1415 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then I said, surely these are poor, they are foolish,.... The prophet, observing that reproofs and corrections in providence had no effect upon the people, he thought within himself that surely the reason must be, because these people are poor, and in low circumstances in the world, and are so busy in their worldly employments to get bread for...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I will get me unto 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 have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God; it might be reasonably expected that they had, having had a good education, and being at leisure from worldly business to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them,.... Meaning King Nebuchadnezzar out of Babylon, a place full of people, and so comparable to a forest, as the king is to a lion, for his strength, fierceness, and cruelty; and who came from thence, besieged and took Jerusalem; and who not only slew their young men with the sword, but also the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
How shall I pardon thee for this?.... Because of their manifold transgressions, and multiplied backslidings; or "wherefore, or for what, shall I pardon thee?" (r) as the Targum; can any reason be given why I should? what goodness is there in thee, or done by thee, that I should do this unto thee? The particle אי, according to Kimchi, is a word of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They were as fed horses in the morning,.... Adulterers are compared to horses, because they are very salacious and lustful creatures; wherefore the Septuagint renders the word: "horses are become mad after the females"; or, "as horses mad after the females are they become"; and especially to such as are well kept and are fat, and who, having much...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord,.... For such adulteries and lasciviousness, and that in a way of punishment. The Targum adds, "to bring evil upon them;'' the evil of punishment for the evil of sin: and shall not my soul be avenged upon such a nation as this? which cannot delight in sin, but hates it; and therefore must punish...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy,.... These are the words of the prophet, or of the Lord by the prophet, to the Chaldeans, ordering them to ascend the walls of Jerusalem, and break them down, as they did, even all the walls of it round about, Jeremiah 52:7, there can be nothing done without the Lord's will; and there is no evil in a city but...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me,.... This is a reason why such orders are given to the army of the Chaldeans to ascend the walls of Jerusalem and destroy them; namely, the perfidy both of the ten tribes, signified by the house of Israel; so Abarbinel; and of the two tribes of Judah and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They have belied the Lord, and said, it is not he,.... Or, "denied the Lord" (x), as some render the words, saying that there was no God; which, though they might not deliver in express words, yet inasmuch as they denied his providence, and disbelieved his word by his prophets, it was tacitly denying that there was a God, or that the Lord was God....
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the prophets shall become wind,.... Their prophecies shall vanish into air; they shall become of no effect; they shall never be accomplished: and the word is not in them; not the word of the Lord; he never spoke by them; they speak of themselves; they never were inspired or commissioned by him to say what they do: thus shall it be done unto...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, because ye speak this word,.... That it is not the Lord; it is not he that speaks; it is no prophecy of him, and therefore shall become wind, and come to nothing: behold, I will make my word in thy mouth fire: it shall have its effect, and a dreadful one; it shall not become wind, but be as fire, not to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far,.... From Babylon, as in Jeremiah 4:16: O house of Israel, saith the Lord; though the house of Israel is generally taken for the ten tribes, especially when distinguished from the house of Judah; yet here it seems to design the Jews, the posterity of Jacob, or Israel in the land of Judea; for Israel, or...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Their quiver is an open sepulchre,.... The Chaldeans used bows and arrows in fighting; and the quiver is a case for arrows; and the phrase denotes, that their arrows would do great execution, and be very mortal; so that a quiver of them would be as devouring as an open grave, into which many dead are cast. The Septuagint and Arabic versions have...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they shall eat up thine harvest,.... The standing corn in the fields, cut it down, and give it as fodder to their horses, which is usually done by armies; or the increase of the earth, when gathered into the barn, which so great an army would consume: and thy bread; which includes all kind of provisions: which thy sons and thy daughters should...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Nevertheless, in those days,.... When these things should be done by the king of Babylon and his army: saith the Lord, I will not make a full end with you: this was to be done at another time, not now; [See comments on Jeremiah 4:27], [See comments on Jeremiah 5:10], though some think that this is a threatening of more and greater calamities; that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say,.... That is, the people of the Jews, to whom the prophet belonged, after they had been spoiled by the enemy, and carried captive: wherefore doth the Lord our God all these things unto us? as if they were innocent and guiltless, and had done nothing to provoke the Lord to anger; and it may be observed,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Declare this in the house of Jacob,.... That a mighty nation should come and destroy them, and they should be servants in a strange land; or rather the words seem to be an order to declare war against the Jews, and even in their own land; and do not seem to be addressed to the prophet, but to others, seeing the words are in the plural number; see...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding,.... or, "heart" (a); [See comments on Jeremiah 4:22]: which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not; like the idols they served, Psalms 115:4. this is an upbraiding of them with their folly and stupidity, their want of common sense, their blindness and ignorance;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Fear ye not me? saith the Lord,.... They did not fear the Lord, and this is a reproof to them for the want of it, which is a reproof of their ignorance and folly; for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, Proverbs 9:10, and where that is there is true wisdom; but, where it is not, there is nothing but ignorance and stupidity: will ye...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ver. 23 But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart,.... They are not so obedient as the sea and its waves; nor so firm and stable as the sand that is set for the bound of it. This is a reproof and an aggravation of the revoltings and rebellions of this people: they are revolted and gone; they had departed from the ways of the Lord,...