Jeremiah 18:12

And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) And they said.—Better, But they say, as of continued action. This was the ever-recurring answer (see Note on Jeremiah 2:25) which they made to the prophet’s pleas. It was the answer of defiance rather than of despair. “There is no hope, you need not hope, that we will do as you bid us. We will go on our way, and walk after our own devices.”

Imagination.—Better, as elsewhere, stubbornness.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

18:11-17 Sinners call it liberty to live at large; whereas for a man to be a slave to his lusts, is the very worst slavery. They forsook God for idols. When men are parched with heat, and meet with cooling, refreshing streams, they use them. In these things men will not leave a certainty for an uncertainty; but Israel left the ancient paths appointed by the Divine law. They walked not in the highway, in which they might travel safely, but in a way in which they must stumble: such was the way of idolatry, and such is the way of iniquity. This made their land desolate, and themselves miserable. Calamities may be borne, if God smile upon us when under them; but if he is displeased, and refuses his help, we are undone. Multitudes forget the Lord and his Christ, and wander from the ancient paths, to walk in ways of their own devising. But what will they do in the day of judgment!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And they said - Better, But they say.

Imagination - Or, stubbornness, see Jeremiah 3:17.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. no hope—Thy threats and exhortations are all thrown away (Jer 2:25). Our case is desperate; we are hopelessly abandoned to our sins and their penalty. In this and the following clauses, "We will walk after our own devices," Jeremiah makes them express the real state of the case, rather than the hypocritical subterfuges which they would have been inclined to put forth. So Isa 30:10, 11.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

There is no hope of us, thou dost but labour in vain in talking to us; for we are resolved to run on in our former race. It cannot be imagined that they should call the imaginations of their own hearts evil, unless it were in derision. The sum of what they said was this: Jeremiah, thou hadst as good say or do nothing as talk to us, we are resolved upon our course, and if thou callest our hearts

evil, we cannot help that; according to the purposes, counsels, and thoughts of those our evil hearts are resolved to steer our courses, we will not be guided by thee.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they said, there is no hope,.... Or, "but they said" (w); not that there was no hope of the grace and mercy of God, upon their repentance and reformation, for that is before declared; but that they were so hardened in their sins, so fixed in their wicked courses, and so determined to go on in them, that there was no room for the prophet to hope of ever reclaiming them; signifying, that it was to little purpose to talk to them, or exhort them; his labour would be in vain; for they were at a point, and resolved to continue in their evil practices, let the consequences be what they would. Jarchi's note is,

"but I know that they will say to thee concerning thy words, that we do not care for them;''

no, not a rush; you may as well hold your peace and say nothing; we are in no pain about future judgments, these give us no uneasiness. The Targum is,

"we are turned from thy worship;''

and we are resolved to continue as we are, and not to return to say what you will:

but we will walk after our own devices; God may take his way, and we will take ours; he has devised evil against us, you say, and he may bring it if he pleases; we have devised sin, and we shall go on in it:

and we will do everyone the imagination of his evil heart; whatsoever our hearts suggest to us as pleasant and agreeable, that we shall do, let the issue be what it will: it is not to be thought that these people expressed themselves in so many words; but this was the language of their hearts, and of their actions, known unto the Lord, and are put into this form by him, or by the prophet, expressing the real sentiments of their minds.

(w) "sed dixerunt", Schmidt; "sed dicunt", Piscator.

Geneva Study Bible

And they said, {c} There is no hope: but we will walk after our own plots, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

(c) As men who had no remorse but were altogether bent to rebellion and to their own selfwill.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. no hope] It is too late to turn back now. See on Jeremiah 2:25.

stubbornness] Cp. ch. Jeremiah 3:17.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - And they said; rather, But they go on saying (comp. Ezekiel 33:17, 20). There is no hope. The rendering may be easily misunderstood. The speakers are not, as we might suppose, despondent about their state and prospects, but they seek to check the troublesome preacher by the warning that he has no chance of success (so Jeremiah 2:25). Imagination; rather, stubbornness (as constantly). Jeremiah 18:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Application of the emblem to Judah. - Jeremiah 18:11. "And now speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: Thus hath Jahveh said: Behold, I frame against you evil and devise against you a device. Return ye, now, each from his evil way, and better your ways and your doings. Jeremiah 18:12. But they say: There is no use! For our imaginations will we follow, and each do the stubbornness of his evil heart. Jeremiah 18:13. Therefore thus hath Jahveh said: Ask now among the heathen! who hath heard the like? A very horrible thing hath the virgin of Israel done! Jeremiah 18:14. Does the snow of Lebanon cease from the rock of the field? or do strange, cold trickling waters dry up? Jeremiah 18:15. For my people hath forgotten me; to the vanity they offer odours; they have made them to stumble upon their ways, the everlasting paths, to walk in by-paths, a way not cast up. Jeremiah 18:16. To make their land a dismay, a perpetual hissing, every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and shake his head. Jeremiah 18:17. Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy; with the back and not with the face will I look upon them in the day of their ruin."

Jeremiah 18:11-12

In Jeremiah 18:11 and Jeremiah 18:12 what was said at Jeremiah 18:6. is applied to Judah. יצר, from in sense of prepare (cf. Isaiah 22:11; Isaiah 37:26), is chosen with special reference to the potter (יוצר). מחשׁבה, the thought, design, here in virtue of the parallelism: evil plot, as often both with and without רעה; cf. Esther 8:3, Esther 8:5; Esther 9:25; Ezekiel 38:10. The call to repentance runs much as do Jeremiah 35:15 and Jeremiah 7:3. - But this call the people reject disdainfully, replying that they are resolved to abide by their evil courses. ואמרוּ, not: they said, but: they say; the perf. consec. of the action repeating itself at the present time; cf. Ew. 342, b. 1. נואשׁ as in Jeremiah 2:25; on "stubbornness of their evil heart," cf. Jeremiah 3:17. By this answer the prophet makes them condemn themselves out of their own mouth; cf. Isaiah 28:15; Isaiah 30:10.