27 “And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.” — and I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad, the royal dwellings and therewith at least a part.
28 Concerning Kedar and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the Lord: “Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and despoil the men of the East. — the kingdoms of Hazor; a new prophecy concerning the Arabians; for Kedar was a son of Ishmael;
— which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the Lord: that is, “thus saith the Lord “against Kedar” as in Jeremiah 49:1 which the king of Babylon “hath smitten” the past for the future, common in prophetic language;
— and spoil the men of the east; the Arabians, which lay east of Judea and Babylon: or “the children of Kedem” the same with Kedemah, another son of Ishmael, Genesis 25:15; whose posterity dwelt still more to the east; the Targum renders it “the children of the east.”
29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take away; they shall take for themselves their curtains and all their vessels and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, ‘Fear is on every side!’ — their tents and their flocks, shall they take away; their curtains, the costly woven goods and the hangings of their tents;
— and all their vessels, household utensils as well as such pieces of furniture and adornment as comprised their wealth and their camels; and they, the invading forces, shall cry unto them, in a shout of war; Fear is on every side.
30 Flee, get you far off! Dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor,” saith the Lord. “For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you. — flee, get you far off, run apace, dwell deep, hide themselves in remote places;
— O ye inhabitants of Hazor! saith the Lord; for Nebuchadnezzar hath taken counsel against you. This warning is addressed to the wilderness dwellers, since no conqueror would venture to follow them into the trackless wastes of the desert.
31 “Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwelleth without cares,” saith the Lord, “which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone. — arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, a tranquil tribe, having no presentiment of evil that dwelleth without care in calm security, saith the Lord;
— which have neither gates nor bars, not dwelling in fenced and fortified cities; which dwell alone with little or no intercourse with other nations or tribes from which they might expect assistance in case of an attack.
32 And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil; and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof,” saith the Lord. — and their camels shall be a booty and the multitude of their cattle a spoil, a welcome bit of plunder for the enemies;
— and God will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners, those who have the edges of their hair trimmed; for these tribes had the custom of clipping the hair of head and beard in a peculiar angle; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith the Lord.
33 “And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever; there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.” — and Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, the habitation of jackals and a desolation forever;
— there shall no man abide there nor any son of man dwell in it. This prophecy was fulfilled when the Chaldeans on their way to the West and South, sent detachments of troops to bring these nomadic tribes into subjection.
34 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, — the word of the Lord that came unto Jeremiah the prophet against Elam; the Persians, as it is commonly understood, who descended from Elam the son of Shem, Genesis 10:22;
— according to Josephus; but rather the country of Elymais is here designed; which though in the times of Cyrus was added to and made a part of the Persian empire, yet was a country distinct both from Persia and Media; and as though as near unto Persia and bordering on Media, a country that belonged to the Assyrians; and so it seems that Elam served under Sennacherib, king of Assyria, when he besieged Jerusalem.
35 “Thus saith the Lord of hosts: “‘Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. — thus saith the Lord of hosts, I will break the bow of Elam; the inhabitants of this country were famous for their skill in archery; this the Lord threatens to break so that it should be useless and of no more service to them to defend themselves or annoy others;
— their strength, as the Targum says; that in which their great strength and security lay; in which they put their trust and confidence; the chief of their might;
— or may design their mighty men, the archers themselves, who should be destroyed, even Elam itself, and all the inhabitants of it especially their warriors, who should be slain or carried captive.
36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.
— and upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven; the Targum interprets it the four kingdoms; see Daniel 7:2. Some think this had its accomplishment in the times of Alexander; or else after his death in the times of his four successors;
— and will scatter them towards all those winds; those four winds, east, west, north and south.
37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies and before them that seek their life; and I will bring evil upon them, even My fierce anger,’ saith the Lord; ‘and I will send the sword after them till I have consumed them.
— for I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies; frightened; thrown into the utmost consternation so that they shall have no heart nor spirit to go out against them and meet them and defend themselves; but make all haste imaginable to flee from them, such a panic would seize them;
— and before them that seek their life; a further description of their enemies; they being such, who, not content with their substance sought to take away their lives; nothing less would satisfy them; being cruel and blood thirsty:
— and I will bring evil upon them even my fierce anger, saith the Lord; and a greater evil than that cannot be; signifying that the destruction that should be made among them would be the effect of the wrath of God upon them for their sins:
— and I will send the sword after them till I have consumed them; that is, those that slay with the sword, as the Targum says; these should go after those that fled and destroy them till the greater part of them were consumed; for all of them that were taken were not destroyed.
38 And I will set My throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes,’ saith the Lord. — my throne in Elam; this is called the Lord’s throne, because he gave it to him; his conquest of Elam, and his dominion over it, were from him;
— and will destroy from thence the king and the princes; either when Alexander subdued it, or Cyrus, or rather Nebuchadnezzar, whose palace probably was, or his successors was, in Shushan in Elam, as observed from Daniel 8:2; Jeremiah 25:25;
— though that is observed in the first year of his reign, some have thought that it is best to understand it or Cyrus, the Lord’s servant and anointed; and whose throne might well be called the throne of God, and when this country of Elam, or Elymais, became at part of the Persian empire.
39 “‘But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring back the captives of Elam,’ saith the Lord.” — and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the Lord; so that there should be no more kings of Elam, and princes and nobles of their own, after this time; and because mention is made of the kings of Elam in the times of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah 25:25;
— though that is observed in the first year of his reign, some have thought that it is best to understand it or Cyrus, the Lord’s servant and anointed; and whose throne might well be called the throne of God, which he gave him, and set him on in an eminent manner, not only there, but elsewhere; see Ezra 1:2;
— and when this country of Elam, or Elymais, became at part of the Persian empire, and never had any more kings to reign over it separately. Some of the Jewish Rabbins interpret the possibility of the fulfilment of the king and princes of Vashti of Haman and his sons.
And the captives of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad (בִּסְפָרַ֑ד Hebrew 5614) shall possess the cities of the south. Obadiah 1:20
And the exiles of this nation of the Children of Israel that is in the land of the Canaanites (shall inherit) until Zerapahath. And the exiles of Jerusalem that are in Ispamiah will inherit the villages of the south land. Obadiah 1:20 (Targum: Jonathan)
— Rashi: And this exiled host: Heb. הַחֵל. Jonathan renders: This people. הַחֵל, An expression of a host. Cf. (Isa. 36:2) “And he came to Jerusalem with an army (חֵיל) of a great multitude,” which deals with Rabshakeh, only that this one is missing a “yud.” It is also possible to explain גָלֻת הַחֵל as “the exile of this valley.”
— and the exile of Jerusalem which is in Sepharad: who are of the people of Judah who were exiled to Sepharad – they shall inherit the cities of the southland, which are in the Southern part of Eretz Israel. The exegetes [a person who interprets text, especially the Scriptures] claim that Zarephath is the kingdom called France in French.
— Jonathan renders: Spain (Rashi quoting the Targum: Sepharad shall inherit the cities of the Southland rendering it as Spain); the Targums identified Sepharad with Spain (Ispamia or Ispania), hence, Spanish Jews are called Sephardim;
— Peshitta (Lamsa): The first exiles, that is, of the children of Israel, shall possess the land from Canaan as far as Zarephath; and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Spain shall possess the cities of the south (hard copy).
— Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges: Sepharad is the name of a place; the modern Jews understand it of Spain, and accordingly, “at the present day the Spanish Jews, who form the chief of the two great sections into which the Jewish nation is divided, are called by the Jews themselves the Sephardim, German Jews being known as the Ashkenazim.”
Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Chaldeans, has been described by God as “the king of Babylon, My servant,” in multiple places (Jeremiah 25:9, 27:6, 43:10). So this and the following chapter contains a long prophecy concerning the destruction of Babylon following their judgement as well.
The term, my servant, its intended meaning might be mistook in our society today, and thus not many of God’s shepherd understand this concept properly; what God really means and for all practically being prophecised to mean, actually is “my horsewhip.”
A horsewhip made of tan leather: Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Chaldeans, has been described by God as “the king of Babylon, My servant.”
1 The word that the Lord spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet: — the word that the Lord spoke against Babylon; or the city of Babylon, the metropolis of the Chaldean empire; sometimes it signifies the whole country, here the city appears only as follows:
— and against the land of the Chaldeans; these people are mentioned last, because the rest of the nations were to drink the cup of God’s wrath at their hands, and then the Chaldeans were to drink it after them, Jeremiah 25:9;
— this is to be understood not only of Babylon and its empire, literally taken, but of mystical Babylon and its dependencies; of Rome and its jurisdiction; the last enemies of the church and people of God, who will be destroyed by the pouring out of the seven vials; Revelation 15:1.
2 “Declare ye among the nations, and proclaim and set up a standard; proclaim and conceal not. Say, ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces! Her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces!’
— declare ye among the nations and publish and to call the attention of all men to the importance and the significance of this announcement; declare and conceal not; say, Babylon is taken; Bel, the chief deity of the Chaldeans, thought by some to be Baal by contraction; is confounded;
— Merodach, another name for the same idol is broken in pieces. Her idols are confounded, covered with shame and confusion, her images are broken in pieces, powerless before the almighty power of Yehovah.
3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein; they shall be removed, they shall depart, both man and beast.
— for out of the North there cometh up a nation against the Chaldeans; (1) the Medes and Persians, under Cyrus were one nation; and not only lay North of Judea where this prophecy came, but of Babylon, against which they were to come; and besides, Cyrus came through Assyria to Babylon which lay North of it; Isaiah 41:25;
— or (2) is this a prophecy for the endtime? Notice the triple “shall;” nar, it is a a quadruplet or quadruple: thus very much indicative of a prophecy; North of Babylon, the Chaldeans, lays Russia, Gog and Magog? Others, like Joel Richardson, says it is Turkey.
4 “In those days and in that time,” saith the Lord, “the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping; they shall go, and seek the Lord their God.
— in those days, and at that time, saith the Lord; when Babylon shall be taken and destroyed, then what follows shall be accomplished; which, as it respects the conversion of Israel, shows that this prophecy is not to be restrained to literal Babylon;
— the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together: this is prophetic, parallel to Ezekiel 37 where the whole house of Jacob will be joined together.
5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces turned thitherward, saying, ‘Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.’ — they shall ask the way to Zion, the habitation of God, their Lord, Yehovah, their faces toward Jerusalem;
— saying, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten as the first covenant had been act aside by an apostate nation.
6 My people hath been lost sheep; their shepherds have caused them to go astray. They have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.
— my people have been lost sheep; their shepherds, the very men who were entrusted with their care being guilty of this gross neglect; have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains, the places of idolatry;
— they have gone from mountain to hill, from one altar of idolatrous worship to the next; they have forgotten their resting-place, in the care of the Most High where they could lie down in safety.
7 All who found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, ‘We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’
— all that found them have devoured them; as lost and wandering sheep are liable to be found, and to be devoured, by every beast of prey, lions, wolves and bears; so the house of Jacobs were found by their neighbours,
— their enemies and especially by their endtime “Chaldeans” or “Assyrians” having forsaken God, and being forsaken by him; and which is their case now and are often found and seized upon by their enemies and made a prey of under one pretence or another.
8 “Depart out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the hegoats before the flocks. — remove out of the midst of Babylon,
— so all Israelites are now warned to go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans where they were as yet held in captivity and be as the he-goats before the flocks, the leaders of all oppressed nations as they now turned to flee.
9 For lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country, and they shall set themselves in array against her. From thence she shall be taken. Their arrows shall be as of a mighty destroyer; none shall return in vain. — against Rome, or mystical Babylon;
— the Medo-Persian kingdom lies the great monarchies of the east, not north; for, lo, God will raise and cause to come up, against Babylon an assembly of great nations from a North Conglomerate, an army composed of many nations; and they shall set themselves in array against her with full equipment for warfare;
— north of Babylon could most probably be Russia; others, like Joel Richardson, says Turkey: the land of Gog and Magog, and many nations with him; hence this would be a prophetic endtime prophecy; where the hostile nations have assembled themselves; their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man.
10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil; all that despoil her shall be satisfied,” saith the Lord. — and Chaldea shall be a spoil, a prey ready for the invaders; all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord,
— since they were getting all that their heart desired in the way of rich booty. In this sense the Lord now turns directly to Babylon in pronouncing sentence upon the Chaldean Empire.
11 “Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of Mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls,
— because ye were glad, rejoicing, O ye destroyers of Mine heritage, the Chaldeans were rejoicing destroying Judah, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, skipping like a threshing calf or heifer, with proud insolence and bellow as bulls, or “neigh as steeds,” in overweening, challenging pride.
12 your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bore you shall be ashamed. Behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land and a desert.
— your mother shall be sore confounded; the monarchy of the Chaldeans; or rather their metropolis, their mother city, the city of Babylon; which would be confounded when taken, none of her sons being able to defend her: the same will be true of mystical Babylon, the mother of harlots, Revelation 17:5.
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate; every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished and hiss at all her plagues.
— because of the wrath of the Lord, it shall not be inhabited; that is, Babylon; which the Targum expresses, “because thou, Babylon, hast provoked the Lord” by their idolatry, luxury, ill usage of his people and profanation of the vessels of the sanctuary; therefore it should be destroyed and left without an inhabitant in it.
14 Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about; all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows, for she hath sinned against the Lord. — position yourselves around Babylon, surrounding the city to launch an attack from all sides at once;
— all who draw the bow, the archers symbolizing the entire opposing army, prepare for battle; shoot at her, spare no arrows; for she hath sinned against the Lord, she has fully deserved the punishment being meted out to her.
15 Shout against her round about; she hath given her hand. Her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her.
— shout all round about against her, encouraging one another with loud and fierce battle-cries; she hath given her hand, thereby submitting to the conquerors; her foundations are fallen, the fortifications in which she trusted for safety;
— her walls are thrown down, so that she is now helpless before the invaders; for it is the vengeance of the Lord, the destruction of Babylon was a punishment determined by him; take vengeance upon her, retaliation being permitted in this instance; as she hath done to others.
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest; for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.
— cut off the sower from Babylon and him that handleth the sickle, or scythe in the time of harvest so that both sowers and reapers would be destroyed and there could be no harvesting in the entire country;
— for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people and they shall flee every one to his own land, the strangers in the country getting ready to preserve their lives before the threatening catastrophe comes.
17 “Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away. First the king of Assyria hath devoured him, and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.”
— a scattered sheep; or Israel is like a sheep that is frightened and drove from the fold and is dispersed and wanders about here and there; Israel in this context includes all the twelve tribes:
— the lions have driven him away; from his own land and carried him captive and scattered him among the nations; these lions are afterwards interpreted of the kings of Assyria and Babylon: so the Targum says. “Israel is a scattered people;”
— first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; eaten up his flesh; meaning Shalmaneser king of Assyria, who carried captive the ten tribes that never returned and therefore said to be devoured:
— and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones; or “boned him” took out his bones, all his strength and substance; or took the flesh off of them, stripped him of all his wealth and riches, reduced him to his bones, made a mere skeleton of him.
18 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.
— as God have punished the king of Assyria; not Shalmaneser, that carried the tribes captive; but a successor of his, Chynilidanus, the last king of Assyria; who was killed when Nineveh was taken, the metropolis of Assyria and which was done before this prophecy was delivered; and the return to their own land; which is prophesied in Jeremiah 50:19.
19 And I will bring Israel again to his habitation; and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon Mount Ephraim and Gilead.
— and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon Mount Ephraim and Gilead; and as they were all fruitful places and had good pasturage, so they belonged to the ten tribes; which shows that it respects the return of them and the fulness of blessings, they shall then enjoy.
20 In those days and in that time,” saith the Lord, “the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.
— in those days and in that time, saith the Lord, the prophecy now again turning to the endtime, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none, no longer any guilt would be charged against it;
— and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found; granting them forgiveness and pardon; if enemies of the Lord, whom he, for any reason whatever, has used as his instruments to carry out his plans, become overbearing and insolent as a consequence, he readily plunges them from the height of their pride to the depths of humiliation and confusion.
21 “Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Waste and utterly destroy after them,” saith the Lord, “and do according to all that I have commanded thee.
— go up against the land of Merathaim; which a part lay in Assyria, and part of it in Armenia; Cyrus, with his army of Medes and Persians, who according to Herodotus, passed through Assyria to Babylon: and so it may be agreeably rendered, “go by the land of Merathaim” the Targum says, “the land of a rebellious people.”
22 A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
23 How the hammer of the whole earth is cut asunder and broken! How Babylon hath become a desolation among the nations! — how is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! The Targum says, “how is Babylon the king cut down and broken that moved the whole earth!”
— the king of Babylon or the kingdom of Babylon, like a hammer for its hardness and strength; and being an instrument like a whrsewhip in the hand of God of beating to pieces and destroying kingdoms and nations; but is itself now destroyed;
— how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! this explains who and what is meant by the hammer of the earth and by its being cut asunder and broken; even the utter destruction of the city and kingdom of Babylon.
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware; thou art found and also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord.
— God have laid a snare for them, and O Babylon shall be taken, retorting to the strategy that Cyrus used, in draining the river Euphrates, and marching his army up through it into the midst of the city of Babylon and took it by surprise while the inhabitants were feasting and revelling all night;
— this is said to be a snare laid by the Lord because it was according to the counsel of his will and through his directing and overruling providence: and thou wast not aware of what the enemy had done of his march into the city and taking it;
— for one part of the city was seized and taken before the other knew anything of it; thou art found, and also caught; as wild beasts in a net or birds in a snare. The Targum reaffirms this, “You were ensnared, Babylon, and also caught, though you did not know it. You were found and seized because you provoked the people of the Lord.”
25 The Lord hath opened His armory and hath brought forth the weapons of His indignation; for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.
— and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation; as a king, when he goes to war, opens his armoury and takes out armour of every kind, both offensive and defensive: swords, spears, shields, so the Lord would now bring the Medes and Persians, well armed, to be the instruments of his wrath and vengeance on Babylon:
— or “the vessels of his treasury” having some view to the vessels of the sanctuary, the king of Babylon had taken away and profaned them; these may well be applied to the vials of wrath poured out on them by the angels, called forth out of the Temple.
26 Come against her from the utmost border; open her storehouses. Cast her up as heaps and destroy her utterly; let nothing of her be left. — come against her from the utmost border, from the most remote corner of the earth,
— or “all men, down to the very last,” open her storehouses; cast her up as heaps, that is, all the plunder of the city and destroy her utterly; let nothing of her be left, the city with all its possessions and treasures was to be burned with fire.
27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe unto them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation. — slay all the bullocks of the Chaldeans, her entire population; let them go down to the slaughter. Woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation, their punishment at the hands of Yehovah.
28 The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of His temple.
— the voice of the Chaldeans of the land of Babylon, the fugitives saving their lives in the midst of their destruction to the vengeance of the Lord our God, and the vengeance of his Temple.
29 “Call together the archers against Babylon. All ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape. Recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her. For she hath been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.
— call together the archers against Babylon for the siege of the city; all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about, leaving no loophole for escape; let none thereof escape. Recompense her according to her work;
— according to all that she hath done, do unto her, paying her back in her own coin; for she hath been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel, this pride being the fundamental transgression and fault of Babylon, a form of blasphemy challenging the Lord’s honor.
30 Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day,” saith the Lord. — therefore shall her young men fall in the streets of Babylon; or “surely” it is the form of an oath,
— according to Rashi, Cyrus, when he took Babylon, ordered proclamation to be made that the inhabitants should stay indoors; and that whoever were found in the streets should be put to death as doubtless many were: and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord; as Belshazzar and his guards were; see Daniel 5:30.
31 “Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud,” saith the Lord God of hosts; “for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. — behold, I am against thee, O Babylon; O thou art the most proud, saith the Lord God of hosts, coming to teach her humility;
— for thy day has come, the time that I will visit thee to bring His punishment upon her in full measure.
32 And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.”
— and the most proud shall stumble and fall, literally, “Then pride totters and falls,” the abstract being used to emphasize Babylon’s guilt, and none shall raise him up; and God will kindle a fire in his cities and it shall devour all round about him, the smaller cities sharing the fate of the metropolis.
33 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: “The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together, and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.
— not counting their captivity in Egypt, when God was revealing this prophecy to Jeremiah, the children of Israel and the children of Judah were never oppressed together, so this prophecy could only be futuristic of another Babylonian captivity, and another Babylonian exile;
— thus saith the Lord of hosts, the children of Israel and the children of Judah would be oppressed together in another captivity and exile, and all that took them captives held them fast, would be holding them at some future date time when this prophecy was given; they refused to let them go;
34 Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is His name. He shall thoroughly plead their cause, that He may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. — their Redeemer is strong, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Commander of all the heavenly armies; he shall thoroughly plead their cause, taking their part with all needed energy;
— that he may give their land a Sabbath rest to the land so that Judah would once more enjoy peace and security and, on the contrary, disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon who thought that they were altogether secure against all enemies. In order to take the part of his people with the proper zeal, the Lord now calls upon the sword to perform its work against the Chaldeans.
35 “A sword is upon the Chaldeans,” saith the Lord, “and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men! — a sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord; or, “shall be” or “O sword, be thou on the Chaldeans” that is, the sword of the Medes and Persians; those that kill with the sword, as the Targum says;
— and upon the inhabitants of Babylon; the metropolis of Chaldea; the common people in it as distinguished from those of high rank and degree following: and upon her princes; Belshazzar and his nobles who were slain the night Babylon was taken;
— and upon her wise men; prime ministers, politicians, and counsellors of state; neither high birth nor great wisdom can secure from the sword of the enemy when it has a commission from God as it had here.
36 A sword is upon the liars, and they shall dote! A sword is upon her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed!
— a sword is upon their liars; the Targum renders it “diviners” who were a lying set of men, false shepherd, who imposed upon and deceived the people; these with their divinations and soothsayings could not save the land, nor themselves from the devouring sword; nay, their sorceries and divinations were the cause of their ruin.
37 A sword is upon their horses and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her, and they shall become as women! A sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be robbed!
— a Sword is upon their horses and upon their chariots which were her boast in warfare and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her, her mercenaries and allies;
— and they shall become as women, weak and utterly unable for effective resistance; a Sword is upon her treasures, the wealth which she had accumulated in the course of her campaigns and they shall be robbed.
38 A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up! For it is the land of graven images, and they are mad over their idols. — a drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up, the dams and irrigation canals being destroyed by the invading army;
— for it is the land of graven images and they are mad upon their idols, literally, “their objects of horror or terror,” for the images which are usually found in heathen sanctuaries are really more likely to frighten than to attract. They have indulged in gross and revolting idolatry and must therefore bear their iniquity.
39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein; and it shall be no more inhabited for ever, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
— therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands, the jackals shall dwell there and the owls, literally, “daughters of crying,” that is, the female ostriches shall dwell therein and it shall be no more inhabited forever, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof,” saith the Lord, “so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
— like the judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah so shall no man abide in Babylon; neither shall any son of man dwell therein; the same is said concerning Edom.
41 “Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the borders of the earth. — behold, a people shall come from the North and a great nation; not the Medes and Persians, whose country lay east of Babylon;
— more probably Gog and Magog and many nations with them. Are they Russians or others, like Joel Richardson, says Turkey?
42 They shall hold the bow and the lance; they are cruel and will not show mercy; their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.
— they shall hold the bow and the lance; or “spear” the Targum interprets it, “shields” as many like Cyrus’s army had them; the one an offensive, the other a defensive weapon; or if bow and lance, the one is used at a distance, the other when near;
— they would be skilled in handling the bow, the armour with large bows and short spears; they would also have javelins or lances, one of which they cast, and the other they held and used in their hands as they found necessary;
— they are cruel, and will not show mercy: not even to infants but dash them against the stones.
43 The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble; anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail. — the king of Babylon hath heard the report of the Persians;
— Belshazzar had the report brought to him of an invasion of his land; of their approach to Babylon and design upon it and of their number, character and force;
— and his hands waxed feeble as they did when he saw the handwriting upon the wall, Daniel 5:6; anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail; a sudden panic seized him and he was quite dispirited at once as a woman in childbirth, when her pains come upon her and there is no avoiding them.
44 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of the Jordan unto the habitation of the strong; but I will make them suddenly run away from her. And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her? For who is like Me? And who will appoint Me the time? And who is that shepherd that will stand before Me?”
— behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan; what is said of Nebuchadnezzar coming up against Edom is here said of Cyrus coming up against Babylon; for of a king it is to be understood; as the Targum says, “behold, a king with his army shall come up against them, as a lion from the height of Jordan;”
— and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? or king? not Belshazzar, he could not stand before the Lord: so the Targum says “there is no king that hath strength before me” that is, to withstand him or hinder what he has appointed and ordered to be done.
45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord that He hath taken against Babylon, and His purposes that He hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans. Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely He shall make their habitation desolate with them.
— surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; the weakest and most feeble in the army of Cyrus (or the Russians / Turkey for the endtime) should be more than a match for any in Babylon and should draw them out and devour them as dogs and wolves the sheep out of the flock.
46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations. — at the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved; it being so sudden and unexpected and so very astonishing:
— and the cry is heard among the nations that Babylon is fallen; which, as applied to mystical Babylon, will be matter of joy to some and of lamentation to others; see Revelation 14:8.
Weird, two US Navy aircraft clashed mysteriously within 30 minutes during a routine operations from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, the Pacific Fleet around the Spratly Islands in the congested South China Bermuda Triangle.
Informed of the lost, Trump stated that the back-to-back crashes were “very unusual,” yet he reassured his listeners by expressing doubt that there was any foul play involved.
Two US Navy aircraft have gone down in the South China Sea in separate incidents within 30 minutes of each other, according to the US Pacific Fleet.
President Donald Trump described the back-to-back crashes as “very unusual” and suggested a possible fuel issue while speaking to reporters on board Air Force One Monday, during his flight from Malaysia to Japan. “They think it might be bad fuel. We’re gonna find out. Nothing to hide, sir,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question.
US Navy helicopter and fighter jet crash in South China Bermuda Triangle in separate incidents dubbed ‘very unusual’ by Donald Trump
The two aircraft were conducting routine operations over disputed waters, which China claims to own. Five crew members were involved, all of whom have been safely rescued. Both aircraft were deployed from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz.
The US Navy MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter went down in the waters of the South China Sea at around 2:45 pm local time Sunday. All three crew members were recovered safely.
Just 30 minutes later, at 3:15 pm., a $60m F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet also crashed while conducting routine operations from the USS Nimitz. Two crew members ejected from the plane and were later recovered.
The Sea Hawk is assigned to the “Battle Cats” in Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 73. The Super Hornet was part of the “Fighting Redcocks” of Strike Fighter Squadron 22.
China’s foreign ministry said Beijing would be willing to assist in any rescue and recovery operations.
Spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a Monday press conference that China “will provide necessary aid from a humanitarian perspective if the US asks.”
This is the F/A-18 that the navy has lost this year in China’s Bermuda Triangle
He also took the opportunity to criticize U.S. operations in the region, accusing Washington of carrying out regular displays of military force in the South China Sea, increasing the risk to maritime activity, and undermining regional peace.
“All personnel involved are safe and in stable condition,” the Pacific Fleet, the world’s largest fleet command, said in a statement. They added that an investigation had been launched into both incidents.
This is the fourth F/A-18 that the navy has lost this year.
At the time of the incident, the USS Nimitz was returning to its home port in Naval Base Kitsap in Washington after being deployed to the Middle East for most of the summer as part of the US response to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on commercial shipping. The carrier was on its final deployment before being decommissioned.
First commissioned in 1975, the Nimitz is the US Navy’s oldest serving aircraft carrier, and is slated for retirement in 2026.
Nimitz-class aircraft carriers are the biggest ships in the navy, measuring almost 1,100 feet from bow to stern. They can operate continuously for 20 years without refueling because they are nuclear powered.
The incidents occurred amid Trump’s tour of Asia, during which he is expected to meet a host of Asian leaders, including President Xi Jinping of China.
Navy loses two aircraft from the USS Nimitz Aircraft Carrier within 30 minutes
China has been ramping up efforts to bolster its territorial claims in the South China Sea amid ongoing disputes over numerous islands and waterways with other Southeast Asian nations. Beijing has been asserting its ownership over almost all of the strategic waterway.
US forces maintain a presence in the region to support regional allies and push back on Chinese sovereignty claims.
Another Vietnam in the making as the United States had moved in a carrier and warships in a major escalation of tension in the Caribbean. And Trump Admin has Decided to Strike inside Venezuela; Attacks Could come at any Time now.
The strikes seek to “decapitate the hierarchy” of the Cartel de los Soles, the Miami Herald claimed.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the architect of the strategy
The Trump administration has already made the decision to strike military facilities inside Venezuela and attacks could take place at any time now, according to a new report.
The strikes seek to “decapitate the hierarchy” of the Cartel de los Soles, which U.S. officials claim is ran by top members of the Maduro regime, the Miami Herald claimed. The outlet cited officials saying they believe cartel exports amount to 500 tons of cocaine every year.
Sources didn’t tell the outlet whether Maduro is a target, but warned that his time is running out. “Maduro is about to find himself trapped and might soon discover that he cannot flee the country even if he decided to,” one of them said.
“What’s worse for him, there is now more than one general willing to capture and hand him over, fully aware that one thing is to talk about death, and another to see it coming.”
The Wall Street Journal also reported on Friday that President Donald Trump has been presented with a list of potential strikes inside Venezuela.
US plans to BOMB Venezuela as Trump’s war hawks brand Maduro ‘al-Qaeda of the West’
The outlet detailed that the targets are considered nexus between the Nicolas Maduro regime and drug-trafficking organizations, including the Cartel de los Soles. They include military ports and airports, as well as naval facilities and airstrips.
The outlet noted that Trump hasn’t made a final decision yet, but he has publicly suggested the current military campaign would go from conducting strikes against alleged drug boats in the ocean to others in land.
The focus of the escalation, it added, would be to convince Maduro to step down. “The President is prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our homeland,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told the WSJ in a statement.
And below is a Prophecy between the rivarly between Esau and Jacob
And upon thy sword shalt thou depend, entering at every place: yet thou shalt be supple and credulous, and be in subjection to thy brother; but it will be that when his sons become evil, and fall from keeping the commandments of the law, thou shalt break his yoke of servitude from off thy neck. Genesis 27:40 Jonathan
“And Esau harbored hatred in his heart against Jacob, his brother, because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.
“And Esau said in his heart, ‘I will not do as Cain did, who killed Abel during their father’s lifetime and then their father had another son, Seth.
“Rather, I will wait until the days of mourning for my father have passed, and then I will kill Jacob my brother, and I will be the sole heir.’” Genesis 27:41 Jonathan
Chapter 47 contains chiefly a prophecy of the destruction of the Philistines; and also of the Tyrians and Zidonians; Chapter 48 is a prophecy about Moab; but there is also a subtle change of theme, from immediate historic to prophetic.
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” saith the Lord, indicating during the latter days; this being their case, this prophecy could be as well meant for the endtime.
Jeremiah 47
1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before Pharaoh smote Gaza. — Gaza; one of the five cities of ancient Philistines, a very strong and fortified place, but now it is considered a region of the Palestinians;
— before Pharaoh struck Gaza: Rashi: when Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem in the tenth year of Zedekiah, Pharaoh’s army came forth from Egypt, and the Chaldeans withdrew from Jerusalem. Pharaoh heard about the Chaldeans withdrawal and invaded Gaza, then returned to Egypt.
2 Thus saith the Lord: “Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein, the city, and them that dwell therein; then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.
— thus saith the Lord, behold, waters rise up out of the north; meaning an army of men which should come in great numbers and with great force and rapidity like an overflowing flood. So the Targum says, “behold, people shall come from the north” that is, from Chaldea, which lay north of Palestine.
3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands,
— the noise of the stamping of horses; the noise of the cavalry of Nebuchadnezzar’s army as they marched towards the Philistines; as they came along and were heard at a distance;
— the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands; they would be so frightened and terrified as not to be able to lift up their hands to defend themselves and protect their children.
4 because of the day that cometh to despoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remaineth; for the Lord will despoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.
— to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon any that remaineth; but now, being wasted and could give themselves no help when Nebuchadnezzar attacked them; as did Tyre in particular, which he besieged thirteen years, and at last destroyed it and Zidon with it.
5 Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley. How long wilt thou cut thyself?” — baldness is come upon Gaza; the Targum says, “vengeance is come to the inhabitants of Gaza” it’s like a man whose hair is fallen from his head, or is clean shaved off;
— that is, its houses demolished; its inhabitants slain, their wealth plundered; a pillaged and depopulated place. Some understand this of shaving or tearing off the hair for grief and mourning because of their calamities.
6 O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard; rest and be still. — O thou sword of the Lord; for though it was through the sword of the Chaldeans, yet being appointed and sent by the Lord, and thus it is called his sword;
— and because, in multiple places (Jeremiah 25:9, Jeremiah 27:6, Jeremiah 43:10), God describes the one with his sword, Nebuchadnezzar, as “the king of Babylon, My servant,” three times actually;
God’s Sword, describing Nebuchadnezzar, “the king of Babylon, My servant.”
7 How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon and against the seashore? There hath He appointed it.
— seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon and against the seashore? for it (the sword of the Chaldeans) had a commission from the Lord to destroy the inhabitants of Ashkelon and other places, which lay still more towards the sea as Joppa and Jamne; and indeed all Palestine lay on the coast of the Mediterranean sea.
Jeremiah 48
Heshbon was the capital city of the Moabites: when the Chaldeans made themselves masters of Heshbon, a place of great importance, they consulted how to carry on their conquests over the rest of the country.
Ancient Heshbon was beyond, that is, east of the Jordan. The city was where the Israelites passed by on their entry to the Promised Land and was assigned to the tribe of Reuben; afterwards it was given to the Tribe of Gad and became a Levitical city for the Merarites.
Heshbon is mentioned in the Books of Numbers and Deuteronomy as the capital of Amorite king, Sihon (or Sehon). The biblical narrative records the story of the Israelite victory over Sihon during the time of Moses.
Heshbon is highlighted due to its importance as the capital of Sihon, King of the Amorites:
“For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all his land out of his hand, as far as Arnon.”
Similar passages appear in Deuteronomy and Joshua, with the primary emphasis being the victory of the Israelites over King Sihon at the site of Heshbon. Moses died soon after the victory, after viewing the “promised land” from the top of Mount Nebo.
Following the death of Moses, Heshbon became a town at the border between the lands allocated to the Tribe of Reuben and the Tribe of Gad. Further biblical evidence suggests that the town later came under Moabite control, as mentioned by Isaiah and Jeremiah in their denunciations of Moab, and later under Ammonite occupation as Jeremiah 49:3 strongly suggests.
Who are the Moabites? The descendants of Moab also known as the Moabites had an extensive history dealing with the Israelites. Moab’s beginning was part of Israel’s story but most of the time wasn’t in a good way and is today identified as modern-day Jordan.
1 Against Moab, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Woe unto Nebo! For it is despoiled; Kiriathaim is confounded and taken; Misgab is confounded and dismayed.
— against Moab; thus saith the Lord of hosts, Woe unto Nebo! and Kiriathaim, another ancient city of the country, is confounded and taken; Misgab, literally, “the citadel,” probably Kir-Moab, the strongest fort of the Moabites, or a general expression denoting the overthrow of Moab’s power, is confounded and dismayed.
2 There shall be no more praise of Moab; in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; ‘Come, and let us cut it off from being a nation.’ Also thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen; the sword shall pursue thee.
— come, and let us cut it off from being a nation: this is what the Babylonians consulted together against Heshbon; and not only against that, a principal city; but against the whole country of Moab, that which the Moabites with others devised against the people of Israel is now devised against them; a just retaliation perhaps; see Psalms 83:4.
3 “A voice of crying shall be from Horonaim: ‘Despoiling and great destruction!’ — a voice from Horonaim; another city of Moab. The word Horonaim is a dual number; as there were two Horons, the upper and the lower; of this place should also be destroyed; and so a cry of its inhabitants should be heard out of it.
4 Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. — the Chaldeans are to destroy the Moabites; perhaps the whole nation in general; so the Targum, “the kingdom of Moab is broken,” but is this also a prophecy for today’s Jordan?
5 For in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up; for in the going down of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction. — for in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up; this is another city, which was built on a high hill which had a considerable ascent to it,
— where those that escaped from Horonaim might flee for safety; but as they went up the hill would weep bitterly and all the way they went, because of the loss of friends and sustenance; of this place came the Chaldeans and they heard the cries of those that fled from Horonaim and went up from thence to Luhith, and the cries continues.
6 Flee, save your lives, and be like a naked tree in the wilderness. — flee, save your lives; these are either the words of the Moabites; or that of Jeremiah;
— their cry of destruction mentioned above, who seeing nothing but ruin before their eyes, advise one another to flee in all haste and save their lives if possible since nothing else could be saved.
7 For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken; and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together.
— and Chemosh shall go forth in captivity with his priests and his princes together; this was the god of the Ammonites, Judges 11:24; and of the Moabites, 1 Kings 11:7; hence the Moabites are called the people of Chemosh, Numbers 21:29.
8 And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape; the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the Lord hath spoken. — and the spoiler shall come upon every city; that is, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his army;
— the Targum says, the spoilers, who came against and took every city of Moab and wasted them; this being known that Nebuchadnezzar subduing the Ammonites and Moabites: and no city shall escape; the spoiler and destruction by him;
— the valley also shall perish and the plain destroyed, as the Lord hath spoken; as the Targum paraphrases it should be destroyed; and also the corn that grew upon them and the flocks and herds that grazed there, exactly as the Lord had foretold.
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.
9 “Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away; for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein. — give wings unto Moab that it may flee and get away; that is, give wings to the inhabitants of Moab;
— signifying that they were in great danger and no probability of escape unless they had the wings of a swift bird; and passing away with wings may signify not their fleeing from danger and their attempt to escape; but their swift and sudden destruction;
— the Targum says, “Give wings to Moab, for she shall surely flee, and her cities shall become desolate, without anyone dwelling in them.”
10 “Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood. — cursed be anyone that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully; which is said with respect to the Chaldeans, who were enjoined to destroy the Moabites;
— which is called the work of the Lord because he had given them a commission to do; and which was to be done by them, and be fully and faithfully; they were not to spare them, as Saul did the Amalekites; all should be done in uprightness and sincerity with all faithfulness and integrity;
— it is done deceitfully when men play the hypocrite; and negligently when they are backward to it, lukewarm in it, and infrequent in its performance which brings upon them the curse of God;
— and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood; from shedding the blood of the Moabites, when God had given command to do it. The curse is repeated to confirm the matter that it might be most assuredly expected; since it would certainly come if the Lord’s work was not done aright.
11 “Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity; therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed. — the Moabites have not gone into exile or moved from place to place; unliked the Israelites;
12 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” saith the Lord, “that I will send unto him wanderers, who shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels and break their bottles.
— a change would be made, and that in a very short time, as according to Josephus, it was about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem that the Moabites were subdued by the king of Babylon;
— but there is also a subtle change of theme, from immediate historic to prophetic; behold, the days are coming, indicating during the latter days; this being their case, this prophecy could be as well meant for the endtime;
— the Targum says, “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will send upon them plunderers, and they shall plunder them, and they shall empty their possessions, and they shall consume the goodness of their land.”
13 And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence. — and Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh; Moab’s god; Jeremiah 48:7; of Moab’s worship of Chemosh, prayers to him, and confidence in him; but Chemosh not being able to save Moab from the destruction of the Chaldeans and being carried captive by them;
— as the house of Israel were ashamed of Bethel their confidence; that is, of the golden calf that was set up in Bethel by Jeroboam and which the ten tribes of Israel worshipped; but that could not save them from being carried captive by the Assyrians; and so were ashamed of their idolatrous worship.
Moab’s Chemosh: Moabites shall be ashamed of their idol worship; but soon, the house of Israel were to follow suit
14 “How say ye, ‘We are mighty and strong men for the war’? — how say ye, we are mighty and strong men for war? the Moabites were proud, haughty and arrogant; boasted much of their strength and valour;
— of the strength of their bodies and fitness for war, and their fortified cities; and secure from all danger: so for their pride, vanity and self-confidence, they are reproved here since their destruction was at hand.
15 Moab is despoiled and gone up out of her cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter,” saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts. — Moab is spoiled, the whole country is ruined; which is spoken of as present though a future scenario, too, after the manner of prophecy;
— the inhabitants of Moab were gone up out of their cities, either through fear and flight; or through force, being made to go out of them and were carried captive. The Targum says, “the Moabites are spoiled, and their cities are desolate, the finest of their youth are delivered to slaughter.”
16 “The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteneth fast. — the calamity of Moab is to come; as it did come within five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, as observed on Jeremiah 48:12; and from Josephus: and his affliction hasteth fast; or “his evil” the evil of punishment for his sin is utter destruction.
17 All ye that are about him, bemoan him; and all ye that know his name, say, ‘How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod!’
— all ye that are about him; the neighbouring nations such as the Ammonites and others are called upon to condole the sad case of Moab; all upon the borders of the country of Moab, either within them or without them.
18 Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the despoiler of Moab shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strongholds.
— thou daughter that inhabit Dibon; a city in Moab; the Targum says, “O kingdom of the congregation of Dibon” but this was not a kingdom of itself, though a principal city in the kingdom of Moab.
19 O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and espy; ask him that fleeth and her that escapeth, and say, ‘What is done?’ — O inhabitant of Aroer, another city that belonged to Moab situated on the border towards Ammon, near the river Arnon.
20 Moab is confounded, for it is broken down. Howl and cry! Tell ye it in Arnon that Moab is despoiled! — tell ye in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled; the country of Arnon,
— so called from the banks of which the river Aroer was situated; the inhabitants of which are desired to spread it all over that part of the country that Moab was utterly ruined by the Chaldean army.
21 “And judgement has come upon the plain country: upon Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath,
— and judgement has come upon the plain country, upon the plateau; north of the river Arnon, cities which had been in the possession of the tribe of Reuben for some centuries after the conquest, upon Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath,
22 and upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Bethdiblathaim,
23 and upon Kiriathaim, and upon Bethgamul, and upon Bethmeon,
24 and upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.
25 The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken,” saith the Lord. — the horn of Moab, emblem of strength and sovereignty, is cut off, and his arm is broken, he has lost all his former great power, his mighty position is shattered.
26 “Make ye him drunken, for he magnified himself against the Lord. Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision. — make him drunken; not with wine, but with the cup of divine wrath; with the vengeance of God;
— with sore judgements, afflictions and calamities; give him his fill of them till he is quite intoxicated and has lost his senses and is brought to madness and distraction and reels, staggers and falls to the ground like a drunken man; and his state and kingdom ruined;
— the Targum interprets it of the people of God, paraphrasing; “bring distress upon them, that they may be like to drunken men; for against the people of the Lord have they magnified themselves.”
27 For was not Israel a derision unto thee? Was he found among thieves? For since thou spokest of him, thou skipped for joy. — for was not Israel a derision unto thee?
— in the time of his calamity when the ten tribes were carried captive by the Assyrians some years ago; and of late the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin by the Chaldeans; the Moabites rejoiced at this, which they ought not to have done;
— for since thou spoke of him, thou skipped for joy; or, “shookedst thyself” whenever the Moabites spoke of the distresses and calamities of Israel and of their captivity they laughed till they shook themselves; not only shook their heads but their whole bodies;
— the Targum says, “and because you mocked the brokenness of Israel, though they had not sinned against you—as if they were found like thieves—and because you multiplied words against them, therefore you shall [also] go into captivity.”
28 “O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole’s mouth. — and be like the dove; that is, be humble; which, for fear of birds of prey, makes her nest in a hole or cleft of a rock.
29 We have heard the pride of Moab (he is exceeding proud)— his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart. — we have heard the pride of Moab; Israel and all the nations around had heard of this, and seen or heard of his arrogancy, pride and haughtiness;
30 I know his wrath,” saith the Lord, “but it shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it. — God know his wrath against the Jews and other nations; what he has threatened to do unto them and would do if not restrained.
31 Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; Mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres.
32 O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer; thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer. The spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage,
— O vine of Sibmah; Sibmah was a city in the land of Moab abounding with vines, but now should be destroyed; and Jazer another city in the same country, which was destroyed before the other; and therefore its destruction should be lamented and wept over, as that had been: or “from” or “after the weeping of Jazer,”
— the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage: the king of Babylon, who came upon them with his army in the summer season and at the time of their vintage and devoured the fruits of their vines and fig trees with which this country abounded; and so impoverished and ruined them;
— the Targum says, “therefore as I have brought an army against Jazer, so I will bring slayers against Sibmah; they that carry them captive have waded; they have passed through the sea; they are come to the sea of Jazer; upon thy harvest, and upon thy vintage, the spoilers are fallen.”
33 and joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field and from the land of Moab. And I have caused wine to fail from the wine presses; none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting.
— the land of Moab, where there were good pasture, corn and fruit bearing trees, which produced great plenty of food and caused joy to their owners: but now all being destroyed by the enemy; joy and gladness would cease.
34 “From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, and even unto Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, as a heifer of three years old; for the waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate.
— from the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh; two cities in the land of Moab; also see Isaiah 15:4. Heshbon being destroyed, a cry was made by its inhabitants which either reached Elealeh; or the destruction being carried on to that city, the cry continued there.
35 Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab,” saith the Lord, “him that offereth in the high places and him that burneth incense to his gods.
— moreover God will cause him that offereth in the high places to cease in Moab; a burnt offering there; that is, the priest, who shall be taken and carried captives;
— and him that burneth incense to his gods: Chemosh, and others, the Moabites worshipped: and as all places and all sorts of persons should suffer in this calamity, so likewise idolatrous places, priests and worshippers.
36 Therefore Mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and Mine heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres, because the riches that he hath gotten have perished.
— therefore my heart shall sound like pipes; that are sounded as at funerals; the inhabitants of Moab, whose hearts would yearn and sound for the calamities of their country like the doleful sound of minstrels. So the Targum says, “therefore the Moabites shall sound in their hearts like a harp;”
— because the riches that he hath gotten is perished; either Moab or Kirheres; the abundance of goods they had got together were now lost, falling into the hands of their enemy.
37 “For every head shall be bald and every beard clipped; upon all the hands shall be cuts and upon the loins sackcloth. — for every head shall be bald and every beard clipped; men, in times of mournin;
— upon all the hands shall be cuttings: it was usual with the heathens to make incisions in several parts of their bodies, particularly in their hands and arms with their nails or with knives, in token of mourning; which are forbidden by the Israelites, Deuteronomy 14:1;
— and upon the loins sackcloth; this is a well known custom for mourners to put off their clothes and put on sackcloth; all these things are mentioned to show how great was the mourning of Moab for its calamities.
38 There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab and in the streets thereof; for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure,” saith the Lord.
— for God have broken Moab like a vessel; as an earthen vessel which the potter does not like and which is useless and unprofitable to any, and which he takes and dashes into pieces; into a thousand shivers and can never be put together again;
— or as a filthy unclean vessel a man cannot bear in his sight: Moab is by the Lord called his wash pot, Psalms 60:8. The Moabites were vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction by their own this; and now its time has come.
39 “They shall howl, saying, ‘How it is broken down! How hath Moab turned the back with shame!’ So shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all those about him.”
— they shall howl, saying, how is it broken down? that is, they howl out these words, or while they are howling, say, how is Kirheres or Moab broken all to pieces; their strength, power and glory; their cities and their mighty men; and are in the utmost fright and confusion?
— Rashi: Wail about her and asks, “How was she dismayed?”
40 For thus saith the Lord: “Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab. — for thus saith the Lord, behold, he shall fly as an eagle; the enemy, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, with his army; who is compared to an eagle for his strength, swiftness and greediness after the prey:
— and shall spread his wings over Moab as an eagle spreads its wings, which are very large over the little birds it seizes upon as its prey; so the king of Babylon would bring a numerous army against Moab and spread it over his country.
— the Targum says ,”behold, as all eagle which flies, so a king shall come up with his army, and encamp against Moab.”
— speaking against Israel: “The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth, a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand,” Deuteronomy 28:44,49; also one eagle, but differs being a lender; and “he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.”
— and of Edom: “Behold, He shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread His wings over Bozrah; and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs,” Jeremiah 49:22
41 Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are surprised; and the mighty men’s hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. — and the mighty men’s hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs;
— even the hearts of the soldiers and the most courageous generals shall sink within them; and they be not only as timorous as women in common but as low spirited as a woman when she finds her pains are coming upon her and the time of her delivery is at hand.
42 And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the Lord. — and Moab shall be destroyed from being a people; for some time, not always; since the captivity of Moab is promised to be returned “in the latter days,” Jeremiah 48:47;
— or from being such a people as they had been, enjoying so much ease, wealth, power and prosperity. Some Rabbi take it to be a comparative and renders it, “more than a people”; that is, shall be destroyed more than any other people;
— because he hath magnified himself against the Lord; the Targum says, against the people of the Lord; this is the cause of his destruction.
43 Fear and the pit and the snare shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab,” saith the Lord. — fear and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee; that if they escaped one danger or sore judgement, they should fall into another and greater: the words seem to be taken from Isaiah 24:17.
44 “He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit, and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation,” saith the Lord.
— he that fleeth from fear, shall fall into the pit, and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare, one or the other of the calamities will be sure to catch him; for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of his visitation, saith the Lord.
45 “They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force; but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.
— they that fled, the fugitives who escaped the slaughter, stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force, powerless in the face of the danger confronting them;
— but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, the city in which they hoped to find refuge and a flame from the midst of Sihon, the ancient king of the Amorites, and shall devour the corner of Moab so that it would be totally destroyed.
46 Woe be unto thee, O Moab! The people of Chemosh perisheth! For thy sons are taken captive and thy daughters captive. — woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perisheth; the inhabitants of Moab, who worshipped the idol Chemosh; Jeremiah 48:7;
— and so called his people, as Israel were called the people of the Lord; now these, notwithstanding their idol, whom they worshipped and in whom they trusted, should perish; and sad and deplorable would be their condition and circumstances;
— for thy sons and daughters are taken captives; this explains the woe that should come upon them and in what sense they should perish; since their sons and daughters who they hoped would have continued their name and nation, were taken and would be carried captives into Babylon; Numbers 21:29.
47 “Yet will I bring back the captives of Moab in the latter days,” saith the Lord. Thus far is the judgement of Moab. — yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter day, saith the Lord;
— “in the latter days” thus this is a prophecy, not only of Moab, but also of the Jews to assure them of their return from captivity as had been promised them, since this would be the case even of Moab. It had historically a literal accomplishment under Cyrus, the Persian, when they were restored to their land.
Nexperia crisis: Sino-Dutch dispute over chipmaker puts car industry supply chain at risk. As a result, Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis and even Toyota warn workers of potential stoppages as chip crunch looms, making it a significant risk to worldwide automotive production chains.
A bird’s-eye view of chipmaker Nexperia’s headquarters in Nijmegen, Holland
Semiconductor manufacturer Nexperia’s homebase in Nijmegen – the biggest city in Gelderland, the Netherlands’ largest province – offers few clues that it sits in the eye of a storm that threatens to disrupt the global car industry’s supply chain.
Dutch daily newspaper De Gelderlander, for example, featured more local stories including an explosion at a neighbourhood cannabis store, referred to as “coffeeshop.”
There were no banner headlines to be found about talks in Brussels on Tuesday between China’s Minister of Commerce, Wang Wentao, and his counterparts in the European Union to defuse a row over Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia, which the Dutch government seized control of on September 30 by invoking an obscure 1952 law known as the Goods Availability Act.
“I know that it’s happening … but I don’t think it’s the talk of the town,” said a local resident by the name of Lisa in Nijmegen, with an estimated population of 189,007 in 2025.
The superficial calmness in the city masks an intense dispute over the control of Nexperia – a supplier of essential semiconductors used in automotive, industrial, mobile and consumer applications – weeks after Dutch authorities ousted CEO Zhang Xuezheng, the founder of Wingtech Technology, which is the chipmaker’s Chinese owner.
The Netherlands’ action on Nexperia came a day after the US government extended export control restrictions to entities at least 50 per cent owned by companies on Washington’s trade blacklist. Being wholly owned by blacklisted Wingtech, Nexperia became subject to US sanctions.
Beijing on October 4 responded by issuing a ban on Nexperia China and its subcontractors from exporting finished components produced in the country. About 70 per cent of all Nexperia products are assembled in its factory in Dongguan, in southern Guangdong province.
The facade of Nexperia China’s production facility in Dongguan, southern China
Subsidiary Nexperia China on Thursday rejected the Dutch headquarters’ decision to remove John Chang as vice-president of global sales and marketing, declaring the dismissal legally ineffective in the country. This came on the same day when the Chinese unit accused the Dutch head office of spreading misinformation to customers.
That reflected Nexperia China’s firm position that local managers were in charge of its operations and that instructions from the Dutch head office would be ignored, according to a letter issued to employees the previous weekend.
The heated dispute between the Chinese unit, which controls the largest downstream assembly plant, and the head office in the Netherlands, which controls the upstream chip foundry in Germany and the UK, has raised questions about potential chip supply disruptions.
Nexperia had already informed Japanese car component makers that it may not be able to guarantee chip deliveries, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said on Thursday. Volkswagen, meanwhile, warned that disruptions to Nexperia’s chip supply could affect its production.
In China, a number of Nexperia clients have started to closely watch operations at the chipmaker’s Dongguan factory amid concerns about production continuity, according to a report by local Chinese magazine Caixin.
“At this stage, this would likely mean some degree of compromise for Nexperia,” Ng said. “But it may also mark the beginning of tighter tensions.”
Heightened tensions between the Dutch head office and the China unit could potentially lead to further disruptions and even trade restrictions, according to Gary Ng, a senior economist at Natixis.
Still, there are signs that Dutch authorities are keen to de-escalate the situation.
Seen as an useful idiot for the United States, German Foreign Minister Johann couldn’t have his opportunity to present his car industry’s plea to Beijing
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on Thursday that the Netherlands’ seizure of Nexperia was not a “measure against China,” but a response to mismanagement by the CEO. Zhang has kept mum about the matter over the past few weeks.
While it remains to be seen whether the meeting of China’s Wang with the EU in Brussels would lead to a resolution, Nexperia’s head office was confident in the firm’s business in China.
The company was not “stepping away from our Chinese activities,” a representative from Nexperia’s Dutch headquarters said. “Our operations, people, customers and partners remain very important to us and we hope to come to a solution soon.”
Meanwhile, the local government of Nijmegen was closely monitoring the developments at Nexperia.
“Nexperia is important to Nijmegen and the region,” Hubert Bruls, the city’s mayor since 2012, told the Post in an interview. He added that Nijmegen was confident that its semiconductor sector would survive this turbulence.
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. 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!
False shepherds and false teachings abound everywhere so much so that, if possible, even the elect are deceived! Thus for correction when one is spewed out of God’s mouth, it is with certainty that the spewing is into the Fire! Selah!
“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 latter days, in our time, shall ye understand it clearly. Only in the endtime would we be able to understand this book of Jeremiah perfectly.
Jeremiah 45
The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609 BC), Jehoahaz (reign 609 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC)
1 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book out of the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,
— the fourth year of Jehoiakim would be 606 BC or whereabout (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon); having the same beginning as chapter 25;
— in the fourth year of Jehoiakim; which was eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem; which followed the 36th chapter; where Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah in a roll, and read to the people and to the princes; exposed him to danger and caused him much grief.
2 “Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch:
3 Thou didst say, ‘Woe is me now! For the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.’ — thou didst say, woe is me now; what will become of me?
— I am ruined; this Baruch said in his heart, if not with his lips, perhaps both ways; and when the king gave orders to apprehend him and the prophet, being provoked at the roll which he had wrote and read, Jeremiah 36:26;
— for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow; caused Baruch grief upon grief, sorrow upon sorrow; the trouble of his office as a scribe to the prophet; the grievous things contained in the prophecies he transcribed, concerning the ruin of his people and nation; the king’s displeasure at the roll and his burning it;
— Baruch fainted in his sighing; he sighed and groaned at what he saw coming upon his country, which overcame his spirits; he sunk and swooned away: or “I laboured in my sighing” amidst his sighs and groans, he prayed to the Lord, and laboured in prayer, that he might be delivered from the evils he feared were coming upon him.
4 Thus shalt thou say unto him, ‘The Lord saith thus: Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.
— the Lord said, behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; even the Jewish nation which the Lord had built up as a spacious and beautiful house to dwell in, and had planted as a vineyard and set it with pleasant plants; but now would demolish this building and destroy his estate;
— even this whole land; not a few cities only, or only Jerusalem the metropolis but the whole land of Judea; no part of it but what should be left desolate. The Targum says, “even the whole land of Israel, is mine.”
5 And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not; for behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord, but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.’”
— seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not; riches and wealth honour and esteem, peace and prosperity; these were not to be sought after and expected, when the whole nation would be involved in such a general calamity;
— for, behold, God will bring evil upon all flesh; not only upon every individual person of Judea, but upon all the inhabitants in the world; perhaps following the patten of Judea: who should either die by the Sword or by Famine, Pestilence or be carried as Captives;
— but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey wherever thou goest; after the destruction of Jerusalem, along with the prophet; and even into Egypt that the Jews that went there; where his life would be in danger, and yet the Scriptures are silent here, but elsewhere in Ezekiel 17 most probably Jeremiah, Baruch and the king’s daughters would be taken by another great eagle to Ireland.
1 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations. — the word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations;
— not all the nations of the world, but some hereafter mentioned: the Egyptians, Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Syrians, Arabians, Chaldean and the Persians: though the prophecies delivered are all against them, none favourable.
2 Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
— against Egypt; this is the title of the first prophecy against Egypt; which is first mentioned because the Jews were most familiar with and have placed great confidence in and much relied on the Egyptians for help:
— Wiki: Carchemish was the location of an important battle, about 605 BC, between the Babylonians and Egyptians, mentioned in the Bible (Jeremiah 46:2).
3 “Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle!
4 Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines!
5 Why have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? And their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace and look not back, for fear was round about,” saith the Lord.
— the Egyptians, they were seized with a panic: these are either the words of the prophet, who are led by a spirit of prophecy, foreseeing the consternation, confusion and flight of the Egyptian army; or of the Lord, who foresaw all this;
— and their mighty ones are beaten down and fled apace, and look not back; their best troops were broken, their ranks and files and thrown into the utmost disorder; and fled with the utmost horror and never stopped to look back upon their pursuers.
6 “Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble and fall toward the north by the River Euphrates. — let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty men escape; those that were swift of foot, or carried but light armour, let not such trust to their swiftness;
— nor let the mighty man think to escape by reason of his great strength, to make his way through the enemy, and get out of his hands. Or the Targum renders as future, “Neither the swift shall flee nor the strong escape; in the northern land by the river Euphrates they stumbled and fell.”
— they shall stumble and fall toward the north, by the river Euphrates; which lay north of Judea, and also was to the north of Egypt, whose destruction is threatened: the place where this route and slaughter would be made was Carchemish, which was situated by that great river Euphrates.
7 “Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers? — who is this that cometh up as a flood; these are either the words of the prophet, who having a vision in prophecy of the march of the Egyptian army from the south to the north;
— which God compares to a flood; an allusion of the river Nile, which used to overflow its banks; these are the words of God, who puts this question to Jeremiah in order to give an answer to it and thereby upbraid the Egyptians with their arrogance, pride and vanity; which would all come to nothing:
— whose waters are moved as the rivers? whose numerous armies came with a great noise and force like the openings of the Nile, with its seven gates; which were very boisterous, especially in hard gales of wind: it is usual for large armies to be compared to floods and rivers, which move forcibly and swiftly, and make a large spread; Isaiah 8:7;
— the Targum says, “who is this that comes up with his army as a cloud, and covers the earth, and as a fountain of water, whose waters are moved?”
8 Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, ‘I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.’
— and he saith, I will go up; I, the Pharaoh king of Egypt, I will go up from my own land to the north to meet the king of Babylon: and will cover the earth with his Egyptian army: even all toward the north country, including the Babylonish empire;
— God will destroy the city, and the inhabitants thereof; which restrains to the city Carchemish, where his army was smitten: but it is better to interpret, the singular by the plural, as the Targum does, “I will destroy cities” since it was not a single city he came up to take, nor would this satisfy his ambition and temper.
9 Come up, ye horses, and rage, ye chariots! And let the mighty men come forth: the Ethiopians and the Libyans that handle the shield, and the Lydians that handle and bend the bow.
— come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; these are either the words of Pharaoh, giving orders to his cavalry and charioteers to make haste and come up to battle, not doubting of victory: or rather of the Lord by the prophet, ironically calling upon the horsemen in the Egyptian army to come on and engage with the enemy, and behave gallantly; and those in the chariots to drive;
— the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; or Cush and Phut, both sons of Ham, and brethren of Mizraim, from whence Egypt had its name, Genesis 10:6; the posterity of these are meant. The Cushites or Ethiopians were near neighbours of the Egyptians, and their allies and confederates.
10 For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Him of His adversaries. And the sword shall devour, and it shall be sated and made drunk with their blood; for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the River Euphrates.
— and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood; that is, the sword of the Chaldeans shall destroy the Egyptians in such vast numbers, that there shall be no more to be slain; or there shall be no desire in the enemy to slay any more; they shall be glutted with their blood;
— for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates near Carchemish, an allusion to the sacrifices of great warriors, which are many; the Lord of hosts had a sacrifice, or a great slaughter of men, his enemies; inflicted punishment on them, wherein his power and justice were displayed.
11 Go up into Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt; in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured. — and take balm, O virgin, daughter of Egypt; the kingdom of Egypt,
— as the Targum says; “Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt; in vain you have multiplied medicines—but there is no healing for you.”
12 The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land; for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together.”
— the nations have heard of thy shame; their shameful defeat and overthrow by the Chaldean army; so after the manner of prophecy uttered, the warning fulfilled; the battle fought and the victory obtained; and the rumour and fame spread among the nations, to the great mortification of this proud people;
— and thy cry hath filled the land; the shrieks of the wounded; the cry of those pursued and taken; the whole land of Egypt; yea, all the countries round about them, in confederacy with them were filled with distress for the loss of their own; the calamity was large and spreading:
— for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and both were fallen together; either the mighty Egyptians against the mighty Chaldeans; and though the latter were the conquerors, yet lost abundance of men; so that there were mighty ones fell on both sides. The Targum says for warrior collided with warrior, and both were slain.
13 The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt: — the word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet;
— this is a new prophecy from Jeremiah, though still concerning Egypt; but this differs; the former prophecy respects only the overthrow of the Egyptian army at a certain place; this latter the general destruction of the land; and was fulfilled some years, after the other;
— to smite the land of Egypt; who was to come, and did come, out of his country, into the land of Egypt, to smite the inhabitants with the sword, take their cities, plunder them of their substance, and make them tributary to him;
— Rashi says, according to their chronicles, this was a second blow, in the twenty seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign; around 579 BC.
14 “Declare ye in Egypt and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes; say ye, ‘Stand fast and prepare thee, for the sword shall devour round about thee.’ — declare ye in Egypt; the coming of the king of Babylon, and his intention to invade the land and subdue it:
— say ye, stand fast and prepare thee; O Egypt, and the several cities mentioned and all others; prepare for war and to meet the enemy, resist and repel him; present yourselves on the frontiers of your country; put yourselves in proper places and keep your ground;
— for the Sword shall devour round about thee; the Sword of the Chaldeans, into whose hands fell Jerusalem, Judea, Syria and other neighbouring countries; and therefore it was high time for them to bestir themselves and provide for their defence and safety.
Apis was a sacred bull worshiped in Memphis
15 Why are thy valiant [showing courage] men swept away? They stood not, because the Lord did drive them. — why are thy mighty men swept away? as with a mighty torrent; contrast this to a translation from MSG: “Why will your bull-god Apis run off?
— why are your bull-gods defeated? to which the Egyptian army may be compared; or “Why will your bull-god Apis run off? which the Chaldeans the came with such force as to drive the Egyptians (or their bull-god, Apis) from their posts, so that they could not stand their ground;
The Apis Bull of Memphis, Egypt, revered and worshipped
— (Gill) the Septuagint renders it, “why does Apis flee from thee? thy choice ox does not continue,” which was the god of the Egyptians, they worshipped in the form of an ox; this could not protect them, thought by them to be very mighty and powerful; their choice ox, Apis, of the Egyptians is believed to be a most powerful deity; yet could not save them;
— with LXX, it divides the Hebrew verb rendered “swept away” into two words, translating with them, “why does Apis flee from thee? thy choice ox does not continue.” The sacred bull Apis worshipped at Memphis is called the mighty one (the word in MT being often used of bulls), that is, the deity of Egypt, ‘just as Yehovah is named the Mighty One of Jacob or of Israel in Genesis 49:24; Isaiah 1:24; Isaiah 49:26.
Apis, the sacred bull in which the supreme god Osiris was believed by the Egyptians to be an incarnate
16 He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another; and they said, ‘Arise, and let us go again to our own people and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.’
— and they said, arise: not those that fell; but either the strangers in the land of Egypt, such as the Jews were; who, perceiving the destruction that was coming on Egypt, exhort one another to arise, and get out of there; or rather the auxiliaries of the Egyptians, as the Ethiopians, Libyans and Lydians,
— and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our own country, where we were born, and where our friends and relations lived; so that we might be safe; from the oppressing sword; the Sword of the Chaldeans.
17 They did cry there, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise! He hath passed the time appointed.’ — Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he boasted and bragged of great things he would do, but does nothing;
— he promised to bring a large army and talked big of attacking the enemy with great ardour and fury, and was sure of victory; but it may be interpreted thus, “Pharaoh king of Egypt is a king of noise” a noisy, big and blusterous king in words, but in deeds nothing.
18 “As I live,” saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts, “surely as Tabor is among the mountains and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come. — Tabor, which is a mountain in Galilee; and Carmel is by the sea of Galilee.
19 O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity; for Noph shall be waste and desolate, without an inhabitant. — furnish thyself to go into captivity; or “prepare for thyself vessels of captivity” or such things as are proper for captives, as suitable clothes to travel in, shoes to walk in, scrip and staff and the like; expect captivity and be prepared for it;
— for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant; that not an inhabitant should be left in it: the devastation of this city is put for that of all the rest, and as a sure token of it and the whole nation going into captivity.
20 “Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north. — the Targum says, “Egypt was a beautiful kingdom.”
— but destruction cometh, it cometh from the north; that is, the destruction of Egypt, which should come from Chaldea, which lay north of Egypt; and this threat is repeated.
21 Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and have fled away together. They did not stand, because the day of their calamity had come upon them, and the time of their visitation.
— all her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; or “bullocks of the stall” soldiers of other countries that were hired into the service of Egypt and lived so deliciously there, that they were unfit for war and were like fatted beasts prepared for the slaughter.
— the Targum interprets it, her princes; who had the care like fatted calves and of the feeding of this princeling; these themselves were like that, nourished for the day of slaughter.
22 The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood. — the voice thereof shall go like a serpent; that is, the voice of Egypt as she flees away from the enemy shall be like the voice of a serpent hissing;
— like a serpent hissing impotently at the woodcutters who disturb its retreat through the thick underwood; signifying, that their voice should be low and submissive and should not speak one big or murmuring word to their conquerors;
— for they shall march with an army; the Targum adds against you; the meaning is that the Chaldeans should come with a great army, and march against the Egyptians with great strength, force and fury:
— and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood; with battle axes as if they came to cut down trees; nor would they spare the Egyptians any more than such hewers do the trees; nor would they be able any more to resist them than trees can resist hewers of wood.
23 They shall cut down her forest,” saith the Lord, “though it cannot be searched, because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.
— they shall cut down her forest, saith the Lord; the land of Egypt compared to a forest for the multitude of its cities, towns and their inhabitants; which should be destroyed by the Chaldeans as a forest is cut down by hewers of wood;
— the metaphor is continued with the Targum interpreting this as the princes or nobles of Egypt and their destruction; because they are more like grasshoppers, are innumerable; which creatures come in large numbers, and eat up every green tree and herb; and so the Chaldean army, being alike numerous, would easily cut down the trees of this forest.
24 The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.” — the daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; brought to shame before all the nations of the earth, being conquered by the Chaldeans; that is, the kingdom of Egypt, or its inhabitants, being subdued and carried captive:
— she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north; the Chaldeans, who dwelt northward of Egypt, as is manifest from what follows.
25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith: “Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods and their kings, even Pharaoh and all them that trust in him.
— behold, God will punish the multitude of No; the inhabitants of it, which were many, called “populous No” in Nahum 3:8; a famous city in Egypt. Some take it to be Diospolis or Thebes; and others the same that is now called Alexandria; and so the Targum renders it;
— and Pharaoh and Egypt, with their gods and their kings; and all their numerous idols; and the several governors of the nomes or provinces into which the land was distributed; these should be punished and suffer in the general calamity.
26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his servants; and afterward it shall be inhabited as in the days of old,” saith the Lord.
— and afterwards it shall be inhabited as in the days of old, saith the Lord; after forty years, as Ezekiel prophesied, Ezekiel 29:11-13; not that it should rise to the same glory and dignity as before, for it would be a base kingdom; but whereas it was desolate and uninhabited after this destruction, it should now be inhabited again.
27 “But fear not thou, O My servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel; for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
— I will save thee from afar off; these maybe the righteous in Egypt, who were carried there by Johanan against their will; and these small remnant should escape, Jeremiah 44:28; and these words are intended to comfort those in captivity, with a promise of their return, lest they should be discouraged, in hearing that the Egyptians should inhabit their own land again, and they not theirs;
— and a remnant from Jacob shall return initially, and be in rest, and at ease, and none shall make him afraid: but this will have its full accomplishment in the latter day; as Jacob includes the other ten tribes when all Israelites return to their own land and never be disturbed any more.
28 Fear thou not, O Jacob My servant,” saith the Lord, “for I am with thee. For I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee, but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure. Yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.”
— fear thou not, O Jacob, my servant, even Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the scribe, and the king’s daughters; saith the Lord, for I am with thee; though afar off in foreign lands and in captivity: this exhortation is repeated to strengthen their consolation and against their fears of being cast off forever by the Lord;
— but correct thee in measure for the full house of Jacob; with judgement and in mercy: yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.
Sobering thoughts, and below are a few Scriptures for reflections:
And He said unto me, “Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this scroll that I give thee.” Then did I eat it, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetnes,” Ezekiel 3:3 (good to read the whole chapter);
And I went unto the angel and said unto him, “Give me the little book.” And he said unto me, “Take it and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.”
“And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it up, and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter,” Revelation 10:9-10.
Breaking China’s rare earth dominance could take a decade, Goldman Sachs says, but Victor Gao, now a professor at Soochow University, says it would take twenty-five years.
Molten chloride salts, crystals and rare earth sediments in petri dishes
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang hopes Blackwell chips can be sold in China but says decision up to Trump; but earlier, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that semiconductors had been discussed and China was “going to be talking to Nvidia and others about taking chips.”
The West may need a decade to loosen China’s iron grip on rare earths, according to Goldman Sachs.
Beijing’s control of 92% of refining and 98% of magnet production gives it powerful leverage in global trade.
The West’s push to rebuild rare-earth supply chains is lagging despite the metals’ strategic importance.
China’s grip on rare earths is so strong that it could take the West a decade to challenge the East Asian giant’s dominance over the critical minerals, according to Goldman Sachs.
“China’s dominance is truly massive,” said Daan Struyven, Goldman’s co-head of global commodities research, in a podcast published Tuesday.
He pointed out that roughly 92% of global rare-earth refining and 98% of the magnets made from those materials take place in China. That gives Beijing enormous leverage in trade disputes and making the market highly sensitive to policy headlines.
Trump’s $550 Billion ‘New Golden Age’ Kabuki show in Japan
Struyven’s comments come as President Donald Trump continues his trip across Asia, where he has signed a series of rare-earth agreements with Japan and several Southeast Asian nations aimed at diversifying supply chains.
Rare earth elements — a group of 17 metals — have become one of the world’s most geopolitically sensitive resources.
Their strategic importance has made them a persistent flash point in tensions between Washington and Beijing.
Despite their strategic value, the global rare earth market is minuscule — roughly 33 times smaller than copper by total production value — yet the minerals are crucial to defense systems and advanced semiconductors.
Western governments have pledged billions of dollars in recent years to rebuild domestic rare-earth capacity, but Goldman’s Struyven cautions that progress will be slow.
“It’s going to take years to build up independent supply chains in the West,” he said, adding that it would take about 10 years to build a mine and about five years to build a refinery.
Trump is expected to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday in South Korea, where rare earths could emerge as a key discussion point.
Trump and Albanese signing a $13 billion rare earths and critical minerals deal
Beijing expanded export controls on the minerals earlier this month, with new restrictions set to take effect on November 8 — just days before a 90-day trade truce with Washington expires.
“Ultimately, the final contours of any US-China trade deal still have to be signed off by the two respective presidents,” Struyven said.
“And I don’t think this issue is going to go away anytime soon,” he said.
ANNA NEWS agency investigated why the United States is preparing for a tough confrontation on the southern border.
The scale of the problem. Cartels in Mexico have transformed from smuggling gangs into powerful, militarized structures with international connections. According to estimates in the text, about 185,000 people serve in their ranks; the largest of them — the CNNG, the Sinaloa cartel and Nueva Familia — control significant territories and resources.
New business models and rising risks. Previously, marijuana and heroin were the main products in the United States, but now the main threat is related to the mass production and supply of fentanyl: the number of victims of the opioid epidemic in the United States reaches hundreds of thousands, and the volume of supplies has increased many times in recent years. The cartels have diversified their income (avocado, illegal resource extraction, counterfeit currency printing, human trafficking, etc.), making them economically stable and politically influential.
Militarization and access to a heavy arsenal. The cartels have created well—equipped, disciplined combat formations – really similar to private armies. Cases of the appearance of modern systems in the arsenals have been recorded (Javelin and Stinger are mentioned in the text), which increases the risk of serious military clashes and complicates retaliatory operations.
Domestic and regional impacts in Mexico. High level of violence: Thousands of police officers have been killed, mass kidnappings, political assassinations, and a significant number of missing persons. Cartels undermine government institutions, corrupt local officials, and partially control economic sectors, making many regions virtually beyond the control of the central state.
Threats to the United States and international expansion. The importation of fentanyl and other goods leads to an increase in deaths and crime in the United States; cartels also establish branches and seek markets in Europe, Africa and Asia. In partner countries, cartels are involved in human trafficking, resource extraction, and other transnational crimes.
US measures and the risk of escalation. The administration intends to act harshly: declaring cartels terrorist organizations, strengthening the border presence (in the text — up to 10,000 soldiers with a partial permanent contingent and reservation), special operations, training and coordination with Mexican forces, as well as reconnaissance using drones and aircraft. These measures can lead to local strikes, but striking a deep-rooted network requires much more resources and carries the risk of large-scale escalation.
The key dilemma and conclusion. A political and military confrontation with the cartels is fraught with a lengthy, costly and humanitarian campaign without any guarantee of success. An effective response requires a combination of force, deep international cooperation, fighting corruption, and strengthening economic and social institutions in the regions where the cartels draw their recruits and resources.
“And Esau harbored hatred in his heart against Jacob, his brother, because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.
“And Esau said in his heart, ‘I will not do as Cain did, who killed Abel during their father’s lifetime and then their father had another son, Seth.
“Rather, I will wait until the days of mourning for my father have passed, and then I will kill Jacob my brother, and I will be the sole heir.’” Genesis 27:41 Jonathan
Chapter 43 sets the background that lead to Chapter 44, where the impudent and impious contempt which the remnants of the Jews put upon this admonition, and their declared resolution to persist in their allegiance to the Queen of heaven and other idolatries, in despite both being warned from God and his prophet Jeremiah.
