19 Woe H188 is me for my hurt! H7667 my wound H4347 is grievous: H2470 but I said, H559 Truly H389 this is a grief, H2483 and I must bear H5375 it.
I will bear H5375 the indignation H2197 of the LORD, H3068 because I have sinned H2398 against him, until he plead H7378 my cause, H7379 and execute H6213 judgment H4941 for me: he will bring me forth H3318 to the light, H216 and I shall behold H7200 his righteousness. H6666
I was dumb, H481 I opened H6605 not my mouth; H6310 because thou didst H6213 it.
For I have heard H8085 a voice H6963 as of a woman in travail, H2470 and the anguish H6869 as of her that bringeth forth her first child, H1069 the voice H6963 of the daughter H1323 of Zion, H6726 that bewaileth H3306 herself, that spreadeth H6566 her hands, H3709 saying, Woe H188 is me now! for my soul H5315 is wearied H5888 because of murderers. H2026
Therefore thou shalt say H559 this word H1697 unto them; Let mine eyes H5869 run down H3381 with tears H1832 night H3915 and day, H3119 and let them not cease: H1820 for the virgin H1330 daughter H1323 of my people H5971 is broken H7665 with a great H1419 breach, H7667 with a very H3966 grievous H2470 blow. H4347
And I will wait H2442 upon the LORD, H3068 that hideth H5641 his face H6440 from the house H1004 of Jacob, H3290 and I will look H6960 for him.
Oh that H5414 my head H7218 were waters, H4325 and mine eyes H5869 a fountain H4726 of tears, H1832 that I might weep H1058 day H3119 and night H3915 for the slain H2491 of the daughter H1323 of my people! H5971
O LORD, H3068 the hope H4723 of Israel, H3478 all that forsake H5800 thee shall be ashamed, H954 and they that depart H3249 from me H5493 shall be written H3789 in the earth, H776 because they have forsaken H5800 the LORD, H3068 the fountain H4726 of living H2416 waters. H4325
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass H5674 by? H1870 behold, H5027 and see H7200 if there be H3426 any sorrow H4341 like unto my sorrow, H4341 which is done H5953 unto me, wherewith the LORD H3068 hath afflicted H3013 me in the day H3117 of his fierce H2740 anger. H639 From above H4791 hath he sent H7971 fire H784 into my bones, H6106 and it prevaileth H7287 against them: he hath spread H6566 a net H7568 for my feet, H7272 he hath turned H7725 me back: H268 he hath made H5414 me desolate H8074 and faint H1739 all the day. H3117 The yoke H5923 of my transgressions H6588 is bound H8244 by his hand: H3027 they are wreathed, H8276 and come up H5927 upon my neck: H6677 he hath made my strength H3581 to fall, H3782 the Lord H136 hath delivered H5414 me into their hands, H3027 from whom I am not able H3201 to rise up. H6965 The Lord H136 hath trodden under foot H5541 all my mighty H47 men in the midst H7130 of me: he hath called H7121 an assembly H4150 against me to crush H7665 my young men: H970 the Lord H136 hath trodden H1869 the virgin, H1330 the daughter H1323 of Judah, H3063 as in a winepress. H1660 For these things I weep; H1058 mine eye, H5869 mine eye H5869 runneth down H3381 with water, H4325 because the comforter H5162 that should relieve H7725 my soul H5315 is far H7368 from me: my children H1121 are desolate, H8074 because the enemy H341 prevailed. H1396 Zion H6726 spreadeth forth H6566 her hands, H3027 and there is none to comfort H5162 her: the LORD H3068 hath commanded H6680 concerning Jacob, H3290 that his adversaries H6862 should be round about H5439 him: Jerusalem H3389 is as a menstruous woman H5079 among them. The LORD H3068 is righteous; H6662 for I have rebelled H4784 against his commandment: H6310 hear, H8085 I pray you, all people, H5971 and behold H7200 my sorrow: H4341 my virgins H1330 and my young men H970 are gone H1980 into captivity. H7628 I called H7121 for my lovers, H157 but they deceived H7411 me: my priests H3548 and mine elders H2205 gave up the ghost H1478 in