Jeremiah 29:20

Hear ye therefore the word of the LORD, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 29:20-23. Hear all ye of the captivity whom I have sent, &c. — These phrases, I have sent, I have driven, &c., should be well observed by us. There is no evil or punishment in cities or nations, but, whoever be the instruments in bringing it on, God is the author of it. Thus saith the Lord of Ahab and of Zedekiah — Of these two persons we read no more in holy writ. That they pretended to be prophets, and to reveal God’s will, although he had not called them to any such office, nor had made known his will to them, and that therefore they had abused God’s name, we learn in this verse, and that they came to a miserable end we find in Jeremiah 29:22. He shall slay them before your eyes — As persons that disturbed the minds of the Jews, his subjects, and made them unwilling to submit to his government, by giving them hopes of a speedy deliverance from under it: see Jeremiah 29:7-8. And of them shall be taken up a curse — That is, an imprecation shall be used, namely, The Lord make thee like Zedekiah, &c., or, May thou meet with punishment similar to that which these persons met with. Whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire — Casting persons into the fire was a punishment used in that country, as appears from the history of Shadrach and his companions, Daniel 3. There was likewise in use a way of roasting persons by a gentle fire, to make them die by a more lingering death, such as Antiochus practised upon the seven brethren, 2Ma 7:5. The word here properly denotes this sort of punishment. Because they have committed villany in Israel, &c. — The Jewish rabbins, as Grotius here observes, have a traditionary notion, that these were the two elders who attempted the chastity of Susannah; the story of which they think to be true in part, though not altogether such as it is represented in the Greek. Some translate the words, Because they HAD committed villany, or, evil in Israel, and HAD committed adultery, &c., understanding them as assigning the cause why Nebuchadnezzar had roasted these persons alive, namely, because they had committed adultery, it being a custom among some of the eastern nations, and they suppose also among the Babylonians, to punish that crime in the most severe manner.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

29:20-32 Jeremiah foretells judgments upon the false prophets, who deceived the Jews in Babylon. Lying was bad; lying to the people of the Lord, to delude them into a false hope, was worse; but pretending to rest their own lies upon the God of truth, was worst of all. They flattered others in their sins, because they could not reprove them without condemning themselves. The most secret sins are known to God; and there is a day coming when he will bring to light all the hidden works of darkness. Shemaiah urges the priests to persecute Jeremiah. Their hearts are wretchedly hardened who justify doing mischief by having power to do it. They were in a miserable thraldom for mocking the messengers of the Lord, and misusing his prophets; yet in their distress they trespass still more against the Lord. Afflictions will not of themselves cure men of their sins, unless the grace of God works with them. Those who slight the blessings, deserve to lose the benefit of God's word, like Shemaiah. The accusations against many active Christians in all ages, amount to no more than this, that they earnestly counsel men to attend to their true interest and duties, and to wait for the performance of God's promises in his appointed way.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Vile - The word does not occur elsewhere, but comes from a root signifying to shudder, and thus has an intense meaning.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18. removed to all … kingdoms—(Jer 15:4; De 28:25).

curse, &c.—(Jer 29:6; 18:16; 19:8).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Those phrases, I have sent,

and I have driven, &c., are diligently to be observed by us. There is no evil in cities or nations which is an evil of punishment, but, whoever be the instruments to bring it, God is the author of it. These phrases also signified to those Jews that God was likeliest to know best how long they should stay there, because he sent them thither.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord,.... What he was now about to say concerning their false prophets:

all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon; all that were carried captive along with Jeconiah. Some parts of this letter are directed to one sort of the captives, and others to another sort of them; some being good men, some bad; but what follows all are called upon to observe, good and bad; it being a prediction of a certain event, which they would see fulfilled in a short time; and therefore might be of service of them; to the godly, for the confirmation of them in the belief of what the Lord had promised; and to the rest, to make them stop giving heed to false prophets, that should here after arise.

Geneva Study Bible

Hear ye therefore the word of the LORD, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

20. This v. is an insertion, to connect the preceding interpolation with what follows.

20–23. The prophets in Babylonia, of whom the exiles speak in Jeremiah 29:15, shall perish by a cruel death.

Jeremiah 29:20

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Jeremiah informs the captives of the judgments that is to gall on such as are still left in the land. Jeremiah 29:15. "If ye say: Jahveh hath raised us up prophets in Babylon - Jeremiah 29:16. Yea, thus saith Jahveh of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity, Jeremiah 29:17. Thus saith Jahveh of hosts: Behold, I send amongst them the sword, famine, and pestilence, and make them like horrible figs, that cannot be eaten for badness, Jeremiah 29:18. And hunt after them with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and give them to be abused to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach among all the peoples whither I have driven them; Jeremiah 29:19. Inasmuch as they have not hearkened to my words, saith Jahveh, wherewith I sent to them my servants the prophets, from early morning on sending them, and ye have not hearkened, saith Jahveh. Jeremiah 29:20. But ye, hear the word of Jahveh, all ye captives whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon." - The design with which Jeremiah tells the captives of this judgment may be gathered from the terms of Jeremiah 29:15, with which this prophecy is introduced: God had raised up to us prophets in Babel (בּבלה, lit., as far as Babel, i.e., extending His agency so far beyond the bounds of Judah). Hence it is clear that the announcement of judgment to come on those left in the land is in direct opposition to the predictions of the prophets that had appeared in Babylon. these prophesied a swift end to Chaldean domination and an immediate return of the exiles to their fatherland. So long as one of David's posterity sat on his throne in Jerusalem, and so long as the kingdom of Judah was maintained, the partial captivity of the people and removal of the plundered treasures of the temple would appear as a calamity which might soon be repaired. The false prophets in Babylon laid, therefore, great stress on the continued existence of the kingdom, with its capital and the temple, in their efforts to obtain belief amongst the exiles. As Ng. justly remarks, it was to take this ground from beneath their feet that Jeremiah predicted expulsion and destruction against the people of Jerusalem. The prophecy does indeed bear upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, "but not in the first reference; its immediate purpose was to overthrow the foundations on which the false prophets of the exile stood" (Ng.). Taken thus, these verses form and integral part of the message sent by Jeremiah to the exiles, which was of no small weight for quieting the excitement, nourished by the false prophets, which reigned amongst them. One is struck by the want of connection between Jeremiah 29:15 and Jeremiah 29:16. The beginning of Jeremiah 29:16, "Yea, thus saith," comes directly after the end of Jeremiah 29:15 without any joining link. Ng. holds the כּי to be the pleonastic כּי which often introduces a saying. But its position before the "thus saith" makes this impossible. Here it serves to strengthen the asseveration: yea, thus fitly introducing what Jahveh says to the contrary; and Jeremiah 29:15 and Jeremiah 29:16 are, tersely and immediately, set over against one another. "If ye say" means: as regards your saying that Jahveh hath raised you up prophets in Babylon, the answer is: Thus hath Jahveh said. This is the connection of Jeremiah 29:16 with Jeremiah 29:15.

(Note: By the above exposition of the connection and progress of the thought, are disposed of all the objections that have been brought by Houb., Lud. Capp., Ven., etc., against the genuineness of these verses, or, at least, against the true position for them. The fact of their being wanting in the lxx, on which Hitz. mainly grounds his charge of spuriousness, proves nothing more than that these translators were unable to understand the train of thought in the verses, especially seeing that the substance of them has several times been expressed by Jeremiah, particularly Jeremiah 29:17 and Jeremiah 29:18; Jeremiah 24:9-10, cf. Jeremiah 15:4; Jeremiah 19:8; with Jeremiah 29:19 cf. Jeremiah 7:13, Jeremiah 7:25. Against the attempts to alter the text, Graf's remarks are admirable: "It is much easier to explain how the passage was omitted as out of place by the lxx than to show how it could have been introduced as an interpolation. It is too long for a mere marginal gloss that had at a later time found its way into the text; and why it should have been placed here, would remain all the more incomprehensible if it were so wholly unconnected with the body of the text. We cannot admit that it is merely an erroneous displacement of b. 15, which originally stood before Jeremiah 29:21; since it is less likely that Jeremiah 29:16 could have come directly after Jeremiah 29:14. In respect of form, Jeremiah 29:16-20 is connected with and forms a continuation of what precedes. Jeremiah 29:20 implies the presence of Jeremiah 29:16 as an antithesis, and at the same time completes again the connection that had been interrupted with Jeremiah 29:15, and leads on to Jeremiah 29:21. Connection in thought seems to be wanting only because Jeremiah 29:16 does not express the connecting idea, and because the contrast is so abrupt." - The other arguments adduced by Hitz. to throw suspicion on the passage, we can afford to pass over as wholly without force.)

"Your brethren that," etc., is co-ordinate with "all the people." The words: "I make them like horrible figs," make allusion to the vision in Jeremiah 24:2., but do not imply that this vision was known to the exiles, for they are quite intelligible to him who knows nothing of Jeremiah 24:1-10 (Ng.). The adject. שׁער is found only here, from שׁער, shudder; horrible, that on tasting which one shudders. With Jeremiah 29:18, cf. Jeremiah 24:9. "Wherewith I sent my servants," i.e., commissioned them. This verb construed with double accus. as in 2 Samuel 11:22; Isaiah 55:11. "Ye have not hearkened," the 2nd pers. instead of the 3rd, is hardly to be explained by the fact that the prophet here cites in full an often quoted saying (Hitz., Ng., etc.). The reason is that the prophet is thinking of the exiles also as having been equal to their brethren remaining in Judah in the matter of not hearkening. Thus the way is prepared for the summons: But ye, hear, Jeremiah 29:20.