G L 18:1-4. Symbol. Potter's vessel. M 18:5,6. Signification. House of Israel. N 18:7-17. Threatening. O 18:18. Enemies. Plot. P 18:19-23. Jeremiah. Prayer. L 19:1-10. Symbol. Potter's bottle. M 19:11-13. Signification. People and city. N 19:14,15. Threatening. O 20:1-6. Enemies. Violence. P 20:7-18. Jeremiah. Prayer.
18) 1: The word which came to Jeremiah from Yehovah, saying,
2: “Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” (note the lesson, set to Jeremiah there: that Yehovah never mends what man has marred. He always substitutes something new. The interpretation belongs to "The House of Israel", and that being "marred", the new "nation" is to be substituted. See Matt.21:43. Cp. Rom.11:7. Ezek.36:25-28. The applications belongs to (1) THE COVENANT, Deut.6:25, but was marred, Jer.31:32: for the New Covenant, see Heb.8:7-13. (2) ORDINANCES, marred, Isa.1:11-14; new, Heb.10:6-9. Col.2:14,17. Gal.4:3, 8-11. (3) PRIESTHOOD, Heb.7:11-28. (4) KING, 2 Sam.7:12-16. Cp. Ps.72. Isa.9:6; 11:1-9; 32:1-8. Luke 1:31-33. (5) MAN, marred, Gen.3. Rom.8:7. Jer.17:9. Ps.14:2; 53:2. John 3:6; new, 2 Cor.5:17,18. (6) THE BODY, marred, Gen.3. Heb.9:27; the new, 1 Cor.15:35,44,46,47. (7) HE HEAVENS and THE EARTH, marred, Gen.3. 2 Pet.3:7; the new, 2 Pet.3:13. Ps.85:10,13. Isa.65:17, &c. (8) THE CHURCH, marred, 2 Tim.1:15 [Cp. Acts 19:10; 20:29]; 2:18; 3:8; 4:3,4; new, Eph.2:20-22; 4:4)
3: Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he was working a work on the wheels.
4: And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
N Q¹ 7-10. Declaration. Q² 11-17. Application.
Q¹ i 7. Concerning pulling down. k 8. Condition. Repentance. i 9. Concerning building up. k 10. Condition. Repentance.
7: At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to declare that it should be to plucked up (Heb. idiom), and to pull down (some codices read, "tear away"), and to destroy it;
8: If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their calamity, I will repent of the calamity that I thought to do to them.
9: And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to declare that it should be built and planted;
10: If it do calamity in My sight, that it obey not My voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
Q² l 11. Threatening. m 12. Departure. m 13-16. Departure. l 17. Execution.
11: Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says Yehovah; Behold, I work (as a potter) calamity against you, and devise a device against you: return you all now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.’ ”
12: And they said, “There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the stubborness of his evil mind.”
13: Therefore thus says Yehovah; “Ask you al now among the nations, who has heard such things: the virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing.
14: Will [a man] leave the snow [water] of Lebanon for the rock of the field? (used for the mixing with wine; or for washing, as in Job 9:30) or shall the cold flowing waters that [be] forsaken for strange waters?
15: Because My people have forgotten Me (showing that the emphasis is on the leaving and forsaking of v.14), they have burned incense to vanity (used of idols), and they have caused them to stumble in their ways in that they forsook the ancient paths (cp.6:16), to walk in paths, in a way not cast up; (i.e. a causeway. Prov.15:19. Isa.57:14; 62:10)
16: To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing (put for the contempt felt); every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head.
17: I will scatter them with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.”
18: Then said they, “Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest (see Lev.10:11), nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with hard words ("tongue" put for the hard words spoken by it), and let us not give heed to any of his words.”
P n 19,20. Complaint. o 21,22. Imprecation. n 23-. Complaint. o -23. Imprecation.
19: Give heed to me, O Yehovah, and listen to the voice of them that contend with me.
20: Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul (= me, emphatic). Remember that I stood before You to speak good for them, and to turn away Your wrath from them.
21: Therefore deliver up their sons to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their sons, and be widows; and let their mighty men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.
22: Let a cry be heard from their houses, when You shall bring marauders suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.
23: Yet, Yehovah, You know all their counsel against me to slay me:
forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from Your sight, but let them be overthrown before You; deal thus with them in the time of Your anger.
L p 1. Bottle taken. q 2,3. Threatening. (General). r 4. Cause. r 5. Cause. q 6-9. Threatening. (Particular). p 10. Bottle broken.
19) 1: Thus says Yehovah, “Go and get a potter's earthen pitcher (often seen hanging by a well to this day. Not a leathern wine-skin), and take of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests;
2: And go forth to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate (i.e. the pottery gate. See Isa.19:19), and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you,
3: And say, ‘Hear you all the word of Yehovah, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus says Yehovah Sabaioth, the Elohim of Israel; Behold, I will bring calamity upon this place, the which whosoever hears, his ears shall tingle. (see 1 Sam.3:11.2 Kings 21:12. Cp. the ref. to Samuel in 15:1)
4: Because they have forsaken Me (see Deut.28:20; 32:15. Cp. Jer.5:7,17), and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known (see Deut.32:17), nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of people (not merely babes);
5: They have built also the high places of Baal, to consume their sons with fire (see Lev.18:21) for burnt offerings to Baal (cp. 7:31), which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into My mind:
6: Therefore, behold, the days come, [is] Yehovah's oracle, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. (cp. 7:31,32)
7: And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies (see Lev.26:17. Deut.28:25), and by the hands of them that seek their souls: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
8: And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing (see 18:16); every one that passes thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
9: And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters (see Lev.26:29. Deut.28:53-57. Cp. Lam.2:20; 4:10), and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.’
10: Then shall you break the bottle in the sight of the mighty men that go with you,
11: And shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yehovah Sabaioth; Even so will I break this People and this city, according as one breaks a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
12: Thus will I do to this place, [is] Yehovah's oracle, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:
13: And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven (cp. 32:29), and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.’ ”
14: Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, to which place Yehovah had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of Yehovah's house; and said to all the People,
15: “Thus says Yehovah Sabaioth, the Elohim of Israel; ‘Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the calamity that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear My words.’ ”
O s 1-3-. Pashur's violence. t -3,4. Pashur and Judah: captives. t 5. Pashur and Judah: spoils. s 6. Pashur's end.
497 B.C.
20) 1: Now Pashur (= most noble. The first person named in this book, beside Jeremiah. Not the Pashur of ch.21. This incident is in the 3rd year of Jehoikim, just before Nebuchadnezar comes for the first time. Ch.21 is the latter part of Zedekiah's reign, 19 years later) the son of Immer the priest (the ancestor of the 16th order of priests, 1 Chron.24:14), who was also chief governor in the house of Yehovah (i.e. Pashur), heard that Jeremiah was prophesying these things.
2: Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet (perhaps according to Deut.25:3), and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin (probably north of the Temple, which looked toward the gate of Benjamin), which was by the house of Yehovah.
3: And it came to pass on the next day, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks.
Then said Jeremiah to him, “Yehovah has not called your name Pashur (Pashhür is the foreign Aramaic name, given by his parents. Jeremiah takes this Aramaic name and interprets it in Hebrew [as Isaiah had done in 8:1,3]. Pash = to stay, or remain on, gür = to sojourn or wander about in a strange land. Aram. sehõr = Heb. sãbib. Hence, "Your name in not staying on, but wandering about". Cp. v.3 with v.6. The opposite of Isa.8:1,2), but Magor-missabib. (= teror-round-about, or fear on every side. Cp. v.10; 6:25; 46:5, &c.)
4: For thus says Yehovah, ‘Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends: and they shall fall by the sword of (some codices read "by the hand of") their enemies, and your eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon (this is the first occ. in Jeremiah), and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.
5: Moreover I will deliver all the power (or, might, put for the wealth acquired by strength) of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.
6: And you, Pashur, and all that dwell in your house shall go into captivity: and you shall come to Babylon, and there you shall die, and shall be buried there, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied lies.’ ”
P R 7-12. Complaint. S 13-. Praise to Yehovah. S -13. Praise. Reason for it. R 14-18. Complaint.
R u 7-. Yehovah. Commission. v -7,8. Jeremiah. Derision of. w 9-. Yehovah's word. Resolve made. w -9. Yehovah's word. Resolve useless. v 10. Jeremiah. Conspiracy against. u 11,12. Jeremiah. Support.
7: O Yehovah, You have induced me (or, persuaded, in a good sense), and I was persuaded: You are stronger [to hold fast to] than I, and have prevailed:
I am in derision daily, every one is laughing at me.
8: For since I spoke, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of Yehovah was made a reproach to me, and a derision, daily.
9: Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name.”
But His word became in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
10: For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. “Report,” say they, “and we will report it.” All those whom I am want to salute watched for my halting, saying, “Perhaps he will be persuade, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.”
11: But Yehovah is with me as a mighty terrible One: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten. 12: But, O Yehovah Sabaioth, that tests a righteous one, and sees the kidneys and the heart (put for thought), let me see Your vengeance on them: for to You have I opened my cause.
13: Sing to Yehovah, praise you all Yehovah:
for He has delivered the soul of the helpless from the hand of evildoers.
14: Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
15: Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, “A son, a male child is born to you;” (cp. Rev.12:5) making him very glad.
16: And let that man be as the cities which Yehovah overthrew (see Gen.19:24), and repented not: and let him hear the cry [of the besiged for help] in the morning, and the shouting [of the besiegers for victory] at noontide; (cp. Ex.32:17,18)
17: Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.
18: Why did I come forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
D T 21:1-14. Defeat and Captivity proclaimed. U 22:1 - 23:8. Promise of The BRANCH. V 23:9-40. Whirlwind. False Prophets. Rejection. W 24:1-10. Captives. Remnant. (Fig). X 25:1-11. Time. Seventy years. Y 25:12-38. Nations. The Cup. Z 26:1-24. Proclomation in Temple. Y 27:1-22. Nations. Bonds and Yoke. X 28:1-17. Time. Two years. W 29:1-32. Captives and Remnant. (Fig). V 30:1 - 31:40. Wirlwind. Book. Restoration. U 32:1 - 33:26. Promise of the BRANCH. T 34:1 - 35:19. Defeat and Captivity proclaimed.
T x 1-7. To the king. y 8-10. To the People of the city. x 11,12. To the king's house. y 13,14. To the People in the city.
479 B.C.
21) 1: The word which came to Jeremiah from Yehovah, when king Zedekiah sent to him (contrast the mission of Hezekiah to Isaiah, 2 Kings 19:2. Isa.37:2) Pashur the son of Melchiah (not the same Pashur of 20:1. This prophecy is 19 years later; the deportation in the reign of Jehoiakim had taken place, and a worse set of men were the rulers. This Pashur was a priest, if Melchiah is the same Melhiah as in 1 Chron.9:12), and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest (he is mentioned again, 29:25; 37:3; 52:24. The Heb. accent reads "Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah"), saying,
2: “Inquire, I pray you, of Yehovah for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon makes war against us (first occ. in Jeremiah); if so be that Yehovah will deal with us according to all His wondrous works, that He may go up from us.” (i.e. raise the siege)
3: Then said Jeremiah to them, “Thus shall you all say to Zedekiah: (= justice of Yehovah. The last king of Judah)
4: ‘Thus says Yehovah the Elohim of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith you all fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.
5: And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand (see Ex.6:6. Deut.4:34) and with a strong arm (put for holding fast), even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
6: And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both human and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
7: And afterward, [is] Yehovah's oracle, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, and from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their soul: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them (see Deut.28:50), neither have pity, nor have mercy.
8: And to this People you shall say, Thus says Yehovah; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. (see Deut.30:19)
9: He that abides in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goes out, and shall fall to the Chaldeans that besiege you, then shall he shall live (many acted on this promise, see 39:9; 52:15), and his life shall be to him for a prey. (i.e. he shall save his life, but it will be dearly bought. Cp. 38:2; 39:18; 45:5. The phrase only occurs in Jeremiah)
10: For I have set my face against this city for calamity (see Lev.17:10.), and not for good, says Yehovah: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
11: And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear you all the word of Yehovah;
12: O house of David, thus says Yehovah; Execute judgment early (or, soon), and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest My fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. (some codices read "their")
13: Behold, I am against you, O inhabitress of the valley, and rock of the plain (i.e. Zion), [is] Yehovah's oracle; which say, ‘Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?’
14: But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, [is] Yehovah's oracle: and I will kindle a fire (see Deut.32:22) in her forest (put for the timber of Lebanon used in the buildings), and it shall devour all things round about it. (fulfilled in 52:13)