to build and to plant.”
11The word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”a 12Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watchingb over my word to perform it.” 13The word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, tilted away from the north.”
14Then the LORD said to me: Out of the north disaster shall break out on all the inhabitants of the land. 15For now I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, says the LORD; and they shall come and all of them shall set their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its surrounding walls and against all the cities of Judah. 16And I will utter my judgments against them, for all their wickedness in forsaking me; they have made offerings to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. 17But you, gird up your loins; stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not break down before them, or I will break you before them. 18And I for my part have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall, against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land. 19They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the LORD, to deliver you.
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a Heb shaqed
b Heb shoqed
1.1–3 Superscription. Added by later editors, superscriptions to prophetic books contain all or some of the following features: the title (the words of Jeremiah), personal background (son of…Benjamin), reception of the revelation (to whom the word of the LORD came), whom the revelation concerned (the nations; see vv. 4–10), and the date (vv. 2–3). See Isa 1.1; Am 1.1; Mic 1.1; Zeph 1.1.
1.1 Jeremiah, in Hebrew “Yahweh exalts.” Priests…in Anathoth. See Introduction. Anathoth (located at modern Ras el Kharuba), a levitical village in Benjamin less than three miles northeast of Jerusalem.
1.2 Josiah reigned 640–609 BCE. Thirteenth year, 627.
1.3 Jehoiakim reigned 609–598 BCE. Zedekiah reigned 597–587/6. Captivity of Jerusalem, 587. The superscription dates Jeremiah’s prophetic activity from 627 to 587.
1.4–19 Jeremiah’s call and commission. The date of Jeremiah’s call is a matter of debate. The prose texts (1.2; 25.3) place the call in the thirteenth year of King Josiah (627 BCE) and note that Jeremiah was active in this king’s reign (see 3.6; 36.2). However, the poetry may imply Jeremiah was born in 627, was called from the womb, and then, as a boy (vv. 5–6), began to prophesy in 609. Ch. 1 presents an overture to the book. Key themes and words are introduced and later repeated throughout the various collections. The chapter contains the poetic call of Jeremiah (vv. 4–10), two accompanying visions (vv. 11–14), and two editorial expansions (vv. 15–16, 17–19). Of the two forms of prophetic call, the encounter with (the word of) God (Ex 3.1–4.17; Judg 6.11–18; 1 Sam 3) and the vision of God in the heavenly court (1 Kings 22.19–22; Isa 40.1–11; Ezek 1.1–3.11), Jeremiah’s followed the first. The first form consists of the divine confrontation (v. 4), introductory word (v. 5ab), commission (v. 5c), objection (v. 6), reassurance (vv. 7–8), and sign (vv. 9–10). The striking parallels with the call of Moses (Ex 3.1–4.17) present Jeremiah as the “prophet like Moses” (Deut 18.15–22).
1.5 Jeremiah is predestined to be a prophet even before his birth and to be a prophet to the nations (see “oracles against the nations,” chs. 46–51). The origin of the world and that of the individual (conception, formation in the womb, birth, and nurture) are the two major creation traditions in the Hebrew Bible (world: Gen 1.1–2.4a; Pss 33; 74.12–17; 104; individual: Gen 2.4b–25; Job 3; 10; Ps 139.13–16; both are combined in the birth of Wisdom, Prov 8.22–31). In his final lament Jeremiah curses his birth, thus perhaps attempting to negate his call (20.14–18). The point of the prenatal call, however, may be that the prophet’s call is both early and irresistible.
1.6 Ah, Lord GOD introduces a complaint against God (see 4.10; 14.13; 32.17; Josh 7.7; Ezek 4.14; 9.8; 11.13; 20.49). I do not know how to speak refers to the role of the prophet as one who speaks on behalf of God and may be intended to echo Moses’ objection to his own call (Ex 3.11–4.17, esp. 4.10-12). Boy, either a child, adolescent, or young man. The term echoes the call of another “prophet like Moses,” the lad Samuel (1 Sam 3).
1.8 I am with you to deliver you promises divine presence and aid in the face of persecution (see the laments in 11.18–20.18).
1.9 Touching and placing divine words in the mouth reflects the “prophet like Moses” (Deut 15.15, 18; 18.15–22; cf. Jer 15.19).
1.10 God appoints Jeremiah, not kings, over nations to destroy and then to build. To pluck up…overthrow points to the oracles of judgment in chs. 2–25. To build and to plant echoes the oracles of salvation in chs. 30–31. The theme of this verse is a recurring motif aptly summarizing the message of the prophet. See 18.7–9; 24.6;31.28; 42.10; 45.4 (cf. 31.4, 40; 32.41).
1.11–14 Vision reports consist of several parts: introduction (God shows or the prophet sees something), description of what is seen, dialogue between God and the prophet, and interpretation (God explains the meaning of the vision). See ch. 24; Am 7.1–9.10. In the first vision a wordplay, branch of an almond tree (Hebrew shaqed) and watching (shoqed), stresses that God will enact the content of the prophetic word. In the second vision the boiling pot points to destruction from the north (see “foe from the north” oracles, chs. 4–10).