God’s judgement upon them for their obstinacy are shift; that they should all be cut off and perish in Egypt, except a still smaller number of which will escape; because the Pharaoh of Egypt should shortly fall into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and wouldn’t be able to protect them any longer.
Jeremiah 43
1 And it came to pass that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their God had sent him to them, even all these words,
2 then spoke Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, “Thou speakest falsely. The Lord our God hath not sent thee to say, ‘Go not into Egypt to sojourn there.’
— and Johanan and all the proud men; Johanan who had saved them earlier, who are commonly proud of their greatness; of their descent, their family and blood; of their wealth and riches, and posts of honour; perhaps the captains of the forces are meant, who elsewhere are mentioned along with Johanan, Jeremiah 40:13;
— these were men having a high opinion of their own wisdom; and could not bear to be contradicted or advised by the prophet, nor even by the Lord himself; and are justly called by the Targum as wicked men; their pride was the cause of their rebellion against God;
— saying unto Jeremiah, thou speakest falsely: or “a lie” it being contrary to their minds: so the prophets of the Lord and even the word of God itself are charged with falsehoods; as liars;
— the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say, go not into Egypt to sojourn there; they did not care to own it was the word of the Lord; whatever convictions they had in their minds; they would not openly appear to be opponents against God; but deny that the prophet was sent by God.
3 But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death and carry us away captives into Babylon.”
— but Baruch sets you against us to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death and carry us away captives into Babylon; upon this suspicion and accusation, these men based their opposition to Jeremiah’s counsel which conveyed to them the warnings of the Lord.
4 So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people obeyed not the voice of the Lord to dwell in the land of Judah. — so Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the Lord to dwell in the land of Judah.
5 But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah, who had returned from all nations whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah
— these are those who had fled to other countries, but now were returned from thence, in order to settle in the land of Judah; having heard that a governor from among the Jews was appointed over it; as from Moab, Ammon, Edom and other countries; Jeremiah 40:11;
6 even men, and women, and children, and the king’s daughters, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.
— men, women, children, even the king’s daughters, the princesses of the royal household, Jeremiah 41:10, and every person that Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah, the governor,
— and even Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the scribe; all of these people were obliged to join the caravan of refugees, but the Q is, why didn’t Jeremiah and Baruch resist? And go their own way?
Jeremiah, accompanied by men, women, children and the king’s daughters
7 So they came into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord; thus came they even to Tahpanhes. — so the Jews and the king’s daughters came into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord, as made known by the mouth of Jeremiah; thus came they even to Tahpanhes, the city of Daphne on one of the eastern delta-arms of the Nile.
8 Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, — so Jeremiah was among his fellow treacherous Israelites, also came into Egypt; did he not rebelled against God, or was he bound and lacked freedom?
9 “Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah; — Tahpanhes is the seat of the Pharaoh of Egypt where the Jewish refugee came for;
— the palace of Pharaoh included not only the buildings proper, but their entire enclosure as well, surrounded by a high wall. Opposite the entrance of this enclosure the bricks for the building or for the repairing of the royal palace were made, and it was in the clay of this kiln among the stones that Jeremiah and others were to be hidden;
— Tahpanhes is the same with “Hanes” in Jeremiah 2:16 and Tahpanhes, Jeremiah 43:7 as the Targum calls it; it is thought to be the same with Daphnae Pelusiae; here Pharaoh had a house or palace; Jeremiah 43:9 and this is the reason that the entourage from Judah and the king’s daughters had good refuge to go for protection.
10 and say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them. — three times God describes Nebuchadnezzar as “my servant” Jeremiah 25:9,27:6,43:10;
— now God expounds his meaning in his former command: he ordered Jeremiah to take stones and hide themselves in a place near the king of Egypt’s palace; thus they most probably didn’t meet the Pharaoh’s entourage;
— thus saith the God of Israel, Behold, I will send Nebuchadnezzar in carrying out my purpose upon Egypt, and will set Nebuchadnezzar’s throne upon these stones that I have hidden the refugees; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them, namely, the rich tapestry which formed the curtains over the throne when the king sat to judge;
— God makes one wicked man or a wicked nation, a scourge and plague to another; he calls Nebuchadnezzar his servant, his horsewhip, because in this instance he should execute God’s will, accomplish his purposes, and be instrumental in carrying on his designs; Ezekiel 29:18-20;
— upon these stones that I have hidden the Prophet Jeremiah and his close ones, Baruch, and the king’s daughters; God inspired the stones to be laid by himself, because here the Scripture revealed they were laid at his command and even spread his royal pavilion over them, but put Nebuchadnezzar, his servant, to sit on that throne to judge!
11 And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity, and such as are for the sword to the sword.
— and when Nebuchadnezzar come to smite the land of Egypt and deliver such as are for death, principally by the Sword, rather than by Famine and Pestilence to death, and such as are from captivity to Captivity, and by the sword, that is, as if death in battle, to the Sword;
— in this way, as the scourge of the Lord, he would also act as the servant of the Most High; both the act of laying the stones and the words spoken of are significant; symbolical of the power and firmness of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule, while the clay of Pharaoh’s palace signifies the weakness of his power.
12 And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captives; and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace.
— and God will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; including the Queen of heaven, Astarte; and he, Nebuchadnezzar, shall burn them and carry them away captives, the very gods of Egypt who they serve; and he shall array himself in the land of Egypt as a shepherd putteth on his garment, and he shall go forth from thence in peace;
— the point of comparison is the freedom and the ease of the act; for just as easily and quickly as a shepherd takes up his mantle, practically his garment and wraps it about him, so will Nebuchadnezzar easily take hold upon Egypt and the whole country in his hand, leave without hindrance and none opposing him.
The Queen of heaven, Astarte; one of the gods of ancient Egypt
13 He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh [the House of the Sun] that are in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.’”
— Nebuchadnezzar shall also break the images of Bethshemesh that is in the land of Egypt, the renowned Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis. “The images of Bethshemesh are, above all, the obelisks, of which there was an unlimited number in the city. Of the oldest, however, were not the largest, one still remains in its place.”
— the images of the Bethshemesh; that is, the “city of the sun” as the Septuagint says; and so “Bethshemesh” signifies the “house of the sun” either it designs the temple of the sun, or the city where it was worshipped; as Heliopolis was famous for the worship of the sun, and for a magnificent temple in it; but is foretold of its destruction by Isaiah, Isaiah 19:18;
—where the Targum expressly calls it the city Bethshemesh, that is to be destroyed; in this manner would all the representatives of Egyptian idol-worship fall before the power of Nebuchadnezzar, and the hope and trust of the Jews who fled to Egypt would find themselves worshipping these gods of woods and stones in vain.
An ancient obelisk in Heliopolis (ancient Egypt)
~~~~
Another parallel on Sun worship in Ezekiel 8 by the house of Judah with comments embedded below:
15 Then said He unto me, “Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.”
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 worshiped the sun toward the east. Ezekiel 8:15-16
— the heads of the twenty-four courses of the priesthood, led by the high priest, making up the “twenty five men” they 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!
— 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). These 25 men 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” — turned their backs to 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 worshiped 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
— today, more than 98.5 percent of Christians are honoring the SUN by observing SUNday worship. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the SUN toward the east; whose 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!
Jeremiah 44
1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,
— the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which seeked refuge in Egypt, in spite of the earnest remonstrances of Jeremiah, which dwell at Migdol, on the northeastern boundary of Egypt,
— and at Tahpanhes, in the delta of the Nile, and at Noph, or Memphis, the capital of Lower Egypt, and in the country of Pathros, that is, Upper Egypt, for in the intervening years the Jews had selected different parts of Egypt for temporary omes;
— but if Jeremiah and Baruch were faithful servants of God WHY did they allowed themselves to come to Egypt with Johanan the son of Kareah? Jeremiah and Baruch were not in chains so why didn’t they remain in Judah?
Recent discoveries of Papyri in the ruins of Elephantine (an island in the Nile, opposite Assouan), dating from the fifth century BC, bear witness to two great facts:- (1) That Jews were then dwelling there (in 424-405 BC) (2) That they were observing the Feast of the Passover, “as it is written in the law of Moses.”
2 “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein,
— thus saith the Lord of hosts, Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem and of Judah, most of the Jews addressed having been witnesses of the terrible catastrophe; and behold this day they are a desolation and no man dwelleth there, the entire land, formerly so rich, fruitful and populous had become an uninhabited desert;
3 because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers.
— because of your wickedness to provoke me to anger in that you went leaving the path of God and duty set before them by the Word of God, to burn incense and to serve other gods, by such act of worship, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers.
4 Nevertheless, I sent unto you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, ‘Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.’
— however, I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, full of merciful eagerness to prevent the threatened catastrophe, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate, which filled him with loathing.
5 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods. — but they hearkened not nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, they paid not the slightest attention to Yehovah’s admonitions and warnings, and not to burn incense to other gods.
6 Therefore My fury and Mine anger was poured forth and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day.
— wherefore my fury and anger was poured forth, like an overturned vessel spilling all its contents at once, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and streets of Jerusalem, for the fire of destruction was a manifestation of divine anger; and they are wasted and desolate.
7 “Therefore, now thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why commit ye this great evil against your souls to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah to leave you none to remain,
— thus saith the God of Israel, Why commit ye this great evil to the destruction of their own lives, for they were not injuring the Lord, but merely themselves, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, in a judgement of complete extermination, to leave you none to remain,
8 in that ye provoke Me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt whither ye have gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
— provoking me to wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, having profited nothing by the example of Jerusalem’s destruction, that you might cut yourselves off, and that you might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
— that they were looked upon as an accursed people of God, and their names were taken up for a proverb and a reproach everywhere; because of their dwelling there, Egypt was invaded; for if they hadn’t gone there, Egypt would have been left alone;
— whereas the manifestation of God’s glory was limited in the days of Egypt during the Exodus, the manifestation of God’s glory during the endtime would be unlimited; this comes as a result of our advancement in satelite communications, 4G, 5G and even 6G by then.
9 Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives which they have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
— have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, their evil doings and wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
— the queens of Judah, together with the women throughout the country, had been the chief promoters of idolatry; for just as women may be the chief upholders of virtue, they may also be the chief agents for the spreading of wickedness.
10 They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in My law, nor in My statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.
— they are not humbled even unto this day, they had not yet learned to turn to the Lord with contrite hearts, neither have they feared nor walked in my Law nor my Statutes that I set before them and before their fathers;
— they had deliberately ignored the norm and rule which the Lord had given them to follow, and the Lord speaks of them partly in the third person to give expression to the supreme disgust which filled his heart at their behavior;
— the Targum says, “they cease not unto this day;” that is, from committing the same things; which shows they had no true humiliation and contrition for them. This is to be understood not of the Jews in Babylon only, but chiefly of those in Egypt.
11 “Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set My face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah. — and to cut off all Judah; not the whole tribe; but only those that were in Egypt.
12 And I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine; and they shall be an execration and an astonishment, and a curse and a reproach.
— that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt, despites all the warnings; and were now actually sojourners there: this describes such persons who wilfully go against God’s will and of their own accord;
— and they shall all be consumed in Egypt; not by natural death, one after another; but by the judgements of God, even be consumed by the Sword and by Famine; by a foreign army and sieges; by the Sword of the king of Babylon;
— they shall die; from the least even unto the greatest, by the Sword and by the Famine; to persons of every age, state and condition, rank and degree, young and old, high and low, rich and poor: and they shall be an execration, an astonishment and a curse.
— that they were looked upon as an accursed people of God by the Egyptians, and their names were taken up for a proverb and a reproach everywhere; because of their dwelling there, Egypt was invaded; for if they hadn’t gone there, Egypt would have been left alone
— such a scene would be repeated at the endtime, the Goyim (Gentiles) would be wondering why the house of Jacob is such a curse; surely they are the blessed people; collectively the birthright people, Ephraim the firstborn;
Below are a few Scriptures for reflections:
And He said unto me, “Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this scroll that I give thee.” Then did I eat it, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetnes,” Ezekiel 3:3 (good to read the whole chapter);
And I went unto the angel and said unto him, “Give me the little book.” And he said unto me, “Take it and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.”
“And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it up, and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter,” Revelation 10:9-10
13 For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, — God ensures those that disobeyed wouldn’t be able to escape;
14 so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah to which they have a desire to return to dwell there; for none shall return but such as shall escape.”
— so that none of the remnant of Judah which are gone into the land of Egypt, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there, they were literally, “lifting up their souls with eagerness” and hoped to make Judea their home once more;
— for none shall return but such as shall escape; out of the hands of Johanan and the rest of the captains; nor should they get out of the land of Egypt before the Chaldeans came into it;
— perhaps Jeremiah and Baruch did escaped, together with the king’s daughters, whose mission was to build up and to plant; another commission of Jeremiah taken up by Ezekiel 17; of bringing down the high tree and exalting the low tree.
15 Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great multitude, even all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
— then all their wives that had burned incense unto other gods, a great multitude, from which many have concluded that the festival was to honor the Queen of Heaven, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, where this meeting was held,
16 “As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. — even the men, greatly influenced by the women, who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, rebelled against Jeremiah, saying, “we will not hearken unto thee.”
17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of bread, and were well and saw no evil.
— but we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, the vows which they had made when they embraced idolatry, to burn incense unto the Queen of heaven, that is, Ashtaroth or Astarte, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem;
— such statement amounts to revolting boastfulness; for then had we plenty of victuals, literally, “we were satisfied with bread,” having food of every kind in sufficient amounts, and were well and saw no evil; enjoying good fortune and happiness as they believed.
18 But since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings unto her, we have been wanting in all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.”
— but since we stopped to burn incense to the Queen of heaven, and to pour drink offerings unto her, we have had scarceness of everything, and we have been consumed by the Sword and by the Famine.
19 “And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her without our men?” — “without our men” that is, without their husbands’ knowledge and consent;
— the Queen of heaven: that is, they sacrifice to the sun, moon and stars, which they called the queen of heaven;
— the Phœnicians called the moon Ashtoreth or Astarte: the wife of Baal or Moloch, the king of heaven; today the virgin Mary Queen of heaven and so out of the virgin and mother of Jesus Christ, made an idol; for here the prophet condemns their idolatry. (the Queen of heaven, that is, Ashtaroth or Astarte: more at the end)
Mary is called Queen of Heaven, the “Queen Mother of Israel”
20 Then Jeremiah said unto all the people — to the men, and to the women, and to all the people who had given him that answer, saying,
21 “The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them, and came it not into His mind?
— the incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah and in Jerusalem, ye and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, of which they in their wickedness, did not the Lord remember them and came it not into his mind?
22 So the Lord could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which ye have committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, and an astonishment and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.
— so that the Lord would bring judgement as he could no longer bear because of the evil of your doing’s and because of the abominations which ye have committed, with all his long-suffering he could no longer endure it;
23 Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, nor walked in His law nor in His statutes nor in His testimonies, therefore this evil has happened unto you, as at this day.”
— therefore is your land a desolation and an astonishment and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. The evidences of his wrath upon the Land of Promise were still evident and all on account of their idolatry, as the prophet now repeats once more, for the sake of emphasis.
24 Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people and to all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt.
25 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her.’ Ye will surely accomplish your vows and surely perform your vows!
— thus saith the Lord of hosts, you and your wives have both spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the Queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto her; ye will surely accomplish your vows and perform your vows;
— here is a bit of irony; for as Jeremiah states, no one could accuse them of unsteadiness in keeping their idolatrous promises. If they had only been as steadfast toward Yehovah, the God of the covenant, yet they vowed and burned incense to the Queen of heaven!
26 Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, I have sworn by My great name,’ saith the Lord, ‘that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “The Lord God liveth.”
— that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah or in Egypt, saying, the Lord God liveth: or of their being called by his name, and reckoned his people; and intends their use of the divine name in an oath, of which this is a form, “the Lord God liveth”:
— or as sure as the Lord lives, or by the living God, especially as used in their vows to burn incense to the Queen of heaven, they vowing by the living God that they would do so, which must be very abominable to him; and therefore he solemnly swears there should not be a Jew in all Egypt that should use it; the reason is, because everyone of them that did should be cut off.
27 Behold, I will watch over them for evil and not for good; and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them.
— and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the Sword, or by Famine until there be an end of them; that is, the greatest part of them, excepting a few that shall escape, hereafter mentioned, particularly Jeremiah, Baruch and the king’s daughters;
— but as for the main body of such, who went of their own accord to Egypt, and settled, and fell: into the idolatry of the country; these should all perish till there were none of them left; either by the sword of the king of Babylon; or by famine, which his army and sieges would produce; or by pestilence, though not here mentioned, yet is in Jeremiah 44:13.
28 Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall know whose words shall stand, Mine, or theirs.
— yet a small number that escaped the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah; they shall make their escape out of the land of Egypt, where they did not go willingly; and by one providence or another, shall come back to their native country, the land of Judea, were the rest will not;
— and all the remnant of Judah that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know what words shall stand, mine or theirs; those that are left of the sword, famine and pestilence, shall know by facts before them, whose words have their effect and accomplishment; whether theirs, that promised impunity and safety, peace and prosperity in their idolatrous practices.
29 And this shall be a sign unto you,’ saith the Lord, ‘that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that My words shall surely stand against you for evil.’
— and this shall be a sign unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place; in Egypt as before; and what follows is a confirming sign that so it would be; and which, when observed by some, gave the hint to them to make their escape; though others, being hardened in their idolatry, impenitence and unbelief, continued and perished.
30 Thus saith the Lord: ‘Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of them that seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.’”
— as God gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar; and God puts the Jews in mind of what they had done to him; and might from hence conclude that this as a sign of their own ruin; and which they might know that it was indeed, the king of Egypt, in whom they trusted, being taken by his enemies, and his country wasted, they must in course fall prey to the conqueror.
~~~~
More on the Queen of heaven: Astarte, or 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 cerebrated 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.
WASHINGTON (AP) — China likes to condemn the United States for extending its arm too far outside of its borders to make demands on non-American companies. But when it sought to hit back at the U.S. interests this month, Beijing did exactly the same.
In expanding export rules on rare earths, Beijing for the first time announced it will require foreign firms to obtain approval from the Chinese government to export magnets containing even tiny amounts of China-originated rare earth materials or produced with Chinese technology.
That means a South Korean smartphone maker must ask for Beijing’s permission to sell the devices to Australia if the phones contain China-originated rare earth materials, said Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative. “This rule gives China control over basically the entire global economy in the technology supply chain,” he said.
For anyone familiar with US trade practice, China is simply borrowing a decades-long US policy: the foreign direct product rule. It extends the reach of US law to foreign-made products, and it has been used regularly to restrict China’s access to certain US technologies made outside of the United States, even when they are in the hands of foreign companies.
It is the latest example of Beijing turning to US precedents for tools it needs to stare down Washington in what appears to be an extended trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
“China is learning from the best,” said Neil Thomas, a fellow on Chinese politics at Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. “Beijing is copying Washington’s playbook because it saw firsthand how effectively US export controls could constrain its own economic development and political choices.”
He added: “Game recognizes game.”
The idea goes back to at least 2018
It was in 2018, when President Donald Trump launched a trade war with China, that Beijing felt the urgency to adopt a set of laws and policies that it could readily deploy when new trade conflicts arise. And it looked to Washington for ideas.
Its Unreliable Entity List, established in 2020 by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, resembles the US Commerce Department’s “entity list” that restricts certain foreign companies from doing businesses with the US.
In 2021, Beijing adopted the anti-foreign sanction law, allowing agencies such as the Chinese Foreign Ministry to deny visas and freeze the assets of unwelcome individuals and businesses — similar to what the US State Department and the US Department of Treasury can do.
Calling it a toolkit against foreign sanctions, intervention and long-arm jurisdiction, the state-run news agency China News in a 2021 news report cited an ancient Chinese teaching, saying Beijing would be “hitting back with the enemy’s methods.”
The law “has combed through relevant foreign legislation and taken into consideration the international law and the basic principles of international relations,” said the Chinese scholar Li Qingming as quoted in the news report. He also said it could deter the other side from escalating.
Other formal measures Beijing has adopted in the past several years include expanded export controls and foreign investment review tools.
Jeremy Daum, a senior research scholar in law and senior fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center, said Beijing often draws from foreign models in developing its laws in non-trade, non foreign-related areas. As China seeks capabilities to retaliate in kind in trade and sanctions, the tools are often “very parallel” to those of the US, he said.
Both governments also have adopted a “holistic view of national security,” which expands the concept to justify restrictions on each other, Daum said.
Things accelerated this year
When Trump launched his trade war with China shortly after he returned to the White House earlier this year, Beijing readily deployed its new tools in addition to raising tariffs to match those imposed by the US president.
In February, in response to Trump’s first 10% tariff on China over allegations that Beijing failed to curb the flow of chemicals used to make fentanyl, the Chinese Commerce Ministry put PVH Group, which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger and the biotechnology company Illumina, on the unreliable entity list.
That barred them from engaging in China-related import or export activities and from making new investments in the country. Beijing also announced export controls on tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum and indium, which are elements critical to the production of modern high-tech products.
In March, when Trump imposed the second 10%, fentanyl-related tariff, Beijing placed 10 more US firms on its unreliable entity list and added 15 US companies to its export control list, including aerospace and defense companies like General Dynamics Land Systems and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, among others, asserting that they “endanger China’s national security and interests.”
Then came the so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs in April, when Beijing not only matched Trump’s sky-high tariff of 125% but also blacklisted more US companies and announced export controls on more rare earth minerals. That led to a pause in the shipment of magnets needed in manufacturing a wide range of products such as smartphones, electric vehicles, jet planes and missiles.
While the new tools have allowed China to stare down the United States, Daum said they are not without risks.
“The dangers in such a facially balanced and fair approach are, one, what one side sees as reciprocity the other might interpret as escalation,” he said. And second, “in a race to the bottom, nobody wins.”
“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!” Isaiah 28:1
“For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your dealings will return upon your own head” Obadiah 1:15
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.
Hence, for ignoring the Targum as an authority for Understanding and Truth, the endtime Churches of God and others are being discribed as wretches, blind and naked; and would be thus justifiably destined to be spewed out of God’s mouth! Revelation 3:15-17
“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 the “latter days” that is, in the distant future; 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. Only in the endtime would you be able to understand this.
Jeremiah 41
The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609 BC), Jehoahaz (reign 609 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC)
1 Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed and the princes of the king, came with ten men unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they ate bread together in Mizpah.
— Ishmael was not only a Jew but a royal seed of king David. Josephus says it was thirty days after Johanan had departed from Gedaliah, having given him information of the conspiracy against him;
— now it came to pass in the seventh month; the month Tisri; it was on the third day of this month, fifty two days after the destruction of the temple, that Gedaliah was slain; on which day a fast was kept by the Jews, after their return from captivity, on this occasion, called the fast of the seventh month, Zechariah 7:5;
“Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month even those seventy years, did ye fast at all unto Me, even to Me?” Zechariah 7:5 (for more, see The Unspoken Will of God)
“When you held days of fasting every fifth and seventh month all these seventy years, were you doing it for me? And when you held feasts, was that for me?” MSG
— this event happened on the first day of the month, the beginning of the new year; but the fast was kept the day following, because the first day was a festival.
2 Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and slew him whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.
— and Ishmael slew Gedaliah; they all drew their swords and thrust at him; though it is probable that Ishmael gave him the mortal wound, since the phrase “and slew him” is singular. Josephus says that Gedaliah prepared a splendid table and made a sumptuous entertainment for them, and being drunk himself and all at table with him, took the opportunity and slew him;
— whom the king Babylon had made governor over the land; which mentioned; both to aggravate the crime they were guilty of, and to observe the reason of it and what it was that prompted them to it; for so the words may be rendered, “because the king of Babylon had made him governor over the land.”
The murder of Gedaliah, the governor of Judah, by Ishmael the son of Nethaniah
3 Ishmael also slew all the Jews who were with him, even with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there and the men of war. — Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with Gedaliah at Mizpah; not only those that were at table, but that were in the city also.
— Josephus says that having slain those that were at the feast with him, he went out in the night, and slew all the Jews in the city, and the soldiers that were left by the Babylonians there.
4 And it came to pass the second day after he had slain Gedaliah, and no man knew it.
5 that there came certain ones from Shechem, from Shiloh and from Samaria, even fourscore men, having their beards shaven and their clothes rent and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand to bring them to the house of the Lord.
— that there came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh and from Samaria; places of the ten tribes and which belonged to the northern house of Israel; so that it seems even at this distance of time, though the body of the ten tribes had been many years ago carried captive;
— yet there were still remnants (these could be of the house of Israel or even colonies of the Samaritans) remaining who had some regards to the Temple at Jerusalem.
6 And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went; and it came to pass as he met them, he said unto them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.” — weeping all along as he goes; pretending equal concern for the destruction of the land, city and Temple as they had;
— Ishmael said unto them, come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; as if he was alive, and as if he sympathized with them; and thought that this would be an inducement to come along with him: this he said perhaps to try them, whether they had heard anything upon the road of his death.
7 And it was so when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them and cast them into the midst of the pit, he and the men who were with him. — and it was so, when they came into the midst of the city; there Gedaliah’s house was, to which he invited them; and as they went in, he shut up the court;
— as Josephus says, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them, and cast them into the midst of the pit; when he had slain them, the fourscore men he had enticed into the city, except ten of them, he cast their dead bodies into a pit near at hand:
— he, and the men that were with him; that is, Ishmael and the ten princes, all royal blood, with what servants they brought with them; these were all involved in the killings of these men: the remnants from Shechem, from Shiloh and from Samaria.
Ishmael slew Gedaliah and others and cast them into the midst of a pit
8 But ten men were found among them who said unto Ishmael, “Slay us not; for we have treasures in the field of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey.” So he forbore, and slew them not among their brethren. — thus arises wickedness accompanied with a game of lying and deceptions.
9 Now the pit wherein Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had slain because of Gedaliah, was that which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel; and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with those who were slain.
— now, the pit where Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies slain because of Gedaliah, literally, “at the hand of Gedaliah,” that is, next to Gedaliah, whom he had first cast into this trench or cistern, was it which Asa, the king, had made for fear of Baasha, king of Israel, and Ishmael, a royal son of Nethaniah filled it with them that were slain, a gruesome heap of his victims.
10 Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people who were in Mizpah, even the king’s daughters and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the Ammonites.
— then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people that were in Mizpah, even the king’s daughters, all the princesses of the royal household, including the daughters of Zedekiah;
— and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had committed to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, putting them into his care as people who had professed their loyalty to the Babylonian rule; and Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, carried them away captive and departed to go over to the Ammonites;
— his intention being either to have his captives settle in the territory of the Ammonites, in the service of whose king he seems to have placed himself, or to sell them outright as slaves. Such is the way of men who yield to a life of wickedness: one crime leads to another, until they are fairly steeped in sins;
— even the king’s daughters; whether they were the daughters of Zedekiah, Jehoiakim or Jehoiakim, we know not; but it is most likely that they were the daughters of Zedekiah the last king, and who was just taken and carried captive;
— and so Josephus expressly calls them; these the king of Babylon regarded not, because they could neither fight, nor claim the kingdom; only the sons of the king, whom he slew before his eyes; though it may be these were not his daughters by his lawful wife, but by his concubines and so were not properly of the royal family and less regarded.
11 But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,
12 then they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon. — and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon; taking this road to the country of Ammon,
— though it was not quite the direct road; either to avoid the forces of Johanan or rather for the sake of the hidden treasure at Shechem or Shiloh or Samaria, the ten men had promised him for their lives.
13 Now it came to pass, that when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him, then they were glad.
— saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, they were glad; looking upon them as their deliverers; hoping by their means to be preserved from being carried captives to the king of Ammon.
14 So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned about and returned, and went unto Johanan the son of Kareah.
— so all the people that Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah cast about; or turned about, and wheeled off from Ishmael and deserted him at once; not at all regarding his authority nor fearing his menaces or his power; being in sight of the captains and their forces,
— they were determined to join and put themselves under their protection, knowing them to be their friends and that they came to deliver them; and returned and went unto Johanan the son of Kareah; turned their backs on Ishmael and marched directly to Johanan and the captains of the forces under them.
15 But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites.
16 Then Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, took from Mizpah all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah after he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam — even mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs whom he had brought again from Gibeon.
— then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him; after Ishmael had made his escape, whom they did not think fit to pursue, and the people had committed themselves to their care and protection; and having brought them to Mizpah again, they took them from thence;
— all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam: those whom he had rescued from Ishmael and had returned to Mizpah be persuaded to go with him from thence;
— even mighty men of war and the women and the children and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon; or “men, [even] men of war” warlike men, soldiers; by which it appears that Ishmael must have more than ten men with him when he came to Mizpah,
— to do what he did there, to carry away such a number of captives, among which were mighty men, men of war, some of whom he had slain besides women and children, to which are added eunuchs not mentioned before, such as the king of Judah had in his court.
17 And they departed and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt, — and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem: so called perhaps from Chimham, the son of Barzillai the Gileadite, to whom David or Solomon might give this place to dwell in, II Samuel 19:37;
— the Targum is express for the former, calling it “the habitation which David gave to Chimham, the son of Barzillai the Gileadite, which is near Bethlehem, to go and enter Egypt,” as it was near Bethlehem;
— to go into Egypt; where they had an inclination to do; having still a friendly regard to that people, and a confidence in them, as appears by some following chapters; and that they might be ready and at hand to flee thither, should the Chaldeans come against them, which they feared.
18 because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land. — because of the Chaldeans; which clause some think should have been joined to verse 17;
— this is a reason given why they departed from Mizpah, and dwelt at the habitation of Chimham in the way to Egypt; for they were afraid of them; at least this they pretended that the Chaldeans would come upon them and cut them off;
— because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land; no doubt it was provoking to hear that the governor of the king of Babylon was slain in this manner; and still more so as there were many Chaldeans slain with him;
— but there was no reason to believe that the king of Babylon would carry his resentment against the Jews and Johanan or take vengeance on them, who had so bravely fought against the murderers, and had rescued the captives out of their hands:
— this excuse seems only a pretence for their going into Egypt; for though they were promised safety in Judah by Prophet Jeremiah, yet they were still opting for Egypt as the following chapters show.
Jeremiah 42
1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near
— then all the forces of the captains; having taken up their residence at Chimham; and pretending of being afraid of the Chaldeans, because they were desirous of seeking refuge in Egypt;
2 and said unto Jeremiah the prophet, “Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the Lord thy God, even for all this remnant (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us),
— for we are few in numbers as thine eyes could see; the number of the people had been very large, but by the judgements of the Sword, Famine, Pestilence and Captivity, they were greatly reduced; here was their whole number tiny before the prophet; his eyes beheld them;
— and the condition they were in: this they said to move Jeremiah’s compassion, and very likely to suggest to him how improbable it was that they should ever be able to continue in their own land; but that it would be better to live under the protection of Egypt; and hoped to have a word from the Lord to direct them there.
3 that the Lord thy God may show us the way wherein we may walk and the thing that we may do.”
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, “I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the Lord your God according to your words, and it shall come to pass that whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.”
— behold, I will pray unto the Lord your God; be an intercessor for them; use his connection with his God and their God; and might expect to be heard; whom he would humbly entreat to direct what they should do as they desired.
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “The Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do even according to all things for which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us.
— if we do not according to which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us; they promise to do everything the Lord should signify by the prophet as his will; and if they did not, wish the severest judgements of God might fall upon them.
6 Whether it be good or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we send thee, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”
— that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God; for so it was, that it was well or ill with those people as they obeyed or disobeyed the voice of the Lord; and yet they acted not according to it; and what was worse, did not intend to. What a wretched scene of hypocrisy here!
7 And it came to pass after ten days that the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah.
8 Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
— all the captains of the forces which were with him and all the people from the least even unto the greatest; they were all convened together as it was proper they should to hear the word of the Lord; since they all joined in a request to the prophet, Jeremiah 42:1.
9 and said unto them, “Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before Him:
10 ‘If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up; for I repent of the evil that I have done unto you.
— thus saith the Lord, if ye will still abide in the land of Judea, their native country where they had always lived; and yet they thought of going out of it, which the Lord knew; and therefore to encourage them to abide in it and not think of departing into Egypt;
— and not pluck you up; that is, they should be firm and stable, happy and prosperous; and abound with all kind of blessings and increase in numbers, wealth and riches. The metaphors are taken from building houses and planting fields and vineyards:
— for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you; not that he had done any unjust thing to them; or that he changed his mind concerning them; but that he had compassion on them and would change his way and course of providence towards them according to his unchangeable will.
11 Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the Lord, for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand.
— be not afraid of the king of Babylon of whom ye are afraid; lest he should revenge the death of Gedaliah upon them, which was a groundless fear; Jeremiah 41:18; or that they should be dealt hardly with by him and be cruelly oppressed and not able to live in subjection to him; Jeremiah 40:9;
— be not afraid of him, saith the Lord; being consistent: who being a greater King than the king of Babylon, the King of king? they had no reason to fear anything from him since they were under his protection;
— for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand; from his avenging and oppressing hand; though they were not to be delivered as yet from subjection to him, or being tributaries to him; which they might be and yet dwell in peace and safety.
12 And I will show mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you and cause you to return to your own land.’ — and I will show mercies unto you, literally, “I will give you to experience mercies,” that he, the king of Babylon would have mercy upon you and cause you to return to your own land which they were now leaving in abject flight.
13 “But if ye say, ‘We will not dwell in this land,’ neither obey the voice of the Lord your God, — but if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the Lord your God, thereby once more becoming guilty of open rebellion against God;
14 saying, ‘No, but we will go into the land of Egypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger for bread, and there will we dwell’
— saying, No, but we will go into the land of Egypt, a rebellious plan which they had been discussing, if they had not yet decided upon it, where we will see no war nor hear the sound of the trumpet as it called the soldiers to the battle,
— nor have hunger of bread in the various unfortunate conditions accompanying war with which they had become so familiar in the last year and there will we dwell.
15 and now therefore hear the word of the Lord, ye remnant of Judah! Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there,
— if you wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt: are resolved upon it and are actually engaged in it; turning their faces from Judea towards Egypt and obstinately pursuing it; their posture expresses their resolution, impudence and obstinacy;
— and go to sojourn there: to be sojourners and strangers there as their fathers had been before; the remembrance of which should be enough to set them against going into Egypt any more.
16 then it shall come to pass that the sword which ye feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine whereof ye were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.
— then it shall come to pass that the Sword which ye feared, contrary to the assurance of the Most High, Yehovah, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the Famine whereof ye were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt, pursuing you with unrelenting fierceness; and there ye shall die.
17 So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there. They shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.’
— so shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there, having definitely made up their mind to that effect: they shall die by the Sword, by the Famine and by the Pestilence, which by God’s punishment, could strike them in Egypt as well as in Judea; and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.
18 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘As Mine anger and My fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall My fury be poured forth upon you when ye shall enter into Egypt. And ye shall be an execration and an astonishment, and a curse and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.’
— as mine anger and fury hath been poured upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; like a large hasty shower of rain; or rather like melted metal which suddenly and swiftly runs, and spreads itself and burns and consumes with a violent heat; such was the wrath of God on Jerusalem in its destruction by the Chaldeans:
— so shall my fury be poured forth upon you when ye shall enter into Egypt; as soon as they had well got there, quickly after they were settled there; for it was in the time of the then king of Egypt, Pharaohhophra, and by the then king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, that the destruction of Egypt was, in which these Jews suffered;
— and ye shall be an execration and an astonishment, a curse and a reproach; men should be astonished at the hand of God upon them;
— and ye shall see this place no more; and so their case would be worse than their brethren in Babylon; who after a term of years were expired, would return to their own land, but these they would never see any more.
19 “The Lord hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah: ‘Go ye not into Egypt!’ Know certainly that I have admonished you this day.
— the Lord hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah, so the prophet now elaborates upon the direct prophecy of Yehovah, Go ye not into Egypt; know certainly that I have admonished you this day, testifying against you and warning you.
20 For ye dissembled in your hearts when ye sent me unto the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray for us unto the Lord our God; and according unto all that the Lord our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.’
— and according to all that the Lord our God shall say, so declare unto us and we will do it; they pressed him to a faithful declaration of the will of God to them, and promised they would act according to it. Now he had done all this; prayed unto him as they requested, and had brought them his mind and will, and yet they rebelled again against it; so that their sins and deceits were greatly magnified.
21 And now I have this day declared it to you, but ye have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, nor any thing for which He hath sent me unto you.
— and now I have this day declared it to you; that ye have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, your God, nor anything for the which He hath sent me unto you.
22 Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.”
— that ye shall die by the Sword, by the Famine and by the Pestilence; by one or another, or all of them; some by one, and some by another, as before threatened; evils they thought to escape by going thither, but which should surely follow them and overtake them;
— in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn; that is, in Egypt, to which they had a strong inclination where they greatly desired to be, pleased themselves with the thoughts of it and which they chose of their own will and pleasure for their own destruction;
— no mention was made of Jeremiah; did he go? was he kidnapped, held as ransom, perhaps, to go along? or had he managed to leave the group and found another way to obey God; the Scriptures are silent about this!
The Group of Seven nations (G7) and the European Union are reportedly working together to try to reduce rare earth reliance on China after the country tightened its export controls for key minerals and related refinery technologies on October 9.
Media reports said G7 countries and the EU are considering introducing price floors to guarantee profits for non-Chinese rare earth suppliers.
On October 17, Canada’s Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne told the media that G7 nations can move “from dependence to resilience” in the rare earth supply chain, as it has the tools and resources to operationalize an alternative pipeline.
EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said last week that the bloc is coordinating with G7 members on a response to China’s export control on rare earths.
At the upcoming G7 Energy and Environment Ministers’ Meeting in Toronto, Canada, on October 30 and 31, member nations are expected to advance their discussions on rare earth security and the proposed system of price floors for non-Chinese suppliers.
The consensus from the G7 Summit in Kananaskis in June, which called for greater coordination on critical mineral supply chains, will serve as a foundation for the Toronto meeting. Officials say the gathering could yield the first concrete framework for coordinated measures to reduce dependency on Chinese exports.
Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, where the two leaders signed a rare earths agreement making Australia a key supplier to the US critical minerals chain. The deal, signed at the White House, also reaffirmed the Aukus security pact and its shared goal of cutting dependence on China.
Costs for price floors
The price-floor concept already has a real-world precedent in the US.
MP Materials, a US rare earth producer, benefits from a government-backed agreement guaranteeing a minimum price of US$110 per kilogram for neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide, higher than China’s price of US$88 per kilogram. The premium helps offset higher production costs and signals Washington’s determination to build a self-sustaining rare earth supply chain.
Most Chinese commentators said the West’s price floor strategy will not succeed as China’s dominance is supported by deep investment, economies of scale, flexible environmental protection requirements and comprehensive processing capabilities that competitors cannot easily replicate.
“The G7’s price floor strategy is flawed and could backfire,” says a Hebei-based columnist writing under the pseudonym “Pianist under the Moonlight.”
“If the price floor is set too low, no one will invest; if it’s set too high, downstream industries cannot afford it.”
“Artificial price hikes will increase the cost of electric vehicles, wind turbines and consumer electronics, and consumers will ultimately pay the price. The G7 claims to fight inflation while driving up the cost of key materials. This is self-contradictory,” he says.
The writer says German automakers are expected to resist any aggressive price-floor policies, while their lobbying for exemptions or subsidies will eventually break the so-called G7 rare earth alliance.
“Those loudly calling for price floors are starting to back away when they are asked to pay the price,” says Shen Lunxin, a Shanxi-based columnist who specializes in the auto sector. “Mining rare earths requires labor, environmental safeguards and technology. The US couldn’t fully reopen its mines for decades and had to shut them down whenever oil prices surged. Australia, Canada and South Africa also experienced the same and had to rely on Chinese technical know-how.”
He adds that G7 nations should drop costly price-floor plans and work with China to build stable and balanced supply chains.
In 2010, China tightened rare earth exports to Japan, prompting the US, the EU and Japan to file a complaint against Beijing at the World Trade Organization. At the same time, US-based Molycorp restarted the long-closed Mountain Pass mine, while Australia’s Lynas secured Japanese investment to expand production.
However, after China lost the WTO case in 2014 and flooded the market with its rare earth supplies, prices dropped significantly and made global producers suffer heavy losses. Molycorp went bankrupt in 2015, and both Japanese and Australian ventures were left reeling.
A Shandong-based columnist notes that China “fortunately” lost the 2014 lawsuit, so it could gain market share, improve its refining know-how, and secure the power to shape global industry standards.
‘Wolf warrior’ dismissed
China has tried to de-escalate the situation since US President Donald Trump, on October 10, threatened to impose additional 100% tariffs on Chinese goods and cancel an upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
On Monday, China removed veteran negotiator Li Chenggang, dubbed a “wolf warrior” in diplomacy, from his position as permanent representative to the World Trade Organization. Li was appointed as China’s lead international trade negotiator in April and played a key role in four successive rounds of US-China trade talks.
Li’s removal came after US Commerce Secretary Scott Bessent told the media on October 15 that Li had shown up uninvited in Washington on August 28 and used “very incendiary language,” warning that “China will cause global chaos if the port shipping fees go through.”
Bessent described Li’s remarks as both “disrespectful” and “unhinged.” He said China’s export curbs marked a decisive escalation in global economic tensions, describing the standoff as a defining moment for global trade.
“This is China versus the world,” he added. “We and our allies will neither be commanded nor controlled. We are not going to let a group of bureaucrats in Beijing try to manage the global supply chain.”
“The US has seriously misinterpreted and exaggerated China’s measures, deliberately creating misunderstanding and panic,” He Yongqian, spokesperson of the Chinese Commerce Ministry, said in a media briefing on October 16. “China’s new rare earth export restrictions are a legitimate step under national laws to prevent the illegal use of rare earths in weapons of mass destruction and to better safeguard both China’s and global security.”
She said before announcing the measures, China had informed the US, EU and Japan, and it is maintaining friendly communication to ensure their smooth implementation.
On October 17, Bessent said he expects Trump and Xi to meet in South Korea late this month.
“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!” Isaiah 28:1
“For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your dealings will return upon your own head” Obadiah 1:15
“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 the “latter days” that is, in the distant future; 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. Only in the endtime would you be able to understand this.
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.
Hence, for ignoring the Targum as an authority for Understanding and Truth, the endtime Churches of God and other are being described as wretches, blind and naked; and would be thus justifiably destined to be spewed out of God’s mouth! Revelation 3:15-17
Jeremiah 39
1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. — in the ninth year of Zedekiah would be around 588 BC; in the tenth month of Tebet; so that it was winter the siege of Jerusalem began;
— and they besieged the city, provoked by Zedekiah’s breaking the covenant with him, rebelled against him, who had set him upon his throne, so Nebuchadnezzar was determined to revenge; and came even in winter for a long siege;
— the king of Babylon came in person at first; then begun the siege, supposing it would be a long one, retired to Riblah in Syria, either for pleasure or other issues. The time of beginning the siege exactly agrees with the account in II Kings 25:1.
2 And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken into. — and in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month; the month Tammuz, which answers to part of June, and part of July: the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up; or taken by storm;
— the walls of Jeusalem were broken by engines and battering rams, so that the Chaldeans could enter and take the city. This was just a year and a half after it had been besieged, which would be around 586 BC; not being able to hold out any longer, because of the famine; Jeremiah 52:6.
3 And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the Middle Gate: even Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, with all the residue of the princes of the king of Babylon.
4 And it came to pass that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them and all the men of war, then they fled and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls; and he went out the way of the plain.
— Zedekiah disobeyed God to submit himself to the princes and king of Babylon; then at Riblah, Zedekiah had his eyes put out; so he was condemned to darkness who had shut his eyes against the clear light of God’s word.
5 But the Chaldeans’ army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgement upon him.
— but the Chaldean army pursued after Zedekiah, being informed of the flight by those surrendered to them, as Josephus says; or not finding the king, his family, nobles and guards at the palace, where they expected them, and knowing which way they must take, pursued after them; not the whole army, only a part of it; for some must remain at Jerusalem to demolish the city and take its spoil;
— and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; not far from it, as Josephus says; that when his friends and generals saw the enemy near, they deserted him and fled and only a few were with him when being surrounded:
— and when they had taken him they brought him to Nebuchadnezza to Riblah in Syria; perhaps he had retired from the siege of Jerusalem, having left it to his generals to refresh himself in this pleasant place; or that he might be nearer in his own kingdom; however, here he was, and here the army brought Zedekiah to him;
— where he passed sentence on him, which was to have his eyes put out: he severely chide him and upbraided him for the perfidy he had been guilty of in breaking his oath;
“after he came to him, Nebuchadnezzar began to call him a wicked man and a covenant breaker, unmindful of promises he had made to preserve the country for him; he reproached him with ingratitude, in receiving the kingdom from him he had taken from Jehoiakim, and given to him, who had used his power against the giver; but, says he, the great God that hates thy manners has put thee into our hands.”
6 Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes in Riblah; also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. — all his sons were killed but nothing said about the daughters; these must be very young, at least some of them; since Zedekiah at this time was only thirty two years of age;
— this must be a dreadful spectacle for him and the pains must be cutting, that it was owing to his own obstinacy in not taking the advice of the prophet Jeremiah to surrender to the Chaldeans, whereby he and his family would have been saved, Jeremiah 38:17;
— also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah; who did not come over to the Chaldean army and surrender themselves; as many of them as fell into the hands of the king of Babylon. Rashi says those “the nobles of Judah” were members of the Sanhedrin, who advised Zedekiah to annul his oath to Nebuchadnezzar.
7 Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains to carry him to Babylon. — moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes; hereby the prophecy of Jeremiah was fulfilled, that his eyes should see the king of Babylon, as they did, before they were put out, and that he should not die by the sword, Jeremiah 34:3;
— and also the prophecy of Ezekiel, in Ezekiel 12:13; that he should be brought to Babylon, and yet should not see it; for his eyes were put out before he was carried there: a full proof of God’s foreknowledge of future events; of the certainty of prophecy and of divine revelation;
— and bound him with two brass or iron chains, or fetters, for both his legs; and thus bound and was carried to Babylon, where he remained to the day of his death.
Zedekiah Sees all his Sons Killed; but nothing were said of his Daughters!
8 And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the houses of the people with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. — and the houses of the people, burned down with fire; the houses of the common people, as distinct from the king’s palace and the houses of the nobles, Jeremiah 52:13; but a den of thieves;
— and broke down the walls of Jerusalem; all the fortifications were entirely dismantled, that it might be no more a city of force and strength as it had been before.
9 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city and those who fell away, who fell to him, with the rest of the people who remained.
— carried away into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in Jerusalem; that were left of the Pestilence, Famine and Sword; and who were found in it when it was taken.
10 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left the poor of the people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time. — but Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people which had nothing in the land of Judah;
— because they would have been of no service to the Chaldeans but a burden and because they had nothing to fear from them; they had no arms to rebel against them; and because it would be to their interest to have the land manured that they might have some tribute from it;
— and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time; as their own property to dress and cultivate, and receive the advantage though a tax laid upon them; or they were to pay tribute to the king of Babylon; they who before had nothing are now proprietors of vineyards and fields;
— when the former owners were carried away as captives: there might be much of the justice of God conspicuous in this affair; such who had been oppressed and ill used by the rich are now retaliated with their possessions.
11 Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying,
12 “Take him and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee.” — take him and look well to him; take him out of prison; take him under his immediate care; receive him kindly and use him humanely;
— provide everything necessary for him and let him not want for anything: or “set thine eyes upon him” look pleasantly at him, and let him be always under your view and inspection; do not treat him with neglect or contempt but see to it that nothing of needs are taken from him;
— and do him no harm; no injury to his person by beating, imprisoning or starving him; nor suffer any to be done to him by the common soldiers or by his own people: let him have whatever he asks for: this was great favour from a heathen prince indeed and more than he met with from his own countrymen.
13 So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent Nebushasban, Rabsaris, and Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, and all the king of Babylon’s princes.
14 even they sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison and committed him unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home. So he dwelt among the people.
— even they sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison where he was, when Jerusalem was taken, Jeremiah 38:28; and where he remained until this order came;
— and committed him unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan; the father of this person seems to be the same who saved Jeremiah from being delivered into the hand of the people to be put to death by them in Jehoiakim’s reign, Jeremiah 26:24;
— and Gedaliah himself was doubtless a prince of Judah that deserted to the Chaldeans during the siege and was in esteem with them, and appointed a governor over those that were left in the land.
Gedaliah, made Governor of Judea by Nebuzaradan and Protector of Jeremiah
15 Now the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying,
16 “Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring My words upon this city for evil and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee.
17 But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the Lord; and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid.
18 For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword; but thy life shall be as a prize unto thee, because thou hast put thy trust in Me, saith the Lord.’” — because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord;
— what he had done in serving the prophet sprung from a principle of faith and confidence in the Lord and his prophet; without which works are not right; and without which it is impossible to please God; and which faith may be and be true where fears are.
Jeremiah 40
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him bound in chains among all who were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah, who were carried away captive unto Babylon.
— here Nebuzaradan had further duty to do with his captives as they fell into his hands, among whom were Jeremiah when he was taken out of prison and out of Jerusalem and brought him to Ramah:
— still bound in chains Jeremiah; but without the knowledge of Nebuzaradan and through the inadvertency of inferior officers, he was taken and bound and with other prisoners brought to Ramah in order to be transported to Babylon for Ramah was to the north of Jerusalem as Babylon was.
2 And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said unto him, “The Lord thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place. — this heathen captain acknowledges the hand of the Lord in all this;
— and said unto Jeremiah, the Lord thy God hath pronounced this evil on this place; the city of Jerusalem; and now in ruins; the houses burnt; the walls broken and the inhabitants carried captive. This was the evil which the Lord, he says, had “decreed” as the Targum renders it.
3 Now the Lord hath brought it, and done according as He hath said: because ye have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come upon you.
— this heathen captain, Nebuzaradan, acknowledges the hand of the Lord and suggests, that the king of Babylon himself, and the rest of the generals were only instruments the Lord made use of; which is very piously as well as wise; and more is here acknowledged by him than by the Jews.
Nebuzaradan releasing Jeremiah from prison and let him go free
4 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.”
— and now, this heathen captain wil loose thee this day from the chains which were upon thine hands; Or rather are; for when he said these words, it is highly probable they were on him, though now ordered to be taken off;
— whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go; he left him to take his own way and do as he thought fit; and this agrees with his master’s orders to him, Jeremiah 39:12.
5 Now while he had not yet gone back, he said, “Go back to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon hath made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people; or go wheresoever it seemeth convenient unto thee to go.” So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward and let him go.
— according to the Targum, these are the words of Nebuzaradan; “if thou wilt not return (that is, with him to Babylon, or rather to Jerusalem, or best to his own native place), or if thou wilt not dwell (that is, in this place), go back to Gedaliah.”
— or go wherever it seemed convenient unto thee; though he gave him his advice, he did not press it, but left Jeremiah his full liberty to take his own way and go into what part of the land he pleased to settle in:
— so the captain of the guard gave him victuals (food or provisions), and money and let him go; the prophet was just out of prison and destitute for the necessaries of life, and the land was laid waste by the enemy; and therefore he could not have subsisted without a supply which was liberally given by the captain;
— not only food for sustenance sufficient for his journey, whichever way he took, but an amount of money and clothes which was very kind treatment of a prophet by a heathen victor.
6 Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, to Mizpah, and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land. — Jeremiah might have been better with Nebuzaradan had he gone along with the captain to Babylon;
— but he chose rather to dwell in his own land, and suffer affliction with the people of God, or perhaps inwardly inspired by another mission as he was made custodian of the king’s daughters (Jeremiah 41:10, 43:6), than to dwell at ease in a foreign and idolatrous land.
7 Now when all the captains of the forces which were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed unto him men and women and children, and the poor of the land of those who were not carried away captive to Babylon,
8 then they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah — even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men;
— then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah; having heard that the Chaldean army was gone and so were in no fear of that; and also that Gedaliah was made deputy governor, one of their own, a pious, prudent man, a man of integrity under which was much preferable to captivity in a foreign country though a tributary to Babylon.
9 And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore unto them and to their men, saying, “Fear not to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
— saying, fear not to serve the Chaldeans, as if it was an evil to do it; or as if their yoke was hard and intolerable; or they should be always in danger of their lives:
— dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon; pay your tributes and it shall he well with you; settle in the land and do not rove about from place to place; nor go out of the land through fear of the king of Babylon, but continue to live in subjection to him and they will live comfortably and safely.
10 As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah to serve the Chaldeans, who will come unto us; but ye, gather ye wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that ye have taken.” — as for Gedaliah, the governor, he will serve the Chaldeans;
11 Likewise when all the Jews who were in Moab, and among the Ammonites and in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, — these who were from Moab, and among the Ammonites and in Edom, started to plan an evil plan;
12 even all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits in abundance. — at the taking of the city many escaped and fled to Moab, to Ammon, to Edom, some one way, some another, now they returned.
13 Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields came to Gedaliah at Mizpah
14 and said unto him, “Dost thou certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites hath sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to slay thee?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them not.
— that Baalis the king of the Ammonites hath sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to slay thee? very probably Ishmael, a royal seed of king David (Jeremiah 41:1), with the forces under him, fled to the king of the Ammonites when Jerusalem was captured; who, out of ill will to the Jews, always bore them by the Ammonites, envying their reestablishment under Gedaliah;
— and hoping to make a prey of them if their governor was removed, also being displeased that Gedaliah should be governor, which he might think was an office he had a better right to, being of the seed royal; and therefore readily agreed to be sent to take away the governor’s life;
— but Gedaliah believed them not; and knowing he had done nothing to disoblige him, couldn’t believe a person of such birth and dignity would ever be guilty of such a crime; yet he ought to have inquired further into it and provided for his own safety against the worst that might happen.
Gedaliah, Governor of Judea, was killed by his own people, the Jews
15 Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, “Let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it. Why should he slay thee, that all the Jews who are gathered unto thee should be scattered and the remnant in Judah perish?”
16 But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said unto Johanan the son of Kareah, “Thou shalt not do this thing, for thou speakest falsely of Ishmael.” — but Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said unto Johanan the son of Kareah; in answer to his request, and the motion made by him: thou shalt not speak of Ishmael of scheming this thing;
— or “do not do this thing” dissuading him from it as being unlawful to take away a man’s life in such a secret manner, without any legal process against him; though it seems to carry more in it, that he laid his commands upon him not to do it and threatened him if he did:
— for thou speakest falsely of Ishmael; or a false accusation or a slander; which isn’t describing Johanan well. The events in the following chapter shows that the information was good and that it was no lie that was told; and it would have been well for Gedaliah if he had taken the warning seriously.
“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 consider and 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; 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.
Jeremiah 37
The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609 BC), Jehoahaz (reign 609 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC)
1 And King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. — and King Zedekiah; the brother of Jehoiakim, whose untimely death, and want of burial, are prophesied in the preceding chapter;
— the name of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, was Mattaniah before he was king; his name was changed by the king of Babylon, who made him king, II Kings 24:17.
2 But neither he nor his servants, nor the people of the land hearkened unto the words of the Lord, which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah. — but neither he nor his servants, nor the king, his courtiers and subjects the royal family, nobility and common people;
— all were degenerate and corrupt; that Jehoiakim was wicked, and so with all his people wicked but Zedekiah seems to possess one single righteous action of taking Jeremiah out of prison; although according to this account, both king and people were wicked.
3 And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Pray now unto the Lord our God for us.” — to the Prophet Jeremiah, saying, pray now unto the Lord our God for us. This message was sent either upon the rumour of the Chaldeans coming against Jerusalem;
— or rather when it had departed from the city, and was gone to meet the army of the king of Egypt; so that this petition to the prophet was to pray that the king of Egypt might get a victory over the Chaldean army.
4 Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people, for they had not put him into prison. — now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people; he was free to go in and out of Jerusalem whenever he pleased;
— or go to any part of the city and prophesy unto them; which he could not do in the latter part of Jehoiakim’s reign, who sent officials after him and Baruch to take them, and they hide themselves, yea, the Lord hid them, Jeremiah 36:19; but now he was under no restraint, as least as yet:
— for they had not put him into prison; not yet; they afterwards did, Jeremiah 37:15.
5 Then Pharaoh’s army came forth out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem. — then Pharaoh’s army come forth out of Egypt; Zedekiah, though he had took an oath of homage to the king of Babylon, rebelled against him,
— and Zedekiah entered into a league with the king of Egypt; and who, according to agreement, sent his army out of Egypt to break up the siege of Jerusalem; after his defeat at Carchemish by Nebuchadnezzar, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah 46:2; yet he sent his army to the relief of Jerusalem.
6 Then came the word of the Lord unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
7 “Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, who sent you unto Me to inquire of Me: ‘Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.
— thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me, to inquire of me; to seek divine guidance from the Lord, confirming it to them, that the Chaldean army which was gone would not return any more; this they were willing to believe, to have a confirmation from the Lord;
— and so the Targum says “to seek an oracle from me;” or to ask instruction from me: now these messengers are bid to go back and tell the king, his nobles and all the people of the land what follows:
— behold, Pharaoh’s army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt, into their own land; being afraid to face the Chaldean army. Josephus says there was a battle fought between the Egyptians and Chaldeans, in which the latter were conquerors, and put the former to flight, and drove them out of all Syria;
— Rashi relates what seems like a fable, that the Egyptian army came by ships and that at sea they saw strange appearances upon which they asked one another, what means this? they replied, these are our fathers, whom the fathers of those we are going to help drowned in the sea; and immediately [fear struck them so they] returned to their own land.
8 And the Chaldeans shall come again and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with fire.’ — and the Chaldeans shall come again; to Jerusalem, after they have defeated or drove back the Egyptian army:
— and fight against this city, Jerusalem; with rigour and resolution; being exasperated by the methods taken to oblige them to raise the siege: and take it and burn it to the ground; and they did, Jeremiah 39:8.
9 Thus saith the Lord: Deceive not yourselves, saying, ‘The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us,’ for they shall not depart. — the Targum says, “Do not deceive yourselves by saying, ‘The Chaldeans will surely depart from us,’ for they will not depart.”
10 For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent and burn this city with fire.”
— “Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof!” the children of Edom fanned the fire on the day of Jerusalem’s fall, Psalm 137:7
11 And it came to pass that when the army of the Chaldeans had broken off from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army, — and it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans were broken up from Jerusalem; when the siege of the city was broken up and raised: or when they “went up from Jerusalem” were gone from it;
— for fear of Pharaoh’s army; or rather “because of Pharaoh’s army” the word “fear” is not in the text; nor did they leave Jerusalem for fear of his army, but to meet it and give it battle as they did; however, by this means there was a freer passage to and from the city.
12 then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to separate himself from thence in the midst of the people.
13 And when he was in the Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans!”
— whose name [was] Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah: the grandson as some think, of that Hananiah the false prophet, of whose death Jeremiah the prophet prophesied, Jeremiah 28:16;
— and the Jews have a tradition that Hananiah ordered his son Shelemiah that if he ever had an opportunity to bring Jeremiah to ruin, to do it; and the same charge Shelemiah gave to his son Irijah, who, having this opportunity, laid hold on him;
14 Then said Jeremiah, “It is false! I fall not away to the Chaldeans.” But he hearkened not to him; so Irijah took Jeremiah and brought him to the princes. — Jeremiah said: I fall not away to the Chaldeans; for the Chaldean army was gone from the city;
— nor did Jeremiah wanted to be with an idolatrous people; for after the city was taken, when Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard gave him his choice, either to go with him to Babylon, where he promised to take care of him; or to go to Gedaliah, who was made governor of Judah; he chose rather to be with Gedaliah and his poor company:
— so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes; the princes of Zedekiah’s court, or the princes of the people, the civil magistrates; or it may be the great Sanhedrin, who he knew had no good disposition towards the prophet.
15 Thereupon the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.
— and put Jeremiah in prison, in the house of Jonathan the scribe; such an one as Elishama was in Jehoiakim’s time, who had a house or at surrounding court as he had, who was now dead or removed, Jeremiah 36:12.
16 When Jeremiah had entered into the dungeon and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days,
17 then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out; and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?” And Jeremiah said, “There is; for, said He: Thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!” — then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah out; after he had been in prison for some time;
— and the Chaldean army returned, and having renewed their siege, the king becomes frightened; and knowing the prophet was in prison, sends a messenger to take him out from thence, and bring him to him; which was accordingly done:
— is there any word from the Lord? he means any particular word of prophecy, any late one; for prophecy did not come at all times, nor even according to the will of man, but always according to the will of God, and when he thought fit; this the king knew very well, and he wanted a comfortable word, some good news of the failure of the present attempt:
— for, Jeremiah said, thou shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon; which was boldly said to the face of the king himself, risking his life in so doing; or, at least, exposing himself to severer treatment, if severer could be used.
Zedekiah the king of Judah and the Fall of Jerusalem
18 Moreover Jeremiah said unto King Zedekiah, “How have I offended against thee or against thy servants or against this people, that ye have put me in prison? — what have I offended against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison? or “what have I sinned?” have I been guilty of treason against thee, O king?
— or of scandal and defamation of any of thy nobles and courtiers? have I done any injury to any of the king’s subjects? has there been any falsehood in my prophecies? has not everything appeared to be true that I have spoken, concerning the coming of the Chaldeans to invade the land and besiege the city? and concerning the return of the Chaldean army when broken up?
— why then should I be cast into prison, and detained there? is it not a clear case that what I have said comes from the Lord? and therefore ought not to be used in this manner.
19 Where are your prophets now who prophesied unto you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land’? — where your prophets now that prophesied unto you; your false prophets,
— what is become of their prophecies? where is the truth of them, to which general credit has been given? where are they? as the Targum says; “And where are your false prophets who prophesied to you, saying: ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land’?”
20 Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king. Let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee, that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.” — that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe; but that he might be discharged from his confinement;
— or however be removed into another prison, not so uncomfortable and disagreeable as this man’s house or prison was; and which perhaps was still the worse through his cruel and ill natured carriage to him; and which all together endangered his life: wherefore he adds;
— lest I die there; for though he had continued there many days, yet the place was so exceedingly noisome, that he thought he could not long continue there, was he remanded back to it.
21 Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
— then Zedekiah commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the the prison; Zedekiah did not think fit to discharge him entirely, lest it should give offence to the princes; but he ordered him to be put in prison in the court belonging to where he might breathe in a freer air, and have liberty of walking to and fro;
— and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers’ street; it seems there was a street in Jerusalem so called, where the bakers lived; and perhaps the king’s bakers; who had orders to deliver to the prophet every day a piece or loaf of bread, as much as was sufficient for a man;
— until all the bread in the city was spent; that is, these were the king’s orders: thus Jeremiah remained in prison in the king’s court; until the city was taken.
Jeremiah 38
1 Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people, saying, — these are the princes liked to king Zedekiak;
2 “Thus saith the Lord: ‘He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life as a prey, and shall live.’
— but those that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live: those throws down his arms, delivers himself up to the Chaldean army, and submits to their mercy, shall have quarters given him, and his life shall be spared.
3 Thus saith the Lord: ‘This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it.’” — thus saith the Lord, this city shall surely be given into the king of Babylon’s army; when those found in it should be put to the sword, or carried captive;
4 Therefore the princes said unto the king, “We beseech thee, let this man be put to death; for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words unto them; for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.”
— we beseech thee, let this man, Jeremiah, be put to death; or, “let this man now be put to death,” as the Targum says; this is in contrast to how king Hezekiah submitted himself and called for mercy upon the Most High: II Kings 19:
14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.
15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, “O Lord God of Israel, who dwellest between the cherubims, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast made heaven and earth. 16 Lord, bow down Thine ear, and hear; open, Lord, Thine eyes, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent him to reproach the living God. 17 Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, 18 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them. 19 Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech Thee, save Thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the Lord God, even Thou only.”
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: ‘That which thou hast prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.’
35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand; and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. 37 And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead. II Kings 19:14-20, 35-37
5 Then Zedekiah the king said, “Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.” — in your power, to do with him as you please; this is a grant of the weak king, allowing them to do as they thought fit;
6 Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah, the son of Hammelech, which was in the court of the prison; and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire; so Jeremiah sank in the mire.
7 Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king then sitting in the Gate of Benjamin), — in the gate of Benjamin; this was on the northern wall of the city, the most exposed to the attack of the invading army,
8 Ebedmelech went forth out of the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying, — Ebedmelech, an Ethiopian Gentile went forth and spoke; not privately, but in public; a proof of fearless magnanimity; compare this to Yeshua’s time, where Simon of Cyrene, likely from north Africa or a Greek outpost, carried the Cross on Christ’s behalf!
9 “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is likely to die of hunger in the place where he is, for there is no more bread in the city.”
10 Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies.” — and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he die; the king speaks honourably of Jeremiah, giving him his title as a prophet, and expresses great concern for him;
11 So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from thence old castoff clothes and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
12 And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, “Put now these old castoff clothes and rotten rags under thine armpits, under the cords.” And Jeremiah did so. — even when Jeremiah had been drawn out in this way from the deep pit of mire, he remained in the court of the prison.
13 So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon; and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison. — Ebedmelech has no warrant to set Jeremiah full liberty;
14 Then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the principal entry that is in the house of the Lord; and the king said unto Jeremiah, “I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me.”
— the principal entry that is in the house of the Lord; in II Kings 16:18 we read of ”the king’s entry without,” an outside entrance, or covered gallery, both leading from the palace to the Temple.
15 Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, “If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? And if I give thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken unto me?” — “If I tell you, you will put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.”
16 So Zedekiah the king swore secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, “As the Lord liveth, who made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men who seek thy life.” — Zedekiah could still see that Jeremiah was God’s prophet!
17 Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, “Thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you will surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then your soul will live and this city will not be burned with fire. Thus you and your household will live.’
— if thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes; the generals of his army; the king not being with his army at this time, that is, if he would open the gates of Jerusalem, and go forth from thence to the Chaldean army, and surrender himself themselves into the hands of the princes their general officers:
— then thy soul shall live; in thy body and not be separated from it; or live comfortably in peace and safety though not in so much splendour and glory as he had done; and thine house; not only himself, but his wives, children and servants.
— and this city shall not be burned with fire; as had been threatened; and as the Chaldeans would be provoked to do, should it hold out to the last extremity; but should preserve it upon a surrender; but Zedekiah rebelled and was captured at Riblah, Jeremiah 39:5;
18 But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand.’”
— but if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes; and surrender to them: then shall this city be given into the hands of the Chaldeans; if not willingly delivered up by the king of Judah, it shall be forcibly taken by the king of Babylon’s army.
19 And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.” — Zedekiah said he was afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans; who did go out of the city, and surrendered to the Chaldeans;
— lest they deliver me into their hands, and they mock me; that is, lest the Chaldeans should deliver him into the hands of the Jews, and they should jeer and scoff at him, for doing the same thing he had forbidden them on the severest penalty; or lest they should put him to death in the most revengeful and contemptuous manner, but all this was either a mere excuse, or showed great weakness.
20 But Jeremiah said, “They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee; so it shall be well with thee, and thy soul shall live. — obey, Jeremiah beseech them, the voice of the Lord, which he spoke unto thee;
— the counsel Jeremiah had given Zedekiah to surrender to the Chaldeans was not from himself but from the Lord: and since it came from the Lord, it ought to be attended to, so he might be assured of the divine protection, should he act according to it:
— so it shall be well with thee, and thy soul shall live; that is, it would not only be much better with him than he feared, but than it would be with him should he obstinately stand out to the last; he should have more respect and honour from the king of Babylon; and not only have his life spared, but enjoy more of the comforts of life; particularly the sight of his eyes.
21 But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the Lord hath shown me:
22 And behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women shall say, ‘Thy friends have set thee up and have prevailed against thee. Thy feet are sunk in the mire, and they have turned away back.’
— and, behold, all the women that are left in the royal palace when Jehoiakim and Jeconiah were carried captives; or which were left of the famine and pestilence in Zedekiah’s house; or would be left there when he should flee and make his escape; meaning his concubines, maids of honour, or court ladies;
— and those women shall say, thy friends have set thee on, and have prevailed against thee: or “the men of thy peace” the false prophets and the princes that hearkened to them, and promised and flattered him with peace and prosperity, these deceived him; they set him on to hold out against the Chaldeans, and not believe the Prophet Jeremiah;
— and they are turned away back; meaning either his feet, which were distorted, and had turned aside from the right way; or now could go on no further against the enemy, but were obliged to turn back and flee;
23 So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans. And thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon; and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.”
— so they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans; not the citizens of Jerusalem; but the Chaldeans that should enter the city shall bring them “thy wives and thy children” out to the Chaldeans: all their wives, concubines and children, or sons rather; for at the taking of the city no mention is made of daughters, only of sons, who were slain before his eyes, Jeremiah 39:6;
— and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon; by his army, who having taken him, brought him to Nebuchadnezzar, and delivered Zedekiah into his hand, Jeremiah 39:5;
— and thou shalt cause this city to be burnt down; or “thou shall burn this city with fire” be the moral cause of it; through his sin and obstinacy, impenitence and unbelief, the burning of the city might be laid to his charge; his sin was the cause of it.
24 Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, “Let no man know of these words, and thou shalt not die. — wanting it to be a secret, Zedekiah must be, by now, ashamed of his deeds; the princes never got to know what was the principal subject of the king’s conference with the prophet;
— “and thou shalt not die” shows that king Zedekiah has limited power, for if it were made known, Jeremiah would risk his life; because the princes would like to put the prophet to death.
25 But if the princes hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee and say unto thee, ‘Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king, also what the king said unto thee; hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death,’
— and say unto thee, declare unto us; hide it not from us and we will not put thee to death; the king knew how inquisitive they would be, to know both what the prophet said to the king, about the state of affairs respecting the Chaldeans and the surrender of the city to them.
26 then thou shalt say unto them, ‘I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house to die there.’” — then thou shalt say unto them; here the king puts words into the prophet’s mouth, what he should say to the princes, and so keep the matter a secret:
— that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house, to die there; this he had entreated of the king before, Jeremiah 37:20; and now, no doubt, renewed his request, having this fair opportunity with the king alone to do it;
— or it is probable he did it upon this hint of the king. This shows how much the king stood in fear of his princes in this time of distress; and that he had only the name of a king and had not courage and resolution enough to act of himself, according to the dictates of his mind; yea, that he, unlike Hezekiah, feared men more than he feared the Lord.
27 Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah and asked him, and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him, for the matter was not perceived.
— for the matter was not perceived; or “was not heard” though there were persons that saw the king and the prophet together, yet nobody heard anything that passed between them; and therefore Jeremiah could not be confronted in what he had said or be charged with concealing anything.
28 So Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken, and he was there when Jerusalem was taken. — the Targum, rendering it, “And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the prison until the day Jerusalem was captured; and it came to pass when Jerusalem was captured.”
According to Chinese government data, the number of Chinese students studying in the United States rose from fewer than 1 million in 2000 to more than 6 million in 2017. The number of these students who are returning home to China has grown at close to the same rate. In 2000, hardly any returned, but, by 2017, 4.8 million were returning.
Approximately 360,000 Chinese nationals are currently studying in the US, with many planning to stay in the US, if they can. More Chinese nationals, however, are shunning that route, choosing to return home after studying in the US. The “brain drain” for China is starting to reverse. Most of these students are in STEM fields and are known jokingly as “sea turtles.”
Returning STEM Graduates back to China have helped to bridge the large communication gap between China and the West
Why is this happening? Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, says that the return flow is because of “the ‘magnetic effect’ of China’s rise as a global power.” Signs of this magnetic effect include:
R&D expenditures in China are growing, reflecting financing trends in the US. China has become more prosperous with higher living standards.
China offers incentives to its nationals to return to China — housing allowances and health care benefits.
They want to be “home” and be better able to maintain family ties.
They perceive a “bamboo ceiling” in the US – Chinese graduates are not making it into the C suites. While they represent 27 percent of professions in large tech companies, they are only about 14 percent of executives.
It is becoming harder for Chinese nationals to receive US government funding because of increased scrutiny.
They fear that OPT may be eliminated and that this “would restrict the smooth flow of students from American schools to American companies. . . .”
Chinese students are not the only ones feeling unwelcome in the US these days. International student enrollment is down at US universities. That threatens not only some US universities, particularly those in the Midwest, but also threatens the US economy in general, which relies on immigrants as a driver of innovation. Despite the Administration’s desires, the “best and brightest” may be choosing to stay home, return home, or take their skills to other, currently more welcoming countries.
President Donald Trump has ordered an aircraft carrier strike group to the Caribbean, a major escalation of warships in the region as the US attacks alleged drug-running boats and increases pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Deploying a carrier is a significant move for any White House, and often suggests larger scale military operations.
President Donald Trump has ordered an aircraft carrier strike group to the Caribbean, a major escalation of warships in the region as the US attacks alleged drug-running boats and increases pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Deploying a carrier is a significant move for any White House, and often suggests larger scale military operations.
The arrival of the USS Gerald Ford, the Navy’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier, alongside several destroyers and a submarine, will add to what is already the world’s largest naval deployment.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced the move on X, saying the deployment “will bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere.”
The warships, the USS Ford, which has five destroyers in its strike group, will add to the 10,000 troops and a dozen F-35 fighters which have been sent to the region over the last several weeks.
B-52 and B-1B Lancer bombers have flown close to Venezuela’s coast in recent days, as warplanes and drones sunk seven alleged drug-running boats. The actions, which expanded into the Pacific on Thursday with an eighth strike, have killed dozens of people the Pentagon has labeled as “narco-terrorists.”
The administration has said the killings are lawful but has not provided a legal rationale for the military’s use of force against civilians who are not engaged in war.
Trump said Thursday he is unlikely to go to Congress for authorization to conduct the strikes “I don’t think we’re going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” he said. ”We’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. … They’re going to be, like, dead.”
Maduro, the authoritarian leader who Trump accuses of enabling drug trafficking, said this week that his forces have deployed thousands of Russian-made Igla-S ground-to-air missiles around the country in preparation for any US airstrikes.
The deployment of the carrier strike group is a huge undertaking for the Navy, and is normally a sign that the administration is looking to show a presence in a region. The Ford’s F/A-18 fighter planes will add significant heft to the strikes taking place. And the group’s destroyers provide more long-range missile strike options for targets on land.
The Ford deployed from its home port in Virginia in June and has spent the last several months in the North Sea and Mediterranean training with NATO allies.
A prophecy of ancient Edom is playing a critical role in world affairs today
A prophecy of Esau, Edom: the Targum identifies the Southland, Sepharad, as Spain, Obadiah 1:20. This prophecy is now playing a critical role in world affairs today.
“And Esau harbored hatred in his heart against Jacob, his brother, because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.
“And Esau said in his heart, ‘I will not do as Cain did, who killed Abel during their father’s lifetime and then their father had another son, Seth.
“Rather, I will wait until the days of mourning for my father have passed, and then I will kill Jacob my brother, and I will be the sole heir.’” Genesis 27:41 Jonathan
“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 understand it perfectly” 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 understand it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20; that is, in the latter days, in our time, shall ye understand it clearly. Only in the endtime would we be able to understand this book of Jeremiah perfectly.
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.
Jeremiah 35
1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, — the time indicated would be around 609-598 BC during Jehoiakim’s reign.
2 “Go unto the house of the Rechabites and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.” — go unto the house of the Rechabites; or “family” these are the same with the Kenites, who descended from Hobab or Jethro, Moses’s father in law, Judges 1:16;
— these, as their ancestors were proselytes to Israel, and living among them, though a distinct people from them; these had their name from Rechab, a famous man in his time among those people.
