24 Considerest H7200 thou not what this people H5971 have spoken, H1696 saying, H559 The two H8147 families H4940 which the LORD H3068 hath chosen, H977 he hath even cast them off? H3988 thus they have despised H5006 my people, H5971 that they should be no more a nation H1471 before H6440 them.
Thou makest H7760 us a reproach H2781 to our neighbours, H7934 a scorn H3933 and a derision H7047 to them that are round about H5439 us. Thou makest H7760 us a byword H4912 among the heathen, H1471 a shaking H4493 of the head H7218 among the people. H3816
And he spake H559 before H6440 his brethren H251 and the army H2428 of Samaria, H8111 and said, H559 What do H6213 these feeble H537 Jews? H3064 will they fortify H5800 themselves? will they sacrifice? H2076 will they make an end H3615 in a day? H3117 will they revive H2421 the stones H68 out of the heaps H6194 of the rubbish H6083 which are burned? H8313 Now Tobiah H2900 the Ammonite H5984 was by him, H681 and he said, H559 Even that which they build, H1129 if a fox H7776 go up, H5927 he shall even break down H6555 their stone H68 wall. H2346 Hear, H8085 O our God; H430 for we are despised: H939 and turn H7725 their reproach H2781 upon their own head, H7218 and give H5414 them for a prey H961 in the land H776 of captivity: H7633
I say G3004 then, G3767 G3361 Hath G683 God G2316 cast away G683 his G846 people? G2992 God forbid. G3361 G1096 For G1063 I G1473 also G2532 am G1510 an Israelite, G2475 of G1537 the seed G4690 of Abraham, G11 of the tribe G5443 of Benjamin. G958 God G2316 hath G683 not G3756 cast away G683 his G846 people G2992 which G3739 he foreknew. G4267 G2228 Wot ye G1492 not G3756 what G5101 the scripture G1124 saith G3004 of G1722 Elias? G2243 how G5613 he maketh intercession G1793 to God G2316 against G2596 Israel, G2474 saying, G3004 Lord, G2962 they have killed G615 thy G4675 prophets, G4396 and G2532 digged down G2679 thine G4675 altars; G2379 and I G2504 am left G5275 alone, G3441 and G2532 they seek G2212 my G3450 life. G5590 But G235 what G5101 saith G3004 the answer of God G5538 unto him? G846 I have reserved G2641 to myself G1683 seven thousand G2035 men, G435 who G3748 have G2578 not G3756 bowed G2578 the knee G1119 to the image of Baal. G896 Even so G3779 then G3767 at G1722 this present G3568 time G2540 also G2532 there is G1096 a remnant G3005 according G2596 to the election G1589 of grace. G5485 And G1161 if G1487 by grace, G5485 then is it no more G2089 G3765 of G1537 works: G2041 otherwise G1893 grace G5485 is G1096 no more G2089 G3765 grace. G5485 But G1161 if G1487 it be of G1537 works, G2041 then is it G2076 no more G2089 G3765 grace: G5485 otherwise G1893 work G2041 is G2076 no more G2089 G3765 work. G2041
Because thou hast said, H559 These two H8147 nations H1471 and these two H8147 countries H776 shall be mine, and we will possess H3423 it; whereas the LORD H3068 was there: Therefore, as I live, H2416 saith H5002 the Lord H136 GOD, H3069 I will even do H6213 according to thine anger, H639 and according to thine envy H7068 which thou hast used H6213 out of thy hatred H8135 against them; and I will make myself known H3045 among them, when I have judged H8199 thee. And thou shalt know H3045 that I am the LORD, H3068 and that I have heard H8085 all thy blasphemies H5007 which thou hast spoken H559 against the mountains H2022 of Israel, H3478 saying, H559 They are laid desolate, H8074 H8077 they are given H5414 us to consume. H402 Thus with your mouth H6310 ye have boasted H1431 against me, and have multiplied H6280 your words H1697 against me: I have heard H8085 them. Thus saith H559 the Lord H136 GOD; H3069 When the whole earth H776 rejoiceth, H8055 I will make H6213 thee desolate. H8077 As thou didst rejoice H8057 at the inheritance H5159 of the house H1004 of Israel, H3478 because it was desolate, H8074 so will I do H6213 unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, H8077 O mount H2022 Seir, H8165 and all Idumea, H123 even all of it: and they shall know H3045 that I am the LORD. H3068
And he thought H5869 scorn H959 to lay H7971 hands H3027 on Mordecai H4782 alone; for they had shewed H5046 him the people H5971 of Mordecai: H4782 wherefore Haman H2001 sought H1245 to destroy H8045 all the Jews H3064 that were throughout the whole kingdom H4438 of Ahasuerus, H325 even the people H5971 of Mordecai. H4782 In the first H7223 month, H2320 that is, the month H2320 Nisan, H5212 in the twelfth H8147 H6240 year H8141 of king H4428 Ahasuerus, H325 they cast H5307 Pur, H6332 that is, the lot, H1486 before H6440 Haman H2001 from day H3117 to day, H3117 and from month H2320 to month, H2320 to the twelfth H8147 H6240 month, that is, the month H2320 Adar. H143 And Haman H2001 said H559 unto king H4428 Ahasuerus, H325 There is H3426 a certain H259 people H5971 scattered abroad H6340 and dispersed H6504 among the people H5971 in all the provinces H4082 of thy kingdom; H4438 and their laws H1881 are diverse H8138 from all people; H5971 neither keep H6213 they the king's H4428 laws: H1881 therefore it is not for the king's H4428 profit H7737 to suffer H3240 them.
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.
Then may also my covenant H1285 be broken H6565 with David H1732 my servant, H5650 that he should not have a son H1121 to reign H4427 upon his throne; H3678 and with the Levites H3881 the priests, H3548 my ministers. H8334 As the host H6635 of heaven H8064 cannot be numbered, H5608 neither the sand H2344 of the sea H3220 measured: H4058 so will I multiply H7235 the seed H2233 of David H1732 my servant, H5650 and the Levites H3881 that minister H8334 unto me.
Have mercy H2603 upon us, O LORD, H3068 have mercy H2603 upon us: for we are exceedingly H7227 filled H7646 with contempt. H937 Our soul H5315 is exceedingly H7227 filled H7646 with the scorning H3933 of those that are at ease, H7600 and with the contempt H937 of the proud. H3238 H1343 H1349
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 33
Commentary on Jeremiah 33 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
While Jeremiah was still in confinement in the court of the prison belonging to the palace (see Jeremiah 32:2), the word of the Lord came to him the second time. This word of God is attached by שׁנית to the promise of Jer 32. It followed, too, not long, perhaps, after the other, which it further serves to confirm. - After the command to call on Him, that He might make known to him great and hidden things (Jeremiah 33:2, Jeremiah 33:3), the Lord announces that, although Jerusalem shall be destroyed by the Chaldeans, He shall yet restore it, bring back the captives of Judah and Israel, purify the city from its iniquities, and make it the glory and praise of all the people of the earth (Jeremiah 33:4-9), so that in it and in the whole land joy will again prevail (Jeremiah 33:10-13). Then the Lord promises the restoration of the kingdom through the righteous sprout of David - of the priesthood, too, and sacrificial worship (Jeremiah 33:14-18); He promises also the everlasting duration of these two ordinances of grace (Jeremiah 33:19-22), because His covenant with the seed of Jacob and David shall be as enduring as the natural ordinance of day and night, and the laws of heaven and earth (Jeremiah 33:23-26). - The promises thus fall into two parts. First, there is proclaimed the restoration of the people and kingdom to a new and glorious state of prosperity (Jeremiah 33:4-13); then the re-establishment of the monarchy and the priesthood to a new and permanent condition (Jeremiah 33:14-26). In the first part, the promise given in Jeremiah 32:36-44 is further carried out; in the second, the future form of the kingdom is more plainly depicted.
Introduction. - Jeremiah 33:2 . "Thus saith Jahveh who makes it, Jahveh who forms it in order to establish it, Jahveh is His name: Jeremiah 33:3 . Call on me and I will answer thee, and tell thee great and hidden things which thou knowest not." The reference of the suffixes in עשׂהּ , אותהּ , and הכינהּ is evident from the contents of the propositions: the Lord does what He says, and forms what He wants to make, in order to accomplish it, i.e., He completes what He has spoken and determined on. יצר , to frame , namely, in the mind, as if to think out, just as in Jeremiah 18:11 : the expression is parallel with חשׁב ; in this sense also we find Isaiah 46:11. הכין , to establish, realize what has been determined on, prepare, is also found in Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 40:20, but more frequently in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 10:12; Jeremiah 51:12, Jeremiah 51:15), and pretty often in the Old Testament generally. On the phrase "Jahveh is His name," cf. Jeremiah 31:35. The idea contained in Jeremiah 33:2 reminds us of similar expressions of Isaiah, as in Isaiah 22:11; Isaiah 37:26; Isaiah 46:11, etc.; but this similarity offers no foundation for the doubts of Movers and Hitzig regarding the genuineness of this verse. The same holds as regards Jeremiah 33:3. The first proposition occurs frequently in the Psalms, e.g., Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 28:1; Jeremiah 30:9, also in Jeremiah 7:27; Jeremiah 11:14; but קתא with אל is unusual in Isaiah. The words בּצרות לא are certainly an imitation of נצרות ולא ידעתּם , Isaiah 48:6; but they are modified, in the manner peculiar to Jeremiah, by the change of נצרות into בצרות . The combination גּדלות וּבצרות noit is elsewhere used only of the strong cities of the Canaanites, Deuteronomy 1:28; Deuteronomy 9:1; Joshua 14:12, cf. Numbers 13:28; here בּצרות is transferred to things which lie beyond the limits of human power to discover, and become known to men only through divine revelation. There is no good reason for Ewald's change of בצרות in accordance with Isaiah 48:6. - On the contents of these verses Hengstenberg remarks: "It may seem strange that, though in the opening part the prophet is promised a revelation of greater, unknown things, for which he is to call on God, yet the succeeding announcement contains scarcely anything remarkable or peculiar." Graf also adds the remark of Hitzig, that the command to pray, addressed to Jeremiah, cannot have the effect of keeping us from the conclusion that the verses are an addition by a later hand. Nägelsbach replies that the mode of expression presents nothing specially unlike Jeremiah, and that what is most calculated to give the impression of being unlike Jeremiah's, namely, this introduction in itself, and especially the peculiar turn of Jeremiah 33:3, "Call unto me," etc., is occasioned by the prayer of the prophet, Jeremiah 32:16-25. To this prayer the prophet had received an answer, Jeremiah 32:36-44; but he is here admonished to approach the Lord more frequently with such a request. The God who has the power to execute as well as make decrees is quite prepared to give him an insight into His great thoughts regarding the future; and of this a proof is at once given. Thus, Jeremiah 33:1-3 must be viewed as the connecting link between Jer 32; 33.
Yet these remarks are not sufficient to silence the objections set forth against the genuineness of Jeremiah 33:2, Jeremiah 33:3; for the specializing title of our chapter, in Jeremiah 33:1, is opposed to the close connection which Nägelsbach maintains between Jer 32; 33. The fact that, in Jer 32, Jeremiah addresses the Lord in prayer for further revelation regarding the purchase of the field, as commanded, and that he receives the information he desired regarding it, gives no occasion for warning to the prophet, to betake himself more frequently to God for disclosures regarding His purposes of salvation. And Nägelsbach has quite evaded the objection that Jeremiah does not obey the injunction. Moreover, the succeeding revelation made in vv. 4-26 is not of the nature of a "proof," for it does not contain a single great leading feature in God's purposes as regards the future. - Hengstenberg also points out the difficulty, "that the Scripture everywhere refuses to recognise a dead knowledge as true knowledge, and that the hope of restoration has an obstacle in the natural man, who strives to obscure and to extinguish it; that, consequently, the promise of restoration is always new, and the word of God always great and grand;" but what he adduces for the solution of the difficulty contained in the command, "Call on me, and I will show thee great and unknown things," is insufficient for his purpose. The objection which expositors have taken to these verses has arisen from an improper application of them; the words קרא אלי have been understood as referring to the request that God should give some revelation regarding the future, or His purposes of deliverance, and ענה as referring to the communication of His purposes for increasing our knowledge of them. But "to call on God" rather signifies to pray to God, i.e., to beseech Him for protection, or help, or deliverance in time of need, cf. Psalms 3:5; Psalms 28:1; Psalms 30:9; Psalms 55:17, etc.; and to "answer" is the reply of God made when He actually vouchsafes the aid sought for; cf. e.g., Psalms 55:17, "I call on God, and Jahveh answers me (saves me);" Psalms 4:2, Psalms 4:4; Psalms 18:7; Psalms 27:7, etc. Consequently, also, "to make known" ( הגּיד ) is no mere communication of knowledge regarding great and unknown things, no mere letting them be known, but a making known by deeds. The words עשׂהּ and יוצר אותהּ , ascribed to the Lord, suggest and require that the words should be thus understood. With the incorrect reference of these words to knowing and making known there is connected the further error, that the command, "Call unto me," is directed to the person of the prophet, and gives an admonition for his behaviour towards God, for which the text affords on foundation whatever; for it does not run: "Thus saith Jahveh to me" ( אלי ), and the insertion of this אלי is unwarranted, and inconsistent with the use of כּי which introduces the announcement. Hitzig, Graf, and others have passed by this כּי without remark; and what Nägelsbach says about it is connected with his view, already refuted, as to the essential unity of Jer 32; 33. Lastly, Ewald has enclosed Jeremiah 33:3 within parentheses, and considers that the introductory formula of Jeremiah 33:2 is resumed in Jeremiah 33:4 : "Yea, thus saith Jahveh." This is a conclusion hastily formed by one who is in difficulty, for Jeremiah 33:3 has not the nature of a parenthesis. If we allow the arbitrary addition "to me" after the words, "Thus saith the Lord," Jeremiah 33:2, and if we take the words in their simplest sense - the invocation of the Lord as a call to God for help in need - then Jeremiah 33:2, Jeremiah 33:3 do not contain a mere prelude to the revelation which follows, but an exhortation to the people to betake themselves to the Lord their God in their calamity, when He will make known to them things unattainable by human discernment; for ( כּי , Jeremiah 33:4) He announces, in reference to the ruined houses of the city, that He will repair their injuries.
Repair of the injuries and renewal of the prosperity of Jerusalem and Judah. - Jeremiah 33:4. "For thus saith Jahveh, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down because of the besiegers' mounds and because of the sword, Jeremiah 33:5. While they come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the corpses of men, whom I have slain in my wrath and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hidden my face from this city: Jeremiah 33:6. Behold, I will apply a bandage to it and a remedy, and will heal them, and will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth. Jeremiah 33:7. And I will turn again the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel, and will build them up as at the first. Jeremiah 33:8. And I will purify them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me, and will pardon all their iniquities, by which they have sinned and have transgressed against me. Jeremiah 33:9. And it (the city) shall become to me a name of joy, a praise, and an honour among all the people of the earth that shall hear all the good which I do them, and shall tremble and quake because of all the good and because of all the prosperity that I show to it. Jeremiah 33:10. Thus saith Jahveh: Again shall there be heard in this place-of which ye say, 'It is desolate, without man and without beast,'-in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, which are laid waste, without men, and without inhabitants, and without beasts, Jeremiah 33:11. The voice of gladness and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, 'Praise Jahveh of hosts, for Jahveh is good, for His mercy is for ever,' who bring thank-offerings into the house of Jahveh. For I will turn again the captivity of the land, as in the beginning, saith Jahveh. Jeremiah 33:12. Thus saith Jahveh of hosts: In this place, which is laid waste, without man and beast, and in all its cities, there will yet be pasture-ground for shepherds making their flocks lie down in. Jeremiah 33:13. In the cities of the hill-country, in the cities of the plain, and in the cities of the south, in the land of Benjamin, and in the environs of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flock shall yet pass under the hand of one who counts them, saith Jahveh."