1Die Rede, die zu Jirmejahu von IHM her geschah, es sprach: 2Hört die Redeworte dieses Bunds und redet sie zur Mannschaft Jehudas und an die Insassen Jerusalems! 3Und das noch sprich zu ihnen: So hat ER, der Gott Jissraels, gesprochen: Verflucht der Mann, der nicht gehorcht den Worten dieses Bundes, 4den ich euren Vätern entbot des Tags, da ich sie führte aus dem Land Ägypten, aus dem Eisenschmelzofen, sprechend: Hört auf meine Stimme, tut es, allwie ich euch gebiete, dann werdet ihr mir zum Volk, und ich werde euch zum Gott! 5Um den Schwur zu erstellen, den ich schwur euren Vätern, ihnen zu geben das Land, Milch und Honig träufend, - wies nun am Tag ist.. Ich aber antwortete, sprach: jawahr, DU! 6Und weiter sprach ER zu mir: Rufe all diese Worte in den Städten Jehudas und in den Gassen Jerusalems, sprich: Gehorcht den Worten dieses Bundes, tut es! 7Denn ermahnt habe ich eure Väter, ermahnt vom Tag, da ich sie heraufholte aus dem Land Ägypten bis zu diesem Tag, Mahnung vom Frühmorgen an, sprechend: Hört auf meine Stimme! 8Sie aber wollten nicht hören, sie aber neigten ihr Ohr nicht, sie gingen, jedermann, in der Sucht ihres bösen Herzens. So ließ ich über sie kommen alle Worte dieses Bunds, die zu tun ich ihnen entbot, sie aber taten nicht. 9Und weiter sprach ER zu mir: Aufruhr ist befunden an der Mannschaft Jehudas und an den Insassen Jerusalems, 10rückgekehrt sind sie zu den Verfehlungen ihrer Vorväter, die sich weigerten, meine Worte zu hören, auch sie gingen anderen Göttern nach, ihnen zu dienen, sie zertrennten, das Haus Jissrael und das Haus Jehuda, meinen Bund, den mit ihren Vätern ich schloß. 11Darum, so hat ER gesprochen, wohlan, ein Böses lasse ich über sie kommen, dem sie nicht zu entfahren vermögen, und wenn sie zu mir schreien, will ich sie nicht erhören: 12dann sollen sie doch hingehn, die Städte Jehudas und die Insassen Jerusalems, sollen zu den Göttern schreien, denen sie aufrauchen ließen, und die befreien, sie befreien nicht können in der Zeit ihres Bösgeschicks. 13An Zahl ja gleich deinen Städten wurden deine Götter, Jehuda, an Zahl gleich Jerusalems Gassen habt ihr Schlachtstätten errichtet dem Schandgebild, Schlachtstätten, aufrauchen zu lassen dem Baal. 14Du aber, bete nimmer um dieses Volk, erhebe nimmer um sie Flehen und Gebet, denn ich höre nicht mehr zur Zeit, da sie mich anrufen um ihr Bösgeschick. 15Was hat mein Freund noch in meinem Haus, wo die Vielen es bereiten: das Ränkewerk - und das Fleisch der Darheiligung! - Frau, sie werden von dir hinwegziehn, die ja dein Bösgeschick sind! alsdann magst du frohlocken! 16»Saftiger Ölbaum, frucht- und gestaltschön« hat ER deinen Namen gerufen - nun zum Schall großen Getöses steckt ers mit Feuer an, daß seine Äste knacken. 17ER der Umscharte, der dich gepflanzt hat, redet über dich das Böse. - Zu Folge des Bösen des Hauses Jissrael und des Hauses Jehuda, das sie taten, mich zu verdrießen, dem Baal aufrauchen zu lassen! 18ER hat mirs zu erkennen gegeben, und so habe ichs erkannt - ihre Geschäfte ließest du mich da durchschauen. 19Ich selber aber: wie ein zutrauliches Lamm, das zum Schlachten geführt wird, erkannte ichs nicht, daß wider mich sie Planungen planten: »Laßt uns den Baum in seinem Mark verderben, laßt uns ihn roden aus dem Lande des Lebens, nicht werde mehr seines Namens gedacht!« 20Aber DU, Umscharter, Richter in Wahrhaftigkeit, Prüfer von Nieren und Herz: möge ich schauen deine Rache an ihnen, denn überwälzt habe ich dir meinen Streit. 21- Darum, so hat ER gesprochen, wider die Leute von Anatot, die an die Seele dir trachten, sprechend: Künde nicht in SEINEM Namen, willst du nicht von unsrer Hand sterben! - 22darum, so hat ER der Umscharte gesprochen, wohl, ich ordne ihnen zu: die Jungmannen sterben durchs Schwert, ihre Söhne, Töchter sterben durch Hunger, 23nicht bleibt ihrer ein Rest, denn das Böse lasse ich kommen an die Leute von Anatot im Jahr ihrer Zuordnung.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 2 EPITOME OF THE COVENANT FOUND IN THE TEMPLE IN JOSIAH'S REIGN. JUDAH'S REVOLT FROM IT, AND GOD'S CONSEQUENT WRATH. (Jer. 11:1-23)
this covenant--alluding to the book of the law (
Deut 31:26) found in the temple by Hilkiah the high priest, five years after Jeremiah's call to the prophetic office (2Ki. 22:8-23:25).
