HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  13.13 The leaders and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be filled with wine and become drunk, an image that suggests both a condition of stupor that prohibits wise decisions and a “cup of wrath” from which the leaders and people of Jerusalem will be made to drink (see 25.15–29).

  13.15–27 Three poetic oracles shaped into a larger poem that describes the tragedy of exile. Two periods are plausible: the time just prior to the exile in 597 BCE or that prior to the exile of 587. The first oracle calls for repentance (vv. 15–17); the second is a judgment speech addressing the king and queen mother, who have lost their positions (vv. 18–19); and the third is a lawsuit that attributes the ravages of exile to religious apostasy (vv. 20–27).

  13.16 Glory to the LORD, a doxology, i.e., a word of praise to God in which a person found guilty of a crime acknowledges the judgment is fair (see Josh 7.16–21; 2 Chr 30.8). Guilty Judah, threatened with exile unless there is full-scale repentance, is exhorted to utter a doxology. Darkness, twilight, gloom, deep darkness, images of primordial chaos used to describe the devastation of impending doom (see Gen 1.2; Job 3).

  13.17 The theme of lament returns as Jeremiah anticipates weeping over the captivity of the nation.

  13.18 Queen mother, the mother of the ruling king; she had significant political power (see 1 Kings 2.19; 15.13; 2 Kings 8.26; 11.1–3). If the exile in 597 BCE is in mind, the king and queen mother would be Jehoiachin and Nehushta (2 Kings 24.8–17). Jehoiachin ruled only three months, prior to his exile. If the exile in 587 BCE is in view, the king and queen mother would be Zedekiah and Hamutal (2 Kings 24.18–20).

  13.19 Negeb, the southern part of Judah; it is a hot, arid region with under eight inches of annual rainfall. During the monarchy there were in the Negeb many small villages engaged in agriculture and fortresses to protect Judah to the north and the trade routes that traversed the region.

  13.20 Those who come from the north. See chs. 4–10.

  13.23 Using proverbial language in a rhetorical question, Jeremiah addresses the impossibility of a corrupt people doing good. Ethiopians, the inhabitants of Cush, the region south of Egypt.

  JEREMIAH 14

  The Great Drought

  1The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

  2Judah mourns

  and her gates languish;

  they lie in gloom on the ground,

  and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.

  3Her nobles send their servants for water;

  they come to the cisterns,

  they find no water,

  they return with their vessels empty.

  They are ashamed and dismayed

  and cover their heads,

  4because the ground is cracked.

  Because there has been no rain on the land

  the farmers are dismayed;

  they cover their heads.

  5Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn

  because there is no grass.

  6The wild asses stand on the bare heights,a

  they pant for air like jackals;

  their eyes fail

  because there is no herbage.

  7Although our iniquities testify against us,

  act, O LORD, for your name’s sake;

  our apostasies indeed are many,

  and we have sinned against you.

  8O hope of Israel,

  its savior in time of trouble,

  why should you be like a stranger in the land,

  like a traveler turning aside for the night?

  9Why should you be like someone confused,

  like a mighty warrior who cannot give help?

  Yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us,

  and we are called by your name;

  do not forsake us!

  10Thus says the LORD concerning this people:

  Truly they have loved to wander,

  they have not restrained their feet;

  therefore the LORD does not accept them,

  now he will remember their iniquity

  and punish their sins.

  11The LORD said to me: Do not pray for the welfare of this people. 12Although they fast, I do not hear their cry, and although they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I do not accept them; but by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence I consume them.

  Denunciation of Lying Prophets

  13Then I said: “Ah, Lord GOD! Here are the prophets saying to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you true peace in this place.’” 14And the LORD said to me: The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. 15Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name though I did not send them, and who say, “Sword and famine shall not come on this land”: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. 16And the people to whom they prophesy shall be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword. There shall be no one to bury them—themselves, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them.

  17You shall say to them this word:

  Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,

  and let them not cease,

  for the virgin daughter—my people—is struck down with a crushing blow,

  with a very grievous wound.

  18If I go out into the field,

  look—those killed by the sword!

  And if I enter the city,

  look—those sick withb famine!

  For both prophet and priest ply their trade throughout the land,

  and have no knowledge.

  The People Plead for Mercy

  19Have you completely rejected Judah?

  Does your heart loathe Zion?

  Why have you struck us down

  so that there is no healing for us?

  We look for peace, but find no good;

  for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.

  20We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD,

  the iniquity of our ancestors,

  for we have sinned against you.