the city, H5892 while they sought H1245 their meat H400 to relieve H7725 their souls. H5315 Behold, H7200 O LORD; H3068 for I am in distress: H6887 my bowels H4578 are troubled; H2560 mine heart H3820 is turned H2015 within H7130 me; for I have grievously H4784 rebelled: H4784 abroad H2351 the sword H2719 bereaveth, H7921 at home H1004 there is as death. H4194 They have heard H8085 that I sigh: H584 there is none to comfort H5162 me: all mine enemies H341 have heard H8085 of my trouble; H7451 they are glad H7797 that thou hast done H6213 it: thou wilt bring H935 the day H3117 that thou hast called, H7121 and they shall be like H3644 unto me. Let all their wickedness H7451 come H935 before H6440 thee; and do H5953 unto them, as thou hast done H5953 unto me for all my transgressions: H6588 for my sighs H585 are many, H7227 and my heart H3820 is faint. H1742
Mine eyes H5869 do fail H3615 with tears, H1832 my bowels H4578 are troubled, H2560 my liver H3516 is poured H8210 upon the earth, H776 for the destruction H7667 of the daughter H1323 of my people; H5971 because the children H5768 and the sucklings H3243 swoon H5848 in the streets H7339 of the city. H7151 They say H559 to their mothers, H517 Where is corn H1715 and wine? H3196 when they swooned H5848 as the wounded H2491 in the streets H7339 of the city, H5892 when their soul H5315 was poured out H8210 into their mothers' H517 bosom. H2436 What thing shall I take to witness H5749 H5749 for thee? what thing H4100 shall I liken H1819 to thee, O daughter H1323 of Jerusalem? H3389 what shall I equal H7737 to thee, that I may comfort H5162 thee, O virgin H1330 daughter H1323 of Zion? H6726 for thy breach H7667 is great H1419 like the sea: H3220 who can heal H7495 thee? Thy prophets H5030 have seen H2372 vain H7723 and foolish things H8602 for thee: and they have not discovered H1540 thine iniquity, H5771 to turn away H7725 thy captivity; H7622 H7622 but have seen H2372 for thee false H7723 burdens H4864 and causes of banishment. H4065 All that pass H5674 by clap H5606 their hands H3709 at thee; H1870 they hiss H8319 and wag H5128 their head H7218 at the daughter H1323 of Jerusalem, H3389 saying, Is this the city H5892 that men call H559 The perfection H3632 of beauty, H3308 The joy H4885 of the whole earth? H776 All thine enemies H341 have opened H6475 their mouth H6310 against thee: they hiss H8319 and gnash H2786 the teeth: H8127 they say, H559 We have swallowed her up: H1104 certainly H389 this is the day H3117 that we looked for; H6960 we have found, H4672 we have seen H7200 it. The LORD H3068 hath done H6213 that which he had devised; H2161 he hath fulfilled H1214 his word H565 that he had commanded H6680 in the days H3117 of old: H6924 he hath thrown down, H2040 and hath not pitied: H2550 and he hath caused thine enemy H341 to rejoice H8055 over thee, he hath set up H7311 the horn H7161 of thine adversaries. H6862 Their heart H3820 cried H6817 unto the Lord, H136 O wall H2346 of the daughter H1323 of Zion, H6726 let tears H1832 run down H3381 like a river H5158 day H3119 and night: H3915 give H5414 thyself no rest; H6314 let not the apple H1323 of thine eye H5869 cease. H1826 Arise, H6965 cry out H7442 in the night: H3915 in the beginning H7218 of the watches H821 pour out H8210 thine heart H3820 like water H4325 before H5227 the face H6440 of the Lord: H136 lift up H5375 thy hands H3709 toward him for the life H5315 of thy young children, H5768 that faint H5848 for hunger H7458 in the top H7218 of every street. H2351 Behold, H7200 O LORD, H3068 and consider H5027 to whom thou hast done H5953 this. H3541 Shall the women H802 eat H398 their fruit, H6529 and children H5768 of a span long? H2949 shall the priest H3548 and the prophet H5030 be slain H2026 in the sanctuary H4720 of the Lord? H136 The young H5288 and the old H2205 lie H7901 on the ground H776 in the streets: H2351 my virgins H1330 and my young men H970 are fallen H5307 by the sword; H2719 thou hast slain H2026 them in the day H3117 of thine anger; H639 thou hast killed, H2873 and not pitied. H2550 Thou hast called H7121 as in a solemn H4150 day H3117 my terrors H4032 round about, H5439 so that in the day H3117 of the LORD'S H3068 anger H639 none escaped H6412 nor remained: H8300 those that I have swaddled H2946 and brought up H7235 hath mine enemy H341 consumed. H3615