The Rechabites: an Example of Vows and Faithfulness
3 Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brethren and all his sons and the whole house of the Rechabites, — this Jaazaniah must be the son of another Jeremiah, a Rechabite; because our Jeremiah the prophet wasn’t even allowed to get married (Jeremiah 16:2);
4 and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door.
5 And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups; and I said unto them, “Drink ye wine.”
6 But they said, “We will drink no wine; for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever. — for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father; not their immediate father, but their progenitor;
— perhaps the same Jonadab is meant who lived in the times of Jehu, and rode with him in his chariot; by which it appears he was a man of note and who lived near three hundred years before this time, II Kings 10:15; and is the father of the present Rechabites;
— commanded us, saying, ye shall drink no wine, nor your sons, for ever. What was the reason of this command; perhaps to prevent quarrels and contentions, luxury and sensuality; or to inure them to hardships in remembrance that they were strangers in the land in which they once lived;
— or to retain them in the original course of life their ancestors had lived in, feeding cattle; but whatever it may be, these sons thought themselves under obligations to observe; perhaps by experience, they found it good so to do.
7 Neither shall ye build a house, nor sow seed, nor plant a vineyard, nor have any; but all your days ye shall dwell in tents, that ye may live many days in the land where ye are strangers.’
— neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard; for themselves, for their own profit and advantage; nor possess either of these through purchase or gift: partly because they were strangers in the land of Israel;
— and partly because the pastoral life was what their ancestors had lived; and therefore it should be continued in his posterity; as well as because by this means they would live not envied by the Israelites; since they did not covet to get any part of their possessions.
8 Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he hath charged us: to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters,
9 nor to build houses for us to dwell in; neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed.
10 But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.
11 But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, ‘Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians.’ So we dwell at Jerusalem.”
— so we dwell at Jerusalem, making use of the city as a temporary refuge, until they might return to their home-land. The Rechabites thus offered a fine example of willing obedience to the command of their tribal head.
12 Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying,
13 “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ‘Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to My words?’ saith the Lord.
14 ‘The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father’s commandment. Notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, but ye hearkened not unto Me.
— the words of Jonadab, that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, has been carefully observed; which, though so agreeable to the nature of man, what cheers the heart of God and man, and was not prohibited by any law of God; yet, being forbidden by their father, they abstained from it:
— for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father’s commandment; though prescribed them three hundred years ago; during all which time they had punctually observed it, even to that very day; which might with great truth and strictness be said; since they had that very day refused to drink any:
— notwithstanding God have spoken unto you, rising early, and speaking; who am the eternal God; able to save and to destroy; given them laws as soon as they were a people, very early, in the times of Moses, on Mount Sinai and Horeb; and of which they had been reminded time after time;
— whereas the command of Jonadab was that of a mere man, not over three hundred years ago, and of which his posterity had never been put in mind, but as it was handed down from father to son; and this they observed: but ye hearkened not unto me; so that the house of Judah’s disobedience was greatly aggravated.
15 I have sent also unto you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, “Return ye now every man from his evil way and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers.” But ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto Me.
16 Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them, but this people hath not hearkened unto Me,
17 therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken unto them but they have not heard, and I have called unto them but they have not answered.’”
— behold, God himself will bring upon all the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem all the evil that he had pronounced against them: all the curses that God had pronounced upon them; namely, that the Chaldean army should come into their land, besiege Jerusalem and take it and to carry them away as captives:
— because God have spoken unto them, but they won’t listen; he spoke to them by his prophets, he called to them in his providences and took every method to warn them of their sin and danger and bring them to repentance; but all to no result;
— the Targum says, “because I sent to them all my servants the prophets, but they did not accept [them], and they prophesied to them, but they did not repent.”
18 And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts and done according unto all that he hath commanded you,
19 therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack for a man to stand before Me for ever.’” — Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever;
— which may be understood of a long time, of ages to come; the posterity of this man should continue: or “a man shall not be cut off from Jonadab” his offspring shall never fail. It is certain that some of this family returned from the Babylon captivity, 1 Chronicles 2:55;
— the Targum says, “a man from Jonadab son of Rechab will never cease to stand before Me all the days;” for they were religious people; that is, in their own families, serving and worshipping God, carrying on religious worship among themselves, though not in the Temple, where they had no office, and did no service; though some think they had, some being called scribes.
Jeremiah 36
1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: — the fourth year of Jehoiakim would be around 606 BC; eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem.
2 “Take thee a scroll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel and against Judah and against all the nations from the day I spoke unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.
— and write therein all the words that Jeremiah have spoken against Israel and Judah; for though Israel was carried captive before the times of Jeremiah, and his prophecies were chiefly directed against Judah;
— and against all other nations; such as Egypt, Edom, Ammon and Moab, Jeremiah 9:26; now and all his discourses and prophecies he had delivered out one against the another;
— during this time must all be written in one roll or book, that that they might be read. This roll could probably be the book of Lamentations, and if so, the book of Lamentations should serve as a appendix to the book of Jeremiah.
3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them, that they may return every man from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which He had spoken unto him upon a scroll of a book.
— then Jeremiah called upon Baruch to write from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord, upon a roll of a book; it seems that Jeremiah had not committed any of his prophecies to writing; but now he would readily repeat them to Baruch, who took them down in writing on a roll of parchment.
“Take thee a scroll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel and against Judah”
5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the Lord.
6 Therefore go thou, and read in the scroll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the Lord in the ears of the people in the Lord’S house upon the fasting day; and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities.
— upon the fasting day; the day of atonement; on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim; where it was a very proper time to read it in, when the people were fasting and humbling themselves before the Lord;
— but a different time comes from reading of another fast in Jeremiah 36:9; where some think this was a fast proclaimed by Jehoiakim, a shallow repentence to avert the vengeance threatened by the Chaldean army.
7 It may be they will present their supplication before the Lord, and will return every one from his evil way; for great is the anger and the fury that the Lord hath pronounced against this people.”
8 And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the Lord in the Lord’S house. — that is, in the Temple;
9 And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.
— and all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem: these proclaimed the fast; they applied to the government order for one, or however obeyed the king’s orders, and proclaimed a fast; not only the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but those who came from other cities on the king’s order.
10 Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the higher court at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’S house in the ears of all the people.
11 When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord,
12 then he went down into the king’s house into the scribe’s chamber; and lo, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.
— and all the princes, who were either members of the great Sanhedrin, or other royals; it appears from hence that this court had became irreligious; for though they had proclaimed a fast; yet they did not attend Temple worship, but were all together in someone’s office, very probably about politics.
13 Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.
14 Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi unto Baruch, saying, “Take in thine hand the scroll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand, and came unto them.
15 And they said unto him, “Sit down now, and read it in our ears.” So Baruch read it in their ears. — so Baruch read it in their ears; without any fear or dread, though in the king’s palace, and before an assembly of princes;
— nor did he excuse himself on account of weariness, having just read it to the people; or upbraid the princes with not being in the Temple, where they should have heard it.
16 Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and the other, and said unto Baruch, “We will surely tell the king of all these words.”
17 And they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how didst thou write all these words from his mouth?” — that is, from Jeremiah’s mouth;
18 Then Baruch answered them, “He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.”
19 Then said the princes unto Baruch, “Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be.” — go hide thee, thou and Jeremiah, and let no man know where ye be. Some of these princes at least seem to be good and had regards for the prophet and his scribe, and were concerned for their welfare;
— and knowing the furious temper of the king, provided against the worst; and in point of prudence advised Baruch and Jeremiah to abscond and not let anyone know where they were, lest they should be betrayed; nor did they, the princes, desire to know themselves.
20 And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king.
Jehoiakim king of Judah; around 606 BC; the fourth year of his reign, eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah
21 So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the scroll; and he took it out of Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king and in the ears of all the princes who stood beside the king. — literally, “over the king” for since they were standing in his presence, their heads were higher than his;
— and Jehudi read it in the ears of the king and in the ears of all the princes that stood by the king: as he doubtless was ordered; and which he did so loudly, clearly and distinctly, that the king and all the princes could hear.
22 Now the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month, and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.
23 And it came to pass that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.
— hence the fast proclaimed earlier by Jehoiakim was a shallow repentence to avert the vengeance threatened by the Chaldean army; not a real turn-around.
24 Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words. — yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments; they were not struck with horror at such an impious action as the burning of the roll;
— nor afraid of the judgements and wrath of God; nor did they rend their garments in token of sorrow and mourning on account of either as used to be when anything blasphemous was said or done, or any bad news were brought.
25 Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he should not burn the scroll; but he would not hear them.
26 But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but the Lord hid them.
— but the Lord hid them; the princes advised them to hide themselves and they did, very probably in a house of some of their friends; but this would not have been sufficient, had not the Lord took them under his protection.
27 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the scroll and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,
28 “Take thee again another scroll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned. — dishonoring God’s word, Jehoiakim did a wicked thing to burn the scroll; thus awaiting for judgement;
The king of Judah, Jehoiakim, burned the Scrolls that Baruch had written
29 And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast burned this scroll, saying, “Why hast thou written therein, saying: the king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?”
30 Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat and in the night to the frost.
— he, Jehoiakim, shall have none to sit upon the throne of David; that is, none of his seed that should reign on the throne of David and kingdom of Judah; for his son Jeconiah reigned but three months, which is reckoned as nothing, and could not be called sitting upon the throne;
— but Zedekiah, who followed, was not his lawful successor, not his seed but a brother to Jehoiakim, and was set up by the king of Babylon in contempt of the latter.
31 And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the men of Judah all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not.’”
— and God will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah, all the evil that he had pronounced against them; the Sword, Famine and Pestilence; the destruction of their land, city, and Temple; and their captivity in Babylon.
32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And there were added to them many like words.
— many like words of the same nature and argument were added; besides, the discourse delivered in the Temple court was revised and enlarged, dictated to Baruch as before;
— from hence we may infer that God did not always use the very form of words which the writers have set down, but directing them to express his sense with new dimensions, with a heavier denunciation of his wrath and vengeance.
A Supreme Court showdown looms for Trump’s tariffs. Will it limit presidential power?
On 5 November, the US Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments about the legality of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. As important as the tariff issue is, the stakes are much higher than that.
Trump has been claiming vast powers, at the expense of other branches of government, on the grounds of various “ emergencies.” He has used these claims to justify sending troops to US cities and deporting non-citizens without due process under a law dating from 1798.
Trump imposed sweeping global tariffs under the auspices of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. Most legal experts agree, and so far three lower courts have ruled, that this act gives him no such power.
This case now presents an important test of the Supreme Court’s willingness to impose limits on Trump’s emergency powers.
The powers Trump is claiming
The US Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power to set tariffs. Since the 1930s, Congress has passed a series of laws granting presidents the authority to adjust existing tariffs and deploy them to protect industries that are crucial to US national security.
The tariffs Trump has imposed this year go beyond the powers any previous president has had.
Some of Trump’s tariffs on goods in specific sectors, such as steel and aluminium, are authorised under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act because of their importance to military industries.
But to justify blanket tariff rates on entire countries, regardless of the goods involved, Trump has turned to the International Economic Emergency Powers Act.
This allows the president to block economic transactions and freeze assets after declaring an emergency. These actions usually target hostile powers or individuals. An emergency is an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the US, originating “in whole or substantial part outside the US.”
Trump originally claimed tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China were necessary to force those countries to stop the traffic in fentanyl, which causes more than 70,000 overdose deaths in the US every year. Yet less than 1% of the fentanyl that enters the US comes from Canada.
For the “ liberation day” tariffs affecting every other country in the world, Trump declared the annual US trade deficit in goods constituted “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and economy of the United States.”
This trade deficit has been running since 1976, and it widened during Trump’s first administration.
The court case
The Trump administration is being sued by a group of small businesses that have been hurt by the 2025 tariffs, and which claim Trump had no right to impose them. They are supported by a bipartisan group of legal scholars.
YouTube.CNN A small business owner suing Trump over tariffs explains his decision.
Two federal courts and the US Court of International Trade have so far ruled IEEPA does not give the president the power to set tariffs.
The IEEPA was an amendment to the 1917 Trading with the Enemy Act, which the then president Richard Nixon used to impose 10% import tariffs during a trade crisis in 1971. The Trump administration has argued that because those tariffs were upheld by courts, Trump’s are also valid.
But the IEEPA, passed in 1977 following post-Watergate reforms of emergency powers, was intended to limit executive power, not expand it.
In the words of a report from the House Committee on International Relations that underpinned the reforms, “emergencies are by their nature rare and brief, and are not to be equated with normal ongoing problems.”
What will the Supreme Court do?
The weakness of the administration’s legal arguments is reflected in Trump’s public statements about why the Supreme Court must uphold his tariffs. These statements increasingly read like blackmail notes. He has said striking down the tariffs would “literally destroy the United States of America.”
As well as bringing in billions of dollars in revenue, Trump claims five of the eight wars he has supposedly ended were thanks to tariff leverage, and “if they took away tariffs, then they’ve taken away our national security.”
Striking down tariffs could be economically disruptive. It would weaken US leverage in trade negotiations and raise the possibility of large tariff refunds.
These threats may persuade conservative Supreme Court justices who already take an expansive view of executive power, and who have so far enabled Trump’s accumulation of it.
However, the one area where Supreme Court conservatives might be willing to limit Trump’s powers is where they interfere with economic orthodoxy.
In a ruling allowing Trump to fire commissioners of some small, independent agencies, the court also appeared to protect members of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, because of its “distinct historical tradition.”
The Supreme Court has since temporarily blocked Trump’s attempt to fire one of the Federal Reserve governors, Lisa Cook. The judges may also decide that allowing a president to impose unlimited new taxes is a step too far.
Even if the Supreme Court does strike down the IEEPA tariffs, Trump is unlikely to abandon tariffs as a policy tool. They are a core part of his identity.
The administration has already vowed that if it loses in the Supreme Court, it will find other ways to impose tariffs under different laws that “have the same effect.”
The significance of the Supreme Court’s decision may not be about the tariffs themselves, but about whether it recognises any limit to presidential power.
Trump Wants Rare Earths. He has signed an agreement with Australian’s Albanese to provide rare earths ‘solution’ to the US.
“In a year from now we’ll have so much (critical minerals) … you won’t know what to do with them,” Trump boasted.
But challenging China’s Dominance will take more than signing an agreement of an $8.5 billion rare earths and critical minerals deal to overcome. Could the US or Australia have the experience or technology to seperate and refine the earth earth?
Rare earths are tightly bound together with other elements in nature, so separating them is a complex process often involving at least 50 stages; some say over a hundred processes. It’s as difficult as separating grape juice from coconut juice after mixing them together.
The recent intensification of US-China trade frictions, marked by China’s expanded export controls on rare earth elements (REEs) announced on October 9, 2025, and President Donald Trump’s subsequent 100% tariff threat on October 10, underscores the deepening mistrust between the world’s two largest economies.
China, which controls 85-90% of global rare earth processing capacity, introduced the measures through a series of Ministry of Commerce notices affecting rare earths, processing technologies, batteries, and superhard materials, with most taking effect on November 8.
In response, Trump threatened an additional 100% tariff on top of a previous 30% levy imposed on all Chinese imports starting November 1, while casting doubt on the planned Trump-Xi meeting at the APEC summit on October 31.
Markets reacted sharply, erasing over US$1.5 trillion in value in just two days. The exchange, coming amid prior US measures, signals a shift toward deeper bifurcation of supply chains, with broader implications for global trade.
A key distinction from earlier actions lies in the scope of China’s October controls compared to those in April 2025. The April measures targeted seven REEs, primarily raw exports, and led to temporary shortages that were mitigated through several in-person bilateral talks from May to mid-September, resulting in a relatively limited impact on global companies dependent on REEs for EVs, semiconductors and precision military equipment.
In contrast, the recent tightening of export controls add five heavy REEs essential for EV magnets and precision-guided munitions, while extending restrictions to refining technologies, equipment and products containing as little as 0.1% Chinese-processed REEs. Export licenses are now required, with automatic denials for military or dual-use applications.
In addition, the controls also include extraterritorial elements, such as “Chinese persons” rules that prohibit Chinese nationals from engaging in overseas REE activities without government approval, similar to America’s “US persons” restrictions on sensitive technologies.
This mirrors the US “foreign direct product” rule and could lead to a Chinese “Entity List” to monitor global end-users, extending enforcement beyond China’s borders. These provisions target broader supply chains, affecting industries that rely on REEs for magnets, lasers and etching processes.
The impacts will ripple across industries, particularly in the US. Up to 30% of US Pentagon initiatives, including F-35 avionics, could face delays due to REE shortages. Aviation giant and defense contractor Boeing may also encounter production setbacks from limited access to specialized magnets.
In semiconductors, firms like Nvidia, Intel and Apple may see costs rise by around 25%. The EV sector, including Tesla, Ford, and GM, faces potential production cuts of 15-30% due to shortages.
Beyond the US, European companies like Airbus and automakers such as Volkswagen, Hyundai and Toyota, along with Taiwan’s TSMC chip maker, also stand to be significantly affected.
China’s provocative timing, just before the APEC summit, appears linked to recent US actions and potentially Taiwan-related developments.
1. On September 29, the US Commerce Department implemented the “Affiliates Rule,” extending Entity List restrictions to entities owned 50% or more by listed parties, limiting Chinese evasion tactics.
2. That same day, the Senate passed the BIOSECURE Act as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, prohibiting US biotech sourcing from designated Chinese firms.
3. It also advanced the FIGHT China Act, which would block outbound investments in Chinese semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum sectors. These steps reflect a bipartisan push for economic security.
Taiwan may represent another layer of concern for China, helping explain the sharp escalation. On September 30, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick proposed a “50-50” split in chip production to boost US domestic output and enhance Taiwan’s security.
But on October 1, Taiwan’s president rejected the plan, citing risks to the island’s “silicon shield” and noting that TSMC intends to locate only 20% of its advanced production in Arizona by 2030.
Still, China is likely concerned about the possibility that Taiwan could transfer its advanced chip technology and capabilities to the US. Furthermore, the extraterritorial provisions in China’s new export controls could hit TSMC’s chip sales to US firms by requiring Beijing’s licensing for essential materials. A potential inclusion of TSMC on a Chinese Entity List would further complicate the US AI supply chain.
While Chinese officials have begun signaling a desire to resume negotiations and de-escalate tensions, China’s initial response to Trump’s 100% additional tariff threat included an antitrust probe into Nvidia’s AI chip practices, intensified port inspections on Nvidia and Qualcomm semiconductors in Shanghai and Shenzhen, and new fees on US-linked vessels.
Looking ahead – even if a truce is reached again to save the Trump-Xi in-person meeting this month in Seoul – deepening mistrust and the potentially significant consequences of the ongoing export control war are likely to accelerate the bifurcation of supply chains.
As the US suffers from REE shortages – or the threat of them – it will likely ramp up investment in alternative REE sources and refining capabilities.
China, for its part, will continue reducing its dependence on US technology as well as the US market, accelerating its push for more self-reliance. Global companies, particularly in semiconductors, EVs, and defense, will face higher costs as they adjust to parallel systems.
~~~~~
China controls practically 100% of global supply of dysprosium and terbium and added both to export controls on April 4. Tellingly, Beijing didn’t bother restricting sales of neodymium, cognizant of alternative sources—and the fact they are largely useless without their heat-resistant siblings.
So where can American firms source dysprosium and terbium—and fast?
At the Lynas rare earth mine in Mount Weld, Western Australia, yellow diggers scoop the tawny earth and dump it into soot-stained trucks. Following on-site concentration, the semi-refined ore is then taken on a four-hour drive to processing facilities in nearby Kalgoorlie, or loaded on ships to Malaysia, where in the seaside town of Kuantan Lynas operates the world’s largest rare earth processing plant. Crucially, in May the Kuantan plant produced its first batch of dysprosium and is expecting its first terbium this month.
“This is an exciting achievement for Lynas and for manufacturers keen to secure a resilient supply of separated rare earths products,” Amanda Lacaze, CEO and managing director of Lynas Rare Earths, tells TIME. “We have stated our intention to meet the needs of the US Defense Industrial Base on a priority basis.”
It’s a great start, but given the insatiable global appetite for rare earths, many more sources will ultimately be needed. And other options are years from fruition.
It was with great fanfare that Trump signed a deal with Ukraine in March that ostensibly handed half the war-torn nation’s future oil, gas, and mineral wealth—including rare earths—to the US. The only problem is that Ukraine may have abundant reserves of lithium and titanium, but it doesn’t actually have rare earths in any sizable deposits worthy of exploitation.
What about Greenland? Trump has repeatedly touted buying or even invading the semi-autonomous Danish province, citing its mineral wealth. In March, Vice President JD Vance led a U.S. delegation including National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright to Greenland. But while Greenland does boast 18% of the world’s total rare earth reserves, accessing them is extremely problematic, owing to freezing temperatures and a thick layer of silica. Chinese, American, and European prospectors have spent decades trying to figure out how to extract these resources without any success. Today, Greenland has no functioning rare earth mines.
Other options are more feasible. Brazil has the world’s third largest reserves of rare earths and is aggressively exploring this space, while Saudi Arabia also boasts significant deposits and signed a cooperation agreement with the US on critical minerals during Trump’s visit in May. MP Materials and Saudi Arabia’s national mining company, Maaden, also signed a MoU to collaborate on establishing a rare earth supply chain in the Gulf state.
Meanwhile, Japan’s state-owned energy firm JOGMEC and gas firm Iwatani have unveiled plans to invest up to $120 million in a French rare earths refining project.
And with Africa boasting four of the top 10 nations for rare earth exploration last year—namely South Africa, Namibia, Uganda, and Malawi—the continent stands to play a huge role in future supply chains.
But there are also options closer to home. Other than Mountain Pass, Lynas has secured $258 million from the US Department of Defense to build a heavy rare earth refinement facility in Seadrift, Texas. “The US facility has been designed with the capability to process feedstock from other sources as and when they become available and are qualified,” says Lacaze.
Meanwhile, NioCorp has the permits to build a rare earth processing facility at its Elk Creek Mine in Nebraska and is currently waiting on a $780 million financing agreement with the US Export–Import Bank for the $1.2 billion project, which will take around three years to get online. Smith, the NioCorp CEO, says he is currently 2.5 steps through a four-step approval process, which if greenlighted will provide up to 1,500 jobs during construction followed by a 450-strong full-time crew. Although Smith predicts Elk Creek could service all Department of Defense dysprosium and terbium needs, he’s under no illusions about the scale of the challenge.
“One thing absolutely for sure is that NioCorp, by itself, is not the whole answer to the problem,” he says. “So we’re rooting for anybody to be an additional part of the solution. We need to put all the parts together to really be formidable against China.”
Unfortunately, simply seeding projects in friendly countries doesn’t solve the problem. For one, China controls the separation and refining equipment market and placed export controls on those technologies in December 2023. Today, the rare earth refining industry is scrambling to reverse engineer Chinese technologies or innovate entirely new ones.
There is also the matter of expertise. Refining rare earths is “a whole new art unto itself,” says Smith. Heavy rare earth elements are extremely close to each other in terms of their atomic weights, making the process to separate each from the other at sufficient purity levels for commercial or military applications extremely taxing.
“There’s chemical engineering involved, there’s physics, there’s kinetics,” says Smith. “It takes a whole bunch of knowhow, practice, and art to get heavy rare earths into their final purified oxide form. As well as a big investment.”
The cash injections needed keep on growing. Lynas’s Texas project, for one, is currently stalled as the firm seeks more government funding on top of the nine figures already pledged. “Following design changes to accommodate local permitting, additional CAPEX will be required, and Lynas is in discussion with the US government with respect to this funding,” says Lacaze.
But even if all these new rare earth projects are realized across the globe, challenging Chinese dominance must still overcome its toughest obstacle: price.
China has spent decades building out massive capacity for rare earth minerals, so all other competitors operate at a huge disadvantage. “The inside China price is used by outside China customers as a benchmark,” says Lacaze. “We have not observed any intent from the majority of non-Chinese consumers to pay a significant premium to the inside China price.”
Moreover, China’s massive processing capacity means it just opens the spigot whenever a potential competitor emerges to price them out of the market. The Chinese state has no problem eating any short-term losses to maintain key strategic levers over the global economy. It’s a similar dynamic for many different minerals, including cobalt, nickel, and titanium. Today, neodymium oxide costs less than $60 per kilogram—around half its 2023 cost—and is forecast to get even cheaper.
“One of the biggest challenges we face is that rare earth prices are very low,” says Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “And a lot of that has been achieved through market manipulation by China increasing and increasing production.”
The cost issue looks frankly impossible to solve. Other than technical challenges, refining rare earth minerals uses a huge amount of water. Back when China was first ramping up its rare earth industry, wastewater was just discharged into the nearest river, although environmental standards have tightened considerably in recent years. In the US or other developed economies, wastewater must be evaporated in huge kilns to isolate and dispose of pollutants—though this is a very energy intensive and thus costly process. “And it’s not something that China has to do,” shrugs Smith.
So, the big question is how American—or Saudi or African—rare earths can survive in such a cost-competitive marketplace. Various mechanisms have been considered: One is a Contract for Difference model, which is common in agriculture and says that if prices fall below a certain point the government will pay the difference. Another option is having the government serve as an Offtaker of Last Resort, agreeing to buy minerals at a certain price if nobody wants them on the open market.
However, “in the US, at least in an era of DOGE, putting in an indefinite OPEX subsidy is quite politically unpalatable,” says Baskaran. “But it is what China will do, so how do we compete against a country that’s willing to inject fiscal support at any part of the supply chain to retain their dominance?”
Another potential solution is one very close to Trump’s heart: tariffs. By hiking levies on Chinese rare earths, the US could strongarm firms to source from preferred friendly nations. But this essentially shifts the cost burden from government to businesses, undermining their global competitiveness with unknown ramifications down the line.
For Smith, tariffs are merely a stop-gap solution. “The answer cannot be for President Trump to issue a tariff,” he says. “We need to be competitive with or without tariffs by increasing our technology, improving our processes, using more robotics. But we must have a legitimate business at the end of the day.”
The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609 BC), Jehoahaz (reign 609 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC)
1 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, — Jeremiah was still shut up in prison, which was within the court of the king’s palace;
2 “Thus saith the Lord the maker thereof, the Lord who formed it to establish it, the Lord is His name: — the Lord isn’t his name, the Lord is a title; God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה YHVH; Yehovah is his name (more at the end)
3 ‘Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.’ — some copies read it, “things reserved” or “hidden things that you have not known,” as the Targum says; and so Rashi interprets it of future events, of things reserved in the heart of God;
— which thou knowest not; until revealed; canst be known without further revelation; that by these great and hidden things are not meant the destruction of Jerusalem, nor the seventy years’ captivity,
— nor return from that, nor things which Jeremiah had been made acquainted with time after time, and had prophesied of them; but something not revealed as yet; such great and hidden things might be “sweet as honey in the mouth but would make thy belly bitter,” Revelation 10:9-10
4 For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the siege mounds and by the sword: — the Targum says, “which they pulled down, and threw up mounts to strengthen the wall, against those that kill with the sword.”
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.
5 ‘They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men whom I have slain in Mine anger and in My fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid My face from this city.
— and for all whose wickedness God have hid his face from the city; had no pity for it, showed no mercy to it, gave it no help and assistance, or protection, having withdrawn his presence from it. So the Targum says, “I have caused my Shekinah to depart from this city, because of their wickedness.”
6 Behold, I will bring it health and cure; and I will cure them and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
7 And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to cease, and will build them as at the first. — and I will cause the captivity of Judah and of Israel to return;
— emphasis being made of the return of the captivity of Israel, or the ten tribes, as well as that of Judah, shows that this prophecy does not relate to the return of the Jews from their seventy years’ captivity in Babylon; but is to be understood to be yet in the future;
8 And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against Me; and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against Me.
— only after paying the iniquity would both the house of Israel (190 years) and the house of Judah (40 years) be cleansed. For more into another Captivity: see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline.
9 And it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them; and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I provide unto it.’
— and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that God procure unto it; that is, they shall fear the Lord, and tremble at his word; not only with a slavish, but also filial fear, which is consistent with joy, gladness and a reconcilation with God.
10 “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Again there shall be heard in this place (which ye say shall be desolate, without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast),
11 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, “Praise the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good; for His mercy endureth for ever”
— and of those who shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause to return the captives of the land, as at the first, saith the Lord.
— 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?”
12 “Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘Again in this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof shall be a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.
13 In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the South, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that counteth them,’ saith the Lord.
14 “‘Behold, the days come,’ saith the Lord, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. — behold, the days are coming; there shall come a time when he will verify every good word which he hath spoken to, or concerning his people.
15 In those days and at that time will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and He shall execute judgement and righteousness in the land. — this will be during the Millennium, where the Messiah, a Branch of David, will reign; but this could be king David himself, being raised from the dead.
16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name wherewith she shall be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.’
17 “For thus saith the Lord: ‘David shall never be in want for a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; — David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;
— or “there shall not be cut off unto David a man” and this is to be understood of the temporal kingdom of David, which has mysterious been preserved from even a long time ago. For more on how this riddle ist expounded, see “Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright” by J.H. Allen (1847-1930).
18 neither shall the priests, the Levites, be in want for a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.’”
— neither shall the priests the Levites for want a man before me; although the work of the Levitical priesthood has been abandoned long ago, their line, clan or tribe had mysterious been preserved.
19 And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying,
20 “Thus saith the Lord: ‘If ye can break My covenant of the day and My covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season, — thus saith the Lord, if you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night; the same with the ordinances of the sun, moon, and stars, Jeremiah 31:35;
— the original constitution and law of nature, settled from the beginning of the world and observed ever since, in the constant revolution of day and night; and which was formed into a covenant and promise to Noah, after the deluge, that day and night should not cease, as long as the earth remained,
21 then may also My covenant be broken with David My servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne, and with the Levites the priests, My ministers.
22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of David My servant and the Levites who minister unto Me.’”
23 Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,
24 “Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the Lord hath chosen, He hath even cast them off’? Thus they have despised My people, that they should be no more a nation before them.
— with respect to the two families, these two families being the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah; their neighbors have “despised my people,” claiming that they had rejected God and then Jesus and hence their well-accepted paganized “Christians” are the chosen of God; hence the birth and prominence of the replacement theology today;
— replacement theology is the view that our modern Ishtar- and Mithras-worshipping church is the new Israel that has permanently replaced or superseded Israel as the people of God.
25 Thus saith the Lord: ‘If My covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, — ”Not so” the Lord says;
26 then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I will cause their captivity to cease, and have mercy on them.’”
— from the Message Bible:
“Well, here’s God’s response: ‘If my covenant with day and night wasn’t in working order, if sky and earth weren’t functioning the way I set them going, then, but only then, you might think I had disowned the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David, and that I wouldn’t set up any of David’s descendants over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But as it is, I will give them back everything they’ve lost. The last word is, I will have mercy on them.’” Jeremiah 33:25-26 MSG
~~ 12,24,33 ~~
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.
But the Orthodox Jews have gone overboard, so holy is his name, they believe, they refrain from even calling his name, referring to him as Hashem, that is, “The Name,” which isn’t his name; just pointing, saying somewhat ‘you know what name I mean.’ His name is Yehovah, and is also not Yahweh, which is the Samaritan counterfeit version.
It is the same as the name Jesus we used today; if his name was used in his time two thousand years ago, he would have been known as Yeshua instead of Jesus. But never mind, as had often been the case, the essence is more important than the form.
His name Yehovah, is specifically stated, and should be used. Titles are okay, but sometimes He asked us pointedly to call on His name. The following verses translated as the LORD erred in presenting His name:
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.
Jeremiah 34
Because of their breach of covenant to let servants go free, after six years of bondage, it is another cause of the taking and burning of Jerusalem; of the captivity of Zedekiah king of Judah; and of the destruction of the whole land.
1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem and against all the cities thereof, saying,
2 “Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
— behold, God will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire; Jeremiah 32:3; which was exactly accomplished, Jeremiah 52:13.
3 And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.
— and thou, Zedekiah king of Judah, shalt not escape from his hand, but shalt certainly be delivered into his hand; and his mouth shall speak with thy mouth; such atmosphere will help Zedekiah to fear God and trembled at his word, even belatedly;
4 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah. Thus saith the Lord of thee: Thou shalt not die by the sword, — yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah; which, though a king destined to be a captive, he ought to hearken to the Lord;
— thus saith the Lord, thou shalt not die by the sword: or of a violent death; and therefore fear not to deliver thyself and city into the hands of the king of Babylon; for Zedekiah fears he would put him to death immediately.
5 but thou shalt die in peace; and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings who were before thee, so shall they burn incense for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, “Ah, lord!” For I have pronounced the word, saith the Lord.’”
— fear brought Zedekiah apparently to repentance (Jeremiah 38:14-17); thus received some mercy; and thus shall not die a violent death through the sword, but in peace and be buried with honour; unlike Jehoiakim.
6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,
King Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign
7 when the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah.
— and against all the cities of Judah that were left; unconquered; when Nebuchadnezzar invaded the land and ravished all the cities that lay in his way; and it seems there were none that stood out against him but Jerusalem, now besieged by him, and two others, mentioned below;
— against Lachish, and against Azekah; for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah; two cities that had been fortified by Rehoboam, II Chronicles 11:9; and were still standing besides Jerusalem, which as yet had not fallen into the army of Babylon.
8 This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty unto them:
— the word from the Lord came to Jeremiah, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people to proclaim liberty unto them, according to the Lord’s ordinance for Hebrews to keep the members of their own nation as bond-servants for only six years, and on the seventh year be given their liberty, Exodus 21:22;
9 that every man should let his manservant and every man his maidservant, being a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free, that none should be served by them, to wit: by a Jew, his brother. — cause or compel them to be bond-servants, to wit, of a Jew, an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, for the Law concerned these only, not the slaves of another nationality.
10 Now when all the princes and all the people, who had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant and every one his maidservant go free, that none should be served by them any more, then they obeyed and let them go.
— they listened and let them go free. That is, they conformed to the obligations of the covenant, which they had entered into at the instigation of their princes.
11 But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids whom they had let go free to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.
— but afterwards they relented, having cold feet from the law of God, and their own agreement, and returned to their former usage of their servants; they changed their minds and measures.
12 Therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
13 “Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying,
14 ‘At the end of seven years let go every man his brother, a Hebrew who hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee.’ But your fathers hearkened not unto Me, neither inclined their ear.
— this is another sin of Israel, the year of non release of (1) a slave and (2) release of debt; (3) the release of the land, a year of rest; but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear; to obey the laws of God;
— this is not to be understood of the fathers with whom the covenant was first made; but their posterity in later times, who yet lived long before the present generation, and so it appears that this law had been long neglected.
15 And ye had now turned, and had done right in My sight in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and ye had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name.
— if they couldn’t grant bonded servants their liberty, neither would God grant them freedom, hence off into Babylon they go;
16 But ye turned and polluted My name, and caused every man his servant and every man his handmaid, whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.
17 “Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ye have not hearkened unto Me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every man to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim a ‘liberty’ for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
— thus saith the Lord: ye have not hearkened unto me in proclaiming liberty, hence off you go to the sword, to pestilence, to famine and into captivity; for seventy years.
18 And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before Me when they cut the calf in twain and passed between the parts thereof—
19 the princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf—
20 I will even give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of them that seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven and to the beasts of the earth.
— off to the Sword, to the Pestilence, and to the Famine; and to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven and to the beasts of the earth.
21 And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army which has gone up from you. — once God has decreed somthing, he is determined to carry it through.
22 Behold, I will command, saith the Lord, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.”
— and your enemies shall fight against you and take your cities and burn them down; they fought against it by shooting arrows from their bows, casting stones from their engines and by beating down the walls with their battering rams; and after making breaches, they entered in and took the city; burnt the Temple and palaces with fire; Jeremiah 52:4;
— and God will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant: many of them were already; the king of Babylon having taken, ravaged and plundered them before he came to Jerusalem; and those that escaped the sword, fled;
— as Lachish and Azekah, Jeremiah 34:7; which should fall into the hands of the enemy, and the inhabitants thereof be forced to flee into other countries, or would be carried away as captives; so that they would be but few, if any, to dwell in these two cities.
Vatican Allows Designated Muslim Prayer Room in Apostolic Library, which houses over 80,000 ancient manuscripts, 2 million books, graphic collections, 150,000 documents, and more.
The Sistine Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Library in Vatican City
The Vatican will open a prayer room in the Vatican Apostolic Library for Muslim scholars.
One of world’s oldest libraries, the Holy See’s library includes millions of theologically significant texts from the Catholic Church and other religions. The Vatican Library is selectively open to scholars of all disciplines for research purposes.
Muslim scholars “have asked us for a room with a carpet for praying and we have given it to them,” Vice Prefect of the library Giacomo Cardinali said, explaining that the library is home to “incredibly old Qurans” and Hebrew, Ethiopian, Arabic, and Chinese texts.
“We are a universal library,” Cardinali said, and the decision to grant Muslims a space for prayer is part of the Vatican’s effort to bolster an international academic community.
The Church’s library is a celebration of shared human knowledge, Cardinali added, not knowledge belonging to one particular religious sect.
The Vatican’s accommodations stand in stark contrast to other faiths, which forbid or severely restrict Christians from visiting certain holy sites. Non-Muslims are not allowed to visit Islam’s holy city of Mecca, for example.
Some Christians criticized the Church’s decision as “effectively allowing a rival faith to set up shop on its property.” Others described the move as a way for the Church to display that “truth has nothing to fear from study.”
The Vatican has allowed ‘rival faith to set up shop’ in the Apostolic Library
Pope Leo XIV has in his ministry so far placed an emphasis on interfaith dialogue. In May, Pope Leo hosted inter-religious delegations at the Holy See to boost ecumenism, saying that Christians should unite “in a spirit of human fraternity.” Pope Leo’s language mirrors that of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who “promoted both the ecumenical path and inter-religious dialogue,” the current Pope said.
“Through his words and actions, [Pope Francis] opened new avenues of encounter, to promote ‘the culture of dialogue as the path; mutual collaboration as the code of conduct; reciprocal understanding as the method and standard,” Leo said, adding that “[Francis did this] above all by cultivating interpersonal relations, in such a way that, without taking anything away from ecclesial bonds, the human trait of the encounter was always valued.”
A Christian witness of fraternity will “contribute to building a more peaceful world, something that all men and women of good will desire in their hearts,” Leo added.
The Vatican’s Apostolic Library admits a maximum of 60 researchers into its study rooms per day. Researches must submit an application, including a letter of introduction, proof of academic qualifications, and a copy of a valid ID to receive access to the archives.
Church leaders began the process of digitizing the Vatican’s archives in 2012, a project that works to amplify the Church’s role as a custodian of history and make accessible the Vatican’s 80,000 ancient manuscripts, 2 million books, graphic collections, 150,000 documents, and more.
Chapter 31 is connected with the house of Israel and is full of prophecies and judgement of the house of Joseph. It begins with the principal promise of the covenant, confirmed by past experience, and with a fresh declaration of God’s everlasting commitment to Israel; “Rachel, weeping for her children,” the firstborn being Ephraim; but who are of the house of Joseph today?
The Learning of Fear by the Sword, Famine, Pestilences and by Captivity
Jeremiah 31
1 “At the same time,” saith the Lord, “will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.” — the Lord pronounced, I will be the God of all the families of Israel;
— that is, the house of Jacob; not one or two families, but of every family; which means this will be prophetic, yet in the future as the full house of Israel has never return.
2 Thus saith the Lord: “The people who were left from the sword found grace in the wilderness, even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.”
— thus the Lord saith, the people which were left of the Sword; which were not consumed by the sword of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and who survived through his cruel edicts, and by his Sword, Famine and Pestilence.
3 The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
Rejoicing with a Timbrels or a Tambourine for dance
4 Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel; thou shalt again be adorned with thy timbrels, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry. — the Israelites have the title of “virgin of Israel” bestowed upon them to imply that, in consequence of their repentance after captivity,
— “they should be washed from the stains of their idolatries,” and they did; but other problems developed over the years: hypocrisies, over application of the laws, strigent Sabbath-keepings ordinances while forgetting justice, mercy and faith;
5 Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things. — “the mountains of Samaria” is situated in today’s West Bank, which is populated by Palestinians and under their control;
— the ten tribes, especially Ephraim, haven’t regain their land yet; perhaps B’ney Yosef (Children of Joseph) the North America branch could spearhead their recovery and set up the continent of North America for a global Hebraic awakening?
6 For there shall be a day that the watchmen upon Mount Ephraim shall cry, ‘Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God.’” — is B’ney Yosef, and the many evangelical preachers, which are mainly based in the United States (Ephraim) their watchmen refered here?
— but most evangelical preachers are blind (and deluded by their own replacement theory) to the modern identity of who the identify of who Ephraim is. So let’s wait and see if they’ll wake up;
— and since God has foretold that watchmen will arise, so there will be at least one, whether is it B’ney Yosef or not we couldn’t be sure yet; or would there be other organizations? Perhaps there are a few watchmen, [one, namely wulfstein.org] it’s in the plural, one watchman among many.
7 For thus saith the Lord: “Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations; proclaim ye, praise ye, and say, ‘O Lord, save Thy people, the remnant of Israel.’
— “the chief of the nations” is obviously Ephraim, the United States of America; that’s the topdog! Hence whoever the watchmen is upon Mount Ephraim, he will cry aloud, “Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion”
— again, there is a parallel passage from Ezekiel 6 with some comments below:
2 “Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them
— Son of man, set thy face towards the mountains of Israel; or cities of Israel, the future inhabitants of them; not the ancient ten tribes, for they had been carried captive long before this time, even in the times of Hezekiah; but far more likely, into the far future unless it can be thought that this prophecy is designed to show the reason of their captivity, which isn’t.
3 and say: ‘Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys: Behold I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. — this message to the “mountains of Israel;” these mountains refer to the United States, UK and France…
— “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys;” the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Finland, and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg;
— and to the rivers; where during the nineteenth century, the British Royal Navy were known to “Rule the Waves” and the United States having been plowing up and down the five oceans with her Seven Fleets since the British left the scene.
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travaileth with child together; a great company shall return thither.
9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them; I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn.
— for am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn; and so very dear to him, as in Jeremiah 31:20. So the Targum says “and Ephraim is beloved before me;” all the blessings which God bestows upon men, whether Israelites or not, all flow from being as Abraham’s children;
— Abraham is a father to them in covenant; and bestows his children’s blessings on them. The indication is to Joseph’s having the birthright, and whose younger son, Ephraim, was preferred to Manasseh the elder, 1 Chronicles 5:2. Ephraim becomes the head of Israel, the ten tribes, but excludes Judah, who has the scepter.
10 “Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, ‘He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock.’
11 For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.
12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord—for wheat and for wine and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd; and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow any more at all.
13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
— for a country like the United States now, with thick layers of filths, to be a virgin, it has to undergo much purifications, which in God’s eye has to undergo a prolonged captivity, each layer of onion to be pilled off one by one; for 190 years;
14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness,” saith the Lord.
15 Thus saith the Lord: “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel, weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were no more.” — Ramah was a city of Benjamin, near which Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, was buried;
— Rachel weeping for her children; not really and in person, but by a figurative way for dark days in Ephraim and Manasseh. Rachel being the mother of Joseph and Benjamin; Joseph being the father of Ephraim and Manasseh.
— Judah’s experience under Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was just a preamble; just 70 years; currently a great captivity for Ephraim for 190 years is in the making! Perhaps a super hyperinflation caused by a de-petroldollarization would be a start? (more on this de-petroldollarizationat the end)
16 Thus saith the Lord; “Restrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded,” saith the Lord; “and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. — refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears; though sorrow on such an occasion may be lawfully indulged,
— yet it ought to be moderated; and attention should be given to those things which may serve to relieve it, and especially when they come from the Lord himself; then a stop is to be put to the mournful voice, and wet eyes are to be dried up.
17 And there is hope in thine end,” saith the Lord, “that thy children shall come back to their own border. — this would be during the Millennium.
The Charging Bull or the Wall Street Bull in the City of New York
18 “I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus: ‘Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke; turn Thou me, and I shall be turned, for Thou art the Lord my God. — hey, Ephraim is here associated with the bull or bullock;
— thou hast chastised me and I was chastised; one possibility is that Ephraim has to undergo a cleaning of 190 years, and Judah 40; why the difference? Perhaps Judah had undergo numerous pogroms and cleanings whereas Ephraim has none since the day when went captivity and into apparent oblivion;
— Ephraim chastised . . . as a bullock; see, Ephraim is being symbolized by the bullock or ox again:
More on the Ox and the Unicorn:
His glory is like the firstling of his ox (bullock), and his horns are like the horns of unicorns. With them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh,” Deuteronomy 33:17.
In the above verse, the Ox and Ephraim are named first, the firstborn of his (Joseph’s) “bullock is his glory” the reference being to Ephraim; followed by Unicorn and Manasseh, which is embedded in the British Coat of Arms.
The Unicorn Embedded in the British Coat of Arms
Although Manasseh was the firstborn, Joseph the father crossed his hands and placed Ephraim as firstborn, hence Ephraim, often known as the thirteenth tribe, represents not just the house of Joseph, but more often the house of the Northern 10-tribes Kingdom.
— Ephraim bemoaning himself; but today Ephraim, with 7 fleets and the largest army/navy in the world, is proud and arrogant; boastful, drunk and amusing herself with her harlotries; but that will change!
19 Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’ — surely after that I was turned, I repented; Ephraim’s prayer was answered;
— as he prayed he might be turned, he was; and when he was turned, then he repented, not only of sin in general, but of such sins as he had been particularly guilty of; not only of the grosser actions of life, but of inward sins: lusts, lies and corruptions.
20 Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For since I spoke against him, I do earnestly remember him still; therefore My heart is troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him,” saith the Lord. — I will surely have mercy on him, saith the Lord;
— or show mercy to him; as the Lord does to his children, by receiving them graciously upon their return; by manifesting and applying pardoning grace; by bestowing fresh favours on them; and by bringing them safe to eternal glory and happiness.
21 “Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps; set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest; turn back, O virgin of Israel, turn back to these thy cities. — set thee up way marks, make thee high heaps; of stones, raised up as pillars,
— or like pyramids; or upright, as palm trees; to be marks and signs, to know the way again upon a return. The Targum says, “O congregation of Israel, remember the right works of thy fathers; pour out supplications; in bitterness set thy heart.”
— turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities; an invitation and encouragement to Ephraim to turn again to their own land; from a “Babylonish captivity” to come, so from all lands in the latter day; after 190 years of purification, which is yet to be fulfilled, and to which the prophecy more properly belongs.
22 How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? For the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall compass a man.”
23 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring them back from captivity: ‘The Lord bless thee, O habitation of justice and mountain of holiness.’
— as yet they shall use this speech in the land of Israel, and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again back from their captivity; not the Babylonish captivity, but a futuristic one; when, by way of salutation and prayer, the following words “The Lord bless thee” they rejoice in saying;
24 And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks.
25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”
26 Upon this I awaked and beheld, and my sleep was sweet unto me.
27 “Behold, the days come,” saith the Lord, “that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast. — that God will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
— with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast; that is, will multiply both man and beast, so that there shall be a great increase; whereas, through war, famine, pestilence and captivity, their numbers were greatly reduced.
28 And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down, and to throw down and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them to build and to plant,” saith the Lord.
— to build and to plant, saith the Lord; to build their city and temple, and to plant them in their own land; the temple which God will be building, whose foundation he lays, the superstructure of which he rears up, and will complete it in his own time;
— the allusion is to the sowing of a field with seed, which in due time springs up, and produces a large increase. Some understand this of the spiritual blessing of regeneration; but of incorruptible seed by the word of God: though afterwards an account is given of the new covenant.
29 “In those days they shall say no more: “‘The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ — that is, the fathers have sinned, and the children are punished for their sins. So the Targum says, “the fathers have sinned, and the children are smitten.”
30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
31 “Behold, the days come,” saith the Lord, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah — “Behold, the days will come,” again, this is prophetic, especially with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; yet in the future.
32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband unto them,” saith the Lord.
— not according to the covenant that God made with their fathers; meaning not Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; or their ancestors that came out of Egypt, as appears by what follows; which was the covenant made at Sinai.
33 “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days,” saith the Lord, “I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be My people.
— God will put his law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; which will be implanted in the genre by the spirit and power of God; the tables on which this law or laws are written are not tables of stone, but the fleshly tables of the heart; the heart is the proper seat.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord.’ For they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them,” saith the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
35 Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is His name:
36 “If those ordinances depart from before Me,” saith the Lord, “then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever.”
37 Thus saith the Lord: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done,” saith the Lord.
38 “Behold, the days come,” saith the Lord, “that the city shall be built to the Lord from the Tower of Hananeel unto the Gate of the Corner. — behold, the days are coming, saith the Lord; this prophecy refers to future times in the latter redemption, which were never fulfilled during the second Temple period;
— that the city of Jerusalem shall be built to the Lord; which will be rebuilt upon the return of all Israelites from captivity, and under the direction of the Messiah, so for his service and worship; in the Ezekiel Temple, and divine worship restored; and the city, built up a dwelling for God, where he is worshipped, feared and glorified.
39 And the measuring line shall yet go forth opposite it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath.
40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the Brook of Kidron unto the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east shall be holy unto the Lord. It shall not be plucked up nor thrown down any more for ever.”
~~ v15 ~~
The great de-petroldollarization by BRICS, which is an acronym for five leading emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, has continuously being expanding and strengthening with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and United Arab Emirates joining in January 1, 2024; while Saudi Arabia delayed its membership and Argentina had withdrawn its application.
Potential further expansion
On October 24, 2024, an additional 13 countries, namely Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam, were invited to participate as “partner countries.”
On January 6, 2025, Indonesia joined BRICS officially as a full member, making it the first Southeast Asian state to join the bloc, as well as the 11th member of BRICS.
There is no formal application process as such to join BRICS, but any hopeful government must receive unanimous backing from all existing BRICS members—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—to receive an invitation. Other potential members are: Kazakhstan, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Senegal, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.
The New Development Bank, informally referred to as the BRICS Bank, is a multilateral bank operated by the five BRICS countries. Recently Bangladesh, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay were added as new members of the BRICS Bank.
At the 2015 BRICS summit in Russia, ministers from BRICS nations, initiated consultations for a payment system that would be an alternative to the US-controlled SWIFT system.
Jeremiah 32
The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609 BC), Jehoahaz (reign 609 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC)
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. — in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar;
— that would be 597 BC, the same with Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a year before the taking of the city of Jerusalem; for that was in the eleventh of Zedekiah, and the nineteenth of Nebuchadnezzar; Jeremiah 52:1.
2 For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem; and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house. — and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in prison, which was in the court of the the king’s palace;
3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why dost thou prophesy and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
— king Zedekiah showing himself his own stupidity and hardness of heart to imprison a prophet of the Lord when surrounded by an army and that according to the prediction of a true prophet; who warned them of the taking of their city, and carrying them off as captives.
4 and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes;
— and Zedekiah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans; repeated to the king, who, upon the taking of the throne, he would endeavour to scheme his escape as he did; but wasn’t successful, Jeremiah 52:8.
5 and he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until visit I him, saith the Lord; though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper’?”
— and Nebuchadnezzar shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon; as he did in chains from Riblah, where he was brought unto Nebuchadnezzar after he was taken, endeavouring to make his escape, Jeremiah 52:8.
6 And Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came unto me, saying: — this would be a new vision;
7 Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, ‘Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of redemption is thine to buy it.’
— behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee; Hilkiah, the father of Jeremiah, and this Shallum, were his own brothers; so that Jeremiah and Hanameel were first cousins:
— saying, buy thee my field that is in Anathoth; the place from whence Jeremiah came, about two or three miles from Jerusalem, and therefore must be in the possession of the Chaldean army; wherefore it may seem very strange in Hanameel to propose it to sale, and stranger still for Jeremiah, who was in the palace’s prison, to buy it.
8 So Hanameel mine uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said unto me, ‘Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.
— the words “the right of inheritance is thine” indicate that Hanameel had no children; Leviticus 25:25 says such a sale could put the property within the family’s estate according to the Law of inheritance. Numbers 35:5 designates how and where land are to be set aside for Levites and priests;
— if not sold, a foreigner, like the Chaldeans, might misappropriate the property since he hasn’t any heir. But Jeremiah, being in prison for his prophecy, also don’t have any heir, he was not even allowed to get married (Jeremiah 16:2);
— one possibility is that Hanameel was dying and now at his death trip? Another possibility is that he was designated to go to Babylon as a captive, hence he would like to sell it, have some reserve, buy a house and dwell in Babylon in compliance to God’s word in Jeremiah 29:5 “Build ye houses and dwell in them.”
9 “And I bought the field from Hanameel my uncle’s son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed out to him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver. — Jeremiah bought the field, despite being in prison;
— thought at a small price; as compared with the four hundred shekels paid by Abraham for the field of Ephron (Genesis 23:16); or the fifty paid by David for the threshing-floor and oxen of Araunah, II Samuel 24:24.
10 And I subscribed the evidence and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances. — being a just man, Jeremiah did all to comply with God’s ordinances and legal procedures in the property transfer;
11 So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom and that which was open;
— Jeremiah oblidged to Hanameel’s requst as it seemed his cousin needed the money; as he could be designated to go to Babylon, willingingly or unwillingly, as a captive, and in compliance to God’s word in Jeremiah 29:5 to build houses and dwell there; plant gardens and eat the fruit of them.
12 and I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the book of the purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison.
— in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle’s son; of whom the purchase was made: the word “son” is not in the text, which has led some to think that both were present at this bargain, both the uncle and the uncle’s son;
13 And I charged Baruch before them, saying,
14 ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed and this evidence which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days.
— the “earthen vessels” in which they kept their most precious treasures; was obviously a better protection against damp or decay than one of wood, and was the security of the household;
— “may continue many days” implied the captivity would be long; and the captives need to settle down; build houses and dwell there; plant gardens and eat the fruit of them; and so might continue many years, to the end of the captivity, all for seventy years.
15 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.’ — Jeremiah, being in prison for his prophecy, purchased a piece of land;
— this was to signify, that though Jerusalem was besieged, and the whole country likely to be laid waste, yet the time would come, when houses, and fields and vineyards and all the laws and ordinances pertaining to inhertinance of land and property would be restored.
Jeremiah Buys Land in Prison, Symbolizing a Future Redemption
16 “Now when I had delivered the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed unto the Lord, saying:
17 Ah Lord God! Behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power and outstretched arm; and there is nothing too hard for Thee.
— and there is nothing too hard for thee; or “hidden from thee” which his wisdom and knowledge did not reach, or his power could not effect: or which is “too wonderful for thee.”
18 Thou showest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them. The Great, the Mighty God, the Lord of hosts is His name, — kindness, grace and justice are all over the OT era, not something new that just pop up in the NT;
— 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;
19 great in counsel and mighty in work. For Thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give every one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings; — to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:
20 who hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt even unto this day, and in Israel and among other men, and hast made Thee a name, as at this day;
21 and hast brought forth Thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt, with signs and with wonders, and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm, and with great terror;
— with great signs and wonders; which he wrought for them at the time of their deliverance, slaying the firstborn; and at the Red sea, and in the wilderness, after he brought them out of Egypt,
22 and hast given them this land which Thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. — a land flowing with milk and honey; that is, abounding with all necessary things, and all pleasant things.
23 And they came in and possessed it, but they obeyed not Thy voice, neither walked in Thy law: they have done nothing of all that Thou commanded them to do. Therefore Thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them.
24 Behold the siege ramps! They have come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, who fight against it, because of the sword and of the famine and of the pestilence. And what Thou hast spoken has come to pass, and behold, Thou seest it.
— and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; what was foretold by the prophets, and by himself, was now fulfilling:
25 And Thou hast said unto me, O Lord God: ‘Buy thee the field for money, and take witnesses,’ for the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.”
26 Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying,
27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there any thing too hard for Me? — is there anything too hard for me? suggesting, that though the city of Jerusalem should be destroyed, and the inhabitants carried captive, yet he could return them again to their own land;
28 Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it. — which Nebuchadnezzar could not do, notwithstanding his powerful army, had not the Lord delivered it into his hands.
29 And the Chaldeans who fight against this city shall come and set fire on this city, and burn it with the houses upon whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal, and poured out drink offerings unto other gods to provoke Me to anger. — they have polluted this Temple by idolatry, they have offered incense and paid homage to the idol Baal;
30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only evil before Me from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked Me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the Lord. — both the northern house of Israel and the southern house of Judah have done evil before God;
31 For this city hath been to Me as a provocation of Mine anger and of My fury from the day that they built it even unto this day, so that I should remove it from before My face — instead having joy and a blessing, Jerusalem had became a provocation of sourse of God’s anger and fury;
32 because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger — they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
— again, both the northern house of Israel and the southern house of Judah have done evil before God; “they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,” that is, their false prophets,
33 And they have turned unto Me the back and not the face. Though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction; — sometimes God is explicit in expressing why Israel sinned, like idolatories;
— but other times God just hint at what’s wrong with his people; here is another one: “they have turned unto me their back and not the face” for which the more details are found in the writing of another prophet, Ezekiel (more at the end)
34 but they set their abominations in the house which is called by My name to defile it. — the house which is called by my name, that is, in the Temple; on the day that the Temple was founded, Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter, who then led Solomon astray.
35 And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech, which I commanded them not, neither came it into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
— to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech: the phrase, “through the fire” is not in the text; but is well enough supplied from the Targum.
36 “And now therefore thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city whereof ye say, ‘It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence’:
— the learning process by being “delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the Sword and by the Famine and by the Pestilence” is to learn the fear of the Lord.
37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries whither I have driven them in Mine anger and in My fury and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely.
— again, this is to learn the fear of the Lord; simply because the current crop of kings, princes, priests and false shepherds has no fear of the Lord;
— they lied, they cheat, and they looted; and they thought they can get away with it:
38 And they shall be My people, and I will be their God;
39 and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me for ever, for the good of them and of their children after them. — “that they may fear me for ever” a parallel in the reverse of the wicked is expressed in Jeremiah 2:19 “and that the fear of Me is not in thee,” saith the Lord God of hosts.”
— and the only way you will learn to fear God is to be “delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence;” of course, a new Babylon is upon the horizon, for more, see The Flaming Sword and Fire from the South!
40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me.
— surely this is not after the return from the Babylonish captivity; but after the Second Exodus, during the Millennium, when God will install a new covenant, and “I will put my fear in their hearts.”
41 Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with My whole heart and with My whole soul. — upon repentence, God will whole heartedly rejoice over them;
42 “For thus saith the Lord: As I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. — giving them one true heart and one way; putting God’s fear into them; causing them to persevere to the end.
43 And fields shall be bought in this land whereof ye say, ‘It is desolate without man or beast. It is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ — this is after the return from the Babylonish captivity.
44 Men shall buy fields for money, and sign evidences and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley and in the cities of the South; for I will cause their captives to return, saith the Lord.”
15 Then said He unto me, “Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.”
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 worshiped the sun toward the east. Ezekiel 8:15-16
— 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!
— 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). These 25 men corrupted themselves by worshipping the sun;
— and so the Targum of Ezekiel 8:16 renders it, “and, lo, they corrupted themselves, worshipping facing the east the sun; their backs toward the temple of the Lord” — turned their backs to the most holy place; which is an aggravation of their impiety; casting the utmost contempt for God:
3 And [if you] hath gone and served other gods and worshiped 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
— today, more than 98.5 percent of Christians are honoring the SUN by observing SUNday worship. They have “their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the SUN toward the east; whose 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!
Rare earth elements have become geopolitical dynamite. According to a new analysis by consultancy McKinsey & Company, up to four million jobs in Germany are on the line if top supplier China imposes a permanent export ban.
These critical minerals are indispensable to Germany’s high-tech economy: they’re used in precision sensors, specialized magnets, and control systems essential to engineering, defense, communications, and aerospace. Without them, a significant share of the country’s industrial value creation would grind to a halt.
McKinsey’s analysis, cited by Handelsblatt, puts the risk in stark numbers: one million jobs in core technology sectors could be directly threatened if supply lines collapse. These industries generate about €150 billion in annual value added — the beating heart of German innovation and manufacturing.
The Downstream Domino Effect
The fallout wouldn’t end there. A vast network of suppliers and consumer-oriented industries tied to those wages depends on stable supply chains and geopolitical calm. McKinsey estimates another three million jobs in downstream sectors and retail would be at risk if a trade war with China triggered a lasting supply cutoff.
In a worst-case scenario, Germany faces a total of four million endangered jobs and an annual value-added loss of €370 billion — roughly 9% of its GDP. While this is a modeling scenario, it illustrates the brutal leverage of global resource politics.
Germany’s industrial fragility is already visible. Since 2018, output in key sectors like mechanical engineering has collapsed by over 30%, with total industrial production down about a quarter. Roughly 250,000 well-paid industrial jobs have disappeared — and the slide shows no sign of stopping. A sudden cutoff of rare earth imports would collapse entire production lines within weeks.
Up To 4 Million German Jobs At Risk As Beijing Tightens Rare Earth
Choke Point: China
Germany is dangerously dependent on China, which controls around 70% of global rare earth production and about 90% of processing capacity. In 2024, 65% of Germany’s rare earth imports — 5,200 tons worth over €64 million — came directly from China. If Beijing turns off the tap, Europe’s high-tech supply chain will stall like an engine without fuel.
Given its market dominance, Beijing wields enormous pricing and coercive power. That’s why finding alternative sources has become a top priority in both Brussels and Washington.
One unlikely player in this global chess game: Greenland. The island’s Kringlerne and Kvanefjeld deposits hold some of the largest known rare earth reserves in the world — enough to supply global demand for decades.
Greenland: The West’s Escape Hatch?
Greenland’s strategic value is obvious: it could break China’s stranglehold on critical minerals essential to both high-tech and energy transition industries. But between ambition and reality lies a canyon. Development has so far been blocked by high infrastructure costs, strict environmental regulations, complex permitting, and local opposition — a textbook case of Western self-handicapping.
Europe’s fatal dependency on Beijing’s goodwill has created a dangerous global imbalance. Brussels is largely defenseless against China’s state-backed export machine, which is flooding Europe with cheap goods while Beijing holds the decisive rare earth trump card.
From a European perspective, the question is obvious: Would closer strategic alignment with Washington have been smarter than constant confrontation?
Strategic Rift with Washington
Such a pivot would require a radical shift in Brussels. The US under Donald Trump has returned to minimal government and free-market principles. For Europe to partner effectively, it would have to shed its climate obsession and embrace real market economics.
The transatlantic gap is stark. Europe imports around 60% of its energy, is resource-poor, and has isolated itself geopolitically by breaking with Russia. The US, in contrast, is energy independent and can leverage economic and military power to secure access — whether through Greenland, domestic mining, or temporary Chinese imports.
Trump’s tariff strategy has shown how powerful this leverage can be: tariffs on Chinese goods have not triggered US inflation because producers and traders in China absorbed the costs through their margins. Washington has a massive geopolitical hammer — and it will use it to secure rare earths.
EU Digging Its Own Hole
While the US uses hard power to push Beijing to the table, Europe is losing access to its former resource-rich spheres of influence. What France experienced in Niger — losing uranium access — is now repeating on a continental scale.
Brussels’ response: recycling initiatives and trade deals with South American countries to cover part of its rare earth demand. These may ease pressure but won’t solve the structural problem: dependency remains.
If Europe wants to protect its industrial base, it must negotiate — at potentially high cost — to buy time for a fundamental policy reset. That means returning to free-market principles, ditching its climate cult, and rebuilding transatlantic trust.
But political reality tells a different story. Neither Brussels nor Berlin shows any sign of abandoning the eco-socialist path. In the end, it will be Europe’s workers who pay the price.
“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!” Isaiah 28:1
“For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your dealings will return upon your own head” Obadiah 1:15
Chapter 29 involves Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles and its Consequences.
Just as certain false prophets had tried to arouse and maintain false hopes among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, there were also certain men who were active among the exiles in Babylon. The result was that a spirit of discontent and restlessness took hold among the captives, which not only increased the bitterness of their affliction, but also tended to be confused as to who was a true prophet of God and who wasn’t.
Jeremiah therefore, by God’s command, sent a letter to the exiles, in which he reaffirmed them some prophetic insights if they were to accept God’s words that they obey the Chaldeans, not be fostered by false prophets, who urged the people to rebel against their conquerors; but built houses, plant vineyards and be prepared for a long stay in Babylon.
Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and broke it, Jeremiah 28:10
Jeremiah 29
The Contents of Jeremiah’s Letter.
1 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders who were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon
— now, these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem unto the elders of the exile, to those who had survived the hardships up to that time;
— and to the captives, the priests, prophets and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon, to the congregation of the exiles, disorganized as it was in the conditions of their living situation;
— and the prophets: including one true prophet that was carried captive, and that was Ezekiel, which was granted numerous visions from God and compiled into another prophetic book, Ezekiel, after his name; but of false prophets there were many.
2 (after Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem), — after that Jeconiah (Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597)), the king, and the queen, Nehushta, the dowager, daughter of Einathan,
— and the eunuchs, the courtiers or chamberlains, high court officers, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, all the artisans and craftsmen of the city, II Kings 24:16, were carried off to Babylon.
3 by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying:
4 “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all who are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon: — the Introduction of the Letter;
5 Build ye houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them. — the Contents of the Letter; the exile would be 70 years, not just 2 years! So build houses;
— the endtime iniquite, which could be a form of an exile, of whom Ezekiel was one for “bearing their iniquity” for the house of Israel could be 190 years, and not just 3 and a half years; see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline.
6 Take ye wives and beget sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters, that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.
— be productive, take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; not that they were to take wives of the Chaldeans, but of those of their own nation; for intermarriages with heathens were forbidden; in order to propagate their posterity and keep up successions.
7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it; for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. — and seek the peace of the city; the prosperity and happiness of Babylon, or any other city in Chaldea, where they were placed:
— this they were to do by prayer and supplication to God, and by all other means that might be any ways conducive to the good of the state where they were.
8 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Let not your prophets and your diviners who are in the midst of you deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. — let not your prophets be in the midst of you to deceive you;
— these are false prophets and there were many; who pretended to foretell future events, and who were too apt to believe them; these insinuated, that in a little time they should have their liberty, and soon return to their own land, contrary to the prophecies that came from the Lord himself.
9 For they prophesy falsely unto you in My name: I have not sent them, saith the Lord.
10 “For thus saith the Lord: That after seventy years are accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, causing you to return to this place. — for thus saith the Lord, that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon;
— these seventy years are not to be reckoned from the last captivity under Zedekiah; nor from the present time; nor from the first of Jeconiah’s captivity; but the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and the first of Nebuchadnezzar, when he came up against Jerusalem; Jeremiah 25:1.
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
12 Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me and I will hearken unto you. — then shall ye call upon me; when the expected end is about to be drawn near;
— and ye shall go and pray unto me: walk in my ways; or rather ye shall go into your private closets where prayers are made, and there put up your petitions; that they should continue praying without ceasing, until they enjoyed the blessing, and had the expected end given:
— and I will hearken unto you: God is a God hearing Being; he listens to the requests of his people, but answers them in his own time and way; which is no small encouragement to pray unto him.
13 And ye shall seek Me and find Me when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.
14 And I will be found by you, saith the Lord, and I will return you from captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you back into the place from whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
— since the return from captivity is not just from Babylon but “from all the nations” this hint is subtle, “from all the places whither I have driven you” it hints at a prophetic message, and this message is for the endtimes.
2 “Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them — Son of man, set thy face towards the mountains of Israel… or cities of Israel, the future inhabitants of them; not the ancient ten tribes, for they had been carried captive long before this time, even in the times of Hezekiah; but far more likely, into the far future unless it can be thought that this prophecy is designed to show the reason of their captivity, which isn’t.
3 and say: ‘Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys: Behold I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. — this message to the “mountains of Israel;” these mountains refer to the United States, UK and France… “and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys;” the hills: Ireland, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Finland, and Iceland; and the valleys, the low countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg;
— and to the rivers; where during the nineteenth century, the British Royal Navy were known to “Rule the Waves;” and the United States having been plowing up and down the five oceans with her Seven Fleets since the British left the scene.
15 “Because ye have said, ‘The Lord hath raised us up prophets in Babylon’ — the Lord hath raised us up prophets in Babylon; this is meant to be false prophets who foretold nothing but peace and prosperity;
— there is no need of other prophets if they have listened to those in Judea and in Jerusalem; but these are false prophets; who speak smoothly, foretold nothing but peace and prosperity; and as such, considered themselves as prophets sent by God, when they were not.
16 know that thus saith the Lord of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren who have not gone forth with you into captivity;
— these are those that refused to go into Babylon, saith the Lord, and be well with them; but those who refused to go are actually disobeying God.
17 thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. — when they are actually disobeying God, they could expect to face the consequences; and that is “the Sword, the Famine and the Pestilence.”
18 And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and an astonishment and a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations whither I have driven them,
— and God will persecute them with the “Sword, the Famine and the Pestilence,” or “follow after them” such as their escape out of the city and go into Egypt or other countries for shelter and safety; should be pursued by the vengeance of God and should fall by Sword, Famine or Pestilence.
19 because they have not hearkened to My words, saith the Lord, which I sent unto them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the Lord.
— because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the Lord; words which were spoken to them by the prophets; not hearkening to them, but despising them, a contempt of God and his words, were the cause of their ruin.
20 “Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon. — all ye of the captivity; some parts of this letter are directed to one region of the captives, and others to another part; some being good men, some bad;
21 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie unto you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes.
— Ahab, the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you: two false prophets, of whom we have no account anywhere else but only here; and are false prophets, that they of the captivity boasted of that God had raised unto them in Babylon.
22 And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, ‘The Lord make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,’
— “taken up a curse” or “burnt them” not at once, but with a slow fire; burning persons with fire, and casting them into a fiery furnace, were ways used by the Chaldeans in putting persons to death, Daniel 3:6.
23 because they have committed villainy (wicked or criminal behaviour) in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken lying words in My name which I have not commanded them. Indeed I know, and am a witness, saith the Lord.”
24 Thus shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying, — or, Shemaiah “the dreamer” because he pretended to have dreams from the Lord;
— or because what he delivered as prophecies were mere dreams; as that the captives should quickly return to their own land; so the Targum, paraphrasing “Shemaiah, who was of Halem;” he was another of the false prophets in Babylon.
25 “Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
— this is an example of taking God’s name in vain, by not giving credit to God; he was ignoring God as originator of the message, even if he was writing in the Lord’s name; this is from the Message Bible:
And this is the Message for Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says: You took it on yourself to send letters to all the people in Jerusalem and to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah and the company of priests.
In your letter you told Zephaniah that God set you up as priest replacing priest Jehoiadah. He’s put you in charge of God’s Temple and made you responsible for locking up any crazy fellow off the street who takes it into his head to be a prophet. Jeremiah 29:24-26 MSG
— there is no authorisaton such as “Thus saith the Lord to me:” Jeremiah 27:2; or “The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah . . . which Jeremiah the prophet spoke unto all the people of Judah,” Jeremiah 25:1-2; or, “Thus saith the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,” Jeremiah 22:1
26 ‘The Lord hath made thee priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be officers in the house of the Lord for every man that is mad and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in prison, and in the stocks.
27 Now therefore, why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, who maketh himself a prophet to you?
— now therefore why hast thou not reproved (reprimand) Jeremiah of Anathoth; this could be another Jeremiah, the original true one is “Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,” Jeremiah 1:1;
— or, he was Shemaiah “the dreamer” writing as “Jeremiah of Anathoth,” resembling closely to “Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah” the true prophet.
28 For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying: This captivity is long; build ye houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them.’” — for therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying; “this captivity is long; build ye houses and dwell in them . . .”
— this, even where “Jeremiah of Anathoth,” didn’t change Jeremiah’s message, it is unacceptable in God’s sight!
— and this is from the Message Bible
“So why haven’t you done anything about muzzling Jeremiah of Anathoth, who’s going around posing as a prophet?
He’s gone so far as to write to us in Babylon, ‘It’s going to be a long exile, so build houses and make yourselves at home. Plant gardens and prepare Babylonian recipes.’” Jeremiah 29:28 MSG — this is pilgarising Jeremiah’s message without giving due credits; and it is a sin.
29 And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet. — in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet: to let him know who were his enemies abroad;
— who normally stir up trouble against him; in pretence of proceeding equitably with him; not different in his message, or brought up any accusation and charge against him.
30 Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying, — this Word is to “Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah” the true prophet.
31 “Send to all those of the captivity, saying, ‘Thus saith the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not and he caused you to trust in a lie, — this message is to Shemaiah the liar; or Nehelamite “the dreamer”
32 therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people, neither shall he behold the good that I will do for My people, saith the Lord, because he hath taught rebellion against the Lord.’”
— behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite “the dreamer” and his seed; not him only, but his posterity also: thus God sometimes visits the sins of parents on their children, they being, as it were, a part of themselves, and often times partners with them in their iniquities:
— he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; either at Babylon, or at Jerusalem, whither he had promised a speedy return:
— neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the Lord; by returning them, after seventy years captivity, to their own land, and to the enjoyment of all their privileges, civil and religious.
2 Behold, waters come up from the north, and shall become a sweeping torrent, and it shall sweep away the land, and its fulness; the city, and them that dwell in it: and men shall cry and all that dwell in the land shall howl, 3 at the sound of his rushing, at the sound of his hoofs, and at the rattling of his chariots, at the noise of his wheels: the fathers turned not to their children because of the weakness of their hands, 4 in the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines: and I will utterly destroy Tyre and Sidon, and all the rest of their allies: for the Lord will destroy the remaining inhabitants of the islands. 5 Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ascalon is cast away, and the remnant of the Enakim.
6 How long wilt thou smite, O sword of the Lord? how long will it be ere thou art quiet? return into thy sheath, rest, and be removed.
7 How shall it be quiet, whereas the Lord has given it a commission against Ascalon, and against the regions on the sea-coast, to awake against the remaining countries!
Jeremiah 30
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.
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2 “Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying: ‘Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book. — saying, write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book; perhaps that how this book of Jeremiah comes about;
— being issues of consequence, that they might remain so after ages; and be read to the use, study and for edification of the Lord’s people for their time and in times to come.
3 For lo, the days come,’ saith the Lord, ‘that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,’ saith the Lord; ‘and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’”
— and God will cause them to return to the land that he gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it; the land of Canaan, given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and which shall be again by the Jews and Israelites their posterity; so we may mediate how we can understand this and other prophecies.
4 And these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah: — and these are the words concerning Israel and concerning Judah; these these are prophetic as Israel were already in exile over a hundred years ago;
— which follow in this chapter and others; first concerning Israel, the ten tribes; and then concerning the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin,
— that is, concerning all Israel; whereas, if this prophecy only respects the return from the captivity in Babylon, there is very little in it which concerns the ten tribes. The words may be rendered, “unto Israel, and unto Judah” as being the subjests to whom they were directed.
5 “For thus saith the Lord: ‘We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear and not of peace. — words of bitterness as we have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace;
— which is to be understood, of the fear and dread injected into them by the Babylonians when they besieged their city, and burned that, and their Temple.
6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
— every man with his hands his loins, as a woman in travail; this metaphor is made use of, both to express the sharpness and shortness of this distress; as the pains of a woman in travail are very sharp, yet short, and, when over, quickly forgotten.
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. — the “time of Jacob’s trouble” could parallel Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline.
8 “‘For it shall come to pass in that day,’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more be served by him.
9 But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. — and David their king; perhaps literally, for David their king shall be raised from the dead and reign over them.
