3 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant
Cursed be he that confirmeth not the words of this law to do them! And all the people shall say, Amen.
and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, to sweep away the drunken with the thirsty. Jehovah will not pardon him, but the anger of Jehovah and his jealousy will then smoke against that man, and all the curse shall be upon him that is written in this book; and Jehovah will blot out his name from under the heavens;
But it shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to take heed to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, the offspring of thy kine, and the increase of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be in thy coming in, and cursed shalt thou be in thy going out. Jehovah will send upon thee cursing, confusion, and rebuke, in all the business of thy hand which thou doest, until thou be destroyed and until thou perish quickly, because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. Jehovah will make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. Jehovah will smite thee with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with burning ague, and with drought, and with blight, and with mildew, and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. And thy heavens which are over thy head shall be brass, and the earth which is under thee, iron. Jehovah will give as the rain of thy land powder and dust; from the heavens shall it come down upon thee until thou be destroyed. Jehovah will give thee up smitten before thine enemies; thou shalt go out against them one way, and by seven ways shalt thou flee before them; and thou shalt be driven hither and thither into all the kingdoms of the earth. And thy carcase shall be meat unto all the fowl of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no man to scare them away. Jehovah will smite thee with the ulcers of Egypt, and with boils, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. Jehovah will smite thee with madness, and with blindness, and with astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways; and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled continually, and there shall be none to save. Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her; thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell therein; thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not eat of it. Thine ox shall be slaughtered before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof; thine ass shall be snatched away from before thy face, and shall not return to thee; thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to recover them. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and languish for them all the day long; and there shall be no power in thy hand [to help it]. The fruit of thy ground and all thy labour, shall a people that thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed continually. And thou shalt be mad through the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. Jehovah will smite thee in the knees and in the legs with evil ulcers, whereof thou canst not be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head. Jehovah will bring thee, and thy king whom thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation that neither thou nor thy fathers have known, and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples whither Jehovah shall lead thee. Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather little in; for the locust shall devour it. Thou shalt plant and till vineyards, but shalt drink no wine, nor gather [the fruit]; for the worms shall eat it. Olive-trees shalt thou have throughout all thy borders, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with oil; for thine olive-tree shall cast its fruit. Sons and daughters shalt thou beget, but thou shalt not have them [to be with thee]; for they shall go into captivity. All thy trees and the fruit of thy ground shall the locust possess. The sojourner that is in thy midst shall rise above thee higher and higher, and thou shalt sink down lower and lower. He shall lend to thee, but thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, until thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee. And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever. Because thou servedst not Jehovah thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, thou shalt serve thine enemies whom Jehovah will send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of everything; and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. Jehovah will bring a nation against thee from afar, from the end of the earth, like as the eagle flieth, a nation whose tongue thou understandest not; a nation of fierce countenance, which regardeth not the person of the old, nor is kind to the young; and he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy ground, until thou be destroyed; for he shall not leave thee corn, new wine, or oil, offspring of thy kine, or increase of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and strong walls wherein thou trustedst come down, throughout all thy land; and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates in all thy land, which Jehovah thy God hath given thee. And in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee, thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters whom Jehovah thy God hath given thee. The eye of the man in thy midst that is tender and very luxurious shall be evil towards his brother, and the wife of his bosom, and the residue of his children which he hath left; so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children that he eateth, because he hath nothing left him in the siege and in the straitness wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. The eye of the tender and luxurious woman in thy midst who would not attempt to set the sole of her foot upon the ground from luxuriousness and from tenderness, shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and her son, and her daughter, because of her afterbirth which hath come out between her feet, and her children whom she shall bear; for she shall secretly eat them for want of everything in the siege and in the straitness wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates. If thou wilt not take heed to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, to fear this glorious and fearful name, JEHOVAH THY GOD; then Jehovah will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, great and persistent plagues and evil and persistent sicknesses; and he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt which thou art afraid of, and they shall cleave unto thee. Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, them will Jehovah bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. And ye shall be left a small company, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou hast not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah thy God. And it shall come to pass, that as Jehovah rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you, so Jehovah will rejoice over you to cause you to perish, and to destroy you; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whereunto thou goest to possess it. And Jehovah will scatter thee among all peoples, from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; and thou shalt there serve other gods, whom thou hast not known, neither thou nor thy fathers, wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou have no rest, neither shall the sole of thy foot have a resting-place, and Jehovah shall give thee there a trembling heart, languishing of the eyes, and pining of the soul. And thy life shall hang in suspense before thee; and thou shalt be in terror day and night and shalt be afraid of thy life. In the morning thou shalt say, Would that it were even! and in the evening thou shalt say, Would that it were morning! through the fright of thy heart wherewith thou shalt be in terror, and through the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. And Jehovah will bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I said unto thee, Thou shalt see it again no more; and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and there shall be no man to buy [you].