And I said, H559 My strength H5331 and my hope H8431 is perished H6 from the LORD: H3068 Remembering H2142 mine affliction H6040 and my misery, H4788 the wormwood H3939 and the gall. H7219 My soul H5315 hath them still H2142 in remembrance, H2142 and is humbled H7743 in me. This I recall H7725 to my mind, H3820 therefore have I hope. H3176
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 10
Commentary on Jeremiah 10 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Warning against idolatry by means of a view of the nothingness of the false gods (Jeremiah 10:1-5), and a counter-view of the almighty and everlasting God (Jeremiah 10:6-11) and of His governing care in the natural world. This warning is but a further continuation of the idea of Jeremiah 9:23, that Israel's glory should consist in Jahveh who doth grace, right, and justice upon earth. In order thoroughly to impress this truth on the backsliding and idolatrous people, Jeremiah sets forth the nullity of the gods feared by the heathen, and, by showing how these gods are made of wood, plated with silver and gold, proves that these dead idols, which have neither life nor motion, cannot be objects of fear; whereas Jahveh is God in truth, a living and everlasting God, before whose anger the earth trembles, who has created the earth, and rules it, who in the day of visitation will also annihilate the false gods.
(Note: This whole passage is declared by Movers ( de utr. rec. Jer . p. 43), de W., Hitz., and Näg. to be spurious and a late interpolation; because, as they allege, it interrupts the continuity, because its matter brings us down to the time of the Babylonian exile, and because the language of it diverges in many respects from Jeremiah's. Against these arguments Küper, Haev., Welte, and others have made a Stand. See my Manual of Introd. §75, 1. - By the exhibition of the coherence of the thought given in the text, we have already disposed of the argument on which most stress is laid by the critics referred to, the alleged interruption of the connection. How little weight this argument is entitled to, may over and above be seen from the fact that Graf holds Jeremiah 9:22-25 to be an interpolation, by reason of the want of connection; in which view neither Movers preceded him, nor has Hitz. or Näg. followed Him. The second reason, that the subject-matter brings us down to the time of the exile, rests upon a misconception of the purpose in displaying the nothingness of the false gods. In this there is presupposed neither a people as yet unspotted by idolatry, nor a people purified therefrom; but, in order to fill the heart with a warmer love for the living God and Lord of the world, Israel's own God, the bias towards the idols, deep-seated in the hearts of the people, is taken to task and attacked in that which lies at its root, namely, the fear of the power of the heathen's gods. Finally, as to the language of the passage, Movers tried to show that the whole not only belonged to the time of the pseudo-Isaiah, but that it was from his hand. Against this Graf has pronounced emphatically, with the remark that the similarity is not greater than is inevitable in the discussion of the same subject; whereas, he says, the diversity in expression is so great, that it does not even give us any reason to suppose that the author of this passage had the pseudo-Isaiah before him when he was writing. This assertion is certainly an exaggeration; but it contains thus much of truth, that along with individual similarities in expression, the diversities are so great as to put out of the question all idea of the passage's having been written by the author of Isa 40-56. In several verses Jeremiah's characteristic mode of expression is unmistakeable. Such are the frequent use of הבל for the idols, Jeremiah 10:3 and Jeremiah 10:15, cf. Jeremiah 8:19; Jeremiah 14:22, and עת פּקדּתם , Jeremiah 10:15, cf. Jeremiah 8:12; Jeremiah 46:21; Jeremiah 50:27, neither of which occurs in the second part of Isaiah; and הובישׁ , Jeremiah 10:14, for which Isaiah uses בּושׁ , Isaiah 42:17; Isaiah 44:11. Further, in passages cognate in sense the expression is quite different; cf. Jeremiah 10:4 and Jeremiah 10:9 with Isaiah 40:19-20; Isaiah 41:7, where we find ימּוט instead of יפיק , which is not used by Isaiah in the sense of "move;" cf. Jeremiah 10:5 with Isaiah 46:7 and Isaiah 41:23; Jeremiah 10:12 with Isaiah 45:18. Finally, the two common expressions cannot prove anything, because they are found in other books, as שׁבט נחלתו , Jeremiah 10:16 and Isaiah 63:17, derived from Deuteronomy 32:9; or יהוה צבאות , which is used frequently by Amos; cf. Amos 4:13; Amos 5:27, Amos 5:8; Amos 9:6, cf. with Jeremiah 33:2. - Even נסך in the sense of molten image in Jeremiah 10:14, as in Isaiah 41:29; Isaiah 48:5, is found also in Daniel 11:8; consequently this use of the word is no peculiarity of the second part of Isaiah.)
Jeremiah 10:1-2
The nothingness of the false gods. - Jeremiah 10:1. "Hear the word which Jahveh speaketh unto you, house of Israel! Jeremiah 10:2. Thus saith Jahveh: To the ways of the heathen use yourselves not, and at the signs of the heaven be not dismayed, because the heathen are dismayed at them. Jeremiah 10:3. For the ordinances of the peoples are vain. For it is wood, which one hath cut out of the forest, a work of the craftsman's hands with the axe. Jeremiah 10:4. With silver and with gold he decks it, with nails and hammers they fasten it, that it move not. Jeremiah 10:5. As a lathe-wrought pillar are they, and speak not; they are borne, because they cannot walk. Be not afraid of them; for they do not hurt, neither is it in them to do good."
This is addressed to the house of Israel, i.e., to the whole covenant people; and "house of Israel" points back to "all the house of Israel" in Jeremiah 9:25. עליכם for אליכם , as frequently in Jeremiah. The way of the heathen is their mode of life, especially their way of worshipping their gods; cf. ἡ ὁδὸς , Acts 9:2; Acts 19:9. למד c . אל , accustom oneself to a thing, used in Jeremiah 13:21 with the synonymous על , and in Psalms 18:35 (Piel) with ל . The signs of heaven are unwonted phenomena in the heavens, eclipses of the sun and moon, comets, and unusual conjunctions of the stars, which were regarded as the precursors of extraordinary and disastrous events. We cannot admit Hitz.'s objection, that these signs in heaven were sent by Jahveh (Joel 3:3-4), and that before these, as heralds of judgment, not only the heathen, but the Jews themselves, had good cause to be dismayed. For the signs that marked the dawning of the day of the Lord are not merely such things as eclipses of sun and moon, and the like. There is still less ground for Näg. 's idea, that the signs of heaven are such as, being permanently there, call forth religious adoration from year to year, the primitive constellations (Job 9:9), the twelve signs of the zodiac; for תּחתּוּ ( נחת ), to be in fear, consternari, never means, even in Malachi 2:5, regular or permanent adoration. "For the heathen," etc., gives the cause of the fear: the heathen are dismayed before these, because in the stars they adored supernatural powers.