10 “‘Therefore fear thou not, O My servant Jacob,’ saith the Lord; ‘neither be dismayed, O Israel; for lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
— this is again prophetic, into the Millennium, their return are “from afar” whereas Babylon was nearby comparatively; that is, after their second capitivty;
11 For I am with thee,’ saith the Lord, ‘to save thee; though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.’
— though I will make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee; perhaps a full end has been made of the old Assyrians, Chaldeans and Egyptians; these people and their names are no more; old societies, because Egypt and Assyria would still be around: Zechariah 14:18-19; Isaiah 19:23
— the destruction of the national life of the heathen nations on whom judgement was to fall should be complete and irreversible, so that old Moab, Ammon and Edom, should no more have a place in the history of the world;
— but to the house of Judah and the house of Israel, the Targum says, “I will bring suffering upon you for your instruction, yet in justice I will spare you.”
12 “For thus saith the Lord: ‘Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous. — emphasizes the depth of Israel’s spiritual and national injury. It’s not a superficial ailment: it’s profound and debilitating.
13 There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up; thou hast no healing medicines. — Israel has no intercessor, no one to plead mercy or healing for her.
14 All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one for the multitude of thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased.
— all thy lovers have forgotten thee; the Egyptians and Assyrians were historic, but Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico could be futuristic, whom they sought for help, and entered into an alliance with, and who promised them great things; but forgot their promises and forsook them (more at the end)
15 Why criest thou for thine affliction? Thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee. — many repeats for iniquity, sins, emphasizing both the severity of the pain and the weight of the sin that caused it.
16 Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured, and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that despoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.
— and all thine adversaries, everyone of them, as were the Assyrians, Egyptians, Chaldeans, Grecians, Romans and the Papacy, shall also go into destruction; Revelation 13:10, “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity. He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword…”
17 For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds,’ saith the Lord, ‘because they called thee an outcast, saying, “This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.”’
18 “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Behold, I will bring back from captivity Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; and the city shall be built upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.
— althought not explicitly stated here, the Targum identifies this city as Jerusalem, and the Temple rebuilt; and God will have mercy on his dwelling places; by restoring the full house of Israel or Jacob’s posterity, to their dwelling places in Jerusalem, and other places rebuilt by them and for them;
“Thus says the Lord: I will restore the captivity of Jacob’s land, and I will have compassion on his dwellings. The city of Jerusalem shall be rebuilt on its proper site, and the Temple shall be established when He sees it.”
19 And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry; and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
20 Their children also shall be as in former time, and their congregation shall be established before Me, and I will punish all that oppress them.
21 And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto Me; for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto Me?’ saith the Lord.
22 ‘And ye shall be My people, and I will be your God.’”
23 Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind; it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.
24 The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has done it, and until He has performed the intents of His heart; in the latter days ye shall understand it.
— in the latter days ye shall consider it; and in considering it in the latter days you shall understand it; and see it wholly and fully. The eyes of his shepherd will finally be opened; thus that means that today’s shepherd are blind, naked and wretched!
~~~
More about “all thy lovers have forgotten thee” Jeremiah 30:14 which runs parallel with another verse in Ezekiel 16:37
Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated. I will even gather them round about against thee and will uncover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness Ezekiel 16:37:
— when the going gets tough, the tough gets going and American allies (Germany, Italy, Turkey and Spain; Brazil, Argentina and Mexico; South Africa, Algeia, Nigeria and Egypt; Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan; S Korea, the Philippines and Japan?) will take their own interests first, team up with other enemies of the United States (Venezuela, Iran, N Korea, Russia and China) and will turn against the United States.
And this is not these countries’ doings, but it is God’s will that will cause these allies to be against the United States, and it is again God’s will through His Spirits that will trap the United States in a snare “And I will spread My net upon him, and he shall be taken in My [not China’s nor Russia’s] snare,” Ezekiel 17:20; and he will be like a beast caught in a cage squealing away to no avail, then uncover her nakedness, American nakedness.
China is increasingly applying domestic law beyond its borders in response to US pressure, legal analysts have suggested.
The “foreign-related rule of law” concept was first unveiled in 2019, and soon gained prominence.
Some leading Chinese legal analysts and policy advisers have said that the United States was responsible for this.
The 2023 Law on Foreign Relations was central to this drive, along with last year’s Law on Foreign State Immunity and the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law of 2021.
Beijing also introduced export controls on products that have dual military and civilian uses as well as rare earth metals.
“Simply put, it comes down to whether the global order should be governed by international law or by domestic law – and this is the dilemma facing the international community today,” Cai Congyan, a legal professor from Fudan University, told a seminar at Hong Kong University law school on Monday.
He added: “Domestic law is playing an increasingly important role in managing relations between states, while the influence of international law is diminishing.
“China’s concept of ‘foreign-related rule of law’ embodies its vision of how the global order should be regulated.”
The US has taken legal action against some of China’s leading tech firms. Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada and later pleaded guilty while ZTE has been accused of breaching US export control and sanctions laws.
“The role of international law is fading, while domestic law is becoming more important – not only in the US, but also in Europe. As China and other Global South countries gain influence, Western powers can no longer control institutions like the World Trade Organization or the United Nations as before,” Cai said.
He said this trend was “dangerous” for everyone, but Beijing would be “drawn” into the same direction as the US.
This year Beijing has increased its use of legal measures against the US, including recent curbs on rare earth exports and higher shipping fees.
Wang Jiangyu, a professor of law at City University of Hong Kong, said Beijing should “justify” its legislation and avoid the impression that it was using the law as a “toolbox to protect [its] national interests.”
Wang said China should “construct a narrative to persuade the international community” that its policies were justified.
“To construct a narrative that is widely accepted by the international community – one that people genuinely believe is good – which may in fact serve one’s own interests,” he said.
“In this regard, the United States has been the most successful in building such a system since the end of World War II.”
“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!” Isaiah 28:1
“For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your dealings will return upon your own head” Obadiah 1:15
Question: As Türkiye and Hungary have expressend joining BRICS, would Nato kick out these two countries? Then Nato could speak with a single voice, which could be their aim!
“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 understand it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20
And I went unto the angel and said unto him, “Give me the little book.” And he said unto me, “Take it and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey” Revelation 10:9
Understanding what that bitterness is, in the “latter days” that is, in the distant future; ye shall understand it clearly, viz. that the calamities of what that bittlerness was meant to be, which will have come upon the whole world are the divine judgement upon our sins. Only in the endtime would we be able to understand this fully.
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.
The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609 BC), Jehoahaz (reign 609 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC).
The year in that Jeremiah began to prophesy, Jeremiah 1:2 in the thirteenth year of Josiah reign would be around 628 BC, and he preached for the last 19 years of Josiah’s life, until 609 BC when Josiah died. By the time the kings of Judah reigns ended with Zedekiah being exiled to Babylon and his reign ended in 586 BC, Jeremiah’s prophesying life work in and around Jerusalem would have lasted some 42 years.
Jeremiah in bonds and yokes upon his neck
1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, — Jehoiakim reign from 609 to 598; so this is another relaying, with more details, of the same scenes we have gone through before.
2 Thus saith the Lord to me: “Make thee bonds and yokes and put them upon thy neck, — thus saith the Lord to Jeremiah; make thee bonds and yokes; the yokes were made of wood, as appears from Jeremiah 28:13; and the bonds were strings or thongs, which bound the yoke together, that it might not slip off the neck;
3 and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah.
— all neighbouring kings and states: of Edom, of Moab and Ammon, Tyre and Sidon, to whom the wine cup of God’s wrath was to be sent, and they made to drink of it.
4 And command them to say unto their masters, ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; thus shall ye say unto your masters: — and all nations shall serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and his son, and his son’s son; and many nations and great kings serve Nebuchadnezzar;
5 I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me. — even the beasts of the field also have God given to Nebuchadnezzar to serve him.
6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. — and three times God describes Nebuchadnezzar as “my servant” Jeremiah 25:9,27:6,43:10;
— and now I have given to Nebuchadnezzar all these lands: land from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, Sidon and Judea:
— into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, God’s servant; whom God used as a horsewhip in correcting and chastising the nations; and who obeyed his will, though he knew not; yet had the honour of being called his servant, and of being rewarded with a very large empire;
— and the beasts of the field have God given him also to serve him; and his armies for the invasion and taking the above countries; or the cattle found there, which belonged to these countries, and the inhabitants thereof, which would fall into his hands.
7 And all nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, until the very time of his land comes; and then many nations and great kings shall themselves be served by him. — and his son, and his son’s son; their Scripture names were Evilmerodach and Belshazzar, Jeremiah 52:31.
8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword and with the famine and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
— that nation disobeyed, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the Sword, Famine and Pestilence; with one judgement after another; some will perish by the sword of the enemy, sallying out upon them, or endeavouring to make their escape;
— others by famine their provisions being spent through the length of the siege; and lastly by pestilence, or the plague, or by the hand of God: until I have consumed them by his hand; Nebuchadnezzar’s; by any means of him; by his sword and strait besieging them; or “into his hand”
— and so the Targum says, “until I have delivered them into his hand;” having consumed multitudes by the sword, famine and pestilence, will deliver the rest into his hands to be carried away as captives.
9 Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, who speak unto you, saying, “Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon.”
— which speak unto you, saying, ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; meaning, either that they ought not to become tributary to him; or they should not be brought into subjection by him: and so were stirred up to oppose him and not submit to him.
10 For they prophesy a lie unto you to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out and ye should perish. — from the Message Bible:
“‘So don’t for a minute listen to all your prophets and spiritualists and fortunetellers, who claim to know the future and who tell you not to give in to the king of Babylon.
They’re handing you a line of lies, barefaced lies, that will end up putting you in exile far from home. I myself will drive you out of your lands, and that’ll be the end of you.
But the nation that accepts the yoke of the king of Babylon and does what he says, I’ll let that nation stay right where it is, minding its own business.’” Jeremiah 27:9-11 MSG
11 But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord, and they shall till it and dwell therein.’” — but the nations that serve him; that readily submit unto him and pay him tribute, they will retain their territory and livelihood.
12 I spoke also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.
— submit yourself to the king of Babylon; you, O king, your nobles, and your people. Zedekiah was set upon the throne by the king of Babylon, become a tributary to him and had took an oath to be faithful to him;
— but was meditating against him; consulting and entering into a confederacy with neighbouring nations to throw off the yoke and be independent from him.
13 Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
— why will ye die, thou and thy people; by the Sword, by Famine and by Pestilence; through a blockade of the Chaldean army, which would invade their land and besiege their city, upon a refusal to be subject to their yoke.
14 Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets who speak unto you, saying, ‘Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a lie unto you.
— therefore hearken not unto the words of these false prophets, as the Targum says; such bad kings always had them, to whom they listened, and which often brought forth bad and terrible consequences.
15 ‘For I have not sent them,’ saith the Lord, ‘yet they prophesy a lie in My name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye and the prophets who prophesy unto you.’”
— ye, and the false prophets, as the Targum again calls them, that prophesy unto you; for it would end in the ruin and destruction of them; both their false prophets and those that listened to their prophecies; both would fall into the ditch.
16 Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus saith the Lord: Hearken not to the words of your prophets who prophesy unto you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of the Lord’S house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon’; for they prophesy a lie unto you.
— also Jeremiah spoke to the priests, and to all this people, from the court of the Temple, and spoke to the priests that were ministering there, who had a special concern in what he had to say especially the vessels of the Temple;
— behold, your false prophets claimed the vessels of the Lord’s house shall now shortly be brought back from Babylon; which were carried there, both in the times of Jehoiakim, and Jeconiah, II Chronicles 36:7; these vessels carried off would be returned; that the king of Babylon, would send them back.
17 Hearken not unto them: serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city be laid waste?
18 But if they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem go not to Babylon.
— that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, and in the palace of the king of Judah in Jerusalem, go not to Babylon; instead of prophesying about their return, let them pray for the preservation and continuance of what are left, that they do not go also; of which there was great danger of following the same route of being taken away to Babylon,
— yea, certainty, in case of non-submission to and rebellion against the king of Babylon; there were some vessels of the sanctuary as well as others in the king’s palace and in the houses of the noble and rich men in Jerusalem.
19 For thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city, — for thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars of brass that stood in the Temple; the one called Boaz, and the other Jachin, 1 Kings 7:15;
— and concerning the sea of molten brass, which stood upon twelve oxen, 1 Kings 7:23; and concerning the bases: the ten bases, which also were made of brass, 1 Kings 7:27; and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city; in the king’s palace, and in the houses of the noblemen and wealthy of Jerusalem.
20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem”
— which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not; for he seems only to have taken the vessels of gold and silver, and left the vessels of brass, as the above were; II Kings 24:13;
— when he carried away captive Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; II Kings 24:12.
21 yea, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem:
22 ‘They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them,’ saith the Lord. ‘Then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.’” — they, too, shall be carried to Babylon; as they were; and with others, there is a particular account in II Kings 25:13;
— and there shall be until the day that I visit them, saith to the Lord; the Chaldeans in a way of wrath, and the Jews as captives and slaves; which was at the end of the seventy years’ captivity; and so long the vessels of the sanctuary continued there; here we read of them as in use the very night that Belshazzar was slain, and Babylon taken, Daniel 5:2;
— then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place; which was fulfilled when the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia to give leave to the Jews to return to their own land, and rebuild their Temple; and at the same time delivered into the hands of Sheshbazzar, to the prince of Judah, the vessels of the Temple, Ezra 1:1.
1 The Word of the Lord which He spoke against Babylon.
2 Proclaim ye among the Gentiles, and cause the tidings to be heard, and suppress them not: say ye, Babylon is taken, Belus is confounded; the fearless, the luxurious Mærodach is delivered up. 3 For a nation has come up against her from the north, he shall utterly ravage her land, and there shall be none to dwell in it, neither man nor beast.
4 In those days, and at that time, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Juda together; they shall proceed, weeping as they go, seeking the Lord their God. 5 They shall ask the way till they come to Sion, for that way shall they set their face; and they shall come and flee for refuge to the Lord their God; for the everlasting covenant shall not be forgotten.
6 My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds thrust them out, they caused them to wander on the mountains: they went from mountain to hill, they forgot their resting-place. 7 All that found them consumed them: their enemies said, Let us not leave them alone, because they have sinned against the Lord: he that gathered their fathers had a pasture of righteousness.
8 Flee ye out of the midst of Babylon, and from the land of the Chaldeans, and go forth, and be as serpents before sleep. 9 For, behold, I stir up against Babylon the gatherings of nations out of the land of the north; and they shall set themselves in array against her: thence shall she be taken, as the dart of an expert warrior shall not return empty. 10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied.
11 Because ye rejoiced, and boasted, while plundering mine heritage; because ye exulted as calves in the grass, and pushed with the horn as bulls. 12 Your mother is greatly ashamed; your mother that bore you for prosperity is confounded: she is the last of the nations, desolate, 13 by reason of the Lord’s anger: it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be all a desolation; and every one that passes through Babylon shall scowl, and they shall hiss at all her plague.
14 Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all ye that bend the bow; shoot at her, spare not your arrows, 15 and prevail against her: her hands are weakened, her bulwarks are fallen, and her wall is broken down: for it is vengeance from God: take vengeance upon her; as she has done, do to her. 16 Utterly destroy seed out of Babylon, and him that holds a sickle in time of harvest: for fear of the Grecian sword, they shall return every one to his people, and every one shall flee to his own land.
17 Israel is a wandering sheep; the lions have driven him out: the king of Assyria first devoured him, and afterward this king of Babylon has gnawed his bones. 18 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will take vengeance on the king of Babylon, and upon his land, as I took vengeance on the king of Assyria. 19 And I will restore Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and on mount Ephraim and in Galaad, and his soul shall be satisfied. 20 In those days, and at that time, they shall seek for the iniquity of Israel, and there shall be none; and for the sins of Juda, and they shall not be found: for I will be merciful to them that are left 21 on the land, saith the Lord.
Go up against it roughly, and against them that dwell on it: avenge, O sword, and destroy utterly, saith the Lord, and do according to all that I command thee. 22 A sound of war, and great destruction in the land of the Chaldeans! 23 How is the hammer of the whole earth broken and crushed! How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! 24 They shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know it, Babylon, that thou wilt even be taken captive: thou art found and taken, because thou didst resist the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened his treasury, and brought forth the weapons of his anger: for the Lord God has a work in the land of the Chaldeans. 26 For her times are come: open ye her storehouses: search her as a cave, and utterly destroy her: let there be no remnant of her. 27 Dry ye up all her fruits, and let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, and the time of their retribution. 28 A voice of men fleeing and escaping from the land of Babylon, to declare to Sion the vengeance that comes from the Lord our God.
29 Summon many against Babylon, even every one that bends the bow: camp against her round about; let no one of her people escape: render to her according to her works; according to all that she has done, do to her: for she has resisted the Lord, the Holy God of Israel. 30 Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her warriors shall be cast down, saith the Lord.
31 Behold, I am against thee the haughty one, saith the Lord: for thy day is come, and the time of thy retribution. 32 And thy pride shall fail, and fall, and there shall be no one to set it up again: and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all things round about her.
33 Thus saith the Lord; The children of Israel and the children of Juda have been oppressed: all they that have taken them captive have oppressed them together; for they would not let them go. 34 But their Redeemer is strong; the Lord Almighty is his name: he will enter into judgment with his adversaries, that he may destroy the earth; 35 and he will sharpen a sword against the Chaldeans, and against the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her nobles and upon her wise men; 36 a sword upon her warriors, and they shall be weakened: a sword upon their horses, and upon their chariots: 37 a sword upon their warriors, and upon the mixed people in the midst of her; and they shall be as women: a sword upon the treasures, and they shall be scattered upon her water, 38 and they shall be ashamed: for it is a land of graven images; and in the islands, where they boasted. 39 Therefore shall idols dwell in the islands, and the young of monsters shall dwell in it: it shall not be inhabited any more for ever. 40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities bordering upon them, saith the Lord: no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn there.
41 Behold, a people comes from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be stirred up from the end of the earth; holding bow and dagger: 42 the people is fierce, and will have no mercy: their voices shall sound as the sea, they shall ride upon horses, prepared for war, like fire, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. 43 The king of Babylon heard the sound of them, and his hands were enfeebled: anguish overcame him, pangs as of a woman in travail. 44 Behold, he shall come up as a lion from Jordan to Gæthan; for I will speedily drive them from her, and I will set all the youths against her: for who is like me? and who will resist me? and who is this shepherd who will stand before me?
45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he has taken against Babylon; and his devices, which he has devised upon the Chaldeans inhabiting it: surely lambs of their flock shall be destroyed: surely pasture shall be cut off from them. 46 For at the sound of the taking of Babylon the earth shall quake, and a cry shall be heard among the nations.
Jeremiah 28
The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609 BC), Jehoahaz (reign 609 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC).
1 And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spoke unto me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,
— since Zedekiah ruled for 12 years, his fourth could still be rendered the beginning of his reign, which would be around 594 BC;
— or; it was the fourth of Zedekiah’s reign, the same year in which he paid a visit to the king of Babylon, Jeremiah 51:59; there in Babylon, Zedekiah had his kingdom was confirmed to him, and was even enlarged, and was made king over five neighbouring kings; and so this, though the fourth of his reign over Judah, was the first of his enlarged dominions.
— Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet; the false prophet from Gibeon, as the Targum calls him; spoke unto him in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests, and of all the people; he came to the Temple where Jeremiah was to confront him; the priests and all the people being present;
— the land Gibeon was allocated to the tribe of Benjamin; but Gibeonite may not even be Israelites, but one of the Canaanites who deceived Joshua into making a covenant with them so they may live, and not wiped out; when Joshua found out he condemned them to be hewers of wood and a drawers of water (Joshua 9:21, 23).
2 “Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. — thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; pretending on using the language of the true prophets,
3 Within two full years will I bring back into this place all the vessels of the Lord’S house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried them to Babylon. — within two full years; or as the Targum says, “In the span of two years,” or, at the end of two years;
— what the false prophets before had said would be done in a very little time; a very short time; in comparison of the seventy years that Jeremiah had spoken of, Jeremiah 25:11;
— will God bring again into this place all the vessels of the Temple that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place; where he was; namely, all such vessels as before this time had been taken by him, both in Jehoiakim’s reign and at the captivity of Jeconiah.
4 And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah who went into Babylon,’ saith the Lord; ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”
— and God will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah; this he knew would please the people, who looked upon Zedekiah only as a vessel to the king of Babylon, and not properly their king;
— with all the captives of Judah that went into Babylon, saith the Lord; the princes, officers and others that should be living at the time: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon; weaken his power over other nations, and particularly deliver the king of Judah from his bondage.
5 Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of the Lord,
6 even the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen. The Lord do so. The Lord perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the Lord’S house and all that is carried away captive from Babylon into this place.
— even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen; or “so be it”- he wished it might be so as Hananiah had said, if it was the will of God; as a prophet he knew it could not be;
— to bring again the vessels of the Lord’s house from Babylon into this place, Jerusalem; as a priest, this must be very desirable to Jeremiah, and the Jews; being a priest, he should eat of the holy things; when Hananiah, being a Gibeonite, would be a hewer of wood and a drawer of water to him (Joshua 9:21, 23).
7 Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears and in the ears of all the people:
8 The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries and against great kingdoms, of war and of evil and of pestilence.
— the prophets that have been before me and before thee, such as Isaiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah and others: these prophesied both against many countries and against great kingdoms; as Egypt, Babylon, Syria, Ethiopia and Moab as Isaiah did.
9 The prophet who prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known that the Lord hath truly sent him.”
10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and broke it. — the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck; which he wore as a symbol of the subjection of Judea and other nations to the king of Babylon;
— but now he took the prophet’s yoke from his neck; and broke it; being made of wood, as it afterwards appears and so might easily be broken.
11 And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.’” And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.
— thus saith the Lord where the Lord has not spoken; hence taking his name in vain; even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations, within the space of two years; the time he had fixed for the bringing back of the vessels of the sanctuary, Jeremiah 28:3;
— and Jeremiah went his way; showing his dissent from him, and his detestation of his lies and blasphemies; and prudently withdrawing to prevent riots and tumults; returning no answer till he had received one from the Lord himself.
12 Then the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the prophet (after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah), saying,
13 “Go and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast broken the yokes of wood, but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron. — thou hast broken the yokes of wood: or “bonds” or “the thongs” with which the yokes of wood were bound and fastened;
14 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him; and I have given him the beasts of the field also.’”
— that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him; directly contrary to what Hananiah had prophesied, and I have given him the beasts of the field also;
— as God had said he would, Jeremiah 27:6; and which is repeated, to show that the whole would be punctually fulfilled; that not only those nations, the men, the inhabitants of them, would be delivered to him; but even the very cattle, and all that belonged to them.
15 Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, “Hear now, Hananiah, the Lord hath not sent thee, but thou makest this people to trust in a lie.
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord: ‘Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth. This year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord.’” — behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth; with the utmost indignation and abhorrence,
— as not worthy to live upon it: it signifies that he should die, and that not a natural, but violent death, by the immediate hand of God, by some judgement upon him; and so be by force taken off the earth and buried in it and be no more seen on it;
— this year thou shalt die; within the same year, reckoning from this time; so that, had he died any time within twelve months from hence, it would have been sufficient to have verified the prophecy:
— because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord; to despise his word by his prophet Jeremiah; to contradict his will; to refuse subjection to the king of Babylon; to neglect his instructions, directions and exhortations; and to believe a lie.
17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month. — in the seventh month: it was two months after he had prophesied; for it was in the fifth month that he prophesied and in the seventh he died.
1 Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I stir up against Babylon, and against the Chaldeans dwelling therein, a deadly burning wind. 2 And I will send forth against Babylon spoilers, and they shall spoil her, and shall ravage her land. Woe to Babylon round about her in the day of her affliction. 3 Let the archer bend his bow, and him that has armour put it on: and spare ye not her young men, but destroy ye all her host. 4 And slain men shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and men pierced through shall fall without it.
5 For Israel and Juda have not been forsaken of their God, of the Lord Almighty; whereas their land was filled with iniquity against the holy things of Israel. 6 Flee ye out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every one his soul: and be not overthrown in her iniquity; for it is the time of her retribution from the Lord; he is rendering to her a recompence. 7 Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, causing all the earth to be drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore they were shaken. 8 And Babylon is fallen suddenly, and is broken to pieces: lament for her; take balm for her deadly wound, if by any means she may be healed. 9 We tried to heal Babylon, but she was not healed: let us forsake her, and depart every one to his own country: for her judgment has reached to the heaven, it has mounted up to the stars. 10 The Lord has brought forth his judgment: come, and let us declare in Sion the works of the Lord our God.
11 Prepare the arrows; fill the quivers: the Lord has stirred up the spirit of the king of the Medes: for his wrath is against Babylon, to destroy it utterly; for it is the Lord’s vengeance, it is the vengeance of his people. 12 Lift up a standard on the walls of Babylon, prepare the quivers, rouse the guards, prepare the weapons: for the Lord has taken the work in hand, and will execute what he has spoken against the inhabitants of Babylon, 13 dwelling on many waters, and amidst the abundance of her treasures; thine end is come verily into thy bowels. 14 For the Lord has sworn by his arm, saying, I will fill thee with men as with locusts; and they that come down shall cry against thee.
15 The Lord made the earth by his power, preparing the world by his wisdom, by his understanding he stretched out the heaven. 16 At his voice he makes a sound of water in the heaven, and brings up clouds from the extremity of the earth; he makes lightnings for rain, and brings light out of his treasures. 17 Every man has completely lost understanding; every goldsmith is confounded because of his graven images: for they have cast false gods, there is no breath in them. 18 They are vain works, objects of scorn; in the time of their visitation they shall perish. 19 Not such is Jacob’s portion; for he that formed all things, he is his inheritance; the Lord is his name.
20 Thou scatterest for me the weapons of war: and I will scatter nations by thee, and will destroy kings by means of thee. 21 And by thee I will scatter the horse and his rider; and by thee I will scatter chariots and them that ride in them. 22 And by thee I will scatter youth and maid; and by thee I will scatter man and woman. 23 And by thee I will scatter the shepherd and his flock; and by thee I will scatter the husbandman and his husbandry; and by thee I will scatter leaders and the captains. 24 And I will recompense to Babylon and to all the Chaldeans that dwell there all their mischiefs that they have done to Sion before your eyes, saith the Lord.
25 Behold, I am against thee, the ruined mountain, that destroys the whole earth; and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will roll thee down upon the rocks, and will make thee as a burnt mountain. 26 And they shall not take from thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for a foundation: for thou shalt be a desolation for ever, saith the Lord.
27 Lift up a standard in the land, sound the trumpet among the nations, consecrate the nations against her, raise up kings against her by me, and that for the people of Achanaz; set against her engines of war; bring up against her horses as a multitude of locusts. 28 Bring up nations against her, even the king of the Medes and of the whole earth, his rulers, and all his captains. 29 The earth has quaked and been troubled, because the purpose of the Lord has risen up against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, and uninhabitable.
30 The warrior of Babylon has failed to fight; they shall sit there in the siege; their power is broken; they are become like women; her tabernacles have been set on fire; her bars are broken. 31 One shall rush, running to meet another runner, and one shall go with tidings to meet another with tidings, to bring tidings to the king of Babylon, that his city is taken. 32 At the end of his passages they were taken, and his cisterns they have burnt with fire, and his warriors are going forth.
33 For thus saith the Lord, The houses of the king of Babylon shall be threshed as a floor in the season; yet a little while, and her harvest shall come.
34 He has devoured me, he has torn me asunder, airy darkness has come upon me; Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon has swallowed me up, as a dragon has he filled his belly with my delicacies. 35 My troubles and my distresses have driven me out into Babylon, shall she that dwells in Sion say; and my blood shall be upon the Chaldeans dwelling there, shall Jerusalem say.
36 Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will judge thine adversary, and I will execute vengeance for thee; and I will waste her sea, and dry up her fountain. 37 And Babylon shall be a desolation, and shall not be inhabited. 38 For they rose up together as lions, and as lions’ whelps. 39 In their heat I will give them a draught, and make them drunk, that they may be stupified, and sleep an everlasting sleep, and not awake, saith the Lord. 40 And bring thou them down as lambs to the slaughter, and rams with kids.
41 How has the beast of all the earth been taken and caught in a snare! how has Babylon become a desolation among the nations! 42 The sea has come up upon Babylon with the sound of its waves, and she is covered. 43 Her cities are become like a dry and trackless land; not so much as one man shall dwell in it, neither shall a son of man lodge in it. 44 And I will take vengeance on Babylon, and bring forth out of her mouth what she has swallowed down, and the nations shall no more be gathered to her: 49 and in Babylon the slain men of all the earth shall fall. 50 Go forth of the land, ye that escape, and stay not; ye that are afar off, remember the Lord, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. 51 We are ashamed, because we have heard our reproach; disgrace has covered our face; aliens are come into our sanctuary, even into the house of the Lord.
52 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will take vengeance upon her graven images: and slain men shall fall in all her land. 53 For though Babylon should go up as the heaven, and though she should strengthen her walls with her power, from me shall come they that shall destroy her, saith the Lord. 54 A sound of a cry in Babylon, and great destruction in the land of the Chaldeans: 55 for the Lord has utterly destroyed Babylon, and cut off from her the great voice sounding as many waters: he has consigned her voice to destruction. 56 For distress has come upon Babylon, her warriors are taken, their bows are useless: for God recompenses them. 57 The Lord recompenses, and will make her leaders and her wise men and her captains completely drunk, saith the King, the Lord Almighty is his name.
58 Thus saith the Lord, The wall of Babylon was made broad, but it shall be completely broken down, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire; and the peoples shall not labour in vain, nor the nations fail in their rule.
59 The Word which the Lord commanded the Prophet Jeremias to say to Saræas son of Nerias, son of Maasæas, when he went from Sedekias king of Juda to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. And Saræas was over the bounties. 60 And Jeremias wrote in a book all the evils which should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. 61 And Jeremias said to Saræas, When thou art come to Babylon, and shalt see and read all these words; 62 then thou shalt say, O Lord God, thou hast spoken against this place, to destroy it, and that there should be none to dwell in it, neither man nor beast; for it shall be a desolation for ever. 63 And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt cease from reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone upon it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates; 64 and shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and not rise, because of the evils which I bring upon it.
British economist John Ross impishly told one interviewer that if the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences were honest, the Nobel Prize in Economics would have been awarded to Chinese economists every year for the past four decades.
Objectively, he has a point. China’s real GDP is 50 times what it was since reform and opening up began in 1978, far outpacing growth rates in Japan and the Asian Tigers (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong) during their miracle decades.
A 50x increase in GDP since 1978 for 1.4 billion people has certainly been more impactful than, say, a neat little math tool whose most primary use case is to match US and Canadian medical students with residency programs.
A 50x increase in GDP since 1978 for 1.4 billion people has certainly been more impactful than, say, the Black-Scholes option pricing model, which, while clever, wasn’t necessary for options markets. Laureates Myron Scholes and Robert Merton did manage to blow up mega hedge fund LTCM in 1998, just a year after winning their Nobel Prize, when interest rates failed to follow their model.
A 50x increase in GDP since 1978 for 1.4 billion people has certainly been more impactful than, say, a self-congratulatory political theory on Western institutions, a theory surely belied by China’s spectacular growth and the West’s long malaise.
John Ross is now not alone. Economist Adam Tooze of Columbia University has suggested that the Nobel Prize in Economics be given to Chinese policy makers because China’s growth has been the most profound economic story of our lifetime.
Some would argue that the Nobel Prize in economics is for academic researchers, not practitioners. A fair point, perhaps, if such a rule existed. But in fact, we are unaware of such a rule and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Swedish Academy have a long history of arbitrarily changing the scope and definition of Nobel Prizes. Artificial intelligence for physics? What? Bob Dylan for literature? Huh?
The Nobel Prize in Economics has always been the bastard child of the Nobel litter. Not among the original five prizes established by Alfred Nobel (Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature and Peace) upon his death in 1896, the economics prize was tacked on in 1969 by Sweden’s central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, as a “Prize in Economic Science dedicated to the memory of Alfred Nobel.”
Over the years, the Nobel Prize in economics has gone through 11 name changes from simplifying down to “Prize in Economic Science” to “Prize in Economic Science in Memory of Alfred Nobel” to “Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences” to today’s unwieldy “The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.”
Sometimes it is “economic science.” Sometimes it is “economic sciences,” as in plural. Why? Who knows? The economics prize has never been comfortable in its own skin. Members of the Nobel family have voiced opposition to the prize, stating that Alfred Nobel had no intention of establishing an economics prize and the creation of one using the Nobel name is a dirty trick by economists to elevate their profession.
At the awards banquet in 1974, winner Friedrich Hayek criticized the award:
The Nobel Prize confers on an individual an authority which in economics no man ought to possess. This does not matter in the natural sciences. Here the influence exercised by an individual is chiefly an influence on his fellow experts; and they will soon cut him down to size if he exceeds his competence. But the influence of the economist that mainly matters is an influence over laymen: politicians, journalists, civil servants and the public generally.
To put it more succinctly, he was calling the economics prize a bullshit award. That award has gone through various revisions trying to remain relevant and consequential. The 1994 prize, given to mathematician John Nash, caused much internal consternation. The scope of the prize was subsequently expanded to social sciences in general, opening up the prize to political science, psychology and sociology. Political scientists, psychologists and economic historians have all become Nobel laureates.
The Nobel Committee often does a better job identifying impactful discoveries than anointing deserving laureates. While DNA structure, the polio vaccine, magnetic resonance imaging, CRISPR gene editing and quantum entanglement are all deserving fields, the naming of laureates garnered controversy, accusations and hurt feelings. Such are the hazards of bestowing honors by committee.
Great contributions have also gone unrecognized when candidates had the audacity to die before the Nobel Committee got around to reviewing their nominations. Mendeleev was not recognized for the periodic table. Leo Tolstoy was not recognized for War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 before the Nobel Foundation could honor him. He received, instead, a moment of silence from the Nobel Committee, which declared that there was “no suitable living candidate” for that year.
The living laureate has been a feature of the Nobel Prize since its inception. Alfred Nobel intended the prize to be aspirational in a human lifetime. While this has resulted in deserving cases going unrecognized, the honor it bestows on the living is meant to encourage aspirants.
China’s economic woes cry out for Zhu Rongji’s spirit of bold reform
Zhu Rongji, China’s premier from 1998 to 2003, is 96 years old. Time is running out. The first generation has already left us. Chen Yun, architect of China’s economic reforms under Deng Xiaoping, died in 1995. Economist Yu Guangyuan, proponent of the socialist market-oriented economic system, died in 2013.
The China socialist market system is long overdue for its Nobel. And no greater living figure is more deserving than Zhu Rongji. As governor of the People’s Bank of China in the 1990’s, Zhu Rongji reined in runaway inflation with tough austerity measures. As premier, Zhu forced through painful but necessary restructuring of state owned enterprises. Zhu also shepherded China’s ascension to the World Trade Organization in 2001, extending China’s miracle growth for two more decades.
Most heroic of all, Zhu insisted on maintaining the Rmb peg during the Asian financial crisis, putting a net under the freefalling economies of China’s neighbors.
Zhu Rongji did all of the above while navigating the treacherous politics of taking cookies away from the powers that be. Zhu stared down hundreds, if not thousands, of officials who had knives drawn for him – figuratively certainty, literally probably – saying:
To fight corruption one must go after the tiger first, then the wolf. There will be absolutely no tolerance for the tiger. Prepare 100 caskets and leave one for me. I’m ready to perish together in this fight if it brings the nation long-term economic stability and the public’s trust in our government.
As a practitioner, Zhu Rongji understood, in ways academic Nobel laureates cannot, that there was only one economic policy that truly mattered. Zhu knew in his bones that corruption was a cancer that cannot be tolerated:
My only hope is that after I leave public service, the Chinese people will think of me in one way: that he was a clean official, not a corrupt one. I will be immensely satisfied with that judgment alone. But if they are feeling particularly generous and say that Zhu Rongji got some real things done while in office, then I’ll thank heaven and earth.
Most Chinese would judge Zhu Rongji’s service generously. His accomplishments and methods, as part of China’s socialist market system, are far more relevant for developing countries to study than the Black-Scholes model or airy-fairy theories on innovation.
If Zhu Rongji dies without a Nobel Prize in economics, the committee should just disband. They would have proven themselves to be utterly irrelevant and inconsequential. But hey, that math tool to match medical students with residencies is really really clever.
“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 understand it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20;
In the “latter days” that is, in the then distant future, this could mean that only in our days, could we understand it clearly, viz. that the calamities which would have come upon us are the results of divine judgement upon our sins; then and only after experiencing them could we humans understand these things fully.
Jeremiah 25
The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609 BC), Jehoahaz (reign 609 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC).
The year in that Jeremiah began to prophesy, Jeremiah 1:2 in the thirteenth year of Josiah reign would be around 628 BC, and he preached for the last 19 years of Josiah’s life, until 609 BC when Josiah died. By the time Zedekiah’s reign ended in 586 BC by being exiled to Babylon, Jeremiah’s prophesying would have lasted some 42 years.
1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), — the fourth year of Jehoiakim would be perhaps 606 BC or whereabout;
— before the prophet Jeremiah was sent to the shepherds, elders and kings of Judah only, Jeremiah 23 and 24; now his message is to all the people of Judah.
2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke unto all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: — which Jeremiah the prophet spoke “unto all the people of Judah” perhaps during one of the three feasts: at Passover, Pentecost, or Tabernacles; at which all the males appeared in Jerusalem as commanded.
3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even unto this day (that is, the three and twentieth year), the word of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.
— from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day; the year in which Jeremiah began to prophesy, Jeremiah 1:2; which would be around 628 BC.
4 And the Lord hath sent unto you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear. — but ye have not hearkened; they remained stiffnecked; turned a deaf ear to God; however, did not obey or act as they were directed and exhorted to.
5 They said, “Turn ye again now every one from his evil way and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever.
— turn ye again now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of their doings; repent of sins; particularly their adulteries, lyings and idolatries (Jeremiah 23), to which they were prone to, and were often mentioned.
6 And go not after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and provoke Me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
— by Sword, or Famine, or Pestilence or Captivity; provided they forsook their adulteries, lyings and idolatrous worship; God does not hurt his true worshippers; yea, he makes all things work together for their good; and God will do them no hurt;
7 Yet ye have not hearkened unto Me,” saith the Lord, “that ye might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.”
8 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: “Because ye have not heard My words,
9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” saith the Lord, “and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them and make them an astonishment and a hissing and perpetual desolations.
— Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon is God’s servant! though a great king, he was a servant of the Lord of hosts; a pawn both as a creature of his make, and as a king that ruled under him; and as he was an instrument in his hand to chastise his people the Jews;
— and against all these nations round about; Egypt and others; partly so that the Jews could have no help from them; nor an alliance with them;
— and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, an hissing and perpetual desolations; both the Jews and their neighbours; who should be an astonishment to some and a hissing to others and remain desolate for a long time; even till the seventy years had ended.
10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the candle.
— 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?”
“Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness.”
11 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. — and these other nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years;
— both the Jews, and other nations of Egypt, reckoning from the date of this prophecy, the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign, when Daniel and others were carried captive, Daniel 1:1; to the first year of Cyrus.
12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,” saith the Lord, “for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. — after captivity for seventy years;
— then God will punish the king of Babylon, and Babylon itself, for their iniquity; the king for his tyranny, and the nation for their lying, adultery and idolatry; and all for these and other sins they were guilty of.
13 And I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
— even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the other nations: the Egyptians, Philistines, Lebanon (Phoenicians: Tyre and Sidon), Moabites, Edomites, Arabians, Persians, and also the Babylonians.
14 For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves by them also; and I will recompense them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.”
— for many nations and great kings shall make them their servants; take their cities, seize their kingdoms, spoil them of their wealth and riches, and bring them into servitude:
— these “many nations” which should and did all this, first the Chaldaeans, then the Medes and Persians, and those that were subject to them or their allies in such expeditions; and the “great kings” were Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus and Darius.
15 For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me: “Take the wine cup of this fury at My hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it.
— take the wine cup of this fury at my hand; in a vision the Lord appeared to Jeremiah with a cup of wine in his hand, which he bid him take of him. It is usual in Scripture for the judgements of God on men to be signified by a cup of hot and intoxicating liquor:
“Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, who hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; thou hast drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling and wrung them out” Isaiah 51:17
16 And they shall drink and be moved, and be mad because of the sword that I will send among them.” — the evil and the good events of life are often represented in Scripture as cups;
— and they shall drink and be mad; the judgements foretold shall come upon all; which as intoxicating liquor has on drunken persons, will make them shake and tremble, and reel to and fro, and toss and tumble about, and behave like madmen.
17 Then took I the cup at the Lord’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the Lord had sent me, — and made all the nations to drink, a hint of the endtime “all” unto whom, the Lord had sent me;
— as an emblem of what wrath would come upon them, and they should drink deep of; but this was done in vision, and also in prophecy; the prophet proclaiming the will of God, all his judgements upon the nations, and what would befall them.
“Then took I the cup at the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations to drink”
18 to wit: Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing and a curse, as it is this day;
— to make all nations a desolation, an hissing and a curse; to strip them of their crowns and kingdom, of their wealth and riche; so that they became an astonishment to some, to see the change that was made in them; and were hissed and cursed.
19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; — Pharaoh king of Egypt; who is mentioned first after the kings of Judah; not only because the Jews were in alliance with Egypt, and trusted to them;
— and therefore this is to show the vanity of their confidence and dependence; because the judgements of God first took place on the king of Egypt; for in this very year, in which this prophecy was delivered, Pharaohnecho king of Egypt was smitten by Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah 46:2.
20 and all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod.
14 The Prophecies of Jeremias against the Nations of Ælam.
15 Thus saith the Lord, The bow of Ælam is broken, even the chief of their power. 16 And I will bring upon Ælam the four winds from the four corners of heaven, and I will disperse them toward all these winds; and there shall be no nation to which they shall not come—even the outcasts of Ælam. 17 And I will put them in fear before their enemies that seek their life; and I will bring evils upon them according to my great anger; and I will send forth my sword after them, until I have utterly destroyed them. 18 And I will set my throne in Ælam, and will send forth thence king and rulers. 19 But it shall come to pass at the end of days, that I will turn the captivity of Ælam, saith the Lord.
20 In the beginning of the reign of king Sedekias, there came this word concerning Ælam.
21 Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon;
— the children of Edom, Moab and Ammon; all well known and implacable enemies of Israel; the Edomites descended from Esau; and the Moabites and Ammonites, the two descentants of Lot by his daughters. Their destruction is prophesied of in Jeremiah: chapters 48-49.
22 and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea;
— and all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Sidon; two very ancient cities in Phoenicia, frequently mentioned together, being near each other; their ruin were also foretold by prophet Ezekiel; chapters 26-28.
23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners;
24 and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert;
25 and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;
26 and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world which are upon the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
“And all the kings of the north, those near and far, one to another;” “And all the kingdoms of the nations upon the face of the earth” “And the king of Babylon shall drink after them” — a better translation might be “But the king of Babylon shall drink before them.”
27 “Therefore thou shalt say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink ye and be drunken, and spew and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.’ — drink ye, and be drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more;
— as is the case of drunken men; they drink till they are intoxicated; and they spew up what they have drunk; and fall; not only break their bones, but their necks, or fall into places where they are suffocated, where they could loose their lives.
28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Ye shall certainly drink.
— then shalt thou say unto them, thus saith the Lord of hosts, ye shall certainly drink; those judgements shall certainly be inflicted; there will be no possibility of escaping, for the Lord does what he pleases with the armies of heaven over whom he has power and authority on earth.
29 For lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by My name. And should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts.’
— judgement often begins at the house of God, for the correction of his people, and then to be a warning to others;
30 “Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them: “‘The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He shall mightily roar upon His habitation; He shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
— the Lord shall roar from on high: from heaven, like a lion in violent claps of thunder; or in such dreadful dispensations of his providence, as will be very amazing and yet terrifying;
— he shall give a shout, as a thunder does, against all the inhabitants of the earth; or “answer a shout” give the onset for battle against the inhabitants of the earth, as the general of an army; which is accompanied with a shout, a thunder.
31 A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth, for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations. He will plead with all flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword,’” saith the Lord.
— a noise shall come to the ends of the earth; the report of these calamities and confusions shall reach the most distant countries; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations God enters into judgement with men for their impieties (lack of piety or reverence for God).
32 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: “Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.” — thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation; Rashi: whom I incite against one another; begin in one nation, and then go on to another;
— and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth; or “from the sides of it” that is, “from the ends of it” as the Targum paraphrases it, “Behold, evil goes forth from nation to nation, and great peoples shall come in the tumult of the sword upon the earth.”
33 And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
— shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; and like Covid-19 not that this should be at one and the same time; for there never was such a time, that there was such a general slaughter in the world, that the slain should reach from one end to the other;
— something many times worse that Covid-19 would come again and should go to all nations, meant by “at that day” the slain of the Lord would be in all parts of the world; or that, according to his will, there would be a great slaughter everywhere as the cup went round, or the sword was sent, first ravaging one country and then another.
34 Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye leaders of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished, and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.
— howl; false prophets and false shepherd play a prominent role in God’s rebuke;
— the Targum says, “howl, ye kings, and cry” and the rulers, princes and governors of the nations before threatened with destruction are meant; who are here called upon to lamentation and mourning for the ruin and loss of their kingdoms.
35 And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the leaders of the flock to escape. — and false shepherds shall have no way to flee; Or “and flight shall perish from the shepherds” though they may attempt it, they shall not be able to accomplish it;
— neither the dignity of their princes or influential leaders, the greatness of their power, or the abundance of their riches, would make a way for them; their enemies being so numerous, powerful and watchful.
36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the leaders of the flock shall be heard; for the Lord hath despoiled their pasture. — a voice of the cry of their false shepherds; those great calamities indeed that strike such a terror upon great men, and put them into this mighty consternation;
— for the Lord hath spoiled their pastures; in which they fed themselves; the spoiling of this makes them cry out; the prophet Jeremiah indicates to their great fright into which shepherds are put when they hear a roaring lion coming toward them, and find that neither they nor their flocks can escape.
37 And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the Lord. — and the peaceable habitations are cut down; shall now be exposed to all the calamities of war, this dismantles entire systems of order and comfort.
38 He hath forsaken His covert as the lion; for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the Oppressor, and because of His fierce anger. — their king hath forsaken his covert as a lion; some understand of God leaving Jerusalem, or the Temple, where he dwelt;
— who, while he made it his residence, protected it; but when he forsook it, it became exposed to the enemy; that is true with the destruction of the first temple by Nebuchadnezzar; but also true with the destruction of the second temple; that is, by the Romans;
— because of the fierceness of the oppressor; the tyrant Nebuchadnezzar, and later by Hadrian; or the “oppressing sword” as some supply it and so the Targum says, “from before the sword of the enemy.”
Jeremiah 26
1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word from the Lord, saying, — in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim; so the prophecy of this chapter were before the preceding chapter;
— this in the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign; so here is another flashback. Josiah was dead, Jehoahaz his son reigned for three months, then deposed by Pharaohnecho king of Egypt; and this Jehoiakim, another son of Josiah, also called Eliakim, was set on the throne.
2 “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Stand in the court of the Lord’S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the Lord’S house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word.
— and speak to all the inhabitants of Judah; not only those that dwelt at Jerusalem but also to the smaller cities of Judah; for what he was to say concerned them all, they all have sinned and needed repentance; without which they would be involved in the general calamity of the nation:
— which come to worship in the Lord’s house; as they did three times in the year, at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles; and this could be the last of these, when this prophecy was to be delivered.
3 It may so be they will hearken and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent Me of the evil which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.’ — “because of the evil of their doings” ~ more specifically: their adulteries, lyings and idolatries;
4 And thou shalt say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord: If ye will not hearken to Me, to walk in My law which I have set before you,
5 to hearken to the words of My servants the prophets whom I sent unto you, both rising up early and sending them, but ye have not hearkened — to hearken to the words of my servants the prophets; the interpretations they give of the law;
— the teachings they deliver; the exhortations, cautions and reproofs given by them in the name of the Lord; and therefore should be hearkened to; hearkening to the Lord himself in whose name they speak, and whose message they deliver.
6 then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.’” — this house like Shiloh; where the ark was until it was taken by the Philistines; and then the Lord forsook his tabernacle there, Psalms 78:60; and so he threatens to do the like to the Temple at Jerusalem, should they continue in their disobedience;
— and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth; that is, the city of Jerusalem, which should be taken up, and used proverbially in all countries; who, when they would curse anyone, should say, the Lord make thee as Jerusalem, or do unto thee as he has done to Jerusalem.
7 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. — heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord; in the Temple; in the court of Israel; they heard him out, and did not interrupt him while he was speaking;
— and having heard him, they were angry with him and were witnesses against him; they did not hear him so as to obey his words, receive his instructions and follow his directions; but they heard him with indignation, and were determined to prosecute him unto death.
8 Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, “Thou shalt surely die!
— that the priests and the false prophets and all the people took him, “Thou shalt surely die!; the priests and prophets were the leading men in this action; they stirred up the people against him and through their instigation he was seized and laid hold on;
— saying, thou shall surely die; signifying that they would bring a death charge against him, and which by the law would be death; without judge or jury; and which they would have put in execution, had not the princes of the land or the great Sanhedrin heard of it.
9 Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant’?” And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
— and all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the Temple; besides those that were around the Temple that heard him, others, upon a rumour that he was apprehended by the priests and prophets in the Temple, got together in a mob about him: or they were “gathered to” to hear what he had to say in his own defence; but it appears afterwards that the princes were on his side, Jeremiah 26:16.
10 When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king’s house unto the house of the Lord, and sat down in the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’S house.
— and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the Lord’s house; as a court of judicature, to hear and try the cause between the false prophet and his accusers. This gate of the temple is thought to be the upper gate, which Jotham built, II Kings 15:35;
— Rashi explains the ‘new’ gate: When Jehoiachin went in exile with some of the vessels of the house of our God, Nebuchadnezzar’s army also breached the eastern gate, but Zedekiah subsequently repaired and renewed it, hence calling it ‘new.’
11 Then spoke the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, “This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.” — to these priests and false prophets, to prophesy against Jerusalem is a sin;
— for he hath prophesied against this holy city; the city of Jerusalem; saying that it should be a curse to other nations; or as they interpreted it, that it should be utterly destroyed, and become desolate and none should inhabit it.
12 Then spoke Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard.
— the Lord sent me to prophesy against this house, and against this city, all the words that ye have heard; he does not deny but that he had prophesied against the city of Jerusalem and against the Temple, and that they should both come to ruin, unless the people repented;
— but then he urges that he was sent by the Lord and that every word that he had said was ordered by the Lord; and surely was not to be blamed for doing what the Lord commanded him to do.
13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent of the evil that He hath pronounced against you. — unless ye amend and repent; all the evils will come to you;
14 As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.
— do with me as seemeth good unto you; Jeremiah submitted to their pleasure, and should patiently endure what they thought fit to inflict upon him; it gave him no great concern whether his life was taken from him;
15 But know ye for certain that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof; for truly the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.”
16 Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets, “This man is not worthy to die, for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God!”
— hearing Jeremiah’s testimony for themselves, the princes and all the people said unto the priests and the false prophets; saying Jeremiah was justified in what he had said and done; hence they acquitted him; against he priests and false prophets;
— yet hearing what Jeremiah had testified for himself and also the judgement of the princes, they joined with the court in an address to the priests and false prophets, who were the chief accusers, and who would fain have had him brought in guilty of death;
— that this man is not worthy to die; or “the judgement of death is not for this man” we cannot give judgement against him; he is not guilty of any crime deserving death;
— for he hath spoken in the name of the Lord our God; not in his own name; but in the name of the Lord, and by his order; and therefore was not a false, but a true prophet: his integrity and firmness of mind; the plain marks of seriousness and humility, and a disinterested view, made them conclude in his favour.
17 Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,
18 “Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts: “‘Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.’
19 “Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? Did he not fear the Lord, and besought the Lord, and the Lord repented of the evil which He had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.”
— did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? no, they did not: neither the king, by his own authority; nor the Sanhedrin, the great court of judicature; they never sought to take away his life, nor sat in council about it; they never arraigned him, and much less condemned him:
— did he not fear the Lord, and besought the Lord; that is, Hezekiah; he did, as knowing that Micah was a prophet of the Lord, and sent by him; wherefore he received his prophecy with great awe and reverence, as coming from the Lord, and made his supplications to him that he would avert the judgements threatened:
— and the Lord repented (or relented) of the evil which he had pronounced against them? the king and his people, the city and the Temple; and so the threatened evil came not upon them in their days.
20 And there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah. — this is prophet Urijah whom we seldom heard of; he heard it from Jeremiah, hence not a true prophet;
21 And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid and fled, and went into Egypt.
22 And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor and certain men with him into Egypt.
23 And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king, who slew him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. — they, Jehoiakim the king and all his mighty warriors, caught Urijah out of Egypt; and slew him;
24 Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death. — nevertheless, the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah;
— though this instance was urged as a precedent to go by, Ahikam was one of those whom King Josiah, when struck by the words of the book of the law, who had been one of Josiah’s counsellors, who stood by Jeremiah, and used all his power, authority, and influence in his favour:
— that they should not give Jeremiah into the hand of the people to put him to death; that the Sanhedrin should not; although might incline to it; but Ahikam, having several brothers, as well as other friends, that paid a regard to his arguments and solicitations; he prevailed upon them not to give leave to the people to put Jeremiah to death;
— his son, Gedaliah, followed in his father’s steps, so that he was chosen by the Babylonians as the one to whom they committed Jeremiah for safety after taking Jerusalem.
2 For Egypt, against the Power of Pharao Nechao King of Egypt, who was by the river Euphrates in Charmis, whom Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Joakim king of Juda.
3 Take up arms and spears, and draw nigh to battle; 4 and harness the horses: mount, ye horsemen, and stand ready in your helmets; advance the spears, and put on your breast-plates.
5 Why do they fear, and turn back? even because their mighty men shall be slain: they have utterly fled, and being hemmed in they have not rallied, saith the Lord. 6 Let not the swift flee, and let not the mighty man escape to the north: the forces at Euphrates are become feeble, and they have fallen.
7 Who is this that shall come up as a river, and as rivers roll their waves? 8 The waters of Egypt shall come up like a river: and he said, I will go up, and will cover the earth, and will destroy the dwellers in it. 9 Mount ye the horses, prepare the chariots; go forth, ye warriors of the Ethiopians, and Libyans armed with shields; and mount, ye Lydians, bend the bow. 10 And that day shall be to the Lord our God a day of vengeance, to take vengeance on his enemies: and the sword of the Lord shall devour, and be glutted, and be drunken with their blood: for the Lord has a sacrifice from the land of the north at the river Euphrates.
11 Go up to Galaad, and take balm for the virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain hast thou multiplied thy medicines; there is no help in thee. 12 The nations have heard thy voice, and the land has been filled with thy cry: for the warriors have fainted fighting one against another, and both are fallen together.
13 The Words which the Lord spoke by Jeremias, concerning the coming of the king of Babylon to smite the land of Egypt.
14 Proclaim it at Magdol, and declare it at Memphis: say ye, Stand up, and prepare; for the sword has devoured thy yew-tree.
15 Wherefore has Apis fled from thee? thy choice calf has not remained; for the Lord has utterly weakened him. 16 And thy multitude has fainted and fallen; and each one said to his neighbour, Let us arise, and return into our country to our people, from the Grecian sword. 17 Call ye the name of Pharao Nechao king of Egypt, Saon esbeie moed. 18 As I live, saith the Lord God, he shall come as Itabyrion among the mountains, and as Carmel that is on the sea. 19 O daughter of Egypt dwelling at home, prepare thee stuff for removing: for Memphis shall be utterly desolate, and shall be called Woe, because there are no inhabitants in it.
20 Egypt is a fair heifer, but destruction from the north is come upon her. 21 Also her hired soldiers in the midst of her are as fatted calves fed in her; for they also have turned, and fled with one accord: they stood not, for the day of destruction was come upon them, and the time of their retribution. 22 Their voice is as that of a hissing serpent, for they go upon the sand; they shall come upon Egypt with axes, as men that cut wood. 23 They shall cut down her forest, saith the Lord, for their number cannot at all be conjectured, for it exceeds the locust in multitude, and they are innumerable. 24 The daughter of Egypt is confounded; she is delivered into the hands of a people from the north.
25 Behold, I will avenge Ammon her son upon Pharao, and upon them that trust in him.
27 But fear not thou, my servant Jacob, neither be thou alarmed, Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be at ease, and sleep, and there shall be no one to trouble him. 28 Fear not thou, my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; for I am with thee: she that was without fear and in luxury, has been delivered up: for I will make a full end of every nation among whom I have thrust thee forth; but I will not cause thee to fail: yet will I chastise thee in the way of judgment, and will not hold thee entirely guiltless.
The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609 BC), Jehoahaz (reign 609 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC).
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 “פַּרְנָסַיָא;” 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; setting 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.
Wolves, like Sanballat and Tobiah, scattered and remained hidden!
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.
Wolves, on closer scrunity, could be found among the children of Israel, too.
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!
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 in verse 6 to the house of Israel here; that is, now it is the ten tribes; and second, not just from the North, but out of all the countries or nations, hence this is prophetic regarding the ten tribes and for the endtimes.
Like the original Exodus, fear and trepidation to accompany a Second Exodus
This Latter-Day Exodus from all countries that God had driven them is so great and expansive that they wouldn’t remember the first Exodus anymore!
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 these false prophets, as the Targum interprets it, because of their false doctrines and wicked lives like Sanballat and Tobiah did; 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 ‘Temple’ of God; 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 understand 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;
— they taught vain things, and made them vain and sinful in their lives and conversations; and therefore were not to be hearkened to; so the Targum says, “they lead you astray; they speak the wickedness of their own hearts, not from the word of the Lord;”
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.’”
— they deceive people by by saying Lord hath said, ye shall have peace; all manner of prosperity; that they should have peace and not go into captivity, and enjoy the good things of it in peace and prosperity;
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;
— 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 understand 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 understand it perfectly; when too late to avert it by repentance when all this shall be fulfilled, and the 190/40 years of captivity should be taking 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 when 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 quoted by Gill 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 shepherd, 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 am God, Creator of the world from the beginning, says the Lord. I am God, and I 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, being omnipotent, is all powerful; and he sees lots of false shepherd around;
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; far more than Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel combined; the common (like wine being grape juice); the peculiar (like the investigative judgement). So the Targum confirms the Masoretic text: “I have heard what the false prophets say, a word of prophecy has been revealed to me in a dream.”
Ellen G White claimed to have over 2,000 visions from God
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 this was a meditated and 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 says, “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” 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; which is a new form of deceit: plagiarism of prophecy
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, God is against them that prophesy false dreams, 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 boastful and wanton inventions; for I sent them not nor commanded them; therefore 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, everyone to his neighbor and everyone 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 as a mockery; for everyman’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, whose majesty is 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.
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;
— “I will crush and cast you out;” the Targum says, “I will remove you far away;” this 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;
— the Targum says “And I will place upon you eternal disgrace, and you shall bear everlasting humiliation that will not cease.”
Jeremiah 24
The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609 BC), Jehoahaz (reign 609 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC).
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 Jeremiah 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 God will set his eyes upon them for good, being most attentive to their wants in this respect, and God will bring them again to this land; and he 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 God will bring them again to this land, and he 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 God will give them an heart to know him, 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 God 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 God 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 God had 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.
~~ 16,24,33 ~~
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.
But the Orthodox Jews have gone overboard, so holy is his name, they believe, they refrain from even calling his name, referring to him as Hashem, that is, “The Name,” which isn’t his name; just pointing, saying somewhat ‘you know what name I mean.’ His name is Yehovah, and is also not Yahweh, which is the Samaritan counterfeit version.
It is the same as the name Jesus we used today; if his name was used in his time two thousand years ago, he would have been known as Yeshua instead of Jesus. But never mind, as had often been the case, the essence is more important than the form.
His name Yehovah, is specifically stated, and should be used. Titles are okay, but sometimes He asked us pointedly to call on His name. 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.
Guinea is set to become a significant player in the global iron ore market, with the Simandou project expected to begin exports by the end of 2025.
The Simandou mountains are the world’s largest known deposit of high-grade iron ore
Overview of Iron Ore Exports
Guinea is home to the Simandou project, which is considered the world’s largest untapped high-grade iron ore deposit. This project has the potential to reshape the global iron ore supply chain, with estimates suggesting it could produce up to 150 million tons of iron ore annually, accounting for about 7% of global production.
Current Developments
Simandou Project: The first iron ore exports from the Simandou project are now anticipated for 2026, contingent upon the completion of the necessary railway and port infrastructure. The TransGuinean railway, which is currently under construction, will connect the Simandou mine to the port of Morébaya, facilitating the export of iron ore. 2
Infrastructure Investment: The development of the Simandou project involves significant investments in infrastructure, including a 600 km railway and a new deep-water port, which are crucial for transporting iron ore to global markets. 2
Export Commitments: Guinea has committed to exporting the first batch of iron ore from the Simandou project by the end of 2025, with construction progress exceeding 50% as of now. 1
4 Sources
Economic Impact
The successful development of the Simandou project is expected to not only boost Guinea’s economy but also provide a new source of highgrade iron ore that could lower prices for steel manufacturers, particularly in China, which is the world’s largest consumer of iron ore.
In summary, Guinea’s iron ore exports are on the verge of significant growth, primarily driven by the Simandou project, which is poised to become a major contributor to the global iron ore supply chain in the coming years.
“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 understand 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 Jews 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 Scriptures; that’s how authentic it is, as Ezra is being revered as a second Moses by the Jewish Orthodoxy.
Jeremiah 21
The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609 BC), Jehoahaz (reign 609 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC).
Rashi is the acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040 – 1105), 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 (a closet, a dungeon).
— 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.
Nebuchadnezzar – King of Babylon and Conqueror of Judah
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 soon besieging it, as had been predicted;
— the Lord will deal with us according to his judgement; which God had done in times past; 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; 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: 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; so that they would not hurt their enemy, but recoil upon themselves; or like a boomerang;
— the meaning is, that they should be useless; that they should neither be defensive to them, nor offensive to their enemies; but rather hurtful to themselves. It seems to suggest their swords will 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; 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, 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 “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, by Famine and by 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. — addressing the 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 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 from the South this time, towards 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 quoted by Gill 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.
The list of kings of Judah towards the Captivity in Babylon; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609 BC), Jehoahaz (reign 609 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC).
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 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 regarding 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 Jehoiakim, 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 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, 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.
“Do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow.”
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, 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 Septuagint reaffirms, “by myself have I sworn:” 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;
— that is, 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 your choice warriors as one cuts down forest trees and casts them 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?’
— many nations! for during ancient time, it was only one nation, Babylon, now many nations; wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto another great city? so fortified and so full of people; the metropolis of the whole nation; the greatest city of the land;
— 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 quoted by Gill 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 sorrow, 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 deceits, by unjust measures, by impressing people into work without compensation, such as using 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 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 mourn 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 from 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 God 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; 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 God 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! — the expression, “O earth” is expressed seven times throughout the OT, here by Jeremiah, elsewhere by Moses, Job, Isaiah and Micah, empahsizing that God, too, has a message for the whole of humanity;
— hear the word of the Lord, O earth, earth, earth; to the inhabitants of the whole earth, not jus to 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.”
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 for the prophets to write; 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.
Is the Trump administration planning to bring down Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro? The short answer is: probably not deliberately, but it might stumble that way anyway—and that’s precisely the problem.
The recent escalation tells a familiar story. The administration is weighing military strikes against drug cartels operating inside Venezuela as part of a broader strategy aimed at weakening Maduro.
While President Donald Trump has not yet approved any action, with the US and Venezuela talking through Middle Eastern intermediaries, the pattern emerging is one of increasing pressure without a clear endgame.
The narco-terrorism frame
The Trump team has cleverly framed this as counternarcotics and counterterrorism rather than explicit regime change.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a driving force behind the hardline approach, views Venezuela through the prism of his Cuban-American background: Maduro’s regime is kept alive by Cuban intelligence, while Venezuelan oil keeps Cuba afloat. In this worldview, taking down Maduro is the “first phase of cleaning up the hemisphere.”
But here’s where reality intrudes on ideology. Trump himself has denied seeking regime change in Venezuela, even as he ordered a large military buildup off Venezuela’s coast. This contradiction isn’t mere diplomatic dissembling—it reflects genuine confusion about objectives.
Is the US trying to pressure Maduro into negotiating an exit? Hoping the military will stage a coup? Banking on economic collapse to spark a popular uprising? All of the above?
The unintended consequences
The problem with regime change—whether acknowledged or inadvertent—is what comes after. Venezuela isn’t Iraq or Libya, but it shares their curse: oil wealth combined with weak institutions.
The opposition, while legitimate in its electoral claims, remains fractured and largely exiled. The military brass is deeply complicit in narco-trafficking. Any transitional government would face immediate legitimacy challenges, economic chaos and likely violence.
More troubling still, the current approach may be achieving the opposite of its stated aims. Maduro is preparing to declare a state of emergency and mobilize civic-military forces, rallying nationalist sentiment against American threats.
Nothing strengthens an authoritarian like external pressure that can be framed as imperial aggression. We’ve seen this movie before—in Cuba, Iran, North Korea. It rarely ends well.
The migration paradox
Here’s the ultimate irony: Trump campaigned heavily on stemming immigration from Venezuela. His supporters cheered his promises to deport Venezuelan gang members and restore order.
But destabilizing Venezuela further—whether through military strikes, economic strangulation or facilitating regime collapse—will generate precisely the migration surge the administration aims to stop.
Venezuela has already produced over seven million refugees and migrants. A state collapse scenario could easily double that number. Colombia, Brazil and other neighbors are already overwhelmed. Where do Trump and his advisors think these people will go?
Realism requires reality checks
A genuinely realist approach to Venezuela would acknowledge several uncomfortable truths. First, Maduro, while reprehensible, is not an imminent threat to US national security. His regime is brittle, corrupt and gradually hemorrhaging support, but it’s not on the verge of collapse without external intervention.
Second, the US has limited leverage. The administration has already moved to cancel sanctions waivers, setting a May 27 deadline for foreign oil companies to exit Venezuela. That’s maximum pressure territory. What’s left? Military action risks turning a manageable problem into a regional crisis.
Third, and most importantly, the Trump administration needs to ask: what’s America’s actual interest here? If it’s genuinely about narcotics trafficking, there are more effective ways to target cartels than bombing Venezuela, which would likely scatter operations and radicalize survivors.
If it’s about democracy promotion, history suggests military intervention tends to undermine rather than foster democratic development.
The real alternative
The administration faces a choice: It can continue down the path of escalating pressure, risking accidental regime change without planning for the aftermath. Or it could pivot toward a more transactional approach of targeted engagement focused on specific, achievable goals like counternarcotics cooperation, migration management and gradual economic normalization in exchange for verifiable concessions.
Is such engagement distasteful? Absolutely. Does it mean legitimizing an authoritarian regime? To some degree, yes. But realism has never been about choosing between good and evil—it’s about choosing between unpalatable options and catastrophic ones.
The tragedy is that the Trump administration seems to be headed toward regime change by drift rather than design. No one explicitly wants to own Venezuela’s reconstruction, but the cumulative effect of current policies may force that responsibility upon us anyway. That’s not strategy—it’s negligence dressed up as toughness.
If the Trump administration is serious about avoiding endless commitments abroad, it should resist the siren song of regime change in Caracas, no matter how it’s packaged. Venezuela’s people deserve better than Maduro. They also deserve better than becoming the next American foreign policy disaster.
To understanding this deep-rooted conflict, consider this rivalry between Esau and Jacob:
“And Esau harbored hatred in his heart against Jacob, his brother, because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.
“And Esau said in his heart, ‘I will not do as Cain did, who killed Abel during their father’s lifetime and then their father had another son, Seth.
“Rather, I will wait until the days of mourning for my father have passed, and then I will kill Jacob my brother, and I will be the sole heir’” Genesis 27:42Jonathan
For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah
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.
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.
The “East Gate” a small or postern gate used for throwing out refuge and dung
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 Jerusalem; the punishment for the evil of sin; by 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.
Valley of Ben Hinnom, or the valley of slaughter as the Targum says
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 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 Targum reaffirms it, “And they shall bury in Tophet because there will be no place left to bury,” 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 following instruction, Jeremiah stood in the court of the Lord’s house, and said to all the people; this was the court of the Temple, 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 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.
Pashur smote Jeremiah and put him in stocks for his doom prophecies
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 golden 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, thought to have been said by the prophet, and I was deceived;
— what follows from hence to the end of the chapter is 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; — the day of his birth, typically a moment of joy and celebration, is now viewed as a source of sorrow and regret;
— and 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 by divine wrath upon them; in his fury, as the Targum adds, 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.
Chinese company Highlander is building a server pod near Shanghai, where it will be submerged underwater to reduce the power consumption used by the facility for cooling. According to the South China Morning Post, Highlander is expected to sink the underwater pods in October. The servers will operate commercially, with state-owned institutions like China Telecom being among the first customers.
This isn’t the first underwater data center project; Microsoft concluded its own experiment off the coast of Scotland in 2024. Although Microsoft said that it has learned a lot from the project, it did not proceed with a commercial deployment of the system.
Chinese company Highlander is building a submerged server pod near Shanghai
On the other hand, China started its own underwater project in Hainan in 2023, and it is still active. The Shanghai project will be the second underwater center in the country, but it will be the first one to have clients.
The biggest benefit to using ocean water to cool data centers is the massive reduction in cooling costs. “Underwater operations have inherent advantages,” Highlander vice president Yang Ye told the Morning Post. Ye also said that it will reduce cooling energy consumption by around 90%. Highlander also said that 95% of its energy requirements will come from renewable sources, further reducing its carbon footprint.
There are also significant challenges that Highlander had to overcome. “The actual completion of the underwater data center involved greater construction challenges than initially expected,” said Engineer Zhou Jun, who worked at the Shanghai project.
Salt water and electronics do not mix well, so the company had to take special precautions to protect its systems. One technique Highlander uses involves a coating with glass flakes to protect the steel capsule from corrosion. It will also have an above-sea section that serves as an access point for maintenance crews.
Although placing data centers underwater will help reduce their power consumption, some experts are concerned about the effects of ocean warming due to continuous heat output. There hasn’t been enough research on this, University of Hull Marine Ecologies Andrew Want told SCMP.
Nevertheless, the Highlander claims that an independent assessment of its test project showed that temperature changes were still within acceptable limits. But as data centers expand and hit megawatt- and gigawatt-scales, thermal pollution will become an increasingly serious matter.
Chapter 17 continues with more prophecies of the destruction of both the house of Judah and the house of Israel, 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
And the Sabbath commandment of God through Moses were reaffirmed by the Prophets:
“And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me,” saith the Lord” Isaiah 66:23
“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” Jeremiah 17:27
“Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctify them” Ezekiel 20:12
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, — a pen of iron; this is an allegory; that is to say that it is deeply engraved, and not easily erased when written with a iron pen and 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;”
— the Targum expresses it in the plural number, “the sins of the house of Judah;” though, if any particular sin is intended, its main one seems to be idolatry; but there is no need to limit the sin of Judah to idolatry, as it includes many other sins, like breaking the Sabbaths mentioned in the preamble above;
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 their 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 [hatred or hostility] upon your land; and it shall be desolate in the year of punishment: and I will take vengeance of judgement upon you, until I remove you from your inheritance which I have given 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; or as the Targum says, “trusteth in the Word of the Lord,”
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? — the truth is, the heart of man, in his corrupt and fallen state, is false and deceitful above all things: and it is a mistake to think own hearts any better than they really are;
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.” — speaking like scoffers, where is the fulfilment of the threats which thou didst utter from God? Mentioned by Peter, II Peter 3:4, mocking, 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 transparent and faithful 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 pleaded; 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 sabbaths! (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; 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.’”
— the observance of the Sabbath was the distinguishing character of one santified by 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.
~~ v21-22 ~~
God’s Sabbaths contrast to the world’s pagan sabbaths; which “Christians” understand and practice as ‘your sabbaths’ 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.
“Arise and go down to the potter’s house”
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 the world another 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 naked 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 even amongst the heathens!
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; our counsellors in the Temple and state affairs?
— and so the Targum says, “let us plot 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 testify against him with false witnesses.”
19 Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me. — Jeremiah appeals to God to listen to the injustice and false accusations he has suffered.
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.
And the Sabbath commandment of God through Moses were reaffirmed by the Prophets:
“And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me,” saith the Lord” Isaiah 66:23
“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” Jeremiah 17:27
“Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctify them” Ezekiel 20:12
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.
In the Bible we see that God has identified three different categories of days for religious purposes. To identify these three categories of days God has used three different Hebrew words. Each of these Hebrew words is used to identify one category of days.
Now the way God has used the other Hebrew word to identify three separate categories of days is as follows: When this other Hebrew word is used on its own, then it identifies one category of days, and when this other Hebrew word is used with the adjective for “holy,” then it identifies a different category of days.
In this way God has used three different Hebrew words to identify three different categories of days that God Himself has instituted. Often times they overlap which would be a compound concept, but sometimes they stand apart.
(1) (H4150 môʿēḏ) translated as appointed gathering, appointed time, appointed assembly; but doesn’t mean feast by itself, but it could be combined with a festival feast;
(3) (H4744 miqrā’) a convocation, a sacred assembly, often preceded with holy, (H6944 qōḏeš).
Since all the feasts are recorded in Leviticus 23, we’ll begin by finding the most appropriate translation for each instance. I’ll take the initiative to identify each one and translate them into English as accurately as possible.
Leviticus 23
1 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
2 “Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: ‘Concerning the assemblies (H4150 môʿēḏ) of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations (H4744 miqrā’), even these are My appointed assemblyies (H4150 môʿēḏ).
— this preface means that all the followings are appointed assemblyies (H4150 môʿēḏ), even if it is Sabbath of rest, which is a holy convocation (H4744 miqrā’); hence a weekly Sabbath is a composite command.
3 “‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation (H4744 miqrā’). Ye shall do no work therein; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.
4 “‘These are the appointed assemblies (H4150 môʿēḏ) of the Lord, even holy convocations (H4744 miqrā’), which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
— these are the assemblies of the Lord; because the following are appointed by the Lord for assembling themselves before him,
5 On the fourteenth day of the first month between the evenings is the Lord’S Passover. — “between the evenings” (hā·‘ar·bā·yim); no mention of the Passover (the sacrifice of the Pesach lamb) being a feast, nor the time being holy;
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Festival (H2282 ḥāḡ) of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord; seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. — the fifteenth day has the characters of the three: appointed assemblies; a holy convocation; and a pilgrim-festival;
— in fact, the days of Unleavened Bread and Passover are a composite Feast; the whole made a festival of eight days, called indifferently the Feast of the Passover, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread; hence those who thought they are two distinct feasts read the Gospel in the NT with much confusion.
7 On the first day ye shall have a holy convocation (H4744 miqrā’); ye shall do no servile work therein.
— the first day of unleavened bread, the 15th Abib, the emphasis is on the holy convocation where people assemble together.
8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation (H4744 miqrā’); ye shall do no servile work therein.’”
— in the seventh day is an holy convocation, ye shall do no servile work therein; where people assemble together as on the first day;
9 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
10 “Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: ‘When ye come into the land which I give unto you and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest.
11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you; on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf a helamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.
13 And the meat offering thereof shall be two-tenths part of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savor; and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, a fourth part of a hin.
14 And ye shall eat neither bread nor parched corn nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
15 “‘And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete.
16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days, and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.
17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two-tenths part. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord.