For as many as are on the principle of works of law are under curse. For it is written, Cursed is every one who does not continue in all things which [are] written in the book of the law to do them; but that by law no one is justified with God [is] evident, because The just shall live on the principle of faith; but the law is not on the principle of faith; but, He that shall have done these things shall live by them. Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, (for it is written, Cursed [is] every one hanged upon a tree,)
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 11
Commentary on Jeremiah 11 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Judah's Faithlessness to Covenant Obligations, and the Consequences Thereof - Jeremiah 11-13
In the first part of this compilation of discourses (Jer 11:1-17) Judah is upbraided for disloyalty to the covenant, on account of which people and kingdom are threatened with sore disaster. In the second part (11:18-12:17), the murderous attempt of the people of Anathoth against the prophet's life (Jeremiah 11:18-23) gives occasion for a description of Judah's irreclaimable perverseness; while Jeremiah's expostulation with God as to the prosperity of godless men, and the reproof therefor received by him from God (Jeremiah 12:1-6), call forth an announcement that, in spite of God's long-suffering, judgment on Judah and all nations will not be for ever deferred (Jeremiah 12:7-17). Finally, in the third part, Jer 13, we have first a further account, by means of a symbolical action to be performed by the prophet, of the abasement of Judah's pride in banishment to Euphrates (Jeremiah 11:1-11); and next, an account of the judgment about to fall on Judah in the destruction of Jerusalem, and this both in figurative and in direct language (Jeremiah 11:12 -27).
From the contents of the discourses it appears unquestionable that we have here, gathered into the unity of a written record, various oral addresses of Jeremiah, together with some of the experiences that befell him in the exercise of his calling. There is no foundation for the assertion, that Jeremiah 12:7-17 is a self-complete prophetic discourse (Hitz.), or a supplement to the rest, written in the last years of Jehoiakim (Graf); nor for the assumption of several commentators, that the composition of c. 13 falls into the time of Jehoiachin - as will be shown when we come to expound the passages referred to. The discourse throughout contains nothing that might not have been spoken or have happened in the time of Josiah; nor have we here any data for determining precisely the dates of the several portions of the whole discourse.
Judah's Disloyalty to the Covenant, with the Consequences Thereof
In Jeremiah 11:2-8 is a short summary of the covenant made with the fathers; in Jeremiah 11:9-13 is an account of the breaking of this covenant by Judah, and of the calamity which results therefrom; and in Jeremiah 11:14-17 further description of this calamity.
Jeremiah 11:1-8
"The word which came to Jeremiah from Jahveh, saying: Jeremiah 11:2. Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Jeremiah 11:3. And say thou to them: Thus hath Jahve, the God of Israel, said: Cursed is the man that heareth not the words of this covenant, Jeremiah 11:4. Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying: Hearken to my voice, and do them according to all which I command you; so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God; Jeremiah 11:5. That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. And I answered and said: So be it, Jahveh. Jeremiah 11:6. Then said Jahveh to me: Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear ye the words of this covenant and do them. Jeremiah 11:7. For I have testified to your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt unto this day, testifying from early morning on: Hearken to my voice! Jeremiah 11:8. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked each in the stubbornness of their evil heart; and so I brought on them all the words of this covenant which I have commanded them to do, and they have not done them."
The form of address, Jeremiah 11:2 : hear ye ( שׁמעוּ ), and speak ye ( דּבּרתּם ), is noteworthy since we are not told who are to hear and speak; while at Jeremiah 11:3, in ואמרתּ Jeremiah receives the commission to declare the words of the covenant to the people, and to make known in the cities of Judah, etc. (Jeremiah 11:6). The difficulty is not removed by the plan adopted by Hitz. and Graf from the lxx, of changing ודבּרתּם into ודבּרתּם , "and speak them;" for the שׁמעוּ remains to be dealt with. To whom then, is it addressed? Schleussner proposed to change it into שׁמעה - a purely arbitrary change. In Jeremiah 11:4 "hearing" is used in the sense of giving ear to, obeying. And in no other sense can it be taken in Jeremiah 11:1. "The words of this covenant" are, as is clear from the succeeding context, the words of the covenant recorded in the Pentateuch, known from the reading of the Torah. The call to hear the words thereof can only have the meaning of: to give ear to them, take them to heart. Hence Chr. B. Mich. and Schnur. have referred the words to the Jews: Listen, ye Jews and ye citizens of Jerusalem, to the words of the covenant, and make them know to one another, and exhort one another to observe them. But this paraphrase is hardly consistent with the wording of the verse. Others fancied that the priests and elders were addressed; but if so, these must necessarily have been named. Clearly it is to the prophets in general that the words are spoken, as Kimchi observed; and we must not take "hear ye" as if the covenant was unknown