Hear ye--Others besides Jeremiah were to promulgate God's will to the people; it was the duty of the priests to read the law to them (
Mal 2:7).
3 (
Deut 27:26;
Gal 3:10).
4 in the day--that is, when. The Sinaitic covenant was made some time after the exodus, but the two events are so connected as to be viewed as one.
iron furnace-- (
Deut 4:20;
1Kgs 8:51). "Furnace" expresses the searching ordeal; "iron," the long duration of it. The furnace was of earth, not of iron (
Ps 12:6); a furnace, in heat and duration enough to melt even iron. God's deliverance of them from such an ordeal aggravates their present guilt.
do them--namely, the words of the covenant (
Jer 11:3).
so, &c.-- (
Lev 26:3,
Lev 26:12).
5 oath-- (
Ps 105:9-
Ps 105:10).
a land flowing with milk and honey--(See on
Num 14:8).
as it is this day--These are the concluding words of God to the Israelites when formerly brought out of Egypt, "Obey . . . that I may at this time make good the promise I made to your fathers, to give," &c. [MAURER]. English Version makes the words apply to Jeremiah's time, "As ye know at this time, that God's promise has been fulfilled," namely, in Israel's acquisition of Canaan.
So be it--Hebrew, Amen. Taken from
Deut 27:15-
Deut 27:26. Jeremiah hereby solemnly concurs in the justice of the curses pronounced there (see
Jer 11:3).
6 Jeremiah was to take a prophetic tour throughout Judah, to proclaim everywhere the denunciations in the book of the law found in the temple.
Hear . . . do-- (
Rom 2:13;
Jas 1:22).
7 rising early-- (
Jer 7:13).
8 imagination--rather, "stubbornness."
will bring--The words, "even unto this day" (
Jer 11:7), confirm English Version rather than the rendering of ROSENMULLER: "I brought upon them."
words--threats (
Jer 11:3;
Deut 27:15-
Deut 27:26).
9 conspiracy--a deliberate combination against God and against Josiah's reformation. Their idolatry is not the result of a hasty impulse (
Ps 83:5;
Ezek 22:25).
11 cry unto me--contrasted with "cry unto the gods," (
Jer 11:12).
not hearken-- (
Ps 18:41;
Pro 1:28;
Isa 1:15;
Mic 3:4).
12 cry unto the gods . . . not save-- (
Deut 32:37-
Deut 32:38). Compare this verse and beginning of
Jer 11:13;
Jer 2:28.
in the time of their trouble--that is, calamity (
Jer 2:27).
13 shameful thing--Hebrew, "shame," namely, the idol, not merely shameful, but the essence of all that is shameful (
Jer 3:24;
Hos 9:10), which will bring shame and confusion on yourselves [CALVIN].
14 There is a climax of guilt which admits of no further intercessory prayer (
Exod 32:10, in the Chaldee version, "leave off praying";
Jer 7:16;
1Sam 16:1;
1Sam 15:35;
1John 5:16). Our mind should be at one with God in all that He is doing, even in the rejection of the reprobate.
for their trouble--on account of their trouble. Other manuscripts read, "in the time of their trouble" a gloss from
Jer 11:12.