18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock and two rams; they shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord, with their meat offering and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savor unto the Lord.
19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.
21 And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day that it may be a holy convocation (H4744 miqrā’) unto you. Ye shall do no servile work therein; it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
— the feast of Weeks or day of Pentecost; is composite feast, a holy convocation and an appointed assembly;
22 “‘And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not rid cleanly the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleanings of thy harvest. Thou shalt leave them unto the poor and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God.’”
23 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
24 “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation (H4744 miqrā’).
— the day of Trumpet, Rosh Hashanah, is also a holy convocation and an appointed assembly;
25 Ye shall do no servile work therein, but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.’”
26 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
27 “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation (H4744 miqrā’) unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.
— the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, is also a holy convocation and an appointed assembly;
28 And ye shall do no work in that same day, for it is a Day of Atonement to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God.
29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
30 And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
31 Ye shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
32 It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls. On the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening unto evening, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.”
33 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
34 “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast (H2282 ḥāḡ) of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.
— as a whole, the seven days of Tabernacles are both a pilgrim-feast and an appointed assemblies;
35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation (H4744 miqrā’); ye shall do no servile work therein.
— on the first day, the emphasis is upon a holy convocation; but no mention of a feast;
36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation (H4744 miqrā’) unto you, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. It is a solemn assembly, and ye shall do no servile work therein.
— on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; as on the first day; it is a solemn assembly; of all the people, when they were gathered together before the Lord;
— Days 2-6 of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Days 2-7 of the Feast of Tabernacles are identical have a sense that it is a celebration, a time of laughters and happiness.
37 “‘These are the appointed assemblies (H4150 môʿēḏ) of the Lord which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations (H4744 miqrā’), to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering and a meat offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, every thing upon his day”
38 besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which ye give unto the Lord.
39 “‘Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast (H2282 ḥāḡ) unto the Lord seven days; on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. — a feast in the sense that it is for rejoicing and a celebration
40 And ye shall take for yourselves on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.
41 And ye shall keep it a feast (H2282 ḥāḡ) unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations; ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
— a pilgrim-feast; a feast in the sense that it is a celebration has an implied indication of a ‘wine and cheese’ party, plus a time of laughters and happiness.
42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths,
43 that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’”
44 And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the appointed assemblies (H4150 môʿēḏ) of the Lord.
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 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC).
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; because their sins were so thick, so loathsome and abominable;
— 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:
— 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 expounds on the “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 or birds 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. — King Manasseh invoked, a figure infamous in biblical history; but God will cause them to be removed into “all the kingdoms of the earth;”
— that is, 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? — a lamentation rendered against the city of Jerusalem, capturing the emotional and theological weight of divine abandonment.
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. — widows multiply “before Me” that is, God sees and acknowledges the grief, but it’s a consequence of justice;
— their widows are increased 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 its capture, and during the Assyrian captivity before, 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 the seas 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 me, Jeremiah, and 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 the Targum adds, “do not delay my humiliation;” that is, pleading for swift justice, not prolonged suffering.
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, indicating to himself that his 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 Jeremiah 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 Jeremiah 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 do.
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; even from 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, Jeremiah, shall not take a wife; because it was on account of the calamities and distresses which were coming upon the nation;
— which would be unbearable by him, if he had a wife and children; but he was put in charge of the king’s daughters, who could be his nieces like children 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 that for such calamities and distresses, it was wise for all to abstain from having children.
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 to famine, “deaths of diseases” indicating slow, agonizing death through plague and starvations; by which a man suffers slowly as by famine and is not snatched away at once; and 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 mourning 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?’
— this question was answered to Habakkuk, as the prophet wonders why God would use a wicked nation to bring judgement on Judah; for a detailed study see Habakkuk
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 your wills, 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 reaffirms, “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!
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 the 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 God and worship him 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;
~~ 16,24,33 ~~
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, including our English language. Even in 1611 when the first edition English Bible, the King James was published, the prophet Jeremiah was known as Ieremiah. Similarly, the name Jehovah is a very late comer.
But the Orthodox Jews have gone overboard, so holy is his name, they believe, they refrain from even calling his name, referring to him as Hashem, that is, “The Name,” which isn’t his name; just pointing, saying somewhat ‘you know what name I mean.’ His name is Yehovah, and is also not Yahweh, which is the Samaritan counterfeit version.
It is the same as the name Jesus we used today; if his name was used in his time two thousand years ago, he would have been known as Yeshua instead of Jesus. But never mind, as had often been the case, the essence is more important than the form.
His name Yehovah, is specifically stated, and should be used. Titles are okay, but sometimes He asked us pointedly to call on His name. The following verses translated as the LORD erred in presenting His name:
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.
On this day, September 23, 2025, using God’s solar-lunar calendar, the Biblical year 5786 begins.
On the race toward the beginning of the seventh millennium, the Western calendar is already off by 25 years whereas the Jewish Calendar has still 214 years to run. Thus giving rise to a difference of 239 year! The Question is, where are the discrepancies?
Israel signed “Abraham Accords,” normalizing relations with UAE and Bahrain, soon followed by Sudan and Morocco.
Caveat
All Orthodox groups accept the traditional Jewish calendar as established by rabbinic calculations (from Seder Olam Rabbah, 160 CE; contrast this to Archbishop Ussher (1581-1656) who spent years calculating the calendar only from the early 1600s, a difference of something like 1500 years.
And these are the key Similarities Across Jewish Orthodox Sects: this year 5786 AM is understood as the number of years since the creation of Adam and Eve, not necessarily the entire universe.
They follow the Masoretic Text of the Torah, which provides the genealogical basis for calculating 5786 years from creation of Adam and Eve to the present.
Reconciling 5786 AM (Hebrew) with 2025 CE (Gregorian)
This counts years from what is considered the creation of Adam and Eve, dated to 3760 BCE (Year 1 AM). The current Hebrew year 5786 AM corresponds to 2025–2026 CE in the Gregorian calendar, giving a gap of 239 to 240 years.
Where Does the “240-Year” Difference Come From? Key Issue: the Persian Period
The idea of a 240-year discrepancy comes from a debate over missing years in the Jewish calendar. Some scholars argue that rabbinic calculations in Seder Olam Rabbah omitted about 165–240 years, especially regarding the Persian period (538–323 BCE).
Secular historical records (Greek, Persian, and archaeological sources) state that the Persian period (from Cyrus’ conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE to Alexander the Great’s conquest in c 330 BCE) lasted about 208–209 years — thus omitting 156 years from Jewish chronology.
Seder Olam Rabbah, however, records only about 52 years for the Persian period, drastically shortening it, critics claim.
If we add at least those missing 156 years to the current Jewish year (5786 AM), we get: 5786 + 156 = 5942. This means this year should be at least 5942 AM, if this is the only mistake.
But it is known that the Masoretic Text has an error in Exodus 12:40-41, the MT says Israel was in Egypt for 430 years, while the LXX/SP clarify that this includes time in Canaan and Egypt.
If this timeline is corrected, then the true Jewish year would be 5942 – 210 = 5732 AM
This would mean we still have 268 years to go before we arrive at the year 6000 AM.
But then again, Jewish figures maybe right
(A) The Persian empire may reign from Cyrus’ conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE to Alexander the Great’s conquest in c 330 BCE, which lasted about 208–209 years — but Cyrus decreed an order to allow the Jews to return to Judea during his reign, and not at the end of the Persian empire.
The first 52 years of the Persian period overlap with this timeframe (Cyrus’s decree, return of the exiles, and Temple reconstruction). While the Persian Empire continued to exist for another 156 years (until 331 BCE), Jewish scribes might not have recorded this period in detail because it was not as relevant to their religious history. So incorporating just 52 years for the Persian period should be legitimate.
Second, the error in Exodus 12:40-41 might be just the omission of Canaan in the verse, while the figures for the rest of genealogy continue uninterrupted.
The Targum says the Israelites in Egypt were only 210 years; and in Exodus 12 it explains why this differs from the Masoretic version of 429 years:
And the days of the dwelling of the sons of Israel in Mizraim were thirty weeks of years, (thirty times seven years,) which is the sum of two hundred and ten years. But the number of four hundred and thirty years (had passed away since) the Lord spake to Abraham, in the hour that He spake with him on the fifteenth of Nisan, between the divided parts, until the day that they went out of Mizraim. Exodus 12:40 Jonathan
Should the above two apparent misconceptions be viewed in their right perspectives, then the Jewish year of 5786 since the creation of Adam and Eve for this year should be closer to the truth than not.
(B) There is another possibility that some Jewish Chronologists manipulated the Calendar by shortening the Persian period by some 240 years but offsettin by lengthening similar number of years through an earlier period or periods, hence leaving the year number (5786 for this year) intact. We couldn’t know for sure, but there is always a possibility of such manipulation as the Lord prophesied there is such as thing as “the lying pen of the scribes” Jeremiah 8:8.
Years could have passed before Jeremiah was asked to prophecy again, probably in the year 602 BC during the reign of Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC).
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.
But starting verse 11, the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah are both included in the narratives.
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. — so Jeremiah 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.” — arise and go to Euphrates; the Euphrates is specified as being near Babylon, the Jews 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 God destroy the pride of Judah, and the strength 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 ruin the pride of the men of Judah, and the strength of the inhabitants of Jerusalem;” meaning the proud 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 he 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 his 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; giddy, stupid, unable to help themselves or to advise one another;
— 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;
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 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;
— God 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 your feet stumble on the mountains of gloom.”
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, 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 humiliation and repentance; 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 their cities 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” 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? — or “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, a foolish king, had 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? indicating 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.
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 exposed;”
— 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 wilderness, even a full wind that should scatter and destroy, Jeremiah 4:11;
— or “to the wind of the wilderness” and 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, a severe drought; 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. — 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 applies himself to God, who alone could remove it, confessing that their many 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 punishment 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. — do not pray for this people to do well; 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 come 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.
Falling water level at Lake Mead shows a phenomenon called the “bathtub ring.”
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 die 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.
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 they that are sick with the famine just want 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.
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!
— the prophet, though forbidden, proceeds to prayers, hast thou utterly rejected Judah? 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 Jeremiah 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.
Question: How truthful is this analysis and conclusion?
Bible Hub • John 7:53-8:11: Why is this passage missing in the earliest manuscripts, and how does that affect its authenticity?
John 7:53-8:11: Historical Context, Manuscript Evidence, and Authenticity
Overview of the Passage
John 7:53-8:11 (often referred to as the account of the woman caught in adultery) is a well-known segment that depicts religious leaders bringing a woman before Jesus, accusing her of adultery, and seeking His judgment on her sin. According to the Berean Standard Bible, this passage includes Jesus’ words in which He famously says, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to cast a stone at her” (John 8:7). While beloved and widely taught, this passage poses questions about its origins due to its absence in some of the earliest known Greek manuscripts.
Earliest Manuscript Witnesses and Omissions
Over the centuries, many manuscripts of the Greek New Testament have been discovered, providing robust evidence for the text of Scripture. Codex Sinaiticus (4th century) and Codex Vaticanus (4th century), along with papyri such as Papyrus 66 (mid-2nd century) and Papyrus 75 (late 2nd/early 3rd century), do not include John 7:53-8:11 in their text of the Gospel of John. In these ancient witnesses, the text flows directly from John 7:52 to John 8:12 without mention of the woman caught in adultery.
Additional evidence in later manuscript traditions shows that some scribes relocated this passage to other sections, such as after Luke 21:38, or inserted it at a later point in John 7. The variation in placement and its absence in earlier copy traditions indicate it was a floating text for a time in the manuscript record.
Patristic and Early Church Considerations
Though omitted in some of the earliest Greek manuscripts, several later church fathers and early Christian writers appear aware of the story. Some references seem to have circulated through oral tradition or alternative manuscript traditions. For instance, Jerome in the 4th century included this passage in the Latin Vulgate. Augustine (late 4th-early 5th century) also referenced the account, explaining that certain scribes might have removed it out of concern that Jesus’ mercy could be interpreted as endorsing adultery. Chrysostom and other earlier Greek fathers did not include commentary on it, which many scholars ascribe to the lack of this passage in the manuscripts they used.
Possible Reasons for Omission
1. Manuscript Variation: Some scribes passing on the Gospel of John may not have had access to the tradition containing this passage. This would naturally lead to differences in later copied manuscripts.
2. Concern About Misinterpretation: As Augustine suggested, there may have been apprehension that Jesus’ response would embolden the sin of adultery. In some regions, scribes might have judged it prudent to omit or relocate the passage to avoid such misunderstandings.
3. Later Insertion: Other textual critics propose that the passage, though an authentic historical account, was not in John’s original Gospel but was known through a separate oral or written tradition. It may have been inserted in various places of John (or Luke) by well-meaning scribes who regarded its content as trustworthy and worth preserving.
Authenticity and Historical Credibility
1. Consistency with Jesus’ Character: The teaching in this passage closely aligns with Jesus’ known approach to sin and holiness. Jesus displays both compassion for repentant sinners and calls them to leave their sin behind (John 8:10-11: “Neither do I condemn you. Go now and sin no more.”). This theme resonates with the rest of the Gospels.
2. Widespread Acceptance: While not present in the earliest manuscripts, this account became widely accepted and included in the major printed editions of Scripture over the centuries. Early church acceptance, reflected in Latin manuscripts and repeated throughout church history, suggests its broad doctrinal consistency with the message of John.
3. Doctrinal Implications: Even if a reader concludes that it was not part of the original text of John’s Gospel, the narrative’s contents do not contradict anything taught elsewhere in Scripture. Every reliable principle in this account can be found in other teachings of Jesus: compassion, admonition against hypocrisy, and the command to pursue righteous living.
Impact on the Reliability of Scripture
In discussions of manuscript integrity, the presence or absence of this passage does not undermine the doctrinal soundness or historical reliability of the New Testament. Unquestionably, the New Testament boasts substantial manuscript support-countless Greek manuscripts, early translations in diverse languages, and quotations by church fathers corroborate its essential text.
When passages like John 7:53-8:11 are found to vary among manuscripts, textual critics carefully weigh the external manuscript evidence and internal linguistic features. Because these critical methods are transparent and thorough, it is possible to identify passages whose origins are under question while still recognizing the faithful transmission of Scripture as a whole.
Exegetical and Pastoral Considerations
1. Moral and Spiritual Instruction: This passage, whenever included in teaching, underscores a powerful message of repentance, humility, and divine mercy. Its application in sermons or Bible studies calls believers and unbelievers alike to reflection on both justice and mercy.
2. Caution in Application: Those who preach and teach from John 7:53-8:11 often note the textual questions. However, they also affirm that it faithfully conveys truths found throughout Scripture, such as divine grace extended to sinners and the call to live uprightly.
3. Scripture’s Unity: Across the Gospels, Jesus demonstrates authority and compassion. The events of the Gospels consistently present Him forgiving repentant sinners, rebuking hypocrisy (compare Luke 7:36-50 for a similar example of forgiveness and understanding), and fulfilling the righteous requirements of God’s law (Matthew 5:17).
Conclusion
John 7:53-8:11 is missing from some of the earliest known Greek manuscripts, which raises questions about its original placement. Nevertheless, there is strong testimony that the account was recognized in various traditions throughout early church history, with many post-4th-century manuscripts including it and major theologians referring to it. Its content is doctrinally consistent with the rest of Scripture, attesting to the character of Jesus as merciful toward sinners and uncompromising against sin.
While this passage may prompt questions about textual history, it does not jeopardize the overall reliability of the New Testament text. Through meticulous study of manuscripts-along with early witness citations, translations, and patristic commentary-one can appreciate how carefully Scripture was preserved and transmitted. The message of divine mercy and human accountability remains clear, and this account stands with the larger scriptural witness to the transforming grace and truth found in Jesus Christ.
Question: How truthful is this analysis and conclusion?
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
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 word of Moses in 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, testifying 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 them; 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 lost 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 cry out before me, but I will not accept 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.
“Go and cry unto the gods unto whom you offer incense,” says the Lord
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 commit evil, thou rejoices; thou glorify in wickedness;
— or, at a time when thou offend against my laws, thou rejoices 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.
“Behold, like a beautiful olive tree with fine branches and pleasing appearance, whose foliage is mingled among the trees—so did the Lord call your name among the nations. But when you transgressed the Torah, mighty nations like fire will come upon you and attach themselves to your branches.”
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 lost ten tribes, who had committed sin, and for which the evil pronounced had been executed on them already, being some time ago carried away as captives:
— 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 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.” — the pronoun ‘I’ was Jeremiah, but prophetic also for the Messiah;
— like a lamb or an ox; some translate 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:
“But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter, and I did not know that they had plotted evil against me, saying, ‘Let us put poison in his food and cut him off from the land of Israel, so that his name will no longer be remembered.’”
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 Jeremiah cried out, O Lord of hosts, that judges righteously;
— 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. — their 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 left, the Lord being determined to carry out his sentence of extermination on 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 was 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, Jeremiah, talk with thee of thy judgements; of his laws, statutes, word, and ordinances;
— 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 hideous 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?
“You are righteous, O Lord, and I accept Your words. Yet I will ask a question of justice before You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who deal in lies live in peace?”
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 their fear from their hearts.”
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: 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 which roars in the forest, 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 everyone; including Jeremiah himself.
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, ministers, princes or governors, civil or religious.
Wolves among God’s sheep
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 about the South, a prophecy of Esau, 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.
Following several high-profile aeronautical production quality lapses in recent years, including a door falling off mid-flight and tooling left inside aircraft, the last thing any plane manufacturer wants is a missing bolt or any oversight that slips through manual checks.
Enter the futuristic assembly line of C919, China’s first domestically developed large passenger jet.
Leveraging a groundbreaking 5G-enabled industrial network system, the C919 smart mega factory in Shanghai is setting a new standard for aircraft manufacturing integrity, ensuring that all the parts, tools and technicians are monitored in real time.
At the heart of this powerful surveillance system is a “field-level” industrial network developed by researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in collaboration with Comac (Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China).
This network integrates 5G wireless connectivity with time-sensitive networking to create a hybrid communication backbone that connects every sensor, robot, tool and worker across the final assembly line, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Acta Automatica Sinica in August.
Unlike conventional factory networks that separate data collection, communication and control, the Chinese system unifies them into a single, intelligent loop – a concept known as sensing-transmission-control integration.
This allows for millisecond-level responsiveness and ensures that any deviation from standard procedures is detected and flagged immediately.
“It is a world first,” wrote the team led by Professor Guan Xinping of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
One of the most critical applications of this system is in tool and parts tracking. In traditional aircraft assembly, tools can be misplaced, often due to human error or fatigue.
This follows a terrifying mid-air incident in 2024 in which a door plug on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-9 MAX blew out mid-flight due to missing bolts, just minutes after the California-bound jet took off from Portland, Oregon.
It caused depressurisation of the aircraft, with items being sucked out of the cabin. Several passengers were injured and the plane was forced to make an emergency landing.
After the incident, investigators found that manual inspection logs did not match the actual work performed.
The C919 factory combats this with a network of wireless sensors and smart tool cabinets.
Using 5G’s ultra-reliable low-latency communication or uRLLC, the system tracks each tool’s location throughout the assembly process. If a technician fails to follow the book, the system triggers an alert.
With the support of the new network architecture, industrial devices on the shop floor are now highly interconnected, creating a tightly linked “sense-transmit-control” closed-loop system, according to Guan and his colleagues.
But this brings two major challenges.
“Rapidly changing production tasks cause sudden shifts in resource needs, but the available communication and computing resources are fixed and inflexible, leading to a mismatch,” Guan’s team wrote.
“The data coming from different sources vary greatly in timing and space, making it difficult to accurately estimate the overall system state.
“We have constructed a systematic solution through theoretical innovation, technological breakthroughs and real-life applications,” the researchers added.
Their solution is high-fidelity digital twin technology. A virtual replica of the aircraft and its assembly environment is continuously updated with live data from the production floor.
As workers assemble the plane, their actions are mirrored in the digital twin. Cameras and motion sensors track their movements and tool usage, while wireless sensors such as angle sensors, gyroscopes and laser rangefinders monitor the plane’s conditions.
This not only reduces quality issues but also speeds up the assembly process significantly, according to the researchers.
For example, when testing flight control systems, the digital twin compares the pilot’s input in the cockpit with the actual movement of the ailerons or elevators.
Any mismatch – say, a surface that does not respond correctly – is instantly flagged, allowing engineers to diagnose and fix issues before they cause a serious delay.
Moreover, the 5G network supports real-time video analytics from hundreds of cameras around the factory. AI algorithms scan footage for unsafe behaviours, such as unsecured equipment or improper protective gear, and alert supervisors instantly.
Looking ahead, the research team said they were integrating more AI-driven optimisation into the network.
“The deep integration of industrial networks and AI large models could lead to a new paradigm of knowledge-driven autonomous collaborative optimisation,” the team wrote.
“With the continuous advancement of China’s large aircraft strategy, the civil aviation industry is accelerating its transition into a new stage of independent and controllable high-quality development.
“The C919 embodies not only cutting-edge technologies such as advanced manufacturing, intelligent assembly and networked collaboration but also represents a significant leap forward in China’s capabilities for integrating complex systems and managing large-scale engineering projects,” they added.
China’s civil aviation industry is still in its infancy. Only about 50 C919 jets are expected to be produced this year, while Boeing delivered 348 commercial aircraft in 2024.
Jeremiah sympathizes 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 leading towards the end; in successive reigns, as Jehoahaz (reign 609 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC).
For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau, see Obadiah
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 of tears! 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.
Sundays, about the first lie that this is the Sabbath; where the original Sun-worshippers were the Samaritans; today, worldwide
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;
— like chronic liars, 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 words not of the habitation of the prophet, but of the people, as if “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 repentance, into Captivity again?
“Therefore, thus says the Lord of Hosts: Behold, I am bringing upon them affliction and refining them. And after them, what else can I do because of the sins of the congregation of My people?”
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, it’s meant to kill;
— 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;
— deceits – “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.
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 asks (in v8), “Shall I not be stirred 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 travellers; 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, to refine them, 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 apostasy 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 alone that brought upon them down: 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;
— 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, signifying that their punishment would be very severe;
“Therefore, thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing affliction upon this people, bitter like tendons, and I will make them drink the cup of curse to the heads of serpents.”
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 of an Enemy from the South 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.’
6 Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins, and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. 7 And it shall be, when they say unto thee, ‘Why sighest thou?’ that thou shalt answer, ‘For the tidings, because it cometh; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water.’ Behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord God. Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:7
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 disheveled; 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,” that is, forsaken how the land should be maintained;
— but they defiled their 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 explicitly 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 skillfully 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;
— 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 (v22), “Thus says the Lord: Let not Solomon son of David boast in his wisdom, nor Samson son of Manoah boast in his strength, nor Ahab son of Omri boast in his wealth.”
24 But let him that glorieth glory in this: that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord who exercise loving kindness, 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— that is, 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 the circumcised, but God lump them with the uncircumcised, that is, the circumcised are lump among the heathens and all are considered as the “uncircumcised;” to be refined or punished together.
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 superstition and idolatry, and 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.”
“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,” History of Christmas Trees
— today, we worship Mithra or Mitra (an ancient Iranian deity, a 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;
The Persian god Mithra on the left, with beams of light like the Sun emanating from his head in all directions
— 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!
“Learn not the way of the heathens, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them,” Jeremiah 10:2
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 reaffirms Him as “King of all nations;”
— 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 the city of Tarsus in Cilicia, in south-central Turkey; where 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.”
“This is the copy of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent to the rest of the elders of the exile in Babylon: If the Chaldeans say to you, ‘Serve idols, O house of Israel,’ then you shall answer them, ‘The gods that you ask us to worship are worthless—they cannot bring rain from the heavens or produce fruit from the earth. They will perish from the earth and be destroyed from under the 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 his own 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 sanctuary 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 faithfuls or 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 evil 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; because it is by divine appointment;
“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: Jeremiah 9:5
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 an enemy from the South, a prophecy of Esau, see Obadiah
Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene has been calling for the United States to be separated by red and blue states since early 2023. Could the United States be headed for a national split?
There is a growing divide in US society and politics along old civil war battle lines – and the election could make things worse.
The American Civil War (1861-65) was fought over slavery and, to a lesser extent, states’ rights and the future of the economy. In the run-up to the 2024 US elections, there is talk of another civil war brewing over the country’s future.
While there is no imminent threat of armies clashing on the battlefield, increasing hyperbolic insurrectionist sentiment is a product of a growing realization that the US is now more divided along ideological and political lines than at any time since the 1850s.
The US is now more divided along ideological and political lines than at any time since the 1850s.
An increasingly Balkanized US is likely to be even more inward-looking, preoccupied with internal divisions over immigration, race, inequality, and sexual and gender identity issues. Such self-absorption is already manifesting itself in isolationism and protectionism at the expense of the security and economic alliances that have greatly benefitted the US and the world for decades.
Half (54 per cent) of self-described strong Republicans in America now think it is very or somewhat likely there will be a US civil war within the next decade. Four in ten (40 per cent) strong Democrats agree.
Rep Majorie Taylor Greene, a right-wing Republican from Georgia, has called for a ‘national divorce.’ ‘We need to separate by red states and blue states.’ And one in four (23 per cent) Americans support their state seceding from the Union.
This split could be seen in the 2020 election between the blue states that voted for Joe Biden and the red states that voted for Donald Trump, with many of the Trump states among those that seceded from the Union in 1861.
But the emergent two Americas can also be seen across a range of divisive social issues that reflect deeper divisions than those that merely manifest themselves at the ballot box.
Of the 15 US states with the most restrictive abortion laws, all voted for Trump in 2020 and seven were originally in the Confederacy.
The emergent two Americas can also be seen across a range of divisive social issues that reflect deeper divisions than those that merely manifest themselves at the ballot box.
Of the 21 states with the most permissive gun laws in 2023, 19 voted for Trump, and six were in the Confederacy.
Of the 19 states that enacted laws in 2022 making it harder to vote, 14 voted for Trump and seven were in the Confederacy.
And of the 23 states that enacted legislation in 2023 imposing restrictions on gender-affirming care, transgender participation in school sports, school instruction touching on LBGTQ issues and related matters, 22 voted for Trump and nine were in the Confederacy.
Moreover, these civil war era divisions have now emerged in a constitutional confrontation over immigration. In January, the US Supreme Court ordered Texas to remove razor wire it had put up along the Rio Grande river to stop migrants from crossing. Texas Governor Greg Abbot refused to comply, claiming the compact between the states and the United States had been broken by President Biden’s failure to halt illegal immigration.
Abbot’s suggestion that the US Constitution is a mere compact that states may ignore at their discretion is reminiscent of the Confederacy’s rationale for being able to leave the Union in 1861.
Compounding such divisions are the growing differences in public opinion and voting preferences between rural and urban areas.
In terms of public opinion, nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of urban Americans believe immigration strengthens society, while a majority (57 per cent) of rural Americans say it threatens traditional American customs and values. Seven in ten (70 per cent) urban Americans hold the view that government should do more to solve problems. Half (49 per cent)of those in rural areas think that the government is doing too many things best left to businesses and individuals.
In terms of voting preferences, of the half dozen most urbanized states, only one voted for Trump and it was also in the Confederacy. Of the half dozen least urbanized states, four voted for Trump and two were in the Confederacy.
These growing divisions in American society are mirrored in a growing partisanship in many attitudes towards the US role in the world and pressing international issues.
70 per cent of Republicans who support Trump believe that Ukraine aid has not been worth the cost, compared with 69 per cent of Democrats who say it has been worth it. On the Israel-Hamas war, six in ten (61 per cent) liberal Democrats believe Israel is going too far in its military operation against Hamas, but only 8 per cent of conservative Republicans agree.
The deep divisions in the American electorate manifest themselves in early projections of the possible outcome of the 2024 presidential election. At this stage, Biden is judged by the highly respected Cook Political Report to have 226 out of the necessary 270 votes in the electoral college, with the majority (116) coming from former Union states. Trump has 235 votes, with a majority (135) coming from former states in the Confederacy. The continuing legacy of the civil war remains.
The outcome of the 2024 US election is unlikely to resolve these differences. In fact, it may deepen them, whoever becomes president. Just as southerners never fully accepted the outcome of the civil war, Trump supporters who believe the 2020 election was stolen are unlikely to gracefully accept a loss in 2024, presaging more resentment and possible renewed violence. And if Trump wins, Biden supporters may attribute it to Republican election subversion, further alienating Democrats from their fellow Americans.
America’s friends and allies need to understand that the United States has become a Disunited States.
America’s friends and allies need to understand that the United States has become a Disunited States. There are effectively two Americas – and they are at war. They are fighting over social, political and constitutional issues, and over what role the US should play in the world. The 2024 US election is just another battle in this war.
“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!” Isaiah 28:1
“The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet” Isaiah 28:3
Rosh Hashanah. We are now into the sacred year 5786; that is, there are still another 214 to reach the year 6000! A lot are going to happen during the next two hundred years, most spelt out in the prophecies of Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah, but most so-call pastors or ministers couldn’t understand what they are, so they are silent about these prophets wrote.
We have read of the house of Israel and the house of Judah both have idolatries, but who are they? Perhaps, the following chapters could shed further light giving us more details about what walking after other gods means.
Astarte, the Queen of heaven; from whence comes Easter
(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.
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 in Jerusalem, 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, 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 uttering at the temple on which they trusted, the trusting in human lying in which God through Isaiah solemnly cautions them;
— trust ye not in lying words; not the words of the lying prophets, as the Targum says, “Do not trust in the words of false prophets who says before the temple of the Lord;” that is, verifying everything even where they seems to speak from a place of authority!
— 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;
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 will soon follows;
— “the stranger” documented or undocumented, these are immigrants, refugees, trying to benefit from the leftover of the gleaning of a harvest; these are jobs that nobody wants;
ICE up for a riot against farm workers, who live on jobs nobody wants
7 then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever. — could God have seen things differently, “if you expelled these strangers, I’ll expel you!?”
“For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head,” Obadiah 1:15
“The US is the World’s biggest terrorist,” Noam Chomsky
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 to 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,
“And I will exile you from the land of My sanctuary, just as I exiled all your brothers—the entire seed of Israel;”
— 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; the female goddess Ashtoreth, or Astarte;
— to make cakes to the queen of heaven, 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 more than his purpose and intent that they should offer sacrifices;
— in the context that the people’s belief that temple rituals and sacrifices guarantee divine favor; but no, because their ongoing moral corruption: idolatry, injustice, and violence are worse; obedience “Obey My voice,” was always the foundation of the covenant—not ritual alone.
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 idolatry. The Targum says, “they turned the back in my worship, and did not put my fear before them.”
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 and Christians alike confessed the Lord 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 who will be exiled, 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.
— the high places of Tophet is 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 making cakes to the queen of heaven (v18), 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.
Women making cakes for the queen of heaven (v18), Astarte, Easter
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 according to God’s commandments give to Moses, Deuteronomy 17:3-5, whose penalty is death;
3 and hath gone and served other gods and worshiped 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,
— 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 alike 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.”
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. — 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 (MEV and many other translations);
“How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the Torah of the Lord is with us’? But behold, the scribe has made it into a lie—his pen is false and deceitful.”
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, both offering a false sense of security.
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, just listen but 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 behold, I am sending you against deadly nations, like venomous serpents that cannot be charmed, and they shall kill you, says the Lord.” 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. — this takes them to the words of the prophet Jeremiah, the Targum 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? Or prophetic from a distant land!
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 from so that they should improve their ways? Are there no means of healing, no healer to apply them, for the spiritual wounds of Israel?
~~~~
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!
I came across this greeting card online and found it quite insightful. I was intrigued and curious to know who the artist behind this creation is, so I decided to ask ChatGPT.
And ChatGPT replied me:
Sorry, I can’t tell who drew or created this image.
What I can describe is what’s shown: it depicts fiery Hebrew letters spelling פשת, the Jewish year 5786, and the phrase “Prophetic Year.” Below, there’s a glowing Jerusalem scene with the Dome of the Rock, and on the sides the US flag and the flag of Israel, plus a Torah scroll. The style is digital, painterly, and dramatic, but the creator isn’t identified in the image itself.
I said the creator is pretty insightful, and it is because the significance of the two flags are going to play a major role in the years ahead, and on the Temple Mount, where the Father is very passionate about, Jeremiah 3:17!
“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.”
Copilot also couldn’t identify the sourse, but provide some analysis:
That image appears to be rich in religious and symbolic themes—melding Hebrew numerology, prophetic messaging, and national iconography from both the United States and Israel. However, without a visible watermark, signature, or metadata, it’s difficult to definitively identify the creator or pinpoint its original source.
Hebrew Letter Symbolism in 5786
Hebrew Letter
Symbolic Meaning
Prophetic Interpretation
Tav (ת)
Covenant, completion
A season of fulfilled promises and divine closure
Shin (ש)
Fire, transformation
Refining through trials; purification and passion
Peh (פ)
Mouth, speech
Power of proclamation; speaking truth boldly
Vav (ו)
Hook, connection
Linking heaven and earth; divine alignment
Together, these letters suggest a year of:
🔗 Divine connections—what has been declared in prayer may begin to manifest.
🔥 Refining fire—a time of purification, both personally and globally.
🗣️ Bold speech—a call to speak truth, especially in the face of deception.
📜 Covenantal fulfillment—long-awaited promises coming to pass.
A September to Remember: The year begins at sundown on September 22, 2025, with Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets), marking a spiritual reset.
The Decade of Peh: We’re still in the 5780s, a decade focused on the mouth—what we speak has spiritual weight.
Vav as a Connector: This year emphasizes divine alignments—relationships, ministries, and nations being joined for God’s purposes.
Spiritual Warfare & Discernment: Expect both deception and revelation. The Hebrew number 5786 also relates to “a film over the eyes” (Strong’s Concordance), suggesting spiritual blindness—but also the lifting of veils.
🇺🇸🇮🇱 Imagery in the Picture You Shared
US and Israeli Flags: Symbolize geopolitical and spiritual ties—many prophetic voices see these nations as central to end-times events.
Dome of the Rock: A focal point of tension and prophecy in Jerusalem.
Open Torah Scroll: Represents divine wisdom, revelation, and the unfolding of God’s Word.
Fiery Atmosphere: Echoes the refining fire of Shin and the urgency of prophetic times.
Grok also couldn’t identify its scource, but provided the following
Analysis of the Image
The image you provided appears to be a digitally created graphic or AI-generated artwork (likely using tools like Midjourney or DALL-E, given the stylized fiery effects and composite elements). It features:
Fiery Hebrew text reading “שנת נבואה” (Shnat Nevu’ah, translating to “Year of Prophecy” or “Prophetic Year”).
The number “5786” (the Hebrew calendar year beginning September 2025).
American and Israeli flags in the foreground.
A dramatic sunset landscape with the Dome of the Rock (a key Islamic shrine on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount) in the background.
An open ancient scroll (evoking Torah or prophetic writings) at the bottom.
This design blends Jewish prophetic themes, US-Israel alliance symbolism, and Jerusalem’s contested holy sites, suggesting it’s promotional or inspirational content aimed at a religious Zionist or evangelical Christian audience. The fiery motif symbolizes divine revelation (eg, “pillar of fire” from Exodus), tying into end-times or messianic expectations for 5786.
Creator and Origin
Despite extensive searches across web sources, X (Twitter) posts, and semantic queries (focusing on keywords like “5786 Prophetic Year image,” “שנת נבואה 5786 fiery,” and descriptions of the elements), no definitive creator or exact first origin could be identified. Here’s what the investigation revealed:
No direct matches: The specific combination of elements doesn’t appear in public databases, stock photo sites (eg, iStock, Unsplash, Freepik), or historical archives. Related searches surfaced general Jewish/Israeli flag art, Dome of the Rock photos, and Hebrew year graphics, but nothing identical.
Thematic context: 5786 is frequently discussed in Jewish and Christian prophetic circles as a potentially significant year (eg, tied to biblical cycles like 70-year “generations” from Israel’s founding in 1948). Articles mention it in end-times speculation, but no linked images match yours.
Likely creation method: The polished, surreal style points to recent digital generation (post-2023, aligning with AI art boom). It may have originated on social media or a private ministry site around Rosh Hashanah 5785 (September 2024), circulating informally before 5786 began.
Possible sources:
Social media circulation: X searches for similar images yielded unrelated posts about Israel flags, Temple Mount history, and US-Israel ties (eg, George Washington’s letters referencing the Exodus). No post embedded this exact graphic.
Religious communities: It resembles content from US evangelical groups (eg, Christians United for Israel) or Jewish prophetic ministries, but no attribution found. The US flag inclusion suggests an American creator or audience.
Stock/art sites: Sites like Freepik have Hebrew-themed flag vectors, but none with the full composition.
Concluding Thought
I said the creator is pretty insightful, and it is because the significance of the two flags are going to play a major role in the years ahead, and on the Temple Mount, where the Father is very passionate about:
“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” Jeremiah 3:17
ChatGPT, Grok, and Copilot all failed to identify the image creator or its original source! It makes me think the image creator isn’t just insightful but probably close to a Genius!
Rosh Hashanah. We are now into the sacred year 5786; that is, there are still another 214 to reach the year 6000! A lot are going to happen during the next two hundred years, most spelt out in the prophecies of Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah, but most so-call pastors or ministers couldn’t understand what they are, so they are silent about these prophets wrote.
China is banning Nvidia chips in an unexpected second order effect of the US tech embargo
Since Trump and Biden launched the tech and trade wars with China, I have written several essays arguing that Beijing should pursue a full decoupling with the US for national security and economic competitiveness reasons.
It seems that is happening right now. Beijing just banned its big tech companies from buying the Nvidia H20 and RTX 6000D chips. Nvidia developed these two GPU AI accelerator chips specifically for the Chinese market in compliance with the US ban of advanced AI chips to China.
Beijing just threw back the trade embargo playbook in Washington’s face. This is a textbook example of how an ill-conceived coercive policy blows up in the face of the perpetrator. And another case study of how the far more intelligent technocrats in Beijing have outsmarted the short-sighted political functionaries in Washington.
Let’s examine what happened.
Starting in Trump’s first term, the US regime has upped the antes in containing China’s technological rise. It first banned US chip sales to Huawei in an effort to destroy the telecom and mobile phone giant. That failed miserably but as expected, Washington’s default option when faced with failure is to double down.
During Biden’s time in office, he further escalated the tech war by banning AI chips, software, and even lithography machines to the Chinese market as a whole. The explicit aim of the tech bans is to stop China from reaching the US level of AI development.
Since China is the world’s largest market for semiconductors, the Biden regime wanted to keep making money from China while impeding China’s tech progress. The solution was to allow the sales of chips one or two generations behind the cutting edge.
Nvidia, the effective global AI chip monopoly, designed the H20 chip specifically for the Chinese market in compliance with the Biden export control. Nvidia’s strategy was to continue to profit from the Chinese demand and tie Chinese AI developers to its CUDA software ecosystem without selling China the latest AI chips.
However, when a little-known Chinese AI firm, DeepSeek, shocked the tech world with the launch of its DeepSeek R1 large language model in January 2025, the world suddenly realized Chinese AI engineers were able to develop world-class AI models even with the much less powerful accelerator chips.
DeepSeek achieved the breakthrough by using reinforcement learning to allow its LLM to develop reasoning abilities through self-evolution. The innovative training method didn’t require as much compute as similar models in the US and successfully circumvented the chip moat Nvidia tried to build around its most sophisticated products.
As a reaction, the second Trump regime immediately banned even the sales of the watered-down H20 chips to Chinese tech firms. Nvidia was forced to write off $5.5 billion worth of unsold H20 chips in its inventory.
With no access to advanced western AI chips, Beijing realized the only way to develop the AI industry in China is total self-reliance in every step of the semiconductor value chain.
Chinese tech companies started to invest heavily in the AI chip stack from design, manufacturing, to software architecture. Huawei, Cambricon, and Alibaba have all recently announced production of AI accelerator chips that are only one generation behind Nvidia’s most powerful chips.
In effect, Trump’s H20 ban has left a market worth hundreds of billions of dollars, that used to be monopolized by Nividia, wide open for Chinese domestic producers.
Realizing the US is at the risk of losing the biggest single chip market to its Chinese competitors, Jensen Huang and David Sachs, Trump’s “AI Czar,” lobbied the Trump White House to loosen the ban and return to the Chinese market. They both stated it is in the US’s best interest to keep Chinese tech companies on the hook of Nvidia products, just not the best ones.
The ex-Wall Street financier was so arrogant that he actually thought he was clever enough to let Nvidia continue dominating the Chinese market even with a castrated second rate product.
Beijing, led by a leadership trained as engineers rather than bankers and lawyers as the US, saw right through the little ploy. Instead of letting H20 back to the Chinese market, Beijing started an investigation on potential security issues with the H20 chips by raising concerns over possible back doors and remote shutdown kill-switches.
Again, here Washington itself supplied the ammunition for China’s suspicion. In public Congressional hearings, US congressmen openly requested US chip producers to embed geo-fencing functions in their chips. One can only speculate what other “functions” are planted in those Trojan horses.
In Glenn Greenwald’s book No Place to Hide, he described in great detail how CIA installed backdoor software in Cisco servers shipped to China as disclosed by the Edward Snowden files.
Over the last week, the Cyber Administration of China officially requested Chinese tech firms such as Tencent and ByteDance to stop testing of the Nvidia new China-only RTX 6000D chips and cancel any orders.
In addition, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has launched an anti-monopoly investigation against Nvidia due to its failure to comply with the agreement with Chinese regulators when Beijing approved its 2020 acquisition of the Israeli company Mellanox Technologies.
It is clear Beijing has decided it will do without Nvidia and China will build its AI industry completely in separation from US technologies.
In 2018, Huawei launched a top secret inhouse project called “Delete America” when the company was targeted for destruction by the first Trump regime and had to rid itself of every American technology for self protection.
Now China is embracing a full-spectrum nationwide “Delete USA” from its technological development.
At the technical level, local Chinese AI chip makers such as Huawei and Cambricon have already developed accelerator chips that have reached performance parity with Nvidia’s China-specific chips.
Through superior networking, Huawei has built more powerful AI compute super-nodes such as CloudMatrix 384 based on Ascend 910C than the state-of-art Nvidia GB200 NVL 72 compute rack based on its most advanced Blackwell chips.
As Jensen Huang himself pointed out, AI is a parallel computing issue. Rather than competing on the performance of each individual AI chip, Huawei is changing the game by linking more chips to build greater scale and deliver better performance at the rack level.
With China’s far superior power generation capacity, China can afford to outbuild the electricity-hungry AI data centers than the US, giving it the ultimate competitive advantage in the AI war.
As I wrote before, Beijing is also investing heavily in next generation semiconductor technologies from photonic chips to third-generation semiconductors such as those based on indium selenide (InSe), a 2D material that has shown significant potential to outperform traditional silicon chips.
Researchers at the Peking University and Remin University just announced breakthroughs in the production of InSe wafers, a move that could potentially disrupt the silicon chip altogether. I intend to write on this in a future piece.
The original Nvidia AI strategy was brilliant. Nvidia achieved market dominance not just through its superior AI accelerator chips but also its CUDA software ecosystem that has locked in AI developers. It is a model that is extremely difficult to break. Just ask AMD if you don’t believe it.
Competitors like Huawei cannot hope to break the stranglehold as Nvidia enjoys a flywheel of market dominance and high profit margins that will finance further R&D and expand its lead.
Five years ago, there was little prospect of Chinese tech firms breaking free from Nvidia’s technological control over the AI sector (this is why Nvidia is the world’s most valuable company).
However, the malicious move by the US regime to chokehold China’s technological development has inadvertently broken the chokehold. No Chinese tech company is immune from US sanctions and chip bans. Now they are all incentivized to find alternatives to reduce their dependency on US tech.
Chips that don’t match Nvidia’s best are better than no chips at all. As companies such as Huawei and Cambricon now provide options for AI accelerators, they are also breaking developers away from Nvidia’s CUDA software network. Huawei has launched the open-source CANN architecture.
With hundreds of billions of dollars at stake, numerous new entrants are joining in the race, further eroding Nvidia’s dominance in the long run. One outcome is certain – Nvidia will be locked out of the Chinese chip market, the largest in the world, and Chinese companies will have the market for itself.
China is set to build a completely separate and parallel AI system from the US. The China system may still lag in compute performance for now but has zero dependence on the US.
Once the system scales and matures at the application level, we can expect Chinese AI will compete with the best AI players from the US in the global markets. Much like the EV industry today.
The short-sighted belligerence of the US regime has successfully undermined the dominance of its own tech champion, very much the opposite story of how Beijing has groomed China’s dominance in the rare earth industry.
Washington has found its belligerence against China blown up in its face repeatedly –
After the US congress passed the Wolf Act to block China from the International Space Station (ISS) in 2011, China built its own Tiangong Space Station, which is expanding and upgrading while the ISS is clocked to retire in a few years with no replacement in sight
After the US shut down GPS signal to harass China’s Yinhe cargo ship in 1993 in the Red Sea, it spurred Beijing to build the Beidou satellite navigation system, which is now more advanced than the aging GPS system
After the US intervened in the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996, China decided to develop a full A2AD strategy with focus on anti-ship hypersonic missiles that can keep US ships from Chinese shores. Now the DF and YJ families of hypersonic missiles can “sink the entire US carrier fleets in 20 minutes” (quote from Hegseth)
As the US regime pursues a zero-sum adversarial relationship with China, Beijing is implementing a full speed “Delete USA” strategy to decouple completely –
Pursuing full tech self sufficiency, especially in AI
Winding down trade relationship – cutting off all purchase of US farm products and energy products such as coal and LNG
Selling off US debt
Making US education less attractive to Chinese students – more and more jobs in government departments, state-owned businesses, and even private tech firms are off limits to students with a US degree
More US businesses operating in China such as Starbucks and Nike are facing consumer pushback
It takes two to tango. The arrogant and ignorant Washington operatives have always assumed their belligerence is never reciprocated and no one dares to punch back at the bully. Maybe they are right when it comes to its subservient vassals in Europe, Japan, South Korea and the 5 eyes Anglo sphere.
But they have met their rival. China won’t succumb to Washington’s coercion or Trump’s “charm”. Instead, it will hit the delete button.
Rosh Hashanah. We are now into the sacred year 5786; that is, there are still another 214 to reach the year 6000! A lot are going to happen during the next two hundred years, most spelt out in the prophecies of Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah, but most so-call pastors or ministers couldn’t understand what they are, so they are silent about these prophets wrote.
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 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC).
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 herders 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; the Epstein’s files, how are they going to face judgement from the Most High?
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, despite their sins, I will not make a full end with you; this seems futuristic, a prophecy that when this severe punishment strikes the nation, a remnant will remains, saith the Lord,
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; for the lost ten tribes;
— it could be for those who were carried captive into Assyria before this prophecy; it could also be 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.’ — fear God and give him glory is the first angel’s message of Revelation 14:
6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred, and tongue and people,
7 saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His Judgment is come. Worship Him that made heaven and earth, and the sea and the fountains of waters.” Revelation 14:6-7
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, “Like a fattening cage full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; therefore they have become great and wealthy.”
— the Septuagint version renders it, “a snare which has been set is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit” 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. — they surpass the deeds of the wicked;
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 any of the three above (a,b and c), how 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: the house of Israel and the house of Judah, who has returned to dwell in the land of Judea, now named 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 located 20 km northeast of Hebron, 16 km south of Jerusalem; and Bethhaccerem (a township between Bethlehem and Jerusalem); this place lay between Jerusalem and Tekoa;
Why blow the trumpet in the south if the enemy is coming from the north?
— 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 a subtle shift of an enemy coming from the South; so what is it? (more at the end);
2 I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman. — the daughter of Zion is a comely; a 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 replaces the shepherds and their flocks with “kings and their forces,” making the threat more explicit and regal in scale; the sense is, kings or their general shall lay a grim and calculated siege of Jerusalem, and against other cities and another, until they have 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 defenseless.
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. — a sense of judgement in the making as Jerusalem was literally overflowing with wickedness.
8 Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest My soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.” — be thou instructed, that is, be thou chastised: learn the lesson which chastisement is intended to teach thee.
9 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: “They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine; turn back thine hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.” — the Chaldeans shall glean, contrary to the law Leviticus 19:10, for gathering the vintage fully.
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 prophesied.
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 his children, 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 unto the priest everyone deal 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.
— when they committed idolatry, or any other sin, and led the people into the same by their doctrine and example, yet, when reproved for it, were not ashamed, being given up to a judicial hardness of heart.
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.’ — the sense is: God’s prophet has declared that a great national calamity is at hand.
17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Hearken to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not hearken.’ — watchmen—prophets, whose duty it was to announce impending calamities, so as to lead the people to repentance, but they would not hearken; more of their obstinacy.
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 Israelites and the Jews,
— what sins were among them; what transgressions. 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.
— the expression, “O earth” is expressed seven times throughout the OT, here by Jeremiah, elsewhere by Moses, Job, Isaiah and Micah, empahsizing that God, too, has a message for the whole of humanity;
— 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.” — Sheba, Isaiah 60:6; Ezekiel 27:22, the land that had a proverbial fame both for gold and frankincense;
— 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 from the ends of the earth;” Babylon wasn’t from the end of the earth, hence this would be another great nation;
— 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 Flaming Sword and Fire 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 Israel 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 of Jerusalem, being encompassed by a 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, “Do not go out to the field, and do not walk on the road, for the sword of the enemy brings death—it strikes down those who gather from every direction;” 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, “gird yourselves with sackcloth and 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. — revolters, the greatest sinners and transgressors, the most stubborn and disobedient;
— the Targum says “All their nobles are rebellious, walking in deceit, like one who mixes a serpent with iron—they are all destroyers.”
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.’
6 Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins, and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. 7 And it shall be, when they say unto thee, ‘Why sighest thou?’ that thou shalt answer, ‘For the tidings, because it cometh; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water.’ Behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord God.
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?
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.
“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.”
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.
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 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, she returns 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.
But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? –Baals as Baalzephon, Baalpeor, Baalzebub. Let them arise if they can save thee, Jeremiah 2:28
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. — so Jeremiah was a contemporary of King Josiah;
— 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, 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 repentance 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 you have scattered your ways. This is an expression of harlotry, spreading the legs to the woman’s private parts.
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.
— backsliding children; the Targum says, “for I am well pleased with you;” to which Rashi adds “and you are called by My name, that I am your Master, and it is not honorable for Me to leave you in the hands of My enemies.”
15 And I will give you pastors according to Mine heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.’
— and during the Millennium, 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 during the Millennium, Jerusalem shall no longer be just a city; but it shall become the center of divine presence, “the place of the Shekhinah,” when they shall call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord; that is, even the Father would move down from heaven and dwell among men;
Jerusalem shall host the Throne of the Lord so that all nations shall be able to worship Him; and not after the imagination of their evil heart Jeremiah 3:17
“At that time, they will call Jerusalem the place of the dwelling of the Divine Presence (Shekhinah) of the Lord, and all nations will come to worship there in the name of the Lord in Jerusalem. They will no longer follow the evil thoughts of their hearts.” Jeremiah 3:17 Jonathan
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,
— 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.
— 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;
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.
‘Woe is me now, for my soul is wearied because of murderers!’ Jeremiah 4:31
Jeremiah 4
The first two verses of this chapter seem to be closely connected with the preceding chapter, being directed at 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; but 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.”
— 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.
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;
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 Jeremiah, 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 — a dry wind toward the daughter of My people, the children of God’s chosen nation, both to fan or to cleanse, a scorching wind which 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;” a south wind and not the north wind as designed; since this scorching 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 scorching wind full of those punishments which God had warned, and determined to bring upon this people, and would not turn from, nor repent of.
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, a new Nebuchadnezzar’s coming as a type, and the multitudes he should come with, and that darkness and distress he should bring with him upon the house of Israel.
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 indicates that the affliction spoken of is the destruction of the house of Israel as a consequence of 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 altars in Dan and Bethel, but later false prophets came and set up other idols in some of the mountains of Ephraim, hence Mount Ephraim?
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 armies of invading nations are coming swiftly like harvesters from a distant land, and they will encamp around the borders of Judah and raise their voices against her.”
— and give out their voice against the cities of Judah; threaten the ruin of them; Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Iran, the alarm of war; to give the orders to besiege Judah.
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 suffering 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;
— ‘my curtains’ the prophet seems to indicate that this destruction would reach Anathoth, where his tent; cottage, and curtains were; so sudden destruction sometimes 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. — God reflects to the time He created the earth;
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. — at the sound of the trumpet, all birds of the heavens fled; at 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 of Israel; he would not bring about a total annihilation at them.
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, the 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! 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.
China’s DF-5C intercontinental ballistic missile is more than just a weapon, it’s a statement. With a range of up to 20,000 kilometers and the ability to unleash up to a dozen nuclear warheads at once, this missile gives Beijing true global reach. Hardened silos, MIRV technology, and precision guidance make it nearly unstoppable, capable of […]
China’s DF-5C intercontinental ballistic missile is more than just a weapon, it’s a statement. With a range of up to 20,000 kilometers and the ability to unleash up to a dozen nuclear warheads at once, this missile gives Beijing true global reach. Hardened silos, MIRV technology, and precision guidance make it nearly unstoppable, capable of overwhelming even the most advanced defenses. Its debut wasn’t just military, it was geopolitical theater, signaling China’s arrival as a full-fledged nuclear superpower. The DF-5C doesn’t just extend China’s arsenal, it rewrites the balance of nuclear deterrence.
“The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle” Psalm 78:9
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 (650 – 570 BC), the son of Hilkiah; hence Jeremiah recompenses the general title of this prophecy and includes all his discourses and sermons; and designs not just Jeremiah’s own words, but the words of the Lord which were put into his mouth, as 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 Jews 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 Scriptures; that’s how authentic it is, as Ezra is being revered as a second Moses by the Jewish Orthodoxy.
“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 understand 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 performed the thoughts of his heart!”
“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.”
Like Ezekiel and Isaiah, Jeremiah’s primary mission was first to the house of Judah, then the house of Israel, and also unto the nations: to both neighbouring and outlying Gentile nations. This was the similar characteristic of Jeremiah’s work; like other major prophets, Isaiah and Ezekiel, were sent to Israel and Judah, with occasional references of prophecies that affected the Gentiles.
As a mission was unto the nations, the Goyim (goyim), the Gentiles, Jeremiah was one designated and chosen to deliver God’s difficult messages—often warnings and judgements—to the nations.
But in the context that Jeremiah, himself hailing from a priestly family, and was in direct dealing mainly with the Jews of the house of Judah, those of the nations could incorporate those of the house of Israel, who were already lost and living in exile as if they were among the nations, the Goyim.
Jeremiah 1
1 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, — the calling of 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 by God to the children of Aaron, chosen to be priests serving in the sanctuary, and later, in the Temple, Joshua 21:13,18.
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 Josiah began to reign when he was eight years old, and he reigned eighteen years after, and at the thirteenth year of his he reign, of 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.”
— how many years before where God had designated Jeremiah was born wasn’t given; but only that Jeremiah was chosen before his conception and birth;
— unto the nations (Goyim); to the outlying Gentile nations; this was the distinguishing characteristic of Jeremiah’s work: other major prophets, like Ezekiel and Isaiah, 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 do not know how to prophesy: for I am a youth” ~ emphasizes his young age, suggesting immaturity or lack of authority; meaning either in knowledge and understanding, or in years; a mere child, or even a junior.
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: “For wherever I send you, you shall go;”
— or as the Septuagint renders the words “to whomsoever I shall send thee;” 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 fear of pains 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 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.”
— 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 house of David by Nebuchadnezzar, and 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 the isles of Ireland;
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.”
— “What do you see, Jeremiah?” 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 almond-tree, off springs forth a rod, represents the speedy approach of judgments; 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; 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.”
— after the first vision (the almond rod), God now presents a more ominous image; the Targum paraphrases the words as, “and I see a boiling cauldron;” Jeremiah sees a pot bubbling violently—symbolizing unrest, judgment and divine wrath;
— a boiling pot or a boiling cauldron denoting Judea or Jerusalem, expressed by same figure, Ezekiel 11:3; 11:7; 24:3.
— and in the latter days, 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 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 this prophecy, 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.
— historically, an enemy to appear from the NORTH, but in the latter days, an enemy from the SOUTH;
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 their princes, against their priests 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 BC), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598 BC), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597 BC), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586 BC);
— 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;” or “to suppress the words of your 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:
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?’”
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.’
6 Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins, and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.
7 And it shall be, when they say unto thee, ‘Why sighest thou?’ that thou shalt answer, ‘For the tidings, because it cometh; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water.’ Behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord God.”
Q: Who is this enemy from the SOUTH, and how would such scenarios be played out?
1 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, — the Targum says, “the word of 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. — God commands Jeremiah to deliver a message directly to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
— the Targum says, “and they walked after my two messengers, Moses and Aaron, in the wilderness forty years without food, in a land that was not sown;” during the Exodus in the wilderness; where you passed through many difficulties;
— 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 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 asks, “what falsehood have your fathers found in my word?” None at all; God is a covenant keeping God.
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.
— “ye defiled My land” but when ye entered ye defiled my land by not giving them their Sabbath rest; the land with wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates and olives; in a land flowing with milk and honey, Deuteronomy 8:8; where the land sabbath 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 25:3-6;
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;
— to God, the violation of land Sabbath is a serious matter, and 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 land Sabbath; for more on understanding the coming 190 years of Israel’s captivity and 40 years for Judah, see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline.
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 rulers and kings, 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 and pastors prophesied by Baal; in his name; pretending to be inspired by God, but it was their idols, and to receive the false spirit of prophecy from them.
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;” even your children’s children.
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 of 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; 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. — Memphis and Tahpanhes;” these are Egyptian cities: Memphis (a major ancient capital) and Tahpanhes (a frontier city in the eastern Nile Delta); their mention signals Egypt’s involvement in Israel’s downfall.
— they will kill your warriors: this line depicts military defeat. Israel’s strong men—its defenders—are struck down by Egyptian forces.
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.
— their 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; 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;
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; 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 –Baals, as Baalzephon, Baalpeor, Baalzebub and others– 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 many 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 nations?”
— or the sense is, why art thou so diligent and industrious to make thy way, by sacrifices and ceremonies, oblations and ablutions, in order to seek and obtain love and favors from the nations, which are all in vain?
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 wickedness and idolatry.
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 as the Septuagint says; “let his wrath be turned away from me” pleading for the removing of judgements;
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; always seeking some one for help;
— 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.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) revived her calls for a “national divorce” on Monday, ominously warning that the American right and left have “nothing left to talk about.”
Greene sparked controversy in February of 2023, when she wrote on X, “We need a national divorce.”
“We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government. Everyone I talk to says this. From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat’s [sic] traitorous America Last policies, we are done,” Greene added.
Greene was quickly denounced at the time. Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R) slammed Greene’s call to split the country as “evil,” and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) added that “Secession is unconstitutional. No member of Congress should advocate secession, Marjorie.”
Greene’s post on Monday included much of the same sentiment as her previous comment, although this time she clarified she wants the dissolution of the union to be “peaceful.”
“There is nothing left to talk about with the left. They hate us,” Greene wrote on X, adding:
They assassinated our nice guy who actually talked to them peacefully debating ideas.
Then millions on the left celebrated and made clear they want all of us dead.
To be honest, I want a peaceful national divorce.
Our country is too far gone and too far divided, and it’s no longer safe for any of us.
“What will come from Charlie Kirk being martyred is already happening. It is a spiritual revival building the kingdom for Christ. But it will happen on the outside, not within the halls of our government. Democrats are hardened in their beliefs and will flip the switch back as soon as they have power,” she added in her lengthy post.
She went on the hammer the leaders in her own party for not doing enough. “And, if you are expecting Republicans to fight against evil, with the power they currently possess, and end this once and for all, you are going to be extremely disappointed,” she continued, concluding:
This week Congress will be voting on another CR – Biden’s budget that FUNDS TRANSGENDER POLICIES, NOT our own Trump policy budget that funds what you voted for.
We had 9 months to get it done, but for reasons I don’t understand or agree with, it wasn’t the priority.
Government is not answer, God is.
Turn your full faith and trust to our Almighty God and our Savior Jesus.
Tighten your circle around your family and protect them at all times.
I will pray for the left, but personally I want nothing to do with them.
“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!” Isaiah 28:1
“The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet” Isaiah 28:3
— Hear, O heavens and earth! For the Lord hath spoken — the Ox and the Ass know its owner, but not Israel — Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire — strangers devour your country, land and cities — Oh Sodom and Gomorrah, your sacrifices My soul hates
~ Chapter 2
— “Come ye, and let us go up to the God of Jacob — And He shall judge among the nations — swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks — men shall go into the holes and caves of the earth — when the Lord arises to shake the earth terribly”
— for Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen — children to be their princes and babes rule over them — “Woe unto the wicked! It shall be ill with him — the Lord shall uncover their secret parts — thy men shall fall by the sword, thy mighty in war”
~ Chapter 4
— in that day seven women shall take hold of a man — the Branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious — a remnant that remains in Jerusalem shall be called holy — the Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion
— Isaiah sing to his well-Beloved a song — Woe unto them that join house to house — Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning — they may pursue strong drink; till wine inflame them! — Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil
~ Chapter 6
— “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts — the whole earth is full of His glory” — “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” — then said Isaiah, “Here am I. Send me!” — Go tell this people: Hear ye but understand not — and see ye indeed but perceive not
— “Syria is confederate with Ephraim” — “Let us go up against Judah and vex it — and the head of Ephraim is Samaria — within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken — behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son”
~ Chapter 8
— behold, the Lord bringeth up the king of Assyria — many among them shall stumble, fall and be broken — and be snared and be taken — to the law and to the testimony — if they speak not according to this word — it is because there is no light in them
— beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the nations — people that walk in darkness have seen a great light — the Everlasting Father: the Orthodoxy with lying pen — bricks are fallen but we will build with hewn stones — the prophets that teach lies, they are the tails — Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh
~ Chapter 10
— “Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees — “Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of Mine anger — a consuming, even determined, in the midst of Israel — yet a remnant of them shall return — the Assyrian army shall cut down thickets of the forest”
— a Rod out of the stem of Jesse — the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord — He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth — the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb — and He shall assemble the outcasts of Israel — and Judah from the four corners of the earth
~ Chapter 12
— behold, my God Is my Salvation — for the Lord Yehovah is my Strength — “Praise the Lord! Call upon His name!” — God’s name in Hebrew is יהוה YHVH Yehovah
— the burden of Babylon, they come from afar — Howl ye, those multitudes could be Russia and China! — it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty — behold, the day of the Lord cometh — therefore I will shake the heavens — and the earth shall remove out of her place
~ Chapter 14
— for the Lord will have mercy on Jacob — “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer” — “I will ascend into heaven — I will be like the Most High” — His hand shall stretch out upon all the nations
— the burden of Moab — they shall gird themselves with sackcloth — everyone shall howl, weeping abundantly — rejoice thou not, Palestina — because the rod that smote thee is not broken
~ Chapter 16
— the burden from Sela to the wilderness — Let Mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab — Moab shall howl for Moab, everyone shall howl — the remnant of Moab shall remain small and feeble
— the burden of Damascus, Syria — the glory of Jacob shall be made thin — yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it — the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief
~ Chapter 18
— Woe to the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia — the Lord said unto me: “I will take My rest” — “they shall be left together for the fowls of the mountains — the beasts of the earth; the fowls shall summer upon them — and the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them”
— the burden of Egypt — the princes of Zoan “we are the sons of wise men” — Gypsies in Hebrew, their name from the city of Zoan — the princes of Zoan are become fools — the Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit — in the midst of the princes of Zoan
~ Chapter 20
— the burden of Egypt and Ethiopia — Isaiah called to walk naked and barefooted — “if the mighty could not delivered their souls — how shall we, the weak, be delivered?”
— the burden of Babylon, Edom and Arabia — the pain as the pangs of a woman that travails — watch in the watchtower, eat, drink; arise — a chariot of asses and a chariot of camels — the whole army of the Medes and Persians
~ Chapter 22
— the burden of the Valley of Vision — Elam, the Persians; and Kir, the Medes — Medes and Persians; a composite army — and He will uncover the covering of Judah — “Surely this iniquity shall not — be purged from you till ye die” — Shebna, the fallen one; Eliakim, My servant
— the burden of Tyre and Sidon — a report concerning Egypt and the Nile — ye ships of Tarshish is laid waste! — “after the end of seventy years — that the Lord will visit Tyre”
~ Chapter 24
— “the Lord makes the earth empty — and turns it upside down” — and few men are left; laughter into mourning — “Woe unto me!” — the earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard
— I will praise Thy name — God’s name is יהוה YHVH Yehovah — Thou hast made of a fortified city a ruin — Thou hast been a strength to the needy in distress — and He will cast away the veil over all nations
~ Chapter 26
— a song be sung in the land of Judah — a righteous nation that keeps the truth — Thy name to the remembrance of Thee — they are dead, they shall not live — awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust
— the Leviathan that is in the sea — “A vineyard of red wine!” — Fury is not in Me — He smote those that smote him — the great trumpet shall be blown
~ Chapter 28
— “Woe to the crown of pride — to the drunkards of Ephraim — whose glorious beauty is a fading flower” — “Whom shall he teach knowledge? — And whom shall he make to understand doctrine?” — for precept must be upon precept — We have made a covenant with death and hell
— Woe to Ariel, to Ariel: “the lion of God” — a multitude of nations will fight against Ariel — Cry ye out, they are drunken, but not with wine — they stagger, but not with strong drink — the words of a book that is sealed
~ Chapter 30
— Woe to the rebellious children that add sin to sin — the strength of Pharaoh and princes be your shame — for they were at Zoan, “the royal city of the Pharaohs” — a remnant as a beacon and an ensign on a hill — the moon shall be as the light of the sun — the light of the sun shall as the light of seven suns
— Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help — yet God also is wise, and will bring evil — everyman shall cast off his idols of silver and gold — then shall the Assyrian fall by the sword, — but not of a mighty man; nor of a lowly man
~ Chapter 32
— a King shall reign in righteousness — and princes shall rule in judgement — the rash shall understand knowledge — and the stammerers shall speak plainly — rise up, ye women that are at ease
— Woe to those that spoils — your spoil shall be the gathering of caterpillar — the earth mourns and languishes — thine heart shall meditate terror — the Lord is our judge, our lawgiver, our king
~ Chapter 34
— Come near, ye nations, to hear and hearken — the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations — and His fury upon all their armies — for My sword shall be bathed in heaven — the unicorns shall come down with the bulls — And God hath cast lot and divide for them
— the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad — the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose — Say to them that are of a fearful heart — “Be strong, fear not”
~ Chapter 36
— king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh to Jerusalem — then came Eliakim, who was over the house — and Shebna the scribe — they exhort and insinuate each other
— King Hezekiah covered himself with sackcloth — and went into the house of the Lord — but Rabshakeh continues insinuating Hezekiah — but his commandment was, “Answer him not”
~ Chapter 38
— Hezekiah was sick unto death — “Remember now, O Lord, I beseech Thee” — the sun returned ten degrees backward — a writing of king Hezekiah’s confession — the Lord was ready to save me
— Hezekiah to show them his precious things — the silver and the gold, the spices and ointment — and all the house of his armor and all his treasures — thy sons thou shalt beget shall be taken away — and they shall be eunuchs for the king of Babylon
~ Chapter 40
— “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people” — a voice of him that cries in the wilderness — every valley shall be exalted — and every mountain shall be made low — He that sits upon the circle of the earth — and the inhabitants as grasshoppers
— “Keep silence before Me, O islands — “But thou, Israel, art My servant — “Fear not; I will help thee — “I, the God of Israel, will not forsake thee”
~ Chapter 42
— “Behold My Servant, whom I uphold — Mine Elect, in whom My soul delight — He shall not fail nor be discouraged — till He hath set judgement in the earth — and the isles shall wait for His law”
— “Fear not, for I have redeemed thee — “For I have created him for My glory — “Let all the nations be gathered together — and let the people be assembled — “Ye are My witnesses”
~ Chapter 44
— “Yet now hear, O Jacob My servant — Is there a God besides Me? — the Lord, thy Redeemer, that makes all things — that stretches forth the heavens alone — Cyrus, he is My shepherd and My pleasure
— the Lord saith to His anointed, to Cyrus — and make the crooked places straight — I have called thee by thy name and surnamed thee — though thou hast not known Me — Woe unto him that strive with his Maker!
~ Chapter 46
— “Hearken unto Me, O house of Jacob — and all the remnant of the house of Israel — Remember the former things of old; for I am God — and there is none other — I am God, and there is none like Me”
— O virgin daughter of Babylon — O daughter of the Chaldeans — Thy nakedness shall be uncovered — yea, thy shame shall be seen — sorceries, astrologers and soothsayers
~ Chapter 48
— Hear ye, O house of Jacob — not in truth nor in righteousness — Hearken unto Me, O Jacob and Israel — I am the First, I am also the Last — All ye, assemble yourselves and hear
— Listen, O isles, unto Me, and hearken — ye people from afar; the land of Sinim — Sing, O heavens, and be joyful — “Can a woman forget her sucking child — “Behold, I will lift up Mine hand to the Gentiles”
~ Chapter 50
— “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce — I clothe the heavens with blackness — and I make sackcloth their covering — “Who among you fear the Lord — that obey the voice of His Servant?”
— “Hearken to Me, ye that seek the Lord — Lift up your eyes to the heavens — ye that know righteousness, whose heart is My law — Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord — “Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem — who hast drunk the cup of His fury”
— Awake, awake! Put on thy strength — My people shall know My name — the Lord hath hath redeemed Jerusalem — “Behold, my servant the Messiah shall prosper”
Chapter 53
— He is despised and rejected of men — He borne our griefs and carried our sorrows — He was wounded for our transgressions — by His stripes we are healed — He was bruised for our iniquities — He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter
~ Chapter 54
— “Sing, O Jerusalem, that didst not bear! — Enlarge the place of thy tent — the Lord of hosts is thy Redeemer — In a little wrath I hid My face from thee — Behold, they shall gather against thee”
— “Ho, every one that thirst — Hearken diligently unto Me — Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear — Seek ye the Lord while He may be found — “For My thoughts are not your thoughts — neither are your ways My ways”
~ Chapter 56
— Blessed is the man who keeps the Sabbath — the sons of strangers that join to serve the Lord — my house a house of prayer for all people — their watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant — they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark
— The righteous perish, rest into peace — ye sons of the sorceress — Are ye not a seed of falsehood — inflaming yourselves with idols — behind the doors also and the posts — the wicked are like the troubled sea that cannot rest
~ Chapter 58
— “Cry aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet! — and show My people their transgression — and the house of Jacob their sins” — ‘Why have we fasted and Thou seest not? — why have we afflict our soul and thou take no note?’
— Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened — For your hands are defiled with blood — and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies — your tongue hath muttered perverseness — We grope for the wall like the blind — and we grope as if we had no eyes
~ Chapter 60
— Arise, shine, for thy light is come — and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee — And the Gentiles shall come to thy light — for in My wrath I smote thee — I the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer
— “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me — He hath anointed Me to preach the good tidings — to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord — and the day of vengeance of our God — “For I, the Lord, love judgement — I hate robbery for burnt offering”
~ Chapter 62
— the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness — and all kings thy glory — “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem — who shall never hold their peace day nor night” — the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world
— Who is this that cometh from Edom — with dyed garments from Bozrah — Why art thou red in Thine apparel — And I will tread down the people in Mine anger — and make them drunk in My fury
~ Chapter 64
— But we are all as an unclean thing — and all our righteousness are as filthy rags — Thou art our Father; we are the clay — and Thou our potter — and we all are the work of Thy hand
— I spread out my hands unto a rebellious people — Behold, it is written: I will not keep silence — Therefore will I number you to the sword — and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter — because when I called, ye did not answer — when I spoke, ye did not hear, but did evils
~ Chapter 66
— “The heaven is My throne — and the earth is My footstool — Hear the word of the Lord, and tremble at His word — For behold, the Lord will come with fire — and with His chariots like a whirlwind — “from one new moon and one Sabbath to another — shall all flesh come to worship before Me”
China has taken a major step in countering the technological edge of US stealth platforms by unveiling next-generation anti-stealth radar systems.
These systems were showcased at the 11th World Radio Detection and Ranging Expo (World Radar Expo), which opened on Saturday in Hefei, Anhui Province.
The expo highlighted radar technologies that pose significant threats to US stealth fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and even nuclear-powered submarines, platforms long considered the cornerstone of American strategic dominance.
~~~
Anti-stealth radars
The JY-27V high-mobility meter-wave air surveillance radar was at the forefront of the exhibition.
The state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) developer describes the system as a “master artist” in detecting stealth targets.
Utilizing a low-frequency band, high-power aperture, and intelligent signal-processing algorithms, the JY-27V can pierce through the cloaking measures of stealth aircraft, China’s state-run Global Times reported.
It can effectively render platforms such as the F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning II, and B-2 Spirit bomber vulnerable to detection and targeting.
The JY-27V’s design includes a large antenna array with a significant spread-retract ratio, allowing for rapid setup and withdrawal within ten minutes, enhancing battlefield survivability and responsiveness.
According to CETC, this system can track stealth aircraft that usually avoid higher-frequency radars. This means a threat that was hard to detect can now be tracked.
~~~
2D phased scanning
The YLC-8E is an advanced radar that can detect stealth technology. It was highlighted at the event and raises important concerns for military analysts in the West.
Operating on the UHF band, the YLC-8E is mounted on a single vehicle and features a fully digital phased array system.
It’s 2D phased scanning and directional mechanical scanning, along with high-efficiency digital transmit-receive modules, provide long-range early warning against stealth platforms.
The YLC-8E’s design emphasizes mobility, resistance to jamming, and high operational reliability, qualities that increase its operational utility in fixed and mobile defense networks.
CETC claims that the radar significantly enhances China’s ability to detect and track stealth fighters and UAVs within and beyond its airspace.
Challenging US stealth
Another notable system on display was the SLC-7, a fourth-generation multifunctional radar dubbed the “all-around champion.”
It features adaptive anti-jamming capabilities and simultaneous multi-target tracking, which are critical in high-intensity conflict zones.
The SLC-7 can identify and track stealth and conventional aircraft, helicopters, drones, artillery shells, and even short-range ballistic projectiles.
Of particular interest to Western defense observers is the radar’s potential to detect stealth drones, such as the RQ-170 Sentinel, and maritime stealth platforms, including US nuclear submarines operating near the surface or deploying UAVs.
New systems like the SLC-7 use high data rates and advanced signal processing, which may undermine the invisibility of US naval and air assets in areas like the South China Sea and Western Pacific.
The radar technology at the World Radar Expo shows that China is investing in countering one of the US military’s biggest advantages: stealth.
These new systems could change the balance of air power and control at sea in future conflicts.
As US forces depend on stealth technology for their strategic reach, China’s expanding network of anti-stealth radar poses a serious challenge on today’s battlefield.
“The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle” Psalm 78:9
Remember, the Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages and our challenge is to de-crypt them, especially as it relates to the latter days, our days.
Here a reason is given here, “I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them, because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spoke, ye did not hear” Isaiah 66:4.
Or, more emphatic from the Message Bible,
“Well, I choose to expose your nonsense and let you realize your worst fears, Because when I invited you, you ignored me; when I spoke to you, you brushed me off. You did the very things I exposed as evil, you chose what I hate” Isaiah 66:4 MSG
1 “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.
— God isn’t sought of the Gentiles, nation that was not called by my name; that asked not for him; this is a prophecy of the calling and conversion of the Gentiles is not to be doubted;
— God said, behold me, behold unto a nation that was not called by God’s name; which describes the Gentiles, who formerly were not called the people of God, even those who now are, Hosea 2:23.