to the prophets, but as intended to remind the prophets of them, that they might enforce them upon the people. Taken thus, this introductory verse serves to exalt the importance of the truths mentioned, to mark them out as truths which God had commanded all the prophets to proclaim. If it be the prophets in general who are addressed in Jeremiah 11:2, the transition to "and say thou" is easily explained. Jeremiah, too, must himself do that which was the bounden duty of all the prophets, must make the men of Judah and Jerusalem call to mind the curse overhanging transgressors of the covenant. The words: Cursed is the man, etc., are taken from Deuteronomy 27:26, from the directions for the engagement to keep the covenant, which the people were to solemnise upon their entry into Canaan, and which, acc. to Joshua 8:30., they did solemnise. The quotation is made freely from memory. Instead of "that heareth not the words of this covenant," we find in Deut. l.c .: "the confirmeth not ( יקים ) the words of this law to do them." The choice there of the word יקים is suggested by its connection with the act of solemnisation enjoined. The recitation and promulgation of the law upon Mount Gerizim and Ebal (Deut 27) had no other aim than that of solemnly binding the people to keep or follow the law; and this is what Jeremiah means by "hearing." The law to be established is the law of the covenant, i.e., the covenant made by Jahveh with Israel, and spoken of in Deuteronomy 28:68 and Deuteronomy 29:8 as the "words of this covenant." This covenant, which Moses had made with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab (Deuteronomy 28:68), was but a renewal of that solemnly concluded at Sinai (Ex 24). And so Jeremiah speaks of this covenant as the one which Jahveh commanded the fathers in the day, i.e., at the time, of their leaving Egypt. "In the day that," etc., as in Jeremiah 7:22. "Out of the iron furnace:" this metaphor for the affliction endured by Israel in Egypt is taken from Deuteronomy 4:20. The words: hearken unto my voice and do them (the words of the covenant), suggest Deuteronomy 27:1-2; and the words: so shall ye be my people, suggest Deuteronomy 29:12, a passage which itself points back to ex. Jeremiah 6:7 (Jeremiah 19:5.), Leviticus 27:12; Deuteronomy 7:6, etc. That I may establish, i.e., perform, the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, i.e., the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Deuteronomy 7:8, etc.), promising to give them a land flowing, etc. The frequently repeated description of the promised land; cf. Exodus 3:8, Exodus 3:17; Deuteronomy 6:3, etc. כּיּום , as in Deuteronomy 2:30; Deuteronomy 4:20, etc., is not: at this time, now (Graf), but: as this day, meaning: as is even now the case, sc. that ye still possess this precious land. The assenting reply of the prophet: אמן יהוה , yea, or so be it ( γένοιτο , lxx), Lord, corresponds to the אמן with which the people, acc. to Deuteronomy 27:15., were to take on themselves the curses attached to the breaking of the law, curses which they did take on themselves when the law was promulgated in Canaan. As the whole congregation did on that occasion, so here the prophet, by his "yea," expresses his adherence to the covenant, and admits that the engagement is yet in full force for the congregation of God; and at the same time indicates that he, on his part, is ready to labour for the fulfilment of the covenant, so that the people may not become liable to the curse of the law.
Jeremiah 11:6-8
Having set forth the curse to which transgressors of the law are exposed, God commands the prophet to proclaim the words of the covenant to the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, and to call upon them to do these. "All these words" are those subsequently specified, i.e., the commandments of the law (cf. Jeremiah 11:2). Jeremiah is to proclaim these, because, in spite of unremitting exhortation to hear and give heed to the voice of the Lord, the fathers had paid no regard thereto. קתא , not: read aloud (Hitz., Graf), but: proclaim, make known, as in Jeremiah 2:2; Jeremiah 3:12, etc. העיד with בּ , to testify against any one, equivalent to: solemnly to enforce on one with importunate counsel and warning; cf. Deuteronomy 30:19; Psalms 50:7, etc. On השׁכּם והעד , see at Jeremiah 7:13. - But they have not hearkened, Jeremiah 11:8 , running almost literally in the words of Jeremiah 7:24. "And I brought upon them," etc., i.e., inflicted upon them the punishments with which transgressors of the law were threatened, which curses had been, in the case of the greater part of the people, the ten tribes, carried to the extreme length, i.e., to the length of their banishment from their own land into the midst of the heathen; cf. 2 Kings 17:13.
Jeremiah 11:9-13
The people's breach of the covenant, and the consequences of this. - Jeremiah 11:9. "And Jahveh said unto me: Conspiracy is found among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 11:10. They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to give ear to my words, and they are gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. Jeremiah 11:11. Behold, I bring evil upon them, from which they cannot escape; and though they cry to me, I will not hear them. Jeremiah 11:12. And the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall go and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense, but they shall not help them in the time of their trouble. Jeremiah 11:13. For as many as are thy cities, so many are thy gods become, O Judah; and as many as are the streets of Jerusalem, so many altars have ye set up to Shame, altars to offer odours to Baal."