1.15–16 An exilic or postexilic editorial expansion of the second vision, explaining that the Babylonian conquest resulted from violation of the Mosaic covenant.
1.17–19 A second editorial expansion in which Jeremiah is encouraged to fight against his enemies, the leaders of Judah: kings of Judah, its princes (i.e., royal officers), its priests (both levitical and Zadokite), and the people of the land (landowners in the countryside). Unlike Jerusalem, he is to be invincible, a fortified city, an iron pillar, a bronze wall (see 15.20), because the Lord will sustain and deliver him (see 1.8).
JEREMIAH 2
God Pleads with Israel to Repent
1The word of the LORD came to me, saying: 2Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD:
I remember the devotion of your youth,
your love as a bride,
how you followed me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.
3Israel was holy to the LORD,
the first fruits of his harvest.
All who ate of it were held guilty;
disaster came upon them,
says the LORD.
4Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. 5Thus says the LORD:
What wrong did your ancestors find in me
that they went far from me,
and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?
6They did not say, “Where is the LORD
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us in the wilderness,
in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
in a land that no one passes through,
where no one lives?”
7I brought you into a plentiful land
to eat its fruits and its good things.
But when you entered you defiled my land,
and made my heritage an abomination.
8The priests did not say, “Where is the LORD?”
Those who handle the law did not know me;
the rulersa transgressed against me;
the prophets prophesied by Baal,
and went after things that do not profit.
9Therefore once more I accuse you,
says the LORD,
and I accuse your children’s children.
10Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look,
send to Kedar and examine with care;
see if there
has ever been such a thing.
11Has a nation changed its gods,
even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
for something that does not profit.
12Be appalled, O heavens, at this,
be shocked, be utterly desolate,
says the LORD,
13for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living water,
and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns
that can hold no water.
14Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant?
Why then has he become plunder?
15The lions have roared against him,
they have roared loudly.
They have made his land a waste;
his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant.
16Moreover, the people of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have broken the crown of your head.
17Have you not brought this upon yourself
by forsaking the LORD your God,
while he led you in the way?
18What then do you gain by going to Egypt,
to drink the waters of the Nile?
Or what do you gain by going to Assyria,
to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
19Your wickedness will punish you,
and your apostasies will convict you.
Know and see that it is evil and bitter
for you to forsake the LORD your God;
the fear of me is not in you,
says the Lord GOD of hosts.
20For long ago you broke your yoke
and burst your bonds,
and you said, “I will not serve!”
On every high hill
and under every green tree
you sprawled and played the whore.
21Yet I planted you as a choice vine,
from the purest stock.
How then did you turn degenerate
and become a wild vine?
22Though you wash yourself with lye
and use much soap,
the stain of your guilt is still before me,
says the Lord GOD.
23How can you say, “I am not defiled,
I have not gone after the Baals”?
Look at your way in the valley;
know what you have done—
a restive young camel interlacing her tracks,
24a wild ass at home in the wilderness,
in her heat sniffing the wind!
Who can restrain her lust?
None who seek her need weary themselves;
in her month they will find her.
25Keep your feet from going unshod
and your throat from thirst.
But you said, “It is hopeless,
for I have loved strangers,
and after them I will go.”
26As a thief is shamed when caught,
so the house of Israel shall be shamed—
they, their kings, their officials,
their priests, and their prophets,
27who say to a tree, “You are my father,”
and to a stone, “You gave me birth.”
For they have turned their backs to me,
and not their faces.
But in the time of their trouble they say,
“Come and save us!”
28But where are your gods
that you made for yourself?
Let them come, if they can save you,
in your time of trouble;
for you have as many gods
as you have towns, O Judah.
29Why do you complain against me?
You have all rebelled against me,
says the LORD.
30In vain I have struck down your children;
they accepted no correction.
Your own sword devoured your prophets
like a ravening lion.
31And you, O generation, behold the word of the LORD!b
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
or a land of thick darkness?
Why then do my people say, “We are free,
we will come to you no more”?
32Can a girl forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me,
days without number.
33How well you direct your course
to seek lovers!
So that even to wicked women
you have taught your ways.
34Also on your skirts is found
the lifeblood of the innocent poor,
though you did not catch them breaking in.
Yet in spite of all these thingsc
35you say, “I am innocent;
surely his anger has turned from me.”
Now I am bringing you to judgment
for saying, “I have not sinned.”
36How lightly you gad about,
changing your ways!
You shall be put to shame by Egypt
as you were put to shame by Assyria.
37From there also you will come away
with your hands on your head;
for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust,
and you will not prosper through them.