  21Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake;

  do not dishonor your glorious throne;

  remember and do not break your covenant with us.

  22Can any idols of the nations bring rain?

  Or can the heavens give showers?

  Is it not you, O LORD our God?

  We set our hope on you,

  for it is you who do all this.

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  a Or the trails

  b Heb look—the sicknesses of

  14.1–10 The people’s lament. Occasioned by a drought, the first section (vv. 1–6) describes the devastating effects of a prolonged drought. The second part (vv. 7–9) contains the lament of the people in which they acknowledge their iniquities and call upon the Lord for deliverance.

  14.8–9 The people reproach God for being one who is neither moved nor able to bring redemption.

  14.10 The conclusion contains God’s rejection of the people’s petition, because they continue in their wickedness.

  14.11–12 Jeremiah is forbidden to intercede on behalf of his people and thus to redeem them from destruction (see 7.16; 11.14; 15.1;16.5–9). The laments and sacrifices of the people will not avert destruction (6.20; 7.21–29).

  14.12 Burnt offerings. See note on 6.20. Grain offerings, sacrifices of grains and vegetables, which could be given raw or cooked (see Lev 2).

  14.13–16 Lying prophets. Jeremiah protests (Ah, Lord GOD; see note on 1.6) the words of prophets whose promises of well-being have deceived the people.

  14.13 It may be that Jeremiah objects that God is responsible for deceiving the people with lying words (see 1 Kings 22).

  14.14–15 God denies the charge, indicating that the prophets speak lies and will be punished (see
23.9–40; 28).

  14.16 Those who are deceived will be killed and will suffer the curse of not being buried (see 7.29–8.3).

  14.17–18 God’s second lament. Once again God laments over the destruction of his daughter (see 12.7–13).

  14.19–22 The people lament once more. God is addressed again by the people with a lament containing reproach, confession of sin, and an implicit appeal for salvation (see vv. 1–10).

  14.21 Jerusalem is known as the throne of God (see 3.17), as is the temple (see 17.12; Ezek 43.7).

  JEREMIAH 15

  Punishment Is Inevitable

  1Then the LORD said to me: Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! 2And when they say to you, “Where shall we go?” you shall say to them: Thus says the LORD:

  Those destined for pestilence, to pestilence,

  and those destined for the sword, to the sword;

  those destined for famine, to famine,

  and those destined for captivity, to captivity.

  3And I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, says the LORD: the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth to devour and destroy. 4I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what King Manasseh son of Hezekiah of Judah did in Jerusalem.

  5Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,

  or who will bemoan you?

  Who will turn aside

  to ask about your welfare?

  6You have rejected me, says the LORD,

  you are going backward;

  so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you—

  I am weary of relenting.

  7I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork

  in the gates of the land;

  I have bereaved them, I have destroyed my people;

  they did not turn from their ways.

  8Their widows became more numerous

  than the sand of the seas;

  I have brought against the mothers of youths

  a destroyer at noonday;

  I have made anguish and terror

  fall upon her suddenly.

  9She who bore seven has languished;

  she has swooned away;

  her sun went down while it was yet day;

  she has been shamed and disgraced.

  And the rest of them I will give to the sword

  before their enemies,

  says the LORD.

  Jeremiah Complains Again and Is Reassured

  10Woe is me, my mother, that you ever bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me. 11The LORD said: Surely I have intervened in your lifea for good, surely I have imposed enemies on you in a time of trouble and in a time of distress.b 12Can iron and bronze break iron from the north?

  13Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory. 14I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.

  15O LORD, you know;

  remember me and visit me,

  and bring down retribution for me on my persecutors.

  In your forbearance do not take me away;

  know that on your account I suffer insult.

  16Your words were found, and I ate them,

  and your words became to me a joy

  and the delight of my heart;

  for I am called by your name,

  O LORD, God of hosts.

  17I did not sit in the company of merrymakers,

  nor did I rejoice;

  under the weight of your hand I sat alone,

  for you had filled me with indignation.

  18Why is my pain unceasing,

  my wound incurable,

  refusing to be healed?

  Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook,

  like waters that fail.

  19Therefore thus says the LORD:

  If you turn back, I will take you back,

  and you shall stand before me.

  If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,

  you shall serve as my mouth.

  It is they who will turn to you,

  not you who will turn to them.

  20And I will make you to this people

  a fortified wall of bronze;

  they will fight against you,

  but they shall not prevail over you,

  for I am with you

  to save you and deliver you,

  says the LORD.

  21I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,

  and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.