15 my beloved--My elect people, Judea; this aggravates their ingratitude (
Jer 12:7).
lewdness with many-- (
Ezek 16:25). Rather, "that great (or, manifold) enormity"; literally, "the enormity, the manifold"; namely, their idolatry, which made their worship of God in the temple a mockery (compare
Jer 7:10;
Ezek 23:39) [HENDERSON].
holy flesh-- (
Hag 2:12-
Hag 2:14;
Titus 1:15), namely, the sacrifices, which, through the guilt of the Jews, were no longer holy, that is, acceptable to God. The sacrifices on which they relied will, therefore, no longer protect them. Judah is represented as a priest's wife, who, by adultery, has forfeited her share in the flesh of the sacrifices, and yet boasts of her prerogative at the very same time [HORSLEY].
when thou doest evil--literally, "when thy evil" (is at hand). PISCATOR translates, "When thy calamity is at hand (according to God's threats), thou gloriest" (against God, instead of humbling thyself). English Version is best (compare
Pro 2:14).
16 called thy name--made thee.
olive-- (
Ps 52:8;
Rom 11:17). The "olive" is chosen to represent the adoption of Judah by the free grace of God, as its oil is the image of richness (compare
Ps 23:5;
Ps 104:15).
with . . . noise of . . . tumult--or, "at the noise," &c., namely, at the tumult of the invading army (
Isa 13:4) [MAURER]. Or, rather, "with the sound of a mighty voice," namely, that of God, that is, the thunder; thus there is no confusion of metaphors. The tree stricken with lightning has "fire kindled upon it, and the branches are broken," at one and the same time [HOUBIGANT].
17 that planted thee-- (
Jer 2:21;
Isa 5:2).
against themselves--The sinner's sin is to his own hurt (see on
Jer 7:19).
18 Jeremiah here digresses to notice the attempt on his life plotted by his townsmen of Anathoth. He had no suspicion of it, until Jehovah revealed it to him (
Jer 12:6).
the Lord . . . thou--The change of person from the third to the second accords with the excited feelings of the prophet.
then--when I was in peril of my life.
their doings--those of the men of Anathoth. His thus alluding to them, before he has mentioned their name, is due to his excitement.
19 lamb--literally, a "pet lamb," such as the Jews often had in their houses, for their children to play with; and the Arabs still have (
2Sam 12:3). His own familiar friends had plotted against the prophet. The language is exactly the same as that applied to Messiah (
Isa 53:7). Each prophet and patriarch exemplified in his own person some one feature or more in the manifold attributes and sufferings of the Messiah to come; just as the saints have done since His coming (
Gal 2:20;
Phil 3:10;
Col 1:24). This adapted both the more experimentally to testify of Christ.
devices-- (
Jer 18:18).
tree with . . . fruit--literally, "in its fruit" or "food," that is, when it is in fruit. Proverbial, to express the destruction of cause and effect together. The man is the tree; his teaching, the fruit. Let us destroy the prophet and his prophecies; namely, those threatening destruction to the nation, which offended them. Compare
Matt 7:17, which also refers to prophets and their doctrines.
20 triest . . . heart-- (
Rev 2:23).
revealed--committed my cause. Jeremiah's wish for vengeance was not personal but ministerial, and accorded with God's purpose revealed to him against the enemies alike of God and of His servant (
Ps 37:34;
Ps 54:7;
Ps 112:8;
Ps 118:7).
21 Prophesy not-- (
Isa 30:10;
Amos 2:12;
Mic 2:6). If Jeremiah had not uttered his denunciatory predictions, they would not have plotted against him. None were more bitter than his own fellow townsmen. Compare the conduct of the Nazarites towards Jesus of Nazareth (
Luke 4:24-
Luke 4:29).
22 The retribution of their intended murder shall be in kind; just as in Messiah's case (Psa. 69:8-28).
23 (
Jer 23:12).
the year of . . . visitation--The Septuagint translates, "in the year of their," &c., that is, at the time when I shall visit them in wrath. JEROME supports English Version. "Year" often means a determined time.
He ventures to expostulate with Jehovah as to the prosperity of the wicked, who had plotted against his life (
Jer 12:1-
Jer 12:4); in reply he is told that he will have worse to endure, and that from his own relatives (
Jer 12:5-
Jer 12:6). The heaviest judgments, however, would be inflicted on the faithless people (
Jer 12:7-
Jer 12:13); and then on the nations co-operating with the Chaldeans against Judah, with, however, a promise of mercy on repentance (
Jer 12:14-
Jer 12:17).