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a Heb shepherds
b Meaning of Heb uncertain
c Meaning of Heb uncertain
2.1–37 Ch. 2 is an oracular poem dealing with the theme of Israel’s and Judah’s religious and political disloyalty to the Lord and the covenant. With the deterioration of Assyrian power after 627 BCE, Josiah moved into the territory of the former Northern Kingdom to bring it under his control. The oracles in ch. 2, perhaps from the first stage of Jeremiah’s activity, assume the form of a “lawsuit” (Hebrew riv, v. 9), in which the Lord serves as both plaintiff and judge (see Isa 5.1–7; Hos 9.10–13; 13.4–8; Mic 6.1–8). “Law-suits” include an appeal to heaven and earth as witnesses, a summons to the defendant to hear the charges, a listing of charges, rhetorical questions, a description of the Lord’s gracious acts on behalf of the accused, and an announcement of guilt and punishment. The poem has five parts: vv. 1–3 (Israel and Judah’s faithfulness as a young bride), vv. 4–13 (religious apostasy—Baal worship), vv. 14–19 (political disloyalty—alliances with Assyria and Egypt), vv. 20–28 (religious apostasy—Baal worship), and vv. 29–37 (political disloyalty—alliance with Egypt). The pattern is A, B, C, The wilderness and bridal imagery of the first oracle is repeated in the final one, thus forming an inclusio (a repetition signaling the beginning and end of a unit). Echoing Hosea, a Northern prophet of the eighth century BCE, Jeremiah contrasts Israel’s faithfulness in the Sinai wilderness with its disloyalty after entrance into Canaan.
2.1–2 The word of the LORD…Jerusalem, a prose introduction inserted by a postexilic editor.
2.2 Devotion (Hebrew chesed), love or faithfulness within a covenant relationship (marriage, friendship, and the covenant between God and Israel). Bride, a common metaphor for Israel in the relationship with God, the husband (Isa 49.18;61.10; 62.5; see esp. Hos 2). Wilderness, the Sinai wilderness, where Israel entered into covenant with the Lord after the exodus from Egypt.
2.3 Holy, set apart, consecrated for divine service. First fruits, the initial and presumably the best yield of the harvest given as an offering to the Lord (see Ex 23.19; 34.26; Deut 26.2, 10).
2.4–13 The oracle contrasts exodus theology (God’s liberation of Israel from Egyptian slavery, guidance through the treacherous Sinai wilderness, and gift of the land of Canaan) with Israel’s later disloyalty in following the Canaanite god Baal (lit. “husband” in Canaanite and Hebrew).
2.5 Worthless things, idols, false gods (8.19; Deut 32.21; 1 Kings 16.13, 26; 10.8; 14.22).
2.7 Plentiful land, the land of Canaan.
2.8 Priests, rulers, and prophets led th
e people into religious apostasy.
2.10–11 Cyprus, an island in the eastern Mediterranean about sixty miles west of the coast of Phoenicia. It was a center for maritime trade. Kedar, a powerful league of Arab tribes in the north Arabian desert east of the Transjordan who raided surrounding countries and controlled the eastern trade route from Arabia to the Fertile Crescent (49.28–33; Isa 21.16–17; Ezek 27.21). From west to east (including all areas crisscrossed by trade routes), Jeremiah contends, no nation changes its gods, even though they are not real. Yet Israel exchanges its glory (lit. “divine presence,” God) for false gods who do not profit.
2.12 The heavens are personified as witnesses at Israel’s trial.
2.13 Rock-cut cisterns were normally plastered to protect against leakage.
2.14–19 Israel’s political apostasy, establishing alliances with Egypt and Assyria, is another example of covenant faithlessness. Unlike a slave or a homeborn servant (i.e., one born to a family as a slave), who is property to be bought and sold, Israel was a nation of slaves liberated by God for responsible freedom within a covenant relationship. Yet Israel willingly sacrificed this freedom to become a slave of Assyria (lions) and of Egypt.
2.16 Memphis, on the west bank of the Nile about fifteen miles south of Cairo. It was the capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom (ca. 2700–2200 BCE) and the cultic center of Ptah, a creator deity and patron of skilled crafts (44.1; Isa 19.13; Ezek 30.13; Hos 9.6). Although no longer the capital in Jeremiah’s day, it was still a politically and religiously important city. Tahpanhes, modern Tell Defenneh, located on Lake Menzaleh in the northeast Delta. King Psammetichus I (664–610 BCE) built a garrison there for Greek mercenaries to defend against the Assyrians. Both cities would have been places where emissaries from Judah met with Egyptian officials to discuss alliances against Babylonia. Jewish refugees fled to these cities in the aftermath of the Babylonian invasion of Judah (43.7–44.1).
2.19 Israel is condemned for abandoning the Lord of the exodus for alliances with human kings.
2.20–28 Judah is charged with religious infidelity in worshiping Baal. Graphic images of apostasy include an insatiable whore, an ox that breaks its yoke, a vine that bears strange fruit, a stain that will not wash off, and the lust of a young camel and a wild ass in heat.
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