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  a Heb intervened with you

  b Meaning of Heb uncertain

  15.1–4 Intercession cannot divert destruction. A prose speech originating during the exile. Even if Moses (Ex 32.11–14, 30–34; Num 14.13–19) and Samuel (1 Sam 12.17–18), two of the greatest prophetic intercessors, were to plead Judah’s case, the Lord would not save the nation from destruction (see 7.16; 11.14; 14.11–12; 16.5–9). Jeremiah is understood as the “prophet like Moses” (Deut 18.15–22) and stands in the line of succession from Moses and Samuel.

  15.4 Manasseh, king over Judah for forty-five years (687/6–642 BCE). A loyal vassal to Assyria, he was condemned for leading Israel into religious infidelity. The editors of 2 Kings blame him for the eventual destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of Judah (2 Kings 21.1–18). Judah’s punishment for the sins of Manasseh represents the theory of retribution common in Deuteronomy, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and the prose edition of Jeremiah.

  15.5–9 A town without pity. A poetic judgment oracle in which the final destruction of Jerusalem is announced. Even the great losses suffered at the hands of the Egyptians and Babylonians prior to 587 BCE did not result in Jerusalem’s turning to the Lord.

  15.9 She who bore seven. Bearing seven children is a sign of divine blessing (Ruth 4.15; 1 Sam 2.5).

  15.10–21 Jeremiah’s third lament (see note on 11.18–23). This lament consists of a poetic complaint by the prophet (vv. 15–18) and divine reassurance (vv. 19–21). Added later is an exilic or postexilic prose insertion (vv. 10–14).

  15.10 The prose addition begins with a lament (Woe is me!) in which the prophet regrets he was born. Note that his call was from the womb and that God decreed from birth that he would be a prophet (see 1.5; 20.14–18). Strife (He-brew riv). Jeremiah is both the object of contention and the mediator of God’s lawsuit against the people (see 2.1–37). His wish not to have been born is grounded in both his prophetic call and the subsequent opposition and persecution he has received from the leaders of Judah for proclaiming divine judgment (see the trial in ch. 26, Jehoiakim’s efforts to arrest him in 36.20–26, and his imprisonment by Zedekiah in 37.11–38.13). Even his own priestly family plotted against him (11.21–23). Curse (Hebrew qalal), verbal abuse (Eccl 7.21–22) and even physical harm (Gen 8.21).

  15.11 God assumes responsibility for the contempt and persecution of the prophet, yet intervenes in the prophet’s life for good.

  15.12 Such persecution hardens the prophet’s character, enabling him to endure the disaster from the north (see 1.17–19).

  15.13–14 Jeremiah and his opponents will be plundered and forced into exile. As a prophet of the people, Jeremiah is to experience their disastrous fate.

  15.16 Your words…I ate them, a metaphor for God’s putting in the prophet’s mouth the divine words he is to speak (1.9; see Isa 55.1–11; Ezek 2.8–3.3). I am called by your name. Jeremiah’s name in Hebrew means “Yahweh exalts.”

  15.17 Under the weight of your hand, a metaphor for prophetic inspiration (see 1 Kings 18.46; 2 Kings 3.15; Isa 8.11; Ezek 1.3; 3.14).

  15.18 Jeremiah likens God to a deceitful brook and waters that fail in order to c
ounter God’s claim to be a fountain of living waters (2.13) and denial of being a wilderness to Israel (2.31). This imagery reflects the experience of one who, traveling through the wilderness, seeks to find water in a stream bed only to find it dry.

  15.19 The Lord’s reply indicates Jeremiah has abandoned the prophetic office. Turn back, turn, turn (all Hebrew shub). The threefold repetition echoes the call to repentance in 3.1–4.4. Stand before the Lord, as a messenger stands before the king and awaits the royal word.

  15.20 This verse brings to mind the language of the call in 1.18–19. Jeremiah is reminded of his call and is admonished to return to the prophetic office.

  JEREMIAH 16

  Jeremiah’s Celibacy and Message

  1The word of the LORD came to me: 2You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 3For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bear them and the fathers who beget them in this land: 4They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried; they shall become like dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall become food for the birds of the air and for the wild animals of the earth.

  5For thus says the LORD: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament, or bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, says the LORD, my steadfast love and mercy. 6Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them; there shall be no gashing, no shaving of the head for them. 7No one shall break breada for the mourner, to offer comfort for the dead; nor shall anyone give them the cup of consolation to drink for their fathers or their mothers. 8You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink. 9For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to banish from this place, in your days and before your eyes, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.