2 I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
— God has spread out his hands all the day unto a rebellious people; meaning both the house of Israel and the house of Judah;
— which walketh in a way that was in their own way, of their own devising, choosing and approving and which was only but wickedness; and after their own imaginations and inventions; after their own doctrines and their own dogmas.
3 A people that provoketh Me to anger continually to My face, that sacrificeth in gardens and burneth incense upon altars of brick;
— that sacrifice in gardens; to idols placed there as the Targum says as they were under every green tree; or in groves, where idols were worshipped; sometimes this refers to their having their sepulchers in their gardens, where they consulted their deadly spirits.
4 who remain among the graves and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
— they remained among the graves, either there expecting revelations by dreams or there consulting with devils, who were thought to delight in such places; or to practice necromancy, all which were forbidden, Deuteronomy 18:11, Isaiah 8:19.
— and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; or “pots” – broth made of swine’s flesh and of other sorts of flesh which were unclean by the law. The Targum paraphrases both clauses, “who dwell in houses built of the dust of graves and lodge with broth of abominable things is in their vessels.”
5 who say, ‘Stand by thyself; come not near to me, for I am holier than thou!’ These are a smoke in My nose, a fire that burneth all the day.
— smoke in my nose, a fire that burn all day: very offensive to the Divine Being, as smoke is to the eyes and nostrils; and kindled the fire of his anger, which was continually exercised on them; see Luke 16:15. The Targum says, “their recompense shall be in hell, where the fire burns all the day.”
6 Behold, it is written before Me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense—even recompense into their bosom”
— behold, it is written; this account of their sins; it was in his sight and constant remembrance and punishment for them was determined by him, written in the book of his decrees:
— God will not keep silence; but threaten with destruction and also execute; plead against them really, as well as verbally, with sore judgements: but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom; full and just recompense of punishment for all their transgressions;
— the Targum says, “I will recompense to them the vengeance of their sins, and deliver their bodies to the second death.” So the Targum recognizes the concept of “the second death.”
7 your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,” saith the Lord, “who have burned incense upon the mountains and blasphemed Me upon the hills; therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.”
— both your iniquities and of your fathers together, saith the Lord; that is, the punishment for both; these being alike and continued from father to son by one generation after another till the measure was filled up;
— and then the recompense of reward is given for all of them together at once: which have burnt incense upon the mountains and blasphemed me upon the hills; where they offered incense and other sacrifices to idols which was interpreted by the Lord as a blaspheming and reproaching of him; see Isaiah 57:7,
— therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom; punish them for their former sins as well as their latter ones and both together.
8 Thus saith the Lord, “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, ‘Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it,’ so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.
— will I do for my servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all; namely, for the sake of my servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I will bring a seed out of Jacob; a small number which shall be as a seed from whence others shall spring and out of Judah;
— the Targum says, “As Noah was found righteous in the generation of the deluge, and I said that I would not destroy him, for the purpose that I might raise up the world by him.”
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of My mountains; and Mine elect shall inherit it, and My servants shall dwell there. — called the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, most probably a reference of the Messiah here;
— God will bring forth a seed out of Jacob; the Messiah, a seed bears a proportion to the tree or plant that it produces but in comparison with that is very little; its blessings and promises, which is as a mountain, firm and immovable.
10 And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for My people that have sought Me.
— Sharon, the rich plain stretching along the coast from Joppa to the foot of Carmel, was a place of great fruitfulness for pastures. David’s herds were kept there, 1 Chronicles 27:29. It was become like a wilderness, Isaiah 33:9.
11 “But ye are they that forsake the Lord, that forget My holy mountain, that prepare a table for that Gad [the Babylonian god of fortune], and that furnish the drink offering unto that Meni [the god of fate].
— you are those that had forsaken the Lord; the Targum says,
“But ye, O house of Israel, ye have forsaken the worship of the Lord, ye have forgotten the worship of my holy mountain, that prepare tables for the idols, and mix goblets for their gods.”
12 Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spoke, ye did not hear, but did evil before Mine eyes and did choose that wherein I delighted not.”
— therefore will I reduce you to the sword; alluding to Meni, idol worshipping, they furnished a drink offering for or trusted in; and since they did, God would number them or appoint a number of them to the sword;
— and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter; or suffer them to be slain in great numbers, even from one end of their land to another, Jeremiah 12:12; none of them should escape the sword of the Romans, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter; be obliged to submit to the conqueror and lay down your necks to be sacrificed;
“Therefore will I deliver them to the sword, yea, all of you shall be delivered to the slaughter; because I sent my prophets, and ye repented’ not; they prophesied, and ye did not receive them; but did evil before me, and delighted yourselves in that I would not.”
13 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, “Behold, My servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold, My servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, My servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed.
— behold, My servants shall be protected, but ye shall be ashamed; of your vain confidence; of your trust in their own righteousness;
— indulging in idolatry; worshipping Astarte; but call Easter, and Mithra or Mitra which they Christianize as Christmas where the drunks celebrate on December 25th; which are all our own righteousness.
14 Behold, My servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.
— but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit; under the sore judgements of God upon them, the sword and famine;
— and more especially during the siege of Jerusalem, and when God’s wrath came upon them at a latter time, in the destruction of our cities and nations, and they fell into the hands of invaders, who carried them captive by the Sword and dispersed them in four directions.
15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto My chosen, for the Lord God shall slay thee and call His servants by another name,
— for the Lord God shall slay them; by the Sword of Edom and Idumea, and by his judgements, which continue upon them; the Targum says, with the second death:
16 that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth, and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth, because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from Mine eyes.
— God of truth, or the God of truth; not indulging in the fictitious deities from their neighbouring Gentiles, such as worshipping Astarte call Easter, and Mithra or Mitra which they call Christmas;
— worshipping God the Father, or God the Son, the only God as the Source of blessing; or swearing by that God who hath approved his truth and faithfulness by saving and delivering his people.
Mithras killing the bull
Worshipping Mithra or Mitra which they christianised as Christmas
17 “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
— during the Millennium the entire existing state of things is to pass away. God will create a new heaven and a new earth and place his people therein; and the old conditions will all be changed and the old grounds of complaint disappear.
18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
— God create Jerusalem; from the prophet’s viewpoint as elsewhere, the earthly city, transformed and transfigured, occupies the central place in the new creation; then after the Millennium the transfer of the promise to the new eternal city, a New Jerusalem, which is from above.
19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
— in the new Jerusalem there will be no sorrow, neither “weeping” nor “crying.”
20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die a hundred years old; but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.
— life will be greatly prolonged to a hundred years for everyone; and the sinner that dies a hundred years old without repentance shall be accursed, or cut off by the justice of God for his crime
21 And they shall build houses and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
— during the Millennium, people shall plant vineyards and eat their fruits; they shall both live to dwell in their houses when built, and till their vineyards bring forth fruit and eat them;
— and they shall be preserved from enemies breaking in upon them and wasting their plantations; men will always enjoy the fruit of their labours and see their children grow up.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree are the days of My people, and Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
— and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands; the blessing of long life is carried on with the promises of all other instances of outward happiness.
23 They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.
— nor bring forth for trouble; for death, as the Targum says; or for a curse, as in the Septuagint: the tense is they shall not beget and bring forth children that shall immediately die by some distemper or another or be taken off by famine, sword or pestilence;
— to the great grief and trouble of their parents; but these shall live, and outlive their parents, so that their death will never be a trouble to them.
24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
— and during the Millennium, while they are yet speaking, I will hear; while they are praying to him, he hears and answers, and grants their requests, and more, as he did Daniel.
— this shows the readiness of the Lord to help and assist his people in any time of trouble, or when they may fear an enemy; and is a great encouragement to attend constantly before the throne of God.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock; and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” saith the Lord.”
— and during the Millennium, all around will peace and harmony prevail, even in the animal world itself. “Wolf and lamb then feed together, and the lion eats chopped straw like the ox, and the serpent-dust is its bread.
Isaiah 66
1 Thus saith the Lord, “The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that ye build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest?
— the heaven is God’s throne; having his seat or throne there; he speaks as a king; heaven is the place where he holds his court, from where he dispenses his commands, and from where he surveys all his works;
— but where is the house that ye build unto me? who can encompass the heavens and the earth with a house? Where is the place of my rest? or where is the place wherein I can be said to rest in a proper sense?
2 For all those things hath Mine hand made, and all those things have been,” saith the Lord. “But to this man will I look: even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word.
— for all those things hath mine hand made; the heavens and the earth which are his throne and footstool; and since he is the Creator of all things he must be immense, omnipresent, omnipotent and cannot be included in any space or place:
— speaking of the Son, he trembles at the Word of God; both at the wrath of any disobedience and have a holy reverence for the Word of the Father and receive it, not as the word of man, but as the Word of God;
— and to such the Lord looks; he looks on these poor ones, and feeds those afflicted ones, sympathizes with them; on these contrite ones and delights in their sacrifices and dwells with and among them.
3 “He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol— yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
— he that kills an ox is as if he slew a man; or ‘He that slayeth an ox, killeth a man.’
— or ‘He who sacrifices an ox is as if he slew a man.’ The Septuagint, renders it, ‘The wicked man who sacrifices a calf, is as he who kills a dog; and he who offers to me fine flour, it is as the blood of swine.’
4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them, because when I called, none did answer, when I spoke, they did not hear; but they did evil before Mine eyes and chose that in which I delighted not.”
— God also will choose their delusions; will punish them in their own way and set those over them as teachers who shall govern them by their traditions instead of my word;
— Or in the NT era, false Christs and false prophets to deceive them, Matthew 24:24; John 5:43.
— and will bring upon them fears; such as the sword, famine and pestilence; and into the latter days into another captivity, an enemy who, they will feared, would come and take away their place and nation;
5 Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at His word: “Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for My name’s sake, said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, when He shall appear to your joy’; and they shall be ashamed.”
— your brethren that hated you; could be Esau or the Edomites;
“And Esau harbored hatred in his heart against Jacob, his brother, because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.
“And Esau said in his heart, ‘I will not do as Cain did, who killed Abel during their father’s lifetime and then their father had another son, Seth.
“Rather, I will wait until the days of mourning for my father have passed, and then I will kill Jacob my brother, and I will be the sole heir.’” Genesis 27:42 Jonathan; for more, see Obadiah;
— others; could also include the Samaritan community, like Sanballat and Tobiah (Nehemiah 2:10), but might be largely mean men of doubtful Israelitish descent, the Sadducees and in part, probably other Jews who had been spared in the general deportation of the people.
6 A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord that rendereth recompense to His enemies.
— a voice of noise from the city; from the city of Jerusalem, as the Targum says; so that in the days of the Messiah shall go out of Jerusalem the voice from the Temple, a voice of the Lord.
7 “Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
— she was delivered of a man child; this is speaking of the Messiah; the Targum says, “before distress comes upon her, she shall be redeemed; and before trembling comes upon her, her King shall be revealed.”
8 Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
— or shall a nation be born so sudden? Such an event never has occurred; a nation is brought into existence by degrees; its institutions are matured gradually, and usually by the long process of years.
9 Shall I bring to birth and not cease to bring forth?” saith the Lord. “Shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb?” saith thy God.
— shall I bring to the birth unfinished? It is that God would certainly accomplish what he had decreed and for which he had made ample arrangements and preparations; he would not commence the work and then abandon it.
10 “Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her; rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her;
— rejoice ye with Jerusalem; the holy city is still thought of as a mother rejoicing in her new-born child; friends and neighbours, nations friendly to Israel who had shown pity for her sufferings are now invited to participate in her joy.
11 that ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.”
— Jerusalem is here set out as the mother of us all, as indeed she was; for out of Zion went forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, Isaiah 2:3.
12 For thus saith the Lord, “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream; then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.
— for thus saith the Lord, behold, I will extend peace to her like a river; the Targum says as the river Euphrates;
— or as the Nile, which overflowed Egypt, and made it fruitful; or as any flowing river, large and spreading, continuing to flow and brings blessings with it where it comes; and so denotes the abundance of this peace, the perpetuity of it and its blessed effects.
13 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
— the Targum says, “my Word shall comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
14 And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb; and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward His servants, and His indignation toward His enemies.
— your heart shall rejoice during the Millennium; for nothing can be matter of greater joy than these; these cause an inward, hearty and sincere joy and not mere outward expressions:
— and your bones shall flourish like an herb; in a well watered garden, or on which the dew lies; which revives, lifts up its head, and is green and flourishing: so the hearts of God’s people are comforted and filled with joy, it renews their spiritual strength;
— the bones that were dried up with sorrow become fat and flourishing and like a garden of herbs, whose springs fail not.
15 For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire.
— for a flashback, behold, the Lord will come with fire, either with material fire, with which mystical Babylon or Rome shall be burnt, Revelation 18:8, or with indignation and wrath, which shall be poured out like fire and be as intolerable and consuming as that:
— and with his chariots like a whirlwind; making a great noise and striking great terror; alluding to chariots in which men used formerly to fight:
— to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire; a heap of words to show the fierceness of his wrath and how severe his rebuke of enemies will be; which will be not a rebuke in love as of his own people but in a way of vindictive wrath;
— these passages seem like just before the onset of the Millennium, another version of The Flaming Sword and Fire from the South! Here it is described as “the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind.”
16 For by fire and by His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many.
— before the Millennium the Lord will plead by fire and by his sword; the sword is an instrument by which punishment is executed; and the slain of the Lord shall be many; that is, those that will be slain by the Lord the number shall be immense.
17 “They that sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh and the abomination and the mouse, shall be consumed together,” saith the Lord.
— eating swine’s flesh and the abomination, and the mouse; the eating of swine’s flesh and the mouse, were forbidden by the law of Moses, Leviticus 11:7.
18 “For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall come that I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see My glory.
— for God know their thoughts, that is, their evil works and designs, which are known to God the intents of their heart, whose eyes are as a flame of fire to pierce and penetrate into them.
19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those of them who escape unto the nations: to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud who draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off who have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles.
— Tarshish, Pul, Lud, Tubal and Javan are all sons of Japheth and perhaps, Ham; they are non-Israelites;
— this verse regarding a sign seems a bit odd coming toward the end of Isaiah; could it be that it is a sign that God will send the house of Jacob to the countries mentioned above? Especially after he had send a Sword from the South into Israel?
— it seems possible, perhaps Jacob’s posterity could be a suffering servant (Isaiah 52:13) as the Orthodoxy believes; or sharing the load of a suffering servant as the Messiah as identified earlier in the Targum (Isa 52:13); we’ll have to wait and see.
20 And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations, upon horses and in chariots and in litters, and upon mules and upon swift beasts, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” saith the Lord, “as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.
— during the Millennium, they; that is, the Gentiles out of all nations; the truth shall be proclaimed in all lands, and a vast accession shall be made from all parts of the world to the true teachings of God.
21 And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites,” saith the Lord.
— God will also take of them for priests; that is, even Gentile converts could be enrolled among the priests and Levites in the Temple of the new Jerusalem;
— non-Levites have been proven to be inducted into the priesthood as shown by the example of Samuel by adoption, who was most probably an Ephraimite, but certainly not from the Aaron priesthood where high priests were supposed to be drawn from.
22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” saith the Lord, “so shall your seed and your name remain.
— for as the new heavens and the new earth; that is, during the Millennium; although a great mass of some nations may perish; but the seed and name of Israel, shall continues for ever.
23 And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me,” saith the Lord.
— that keep one Sacred Sabbath to another; that means, from week to week, every Sabbath;
— a parallel prophecy of other Sabbaths occurs in Zechariah 14:16 : ‘And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came up against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.’
— these assemblies “from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another” are the holy convocations on the seventh-day Sabbath, at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, at the blowing of the Trumpets, on the day of Atonement and Tabernacles: Leviticus 23.
24 “And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me; “for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.”
— and they shall go forth; this verse evidently is that the pious and converted worshippers of God shall see the punishment which he will execute on his and their foes, or shall see them finally destroyed;
— this refers to the time when the kingdom of God shall be finally established and when all the mighty enemies of that kingdom shall be subdued and punished;
— the image is probably taken from a scene where a people whose lands have been desolated by mighty armies are permitted to go forth after a decisive battle to walk over the fields of the slain, and to see the dead and the bodies of their once formidable enemies.
Our God is a Almighty God; that is, He is Almighty in every way. He formulates His Plan and it was done. He declared the end from the beginning, and again it was done.
Background: both the house of Israel and the house of Judah were much embroiled in idolatry throughout much of the times of the Judges and Kings. Briefly Israel returned to God under king David and the early days of king Solomon; then under king Jeroboam and king Rehoboam, they drifted into idolatry and pagan worships.
Then house of Israel went into exile, whereas the house of Judah had good kings from time to time. Even where Josiah tried to abolished idolatry, many Jews adhered to idol worship. When inspectors from Josiah came in search of idols, the inhabitants hid them behind doors or false walls.
Thus, God issues a Challenge to their idols as to who qualify to be God through prophet Isaiah:
21 “Produce your cause,” saith the Lord; “bring forth your strong reasons,” saith the King of Jacob.
22 “Let them bring them forth and show us what shall happen; let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them and know the latter end of them; or declare us things to come.
23 Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed and behold it together.
24 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you. Isaiah 41:21-24
— bring forth your strong reasons, challenged the King of Jacob; who acknowledge the Lord as their King and their God and whom he rules over, protects and defends;
— and this title is to assure their comfort, that though he is King over all the nations of the world, yet in an eminent and peculiar sense he does not style himself the God of Jacob, but as their King.
— the God of Jacob claims that the power of predicting the future is his own inalienable prerogative; let them, that is, their idols, or the worshippers of idols, the heathens, their gods,
— thus God is offering a challenge of whoever that claim to be God, if he predict an event in the future and could bring that event to fulfilment; let them show us what they could predict and bring them into fulfilment; that would bring forth the evidences of their divine nature and power; and thus worthy of being God;
— the God of Jacob defies the idol-gods and their votaries to give any clear prediction of future events; no doubt the claim to possess the power was made very generally among the idolatrous nations who almost universally practiced based upon frauds and cunning deceits.
The Message Bible says
“Set out your case for your gods,” says God. “Bring your evidence,” says the King of Jacob. “Take the stand on behalf of your idols, offer arguments, assemble reasons. Spread out the facts before us so that we can assess them ourselves. Ask them, ‘If you are gods, explain what the past means— or, failing that, tell us what will happen in the future. Can’t do that? How about doing something—anything! Good or bad—whatever. Can you hurt us or help us? Do we need to be afraid?’ They say nothing, because they are nothing— sham gods, no-gods, fool-making gods. Isaiah 41:21-24 MSG
— Or put it another way: Can any of your gods do as I did, throw an event in the future and bring it to fulfilment?
(A) Seventy Years of captivity in Babylon
Isaiah 46
1 Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy loaden; they are a burden to the weary beast.
2 They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.
3 Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:
4 And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoary hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
5 To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?
6 They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.
7 They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
8 Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
Or, from the Message Bible
1-2 The god Bel falls down, god Nebo slumps. The no-god hunks of wood are loaded on mules And have to be hauled off, wearing out the poor mules— Dead weight, burdens who can’t bear burdens, hauled off to captivity.
3-4 “Listen to me, family of Jacob, everyone that’s left of the family of Israel. I’ve been carrying you on my back from the day you were born, And I’ll keep on carrying you when you’re old. I’ll be there, bearing you when you’re old and gray. I’ve done it and will keep on doing it, carrying you on my back, saving you.
5-7 “So to whom will you compare me, the Incomparable? Can you picture me without reducing me? People with a lot of money hire craftsmen to make them gods. The artisan delivers the god, and they kneel and worship it! They carry it around in holy parades, then take it home and put it on a shelf. And there it sits, day in and day out, a dependable god, always right where you put it. Say anything you want to it, it never talks back. Of course, it never does anything either!
8-10 “Think about this. Wrap your minds around it. This is serious business, rebels. Take it to heart. Remember your history, your long and rich history. I am God, the only God you’ve had or ever will have— incomparable, irreplaceable— From the very beginning telling you what the ending will be, All along letting you in on what is going to happen, Assuring you, ‘I’m in this for the long haul, I’ll do exactly what I set out to do,’ Isaiah 46:1-10 MSG
“I’ll do exactly what I set out to do.” God prophesied that the house of Judah would go into captivity and would return after “threescore and ten years;” to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth by Jeremiah (650 – 570 BC, Egypt); this is a reference to the seventy years of captivity as spelt out by God in Jeremiah 25:11 (around 600 BC).
Again, God issued a prophecy through Isaiah (earlier between 740 and 686 BC) and being able to bring that prophecy to fulfilment as proof of achieving the Credential of being God.
Isaiah 55
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah 55:9-11
Last verse from the Message Bible
So will the words that come out of my mouth [will] not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them. Isaiah 55:11 MSG
Thus God prophesied through Jeremiah that the house of Judah would go into captivity about a hundred and fifty years into the future and prophesied they would return after “threescore and ten years;” that is, after 70 years.
God offers a Challenge: if His Word is void, then He had failed to establish that His thought is higher than our thoughts. He would have failed himself to be God.
Record shows that the house went into captivity from around 605 BC and they they were offered to return to Judea by the Persians from around 539 BC and to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
(But this length of Judah’s captivity in Babylon would be directly related from the length of time they neglected to observe the land Sabbath according to II Chronicles 36:19-21
19 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).
The Books of Chronicles were written by Ezra after the Jews had returned from exile, recording what had been prophesied and how it was fulfilled. And thus the God of Israel had established himself to be God.
(B) Prophecy of an ‘anointed’ to deliver from Captivity
9 Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none other; I am God, and there is none like Me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,’
11 calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth My counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. Isaiah 46:9-11
Or, from the Message Bible
“Think about this. Wrap your minds around it. This is serious business, rebels. Take it to heart. Remember your history, your long and rich history. I am God, the only God you’ve had or ever will have— incomparable, irreplaceable— From the very beginning telling you what the ending will be, All along letting you in on what is going to happen, Assuring you, ‘I’m in this for the long haul, I’ll do exactly what I set out to do,’ Calling that eagle, Cyrus, out of the east, from a far country the man I chose to help me. I’ve said it, and I’ll most certainly do it. I’ve planned it, so it’s as good as done. Isaiah 46:8-11 MSG
— Remember the former things of old; the things that were created from the beginning, or the ancient things manifested by the Lord, whether as the effects of His power, wisdom, and goodness, or in wrath, or in mercy; such as the creation of the heavens, and the earth, and all things in between;
— Declaring the end from the beginning; foretelling accurately the course of future events. This is an argument to which God offers a challenge as proof that He is God, and the only true God;
— My counsel shall stand; My purpose, my design, my will. The phrase ‘shall stand’ means that it shall be stable, settled, fixed, established; there is no Plan B; that God’s plan will not be frustrated by a “Great Satan.” No, Satan is nothing but an instrument to Him, witness the first chapter of Job:
— God has power enough to secure the execution of his designs, and He will exert that power in order that all His plans may be accomplished;
— and I will do all My pleasure; I will accomplish all My wish, or effect all My desire; it means that God would accomplish everything which was to Him an object of desire; everything which He wished, or willed; and why should He not?
— Can any of your gods do as I did, throw an event in the future and bring it to fulfilment?
Isaiah 46
11 Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
12 Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:
13 I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.
Who can foretell a Prince Cyrus to appear and bring it to fulfilment?
— calling a ravenous bird, or eagle, from the east; that is, from Persia, as Isaiah 41:2
“Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to His foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? He gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.” Isaiah 41:2
Who brought up this eastern hero? Who called up his justice service? He lays nations at his feet and makes an end of their kings. With a thrust of his sword and the bend of his bow, this hero turns kings and their armies into dust. Isaiah 41:2 Voice (MSG: this champion)
— a prophecy issued by Isaiah about 150 years earlier. There can be no doubt that Cyrus is meant here; and from around 539 BC, Cyrus offered the Jews to return and to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
And God had tested Himself and affirms that Jerusalem and the cities of Judah would be rebuilt!
Can any of your gods do as I did, throw an event in the future and bring it to fulfilment?
(C) Abraham and Exodus
During the days of Abraham there were many idol worshipers. It was thus a challenge to Abraham: could any of their gods prophesy an event or an occurrence in the future and then bring it to fulfillment?
Abraham’s father, Terah, who was an idolater; and according to Jewish tradition, Terah owned an idol shop where he sold various idols. One day while Terah was away and Abraham was in charge, he took a stick, smashed the idols and placed the stick in the hand of the largest idol.
When Terah returned, he asked Abraham what happened to all the idols. Abraham told him that a woman came in to make an offering to the idols. The idols argued about which one should eat the offering first, then the largest idol took the stick and smashed all the other idols.
Terah responded by saying that they are only statues and have no knowledge; whereupon Abraham responded by saying that you deny their knowledge, yet you worship them!
Thus the God of Abraham issues His own Proof having the Credential of God.
12 I have declared and have saved, and I have shown, when there was no strange god among you; therefore ye are My witnesses,” saith the Lord, “that I am God.” Isaiah 43:12
— God have declared “ye are My witnesses;” He has announced or predicted future events; He has warned of danger; He has marked out the path of safety. The Targum shows one example:
“I, I have declared unto Abraham your father what would come to pass; I, I redeemed you out of Egypt, as I swore to him between the pieces; and I, I have made you to hear the doctrine of my law from Sinai, and ye are still alive, when there was no strange god among you; yea, ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.” Isaiah 43:12 Jonathan
— God had declared to Abraham that his posterity would be in Canaan and Egypt for 430 years, Exodus 12:40-41; then “even the selfsame day it came to pass” or “to the very day,” all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt; thus with such a precised prophecy and fulfilment, they (Abraham’s posterity) should be God’s witnesses that He is God!
[note: “the phrase “I swore to him between the pieces” refers to Genesis 15:17, where God instructs Abraham to divide sacrificial animals and lay the pieces opposite each other. God then passes between them in vision, symbolizing a solemn, binding covenant]
Or, from the Message Bible
Get the blind and deaf out here and ready— the blind (though there’s nothing wrong with their eyes) and the deaf (though there’s nothing wrong with their ears). Then get the other nations out here and ready. Let’s see what they have to say about this, how they account for what’s happened. Let them present their expert witnesses and make their case; let them try to convince us what they say is true. “But you are my witnesses.” God’s Decree. “You’re my handpicked servant So that you’ll come to know and trust me, understand both what I am and who I am. Previous to me there was no such thing as a god, nor will there be after me. I, yes I, am God. I’m the only Savior there is. I spoke, I saved, I told you what existed long before these upstart gods appeared on the scene. And you know it, you’re my witnesses, you’re the evidence.” God’s Decree. “Yes, I am God. I’ve always been God and I always will be God. No one can take anything from me. I make; who can unmake it?” Isaiah 43:8-13 MSG
(D) Jerusalem to be rebuilt
Our Lord God had thus shown that he was the only true God; and He tested Himself the question whether Jerusalem and the cities of Judah would be rebuilt:
26 That confirmeth the word of His servant, and performeth the counsel of His messengers, that saith to Jerusalem, ‘Thou shalt be inhabited,’ and to the cities of Judah, ‘Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof’
27 that saith to the deep, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers’;
28 that saith of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd and shall perform all My pleasure,’ even saying to Jerusalem, ‘Thou shalt be built,’ and to the temple, ‘Thy foundation shall be laid.’ Isaiah 44:26-28
Or, from the Message Bible
He makes the magicians look ridiculous and turns fortunetellers into jokes. He makes the experts look trivial and their latest knowledge look silly. But he backs the word of his servant and confirms the counsel of his messengers. He says to Jerusalem, “Be inhabited,” and to the cities of Judah, “Be rebuilt,” and to the ruins, “I raise you up.” He says to Ocean, “Dry up. I’m drying up your rivers.” He says to Cyrus, “My shepherd— everything I want, you’ll do it.” He says to Jerusalem, “Be built,” and to the Temple, “Be established.” Isaiah 44:25-28
“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.” Jeremiah 3:17
— this during the Millennium, Jerusalem shall no longer be just a city; but it shall become the center of divine presence, “the place of the Shekhinah,” when they shall call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord; that is, even the Father would move down from heaven and dwell among men.
Jerusalem shall host the Throne of the Lord so that all nations shall be able to worship Him; and not after the imagination of their evil heart Jeremiah 3:17
“At that time, they will call Jerusalem the place of the dwelling of the Divine Presence (Shekhinah) of the Lord, and all nations will come to worship there in the name of the Lord in Jerusalem. They will no longer follow the evil thoughts of their hearts.” Jeremiah 3:17 Jonathan
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? Jeremiah 5:31
— their prophets prophesied falsely; not only proclaiming lies, but enhancing them; that the people would have peace and prosperity under the false pretence of Grace, and nothing about the truth nor God’s determination for Him to dwell among men, as Jeremiah and other prophets had prophesied.
Zechariah 14
1 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.
10 All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses.
11 And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
14 And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.
15 And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.
16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. — could be a severe drought; and bush fires add to unbearable summer heat.
18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
20 In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness Unto The Lord; and the pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar.
21 Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.
God tested Himself and affirms that Jerusalem and the cities of Judah would be rebuilt!
Or, from the Message Bible
The Day Is Coming
1-2 Note well: God’s Judgment Day is on the way: “Plunder will be piled high and handed out. I’m bringing all the godless nations to war against Jerusalem— Houses plundered, women raped, Half the city taken into exile, the other half left behind.”
3-5 But then God will march out against the godless nations and fight—a great war! That’s the Day he’ll take his stand on the Mount of Olives, facing Jerusalem from the east. The Mount of Olives will be split right down the middle, from east to west, leaving a wide valley. Half the mountain will shift north, the other half south. Then you will run for your lives down the valley, your escape route that will take you all the way to Azal. You’ll run for your lives, just as you ran on the day of the great earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then my God will arrive and all the holy angels with him.
6-7 What a Day that will be! No more cold nights—in fact, no more nights! The Day is coming—the timing is God’s—when it will be continuous day. Every evening will be a fresh morning.
8 What a Day that will be! Fresh flowing rivers out of Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea, half to the western sea, flowing year-round, summer and winter!
9 God will be king over all the earth, one God and only one. What a Day that will be!
10-11 The land will stretch out spaciously around Jerusalem—to Geba in the north and Rimmon in the south, with Jerusalem towering at the center, and the commanding city gates—Gate of Benjamin to First Gate to Corner Gate to Hananel Tower to the Royal Winery—ringing the city full of people. Never again will Jerusalem be totally destroyed. From now on it will be a safe city.
12-14 But this is what will happen to all who fought against Jerusalem: God will visit them with a terrible plague. People’s flesh will rot off their bones while they are walking around; their eyes will rot in their sockets and their tongues in their mouths; people will be dying on their feet! Mass hysteria when that happens—total panic! Fellow soldiers fighting and killing each other—holy terror! And then Judah will jump into the fray!
14-15 Treasures from all the nations will be piled high—gold, silver, the latest fashions. The plague will also hit the animals—horses, mules, camels, donkeys. Everything alive in the military camps will be hit by the plague.
16-19 All the survivors from the godless nations that fought against Jerusalem will travel to Jerusalem every year to worship the King, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, and celebrate the Feast of Booths. If any of these survivors fail to make the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship the King, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, there will be no rain. If the Egyptians don’t make the pilgrimage and worship, there will be no rain for them. Every nation that does not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths will be hit with the plague. Egypt and any other nation that does not make pilgrimage to celebrate the Feast of Booths gets punished.
20-21 On that Day, the Big Day, all the horses’ harness bells will be inscribed “Holy to God.” The cooking pots in the Temple of God will be as sacred as chalices and plates on the altar. In fact, all the pots and pans in all the kitchens of Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to God-of-the-Angel-Armies. People who come to worship, preparing meals and sacrifices, will use them. On that Big Day there will be no buying or selling in the Temple of God-of-the-Angel-Armies. Zechariah 14 MSG
And God had tested Himself and affirms that Jerusalem and the cities of Judah would be rebuilt!
Can any of your gods do as I did, throw an event in the future and bring it to fulfilment?
“Beware of False Prophets!”
Many false prophets have claimed that the prophecies written by the prophets are irrelevant because Israel sinned, and thus His plan was thwarted by a Great Satan.
They argue that God now has a Plan B; implying God’s original Plan couldn’t work; implying He had failed in His declaration of the end from the beginning.
Hence God issues His many rebukes:
And He said, “Hear now My words: If there be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.” Numbers 12:6
An astonishing and horrible thing is committed in the land:
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? Jeremiah 5:30-31
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. Jeremiah 14:14
“For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in My house have I found their wickedness,” saith the Lord.
“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. Jeremiah 23:11-12
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. Jeremiah 23:16
O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. Ezekiel 13:3-4
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 understand it perfectly.
“I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
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. Jeremiah 23:20-22
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. Jeremiah 23:26
Behold, I am against the prophets,” saith the Lord, “that use their tongues and say, ‘He saith.’
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. Jeremiah 23:31-32
Thus saith the Lord God: Woe unto the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!
O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. Ezekiel 13:3-4
They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, “The Lord saith,” but the Lord hath not sent them; and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. Ezekiel 13:6
For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Let not your prophets and your diviners who are in the midst of you deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
For they prophesy falsely unto you in My name: I have not sent them, saith the Lord. Jeremiah 29:8-9
Edom and Bozrah, the capital city of Idumea; these two bits of information provide further hints as to whom the characters are in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:7 where the ‘Sword of the Lord’ are associated with the South.
Note: the Scriptures don’t say it is the ‘Sword of Edom or Bozrah’ but the ‘Sword of the Lord.’ Could this be a clear connection associating Edom and Idumea to the Sword of the Lord in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:7?
Isaiah 63
1 Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this that is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? “I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”
— that cometh from Edom; that is, Idumea, the country where Esau, sometimes called Edom; Edom had been guilty of ruthless atrocities (Amos 1:9-11); they had carried off Jewish prisoners as slaves (Obadiah 1:10-11); they had been allies of the Assyrian invaders (Psalm 83:6), and had smitten Judah in the days of Ahaz (II Chronicles 28:17);
— the Targum indicates using the Edom and Bozrah “to execute vengeance of judgement of His people” – his people, of course, is the house of Jacob;
— the words Edom and Bozrah may be taken in the appellative sense, to indicate in general, a field of blood, or a place of slaughter; the word Edom signifying red, and Bozrah a vintage; with dyed garments – that is, with garments dyed in blood, which in the prophetical idiom, imports God’s vengeance upon the wicked, his people;
— Bozrah, the capital city of Idumea; see further Isaiah 34:6, a parallel text where the ‘Sword of the Lord’ associated with both Edom and Bozrah are mentioned. Note: the Scriptures don’t say it is the ‘Sword of Edom or Bozrah’ but ‘Sword of the Lord.’ Could this be a clear connection to the Sword from the South in Ezekiel 20:45 to 21:7?
2 Why art thou red in Thine apparel, and Thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine vat?
— and thy garments like him that tread in the winefat? or winepress, into which clusters of grapes are cast, and these are trodden by men, the juice of which sparkles on their garments, and stains them, so that they become of a red colour.
3 “I have trodden the wine press alone; and of the people there was none with Me. For I will tread them in Mine anger and trample them in My fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon My garments, and I will stain all My raiment.
— God have trodden the wine-press alone; he has put on trial his people the house of Jacob; he has crushed them as grapes are crushed; Could this be a usual metaphor of Sword and Blood for both the house of Israel for 190 years and the house of Judah for 40 years in Ezekiel 4?
— perhaps the Orthodoxy (like Rashi) would have some merits if the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 relates to a suffering Jacob, incorporating wine pressing on them both; (190 years) for the house of Israel; and (40 years) for the house of Judah? (for more, see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline)
4 For the day of vengeance is in Mine heart, and the year of My redeemed is come.
— the year of my redeemed; another rendering, is the year of my redemption:
— the red upon the clothes was the life-blood of the house of Jacob, which had spirted upon them and with which, as he, the Almighty God Yehovah, tread this wine-press, he had soiled all his garments.
5 And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold. Therefore Mine own arm brought salvation unto Me, and My fury, it upheld Me.
— and the Messiah looked, and there was none to help (compare Isaiah 5:2, “He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes:” also Isaiah 41:28, “I beheld, and there was no man.”) God is represented as looking for and expecting what might reasonably have been expected, and even as surprised when he does not find it (compare Isaiah 59:16).
6 And I will tread down the people in Mine anger, and make them drunk in My fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.”
— make them drunk: the Hebrew often expresses calamities by a cup of wine, or strong drink, by which the distressed persons are made drunk, Psalm 75:8Isaiah 51:21-22; they go as it were to and fro, not knowing what to do with themselves; and in special drunk with their own blood, Isaiah 49:26Revelation 16:6.
— the Messiah will bring down their strength to the earth; whatever it is wherein their strength lies, their strong ones, or their strong places, or deep counsels; he will bring to the very dust, to nothing; like drunken men, they shall fall to the ground, not being able to stand; the most miserable condition that men can fall into, Psalm 36:12.
7 I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He hath bestowed on them according to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His loving kindnesses.
— the Messiah will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord; these are the words of the prophet Isaiah, great goodness towards the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies and kindnesses.
8 For He said, “Surely they are My people, children that will not lie”; so He was their Savior.
— the Messiah said, Surely they are my people. Israel was first recognized as “a people” in Egypt, when the creel Pharaoh said, “The people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we“ Exodus 1:9; 3:7;
— children that will not lie; or deal falsely as the same word is translated in Psalm 44:17. The meaning is, that surely they will be faithful to God and not fall away from him into idolatry or irreligion, Isaiah 63:8.
9 In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them, and He bore them, and carried them all the days of old.
— in all their affliction he was afflicted; because of all the afflictions they endured in Egypt: this notes the sympathy that is in Christ; having the same spirit that the Father hath.
10 But they rebelled and vexed His holy Spirit; therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them.
— but they rebelled against God; this charge is often made against the children of Israel; and indeed their history is little more than a record of a series of rebellions against God.
11 Then He remembered the days of old, Moses and His people, saying, “Where is He that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of His flock? Where is He that put His holy Spirit within him,
— the Targum paraphrases it, “he had compassion for the glory of his name, because of the remembrance of his goodness of old, the mighty works which he did by the hands of Moses for his people.”
12 That led them by the right hand of Moses with His glorious arm, dividing the water before them to make Himself an everlasting name,
— that led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm; that is, through the Red sea: this was done by the right hand of Moses and the rod in it.
13 that led them through the deep, as a horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble?”
— that led them through the deep; the depths, the bottom of the sea; not through the shallow but where the waters had been deepest, the descent greatest; and at the bottom of which might have been expected much filth and dirt to hinder them in their passage, yet through this he led them.
14 As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest; so didst Thou lead Thy people, to make Thyself a glorious name.
— the spirit of the Lord caused him to rest; or gently led him, that is, Israel, through the sea, with little danger as a beast walks on in a valley; this of leading Israel through the wilderness where often resting places were found for them and they were brought to the land of rest, Canaan, and settled there.
The Prayer of Isaiah
15 Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of Thy holiness and of Thy glory. Where is Thy zeal and Thy strength, the sounding of Thy heart and of Thy mercies toward me? Are they restrained?
— here begins a fervent prayer by Isaiah to God to pity Israel; look down from heaven, and behold; attributes the prevalence of evil on earth to a suspension of Yehovah’s watchfulness; hence he is said to come down from heaven to inquire (Genesis 18:21), or here, to look down.
16 Doubtless Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not. Thou, O Lord, art our father, our Redeemer; Thy name is from everlasting.
— doubtless thou art our Father: thus they urge God the Father, not the Son, with that relation he stands in unto them, Malachi 2:10; therefore we as thy children expect the bowels and compassions of a father.
17 O Lord, why hast Thou made us to err from Thy ways, and hardened our heart from Thy fear? Return for Thy servants’ sake, the tribes of Thine inheritance.
— O Lord, why hast thou made us with weak human nature to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? These are the words not of the wicked among the Jews but of the godly, lamenting and confessing their wandering from God’s ways, commands and ordinances, the hardness of their hearts.
18 The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while; our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
— the people of thy holiness; or thy holy people as being set apart for his servants; holiness being to be understood for a covenant separation from other people;
— have trodden down thy sanctuary; the Temple, called the sanctuary from the holiness of it; this our adversaries the Babylonians by Nebuchadnezzar, and later the Greeks by Antiochus, and the Romans by Titus have trodden down, II Chronicles 36:19.
19 We are Thine; Thou didst never bear rule over them; they were not called by Thy name.
— we are thy children, thy people, thy subject; we are in covenant which they never were; and over those whom thou hast not ruled from of old, as those upon whom thy name has not been called;
— thou never barest rule over them; not in that manner, or in that relation to them, that thou didst over us. They were not called by thy name; neither owned thee, nor owned by thee: this phrase implies a near relation in some circumstance or other as wife or servant or child.
Isaiah 64
1 Oh, that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence
— O that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down; this is really a continuation of the prayer of Isaiah 63:15-19.
2 as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil— to make Thy name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Thy presence!
— the Targum says, “as when thou send forth thine anger as fire in the days of Elijah, the sea was melted, the fire licked up the water to make Thy name known to the enemies of Thy people.”
3 When Thou didst fearsome things which we looked not for, Thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at Thy presence.
— when thou didst terrible things, which we don’t looked forward to, thou came down; referring to the wonderful things God did in Egypt, at the Red sea, and in the wilderness;
— and particularly at Mount Sinai, things that were unexpected, and not looked for; then the Lord came down, and made visible displays of his power and presence, especially on Mount Sinai; see Exodus 19:18.
4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him.
— neither hath the eye seen a God beside thee, who will work for him that waits for him; not that God alone knows what he hath prepared but that no man knows (sight and hearing being used as including all forms of spiritual apprehension) any god who does such great things as he does.
5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember Thee in Thy ways. Behold, Thou art wroth, for we have sinned; in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.
— thou meet him that rejoices and works righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art angry; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.
— from the Message Bible
Oh, that you would rip open the heavens and descend, make the mountains shudder at your presence— As when a forest catches fire, as when fire makes a pot to boil— To shock your enemies into facing you, make the nations shake in their boots! You did terrible things we never expected, descended and made the mountains shudder at your presence.
Since before time began no one has ever imagined, No ear heard, no eye seen, a God like you who works for those who wait for him. You meet those who happily do what is right, who keep a good memory of the way you work. But how angry you’ve been with us!
We’ve sinned and kept at it so long! Is there any hope for us? Can we be saved? We’re all sin-infected, sin-contaminated. Our best efforts are grease-stained rags. We dry up like autumn leaves— sin-dried, we’re blown off by the wind. No one prays to you or makes the effort to reach out to you Because you’ve turned away from us, left us to stew in our sins. Isaiah 64:4-6 MSG
6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
— and all our righteousness or justification are as filthy rags; as rags, they cannot cover us; as filthy rags, they would only defile us.
7 And there is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee; for Thou hast hid Thy face from us, and hast consumed us because of our iniquities.
— and hast consumed us because of our iniquities; by the sword, famine, pestilence and captivity.
8 But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and Thou our potter; and we all are the work of Thy hand.
— but now, O Lord, thou art our Father; notwithstanding all this, thou art our Father, having both created and adopted us; therefore pity us thy children; we are the clay, and thou our potter;
— we are in thy hands as clay in the hands of the potter: thou canst form us, and dispose of us as thou pleases. And we will not quarrel with thee, however thou art pleased to deal with us.
9 Be not sorely wroth, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever; behold, see, we beseech Thee, we are all Thy people.
— CEV Don’t be so furious or keep our sins in your thoughts forever! Remember that all of us are your people.
10 Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
— thy holy cities; Zion and Jerusalem mentioned immediately after; called holy because they were built upon God’s inheritance and because his Shekinah were there.
11 Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up with fire; and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
— is burnt up with fire; this is true, both of the first and second Temple; the first was burnt with fire by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Jeremiah 52:13, and the second by the Romans under Titus in AD 70.
12 Wilt Thou refrain Thyself for these things, O Lord? Wilt Thou hold Thy peace and afflict us very sore?
— wilt thou refrain thyself; wilt thou refuse to come to our aid? Wilt thou decline to visit us and save us from our calamities?
— wilt thou hold thy peace; wilt thou not speak for our rescue and command us to be delivered?
— from the Message Bible
Still, God, you are our Father. We’re the clay and you’re our potter: All of us are what you made us. Don’t be too angry with us, O God. Don’t keep a permanent account of wrongdoing. Keep in mind, please, we are your people—all of us.
Your holy cities are all ghost towns: Zion’s a ghost town, Jerusalem’s a field of weeds. Our holy and beautiful Temple, which our ancestors filled with your praises, Was burned down by fire, all our lovely parks and gardens in ruins.
In the face of all this, are you going to sit there unmoved, God? Aren’t you going to say something? Haven’t you made us miserable long enough? Isaiah 64:8-12 MSG
The recent negotiation breakthrough for constructing the Power of Siberia 2, which will transport 50 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas to China via Mongolia annually, is expected to significantly change the geopolitical landscape and energy markets, according to Chinese and Western analysts.
On September 2, China, Russia and Mongolia signed a legally binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) to build the Power of Siberia 2 natural gas pipeline. The development signifies China’s acceptance of Russia’s proposal to route the pipeline through Mongolia, along with Russia’s agreement to offer China a discount on its natural gas.
Chinese commentators had in recent years complained that having the pipeline go through Mongolia would threaten China’s energy security as the landlocked country might lean to the West and shut down the pipeline at a critical moment. Now they praise this deal as a “win-win” for Beijing and Moscow.
“The biggest obstacles in the Power of Siberia 2 negotiations were the route selection and price agreement,” said Li Lifan, Director of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Research Centre at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. “China and Russia eventually compromised, with China accepting the Mongolian route and Russia offering concessions on gas prices and transit fees.”
Li said the deal has strategic significance as it will raise total annual Russia-China gas trade to 106 billion cubic meters, about one-fifth of China’s current gas demand.
He highlighted three major benefits arising from this deal:
Broader energy cooperation: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s energy roadmap will expand beyond pipeline gas to include diversified energy sources, with future collaboration on liquefied natural gas also envisaged as a key component of China-Russia energy ties.
Economic gains for Mongolia: The pipeline will give Mongolia a vital opportunity to diversify its economy, bringing in lucrative transit fees, creating jobs, reducing air pollution and raising its geopolitical profile.
Geostrategic realignment: The pipeline is set to reshape the Eurasian energy map. Once it begins operation around 2031–2032, Russia will become China’s most crucial and reliable energy supplier.
He cautioned that the project still faces risks, citing possible Western influence and Mongolia’s “Third Neighbor” policy for building relationships with countries other than China and Russia. He added that cooperation among China, Russia and Mongolia could enhance regional stability and economic growth.
Why the deal happened
The signing of the MOU was first disclosed by Gazprom and Russian state media, which said Moscow had agreed to supply China with 50 billion cubic meters of gas annually via the new Power of Siberia 2 for 30 years. Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller told the news media that separate commercial arrangements were also reached to expand deliveries on existing routes.
Beijing has so far avoided directly commenting on the deal or releasing further details. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on September 2 that “China and Russia carry out practical cooperation in various areas, including energy, under the principles of mutual respect and mutual benefit.”
On September 3, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the China Victory Day parade in Beijing.
“If the gas becomes cheap enough, then using the Mongolian route makes economic sense.”
A Hebei-based energy columnist argues that China secured the upper hand in the negotiations because Russia was under mounting pressure from its faltering economy, Western sanctions and the protracted war in Ukraine.
“The key reason China softened its stance this time is that Russia made an unprecedented price concession,” the writer says. “If the gas becomes cheap enough, then using the Mongolian route makes economic sense.”
He also notes that this land route via Mongolia could lower potential geopolitical risks as it would allow China to reduce its heavy reliance on LNG shipments through the vulnerable Strait of Malacca. He says having a secure overland corridor is seen as a major strategic gain for China in today’s uncertain global environment.
“Russia guarantees that if Mongolia causes trouble, China will use an alternative route – Russia will shoulder the extra cost to redirect the gas via Kazakhstan,” a Hunan-based columnist known as “Little Jiaxin” writes. “With this fallback clause in place, China finally felt assured. Without it, the talks could never have progressed this far.”
She adds that this promise effectively removed the geopolitical risk that had haunted negotiations for over a decade.
Last year, China proposed a Kazakhstan route as an alternative, but Moscow saw it as too long and expensive compared with the shorter, cheaper Mongolian route.
Geopolitics and Western response
Some Western analysts say Beijing’s unwillingness to confirm the deal showed that the Chinese side is not in a hurry to reach a final agreement. However, some observers believe China is simply keeping a low profile to avoid Western sanctions and tariffs.
In fact, the Power of Siberia 2’s planned capacity of 50 billion cubic meters a year is similar to that of the now-defunct Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which once supplied Europe with 55 bcm annually.
Before invading Ukraine in February 2022, Russia exported more than 150 bcm of gas to Europe each year through a web of major pipelines, including Nord Stream across the Baltic Sea, Yamal-Europe through Poland, TurkStream under the Black Sea and the older transit route via Ukraine.
After the invasion, Germany has halted the Nord Stream 2 project, which would have doubled direct Russian gas flows to Germany to 110 bcm per year. The EU has slashed its reliance on Russian energy. As a result, EU imports of Russian gas fell from 150 bcm in 2021 to 52 bcm last year, with the share of Russian gas in Europe’s energy mix collapsing from 45% to 19%.
The decline has prompted Moscow to pivot east, primarily toward China. Beijing welcomes cheap gas, but it does not want to upset the EU, which suffers from high energy and defense costs due to a prolonged Ukraine war.
The latest Power of Siberia 2 deal came after US President Donald Trump last month pushed for a ceasefire deal between Moscow and Kyiv. Trump also imposed a 25% tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil. The US did not do the same to China, as both sides were negotiating chip and rare earth supply deals.
Two analysts from the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center — Joseph Webster and Landon Derentz — co-write that the Power of Siberia 2 deal could undermine Western efforts to contain Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“China is Russia’s most important trade partner and provides indispensable defense industrial base support to Moscow,” they wrote. “Any further natural gas tie-in risks prolonging the war in Ukraine by sustaining Russia’s economy and bolstering Putin politically.”
They say “the United States and its European allies should jointly consider targeted secondary sanctions against Russian energy companies, Chinese firms aiding the Russian war effort, or both.”
Meanwhile, US officials have reportedly signalled that Washington will urge G7 partners to consider imposing sweeping tariffs of 50% to 100% on both Chinese and Indian purchases of Russian oil, seeking to curtail the energy revenues sustaining Moscow’s war effort.
The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages and most Jews could not see the working of God’s providence in the revelation of the Messiah in the chapters here, or in the revelation to which he came to restore all the nations back to God.
Our challenge is to de-crypt them, especially as it relates to the latter days, our days.
Typically, a prophecy begins with the house of Judah or Jerusalem, then to the house of Israel, eventually encompassing prophecies concerning the surrounding nations.
However the following may provide a clue:
“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 understand it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20
“In latter days you will understand it fully,” that is, this means as a whole, we wouldn’t understand these prophecies until we’re living in the latter days, soon to be our days, after God had executed his judgement in anger and performed the thoughts of his heart; only then could we understand fully!
Isaiah 61
1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound,
— we ask, “Who is the speaker?” – this refers to the Messiah is abundantly proved by the fact that the Lord Yeshua expressly applied it to himself (see Luke 4:16-21, also at the end);
— if Isaiah was the speaker, he was just a forerunner because his role in proclaiming the good tidings, etc, was limited;
— he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted; whose hearts are smitten and made contrite by the Word of God, and are truly humbled under a sense of sin; who are cut to the heart, have wounded spirits; these Christ binds up, by speaking comfortably to them;
— by applying his blood; by discovering the free and full pardon of their sins; and for this, as Mediator, he had a mission and commission from his Father; he came not of himself, but he sent him:
— to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to such who were captives to sins and as it were prisoners to them, shut up by them, and in them, and held fast there;
— but Christ, the Messiah as he is the author of liberty; obtains it for his people and makes them free with it a liberty from sin, or as of prisoners from the prison house.
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn,
— to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord; the allusion is to the proclamation of liberty, in the year of jubilee when the trumpet was blown, and liberty was proclaimed throughout all the land (see Leviticus 25:9-10);
— Jesus or Yeshua the Messiah stopped before mentioning the days of vengeance, Luke 21:22, which calls for the destruction of Jerusalem. Perhaps there was a delay of 40 years when the Romans came and surrounded the City, then its capture and inferno in AD 70;
— but who escaped destruction and death? History recorded only two sects that escaped the inferno of AD 70:
(1) The Christians, known as Nazarenes in Acts 24:5. They escaped to a northern town called Pella, west of the Jordan River.
(2) Some Pharisees, those of the House of Hillel. They were headed by a Pharisaic rabbi, Johanan ben Zakkai, the head of the Sanhedrin, who was smuggled out of besieged Jerusalem in a coffin.
These Pharisees escaped to Yavne and established the Hillel Calendar, which was revealed by Hillel II in about AD 359 concerning the rules of the calendar. Later, they re-emerged and are now known as Rabbinic Jews.
— all other sects of the Jews faced their days of vengeance and disappeared in the AD 70 inferno: all Sadducees, Herodians, Boethusians, Essenes, together with the House of Shammai Pharisees and those of its military arm, the Zealots. They all faced their days of judgement and disappeared from history. Were they receiving a similar “fire” as those facing Sodom and Gomorrah?
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.”
— to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion; or “to the mourners of Zion” those who are of Zion and mourn for the corruptions in Zion’s false doctrines, their perversion, abuse and neglect of God’s statutes and ordinances; for the disorders and divisions they cause; and the power of godliness;
— trees of righteousness; in Hebrew, ‘Oaks,’ by their being oaks of righteousness is a metaphor meant a people standing up and distinguished for righteousness or justice; instead of being subjected to money, wealth and bowing down as a reed to corruption, wickedness and sin.
4 And they shall build the wastes of old, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
— during the Millennium the waste places of olden time: that is, not merely the cities that had fallen into ruins during the exile, but those that had been lying waste for lack of industrial activities; and of street violence, will be revived back into life.
5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
— strangers will be very helpful, like servants waiting for their master’s orders; that Israel is raised to the dignity of a priestly caste, leaving the rough work of the world to be done by foreigners, who stood on a lower level, and always offering to help;
— one Report by McKinsey says of the 60 millions Latinos in the US that had migrated from the South; they often live in ‘deserts’ where adequate housing, groceries are hard to find. “Nearly 9 in 10 of the Latino residents in such communities lived in five states: California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas.”
— McKinsey: Latinos are projected to make up 22.4 percent of the US labor force by 2030 and more than 30 percent by 2060 (Latinos population to 111.2 million by ’60).
6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord; men shall call you the Ministers of our God. Ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
— but ye, the children of Israel; as contrasted with the “strangers.” Ye shall have no need to attend to your flocks and lands: strangers will do that for you; your exclusive business will be the service of Yehovah as his “priests” – Exodus 19:6 remains yet to be realized.
7 For your shame ye shall have double, and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess the double; everlasting joy shall be unto them.
— for your shame ye shall have double: because you had experienced double dose of troubles and more than your share of contempt, your inheritance in the land will be doubled and your joy go on forever.
8 “For I, the Lord, love judgement; I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
— I hate robbery for burnt-offerings; I hate anything begotten by injustice, though they be for offering. As God will not accept of that which cost nothing, so much less of that which is the effect of rapine and oppression.
9 And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the people; all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.”
— anyone that see the seed of Abraham shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed; that they are the spiritual seed as well as his carnal seed and are blessed with him.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God. For He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
— I will greatly rejoice; the speaker is again as in Isaiah 61:1 the ideal Servant of Yehovah, Isaiah, as well as the Messiah, who identifies himself with the people and slaves;
— the Targum, it may be noted, makes Jerusalem the speaker: “Jerusalem shall say, I will greatly rejoice in the Word of the Lord.”
11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
— the Targum says, “thus the Lord God shall reveal the righteousness and the praise of Jerusalem before all the nations.”
~~~
Luke 4
16 And He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. 17 And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” 20 And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all those who were in the synagogue were fastened on Him. 21 And He began to say unto them, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
Isaiah 62
1 For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
— for Zion’s sake; opinions differ as to the speaker. Is he the prophet Isaiah, or the Servant, Yeshua, or the Lord, Yehovah Himself? On the whole, the second view seems to be most in harmony with what follows:
— the true Servant, the Messiah, will carry his mediatorial intercessory work, that there may be no delay in the fulfilment of the glorious promises of redemption that have just been uttered.
2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.
— after being sanctified, the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and thou shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name thee; a renewed one, a name which shall be of significance.
3 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
— and a royal diadem; in Hebrew, ‘diadem of a kingdom.’ The diadem is the wreath or chaplet, usually set with diamonds, which is “encircled” (צניף tsânı̂yph from צנף tsânaph) to roll or wind around to encircle) around the head;
— here it means such as was usually worn by monarchs; and the sense is that Jerusalem would become exceedingly beautiful in the sight of God.
4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
— thou, Jerusalem, shalt no more be termed Forsaken; as a woman forsaken by her husband. Neither shall thy land be termed Desolate; neither shall thy places of worship be empty, and thine ordinances of service be unfrequented. He alludes to the desolation of Jerusalem and Judah during the Babylon captivity.
5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee; and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
— as a young man, having married a virgin, possesses and enjoys her and lives and dwells with her in great harmony and love, having a delight and complacency in her, there being a suitableness in her person and age.
6 “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, who shall never hold their peace day nor night.” Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence,
— O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen upon thy walls as the prophets of the Old Testament are called (Ezekiel 3:17; 33:2,7); pastors and ministers in the New Testament often come with misguided observations and doctrines;
— parallel Scriptures in Ezekiel 34: And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds: Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?”
7 and give Him no rest till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
— till the Messiah makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth; that it may be the subject of universal commendation and rejoicing, instead of being an object of reproach and scorn.
8 The Lord hath sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength: “Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies, and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine for which thou hast labored;
— surely I, the Lord Yehovah, will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the strangers shall not drink thy wine, for thou hast laboured: this was threatened to the people of Israel, in case of sinning against God, and revolting from him; and was accomplished in the times of their captivity in Babylon, Deuteronomy 28:33.
9 but they that have gathered it shall eat it and praise the Lord; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.”
— but they that have gathered it shall eat it; so that every man may enjoy the avails of his own labor: that every man may securely enjoy the avails of his own labor.
10 Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people. Cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.
— go through, go through the gates; it is doubled by way of emphasis: make haste to your own land; as if Cyrus should say, Get you out of captivity as soon as you will, Isaiah 48:20.
“O prophets, pass through and return through the gates; turn the heart of the people to the right way; bring good things of good things, and comforts to the righteous, who remove the thoughts of an evil imagination, which are like a stone of stumbling; lift up a sign for the people.”
11 Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world: “Say ye to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with Him, and His work before Him.’”
— behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world; so it will be in the latter day when the truth shall be preached to all nations, from one end of the world to the other, Revelation 14:6;
— the word ‘behold’ is three times used in this verse, to raise attention to what is said, and as pointing out something wonderful, and to express the certainty of it.
12 And they shall call them the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and thou shalt be called Sought Out, a City Not Forsaken.
— the prophecy close by returning to a direct address to Zion-Jerusalem – “thee will men call derūshâh,” sought assiduously, that is, one whose welfare the Lord God are zealously concerned to promote (the same emphasis in Jeremiah 30:17);
— “a city that will not be forsaken,” that is, Jerusalem, a city men will gladly be resettled, and which will never be without inhabitants again.
Not many people want to keep the feast of Tabernacles during this time; some seen it only as voluntary, but during the Millennium the feast of Tabernacles, together with all the other feasts, would be enforced throughout all the nations.
Zechariah 14:16 And it shall come to pass that every one who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. Zechariah 14:16-17
Isaiah 59
1 Behold, the Lord’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.
— behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened; he is not grown weaker than informer times, but is as omnipotent as ever he was; neither his ear heavy; or dull of hearing: he is not like your idol gods that have hands and cannot help, and ears and cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.
— but your iniquities have separated; have been as a thick wall between you and your God; and have set him at a distance from you.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
— your hands are defiled with blood: here the prophet comes from a more general to a particular charge against them; by blood we are to understand either murders and bloodshed properly so called; or ways of injustice, extortion, oppression and cruelties, whereby men are deprived of a livelihood;
— your lips have spoken lies: or “falsehood” that is, false doctrines so called because contrary to the word of truth and which deceive men: like misplacing the Messiah in Isaiah 52:13 as Jacob in place of the Moshiach or Saviour, our Redeemer; willfully misidentifying the Suffering Servant by having their tongue muttering perverseness so as to make God’s revelation of no effect;
— that the lamb for Pascha was/is an act of defiance to the Egyptians who regarded lamb as the Egyptians’ deity, rather than a symbol of the death of the Messiah, our Moshiach or Saviour, our Redeemer;
— but the Orthodoxy still regard it only as an act of defiance to the Egyptians god, the Ram-god Khnum; the Scriptures nowhere say this, but is only a baloney figment of Jewish imagination, another muttered perverseness.
4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth; they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.
— none calleth for justice; none seek to redress these wrongs and violences; they commit all rapines and frauds with impunity; they trust in vanity; in vain and empty words, void of all consistency; or in vain things such as their idols were often called vanity and nothing;
— and speak lies; this may refer to the judges, lawyers and false prophets, who told them they should not go into captivity; or teach false doctrines:
— the house of Israel is still indulging in lies, they conceive mischief; worshipping Easter, Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the 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;
— and worshipping Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th but repackaged and christianised such idolatry as Christian in their mischief), 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 from his place today, Protestants or Catholics alike.
A adder snake; young are born, but here they have eggs!
5 They hatch adders’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. — Jewish Seder always have a egg; something that could not be derived from the Scriptures!
— they hatch cockatrice’ eggs; or a poisonous serpent’s; they contrive and execute wicked purposes and practices whereby sure and sudden destruction is brought upon themselves and others. Of the cockatrice or basilisk, one kind is put for any venomous creature;
— spider’s web; this refers not to the spider’s web being made to entrap; “Come to my parlour,” the spider says from her web to the butterfly, “come”
— their wicked plans resembled the egg of the serpent: the nature of the egg cannot be easily known by an inspection. It may have a strong resemblance to those produce by some useful animals; it is only when it is hatched that its true nature is known. So it is with the plans of the wicked: when forming, their true nature and character may not be known;
— the speech is proverbial, signifying by these eggs mischievous designs; or that this figurative expression is designed to show the evil nature and tendency of their works; like Pascha for the Egyptian’s Ram-god Khnum discussed above;
— that which is crushed; the egg, when it is broken, breaketh out as a viper; their plans, however specious in their undeveloped form like the egg, its deadly nature will more clearly manifested when crushed;
Jewish Seder always have a harmless egg! But not supported by Scriptures!
— he that eateth of their eggs dieth; the serpents referred to above are among the most venomous and destructive that are known; hence those who partake in the true nature and symbol of the egg are seen as ruinous, pernicious, and evil; and thus has a death penalty (for more, see at the end).
6 Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
— their webs shall not become garments; the spider’s web is unfit for clothing, or be of any real value or utility; that their works are as unfit to secure salvation as the attenuated web of a spider is for raiment;
— their works are works of iniquity: even their best works are sinful; not only as being imperfect and having a mixture of sin in them and so filthy rags; and the act of violence is in their hands; they persecuting such that preach and profess the contrary.
7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
— their feet run to evil; make haste to commit all manner of evils, and with great eagerness and swiftness, taking delight and pleasure therein and continuing in it; it is their course of life;
— and they make haste to shed innocent blood: in wars abroad or at home, in quarrels and riots, or through the heat of persecution; which if it does not directly touch men’s lives,
— yet issues in the death of many that fall under the power of it; as in Iraq (under the pretext of getting rid of WMD); and Afghanistan (to bring peace and democracy there), killing millions along the way.
8 The way of peace they know not, and there is no judgement in their goings; they have made them crooked paths; whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
— there is no judgement in their deeds: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace; they are of such turbulent spirits, living in such continual contentions and discords.
9 Therefore is judgement far from us, neither doth justice overtake us; we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
— therefore is judgement far from us; because we have no regard for justice or honesty, God will not plead our cause against our oppressors; neither doth justice overtake us;
— he does not defend our rights, nor avenge our wrongs; as if he had said, If we had executed justice and equity among one another, he would not have been far from us;
— we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness; or “for brightnesses” for much clear light; the Targum says, for brightness, but behold, we are walking in obscurity.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.
— we grope for the wall like the blind; a blind man, not being able to see his way, feels along by a wall, a fence or any other object that will guide him. They were like the blind; they had no distinct views of truth and they were endeavoring to feel their way along as well as they could;
— probably the prophet Isaiah here alludes to the threatening made by Moses in Deuteronomy 28:28-29, ‘And the Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noon-day as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways.’
— we are in desolate places as dead men; or in fat places, dead in trespasses and sin and at most have only a name to live but are dead. Some render it, “in the graves” and the Targum says
“We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes : we stumble at noonday as those that stumble in the dark; it is shut up before graves are shut up before the dead.” Isaiah 51:10 Jonathan
11 We all roar like bears, and mourn sore like doves; we look for judgement, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
— we roar all like bears; a heavy judgements awaits which could come upon them for their sins. The word rendered here ‘roar’ – to hum, spoken of bees, is applied to any murmuring or confused noise or sound. It sometimes means to snarl as a dog;
— mourns like doves in solitude: this expresses the secret groanings under a sense of sin, and the forlorn state of religion. The Targum paraphrases it thus, “We all roar like bears by reason of our enemies, who are gathered against us, and mourn like doves.”
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before Thee, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them:
— for our transgressions; the word פשׁעונו here signifies sins of a high nature, namely, such as were wilfully committed against light and knowledge; rebellious sins;
— are multiplied before thee; they admit of no excuse; for they are committed before thee, and multiplied against thee, whereby thou art justly provoked to deny us all help; as for our iniquities, we know them; we are convinced of them; our guilty consciences must own and acknowledge them.
13 in transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
— in transgressing; that is, we have been guilty of this as a continuous act; and lying against the Lord; we have proved false to God; though we have been professedly his people;
— yet we have been secretly attached to idols, and have in our hearts been devoted to the service of false gods. And departing away from our God; by the worship of idols, and by the violation of his law.
14 And judgement is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
— and judgement is turned away backward; the word ‘judgement’ is used in the sense of justice, or lust decisions between man and man; they acknowledged that they had been influenced by partiality and by bribes; they had condemned the innocent, they had acquitted the guilty.
15 Yea, truth faileth, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgement.
— yea, truth fails; that is, it is not to be found, it is missing; it means that truth had no existence there; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey; he that does not give in to the prevailing vices of the age in which he lives, now become fashionable;
— but abstains from them, and departs from doctrinal as well as practical evils; from all false doctrines, and from all superstitious modes of worship; becomes a prey to others; a reproach and a laughing stock to them; they scoff at him, and deride him for his preciseness in religion;
— and the Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no judgement; he took notice of all this and resented it that there was no judgement; no order or discipline observed; that are simple and innocent are outwitted by the crafty and fraudulent;
— that they are not willing, or rather daring, to oppose fraud with justice and to do all things in sincerity; that no justice done to evil teachings or punishments from the civil courts.
16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore his arm brought salvation unto Him, and his righteousness, it sustained Him.
— and he saw that there was no man; that is, no wise and prudent man qualified to govern the affairs of the people. Or, that there was no man qualified to interpose and put an end to these evils; no one qualified to save the nation from the calamities which their sins deserved.
17 For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
— for he put on righteousness as a breastplate; here the Lord is represented as a warrior clothed with armour, and as he will appear in the latter day on the behalf of his people, and against their enemies, who is called faithful and true and in righteousness will make war;
— and was clad with zeal as a cloak; with zeal for his own glory, and the interest of his people and against all enemies against all pagan worship and false doctrines; and therefore his eyes are said to be as a flame of fire and vengeance against the foes of God at his second coming.
18 According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; to the islands He will repay recompense.
— according to their deeds, accordingly he will repay; as the enemies of his people have treated them, so will the Lord deal with them; as they have shed their blood, he will, according to the laws of retribution and retaliation, give them blood to drink, as they deserve.
19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
— fear the name of the Lord; as hath been often showed, the fear to make his name renowned; from the west, viz. the western part of the world; His glory, or the glorious God; from the rising of the sun, viz. the eastern parts of the world;
— the whole world, the one half will be east and the other west; it shall fear and worship God, and make his name renowned, laying aside their idolatries; whether they refer it to the deliverance of his people out of Babylon, when they shall hear how God hath executed vengeance on his enemies; or to the redemption of the house of Jacob, and the calling of the Gentiles.
20 “And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob,” saith the Lord.
— the Targum says, “and the Redeemer [the Messiah] shall come to Zion and to turn the transgressors of the house of Jacob to the law.”
21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” saith the Lord; “My spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed,” saith the Lord, “from henceforth and for ever.”
— the Targum interprets this of the words of prophecy; and of the law not departing from the disciples of wise men; but it is best to understand it of the truth not departing from all the elects and the seed of the elect.
~~~~
The adders’ eggs and the spider’s web!
(a) the Seder plate always has an egg!
In addition to the paschal lamb, the Seder has the matzah and maror (bitter herbs), but they also has an egg (Beitza), and as such tradition, their practice couldn’t be found or based on any of the Scriptures.
Here, Chabad offers many explanations as to why they have an egg on the Seder plate, but none sound convincing nor any come from the Scriptures; it’s more like the lying tongues of their scribes trying to justify a pagan practice adopted from neighbouring countries:
“‘You keep saying, “We have the Lord’s teachings. So we are wise!” But this is not true, because the scribes have lied with their pens” Jeremiah 8:8. — it is more lying with their tongues in this instance
(b) Easter Eggs – On the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, a celebration was made—it was Ishtar (Easter) Sunday. It was celebrated with rabbits and eggs—symbols of fertility.
From the overview of the roots of Easter, Easter eggs were dyed with the blood of infants sacrificed to gods in the temple of Ishtar by their priests. Easter eggs: the symbol of the fertility and rebirth of life; reference to woman’s reproduction and infant sacrifices to their gods. It is full of deception; nothing about Easter is harmless.
Isaiah 60
1 Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. — whose light? without a subject “Arise, shine,” seems incomplete;
— arise, shine; the Targum and Septuagint add, “O Jerusalem” and no doubt but the kingdom of God centered in Jerusalem is addressed, composed of first the Jews (all other Israelites included) and Gentiles added later.
2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee.
— for, behold, darkness and idolatry had covered the earth; ignorance and all kinds of errors and vices; like that of Egypt; the most palpable blindness and infatuation as to divine things.
3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
— and Gentiles shall come to thy light; or shall be allured by thy light to come to thee, as travellers in a dark night and out of their way when a light discovers itself make to it; and wish them much joy but shall rejoice to participate with them in their happiness.
4 “Lift up thine eyes round about and see; all they gather themselves together, they come to thee; thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.
— the Targum says, “lift up thine eyes O Jerusalem, round about, and see all the children of the people of thy captivity . . . thy sons shall come from far into thy midst”
— all they gather themselves and come to thee: this seems to have respect not just the Jews but all other Israelites themselves who are scattered up and down the world; and now shall gather together in a body and go up to Jerusalem, where they will go to keep the feast of tabernacles, Zechariah 14:16-21; followed by all the nations:
Zechariah 14:16 And it shall come to pass that every one who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
18 And if the family of Egypt go not up and come not, upon whom there is no rain, there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen who come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
20 In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses: “Holiness Unto The Lord.” And the pots in the Lord’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar;
21 yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts, and all those who sacrifice shall come and take of them and boil therein. And in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 14:16-21
5 Then thou shalt see and flow together, and thine heart shall fear and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.
— at the onset of the Millennium, the forces of the Gentiles shall pay homage unto thee with their wealth; not only kings, their generals, their armies, but common people; as well as their merchants; coming with tributes; the Targum says “the treasures of the nations shall be brought unto thee.”
6 The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord.
— Midian was the fourth son of Abraham and Keturah Genesis 25:2, and was the father of the Midianites, riding on dromedaries (camels), paying homage with gold and incense.
7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee; they shall come up with acceptance on Mine altar, and I will glorify the house of My glory. — Kedar, in Genesis 25:13, among the descendants of Ishmael; coming with rams as tributes.
8 “Who are these that fly as a cloud and as the doves to their windows?
— so numerous in multitudes that they appear as flying as a dense cloud; and leading to the question, Who can they be? It is not uncommon to compare a multitude of persons to a cloud.
9 Surely the isles shall wait for Me—and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified thee.
— surely the isles shall wait for me; the Targum says, “wait for my Word,” the Messiah and his coming; the isles of Great Britain may be intended, who, as they waited for his Kingdom and readily received it as soon as it was brought to them which was very early;
— so there are many now waiting for the coming of the Messiah and his glory in the latter day and perhaps in other parts of the world.
10 “And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee; for in My wrath I smote thee, but in My favor have I had mercy on thee.
— for in my wrath I smote thee for the children of Jacob’s rejection of the prophets and the Messiah; wrath came upon them to the uttermost, upon their city, Temple, nation and to each of their destructions.
11 Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring unto thee the wealth of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.
— thy gates shall be open continually; it implies a Millennium setting (1) a state of peace in which there would be no danger of attack; and (2) the constant stream of caravans of pilgrims, with their offerings and tributes entering by night as well as day.
12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
— the Targum says: for the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee, O Jerusalem, shall perish; yea, those nations shall utterly be destroyed;
— given that the Gentiles have their chance of repentance at the onset of the Millennium, yet repent not, they would be destined for destruction.
13 The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious.
— Lebanon would come with their fir and pine trees as tributes; the new Jerusalem would see a revival of the glories of the days of Solomon. The cedars of Lebanon, and other trees of the forest, are to furnish timber for its buildings or even to be planted in the courts of the Temple or in its open places and streets;
— the place of my feet is clearly parallel with the “sanctuary” of the previous clause; so the word “footstool” is used of the Temple in Psalms 99:5; 132:7.
14 The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee, and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, the City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
— during the Millennium, the sons of these neighbouring countries; that is, even their descendants who had oppressed thee would become tributary to you; shall come bending unto thee; in a posture of humiliation and respect.
15 “Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
— reflecting back that thou hast been forsaken, hated; the forsaking here refers to the various calamities, persecutions and trials, which you, the children of Jacob, had been called to endure;
— so that no man went through thee; when the country was desolate and abandoned that no travellers from one part of it to another or made it a thoroughfare in going to other lands.
16 Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings; and thou shalt know that I the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
— or with reference of bring tributes to Jacob’s posterity; these things will certainly be accomplished; for he is the mighty God, and so able; and the God of Jacob, so obliged by covenant and relation.
— the mighty one of Jacob; styled with reference to Jacob as a person, after his posterity had been sanctified and gave God this title, Genesis 49:24.
17 “For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood, brass, and for stones, iron. I will also make thy officers peace and thine exactors righteousness.
— during the Millennium the Gentiles will bring gold instead of brass: thy poverty shall be turned to riches, all things shall be altered for the best as the days of Solomon, when gold was as brass.
18 Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation and thy gates Praise.
— violence shall no more be heard; neither the threats and triumphs of those that do violence, nor the outcries and complaints of those that suffer it, shall be heard again, but every man shall peaceably enjoy his own.
19 The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.
— the sun shall be no more thy light; the light of the sun and moon shall not be at all esteemed in comparison of the light of the Kingdom, which shall be so glorious as to eclipse all the light formerly enjoyed by her, the divine glory and majesty.
20 Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
— the Targum says, “thy kingdom shall cease no more and thy glory shall not be removed.”