Jeremiah 10:3-5
The reason of the warning counsel: The ordinances of the peoples, i.e., the religious ideas and customs of the heathen, are vanity. הוּא refers to and is in agreement with the predicate; cf. Ew. §319, c . The vanity of the religious ordinances of the heathen is proved by the vanity of their gods. "For wood, which one has hewn out of the forest," sc. it is, viz., the god. The predicate is omitted, and must be supplied from הבל , a word which is in the plural used directly for the false gods; cf. Jeremiah 8:19; Deuteronomy 32:21, etc. With the axe, sc. wrought. מעצד Rashi explains as axe, and suitably; for here it means in any case a carpenter's tool, whereas this is doubtful in Isaiah 44:12. The images were made of wood, which was covered with silver plating and gold; cf. Isaiah 30:22; Isaiah 40:19. This Jeremiah calls adorning them, making them fair with silver and gold. When the images were finished, they were fastened in their places with hammer and nails, that they might not tumble over; cf. Isaiah 41:7; Isaiah 40:20. When thus complete, they are like a lathe-wrought pillar. In Judges 4:5, where alone this word elsewhere occurs. תּמר means palm-tree (= תּמר ); here, by a later, derivative usage, = pillar, in support of which we can appeal to the Talmudic תּמּר , columnam facere , and to the O.T. תּימרה , pillar of smoke. מקשׁה is the work of the turning-lathe, Exodus 25:18, Exodus 25:31, etc. Lifeless and motionless as a turned pillar.
(Note: Ew., Hitz., Graf, Näg. follow in the track of Movers, Phöniz . i. S. 622, who takes מקשׁה se acc. to Isaiah 1:8 for a cucumber garden, and, acc. to Epist. Jerem . v. 70, understands by תּמר מקשׁה the figure of Priapus in a cucumber field, serving as a scare-crow. But even if we admit that there is an allusion to the verse before us in the mockery of the gods in the passage of Epist. Jerem. quoted, running literally as follows: ω ̔͂σπερ γὰρ ἐν οἰκυηράτῳ προβασκάνιον οὐδὲν φυλάσσον, οὕτως οἱ θεοὶ αὐτῶν εἰσὶ ξύλινοι καὶ περίχρυσοι καὶ περιάργυροι ; and if we further admit that the author was led to make his comparison by his understanding מקשׁה in Isaiah 1:8 of a cucumber garden; - yet his comparison has so little in common with our verse in point of form, that it cannot at all be regarded as a translation of it, or serve as a rule for the interpretation of the phrase in question. And besides it has yet to be proved that the Israelites were in the habit of setting up images of Priapus as scare-crows.)
Not to be able to speak is to be without life; not to walk, to take not a single step, i.e., to be without all power of motion; cf. Isaiah 46:7. The Chald. paraphrases correctly: quia non est in iis spiritus vitalis ad ambulandum . The incorrect form ינּשׂוּא for ינּשׂאוּ is doubtless only a copyist's error, induced by the preceding נשׂוא . They can do neither good nor evil, neither hurt nor help; cf. Isaiah 41:23. אותם for אתּם , as frequently; see on Jeremiah 1:16.
Jeremiah 10:6-9
The almighty power of Jahveh, the living God. - Jeremiah 10:6. "None at all is like Thee, Jahveh; great art Thou, and Thy name is great in might. Jeremiah 10:7. Who would not fear Thee, Thou King of the peoples? To Thee doth it appertain; for among all the wise men of the peoples, and in all their kingdoms, there is none at all like unto Thee. Jeremiah 10:8. But they are all together brutish and foolish; the teaching of the vanities is wood. Jeremiah 10:9. Beaten silver, from Tarshish it is brought, and gold from Uphaz, work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and red purple is their clothing; the work of cunning workmen are they all. Jeremiah 10:10. But Jahveh is God in truth, He is living God and everlasting King; at His wrath the earth trembles, and the peoples abide not His indignation. Jeremiah 10:11. Thus shall ye say unto them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens."