32 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Jeremiah 6 This chapter is of the same argument with the former; and contains two things in it, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and the causes of it, which are intermixedly handled in it; a lively description is made of the notice of the approach of the enemy by blowing of trumpets and firing of beacons, Jeremiah...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
O ye children of Benjamin,.... The tribe of Benjamin was with the tribe of Judah, and continued with that in the pure worship of God when the ten tribes revolted; and in the land of Israel, when they were carried captive; and besides, Jerusalem, at least part of it, was in the tribe of Benjamin, and particularly Anathoth, which was Jeremiah's...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter, as before, we have, I. A prophecy of the invading of the land of Judah and the besieging of Jerusalem by the Chaldean army (ver. 1-6), with the spoils they should make of the country (ver. 9) and the terror which all should be seized with on that occasion, ver. 22-26. II. An account of those sins of Judah and Jerusalem which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman. That dwells at home and lives in pleasure, and deliciously, in great peace and quietness, in entire ease and security, in no fear of enemies, or apprehension of danger; and so it describes the secure state of the Jews. Kimchi and Ben Melech supply the word "woman" as we do; but...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her,.... Kings and their armies, as the Targum paraphrases it; kings and generals are compared to shepherds, and their armies to flocks, who are under their command and direction; here they design Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, with his generals and armies, who should come up against Jerusalem, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Prepare ye war against her,.... Not only proclaim it, but prepare themselves for it; get everything ready for the siege, and begin it. These are either the words of the Lord, calling upon the Chaldeans in his providence to act such a part against Jerusalem; or of the Chaldeans themselves, stirring up one another to it; which latter seems to be the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Arise, and let us go up by night,.... Since they could not take the city at noon, and by day, as they expected, they propose to attempt it by night; they would lose no time, but proceed on, day and night, until they had accomplished their end; this shows how much they were resolved upon it, and that nothing could discourage from it; and that they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For thus hath the Lord of hosts said,.... To the Chaldeans; for as it was the Lord that brought them out of their own country, and directed them to Jerusalem, and ordered them to prepare war against it; so they were as an army under his command, and he it was that ordered them to do this, and that, and the other thing: the whole affair was of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
As a fountain casteth out her waters,.... In great abundance, and continually: so she casteth out her wickedness; this metaphor expresses the multitude of her sins, the frequent and constant commission of them, and the source and spring of them, the corrupt fountain of the heart; see Matthew 12:34: violence and spoil is heard in her; that is, the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And be thou instructed, O Jerusalem,.... Or "corrected" (s); receive discipline or instructions by chastisements and corrections, return by repentance, that the evils threatened may not come: this shows the affection of the Lord to his people, notwithstanding all their sins; that their amendment, and not their destruction, were pleasing to him;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus saith the Lord of hosts,.... Finding that all his threatenings, admonitions, and expostulations, were in vain, he says of the Chaldeans, with respect to the Israelites, they shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine; by "the remnant of Israel" are meant the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who were left in the land when the ten...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear?.... These are the words of the prophet, despairing of any success by his ministry; suggesting that the people were so universally depraved, that there were none that would hear him; that speaking to them was only beating the air, and that all expostulations, warnings, remonstrances, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord,.... Either of zeal for the Lord, for the glory of his name, and the honour of his word; or rather of the prophecy of the Lord, as the Targum interprets it, concerning the wrath of God, that should come upon this people for their sins: I am weary with holding it; the prophecy, the message he was sent...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And their houses shall be turned unto others,.... To strangers, to the Chaldeans; they shall be transferred unto them, come into their hands, and become their property: with their fields and wives together: not only their houses and lands shall be taken away from them, and put to the use of others, but even their wives; than which nothing could be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them,.... From the least in age to the oldest among them; or rather, from persons of the lowest class of life, and in the meanest circumstances, to those that are in the highest places of trust and honour, and are in the greatest affluence of riches and wealth; so that as men of every age and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly,.... That is, the false prophets and lying priests, who pretended to be physicians, and to heal the sickly and distempered state of the people; and they did do it, in their way, but not thoroughly; they did not search the wound to the bottom; they drew a skin over it, and made a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?.... This seems chiefly, and in the first place, to respect the false prophets and wicked priests; who 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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see,.... These are the words of the Lord to the people, whom he would have judge for themselves, and not be blindly led by the false prophets and priests; directing them to do what men should, when they are in a place where two or more ways meet, and know not which way to take; they should make a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Also I set watchmen over you,.... That is, prophets, as Jarchi; true prophets, as Kimchi; such an one was Ezekiel, Jeremiah 3:17. The Targum interprets it teachers; such were the apostles and first ministers of the Gospel; and all faithful preachers of it, who teach men good doctrine and watch for their souls, give them warning of their danger,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore hear, ye nations,.... Since the Jews refused to hearken to the word of the Lord, the Gentiles are called upon to hear it, as in Acts 13:45, this is a rebuke to the Jews, that the Gentiles would hear, when they would not: and know, O congregation; either of Israel, as the Targum and Kimchi explain it; or of the nations of the world, the...