21 Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified.
— that God would be glorified, and many beings made glorious by him; when people are made pure and happy as the result of his purposes and plans.
22 A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation; I, the Lord, will hasten it in his time.”
— during the Millennium a little one shall become a thousand; there shall be a great increase, as if one and that the smallest should be multiplied to a thousand;
— his time; not our time; we might wish to hasten it but it will come in due time as in the case of the Messiah’s first and second comings; so in that of the restoration of Israel and the conversion of the world in his time.
Wherefore, Paul says the trials and sufferings in this life are truly not worthy to be compared with the glorious future in God’s Kingdom and enjoying eternity with this great inheritance as His beloved children!
Paul describes it best, “But as Scripture says: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined, the things that God has prepared for those who love him’” (1 Corinthians 2:9, God’s Word Translation).
He now goes to the outer reaches of spiritual knowledge, saying: “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing [the resurrection] of the sons of God. For the creation [or Universe] was subjected to futility [decay], not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption [or uselessness] into the glorious liberty of the children of God [who will help renew it]” (Romans 8:19-21).
As far as we know about cosmology, our solar system and the 5,830 exoplanets so far found are in need of renovation, for none is ready to be inhabited. It appears that Lucifer’s rebellion caused great havoc when he attempted to dethrone God in heaven and was cast back to the earth. As Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18, see also Isaiah 14:12-15).
This destruction will be repaired once God’s Kingdom arrives, which begins first by renewing the earth (Acts 3:21), and then the rest of the Universe. Romans 8:22-23 adds: “We know that everything in the universe is still in great pain now. Everything cries together in pain, like a woman who is ready to have a baby. It is the same for us who are believers. We have received God’s Spirit as the first of his gifts to us, but we also cry inside ourselves. We are waiting for the time when God will finish his great work. Then we will belong to Him completely as his children. Our bodies will be free from the power of sin” (EASY version).
Blessed to those who know and keep the weekly and annual Sabbaths perpetually:
“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words,
“then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,” Isaiah 58:13-14
Isaiah 57
1 The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
— the righteous are delivered from the sting of death; the pains of sufferings; the careless world disregards this, and very few notice it as a public warning;
— they are taken away in compassion and that they may not see the evil, nor share in it, nor be tempted by it; the righteous man, when he dies, enters into peace and rest.
2 He shall enter into peace; they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.
— he shall enter into peace, or ‘he shall go in peace.’ So the Septuagint, ‘his burial shall be in peace;’ that is, that by his death the righteous man shall enter into rest; he shall get away from conflict, strife, agitation and distress.
3 “But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.
— draw near to face God’s tribunal, to receive their sentence; though Hezekiah and Josiah had made great changes when each ascended the throne and had done their best to put down idolatry,
— yet idolatry was still dear among the people, and was easily revived by each of their sons; thus the Jews were guilty of idolatry before the captivity.
4 Against whom do ye sport yourselves? Against whom make ye a wide mouth and draw out the tongue? Are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood,
— CSB Who are you mocking? Who are you opening your mouth and sticking out your tongue at? Isn’t it you, you rebellious children, you offspring of liars,
5 inflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks?
— inflaming in lust with these idols; being inflamed or growing hot after idols; that is, lusting after them and mad upon them;
— under the clefts of the rocks; dark and shady groves; deep and sombre caverns were the places where the abominable rites of the pagan superstitions were practiced.
6 Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; they, they are thy lot. Even to them hast thou poured a drink offering, thou hast offered a meat offering. Should I receive comfort in these?
— among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; or thy god; but the portion of Jacob is not like them, stocks and stones, Jeremiah 10:16;
— whenever they could pick up smooth stones, whether in the stream of a brook or in a valley, they polished and formed them into an image and made gods of them; and these were their portion and inheritance and which they left to their children.
7 Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed; even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.
— upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed; temples and altars which are usually built on high places where they commit spiritual adultery; that is, idolatry in imitation of the heathens who had their temples and altars on high places;
— the Targum says, “Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set the place of thy house of thy dwelling” which agrees very well with the great city the seat of the beast; like the temple at Mount Gerizim and later the cathedral of Rome.
8 Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance; for thou hast uncovered thyself to another than Me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed and made thee a covenant with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it.
“Behind the doors and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance of thy idols; thou hast been like a woman who is beloved by her husband, but goeth astray after strangers; thou hast enlarged thy bed.”
9 And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell.
— but when thou went to the king, that is, the king of Assyria or Egypt to whom the Israelites were very prone to seek, and trust and send presents; thou disgraced yourselves;
— this verse has a preamble in the Targum but not in the Masoretic Text:
“When thou didst keep the law, thou didst prosper in the kingdom; and when thou didst multiply for thyself good works, thy camp was enlarged,” — sounds authentic but why not in the Masoretic Text?
10 Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, ‘There is no hope.’ Thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved.
— thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; thou hast not eased or relieved but only tired thyself with all thy tedious journeys and laborious endeavours.
11 “And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered Me, nor laid it to thy heart? Have not I held My peace even of old, and thou fearest Me not?
— and of whom hast thou been afraid or feared? and what or who are they the fear of whom drives thee to these wicked and desperate courses? Are they not men, weak and mortal creatures such as wholly depend upon me and can do nothing to thee either against me or without me?
— and hast not remembered me; or “for thou hast not remembered me nor laid it to thy heart?” or “put me upon thy heart”
— the Targum has a more comprehensive perspective:
“And of whom hast thou been afraid? and on account of whom hast thou feared? Thou hast surely multiplied speaking lies, and thou hast not remembered my service, and hast not had my fear in thine heart: I would have given you the ends of the world, if you had returned to my law; but thou hast not returned to me.”
12 I will declare thy righteousness and thy works, for they shall not profit thee. — the Targum says, “I have shewn thee those good works, which would have been thy righteousness; but thou hast multiplied evil works which did not profit thee.”
13 When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away, vanity shall take them. But he that putteth his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain,
— when thou criest; in the time of thy trouble; let thy companies deliver thee; properly, “a gathering; a throng; a collection,”
— here it refers either to the throngs of the idols which they had collected, and on which they relied; or to the collection of foreigners which they had summoned to their assistance; if people trust to other objects for aid than the arm of God, they will be left in the day of trial to such assistance as they can render them;
— the Targum ends with “but he that putteth his trust in my Word shall possess the earth, and shall inherit my holy mountain.”
14 And shall say, ‘Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way; take up the stumbling block out of the way of My people.’”
— the Targum says, “and he shall say, teach and admonish, turn the heart of this people to the right way; remove the stumbling-block of the wicked out of the way of the congregation of my people.”
15 For thus saith the high and lofty One who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
— for thus saith the high and lofty; the central truth for the comfort of God’s people is that the infinitely Great One cares even for the infinitely little;
— whose name is Holy; who is omnipotent, everlasting, and unchangeable, holy in all his words and ways, and therefore both can and will deliver his people, as he hath promised to do.
16 For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth; for the spirit should fail before Me, and the souls which I have made.
— for I will not contend with thee forever; I will not be angry with my people forever, nor always refuse to pardon and comfort them;
— the Targum says, “for I will not take vengeance of judgement forever, neither shall my wrath be eternal.”
17 For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him; I hid Me and was wroth, and he went on waywardly in the way of his heart.
“My wrath is upon them on account of their robbed riches, and I smote them; I removed my Shekinah from them, and cast them out. I scattered their captives, because they went astray after the imagination of their hearts.”
18 I have seen his ways and will heal him; I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.
— I have seen his ways, and will heal him, the ways of such who trust in the Lord, the ways of the humble and contrite;
19 I create the fruit of the lips; peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near,” saith the Lord; “and I will heal him. — the fruit of the lips; which is praise and thanksgiving,
20 “But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
— but the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest; disturbed by winds, storms and hurricanes, when its waves rise, rage and tumble about, and beat against the shore and sand, threatening to pass the bounds fixed for it;
— the wicked persist in the alienation from God; are incapable of the peace which God brings to his people: they are like the sea in its tossed and stormy state; as this cannot rest and as its waters cast out slime and mud;
— so has their natural state become one of perpetual disturbance, leading to the uninterrupted production of unclean and ungodly thoughts, words and works.
— the Septuagint renders it, ‘But the wicked are tossed like waves and are not able to be at rest.’
21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.”
— but the wicked are storm-battered seas that can’t quiet down. The waves stir up garbage and mud. There’s no peace,” God says, “for the wicked.”
— and from the Message Bible
A Message from the high and towering God, who lives in Eternity, whose name is Holy: “I live in the high and holy places, but also with the low-spirited, the spirit-crushed, And what I do is put new spirit in them, get them up and on their feet again.
For I’m not going to haul people into court endlessly, I’m not going to be angry forever. Otherwise, people would lose heart. These souls I created would tire out and give up. I was angry, good and angry, because of Israel’s sins. I struck him hard and turned away in anger, while he kept at his stubborn, willful ways.
When I looked again and saw what he was doing, I decided to heal him, lead him, and comfort him, creating a new language of praise for the mourners. Peace to the far-off, peace to the near-at-hand,” says God— “and yes, I will heal them.
But the wicked are storm-battered seas that can’t quiet down. The waves stir up garbage and mud. There’s no peace,” God says, “for the wicked.” Isaiah 57:17-21 MSG
Isaiah 58
~~~
1 “Cry aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet! And show My people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins.
— cry aloud; literally, with the throat, i.e., with no faint whisper as from stammering lips, but with full strength of voice; and so the Targum expresses it, “O prophet, cry with thy throat;”
— lift up thy voice like a trumpet; Speak loud and distinct, so that the language of reproof may be heard; and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins:
“I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts” Hosea 2:11
Mithra, Sun Goddess of the Persians, being worshipped every Christmas
— her feast days; which “Christians” understand and practice are:
(a) 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
(b) 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; and
(c) her sabbaths which is Sundays, where the original 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.
Easter or Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex
2 Yet they seek Me daily and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
— yet they seek me daily; they cover all their wickedness with a profession of religion, from time to time resorting to my house, pretending to ask counsel of me and to desire and seek my favour and blessing. And delight to know my ways;
— that is, either, (a) they seem to delight to know them, men being often said in Scripture to be or do that which they seem or profess to be or do: or (b) they really delight; for there are many men who take some pleasure in knowing God’s will and word, and yet do not conform their lives to them.
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ say they, ‘and Thou seest not? Why have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no note?’ Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors.
— in those solemn days of fasting which I have appointed; or in those times when I have called you by the course of my providence and counsels of my prophets, unto fasting, weeping and mourning, yet ye find pleasure, indulging in pride, covetousness and malignant passions.
— in the day of your fast ye find pleasure; better, ye carry on your business. Fasts were not governed like the Sabbath by a fixed law and the people consequently lost sight of the true end of fasting—prayer, meditation, penitence.
4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness; ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
— ye fast for strife and contention; it produced a quarrelsome temper which even led to open violence, “smiting with godless fist;”
— to make your voice to be heard on high; that is in strife and contention that your voice can be heard on the mountain top that their prayers would ascend to heaven and be heard by God.
5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?
— a fast is a day to afflict the soul; if it does not express true sorrow for sin it is not a fast. These pretenders had shown sorrow on stated or occasioned fasts, but they indulged in pride, covetousness and malignant passions.
6 “Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
— is not this the fast that I have chosen? – or approve, fasting is right and proper; but that which God approves and follows by deeds of humility, kindness and reflection.
7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house?—when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
— to share your bread with the hungry and to offer shelter to the homeless poor, to clothe the naked when you behold them and not turn your back on your own kin;
— and from the Message Bible
“This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, God will answer. You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. Isaiah 58:6-9 MSG
8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward.
— then shall thy light; cause of rejoicing, break forth as the morning; arise as certainly and speedily as in the morning the light arises out of darkness.
9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, ‘Here I am.’ If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger and speaking vanity,
— “the putting forth of the finger” – pointing at those that could not comply with them, by way of scorn and derision and persecuting them for it; and so is the same with smiting with the fist of wickedness.
10 and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noonday.
— then shall thy light rise in obscurity; that is, it will be as if the cheerful light of the sun should rise amidst the shades of midnight; their calamities and trials would be suddenly succeeded by the bright and cheerful light of prosperity.
11 And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.
— like a watered garden; like a garden for the pleasure and beauty of it, a paradise; like a garden watered for the continual flourishing of thy estate; there shall be no withering or decay upon thy prosperous condition.
12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Paths to dwell in.
— thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; either such foundations as have been razed up and lay so for ages past; or raise up such as shall continue for generations to come;
— and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach and the restorer of paths to dwell in; the Targum says, “they shall call thee, the restorer of the right way, and converters of the wicked to the law.”
13 “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words,
— the Sabbath is a sign between God and his people; his appointing it is a sign of his favour to them; and their observing it is a sign of their obedience to him;
“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 — Sabbaths, plural, both weekly and yearly
Moreover, I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. Ezekiel 20:12 — Sabbaths, plural, both weekly and yearly
— and call the Sabbath a delight; this expresses the positive feelings of keeping the Sabbath. To these it is not wearisome, nor are its hours heavy, they love the day of sweet and holy rest; they esteem it a privilege, not a burden nor a task;
14 then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
— then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord: that is, if thou wilt delight thyself in the Sabbath, then thou shalt delight in the God of the Sabbath; or thou shalt have cause to delight in the Lord, in his goodness and faithfulness to thee and so shalt live by faith in him as the Fountain of all good.
China has agreed in principle to the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, having signed “a legally binding memorandum of understanding” (MoU) with Russia. But what does this mean?
Below are several key points from a chat with ChatGPT
Key Points:
A lexically binding MoU was signed on 2 September 2025 between Russian energy giant Gazprom and China’s CNPC (China National Petroleum Corporation) to construct the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, which will deliver up to 50 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas annually via Mongolia over the next 30 years Financial Times Reuters+2 Reuters+2 The Moscow Times
However, key commercial components such as final pricing, financing, and a definitive construction timeline remain unresolved and are still under negotiation Financial Times Reuters
In short, while China has committed to the Power of Siberia 2 project through the signed agreement, the detailed groundwork — such as pricing agreements, financing, and construction plans — is yet to be finalized.
Q.Gazprom says, Putin says, Russia says, but what did China says?
But surprisingly, China itself has offered very few public statements on the project:
What China’s Reports Show
1. Statements from Russian Media and Officials
Reuters and other outlets highlight that China and Russia “gave their blessing” to the pipeline, based on comments from Gazprom—not direct quotes from Chinese officials. Yahoo Finance UK Reuters.
News agencies cite Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller confirming a binding memorandum with China’s CNPC, but again, no Chinese spokesperson is quoted. Reuters The Moscow Times.
2. Chinese State Media Notes Confirmations, Not Commentary
The Global Times reports on the memorandum signing and growing energy cooperation, without elaborating on China’s rationale or emphatic statements. Global Times.
Why So Little from China?
China tends to minimize direct commentary in sensitive geopolitical agreements. This approach helps:
Control messaging.
Maintain negotiation flexibility.
Avoid escalating public or international scrutiny.
Allow focus on domestic policy rather than foreign optics.
Final Takeaway
So far, all we know is that China has quietly endorsed the project, allowing a binding agreement to be signed. But it has not publicly elaborated on costs, construction specifics, or broader strategic implications.
Q. Gazprom says, Putin says, Russia says, but what did China says?
Q. There couldn’t be an agreement when the price, which is the most important thing, isn’t agreed on, isn’t it?
Exactly — you’ve spotted the heart of the issue.
For huge projects like Power of Siberia 2, the gas price formula (how much China pays Russia per cubic meter/MMBtu, often linked to oil or LNG benchmarks) is the single most important term.
Without an agreed price (or at least a formula), a full commercial supply contract can’t really exist.
That’s why:
What Gazprom and CNPC signed on Sept 2, 2025 is described as a “binding memorandum” (obligation to keep working together), not a final sales contract.
Russia emphasizes the deal politically, but China stays quiet, likely because price negotiations are still unresolved.
Until the price and delivery schedule are fixed, the pipeline may have a framework deal, but not a full-fledged gas supply agreement.
So you’re right: an agreement in principle can exist (route, volumes, cooperation), but a true supply contract only exists once the price mechanism is agreed.
Q. For power of Siberia 2, China wants the price to be very low, like Russian domestic price, but Putin wants it to be market price, how much is the gap?
You’re absolutely right — the pricing gap is the central sticking point in the Power of Siberia 2 negotiations. Here’s a clearer breakdown of what we know:
Price Discrepancy Between Russia’s Domestic and Export Gas Rates
Russian domestic gas price: approximately $60 per 1,000 cubic meters
Power of Siberia 1 export gas (China): about $257 per 1,000 m³
So there’s already a fourfold difference between domestic and export prices.
China (CNPC) Prefers gas priced close to Russian domestic rates (~$60), arguing for fairness and affordability.
Russia (Gazprom / Putin) Insists on a market-based formula, similar to European export pricing (~$257), though slightly discounted. Putin claims it offers China a competitive advantage compared to European prices.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mongolian President Ukhnagiin Khurelsukh get together for a trilateral meeting in Beijing
What This Means
The divide — ranging from $60 to $257 per 1,000 m³ — reflects tactical negotiation: China pushes for affordability, Russia seeks value and energy substitution for lost European markets.
Negotiations remain highly conflicted, since a durable gas deal can’t be finalized without settling price terms.
If Russia holds close to $257, China may balk entirely. If China secures domestic-level pricing, Russia’s export profits collapse.
So, to conclude, there is still no binding agreement for the Power Of Siberia 2 Pipeline to go ahead; only a legally binding agreement to keep on talking.
China has long held ambitions of turning global aviation into an “ABC” market: breaking the duopoly of Airbus and Boeing with the entry of world-class Chinese jets.
That strategy is already well underway, with the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) having already received orders for hundreds of its regional and narrowbody planes, the C909 and C919.
Now, the Chinese aircraft manufacturer is doubling down on plans to expand its fleet to include widebody models – including a self-developed answer to Boeing’s iconic 747 jumbo jet.
Enter the C929 and C939
COMAC appears laser-focused on producing its own liners capable of undertaking long-haul flights, an endeavour that is not only being driven by market demand but also political and strategic factors.
“There are not too many other engineering products other than big planes that are so visible, so recognisable,” said David Yu, a professor at New York University Shanghai specialising in aviation financing.
“Just like America and Europe, China has many reasons to develop and fly home-grown widebodies that reflect its status and ambitions.”
COMAC was incorporated in 2008 with the mission of realising Beijing’s long-term aviation strategy, with the Chinese leadership convinced that the country needed a complete suite of aircraft to showcase its prowess in advanced manufacturing.
And COMAC executives have stressed that the rapid rollout of the C919 over the past few years only marked the initial steps of a much larger project, as the firm graduates from making single-aisle jets to larger, more sophisticated models.
Wei Yingbiao, the company’s then-deputy general manager, who is now an executive at another state-owned enterprise, reiterated this point once again at a forum in Harbin this past December.
“We are eyeing C929 and C939 widebodies, doing designs,” said Wei. “In addition, we are also envisioning new generations down the road, including electric, hydrogen and hybrid types.”
The C929 will carry up to 440 people and have a range of 12,000 kilometres – about the distance from Shanghai to New York. It will reportedly match the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350 in some performance metrics.
Prototypes for the new jet are currently under development. Domestic suppliers are reportedly due to start shipping some large components, including the first fuselage middle section, for the project in 2027.
The bigger C939, whose specs are still being sketched out, is predicted to be close in size to the Boeing 777 and 747.
Though COMAC has yet to commit to a delivery date, there are hopes that the C929 and C939 can be developed in a shorter time frame than Boeing and Airbus’ first widebodies.
Boeing began work on its first large jet, the iconic 747 series, in the 1960s, as air travel in the US was entering a golden age. The plane was inducted into service in 1970, 13 years after Boeing’s first narrowbody, the 707, was launched.
But Airbus needed less than 10 years – from conception to trial production – to create its first widebody model, the A300, with the plane entering into service in 1974.
The C929 was first conceived in 2016 as a Sino-Russian joint venture project, then known as the CR929. Though Russia later pulled out, some groundwork had already been laid for the project.
“Certainly you don’t have to start all over again, as the CR929 has already provided a foundation,” said a source with COMAC subsidiary Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing, who declined to be named.
“Designing a widebody today is easier than when Boeing first started out in the 1960s. There are mature designs, components and partners that COMAC can look at.”
But analysts warn that COMAC may have to navigate some tough geopolitical headwinds to get its widebodies off the ground. While external tensions are unlikely to deter the company from pursuing its ambitions, they could complicate them.
In particular, the commercial viability of COMAC’s new widebodies may hang on the attitudes of foreign watchdogs, with the company unable to rely solely on domestic long-haul travel.
Eric Lin, head of greater China research at UBS in Hong Kong, said there would need to be strong demand for long-haul travel within China and a robust outbound travel market for the C929 and C939 to succeed.
“You need to have a pickup in Chinese outbound travel to amplify that demand,” Lin said. “And that means foreign regulators would need to approve them for international flights.”
China has some purely domestic demand for widebodies, with Chinese carriers deploying them on busy routes such as Beijing-Guangzhou and Beijing-Shanghai.
Though the global aviation market has increasingly skewed toward smaller planes in recent years, which has led Western planemakers to cut back on production of jumbo jets, “demand for widebodies will sustain, with long-haul routes unsuitable for small units”, said John Grant, an analyst with British aviation consultancy OAG.
In an August report, Boeing predicted that China’s commercial fleet would double by 2043, meaning it would need to acquire another 1,575 new widebody planes.
COMAC can also depend on support from China’s state-owned airlines, which have placed huge orders for the C919 and will be expected to do so again for future domestic airliners. In November, Air China was confirmed as the launch customer for the C929.
But the international market will still be vital. COMAC could possibly mitigate any delay in certification from Western regulators by first deploying its widebodies domestically and then “start selling overseas to developing countries that are China’s allies and do not require Western endorsement,” Grant said.
He added, though, that this approach would not allow COMAC to make a dent in Airbus and Boeing’s dominant market shares anytime soon.
And the Chinese firm will continue to be beholden to the West in other ways, too.
The C929 and C939 will almost certainly use engines made by Western suppliers, as home-grown alternatives are still not up to standard. This could make them vulnerable to political risks.
The C919’s engine import agreement with Western suppliers including CFM International, a Franco-American joint venture, was signed in 2011. But the global political situation has changed since then, and “the C929 and C939 may face further uncertainties,” said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of the US-based Aerodynamic Advisory.
“China’s aircraft sector may be seen as dual military-civilian by the West going forward – good luck getting approval for using Western engines [for new models] should political and trade environment changes deepen,” Aboulafia said.
NYU Shanghai’s Yu predicted that, even though there are existing design parameters for COMAC to follow as it develops its widebodies, China’s political tensions with the West could set back the company’s production and delivery schedule for the C929, with the C939 further behind.
The best way for Beijing to shield COMAC from potential geopolitical headwinds, Yu suggested, might be to promote the company’s international cooperation.
The two widebody models will be even more reliant on Western tech than the C919, given the complexity of developing such a large model from scratch. But Yu said that dependence could also prove useful in some ways.
“The more Western firms get involved, the more transparent China’s civil aviation programmes will become and the less political blowback from the West there will be,” said Yu, who is also chairman of the China Aviation Valuation Advisors consultancy.
The source with Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing insisted the planemaker could replicate the C919’s domestic-foreign partnerships.
“A majority of the C919’s Western suppliers … can smoothly transition to the C929 and future programmes,” said the source, adding that many of the companies have been working with COMAC for over a decade.
Representatives from American and European partners including GE Aerospace and Liebherr told the Post at the Zhuhai Airshow in November that the companies would back COMAC’s ambitions to make widebody aircraft.
The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages; as usual a prophecy of Isaiah will start with the house of Judah and Jerusalem then spread to the house of Israel and soon it includes many prophecies concerning other nations surrounding the region.
However the following may provide a clue:
“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 understand it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20
“In latter days you will understand it fully,” that is, this means as a whole, we wouldn’t understand these prophecies until we’re living in the latter days, soon to be our days, after God had executed his judgement in anger and performed the thoughts of his heart; only then could we understand fully!
“God’s favor rests on those who attend to justice, who devote themselves to doing what is right, Who keep the Sabbath and don’t disregard or belittle it, who keep from doing what is wrong: destructive, deceitful, or violent” Isaiah 56:2 VOICE
Isaiah 55
1 “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
— Ho – (הוי hôy); this word is calling attention to an issue one of importance;
— everyone that thirsts; the word ‘thirst’ indicates intense desire and is thus applied to the sense of want which sinners often have and to their anxious wishes for salvation.
2 Why do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
— why do ye spend money for that which is useless? Lavish away time, opportunities, and strength, in reading and hearing false doctrine, which is not food, but chaff; and the errors and heresies of false teachers:
— and let your soul delight itself in falsehood; in the goodness and fatness of the Lord’s house, attending on the word and ordinances with spiritual pleasure and delight; and which is the way to become fat and flourishing in spiritual things.
3 Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
— hear; hearken attentively and obediently to my counsel; hearing being oft put for obeying, as Isaiah 42:18 “Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see;” or as the Targum says, “Incline your ear and receive instruction of my law, obey my Word and your soul shall be quickened.”
4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
— behold, I have given him; this is evidently the language of God respecting the Messiah, or of David as representing the Messiah;
— a leader and commander to the people; he is a “leader” as David a type did; as a general leads out and on his armies to battle; as a shepherd leads his flock to good pastures; he is a commander in a military way, a wise, powerful and courageous, and always victorious as a King commands his subjects;
— the Targum says, “behold, I have appointed him a Prince to the people, a King, and a ruler over all kingdoms.”
5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He hath glorified thee.”
— and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee; knew not even God himself as the Gentiles did not, much less the Messiah;
— they knew neither his person nor his offices, nor the way of peace, and were in a state of gross darkness; and to whom the Gospel was not known, which is a revelation of Christ, and of good things by him. The Targum adds, “to offer tribute unto thee.”
6 Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.
— seek ye the Lord; the commencement of religion in the heart is often represented as a desire to seek God; and inquiring for his ways Deuteronomy 4:29;
— so the Targum (Jonathan) says, “seek the fear of the Lord, while ye are alive.” Or as one in the Jerusalem Talmud interprets these words, “whilst the Shechinah is found in the sanctuary; before he hides his face, and causes his Shechinah to remove from you.”
7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
— let the wicked forsake his way; his evil way, as the Targum paraphrases it, his wicked course of life; and which is his own way, of his own choosing, and in which he delights;
— and let him return unto the Lord; from whom he has departed, against whom he has sinned; and acknowledges his sin before the Lord, attends his word and worship; the Targum says, “and let him turn to the worship of the Lord.”
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” saith the Lord.
— the things that God thinks and purposes are not the things that man thinks and purposes and therefore because the thoughts are different the outcomes of them in deeds are divergent.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.
— by way of comparison, the relation in which the ways and thoughts of God stand to those of man; the Almighty God’s thoughts transcend those of man as much as the heaven is higher than the earth.
10 For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
— for as the rain and snow come down from the heavens and do not return again until they have done what they are sent to do, or have produced the following effects; otherwise they may be exhaled into vapours as they often are and drawn up again by the sun.
11 so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: It shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
— this is set forth under a figure drawn from the rain and the snow and return not till it has moistened the earth and fertilized it and made it green and offered seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
— so my word be which go forth out of my mouth: it will not return to me fruitless, till it has accomplished that which I willed, and prosperously carried out that for which I sent it.
12 “For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
— for ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; though these words may literally respect the Israelites’ return from captivity to their own land, attended with joy and peace; as the preceding verse may respect the word of promise concerning it;
— as it is interpreted by the Targum, “for ye shall go out with joy from among the nations, and with peace shall ye be carried to your own land: the mountains and the hills shall rejoice before you with praise, and all the trees of the field shall clap with their branches.”
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
— the Targum says “Instead of the wicked the righteous shall rise up, and instead of sinners shall rise up those that fear sin: and it shall be before the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign, that shall not cease.”
Isaiah 56
1 Thus saith the Lord, “Keep ye judgement, and do justice; for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.
— keep ye judgement and do justice: this phrase signifies the duties which one man owe to another but here to signify the duties which men owe to God,
— to hold fast and do justice; which are his statutes and judgements; and so likewise all the ordinances of the Lord, all those should be kept.
2 Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; who keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.”
— that keep the Sabbath from polluting it; here lies in the nature of the case that a devout king like David, Hezekiah and Josiah would be observers of the Sabbath;
— instead of observing the Sabbath, today, more than 98.5 percent of Christians are keeping Sunday, in fact they’re 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 judgement 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 pretenters could be spewed out of His mouth! A death penalty Deuteronomy 17:3-5 – ’till they die!
3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, “The Lord hath utterly separated me from His people;” neither let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
— the son of the stranger; the stranger who keep the Sabbath is as the blessed son of Israel, the same with the blessed man in Isaiah 56:2; the Gentile, who by birth is a stranger to God, will also be of the house of Israel;
— neither would such a stranger who keeps the Sabbath says, Behold, I am a dry tree – A dry tree is an emblem of that which is barren, useless, unfruitful.
4 For thus saith the Lord: “Unto the eunuchs that keep My Sabbaths, and choose the things that please Me, and take hold of My covenant,
— for thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs; even the eunuchs, who have hitherto been excluded from the privileges of the people of God and who have been regarded as a separated and degraded people shall be admitted to the same privileges as others;
— that keep my sabbaths; the word is used here in the plural, both the weekly and the annual Sabbath (at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, Trumpets, day of Atonement and Tabernacles; and even the land Sabbath); the term could be used to represent other observances as well (more at the end).
5 even unto them will I give in Mine house and within My walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
— even to them will I give in mine house and within my walls; the Targum says, “in the house of my sanctuary, and in the land of the house of my Shekinah” meaning the Temple at Jerusalem;
— a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters; a far greater blessing and honour than that of having posterity which is but only temporal and so as to have a good name; and it is he that gives them “an everlasting name that shall not be cut off,” as the Targum says.
6 Also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant,
— also the sons of the stranger; to be his servants, whoever keep the Sabbaths from desecrating it and those who hold fast to my covenant, the conditions on which they should be admitted to the same privileges and of course the same reward.
7 even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon Mine altar, for Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.”
— mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people; Jews and Gentiles shall have equal access to my house, and shall there call upon my name, Yehovah;
— a house of prayer for all people; Gentiles, the proselytes, the sons of the strangers as others, are all welcome to the church of God to worship and pray to the Lord there.
8 The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, “Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.”
— Yehovah the Almighty God will not only restore the scattered outcasts of Israel (Isaiah 11:12; Psalm 147:2) to their own land, but “will gather others (‘strangers’) to him (Israel), besides those gathered” to his gathered from other folds; that is, in addition to the outcast Israelites collected from other nations, John 10:16.
9 All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.
— all ye beasts of the field; this refers to some invasion of the land of Judea; signifying a great slaughter that should be made, like that in Revelation 19:17 to which the fowls of the heaven are invited, as to a supper;
— the Targum says “all the kings of the people that shall be gathered to oppress thee, O Jerusalem, shall be cast in the midst of thee; they shall be for food to the beast of the field, the beast of the forest shall be satisfied with them.”
10 His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
— the Targum indicates plural ‘their’ for ‘his,’ their watchmen are blind: they know nothing, all of them are dumb dogs, they are not able to bark, they are slumbering, they lie down, they love to sleep;” their false prophets and teachers; they would be most shameful of them, because they are supposed to be knowledgeable and teaching others; but they are all ignorant;
— some may design such who call themselves pastors or evangelists of the Word, and yet neither have knowledge nor how to preach, all are like dumb dogs; couldn’t reprove the errors and vices of men, nor warn them of their danger.
11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand; they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
— yea, they are greedy dogs; insatiably covetous shepherds that have no truths nor understanding; They live off the fleece of their sheep; they have no understanding; do not care, or love or desire either to understand the word of God themselves or to make the people understand it;
— they all look to their own way; that is, they are all selfish; they regard neither God’s glory nor the people’s good, but only the satisfaction of their own base desires; everyone for his gain from his quarter, in their places and stations.
12 “Come ye,” say they, “I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.”
— these false shepherd will fetch wine out of their cellar, having good store of it, and that of the best and will fill themselves with strong drink; fill their bellies and skins full of it till drunken with it;
— the Targum confirms in this way, saying, “Come ye, say they, We will fetch wine, and we will be intoxicated with old wine, and tomorrow our banquet shall be better than today, great, very great..”
~~~
Both the Weekly and Annual Sabbaths; blessed are those who keep them!
Leviticus 23
1 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
2 “Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: ‘Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My feasts.
3 “‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation. Ye shall do no work therein; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.
4 “‘These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at evening is the Lord’S Passover.
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord; seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
7 On the first day ye shall have a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein.
8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein.’”
9 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
10 “Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: ‘When ye come into the land which I give unto you and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest.
11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you; on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf a helamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.
13 And the meat offering thereof shall be two-tenths part of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet savor; and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, a fourth part of a hin.
14 And ye shall eat neither bread nor parched corn nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
15 “‘And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete.
16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days, and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.
17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two-tenths part. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord.
18 And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock and two rams; they shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord, with their meat offering and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savor unto the Lord.
19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.
21 And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day that it may be a holy convocation unto you. Ye shall do no servile work therein; it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
22 “‘And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not rid cleanly the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleanings of thy harvest. Thou shalt leave them unto the poor and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God.’”
23 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
24 “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.
25 Ye shall do no servile work therein, but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.’”
26 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
27 “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.
28 And ye shall do no work in that same day, for it is a Day of Atonement to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God.
29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
30 And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
31 Ye shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
32 It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls. On the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening unto evening, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.”
33 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
34 “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.
35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein.
36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. It is a solemn assembly, and ye shall do no servile work therein.
37 “‘These are the feasts of the Lord which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering and a meat offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, every thing upon his day”
38 besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which ye give unto the Lord.
39 “‘Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days; on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.
40 And ye shall take for yourselves on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.
41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations; ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths,
43 that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’”
44 And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord.
China showed off a range of weapons and military hardware with a massive parade on Wednesday, staged in front of President Xi Jinping and 20 other heads of state, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Here’s a look at some of the weapons that were on display, including some the world had not seen previously:
Drones, AI and lasers
China’s LY-1 laser weapon was displayed during the parade for the first time, mounted on top of armored trucks. Defense analyst Alexander Neill told the BBC that the powerful device is believed to have the ability to disable electronics or blind pilots.
The LY-1 laser weapon, a ship-based air defense weapon, is seen displayed on top of trucks as part of a military parade in Beijing, China, Sept 3, 2025, in Beijing, China.
There were a number of conventional drones on display, as well as some AI-powered ones.
One that drew particular attention was the AJX002 giant submarine drone, which measures approximately 65 feet long, or 20 meters.
Also known as an extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicle, it could carry out reconnaissance or surveillance missions.
A 20 meters long AJX002 unmanned underwater military vehicle during the military parade. Lying in wait deep in the seas or even in the oceans, one could pierce and sink an aircraft carrier without it knowing who or what hits them.
China also showed off stealth attack drones in the parade, including the GJ-11, which is capable of flying alongside manned fighter jets and aiding them in their missions.
“Robotic wolves” were also on display. Experts say the four-legged, walking robots could be used for numerous operations, such as sweeping for mines, reconnaissance missions or hunting down enemy troops.
A People’s Liberation Army (PLA) GJ-11 unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) is driven on a truck down Chang’an Avenue at Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
New nuclear-capable, long-range missiles
A new version of China’s Dongfeng-5 nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile, the DF-5C, was unveiled for the parade. It is said to have a longer range than previous variants, Neill told the BBC. He said the missile can also carry up to 12 warheads on a single mission.
The new missile is silo-based, launched from underground facilities, and is meant to be a strategic deterrent, Neill said.
China’s new DF-5C strategic nuclear missiles has an estimated range of more than 20,000km; that is, it has the entire globe under its strike range.
According to The Associated Press, the DF-5C has an estimated range of about 12,400 miles, which makes it easily capable of reaching any part of the United States from mainland China.
A number of other nuclear-capable missiles were rolled down central Beijing’s Chang-an (“Eternal Peace”) Avenue, including the DF-61. Like the DF-5C, it is an intercontinental ballistic missile, but the DF-61 can be fired from a mobile launcher. Little is known about the new weapon, but the previous model has a range of more than 7,500 miles, and it can also carry multiple warheads.
A Chinese JL-3 submarine-launched intercontinental missile is seen during the V-Day military parade over the defeat of Japan, on Sept 3, 2025, in Beijing, China.
The AP said China’s parade also featured the JL-1 and JL-3 nuclear-capable long-range missiles, the first of which is launched from aircraft and the second from vessels at sea.
China wants to “replace traditional structures”
“China not only wants to augment, but replace traditional structures,” defense analyst Michael Raska told CBS News partner network BBC News, adding that it seems to have taken lessons from Russia’s war in Ukraine, where a strategy has been to “throw drones at the enemy” to wear down their defenses.
Unmanned Chinese military ground vehicles, on the back of a truck.
While some countries are concerned about incorporating artificial intelligence into their military systems, China appears to be plowing ahead and “believe they can control AI,” Raska told the BBC. “They are going all the way to integrate it into their systems.”
The parade showed that China has the resources to build up a significant arsenal, but Raska said the US still maintains the edge operationally.
The US is more agile in battle because it has a “bottom-up” culture, where decisions can be made and adapted on the ground in response to evolving situations, Raska said. China, on the other hand, “can have flashy platforms and systems but they will not move a finger until they receive an order from the top,” Raska told the BBC.
A Chinese military drone Assault Boat: Type-928D is seen during a parade marking the end of World War II, on Sept 3, 2025, in Beijing’s Tiananmen.
“The Chinese think it’s technology that creates deterrence. They believe that will deter the US…. but at the operational level, there have been instances which show they may not be as good as they say they are,” Raska said.
The 30 meters long AJX002 presents a long, slender profile — a stretched torpedo — with public estimates of roughly 18–20 meters in length and about 1–1.5 meters in diameter.
ABC News
China has unveiled a new “triad” of nuclear missiles, drones and lasers at the country’s largest ever military parade.
Nukes that can be launched from anywhere
China for the first time showed off its triad of nuclear-capable missiles that can be launched from sea, land and air.
State news outlet Xinhua said the missiles were China’s strategic “ace” power to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and dignity.
Among the new missiles revealed at the parade was the Dongfeng-5C, or DF-5C, an intercontinental strategic nuclear missile with a “global reach,” according to Xinhua.
The YJ-15 missile along with its pre-existing YJ-17, YJ-19 and YJ-20 hypersonic missiles as one of several anti-ship missiles at a military parade in Beijing.
Drones underwater and in the sky
China has advanced underwater drones and Ms Parker said it appeared there were two new types on display in the parade.
One was an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance model and the other would be used for offensive purposes.
“It’s probably got explosives in the front of it, or the ability to deploy explosives,” Ms Parker told the ABC.
She said they could be a concern, particularly to Western forces in the Pacific.
“[China] seems to be ahead of other countries,” Ms Parker said.
“They seem to be accelerating the ability to integrate offensive capabilities — mines, torpedoes, explosives — into them.”
However, she stressed that just because they had been seen on the back of a truck at a parade, it didn’t mean the underwater drones’ capabilities had been proven.
China’s uncrewed underwater 20m AJX002 vehicles for both intelligence and offensive purposes. Hidden deep in the seas or even in the oceans, one could pierce and sink an aircraft carrier without it knowing who or what hits them.
A HSU100 underwater drone passes in the military parade in front of Tiananmen
Ms Parker said it was clear from what was seen at the parade that China had been focusing on uncrewed aerial, underwater and ground vehicles.
China has been talking up AI integration, and its aerial drones’ ability to operate with fighter aircraft piloted by humans.
“We don’t know if that’s true, you can’t tell that from the back of a truck, but clearly they are investing in uncrewed capabilities,” she said.
The parade also featured unmanned helicopters designed to be launched from ships.
Why is China showing these weapons?
The key themes Ms Parker noticed from the weapons displayed was the focus on uncrewed drones and the ranges and variety of missiles.
“It demonstrates an advanced capability,” she said.
“[It’s about] showing a technologically advanced military and this second message of ‘by the way, you don’t necessarily know what we have.'”
Lasers seen as a cheaper and effective way to counter drones and missiles.
UNSW China expert Guangyi Pan told the ABC the new weapons demonstrated the PLA’s vision for future warfare.
“Undoubtedly, the greatest enhancement is in information warfare and electronic warfare, where the PLA will gain significant advantages,” he told the ABC.
He said the speed at which the new weapons had been developed showed “China’s leading position in both technological advancement (quality) and industrial manufacturing scale (quantity).”
Edward Chan, from the ANU’s College of Asia & the Pacific, told the ABC the parade signaled a significant leap in China’s military capability.
He said the broad spectrum of new military assets on display, including satellites, missile systems and drones, have been central to China’s military modernisation over the past decade.
“[They] reflect greater preparedness for potential conflicts in the Western Pacific,” Dr Chan said.
Space defence system
The HQ-29 space defence system, capable of taking down foreign satellites
The HQ-29 space defence system, capable of taking down foreign satellites, was displayed for the first time at the parade in a prominent display of aerial power.
While not much is known about its exact capabilities, the large size implies an extreme range similar to the US Navy’s SM-3 Block IIA, which can be launched from land or ship.
Robot Dogs / Wolves
China displayed a legion of robot dogs or wolves, highlighting Beijing’s growing emphasis on what it describes as “intelligentised warfare.” The robots, paraded on top of armoured vehicles, could be utilised in the battlefield or weaponised and used in direct combat.
Since at least 2020, US intelligence assessments and Chinese sources have pointed to new ICBMs under designations such as DF-45 or DF-51, with speculative claims of ranges beyond 15,000 kilometers and payloads of up to 14 warheads. However, none of these figures has been confirmed.
The DF-61 is widely seen as part of China’s ongoing nuclear buildup, which the US Department of Defense (DoD) estimates surpassed 600 operational warheads in mid-2024 and could exceed 1,000 by 2030.
As the nuclear standoff intensifies, China’s mobile DF-61 and the US’s silo-based arsenal raise a crucial question: in the next great deterrent contest, will survival depend on mass or mobility?
“The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle” Psalm 78:9
Inspired by the Lord, Isaiah prophesied that both houses of Israel were blind and deaf:
“Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see” Isaiah 42:18
“His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber” Isaiah 56:10
Their wolfy shepherd and watchmen are just the same—dumb, deaf and blind!
Isaiah 53
Many theologians noted that the subject of the Suffering Servant, which the Targum (Isaiah 52:13) identifies as the Messiah, should start from Chapter 52:13 and onto the end of Chapter 53. More commentaries of this Suffering Servant and its prophecy are at the end.
1 Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
— our report; literally, that which has been heard by us, or reported to us. But the word is used technically for a prophetic revelation (see Isaiah 28:9,19; Jeremiah 49:14);
— here the word would seem to refer especially to the Messianic prophecies delivered by Isaiah. To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? The “arm of the Lord,” which has been “made bare in the eyes of all the nations” (Isaiah 52:10); the word of God is expressly called the power of God, 1 Corinthians 1:18.
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. — Rashi justifies erroneously that “all Israel as one man;”
— for his Suffering Servant shall grow up as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground; and the reason or occasion why the Jews generally rejected their Messiah is because he didn’t come into the world with pomp and power, like an earthly monarch, as they would imagine; but
— he shall grow up, brought forth, and brought up; before him (before the unbelieving Jews, of whom “my servant the Messiah” spoken of in Isaiah 52:13 (Targum) and which the Jews are blinded to, as springing up of a low and insignificant plant or shrub out of the earth; has no strength nor straightness, of body; without verdure, leaves, blossom, and therefore despised;
— the Suffering Servant hath no form nor comeliness; when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him; when we shall look upon him, expecting to find incomparable beauty and majesty in his countenance, and carriage and condition, we shall be altogether disappointed and shall meet with nothing amiable or desirable in him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
— nowhere in all the Old Testament is it so plainly and fully prophesied that the Messiah ought to suffer and the Jews esteemed him not; which is repeated to show the great contempt cast upon him, to be despised and rejected of men before he is to enter into his glory.
4 Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
— the Septuagint renders the words, “he bears our sins” and the Targum, where the ancient Jews understood this prophecy of the Messiah, is, “he shall pray for our sins, and our iniquities for his sake shall be forgiven us.”
— Rashi erroneously says “he [that is, Israel] was chastised with pains so that all the nations be atoned for with Israel’s suffering.” No human, from Abraham to Jacob, nor from King David to Zerubbabel could have such intrinsic qualities; and of course, Israel or Jacob (whom the Jews thought was the suffering servant) doesn’t suffer for the sins of the nations; they suffer because of their own sins;
In Daniel 9:5, Daniel prayed, “We have sinned, we have done wickedly.” Daniel nowhere says that Judah’s captivity and suffering were to bear the griefs or sorrows for other nations!
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.
— but he, the Suffering Servant, was wounded for our transgressions; not for any sins of his own, but for ours, for our transgressions of his law, in order to make atonement and satisfaction for them;
— he was bruised for our iniquities; as bread corn is bruised by threshing it; he being broken and crushed to pieces under the weight of sin, and its punishment; the ancient Jews understood this of the Messiah; for in one place they say of King Messiah, “he was wounded for our transgressions; and bruised for our iniquities;”
— and with his stripes we are healed; or “by his stripe” so called from the gathering and settling of the blood where the blow is given. As a physician, the wonderful Messiah heals by taking the sicknesses of his people upon himself, by bearing their sins, and being wounded and bruised for them and by his enduring blows and suffering death itself for them;
— nar! the phase “with His stripes we are healed” is Isaiah speaking on behalf of “we” that is, Israel of both houses; how then could Israel suffers for the sins of Israel?
— the Targum says, therefore, He shall pray for our sins, and our iniquities for His sake shall be forgiven us.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
— all we like sheep have gone astray; all the children of God, whether Jews or Gentiles; whom he compares to “sheep” not for any good qualities, but for our foolishness and stupidity;
— and particularly for their being subject to go astray from the shepherd and from their good pastures, and who never return of themselves until they are brought back by the shepherd; so the people of God, in a state of nature are like the silly sheep who go astray from God;
— and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all; that is, God the Father against whom we have sinned, from whom we have turned and whose justice must be satisfied; he has laid on his own Son, the sins of all his elect.
7 He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.
— he, the Suffering Servant, was oppressed and was afflicted; he was injuriously treated by both the Jews and Romans; they handled him roughly; he was oppressed and afflicted, both in body and mind, with their blows and with their reproaches;
— and he being the surety of his people, was responsible for them and did answer, the debt they owed was required, the payment of it was called for and he accordingly answered; the punishment of the sins of his people was exacted of him and did bear it in his own body on the tree;
— so the Suffering Servant opened not his mouth: not against his enemies, by way of threats or complaint; nor even in his own defence; nor against the justice of God as bearing hard upon him, not sparing him but demanding and having full satisfaction; nor against his people and their sins.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgement; and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of My people was He stricken.
— the Suffering Servant was taken away from due justice and judgement; that is, his life was taken away in a violent manner, under a pretence of justice; whereas the utmost injustice was done him; a wrong charge was brought against him, false witnesses were suborned, and his life was taken away with wicked hands.
9 And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.
— and he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death; these words are generally supposed to refer to a fact that Christ who died with two wicked men besides him as if he himself had been one, was buried in a rich man’s grave;
— neither was any deceit in his mouth: no false accusation was delivered by him; he was no deceiver of the people as he was charged; he did not attempt to seduce them from the true worship of God or persuade them to believe anything contrary to the law of Moses and the prophets;
— he, the Suffering Servant, was no enemy to the state, nor indeed guilty of any manner of sin, nor given to any arts of trick and dissimulation.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief. When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
— yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; the sufferings of Christ are signified by his being “bruised” as it was foretold he should have his heel bruised by the serpent, Genesis 3:15;
— but here it is ascribed to Yeshua or Jesus as the Suffering Servant: he was bruised in body when scourged and nailed to the cross; and was bruised and broken in spirit when the sins of his people were laid on him;
— “He shall see His seed.” Opponents of Jesus being the description here point to this Being has seed, whereas Jesus hadn’t; first, it makes no sense that whether Jesus has seed is being dependent on us (or ‘thou’ as the verse says) making an offering for sin; second, this phase “for sin” imputes that Christ would sin, for we know that he didn’t sin, else he cannot save humanity with his own sacrifice;
— and third; following the evidence presented above, this verse could be another example of the lying pen of the scribes, Isaiah 8:8; that is, some scribes could most probably had altered it;
“And it was the pleasure of the Lord to refine and to purify the remnant of His people, in order to cleanse their souls from sin, that they might see the kingdom of their messiah, that their sons and daughters might multiply, and prolong their days, and those that keep the law of the Lord shall prosper through His pleasure” Isaiah 8:8 Jonathan
11 He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied. By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.
— the travail of his soul is the toil and labour which the Suffering Servant had endured in working out the salvation of his people; his obedience and death, his sorrows and sufferings;
— particularly those birth throes of his soul under a sense of divine wrath for the allusion is to women in travail; and all the agonies and pains of death which he went through;
— now the fruit of all this he sees with inexpressible pleasure and which gives him an infinite satisfaction; namely, the complete redemption of all the chosen ones and the glory of the divine perfections as well as his own glory which follows.
12 Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He hath poured out His soul unto death. And He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
— therefore will God divide him a portion with the great; the great ones of the earth: these are the words of God the Father, promising his Son that he shall have as great a part or portion assigned him as any of the mighty monarchs of the world;
— nay; he would be made much higher than the kings of the earth, and his name above every name in this world; and all this in consequence of his sufferings and as a reward of all the sacrifice he made.
1 “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear! Break forth into singing and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife,” saith the Lord.
— Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; the Targum refers this to Jerusalem, paraphrasing the words thus,
“Sing, O Jerusalem, which was like a barren woman that bears not; rejoice with praise and be glad, who was like a woman that conceives not: for more shall be the children of Jerusalem that was laid desolate, than of the inhabited city, saith the Lord.”
2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.
— enlarge the place of Jerusalem; to which the church is compared because of its uncertain and movable condition, being sometimes in one place and sometimes in another;
— and before the day of Pentecost, Jerusalem was like a barren woman; the number of converts were very small; few believed in the Messiah; the names of the disciples were but a hundred and twenty;
— but after Pentecost great multitudes were converted to the living God; which is a great rejoicing to the church; the bounds of the church were extended to other parts of Judea, Galilee, Samaria and beyond.
3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
— for thou shall break forth on the right hand and on the left; to the south and to the north as the Targum says, like an inundation of water that breaks through and overflows the banks of the river and spreads itself into adjacent countries.
4 “Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
— fear not; the fulfilment of these things, however unlikely they might seem yet God is able to perform them; and therefore thou should not be given to a fearful, distrustful, and unbelieving heart:
— for thou shall not be ashamed; but should not be ashamed of her hope, faith and confidence; nor should she be ashamed of her barrenness which should cease; and of the fewness of her children or converts which would be many; and would now be enlarged.
5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is His name and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called.
— for thy Maker is thine Husband, that is the Husband of the church, and of every true believer; who secretly betrothed them to himself in eternity;
— 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)
6 For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused,” saith thy God.
7 “For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. — for a short moment have I forsaken thee.
8 In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.
— in a little wrath; or in a short moment of indignation, as the Targum says; the Septuagint, ‘In a little wrath I turned away my face from thee.’
In a little wrath might be 40 years for Judah and 190 years for Israel; for an indepth study, see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline.
— I hid my face from thee; the Targum says, “I removed the presence of my Shekinah, yea, for a short time from thee,” indicating here that the husband is the Father rather than the Son (as the Shekinah is associated only with the Father, who sits between the Cherubim on the mercy seat).
9 “For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee.
— for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; and confirmed it by a rainbow; for as the Targum says, this is as the waters in the days of Noah;
— so have I sworn that I would not in wrath with thee, but in love; and of this he has given the strongest assurances; he has not only said it, but swore to it like unto Noah and the rainbow.
10 For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed,” saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.
— though the mountains should remove and the hills be shaken yet my loving-kindness shall not depart, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed.
11 “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors and lay thy foundations with sapphires.
— O thou afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted; Or “O thou poor” – for the first Christian churches chiefly consisted of poor people not the mighty and noble being called;
— and which were greatly “afflicted” with false teachers who broached errors and heresies and made schisms among them; and “tossed with tempests” like a ship at sea;
— behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours; or “with paint” such as women used to paint their faces or eyes with; the Targum is, “behold, I lay the stones of thy pavement with mosaic, and thy foundations with costly stones.”
12 And I will make thy windows of agates and thy gates of rubies, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.
— the Septuagint renders it, “of jasper” a stone more fit for that purpose; and it is interpreted of the jasper in the New Jerusalem is said to be like unto the “jasper stone” Revelation 21:11.
13 And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children.
— the Targum says, “all thy children shall know the law of the Lord.” Of course, the law is the statutes and all the ordinances as in the Old Testament, except with some modifications, but the trunk is from there.
14 In righteousness shalt thou be established; thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee.
— thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shall not fear; neither from within nor from outside your borders; not from any false teachers; nor from persecutors that oppress the people.
15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by Me; whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.
— or as the Targum says, “in the end, the kings of the nations, who are gathered together to oppress thee, O Jerusalem, shall be cast down in the midst of thee.”
16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.
— both the smith that makes all warlike instruments and the soldier that uses them are my creations; and totally at my command and therefore they cannot hurt you without my leave. To destroy; to destroy only whom and when I please.
17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me,” saith the Lord.
— no weapon that is formed; no instrument of war, no sword, or spear; no instrument of persecution or torture that is made by the smith, Isaiah 54:16; shall prosper, that it shall not have the ultimate prosperity. It might be permitted for a time to appear to prosper – as persecutors and oppressors have done; but there would not be final and complete success.
~~~
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. Similarly, the name Jehovah is a very late comer.
But the Orthodox Jews have gone overboard, so holy is his name, they believe, they refrain from even calling his name, referring to him as Hashem, that is, “The Name,” which isn’t his name; just pointing, saying somewhat ‘you know what name I mean.’ His name is Yehovah, and is also not Yahweh, which is the Samaritan counterfeit version.
It is the same as the name Jesus we used today; if his name was used in his time two thousand years ago, he would have been known as Yeshua instead of Jesus. But never mind, as had often been the case, the essence is more important than the form.
His name Yehovah, is specifically stated, and should be used. Titles are okay, but sometimes He asked us pointedly to call on His name. The following verses translated as the LORD erred in presenting His name:
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.
FRANCE has put its hospitals on a war footing – ordering them to prepare for the day Europe is plunged into all-out conflict with Russia.
Health bosses have been told to brace for a “major engagement” by March 2026, with chilling instructions to be ready to treat a flood of wounded troops from across the continent.
According to documents obtained by Le Canard Enchaîné, the plan assumes France will become a hub for battlefield casualties.
It would need to absorb hundreds of injured soldiers from both its own forces and those of its NATO allies.
The French ministry of health said the order was designed to “anticipate, prepare and respond to the health needs of the population while integrating the specific needs of defense in the health field.”
President Putin, Prime Minister Modi, and President Xi at the SCO meeting in Tianjin
Among the risks identified, officials warned, was the prospect of a huge influx of foreign victims.
The ministry bluntly admitted: “It is therefore a question for our health system of anticipating the care of military patients in the civilian health system.”
And while Paris frames it as a “major engagement,” the reality is far starker.
Under NATO’s Article 5, if France were attacked – or if Russian troops stormed into any allied nation – the whole alliance would be pulled in.
That chain reaction would almost certainly drag in Britain, the US and much of Europe, transforming a regional clash into the nightmare of World War Three.
“But we will be on our guard, not just the German forces, but NATO.”
The stakes could not be higher. NATO chief Mark Rutte has already sounded the alarm that Russia and China together could light the fuse on World War Three.
He laid out a nightmare scenario in July: Beijing seizes Taiwan while Putin strikes NATO territory, possibly the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
“That is most likely the way this will progress,” he warned.
“But we will be on our guard, not just the German forces, but NATO.”
In a chilling interview, he added: “They are now producing three times as much ammunition in three months as the whole of NATO is doing in a year. This is unsustainable.”
Russia mocked Rutte, sneering he had “gorged on too many of the magic mushrooms beloved by the Dutch” and should prepare for “a future in a hellish Siberian labour camp”.
Across the continent, the preparations for WW3 are no longer hypothetical – they are visible on streets, in schools, in bunkers, and now, hospitals.
“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
The tech billionaire was responding to data showing Scotland’s deaths outpaced births by 34% in the first half of 2025, following the trend of South Africa, where Musk came from; and where the blacks have taken over.
~ RT “If people wearing headscarves bother you so much, if you don’t want to see us anymore, move… Go somewhere else, get out!” Raiss (a headscarved Belgian official) is heard saying in the clip.
Europe could “die out” unless it fixes its demographic problems by boosting birth rates, tech billionaire Elon Musk has warned.
In a post on X on Saturday, Musk was responding to statistics from Scotland showing 34% more deaths than births in the first half of 2025.
“Unless the birth rate at least gets back to replacement rate, Europe will die out,” he wrote, referring to the average number of children needed per couple for a population to replace itself.
The replacement fertility rate is generally set at 2.1 children per woman, accounting for child mortality and near-equal gender ratios at birth. Recent studies, however, suggest that this level may be insufficient, pointing to a long-term survival threshold closer to 2.7 children per woman.
According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics, the fertility rate in England and Wales fell to 1.4 in 2024, while Scotland’s stood at 1.3 – both far below replacement levels. In the EU, fertility has been declining for years, reaching a record low of 1.4 live births per woman in 2023.
Musk, a vocal advocate for higher birth rates who has fathered at least 14 children and donated millions to fertility research, has often raised the alarm over the demographic decline in Europe. His warnings, however, extend beyond Europe. Musk has cited global demographic data, claiming that civilization “is going to crumble” unless birth rates rise. He previously argued that population collapse due to low fertility “is a much bigger risk to civilization” than climate change.
Worldwide, fertility has been falling for over 50 years. UN data shows it stood at around 2.2 births per woman in 2024, down from 5 in the 1970s and 3.3 in the 1990s. Only 45% of countries and areas – home to roughly a third of the global population – reported fertility levels at or above 2.1 last year. Just 13% had fertility rates of 4.0 or higher, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Yemen.
Falling birth rates and population decline have also become a pressing issue for Russia, with Rosstat recording just 1.2 million births in 2024 – the lowest since 1999 – reflecting a fertility rate of 1.4.
The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages; as usual a prophecy of Isaiah will start with the house of Judah and Jerusalem then spread to the house of Israel and soon it includes many prophecies concerning other nations surrounding the region.
However the following may provide a clue:
“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 understand it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20;
God says in Isaiah 46:9 “Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,’” Isaiah 46:9-10.
Isaiah 51
1 “Hearken to Me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: Look unto the rock from whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from whence ye are dug.
— hearken unto me; to the God of their fathers, who now addresses them; regarded as in exile and bondage and as desponding in regard to their prospects. In this situation, God, or perhaps more properly the Messiah is introduced as addressing them with the assurances of deliverance.
2 Look unto Abraham your father and unto Sarah that bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him.
— for I called him alone and blessed him and increased him; he was without issue when he was “called” out of Chaldea into another country and also the only one of the family;
— and the Lord “blessed” him not only with flocks and herds, and gold and silver, but with a son in his old age; and so “increased” him that there sprung from him as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand by the sea shore innumerable, Hebrews 11:12;
— the Septuagint version, between “blessed” and “increased” insert these words, “and I loved him” which are not in the Hebrew text. The Targum says, “for Abraham was one alone in the world, and I brought him to my service, and I blessed him and multiplied him.”
3 For the Lord shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places, and He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
— if God had raised up so great a nation from so humble in origin, he had power to restore the waste places of Judea to more than their former beauty and prosperity.
4 “Hearken unto Me, My people, and give ear unto Me, O My nation; for a law shall proceed from Me, and I will make My judgement to rest as a light of the people.
— and give ear unto me, O my nation; not only of the Jews but also the Gentiles; a nation taken out of all nations; a chosen and a holy nation. The Septuagint version renders it “kings” such are made and “my judgment shall be for a light of †the nations;”
— whereas the Targum: “for the law shall go forth from me, and my judgment like a light; the nations which I led into captivity shall praise it.”
5 My righteousness is near; My salvation is gone forth, and Mine arms shall judge the people. The isles shall wait upon Me, and on Mine arm shall they trust.
— my righteousness is near; these righteousness are either the words of God the Father, or his Son, which he calls his own because he approves and accepts words which may be rendered, “my righteous One,”
— Or these are the words of Christ, speaking of his own righteousness which was near being spoken by him as it was when he became the Chief Justice of the law by setting an example as revealed in his commandment in the Kingdom;
— many pretenders err in understanding here; if there are no law and statute how could anyone judge? His arms shall judge the people; both the arms of Christ are ready to execute the laws and statutes and to protect and defend them.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. But My salvation shall be for ever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished.
— for the heavens shall vanish away; the heavens shall glide away to disappear as smoke is dissipated and disappears in the air;
— the earth shall wax old; shall wax old like a garment; and be folded up and laid aside and shall decay and be destroyed.
7 “Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings [verbal abuse, mockery, or scorn].
— hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; that is, the law to keep his Sabbath, weekly and annual, not idolatry like worshipping heavenly bodies;
— 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 judgement 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 pretenders could be spewed out of his mouth! A death penalty in Deuteronomy 17:3-5 says ’till they die!
Mithra killed the Bull (Rome conquered the Persians?)
Mithra (the Sun-God whose birthday they celebrated on December 25th as Christmas), and Protestants or Catholics alike worship this sun-god
8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but My righteousness shall be for ever, and My salvation from generation to generation.”
— moth shall eat them up; your reproachers shall be easily destroyed; but my salvation will abide through eternity.
9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art Thou not It that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon?
— the Targum interprets the dragon as Pharaoh and his army who were strong as a dragon; and that same mighty arm that destroyed Egypt and its tyrannical king can and will destroy that great city, spiritually called Sodom and Egypt;
— and the beast that has two horns like a lamb, but speaks like a dragon and to whom the dragon has given his seat, power and authority; or rather this may be believed, the great red dragon has been cast out, or Rome Pagan has been destroyed by him.
10 Art Thou not that hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep, that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?
— art thou not which hath dried the sea; that is the Red sea and the deep waters of it; by causing a strong east wind to blow which drove the sea back and made it a dry land and the same arm and mighty power can and will dry up the waters of the river Euphrates to prepare the way of the kings of the east, Revelation 6:12.
11 Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
12 “I, even I, am He that comforteth you. Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man who shall be made as grass,
— I even I am he that comfort you; the word ‘I’ is repeated here to give emphasis to the Being and to impress deeply upon them the fact that their consolation came alone from God and God alone; and that since God was their protector and friend they had no occasion to fear anything that man could do.
13 and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, who hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor?
— and where or “but where” is the fury of the oppressor? where’s the fury of Pharaoh, that great oppressor of God’s Israel formerly?
— it is gone and vanished like smoke: where’s the fury of Sennacherib king of Assyria and his army that threatened Jerusalem with ruin? and where is, or will be, the fury of the king of Babylon? it will not last always; nor the fury of the an oppressor at endtime.
14 The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.
— speedily shall the crouching captives be set free that he shall not die (and go down) to the pit nor shall his bread fail.
15 But I am the Lord thy God, who divided the sea whose waves roared; The Lord of hosts is His name.
16 And I have put My words in thy mouth and I have covered thee in the shadow of Mine hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, ‘Thou art My people.’”
17 Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, who hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; thou hast drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling and wrung them out.
— which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; the effect of divine wrath and this signifies that judgement would begin at the house of God.
18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.
— following up the image in Isaiah 51:17, intoxicated and confused by the cup of God’s anger, she has none to guide her in her helpless state; she has not yet awakened out of the sleep caused by that draught;
— this applies to the house of Jacob then and now, as all his posterity are misguided by false shepherds everywhere; for examples:
— 1a) the house of Judah hasn’t come to term with what the Godhead is; it is composed of God the Father and God the Son, hence in Genesis, Elohim (God in the plural) created the heavens and the earth; but the Orthodox Jews couldn’t identify the Son which is all over in the Scriptures, especially the Torah and the Prophets; the Targum;
— 1b) the lamb for Pascha was/is symbol of the sacrifice of the Messiah, our Moshiach or Saviour, our Redeemer, but the Orthodox still regard it only as an act of defiance to the Egyptians who regarded lamb as the Egyptians’ deity. The Scriptures nowhere say this, but is only a figment of Jewish imagination;
— 2a) the house of Israel is indulging in idolatry; worshipping Easter, which is another form of worshipping Astarte, a title of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the 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;
— 2b) and Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many honor and celebrate on December 25th which they christianised as Christmas), Zeus and others; called “gods of the earth” in distinction from the god of heaven; and they worship these earthly gods, everyone from his place today, Protestants or Catholics alike;
— and those who persist in their blindness will be horsewhipped! Nar, those who resist would suffer Judgement by drinking at “the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury” Isaiah 51:17 – by the sword, by famine, by pestilence and spending years in captivity to reflect and repent there (for more see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline and The Flaming Sword and Fire from the South!)
19 These two things are come unto thee—who shall be sorry for thee?” desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword” by whom shall I comfort thee?
— see, those facing judgement by drinking at “the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury” shall suffer (1) “desolation and destruction,” (2) “the famine and the sword.”
— “A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.” Ezekiel 5:11-12
20 Thy sons have fainted; they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net; they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God.
— the head or top of the streets indicates the beginning and most important part of a street; the nation’s leaders, elders and princes, those who are in control or have influence where the nation is heading; Ephraim for both houses of Jacob;
— “And I will cast you [Judah] out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim” Jeremiah 7:15; examples of “they lie at the head of all the streets”
— and this “full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God” is reaffirmed in Hosea 11:12 Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit. “I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel,” Hosea 6:10;
21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine.
— but not with wine; with the cup of God’s fury; the Targum expresses it, drunk with tribulation; with afflictions at the hand of God and persecutions from fellow men.
22 Thus saith thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of His people: “Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of My fury; thou shalt no more drink it again.
— on the onset of the Millennium, at the mercy of the Messiah, thou shalt no more drink it again; or “any longer” – thou shalt no more be subject to similar trials and calamities.
23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee, who have said to thy soul, ‘Bow down, that we may go over.’ And thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street to them that went over.”
— but God will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; the nations that have made war upon thee and that have reduced thee to bondage; the calamities which the elect had suffered, God would transfer to their foes, from the nations; thus the times and callings of the Gentiles.
Isaiah 52
1 Awake, awake! Put on thy strength, O Zion! Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.
— awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; this prophecy is sure to be fulfilled: by Zion is meant the elect before the Millennium in the latter days, the days which is described as “wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and naked,” Revelation 3:17;
— which is called upon to wake out of sleep; and this is repeated to show what a deep sleep had fallen on Jerusalem, the danger she was in through it, and the forcefulness of the speaker, “Awake, awake!” or the great concern the Lord had for her; and this is the very state of the church now.
2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem. Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
— shake thyself from the dust; or “the dust from thee” in which she had sat, or rolled herself as a mourner; or where she had been trampled upon; but now being delivered from them as well as from all false shepherds and teachers of false doctrine;
— loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion; or loose thou “the bands off thy neck from thee” which seems to indicate the people of God in mystical Babylon, a little before its destruction who will be called out of it; and to throw off the Romanish yoke, or her daughter’s protesting yoke and release themselves from that captivity and bondage who should free themselves.
3 For thus saith the Lord: “Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.”
— ‘Ye have sold yourselves,’ and become authors of their own bondage; as they who had made themselves prisoners had done so without paying any price for them.
4 For thus saith the Lord God: “My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
— the Septuagint renders it, ‘and were carried away forcibly to the Assyrians.’ Some have supposed that this refers to the oppressions that they experienced in Egypt, and that the name ‘Assyrian’ – so called because of his power and cruelty – is refer here to the Pharaoh.
5 Now therefore, what have I here,” saith the Lord, “that My people are taken away for nought? They that rule over them make them to howl,” saith the Lord, “and My name continually every day is blasphemed.
— and everyday my name is blasphemed continually; by ascribing their extent of power and authority, their dominions and conquests, not to the Lord but to their idols; opening their mouths in blasphemy against God, his name and tabernacle and his people, Revelation 13:5.
— the Targum says, “and they continually, all the day, provoke them to anger, because of the worship of my name.” The Septuagint is, “On account of you my name is continually blasphemed among the Gentiles.”
6 Therefore My people shall know My name; therefore they shall know in that day that I am He that doth speak. Behold, it is I.”
— my people shall know my 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)
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, “Thy God reigneth!”
— “Thy God reigneth! – the Targum is, “the kingdom of thy God is revealed.”
8 Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.
— for they shall see eye to eye; that is, distinctly, clearly as when one is near another; or it may mean that they shall be united – they shall contemplate the same object, or look steadily at the same thing.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem.
— the Lord shall return with his Shekinah and redeem Jerusalem, a city reclaimed, rebuilt and inhabited.
10 The Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
— all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God; all nations of the world shall with astonishment behold the wonderful work of God, first in bringing his people into captivity, then out of it in their redemption by the Messiah.
11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.
— the sacrificial offerings with return in Jerusalem as prophesied in Ezekiel 40-48; and “those that carry the vessels of the house of the sanctuary of the Lord have been chosen;” as the Targum says of the Levites and the priests would. And for the populace, presenting themselves three times a year before the holy city are essential; else there wouldn’t be any rain.
12 For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward.
— for ye shall not go out with haste; as if driven out or compelled to flee. You shall not go from captivity as your fathers went from Egypt in a rapid flight and in a confused and tumultuous manner.
Many theologians noted that the subject of the Suffering Servant starts here and onto the end of Chapter 53
13 “Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. (הָא יַצְלַח עַבְדִי מְשִׁיחָא יְרוּם וְיִסְגֵי וְיִתְקוֹף לַחֲדָא:) — from Sefaria, the Targum interprets מְשִׁיחָא as the Messiah; He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high;
— “Behold, my servant the Messiah shall prosper, He shall be exalted and extolled, and He shall be very strong,” Isaiah 52:13 Targum;
The Targum is an indispensable source of understanding the Bible. Started by Ezra for those returning Jews from Babylon and for these returnees they could only understand the Sacred Text in Aramaic; hence the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us from the verses quoted.
“Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see” Isaiah 42:18. But the Orthodoxy today choose to be blind!
14 As many as were astonished at thee—His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men”
— when the Messiah was revealed, as at the end of His First Coming, He was so marred – (משׁחת mishechath); so defaced, destroyed, disfigured; this was a disfiguration or defacement of his aspect, more than that of any man;
The Targum verse in full: “As the house of Israel anxiously hoped for Him many days, (which was poor among the nations; their appearance and their brightness being worse than that of the sons of men.)” Isaiah 52:14 Jonathan
— this phrase “the house of Israel anxiously hoped for him” shows that the house of Israel and the Suffering Servant are two separate entities, hence the Suffering Servant could not be the house of Israel!
Verse 15, which contains Messianic significance, is not in KJ21, but appear in others and the followings:
15 Thus shall He scatter many nations; before Him kings shall keep silence: they shall put their hands upon their mouths, for that which had not been told them shall they see: and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
— since King David, Israel (nor any ordinary man) had ever “scatter many nations.”
— Or as in Chabad Bible: So shall he cast down many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for, what had not been told them they saw, and [at] what they had not heard they gazed;
— the Septuagint: Thus shall many nations wonder at him; and kings shall keep their mouths shut: for they to whom no report was brought concerning him, shall see; and they who have not heard, shall consider.
— Young: So doth he sprinkle many nations. Concerning him kings shut their mouth, For that which was not recounted to them they have seen, And that which they had not heard they have understood!
— the sprinkling of the blood of a sacrifice, which could mean the shedding of blood for our (Jews and Gentiles) sins; (He will cleanse many nations with his blood, GW).
So shall he startle many nations, Kings shall shut their mouths because of him; For that which had not been told them shall they see, And that which they had not heard shall they perceive.
~~ 12,24,26,42,52,54 ~~
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. Hence Jehovah is also a late comer.
But the Orthodox Jews have gone overboard, so holy is his name, they believe, they refrain from even calling his name, referring to him as Hashem, that is, “The Name,” which isn’t his name; just pointing, saying somewhat ‘you know what name I mean.’ His name is Yehovah, and is also not Yahweh, which is the Samaritan counterfeit version.
It is the same as the name Jesus we used today; if his name was used in his time two thousand years ago, he would have been known as Yeshua instead of Jesus. But never mind, as had often been the case, the essence is more important than the form.
His name Yehovah, is specifically stated, and should be used. The following verses translated as the LORD erred in translation. Titles are okay, but sometimes He asked us pointedly to call on His name:
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.
America has a hard time building stuff. Roads. Trains. Light rail. Bridges. Housing. Everything takes seemingly forever, if it even happens at all.
Meanwhile, there’s China. A country that builds much faster — high-speed trains, solar panels, electric cars, bridges, ports, drones — all churned out at breakneck speed.
Why can China do this, and why does it seem like America can’t?
Dan Wang is the author of a new book called Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future. It’s a deeply reported, deeply personal book about the country he grew up in, returned to, and then left again. And it’s filled with surprising insights into China’s evolution as a country.
There isn’t a single answer to the question about why China can move fast and why we can’t, but Wang offers one I haven’t heard before. He says one of the most important distinctions between the US and China is that the US is a society run by lawyers and China is a society run by engineers — and that many of our differences flow from this divide.
I invited him onto The Gray Area to talk about how that engineering mindset has shaped China, and what these two societies can learn from each other. As always, there’s much more in the full podcast, so listen and follow The Gray Area on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever you find podcasts. New episodes drop every Monday.
“The US is a society run by lawyers and China is a society run by engineers”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
One of the first things you say in the book is that China and America are constantly locking horns. And you find that both tragic and comical because, “no two peoples are more alike than Americans and Chinese.” Why do you see it that way?
The first thing is that both countries are, in many ways, unintelligible to themselves. How many Americans truly understand America? You’re sitting in the Gulf Coast, Sean, and I wonder how many Americans have a deep sense of what’s going on there.
I think Americans and Chinese are alike because both embrace dynamism and shortcuts. There’s a kind of hucksterism in the US — a willingness to cut corners, to improvise — and that exists in China, too. Both societies carry the pride of a great civilization, but also a restless embrace of change. In contrast, places like Europe or Japan tend to be far more suspicious of change, more comfortable with stasis.
Let’s get into the central idea of your book: China as an “engineering state” and America as a “lawyerly society.” It’s a striking frame. How did you come up with it, and why is it useful?
I wanted a fresh framework to understand these two countries beyond the stale 20th-century categories of capitalist, neoliberal, authoritarian, or democratic.
China, I argue, is an engineering state. At times, the entire Standing Committee of the Politburo, the country’s top leadership, was filled with trained engineers. Hu Jintao, for example, was a hydraulic engineer who supervised the building of a dam. His premier, Wen Jiabao, was a geologist. They approached society as if it were a giant technical problem, something to be solved like a hydraulic system or a math equation.
America, by contrast, began as a lawyerly society. The Declaration of Independence reads like a legal case. Many of the Founding Fathers were lawyers, and so were the vast majority of presidents up through Lincoln. Even today, lawyers are dramatically overrepresented in politics and business. The Biden White House was famous for its Yale Law grads.
How exceptional is that?
The US isn’t unique, but the Anglosphere in general has this tradition: skilled debaters rising into political power. Lawyers dominate not just politics but corporate leadership, too. Even President Donald Trump, though not a lawyer, governed in a lawyerly way — suing people constantly, using accusations in the court of public opinion. His vice president, JD Vance, is also a Yale Law product.
You tell a story in the book about a five-day bike ride you took through Guizhou Province in 2021. Why was that trip so pivotal for you?
This was the summer of 2021, when China was at the height of its zero-Covid success. The country was sealed off, even from many of its own citizens abroad, so I decided to travel internally.
Guizhou is in the far southwest: green mountains, jagged karst rocks, breathtaking beauty. It’s also China’s fourth-poorest province, very remote, not part of the booming export economy. Yet what I saw there stunned me: far better infrastructure than in California, where I work, or New York, where I went to school.
This poor province had half a dozen high-speed rail links, brand-new highways, and multiple airports. Meanwhile, America’s richest states struggle to maintain basic infrastructure.
Apparently 45 of the world’s 100 tallest bridges are in that one province, which is…wild.
Exactly. That’s what the engineering state does. Instead of redistributing wealth, Beijing pours resources into colossal projects. Guizhou alone has 11 airports, some with barely a dozen flights a week. Monumentalism is part of the culture: What’s more thrilling for an engineer than a record-breaking bridge or the world’s biggest dam?
Local leaders are also incentivized. If you’re a provincial official who builds a gigantic bridge, GDP ticks up for a while and you can point to your “big-ass bridge” when asking Beijing for a promotion. There’s a construction lobby, too — state-owned enterprises always whispering, “Isn’t it time for another mega-project?”
China builds fast, but you write that it also “breaks people.” What do you mean by that?
If the engineering state only stopped at physical infrastructure, the ledger might be mostly positive. China now has excellent logistics, well-functioning cities, and a carbon-efficient national high-speed rail system.
“I don’t believe repression is necessary, but it certainly played a role in the trajectory we see today.”
But Beijing also insists on social engineering. It treats populations as if they can be managed like valves in a hydraulic system. Ethnic minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang face detention camps and forced assimilation. For the majority population, the hukou system has long restricted movement.
And then there’s the one-child policy. This was my favorite chapter to write, though also the most horrifying. In 1980, Deng Xiaoping empowered engineers to shape policy, and one brilliant mathematician from the missile industry convinced him that population trajectories could be managed like missile trajectories. The result was decades of forced sterilizations and abortions.
The official number is over 300 million abortions during the one-child era, the equivalent of the entire US population. Rural women were terrorized. Children were taken from mothers or beaten out of them. It was an idiotic policy pursued with staggering brutality.
Do you think China’s growth actually depended on this kind of repressiveness?
I’d like to say no, because I don’t want to believe repression is essential to flourishing. But it’s hard to deny that it was part of China’s growth formula. Compared with India, which is far more democratic and pluralistic, China has outperformed on many development indicators. India still has high illiteracy rates and malnutrition. China is considerably richer.
I don’t believe repression is necessary, but it certainly played a role in the trajectory we see today.
How do ordinary Chinese people feel about their own system?
It’s difficult to know, but many of my parents’ generation — born in the early 1960s — saw steady improvement. Their cities now have subways. They can ride high-speed rail. Some classmates became wealthy. The general sense has been: Life keeps getting better, decade by decade.
That said, under Xi Jinping, there are more headwinds: slowing growth, youth unemployment, government crackdowns on tech and property sectors. But the tangible improvements still matter. China opened its first expressway only in 1988. By the time that generation turned 18, the country had built a highway system larger than America’s. Nine years later, it had built another. That scale of visible change fuels optimism.
Let’s pivot back to America. What has China’s rise helped you see more clearly about the US?
In the US we debate living standards, housing shortages, decarbonization, and the hollowed-out manufacturing sector. On all of those, China offers lessons.
China’s “housing crisis” is oversupply — prices collapsing because they built too much. In the US, prices are skyrocketing because we build too little. China manufactured masks, swabs, and PPE during the pandemic at a scale US factories couldn’t match. It has built vast mass transit systems.
I don’t think we need to copy China. If America could just spend as much on building transit as Japan, Spain, or France, that would be enough. But China reminds us what abundance looks like.
Is the friction we’re talking about here — the endless procedures, lawsuits, rules — the price of pluralism?
That’s hard to accept. Walk around New York or the Midwest and it feels like the ruins of a once-great industrial civilization. Infrastructure is just barely maintained. Housing is unaffordable where the jobs are. Decarbonization requires transmission lines and wind and solar projects, but we can’t build at scale.
Some degree of litigiousness protects pluralism, yes. But right now America mostly works for the wealthy. If you’re rich in New York, you can live above the housing crisis in a skinny high-rise, travel by car or helicopter, even hire private firefighters. But a society that only works for the wealthy is not sustainable.
Why does this procedure fetish seem worse now than it used to be? We had lawyers when we built the Hoover Dam and sent people to the moon.
The lawyers changed. For much of American history, lawyers were deal-makers, often working alongside generals and builders. Eisenhower, for example, had personally experienced the misery of driving cross-country on unpaved roads, which helped inspire the interstate highway system.
But in the 1960s, public trust in the technocratic establishment collapsed. People reacted against environmental destruction, against Robert Moses ramming highways through cities, against Vietnam. Law students at places like Harvard and Yale embraced a new slogan: “Sue the bastards.” Lawyers became regulators and litigators, not builders. They solved the problems of the previous generation, but in doing so created new ones: paralysis, gridlock, endless procedure.
Let’s talk briefly about Trump. How does Beijing see him?
As a familiar type. Trump is like a coal-mine boss who stumbled into wealth: uncouth, transactional, driven by animal instinct. The Communist Party knows how to handle people like that.
Beijing rolled out the red carpet for him, literally letting him handle ancient golden artifacts. Trump clearly loved the glamour. He’s never had a bad word for Xi Jinping, except during the pandemic. In some ways, he’s been friendlier to China than to Germany or Japan.
But he’s mercurial. Sometimes he waves a big stick, sometimes he cuts a deal. That instability makes him both a threat and, oddly, a comfort. They know how to manage a figure like him.
I think Americans understand that China is this formidable political object, but is it more than just a great power looking to pursue and defend its own interest? Is it also an ideological project? Does Beijing want to remake the world in its image, or does it just want to dominate its sphere?
Scholars debate this. Some argue that if you give China an inch — say, Taiwan — it will take more. Others think China mostly wants to dominate its own sphere, East and Southeast Asia, and muzzle critics abroad.
China doesn’t necessarily want to turn America into socialism. But it does want to suppress dissent about the Communist Party, even overseas. The question is: Do we tolerate that as mere influence, or do we see it as intolerable interference?
What would it look like to combine the best of the American and Chinese systems?
Honestly, there’s no utopia. Every country is a tangle of imperfections. Europe provides mass transit and middle-class goods, but housing is often less affordable than in the US. Japan has demographic stagnation. Canada has soaring home prices.
The lesson isn’t that anyone has it figured out, it’s that we can all learn from each other. The US remains uniquely dynamic, always debating, always questioning. That constant self-criticism gives it a better shot at fixing itself than most places.
You end the book on a surprisingly optimistic note about both countries. Why?
Because neither China nor America is condemned to stasis. Europe and Japan often are. Both the US and China still embrace dynamism and change, even if imperfectly.
In the US, I admire the relentlessness of debate. We’re always asking how we screwed up, and how we might do better. In China, the system is rigid, but it sometimes produces shockingly fast fixes to deep problems. That capacity for reform, even if inconsistent, is real.
I still think pluralism is the safer long-term bet than top-down control and the sort of whipsaw changes you get in an engineering state.
I agree. Pluralism is the right virtue. But the US also has to govern effectively. If it can’t provide housing, infrastructure, safety, or opportunity for ordinary citizens, pluralism won’t save it.
Meanwhile, if China continues to build and deliver visible improvements, it could weaken America by further hollowing out our industries and inspiring pride at home. The real contest is simply this: Which country works best for the people living in it?
And right now, America’s biggest task is to actually do better for the broad majority. That’s the challenge we all have to meet.
This chapter deals with the second Being in the Godhead, which the house of Judah hasn’t come to term with; it is composed of God the Father and God the Son, but the Orthodox Jews couldn’t see this, nor could identify the Son which is all over in the Scriptures, especially in the Torah and the Prophets; and here in Isaiah 49 and 50.
Isaiah 49
1 “Listen, O isles, unto Me, and hearken, ye people from afar! The Lord hath called Me from the womb; from the bowels of My mother hath He made mention of My name.
— Listen unto me, O isles; these are not the words of Cyrus, nor the Prophet Isaiah, but of the Son, the Messiah or Christ, calling upon the inhabitants of the isles to hearken to him; by whom are meant the inhabitants of islands being called, probably of the house of Israel;
— “Isles from afar!” as before stand vaguely for far off isles, coastlines or countries; the invitation is addressed to the nations far and wide.
2 And He hath made My mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand hath He hid Me, and made Me a polished shaft. In His quiver hath He hid Me,
— and he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; or “he hath put his words in my mouth as a sharp sword,” as the Targum says; namely, the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, the Logos, and is sharper than a two-edged Sword.
3 and said unto Me, ‘Thou art My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’
4 Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain; I have spent My strength for nought and in vain; yet surely My judgement is with the Lord, and My work with My God.’”
— yet surely my judgement is with the Lord; this indicates that below the Lord, the Highest, which could only be the Father, someone else is making judgement and who else except the Son?
— or the reward of my work is before my God, as the Targum says; the Lord knew that he had called him to his office; how prudently, diligently and faithfully he had executed it; and what was his right and due and which would be given him.
5 “And now saith the Lord that formed Me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him, though Israel be not gathered—yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and My God shall be My strength”
— who could “bring Jacob again to Him” that is, to confirm in the worship of the true God; except someone of a high level in rank; not Cyrus, not prophet Isaiah, not any human; it’s an enormous task pointing that this Being is no none else except the Son.
6 and He said: ‘It is a light thing that Thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth.’”
— “a light to the Gentiles” and not a colonizer, an enforcer of Israel’s systems and values upon the Gentiles however how good they think they are, such as democracy, human rights and others but only as a light to the Gentiles.
7 Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to Him whom man despiseth, to Him whom the nation abhorreth, to a Servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord who is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel; and He shall choose Thee.”
— to him whom man despises; to Yeshua, the Son of God, to whom in the days of his flesh; this description most truly and fully agreed with that Isaiah 53:3, for men, both Jews and Gentiles, among whom he lived, have despise him from their hearts.
8 Thus saith the Lord: “In an acceptable time have I heard Thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped Thee; and I will preserve Thee and give Thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages,
— thus saith the Lord; these are the words of God the Father said to his Son and these words continued;
9 that Thou mayest say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’ to them that are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ “They shall feed on the paths, and their pastures shall be in all high places.
— show yourselves; among the people of God in his house of his laws, statutes and ordinances when called, converted and enlightened by his spirits;
— or “be revealed” or manifested when they are known to be, what they have not known before the people and children of God. The Targum says, “shew yourselves to the light.”
10 They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them; for He that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall He guide them.
— during the Millennium, they shall not hunger nor thirst; all their needs shall be abundantly provided for as a Shepherd will provide for his flock.
11 And I will make all My mountains a way, and My highways shall be exalted.
— mountains a way; during the Millennium, God will remove all obstructions out of the way.
12 Behold, these shall come from far—and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim.” — Sinim סִינִֽים sî·nîm;
— the western countries known to the Hebrews were some of the islands of that sea and a few of the maritime regions; probably referring to where the house of Israel had been taken to; they shall return;
— from the land of Sinim; there have been many different opinions in regard to the ‘land of Sinim’ – the Targum version renders it as land of the South; Isti de terra Australi; others, like Ptolemy and Gesenius say the country here referred to is Sina or China; both qualify as “these shall come from far.”
— Sinim; the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary says “the Arabians and other Asians called China Sin, or Tchin; the Chinese had no special name for themselves, but either adopted that of the reigning dynasty or some high-sounding titles. This view of “Sinim” suits the context which requires a people to be meant “from far,” and distinct from those “from the north and from the west” [Gesenius].
— in the Book of Mormon reads Sinim: “And then, O house of Israel, behold, these shall come from far; and lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.” The index of this scripture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints defines Sinim as “possibly [the] land of China.”
— Could Sinim gives rise to the prefix Sino- ; like Sino-American, Sino-Anglo, Sino-Russian, Sino-Tibetan?
13 Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth! And break forth into singing, O mountains! For the Lord hath comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted.
— the expression, “O earth” is expressed seven times throughout the OT, here by Isaiah, elsewhere by Moses, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Micah, empahsizing that God, too, has a message for the whole of humanity;
— Sing, O heavens; as in Isaiah 44:23, all nature is invited to join in the chorus of praise for the (1) deliverance of Israel; and (2) of all the nations.
14 But Zion said, “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.”
15 “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
— “Does a woman forget her sucking child, so as not to have compassion upon the child of her womb?
16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; thy walls are continually before Me.
— even though mothers should forget, I will not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls stand continually before me.”
17 Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth from thee.
— from the Message Bible
“Can a mother forget the infant at her breast, walk away from the baby she bore? But even if mothers forget, I’d never forget you—never. Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands. The walls you’re rebuilding are never out of my sight. Your builders are faster than your wreckers. The demolition crews are gone for good.
Look up, look around, look well! See them all gathering, coming to you? As sure as I am the living God”—God’s Decree— “you’re going to put them on like so much jewellery, you’re going to use them to dress up like a bride. Isaiah 49:17 MSG
18 Lift up thine eyes round about and behold; all these gather themselves together and come to thee. As I live,” saith the Lord, “thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride doeth.
— all these, the Gentiles as sufficiently appear from what hath been already said and from that which follow. Thy kingdom shall not only be restored and established in Jerusalem but it shall be vastly enlarged and adorned by the accession of the Gentiles to it.
19 For thy waste and thy desolate places and the land of thy destruction shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.
— and they that swallowed thee up; the enemies that laid waste thy land and that “absorbed,” as it were thy inhabitants and removed them to a distant land;
— and those who would destroy you shall be [from] far away? Russia and China?
(a) after being kicked out of the SWIFT payment system, Russia destroyed Ephraim by leading BRICS++ countries (mainly from the Global South) in de-dollarization of the dollar as a reserve currency;
(b) enticed by high corporate profits from cheap labor, American industrialists had moved into China, destroying themselves in the process by hollowing out themselves through de-industrialization!
20 The children whom thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, ‘The place is too narrow for me; give place to me that I may dwell.’
— the place is too strait for me; there is no room for us all; this is indicative of such an increase as took place when the return of the exiles to the Promised Land and shall yet more abundantly than any time before that they will call for more land to dwell in.
21 Then shalt thou say in thine heart, ‘Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children and am desolate, a captive and removing to and fro? And who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?’”
Then you will ask yourself, “Who has fathered these children for me? I was childless and unable to have children. I was exiled and rejected. Who raised these children for me? I was left alone. Where have they come from?”
“And your ruined land? Your devastated, decimated land? Filled with more people than you know what to do with! And your barbarian enemies, a fading memory. The children born in your exile will be saying, ‘It’s getting too crowded here. I need more room.’
And you’ll say to yourself, ‘Where on earth did these children come from? I lost everything, had nothing, was exiled and penniless. So who reared these children? How did these children get here?’”
22 Thus saith the Lord God: “Behold, I will lift up Mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up My standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
— bring … sons in … arms; the Gentiles shall aid in restoring Israel to its own land (Isaiah 60:4; 66:20); children able to support themselves are carried on the shoulders from the East; but infants in the arms or astride on one haunch (Isaiah 60:12). “Thy sons” must be distinct from “the Gentiles,” who carry them; and therefore cannot primarily refer to converts among the Gentiles;
— another interpretation: behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles; to lift up the hand is a sign of beckoning to, or inviting; and that God would call the Gentiles to partake of the blessings of the true religion and to embrace the God of Israel (see also Isaiah 11:11; could this time period coincide with Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline?)
23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed that wait for Me.”
— and kings shall be thy nursing fathers and queens thy nursing mothers; who shall show favour and respect to the elect of God, grant them liberty, protect and defend them in their religious privileges:
— and since the Messiah is the King of kings, and Lord of lords; so this is to be understood not figuratively of apostles and other shepherds who are kings and priests unto God and who feed the church with the milk of the Word and the breasts of ordinances; but literally also as kings and queens of the earth;
— and is thought to have had its fulfilment, at least in part in Cyrus, Ahasuerus, Esther and others; but more so as priestly kings and queens as Ezra and Nehemiah, Zerubbabel and others; and will have a far greater accomplishment in the latter day glory.
24 Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?
25 But thus saith the Lord: “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.
— being lawful captives to the service of God, yet delivered by a price of unspeakable value. Here is an express promise: Even the prey of the terrible shall be delivered;
— they being viewed as God’s enemies deprived of his prey, bound and cast into the pit; and all the powers that have combined to enslave, persecute or corrupt the elects are destroyed; that all the earth may know that our Saviour and Redeemer is Yehovah, the Mighty One of Jacob.
26 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine. And all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Can plunder be retrieved from a giant, prisoners of war gotten back from a tyrant? But God says, “Even if a giant grips the plunder and a tyrant holds my people prisoner, I’m the one who’s on your side, defending your cause, rescuing your children.
And your enemies, crazed and desperate, will turn on themselves, killing each other in a frenzy of self-destruction. Then everyone will know that I, God, have saved you—I, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Isaiah 50
1 Thus saith the Lord: “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
— your mother’s divorcement? – God speaks of himself as the husband of his people, as having married his chosen to himself, indicating the tender affection which he had for his people;
— ye have sold yourselves; that is, you have gone into captivity on account of your sins. It has been your own act and you have thus become bondmen to a foreign power only by your own choice; the nation has been rejected and suffered to go into exile on account of its transgressions.
2 Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.
— was there no man? – that is, when I came to call you to repentance, why was there no man of the nation to yield obedience? the Targum says, “wherefore have I sent my prophets, and they are not repented? They prophesied, but they obeyed not.”
— when I called, was there none to answer? – none obeyed or regarded my voice. It was not, therefore, by his fault that they had been punished but it was because they did not listen to the messengers which God had sent unto them;
— is my hand shortened at all? – it was not because God was unable to save that they had been thus punished. To shorten the hand, that is, to cut it off, is an emblem of diminishing or destroying our ability to execute any purpose (see Isaiah 59:1). So in Numbers 11:23 : ‘Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?’
— behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea; he was able to do it and did so for the children of Israel and made a passage through the Red Sea for them as on dry land; which was done by a strong east wind he caused to blow, here called his “rebuke” Exodus 14:20.
3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
— God clothe the heavens with gross and thick darkness; perhaps reminding us of the three days’ darkness the Egyptians were in, Exodus 10:12, or with thick and black clouds, as in tempestuous weather frequently; or by eclipses of the sun; there was an extraordinary instance of great darkness at the time of Christ’s crucifixion, Matthew 27:45.
4 “The Lord God hath given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning; He wakeneth Mine ear to hear as the learned.
— the tongue of the learned; the tongue of those who are instructed;’ that is of the eloquent; or the tongue of instruction; that is, one that is qualified to me or others; it means that on the subject of religion he was eminently endowed with intelligence and with knowledge;
— he waken me morning by morning; that is, he wakens me every morning; from an instructor who awakens his pupils early in order that they may receive instruction;
— the Redeemer would be eminently endowed under the divine instruction and guidance for his work; he would be one who was, so to speak, in the school of knowledge and who would be qualified to impart instruction to others.
5 The Lord God hath opened Mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.
— hath opened mine ear; hath revealed unto me; or rather, hath given me power and a willingness to hear and receive his commands as this phrase is used, Psalm 40:6; Isaiah 35:5.
6 I gave My back to the smiters and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not My face from shame and spitting.
— I, the Messiah, gave my back to the smiters; I submitted willingly to be scourged or whipped; this is one prophecy which can be applied to no other one but the Messiah; it was literally fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 27:26; compare Luke 18:33).
7 For the Lord God will help Me, therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
— for, the Lord God will help me, the Messiah; though as a man I am weak and inconsiderable yet God will strengthen me to go through my great and hard suffering.
8 He is near that justifieth Me. Who will contend with Me? Let us stand together. Who is Mine adversary? Let him come near to Me.
— he is near that justifies the Messiah; his Father was “near” him in his whole state of humiliation; he left him not alone; he was at his right hand and therefore he was not moved;
— and “justified” him from all the false charges they brought against the Messiah and from all the sins of his people that were upon him; these he took upon him and bore them, upon which he was acquitted; and which is evident by his resurrection from the dead, by his ascension to heaven and session at the right hand of God.
9 Behold, the Lord God will help Me. Who is he that shall condemn Me? Lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.
— they all shall wax old; all my enemies shall pass away as a garment is worn out and cast aside; the Messiah would survive all their attacks; his cause, his truth and his reputation would live while all the power, the influence, the reputation of his adversaries, would vanish as a garment that is worn out and then thrown away.
10 “Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His Servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.
— the persons addressed in this call to faith are ‘those who fear the Lord,’ and ‘obey the voice of his Servant.’ It is implied that these two things are necessarily connected so that obedience to Son;
— the Messiah is the test of true religion for the fear of the Lord does not exist where the Word of the Son is neglected or rejected; but those that truly fear God, obey the voice of his Son.
11 Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks! Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have from Mine hand: ye shall lie down in sorrow.
— behold, all ye that kindle a fire; this refers to the wicked; in times of darkness and calamity, instead of trusting in God they would confide in their own resources and endeavor to kindle a light for themselves in which they might walk; but the result would be that they would find no comfort and would ultimately under his hand lie down in sorrow;
— the phrase, ‘that kindle a fire,’ refers to all the plans which people form with reference to their own salvation; all which they rely upon to guide them through the darkness of this world; it may include all the schemes of human philosophy, of false religion, of paganism;
— of infidelity, deism and self-righteousness; all dependence on their own good works or charities ties. All these are false lights which people rekindle, in order to guide themselves when they resolve to cast off God and to resist his spirit.
“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
Trump has only two cards left: (1) Trump said Monday that he could charge 200% tariffs on Chinese goods if Beijing does not export magnets to the US; and (2) he said he could withhold airplane parts to ground China’s American-made Boeing jets. That is, he has no more cards on chips, TSMC or Nvidia’s.
Venezuela deploys warships, drones to coast as US naval squadron nears
Venezuelan Defence Ministry orders naval patrols as US warships sent to waters off country’s coast to tackle Latin American drug cartels.
People sign up to join the civil militias, called by the government of President Nicolas Maduro, at a square in Caracas, Venezuela.
Venezuela’s defence minister says military vessels and drones will be sent to patrol the country’s coastline amid simmering tension with the United States after Washington deployed warships to waters off Venezuela to fight drug trafficking.
In a video on social media on Tuesday, Minister of Defence Vladimir Padrino announced a “significant” drone deployment as well as naval patrols along the country’s Caribbean coast, including “larger vessels further north in our territorial waters.”
The move comes after Washington last week deployed an amphibious squadron of three warships towards Venezuela’s coast in what it said was an operation against Latin American drug cartels.
News agencies reported on Monday that two more US ships – a guided missile cruiser and a nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine – had also been dispatched to the Caribbean, and that some 4,500 US service members, including 2,200 Marines, were part of the deployment.
The US naval build-up comes after the administration of US President Donald Trump last week accused Venezuela’s left-wing president, Nicolas Maduro, of being involved in cocaine trafficking and working with drug cartels.
Washington also announced that it had doubled a reward for the capture or prosecution of Maduro on drug charges from $25m to $50m. The US is also offering a reward of $25m for the arrest or prosecution of Venezuelan Minister of the Popular Power for Interior Diosdado Cabello.
US officials have accused Maduro and members of his government of heading the Venezuelan cocaine trafficking cartel Cartel de los Soles, which Washington has designated a terrorist organisation.
Maduro has dismissed the accusations and accused the US of attempting to instigate regime change in his country.
Military build-up
On Monday, Maduro insisted during a weekly television show that his country, unlike neighbouring Colombia, is “free of coca leaf crops and free of cocaine production.”
Maduro, who has also criticised the US government for not addressing the drug consumption within its borders, has mobilised hundreds of thousands of local militia members to strengthen national security amid the threats from Washington.
Some 15,000 Venezuelan troops have also been dispatched to the country’s border with Colombia to crack down on criminal groups, including those involved in drug trafficking.
In a separate announcement on Tuesday, Defence Minister Padrino said an ongoing operation in Venezuela’s northeastern corner had resulted in the dismantling of shipyards where criminals intended “to manufacture semisubmersibles and boats to transport drugs by sea” to markets in Europe and North America.
The move to deploy US warships and personnel off Venezuela comes as Trump pushes for using the military to thwart cartels he blames for the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into US communities, and for perpetuating violence in some US cities.
Venezuela’s mission to the United Nations denounced the US’s “escalation of hostile actions and threats” in a letter, local media outlet Noticias Venevision reported on Tuesday.
A banner offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello
Referring to the imminent arrival of US ships off the coast, Venezuela told the UN that Washington’s actions were “a serious threat to regional peace and security”, while the presence of a nuclear-powered attack submarine was “a clear act of intimidation.”
The letter also demanded “guarantees” that the US would “not deploy or threaten to use nuclear weapons in the region”, Noticias Venevision reported.
Despite the military build-up, analysts have downplayed the possibility of a US invasion or US strikes on Venezuela, while many Venezuelan people have shrugged off the US threat as posturing, the AFP news agency reported.
Maduro, who claimed a third term in office following an election in July 2024, which was described as deeply flawed, has been in Trump’s sights ever since the US president’s first term, from 2017 to 2021.
But the US policy of maximum pressure on Venezuela, including an ongoing oil embargo, failed to dislodge Maduro from power.
“I think what we’re seeing represents an attempt to create anxiety in government circles and force Maduro to negotiate something,” International Crisis Group analyst Phil Gunson told the AFP regarding the building tension.
For understanding this deep-rooted conflict, consider this:
“And Esau harbored hatred in his heart against Jacob, his brother, because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him.
“And Esau said in his heart, ‘I will not do as Cain did, who killed Abel during their father’s lifetime and then their father had another son, Seth.
“Rather, I will wait until the days of mourning for my father have passed, and then I will kill Jacob my brother, and I will be the sole heir.’” Genesis 27:42Jonathan
For more about the South, a prophecy of Esau or Edom, see Obadiah
God claims that the house of Jacob, or rather, its shepherd, doesn’t know Him:
“For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel Mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name; I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me.
“I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is no God besides Me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me,” Isaiah 45:4-5
Contrast those who don’t know to ones who know:
“And I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, who call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel” Isaiah 45:3
Isaiah 47
1 “Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground. There is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
— Babylon is represented under the emblem of a woman deeply in distress. She was to be degraded and endure sufferings; and is represented sitting on the ground, grinding at the handmill, the lowest and most laborious service.
2 Take the millstones and grind meal; uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
— uncover thy locks; the picture of suffering is heightened by the fact that the female slave has to wade unveiled, and bare-legged, all sense of shame outraged;
“Receive this calamity and go into servitude; put away the glory of thy kingdom, thy princes are overthrown, the people of thy armies are scattered, they have vanished away like waters of the river.”
3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered; yea, thy shame shall be seen; I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.”
— thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen; not only stripped of your garments and have nothing to cover your naked bodies, being spoiled of all by your enemy soldiers; but should have nothing to cover those parts which women are most ashamed to view.
4 As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel.
— the prophet exults in the Lord of hosts, YEHOVAH, as the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel. God often permits wicked men to prevail against his people; but those who cruelly oppress them will be punished.
5 “Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be called the Lady of Kingdoms.
— for thou shalt no more be magnificence, splendor, beauty and power, called the lady of kingdoms; which have given occasion to this appellation and which have led the nations by common consent to give it to thee shall be entirely and forever removed.
6 I was wroth with My people, I have polluted Mine inheritance and given them into thine hand. Thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.
— the sin of Babylon was that she had gone beyond her commission as the chastiser of Israel, casting off all reverence for age and making even the old men do the hard tasks of bond-slaves (Lamentations 4:16, 5:12; Zechariah 1:15).
7 And thou saidst, ‘I shall be a lady for ever,’ so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.
— and thou said, I shall be a lady forever; this describes the pride and over-confidence of Babylon; she was false confident in her wealth and splendour, the faked strength of her gates and walls; and in her misguided faith of abundant resources to resist an enemy or sustain a siege.
8 “Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, who dwellest carelessly, who sayest in thine heart, ‘I am, and none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children.’
— that dwell carelessly in misguided security, without any consciousness of external danger.
9 But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day: the loss of children, and widowhood. They shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.
— but the loss of children and widowhood shall come to thee suddenly, at once, at one and the same time;
— the destruction of Babylon was swift, catching the city off guard before its inhabitants even realized it, as the king and his nobles indulged in a feast. that very night Belshazzar was slain and Darius the Mede took the kingdom.
10 For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness; thou hast said, ‘None seeth me.’ Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, ‘I am, and none else besides me.’
— for thou has trusted in thy wickedness; ‘wickedness’ here refers doubtless to the pride, arrogance, ambition and oppressions of Babylon.
11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth. And mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
— and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know; that is, before hand, neither the persons nor the time when it shall come;
— notwithstanding their astrologers and soothsayer, pretending to tell what would come to pass; but not being able by their craftsmanship to give the least hint of Babylon’s destruction as to either time or means, the Chaldeans were in great security, ignorant of their ruin at hand as will the destruction of a modern mystical Babylon.
12 “Stand now with thine enchantments and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast labored from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
— stand now with thine enchantments; a scornful challenge to Babylon’s magicians to show whether they can defend their city.
13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.
— thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels; speaking of astrologers, magicians and soothsayers; who were never able to give any satisfactory answers to questions put to them, as appears from Nebuchadnezzar’s consultation with them about his dream; and Belshazzar’s about the handwriting upon the wall.
14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame; there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.
— they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame; from those dreadful calamities that shall come upon them like flames of fire; and if they cannot deliver themselves by their art and skill, how should they deliver others?
15 Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast labored, even thy merchants, from thy youth; they shall wander every one to his quarter. None shall save thee.
— thy merchants or they with whom thou has traded from thy youth shall wander everyone to his own quarter. None shall save thee; they shall all leave thee and flee speedily to their countries and habitations.
Isaiah 48
1 “Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel and have come forth out of the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness;
— hear this, O house of Jacob; his descendants and posterity; come forth out of the waters of Judah; that is, those of the seed of Judah;
— but not in truth, nor in righteousness; not according to the complete will and truth of God; so what are their problems?
— 1a) the house of Judah hasn’t come to term with what the Godhead is; it is composed of God the Father and God the Son, hence in Genesis, Elohim (God in the plural) created the heavens and the earth; but the Jews couldn’t identify the Son which is all over in the Scriptures, especially the Torah and later, the Prophets;
God the Father has shared His name יהוה with His Son Exodus 23:21
— 1b) the lamb for Pascha is a symbol of the death of the Messiah, our Moshiach, Savior, and Redeemer; however, the Orthodox view it solely as an act of defiance against the Egyptians, who considered the lamb a minor deity. The Scriptures do not mention this, as it is merely a figment of Jewish imagination;
Why Orthodox are so fascinated with a pagan god is a deep Mystery!
— 2a) and the house of Israel is still indulging in idolatry; worshipping Easter, which is another form of worshipping Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the 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;
Astarte, the queen of heaven, one of the Chaldean goddess
— 2b) and Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th which they 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 from his place today, Protestants or Catholics alike;
Mithra, birthday on December 25th, christianised today as Christmas
— and those who persist in their blindness will be horsewhipped! Nar, those who resist would suffer Judgement by the sword, by famine, by pestilence and spending years in captivity to reflect and repent there (for more see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline and The Flaming Sword and Fire from the South!)
2 for they call themselves of the holy city and stand themselves upon the God of Israel—the Lord of Hosts is His name: — although they call themselves of the holy city, they do not worship God in sincerity and truth;
— Jerusalem was called ‘the holy city,’ because the temple, the ark and the divine presence were there, and it was the place where God was worshipped.
3 I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of My mouth, and I showed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.
— God have declared the former things; that is, in former times he had predicted future events by the prophets which have come to pass as they were foretold. Though the fulfillment might have appeared to be long delayed, yet it came to pass at the very time.
4 Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew and thy brow brass,
— thou art obstinate; they were obstinate and intractable, an expression probably taken from a bullock which refuses to bow down to receive the yoke; or move left or right.
5 I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I showed it thee, lest thou shouldest say, ‘Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image hath commanded them.’
— my idols and molten images had not foretold these events and when they came to pass, it could not, therefore, be pretended that they had been produced by idols;
— by predicting them, Yehovah kept up the proof that he was the true God and demonstrated that he alone was worthy of their worship.
6 Thou hast heard; see all this, and will not ye declare it? I have shown thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.
— even hidden things; events which are so concealed that they could not be conjectured by any human understanding or by any contemplation of natural causes. They are, as it were, laid up in dark treasure houses and they can be known only by him to whom ‘the darkness shineth as the day;
7 They are created now and not from the beginning, even before the day when thou heardest them not, lest thou shouldest say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
— even before the day when thou heard them they were in the heart of God, kept and reserved in his mind and therefore they are God’s hidden things before the Israelites heard anything of them.
8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not, yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened; for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously and wast called a transgressor from the womb.
— yea, thou hear not; not only that these events could not have been foreseen by them but that when they were actually made known to them they were still ignorant, dull and sceptical.
9 “For My name’s sake will I defer Mine anger, and for My praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
— for my own name’s sake I will defer mine anger; and although thou dost justly deserve my hottest anger and most dreadful judgements, which if thou repent not, I will in time inflict thee into captivity; yet at present I will spare thee, not for thy sake, but for the vindication of my own name and glory.
10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
— in the furnace of affliction; referring particularly to their trials in Babylon and perhaps another one in the future. Afflictions are often likened to fire; from the fact that fire is used to purify metals and afflictions have the same object in reference to the people of God.
11 For Mine own sake, even for Mine own sake, will I do it; for how should My name be polluted? And I will not give My glory unto another.
— for how should my name be polluted? blasphemed and evil spoken of among the house of Jacob; who would be ready to say that either the Lord did not love his people and was not mercifully disposed towards them; or that he could not save them and that their hands or their gods were mightier than he.
12 “Hearken unto Me, O Jacob and Israel, My called: I am He; I am the First, I also am the Last.
— hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel; called out of Egypt, out of Babylon, and out of the world who had the name of God called upon them; so such who are called with a holy calling according to the purpose of God.
13 Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand hath spanned the heavens; when I call unto them, they stand up together.
— mine hand also hath laid; I am the Creator of all things, and I have all power and am abundantly able to deliver you from all your foes.
14 “All ye, assemble yourselves and hear. Who among them hath declared these things? The Lord hath loved him; He will do His pleasure on Babylon, and His arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
— who among them hath declared these things? that are future, that concern the redemption and salvation of Israel? which of all the idols among the nations whom the children of Israel were prone to listen to that could foretell things to come?
— the Lord hath loved him; that is, Israel, as the Targum says, whom the Lord loved but would raise Cyrus to do his pleasure in Babylon as he does; and whom he distinguished from others by bestowing excellent qualifications on him;
— he will do his pleasure on Babylon through Cyrus, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans; he shall do as he pleases with Babylon and with his army destroy the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him; I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
— I, even I, have spoken; the word ‘I’ is repeated to give emphasis; to furnish the utmost security that it should be certainly accomplished. It means, that Yehovah and he alone had declared this and that it was entirely by his power that Cyrus had been raised up and had been made prosperous.
16 “Come ye near unto Me; hear ye this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I; and now the Lord God and His Spirit hath sent Me.”
— God have not spoken in secret; he had foretold the raising up of both Cyrus and later, the Messiah, in delivering his people in terms so plain that it could not be pretended that it was conjectured, and so clear that there was no ambiguity.
17 Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord thy God who teacheth thee to profit, who leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
18 O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! Then had thy peace been as a river and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.
— as a river; ‘that is, in abundance like a full flowing river that fills the banks and that conveys fertility and blessedness through a land; as the waves of the sea; large, abundant, infinite, persistent and continual.
19 Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy loins like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before Me.”
— as the sand; this is often used to indicate a great and indefinite number, for multitude according to his promise made to Abraham.
20 Go ye forth from Babylon! Flee ye from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing declare ye; tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, “The Lord hath redeemed His servant Jacob.”
— say ye, the Lord hath deemed his servant Jacob; referring both the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
21 And they thirsted not when He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; He cleaved the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
— he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; the allusions are that before this happen, they;
— (1) let them hear and say, “It is truth” (Isaiah 43:9) indicating there is no truth before that; and (2) “thou hast not known Me” (Isaiah 45:4-5) indicating that both houses of Israel and Judah today have not known God;
— second, this also promised that much more truth would be revealed.
22 “There is no peace,” saith the Lord, “unto the wicked.”
— there is no peace to the wicked beyond the grave. “A sinner can have no peace at the judgement bar of God; he can have no peace in hell.”
— In the entire future world, there is nowhere he can find peace or rest, and whatever this life may be, even if it be a life of prosperity and external comfort, yet to him there will be no prosperity in the future world and no external or internal peace there.
Tragedy seems to have struck the F-18 Hornet family, with an unprecedented string of crashes involving legacy Hornets, Super Hornets, and Growler variants reported in less than a year.
In an unfortunate coincidence this week, a Malaysian F/A-18 Hornet crashed just a day after a US Navy Super Hornet met a similar fate.
The Malaysian F/A-18 Hornet fighter reportedly crashed on the runway of Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Airport in Kuantan during takeoff on the night of August 21. The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) later confirmed the incident, saying that one of its F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets was involved in an accident.
“We would like to inform you of an accident involving an F/A-18D Hornet at 9.05 pm on Aug 21 at the Sultan Ahmad Shah Airport in Kuantan. We are taking immediate action and will update on the latest development,” the service said in a statement. Both pilots ejected themselves from the cockpit before the crash and are now undergoing treatment.
Shortly after the incident, videos of the incident started surfacing on social media, showing the aircraft’s engine bursting into flames during takeoff. The RMAF has since issued an advisory to the citizens, urging them not to post unverified reports and footage.
While the cause of the crash was not immediately known, the Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim called for a “thorough probe” into the crash.
This is reportedly the first crash involving the two-seat F/A-18D Hornet fighter jet since it went into service in 1997. Before this, one of these fighter jets reported a failure after takeoff at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace show in 2019. However, the aircraft was able to land safely using just one engine.
Earlier, a Finnish Force F/A-18C Hornet fighter jet had crashed near Rovaniemi Airport (RVN) in northern Finland on May 7 while it was on a demonstration flight focused on aerobatic maneuvers. The aircraft crashed just five minutes after takeoff. The pilot successfully ejected from the aircraft.
Earlier, the US Navy had lost an F/A-18D Hornet in a crash in August 2023. The two-seater aircraft, operated by Marine All-Weather Fighter Attack Squadron, crashed shortly after takeoff during a training flight as part of Service Level Training Exercise 5-23. The pilot was unfortunately killed in the accident.
It is pertinent to note that, unlike Finland and the US, Malaysia currently operates a fleet of just eight F/A-18D (now seven) jets that are operated by the 18th Squadron at Butterworth Air Base.
The aging aircraft are fast approaching the end of their life, which is why Malaysia is in the process of acquiring up to 30–33 second-hand but upgraded F/A-18C/D Hornets from the Kuwait Air Force, as previously reported by the EurAsian Times. The finalisation of the deal is expected sometime this year.
In recent years, Malaysia’s current fighter fleet has seen attrition. The recent phase-out of the BAE Hawk light attack fleet and the 2017 retirement of 16 MiG-29Ns have resulted in gaps in capabilities.
Even though there are still 18 Su-30MKM aircraft of Russian origin in service, the Air Force has had trouble simultaneously defending Peninsular and East Malaysia. With the Kuwaiti Hornets still away, the latest crash spells bad news for RMAF.
That said, the Malaysian crash came just one day after the US Navy lost an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet off the coast of Virginia on the morning of August 20.
The aircraft assigned to the Strike Fighter Squadron 83 crashed during a routine training flight, the US Navy said. The pilot had ejected and was rescued by the search team. The cause of the crash is not known, and the incident is now under investigation.
While the Hornet is now supposedly a legacy aircraft, it is the crash of its upgraded variant—the F/A-18E/F—that has sent alarm bells ringing across the United States military.
The Super Hornet variant is only operated by the United States and Australia. While the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has reported no crashes, the US has lost about six of these aircraft, priced at about $60 million, in just over ten months.
Super Hornets Are Crashing
The string of accidents involving the Super Hornet began in October 2024 when an EA-18G Growler, which is the electronic warfare (EW) equivalent of the F/A-18E Super Hornet, crashed Near Mount Rainier, Washington State, USA. The aircraft reportedly crashed during a routine training flight and turned out to be very fatal, as both pilots were killed.
Following this, the Super Hornets were deployed aboard aircraft carriers dispatched to the West Asian region to battle the Yemen-based Houthis. The US lost three Super Hornets in the Red Sea alone.
In December 2024, a Super Hornet was lost in the case of friendly fire, when it was shot down by the US missile cruiser USS Gettysburg. The incident happened over the Red Sea after the Super Hornet, assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, was on a mission to protect merchant vessels from Houthi rebels.
At the time, the absence of positive target identification and lack of human situational awareness were believed to be potential causes of the incident, as reported by the EurAsian Times.
While the reason behind the friendly fire is still being investigated, the incident highlighted that the primary causes of fratricide have remained constant despite rapid changes in technology and the increasing complexity of US air-land operations.
On April 28, 2025, another aircraft was lost when the USS Harry S. Truman did an evasive maneuver in the face of fire from Yemen-based Houthi rebels.
This sharp turn resulted in the aircraft going overboard. “The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard,” the US Navy said in a statement at the time.
While the Navy was still coping with this preventable loss, another such incident occurred in May 2025. A two-seater F/A-18F Super Hornet belonging to the Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-11, also known as the Red Rippers, plunged into the sea.
At the time, preliminary reports suggested that the aircraft had crashed during an attempted nighttime landing on the aircraft carrier, as the aircraft’s hook could not catch the carrier’s arresting wire.
“The arrestment failed, causing the aircraft to go overboard. Both aviators safely ejected and were rescued by a helicopter assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 11,” an unidentified defense official told USNI News. “The aviators were evaluated by medical personnel and assessed to have minor injuries. No flight deck personnel were injured.”
No pilots died during the three crashes. However, the fact that the US Navy lost about $180 million worth of fixed-wing aircraft in less than six months raised eyebrows, especially because all three losses reported were directly or indirectly linked to the US military campaign against the Yemen-based Houthis. The campaign failed to achieve its desired goals and was eventually called off.
In addition to these, an EA-18G Growler also crashed in February 2025 in San Diego Bay, near Naval Base Coronado, California, USA. The crash occurred during a routine training flight. Both pilots ejected and were rescued, with no serious injuries reported.
Operating aboard aircraft carriers like Truman, the Super Hornet is a multi-role fighter utilized for close air support, strike missions, and air superiority. Popularly remembered as the Top Gun aircraft, the Super Hornets are vital to the US Navy’s global operations, as demonstrated by the effort to increase their firepower.
Although the US Navy also uses the F-35C Lightning II, which has stealth and sophisticated sensors, the Super Hornet is still the mainstay of the force because of its adaptability, larger fleet, and operational reliability. Perhaps, this is why it signed a contract for 17 additional Block III Super Hornets for $1.3 billion in March 2024, with deliveries expected only by spring 2027.
The frequent losses of Super Hornets don’t augur well for the US Navy, as it is its primary carrier-based fighter jet. As of early 2024, the US Navy had approximately 420 active Super Hornets in service, four of which have now been lost.
Moreover, there is no direct, dedicated alternative to the EA-18G Growler in the US military’s inventory that matches its specific combination of carrier-based operations, advanced jamming capabilities, and SEAD/EA mission profile.
The US Navy’s F/A-XX, a sixth-generation carrier-based stealth jet, is expected to replace the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet in the US Navy in the mid-2030s.
However, with the program now off the priority list, it could be a while before the service finds a Super Hornet replacement.
“And they shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, who shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet roundabout; and I will set judgement before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgements.
“And I will set My jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee. They shall take away thy nose and thine ears, and thy remnant shall fall by the sword. They shall take thy sons and thy daughters, and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire” Ezekiel 23:24-25
Something to think about the length of Jacob’s forthcoming Captivity! It’s subjective but a historical precedent from the house of Judah could give us a clue regarding its timeline:
“And I will scatter you among the nations, and will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.
‘Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate and ye are in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest and enjoy her sabbaths” Leviticus 26:33-34
According to God’s judgement its length in Captivity is tied to their years of neglect; and drawing from Judah’s experience, it was seventy years, “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 her Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years, II Chronicles 36:19-21.
1 “Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut:
— thus saith the Lord to his anointed; that is, Cyrus, who is called the Lord’s anointed because he was raised up and ordained by divine counsel to perform God’s good pleasure.
The Lord’s anointed, Cyrus the Great (Reign 559–530 BC)
2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron.
— I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight; or “level the hilly places” as pioneers do; he would remove all impediments and obstructions out of his way and cause him to surmount all difficulties.
3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, who call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
— and I will give thee the treasures of darkness; the treasures which kings have amassed and which they have laid up in dark and secure places. The word ‘darkness,’ here, means that which was hidden, unknown, secret.
4 For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel Mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name; I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known Me.
— UNBELIEVABLE! Even God says both “Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel Mine elect” have not known him! This is a serious charge coming from God Almighty himself, so how?
— the house of Judah hasn’t come to term with what the Godhead is; it is composed of God the Father and God the Son, hence in Genesis, Elohim (God in the plural) created the heavens and the earth; but the Jews couldn’t identify the Son which is all over in the Scriptures, especially the Torah and later, the Prophets;
— and the lamb for Pascha was/is symbol of the death of the Messiah, our Moshiach or Saviour, our Redeemer, but the Orthodox still regard it only as an act of defiance to the Egyptians who regarded lamb as the Egyptians’ deity. The Scriptures nowhere say this, but is only a baloney figment of Jewish imagination;
— and the house of Israel is still indulging in idolatry; worshipping Easter, which is another form of worshipping Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the 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;
— and Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th which they 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, Protestants or Catholics alike, everyone from his place today;
— and those who persist in their blindness will be horsewhipped! Nar, those who resist would suffer judgement by the sword, by famine, by pestilence and spending years in captivity to reflect and repent there (for more see Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline and The Flaming Sword and Fire from the South!)
5 I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is no God besides Me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me,
— “though thou hast not known Me” is repeated to give double assurance, or the sake of emphasis or strong confirmation;
— they have not known nor understood God, even known as the God of Abraham, their father; reaffirming emphatically that they, even the Elect, are stupid, ignorant and blind.
6 that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.
— I, Yehovah, that’s my name, beside me there’s no God: I equipped thee when you don’t know me; that they may know from the rising of the sun, and its going down, that there is none without me.
7 I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I, the Lord, do all these things. — I, Yehovah, and there is none else, creator of light and creator of the darkness; founder of peace, and creator of evil.
8 “Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it.
— the Targum interprets this of the resurrection of the dead, paraphrasing as, “Let the heavens drop down from above, and the clouds flow with good, let the earth open itself, and the dead live, and let righteousness be revealed together; I the Lord have created them.”
9 “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, ‘What makest thou?’ or thy work, ‘He hath no hands’?
— woe unto him that strives with his Maker; that contends with him, enters into a controversy and disputes with him;
— or litigates or quarrels with his purposes and decrees; murmurs and repines at his providences and finds fault with his judgements: this seems to have respect to the murmurs, and quarrels.
10 Woe unto him that saith unto his father, ‘What begettest thou?’ or to the woman, ‘What hast thou brought forth?’
— woe unto him; this implied wickedness and foolishness for a son to complain of his father or mother in regard to his birth or of his rank and condition of life.
11 “Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me.
— instead of striving with God in regard to his purposes, their wisdom is in prayer to ask and even command God, in so far as it is for God’s glory and for their real good; ask Him of things to come; that is, God alone can direct and order future events; and it is their privilege to make inquiry respecting those events.
12 I have made the earth and created man upon it; I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.
— God have made the earth and created man upon it: I, even My hands have stretched out the heavens and all their host, that is, the stars, have I commanded.
13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; he shall build My city, and he shall let go My captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts.”
— I have raised him up in righteousness; though this may be said with some respect to Cyrus, yet chiefly to the Messiah of whom Cyrus was a type; him the Lord appointed and determined to be the Saviour and Redeemer of his people; him he sent forth in time for that purpose.
14 Thus saith the Lord: “The labor of Egypt and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine. They shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee; they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, ‘Surely God is in thee, and there is none else; there is no god.’”
— surely God is in thee; in thee only is God. These of course are words of all the Gentiles to Israel, expressing their acceptance of the true religion. Israel’s God has proved himself to be the God of history, the only true God.
15 Verily Thou art a God who hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
— the Septuagint renders this, ‘For thou art God, though we did not know it, O God of Israel the Saviour.’ We may be in the dark now, but in due time we shall be permitted to see his design and to witness results so glorious as shall satisfy us that his ways are all just and his dealings right.
16 They shall be ashamed and also confounded, all of them; they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.
— they shall be ashamed and be confounded; that is, they shall find all their hopes fail and be suffused with shame that they were ever so senseless as to trust in blocks of wood and stone.
17 But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation; ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
— or as the Targum says, “They are saved by the Word of the Lord.”
18 For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God Himself that formed the earth and made it—He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: “I am the Lord, and there is none else.
— the Lord that created the heavens, not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited; Judea and Jerusalem, lying waste during the Babylon captivity, shall be peopled again by the exiles.
19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I said not unto the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek ye Me in vain.’ I, the Lord, speak righteousness; I declare things that are right.
— God have not spoken in secret; the word rendered ‘secret’ (סתר sı̂ther) indicates a hiding or covering; and the phrase means secretly, privately. He did not imitate the pagan oracles by uttering his predictions from dark and deep caverns, and encompassed with the circumstances of awful mystery and with designed obscurity.
20 “Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge, who set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
— and pray to a god that cannot save; itself, nor them; cannot hear their prayers, nor return an answer; cannot help and assist them in distress, nor deliver them out of their troubles; and therefore it must be the height of madness and folly to pray unto it.
21 Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? And there is no God else besides Me, a just God and a Savior. There is none besides Me.
— tell ye, and bring them near and let them take counsel together; and gather their gods, their makers and their worshippers and let them lay their heads together and consult what proof they are able to give of their divinities, particularly by foretelling things to come.
22 “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.
— that God is willing to save all; since he would not give an invitation at all unless he was willing to save them; and capable of doing so.
23 I have sworn by Myself; the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
— that unto me every knee shall bow; not only the Jews, but all nations shall worship him and submit to his laws, statutes and ordinances: which is signified by the bowing of the knee, a posture of reverence and subjection, and by one eminent part of God’s worship, swearing by his name.
24 Surely, shall one say, ‘In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to Him shall men come, and all that are incensed against Him shall be ashamed.
— shall be ashamed; the enemies of God shall see their own feebleness and folly; and they shall be ashamed that they have endeavored to oppose one so mighty and glorious as the Almighty God.
25 In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.’”
— all the seed of Israel; all the physical seed or descendants of Jacob; all who have a character resembling that of Israel or Jacob; all who are the true children and friends of God.
Isaiah 46
1 Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth; their idols were upon the beasts and upon the cattle. Your carriages were heavy laden; they are a burden to the weary beast.
— Bel boweth down; Bel or Belus (בל bēl, from בעל be‛ēl, the same as בעל ba‛al was the chief god of the Babylonians and was worshipped in the celebrated tower of Babylon.
2 They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.
— the Targum understands this and the preceding verse; “they are cut off, yea, they are altogether cut to pieces, and they were not able to deliver them; and their worshippers are gone into captivity.”
3 “Hearken unto Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who are borne by Me from the belly, who are carried from the womb:
— hearken unto me; the false gods are borne away as a burden; the true God bears them, that is, supports his people; he is able to bear their burden.
4 And even to your old age I am He, and even to hoary hairs will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
— even to your old age; the care of a mother ceases in the natural course of things before a man grows old but the fatherly, we might almost say the mother-like, maternal care of God for his chosen ones endures even to the end of life.
5 “To whom will ye liken Me and make Me equal, and compare Me, that we may be like?
— the design of these verses is to show the folly of idolatry, and the vanity of trusting in idols, since all are but worms, dust and ashes.
6 They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.
— they who pour gold out of the bag and weigh silver with the balance, hire a goldsmith to make it into a god that they may fall down, yea, throw themselves down to worship them;
7 They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him and set him in his place, and he standeth. From his place shall he not remove; yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer nor save him out of his trouble.
— they lift it up, carry it away upon their shoulder and set it down in its place: there it stands; from its place it does not move: men also cry to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one out of distress.
8 “Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
— O transgressors; ye who have violated the laws of God by the worship of idols. Many prophecies, delivered long ago, are not yet fulfilled; but the fulfilling of some is along the way and the rest will soon come to pass.
9 Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none other; I am God, and there is none like Me,
— I am God, and there is none like me; for greatness or goodness, or that has done the like things; not one of the gods of the nations.
10 declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,’
— declaring the end from the beginning; foretelling accurately the course of future events; this is an argument to which God often appeals in proof that he is the only true God;
— a Proof of God Credential:
It was a challenge, and still is: could any of your gods prophesy an event or an occurrence in the future and then bring it to fulfillment?
11 calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth My counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
— calling a ravenous bird; Cyrus is thus described as ravenous as Nebuchadnezzar is in Jeremiah 49:22, Ezekiel 17:3.
12 “Hearken unto Me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:
— ye stouthearted; the word like analogous terms in Ezekiel 2:4; Ezekiel 3:7, implies at once obduracy and ignorance.
13 I bring near My righteousness; it shall not be far off, and My salvation shall not tarry; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel My glory.
— or Israel may be called his glory because he gives glory to them; not only grace here but glory hereafter when their salvation wilt be complete, that is, completely enjoyed.
The global production of advanced technologies — from smartphones and electric vehicles to renewable energy and military systems — relies on rare earth elements such as neodymium and dysprosium, essential for permanent magnets.
As of early 2025, more than 90% of the world’s processing capacity for rare earth magnets remains concentrated in China, creating a pressing vulnerability in global supply chains.
China’s rare earths chokehold has triggered not just a supply crisis, but a strategic awakening, forcing democracies like those in the Quad — Australia, India, Japan and the US — to rewire their mineral dependencies, industrial strategies and geopolitical alignments.
The issue escalated significantly in early 2025, following the re-election of US President Donald Trump and the subsequent imposition of sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports. In response, Beijing announced curbs on the export of rare earths and related magnet components.
Immediately, global shipments of rare earth magnets fell to multi-year lows and production lines across the automotive, aerospace and electronics sectors experienced severe disruptions. From windshield wiper motors to electric vehicle powertrains, critical components were suddenly at risk.
In response to growing industrial strain, Washington and Beijing initiated talks aimed at stabilising trade flows. By late June 2025, both sides unveiled a limited framework designed to alleviate immediate pressures. But any semblance of stability proved short-lived.
Chinese officials disclosed that export licences had been issued only on a limited basis, with each permit valid for just six months. Concurrently, reports emerged of magnet stockpiling within China’s Baotou rare earth hub, raising concerns about future availability and signalling Beijing’s continued leverage over global supply chains, even under conditions of diplomatic detente.
These restrictions have pushed India’s IREL to pursue rare earth magnet partnerships with Japan and South Korea as of August 2025.
While these developments received limited media attention, their implications are far-reaching. Temporary curbs on exports led to production halts at multiple European automotive plants, exposing the fragility of high-tech manufacturing ecosystems.
Crucially, this is not solely a commercial issue – it represents a latent threat to national security. Without secure access to critical minerals, Western defence industries risk cost escalations, procurement delays and degradation of core capabilities.
Amid these disruptions, the Quad adopted a more co-ordinated stance. In July 2025, foreign ministers met in Washington and launched the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative, a collective effort aimed at reducing strategic vulnerabilities in mineral supply chains.
Their joint statement acknowledged that over-dependence on any single country posed risks of coercion, price manipulation and supply insecurity. The initiative seeks to fund joint investments in mining, processing and stockpiling, with a focus on politically stable and partner-aligned jurisdictions.
Initial indications suggest the initiative is gaining traction. Japan has expanded its lithium co-operation with Australia, and India has expedited its domestic mineral approval processes and signed new bilateral supply agreements with partners in Africa and Central Asia. In Brussels, the European Parliament has increasingly echoed Quad concerns, calling for greater alignment in mineral policy.
Industry actors are also adapting. Japanese automakers are exploring cobalt reserves in Queensland, US and Australian firms are initiating rare earth projects in Africa, and Indian companies are enhancing both overseas partnerships and domestic refining capacity. These developments point to an incipient restructuring of global industrial logic away from single-node dependence and towards diversified, resilient supply ecosystems.
Still, the path to fully realising the Quad’s ambitions is likely to encounter structural and political obstacles. Divergent regulatory standards, environmental compliance timelines and capacity gaps among member states may slow progress. Each Quad member brings distinct geopolitical considerations. India, for instance, continues to balance diversification imperatives with its longstanding commitment to strategic autonomy.
The capital-intensive nature of mining and refining projects, particularly in frontier markets, also poses financing challenges. Addressing these hurdles will require sustained public-private co-ordination, trust-building mechanisms and frameworks that ensure policy continuity across political cycles. Success will depend on whether the Quad can translate shared intent into coherent and enduring institutional architecture.
What was previously viewed as an inconvenient dependence on China is now recognised as a strategic liability. The focus has shifted from reactive supply protection to proactive industrial sovereignty and geopolitical flexibility. This transformation underscores a deeper structural lesson: that technological capacity is inseparable from material security.
The sudden scarcity of rare earths has revealed the extent to which global innovation is contingent on unbalanced access to critical inputs. The Quad’s mineral initiative, though not widely publicised, marks a significant step towards structural co-operation among democratic states. If effectively implemented, it could underpin long-term economic stability and technological leadership across the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
Securing the supply chains of critical technologies requires more than just market mechanisms. It demands co-ordinated policy, cross-border investment and institutional trust. The coming decade will test whether democratic coalitions can extend their co-operation beyond shared values to the material foundations of power. Rare earths may prove not only to be vital commodities but defining instruments of strategic resilience.
Former Deputy PM of Australia and Governor of Western Australia, Kim Beazley, says:
Just a note on processing rare earths from the monazite piles at Eneabba with Iluka and the product from Browns Range: Australia can supply at least half the western world’s needs before the end of this decade for permanent magnets. Add in Lynas in Malaysia and we could probably supply the world. There is one monazite pile in Victoria as well which could be processed at Eneabba.
There is excitement around the globe every time a new source is discovered, but getting the mines up takes years. Australia is only 20% explored, but that doesn’t matter – what matters is processing. What we have already discovered does the job. The federal government is helping, but we need to treat this as strategic like the Chinese do. To get it up and running would cost slightly less than a US aircraft carrier.
China’s response on trade with the US through this ban is undermining Trump’s attack. He is having considerable difficulty in the negotiations. We in WA have five of the best six mining engineering schools globally. Virtually all rare earth mining sites contain all of them, but in very different amounts. Iluka has an offtake agreement with Browns Range, which has massive amounts of the heavy rare earths critical for permanent magnets. China fears this, which is why Treasury has had great difficulty forcing Chinese companies to sell down their stakes
The Scriptures are often shrouded in cryptic languages; as usual a prophecy of Isaiah will start with the house of Judah and Jerusalem then spread to the house of Israel and soon it includes many prophecies concerning other nations surrounding the region.
However the following may provide a clue:
“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 understand it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20
“In latter days you will understand it fully,” that is, this means as a whole, we wouldn’t understand these prophecies until we’re living in the latter days, soon to be our days, after God had executed his judgement in anger and performed the thoughts of his heart; only then could we understand fully!
Isaiah 43
1 But now thus saith the Lord who created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.
— the Lord that created thee; the Almighty God, Yehovah, has created Israel as specially answering for his own purpose. To “call by thy name” is a mark of individualizing tenderness.
2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
— through troubles of any kind, that tenderness continues.
3 For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior; I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
— God gave Egypt for its ransom: this was fulfilled when he smote the Egyptians, both first-born and others and drowned Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, for the safety and benefit of his people. But why Ethiopia and Seba?
4 Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee; therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life.
— the sense is, from that time that God had chosen them for his precious and peculiar treasure and people, he has had a great esteem and affection for them.
5 Fear not, for I am with thee; I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west;
— fear not; I will bring thy seed, thy descendants; the sense is God will re-collect his scattered people from all the EAST and WEST; a fulfilment of Deuteronomy 30:3, where God promises to gather his people scattered from among ALL the nations, if they should repent.
6 I will say to the north,‘ Give up,’ and to the south, ‘Keep not back.’ Bring My sons from far and My daughters from the ends of the earth,
— coming back from Babylon didn’t fulfil this, for God will say to the NORTH and to the SOUTH, and from the ENDS of the earth: Give up; Give up my people, or restore them to their own land;
— bring my sons; bring all my people from the distant lands where they have been driven in their dispersion. This is a commanding passage because all lands are under the control of God and he could at once command and they would obey;
— this is definitely prophetic, since he issues a command which is heard in all quarters of the globe and the scattered people of God come flocking again to their own land;
— further, it is a Proof of God Credential:
It was a challenge, and still is: could any of your gods prophesy an event or an occurrence in the future and then bring it to fulfillment?
7 even every one that is called by My name: For I have created him for My glory; I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”
— everyone that is called by my name; to be called by the name of anyone is being regarded as his son since a son bears the name of his father (see Isaiah 44:5; Isaiah 48:1); the expression, therefore means all are to be regarded as the children of God.
8 Bring forth the blind people that have eyes and the deaf that have ears.
— to bring out a blind people: Heb. הוֹצִיא, like לְהוֹצִיא to bring out those currently in exile (verses 5-6 above), those minds are exiled because they became like blind; although they had eyes they could not see.
9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled. Who among them can declare this and show us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear and say, “It is truth.”
— all the nations; rather all ye nations; Israel is a witness on the one hand a multitude of nations to assemble before him in Jerusalem, Zechariah 14:17. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain; they are expected to be there to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles;
— and not Easter, which is another form of worshipping Astarte, one of the titles of, first, as Phoenician Goddess, then the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven, the 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;
The Mysteries of Astarte: the Ancient Phoenician Goddess
— nor Mithra or Mitra (the Sun-God whose birthday many drunks honor and celebrate on December 25th which they 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 from his place today, Protestants or Catholics alike;
10 “Ye are My witnesses,” saith the Lord, “and My servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me.
— you, the people of Israel, are my witnesses, saith the Lord; they could testify that the Lord had foretold their affliction in Egypt, their coming from thence and settling in the land of Canaan, many hundreds of years before they came to pass and which were exactly fulfilled.
11 I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior.
— I, even I, am the Lord; the repetition of the pronoun ‘I’ makes it emphatic. The design is to affirm that there was no other being to whom the name ‘Yehovah’ pertained.
12 I have declared and have saved, and I have shown, when there was no strange god among you; therefore ye are My witnesses,” saith the Lord, “that I am God.
— God have declared; I have announced or predicted future events; I have warned of danger; I have marked out the path of safety. He had thus shown that he was the true God.
13 Yea, before the day was, I am He, and there is none that can deliver out of My hand; I will work, and who shall turn it back?”
— yea, before the day was I am he; before there was a day, before the first day of the creation; that is before time was or from all eternity, I am he that have spoken of it by all the prophets from the beginning of the world and now it is accomplished.
14 Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake I have sent to Babylon and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.
— the Targum paraphrases it to make the sense clearer, “because of your sins have I carried you captive unto Babylon”
— as Daniel confirmed it by acknowledging their sins and prayed for his people:
And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession and said, “O Lord, the great and fearsome God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love Him and to them that keep His commandments,
we have sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgements, Daniel 9:4-5.
15 I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”
— I am the Lord, your Holy One; and therefore need not doubt of the performance of those promises: the Creator of Israel, your King; and therefore both able and willing to protect you.
16 Thus saith the Lord, who maketh a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters,
17 Who bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power (they shall lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched as tow):
— they shall lie down together, they shall not rise; they lay down in the Red Sea where they sunk to the bottom and perished and never rose more at least to life, nor never will till the general resurrection:
— they are extinct, they are quenched as tow; or flax as the wick of a candle when put into water is quenched at once; so the Egyptian became extinct in the Red Sea.
18 “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.
— so great and wonderful shall be God’s future interpositions in your behalf that what he has done great as that was shall be comparatively forgotten.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
— God will do a new thing; something that has not hitherto occurred, some unheard of and wonderful event that shall far surpass all that he had formerly done.
20 The beast of the field shall honor Me, the dragons and the owls, because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen.
— even the beast of the field shall honor me, the dragons and the owls, for I give waters and rivers in the wilderness and the desert, how much more would give drink to my people, my chosen.
21 This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise.
— this people have I formed for myself, that is, the elect who may include the Gentiles, compared to a desert and wilderness, distinguished from Jacob and Israel in the next verse, and the same with the chosen people before mentioned; who being chosen of God.
22 “But thou hast not called upon Me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel.
— thou hast been weary, as a people, you have been weary of me; they had accounted his laws grievous and oppressive; and they had groaned under what they regarded as burdensome rites and ceremonies;
— and so the Targum says, “ye of the house of Jacob have not met together for my worship; but that ye were weary of the doctrine of my law, O Israel.”
23 Thou hast not brought Me the lambs or kids of thy burnt offerings, neither hast thou honored Me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.
— thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; the kids and the lambs which according to the law should have been brought for burnt offerings daily, morning and evening;
— and much less did they bring the larger cattle of burnt offerings as oxen and bullocks;
— the Targum renders it “the rams of thy burnt offerings”- the Septuagint version, “the sheep” – and these were not brought to him but to their idols; or however were not brought in a right way and manner or having the right principles or with the right attitudes.
24 Thou hast bought Me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled Me with the fat of thy sacrifices. But thou hast made Me to serve with thy sins; thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities.
— thou hast made me to serve with thy sins; thou hast made me to bear the load and burden of thy sins, which are very grievous and oppressive to me, Amos 2:13.
25 “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
— and I will not remember thy sins; God forgives and forgets.
26 Put Me in remembrance; let us plead together; declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.
— put me in remembrance, that is, remind me of every plea which thou hast to urge before me in thy plea.
27 Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against Me.
— thy first father hath sinned, these words have been interpreted: (1) of Adam; (2) of Abraham; (3) of Jacob; (4) of the ancestors of Israel collectively; (5) of this or that high priest individually.
28 Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse and Israel to reproaches.
— and have given Jacob to the curse; to utter destruction, to which persons or things accursed were devoted; to be the objects of their enemies’ scorn and reproaches; the Septuagint renders it, ‘I have given Jacob to be destroyed;’ or the Targum “and I have delivered Jacob to the slaughter.”
Isaiah 44
1 “Yet now hear, O Jacob My servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen.
— O Jacob, hear ye now; although I have chastised thee for thy sins and had just cause utterly to destroy thee, yet in judgement I will remember mercy and will still own thee as my chosen servant.
2 Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the womb, who will help thee: Fear not, O Jacob, My servant, and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
— thou, Jesurun; the ideal name of Israel as the Targum says, which means the upright one as a poetical name; so the Book of Jasher is the book of the “upright” of the heroes of Israel; the Septuagint as “beloved Israel.”
3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring.
— for God will pour water upon anyone thirsty; including upon the land, as the Targum says, “in a thirsty place” as a dry land is a thirsty land; it thirsts for water, large quantities of rain to moisten it, and make it fruitful.
4 And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.
— they shall spring up as among the grass; they shall increase and flourish like grass and those herbs and plants which grow up in the midst of it.
5 One shall say, ‘I am the Lord’s’; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand, ‘Unto the Lord,’ and surname himself by the name of Israel.
— one shall say, I am the Lord’s, etc; there shall be an influx of proselytes; who were not called by the name of Jacob and Israel; but now:
— instead of the nations looking scornfully on and uttering gibes and jeers at Israel’s fall, on seeing Israel’s rise they shall be anxious to have a part in it and shall hasten to enrol themselves among the worshippers of Yehovah;
— “One shall say, I am Yehovah’s” – while “another shall proclaim the name of Jacob,” as that in which he glories; and a third shall write on his hand, “I am Yehovah’s” and take as a surname the name of Israel.
6 “Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the First, and I am the Last, and besides Me there is no God.
— here God renews his contest with idols which he insists upon so oft and so much because his own people were exceeding prone to idolatry.
7 And who, as I, shall call and shall declare it, and set it in order for Me, since I appointed the ancient people? And the things that are coming and shall come, let them show unto them.
— since … ancient people; have given the house of Jacob prophecy of the future ever since I appointed them as My people in ancient times; therefore they were qualified to be His witnesses.
8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid. Have not I told thee from that time and have declared it? Ye are even My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Yea, there is no God. I know not any.”
— is there a God besides me? for there were many fictitious and false deities but none omniscient and omnipotent that could foretell future events and accomplish them as he did; there is no god but the one God: the Father and Son.
9 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity, and their delectable things shall not profit. And they are their own witnesses; they see not nor know, that they may be ashamed.
— a graven image is one that is cut, or sculptured out of wood or stone, in contrast from one that is molten, which is made by being cast; to show, at length, the vanity of idols and of idol-worship.
10 Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
— “Who hath molten” means “who has been so foolish as to do so; to take so much trouble about a thing which cannot possibly profit any one?”
11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed; and the workmen, they are of men. Let them all be gathered together; let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.
— the uniqueness of God having been set forth, the prophet now turns to the images and the image-makers, overwhelming them with his scorn and ridicule.
12 The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms. Yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water and is faint.
— God proceeds here to show the folly and absurdity of idolatry; and in order to this he goes into an extended details of the manner in which idols were usually made.
13 The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line. He fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house.
— having cut down a tree, he stretches out his rule or line upon it, the carpenter now proceeds to the construction of his god.
14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest. He planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.
— to make gods, he hews down cedars and taketh the cypress and the oak; of trees both pleasant and durable, but are all useless.
15 Then shall it be for a man to burn, for he will take thereof and warm himself. Yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshipeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
— when shall it be for a man to burn, which there cannot be a greater instance of stupidity and folly, but it will afford materials for a nice fire.
16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast and is satisfied. Yea, he warmeth himself and saith, “Aha, I am warm; I have seen the fire.”
— image-making is described, to expose more folly of idolaters; Aha; an expression of joy and delight, being before a good fire in winter.
17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image. He falleth down unto it and worshipeth it, and prayeth unto it and saith, “Deliver me, for thou art my god.”
— being graved and carved, such an idol was his god, in whom he trusted, and from whom he expected relief and help. Monstrous stupidity!
18 They have not known nor understood; for He hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see, and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
— they have not known nor understood; they are blind, ignorant and stupid. Nothing could more strikingly show their ignorance and stupidity than this idol worship.
19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh and eaten it. And shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?”
— shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? or “the bud of a tree?” or that which is made out of a tree of their own planting, cutting down and hewing, part of which has been used to the above purposes; and the remaining lifeless log shall they worship it as a god?
20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul nor say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”
— more pouring of scorn on idolaters; they make the gods they worship; they take a tree and saw it up:
— one log serves for a fire to cook their food, and with compass and pencil and plane they carve the figure of a man and then they bow down to it and say, ‘Deliver me, for thou art my god!’
21 “Remember these, O Jacob and Israel, for thou art My servant. I have formed thee; thou art My servant. O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten by Me.
— remember these things which are now said about the folly of idolatry and the vanity of worshipping idols; the argument is to turn their attention to God and to lead them to put their trust in him.
22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud, thy sins; return unto Me, for I have redeemed thee.”
— God have blotted out as a thick cloud; as the sun commonly dissolves or the wind scatters the thickest and blackest cloud so as there is no remnant nor appearance of it left. Return from thine idolatry and other wicked practices.
23 Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it! Shout, ye lower parts of the earth! Break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest and every tree therein; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified Himself in Israel.
— Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it; done what he promised, the forgiveness of the sins of his people and their redemption. So the Targum says, “for the Lord hath wrought redemption for his people.”
— because the heavens are called upon to sing on this occasion as the angels of heaven did when the Redeemer was born, and who rejoice at the salvation of God’s elect, Luke 2:13, shout, ye lower parts of the earth; the earth, which is low in comparison of the heavens.
24 “Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb: I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by Myself;
— that stretches forth the heavens alone, that spreads abroad the earth by myself; of himself and by his own strength and power;
— and he stretched out the vast space of the heavens as a curtain and spread out the earth in its length and breadth and the large surface of it to that great circumference which it has; a full proof of his proper deity!
25 that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad, that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;
— and makes their knowledge foolish; he makes them appear to be fools.
26 that confirmeth the word of His servant, and performeth the counsel of His messengers, that saith to Jerusalem, ‘Thou shalt be inhabited,’ and to the cities of Judah, ‘Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof’;
— all suppose that Jerusalem which in the prophet’s time was full of inhabitants, should be emptied of people: by the sword, famine, pestilence and captivity; yet nevertheless, there should be a return of the the house of Jacob from captivity;
— and this city Jerusalem should be peopled and inhabited again; and also that the other cities of Judea and Samaria shouldn’t be laid waste, but all should be rebuilt and restored to a flourishing state again. The Lord had said it and it should be done.
27 that saith to the deep, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers’;
— that saith to the deep, be dry; the Targum says, “that saith to Babylon, be desolate.”
28 that saith of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd and shall perform all My pleasure,’ even saying to Jerusalem, ‘Thou shalt be built,’ and to the temple, ‘Thy foundation shall be laid.’
— that saith of Cyrus; this is the first time in which Cyrus is expressly named by Isaiah, though he is often referred to. Here is mentioned expressly by name and it was fulfilled about two hundred years later.
The Lord God says to Jerusalem, ‘Thou shalt be rebuilt and be inhabited.’
~ Come to my parlour ~ the spider says to the butterfly: “Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.”
"Who is blind, but My servant? Or deaf, as My messenger that I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant?” Isaiah 42:18-19
"Where two sit together to study the Torah, the Shekinah rests between them."
“Cry aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet! And show My people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins" Isaiah 58:1
“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word out of My mouth, and give them warning from Me.
18 When I say unto the wicked, ‘Thou shalt surely die,’ and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul" Ezekiel 3:17-19
Now, consider this PROPHECY:
“And upon thy sword shalt thou depend, entering at every place: yet thou shalt be supple and credulous, and be in subjection to thy brother [Jacob]; but it will be that when his sons [the children of Israel] become evil, and fall from keeping the commandments of the law, thou shalt break his yoke of servitude from off thy neck…. and then will I kill Jakob my brother,” Genesis 27:41-42 the Targum of Jonathan
“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
ISRAEL, today as in the past, has many BLIND shepherd, for it was prophesied:
“His watchmen are BLIND; they are all ignorant; they are all DUMB dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber” Isaiah 56:10
The mission here is to provide research ARTICLES that are ENLIGHTENING and EASY TO UNDERSTAND using SCRIPTURES to help improve our knowledge and make our life better.
“I have seen a horrible thing in the house of ISRAEL; there is the whoredom of EPHRAIM, Israel is defiled” Hosea 6:10
“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
“Hear, ye DEAF; and look, ye BLIND, that ye may see” Isaiah 42:18
Hence the RESEARCH produced here are to help us UNDERSTAND and hopefully WE all could learn together.
There's nothing special about me, except perhaps, since I was younger, I (L Siaw) had an inner struggle between my heart and my head, hence this blog.
I produce articles that I would understand and hopefully you could too.
Please SUBSCRIBE for more will come.
You may contact me on: eqlunn@gmail.com
Joel
A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob 