1415 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Neither say in their heart,.... It came not into their mind, they never once thought of it, namely, of what follows, let us now fear the Lord our God; they were not influenced and engaged to the fear of God, neither by his power in the preceding instance, nor by his goodness in the following one: that giveth rain; in common, all the year round, at...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Your iniquities have turned away these things,.... Whereas of late years rain was withheld from them in common, and they had not the former and latter rain in its season, nor the appointed weeks of the harvest, and so their land was barren, and famine ensued. This was to be ascribed, not to the want of goodness and faithfulness in God, but to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For among my people are found wicked men,.... Not a few only, but in general they appeared to be so, upon an inquiry into their character and conduct; for otherwise it would not have been so difficult to find a good man among them, as is suggested Jeremiah 5:1, they lay wait as he that setteth snares; or, "they look about" (c); that is, as Kimchi...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
As a cage is full of birds,.... Jarchi and Kimchi understand it of a place in which fowls, are brought up and fattened, what we call a "pen"; and, so the Targum renders it, a house or place of fattening. The word is rendered a "basket" in Amos 8:1 and may here design one in which birds taken in snares, or by hawking, were put. The Septuagint...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They are waxen fat, they shine,.... Becoming rich they grew fat, and their faces shone through fatness; so oil, delicious food, and good living, as it fattens men, it makes their faces to shine; see Psalms 104:15, yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked; though they pretended to religion, the fear and worship of God, yet they committed crimes...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Shall I not visit for these things?.... [See comments on Jeremiah 5:9].
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. What may justly raise admiration in some, and horror in others, or both in all: it is so amazing that it can hardly be conceived of, and so shameful and filthy as not to be expressed; what it is follows:
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The prophets prophesied falsely,.... That the people would have peace and prosperity, and not be carried captive into Babylon, as Jeremiah and other true prophets of the Lord had predicted: and the priests bear rule by their means; or rather "the princes"; for the word signifies princes as well as priests, and to the former government more...
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...
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...