8 A slaughtering arrow `is' their tongue, Deceit it hath spoken in its mouth, Peace with its neighbour it speaketh, And in its heart it layeth its ambush,
Draw me not with the wicked, And with workers of iniquity, Speaking peace with their neighbours, And evil in their heart.
And they bend their tongue, their bow `is' a lie, And not for stedfastness have they been mighty in the land, For from evil unto evil they have gone forth, And Me they have not known, An affirmation of Jehovah!
Sweeter than honey hath been his mouth, And his heart `is' war! Softer have been his words than oil, And they `are' drawn `swords'.
My soul `is' in the midst of lions, I lie down `among' flames -- sons of men, Their teeth `are' a spear and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword.
What doth He give to thee? And what doth He add to thee? O deceitful tongue!
And Abner turneth back to Hebron, and Joab turneth him aside unto the midst of the gate to speak with him quietly, and smiteth him there in the fifth `rib' -- and he dieth -- for the blood of Asahel his brother.
And Joab saith to Amasa, `Art thou `in' peace, my brother?' and the right hand of Joab layeth hold on the beard of Amasa to give a kiss to him; and Amasa hath not been watchful of the sword that `is' in the hand of Joab, and he smiteth him with it unto the fifth `rib', and sheddeth out his bowels to the earth, and he hath not repeated `it' to him, and he dieth; and Joab and Abishai his brother have pursued after Sheba son of Bichri.
And they cause him to stumble, Against them `is' their own tongue, Every looker on them fleeth away.
By his lips doth a hater dissemble, And in his heart he placeth deceit, When his voice is gracious trust not in him, For seven abominations `are' in his heart. Hatred is covered by deceit, Revealed is its wickedness in an assembly.
And each at his friend they mock, And truth they do not speak, They taught their tongue to speak falsehood, To commit iniquity they have laboured.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 9
Commentary on Jeremiah 9 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 9
In this chapter the prophet goes on faithfully to reprove sin and to threaten God's judgments for it, and yet bitterly to lament both, as one that neither rejoiced at iniquity nor was glad at calamities.
Jer 9:1-11
The prophet, being commissioned both to foretel the destruction coming upon Judah and Jerusalem and to point out the sin for which that destruction was brought upon them, here, as elsewhere, speaks of both very feelingly: what he said of both came from the heart, and therefore one would have thought it would reach to the heart.
Jer 9:12-22
Two things the prophet designs, in these verses, with reference to the approaching destruction of Judah and Jerusalem:-
Jer 9:23-26
The prophet had been endeavouring to possess this people with a holy fear of God and his judgments, to convince them both of sin and wrath; but still they had recourse to some sorry subterfuge or other, under which to shelter themselves from the conviction and with which to excuse themselves in the obstinacy and carelessness. He therefore sets himself here to drive them from these refuges of lies and to show them the insufficiency of them.