Jeremiah 44:26

Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

44:20-30 Whatever evil comes upon us, it is because we have sinned against the Lord; we should therefore stand in awe, and sin not. Since they were determined to persist in their idolatry, God would go on to punish them. What little remains of religion were among them, would be lost. The creature-comforts and confidences from which we promise ourselves most, may fail as soon as those from which we promise ourselves least; and all are what God makes them, not what we fancy them to be. Well-grounded hopes of our having a part in the Divine mercy, are always united with repentance and obedience.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

My name shall no more be named ... - God swears by His own great Name that He will be their national God no longer. Yahweh repudiates His covenant-relation toward them.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

26. I have sworn—I, too have made a vow which I will fulfil. Since ye will not hear Me speaking and warning, hear Me swearing.

by my great name—that is, by Myself (Ge 22:16), the greatest by whom God can swear (Heb 6:13, 14).

my name shall no more be named—The Jews, heretofore, amidst all their idolatry, had retained the form of appeal to the name of God and the law, the distinctive glory of their nation; God will allow this no more (Eze 20:39): there shall be none left there to profane His name thus any more.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Seeing you are so fixed and peremptory, God is as resolved as you are; and as you think you must be religious to your wicked vows, so be assured God will be as religious to his oath; because he can swear by no greater, he hath sworn by himself, Hebrews 6:13,17, (for so name signifieth here,) There shall not any be left of the Jews that are in Egypt, to swear,

The Lord God liveth (for it should seem that the Jews yet retained something of the religion of their country, and sware by the name of the living God, according to the precept, Deu 6:13 10:20). God threateneth there should be none of them left alive to do it; he would not have his holy name polluted by those mouths that had been used to bless idols.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt,.... See Gill on Jeremiah 44:24; since you have made your vows, and will perform them, I will take an oath, and abide by it:

behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord; by his name Jehovah, which is incommunicable, and expressive of his eternity and immutability; or by himself, his name being himself, and than which he can swear by no greater, Hebrews 6:13;

that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, the Lord God liveth: this cannot be understood of the name of the Lord being called upon them, or of their being called by his name, and reckoned his people, which is the sense of Abarbinel; since this respects not a name by which they should be named, but which they should name; and intends their use of the divine name in an oath, of which this is a form, "the Lord God liveth": or as sure as the Lord lives, or by the living God, it is so and so; and especially as used in their vows to burn incense to the queen of heaven, they vowing by the living God that they would do so, which must be very abominable to him; and therefore he solemnly swears there should not be a Jew in all Egypt that should use it; the reason is, because everyone of them that did should be cut off, as follows:

Geneva Study Bible

Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name {n} shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth.

(n) This declares a horrible plague toward idolaters, seeing that God will not vouchsafe to have his Name mentioned by such as have polluted it.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

26. my name shall no more be named] The Jews in Egypt shall be exterminated.

26–28. As these vv. stand, there is, if we take them literally, a considerable amount of contradiction (cp. Jeremiah 44:14). The Egyptian Jews are (Jeremiah 44:26) to perish completely; but (Jeremiah 44:27) some are to escape into Judah, while survivors in Egypt (Jeremiah 44:28) shall know whose word shall stand. Du., Erbt and Co. consider that Jeremiah 44:26 was originally a continuation of the irony of Jeremiah 44:25 (“establish then, etc.”) and that it should accordingly read, “let my name be no more, etc.” (i.e. let my worship and with it all oaths taken in my name cease), while Jeremiah 44:27 and the first part of Jeremiah 44:28 are a subsequent addition, the second part of the latter remaining as genuine. At any rate we find from the Assuan papyri (see Introd. p. xix.) that the gloomy anticipations of the MT. were not in fact fulfilled; for the Egyptian Jews in the century following were a flourishing community and were worshippers of Jehovah and not idolaters.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 26. - My Name shall no more be named. Because no Jews will be left alive in Egypt. Jeremiah 44:26

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Announcement of the punishment for this idolatry. - Jeremiah 44:24. "And Jeremiah said unto all the people, and unto all the women, Hear the word of Jahveh, all of Judah that are in the land of Egypt; Jeremiah 44:25. Thus saith Jahve of hosts, the God of Israel: Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouth, and fulfilled it with your hands, saying, We will assuredly perform our vows which we have vowed, by burning incense to the queen of heaven, and by pouring out libations to her: ye will by all means perform your vows, and carry out your vows. Jeremiah 44:26. Therefore hear the word of Jahveh, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith Jahveh, truly my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah, saying, 'As the Lord Jahveh liveth,' in all the land of Egypt. Jeremiah 44:27. Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good; and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, till they are annihilated. Jeremiah 44:28. And those who escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, a small number; and all the remnant of Judah, that went to the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose word shall stand, mine or theirs. Jeremiah 44:29. And this shall be the sign to you, saith Jahveh, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely rise up against you for evil: Jeremiah 44:30. Thus hath Jahveh spoken, Behold, I will give Pharaoh-Hophra into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I have given Zedekiah the king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, who was his enemy, and sought his life."

After refuting the false assertion of the people, Jeremiah once more announces to them, on behalf of God, in the most solemn manner, the punishment of extermination by sword and famine in Egypt; this he does for the purpose of giving the greatest possible emphasis to his warning against persevering in idolatry. For substance, this announcement is similar to that of Jeremiah 44:11-14, but the expression is stronger. Even in the summary account of their offences, Jeremiah 44:25, the words are so chosen and arranged as to bring out clearly the determination of the people to persevere in worshipping the queen of heaven. "As for you and your wives, ye have spoken with your mouth and fulfilled it with your hand" (on the Vav consec. attached to תּדבּרנה, cf. Ewald, 344, b), i.e., ye have uttered vows and then carried them out; for ye say, We must keep the vows that we have vowed. It is to be observed that the verbs תּדבּרנה, and in the concluding portion תּקימנה and תּעשׂינה, are feminine, since the address chiefly applies to the wives, who clung most tenaciously to idolatry. In the clause 'הקים תּקימנה וגו, "ye will make your vows and perform them," there is unmistakeable irony, in which the reference is to the wilfulness of the people in this idolatry. This ἑθελοθρησκεία is shown by the inf. abs. הקים, which strengthens תּקימנה. "To establish vows," i.e., to make them, was not a thing commanded, but left to one's free determination. Hence, also, no appeal to the maxim that vows which have been made or uttered must be fulfilled, can justify the making of the vows. The form תּקימנה for תּקמנה is an unusual one; and the י which the Hirik takes after it is occasioned by the form הקים; cf. Ewald, 196, c. - The announcement of the punishment is introduced by a solemn oath on the part of God. Jahveh swears by His great name, i.e., as the one who has shown Himself God by His mighty deeds - who has the power of keeping His word. The name is, of course, only a manifestation of His existence. אם as a particle used in swearing equals certainly not. His name shall no more be named in the mouth of any Jew in the land of Egypt, i.e., be used in asseverations, because all the Jews in Egypt shall be exterminated. On the expression, "Behold, I will watch over them," etc., cf. Jeremiah 31:28 and Jeremiah 21:10. In Jeremiah 44:28, it is more exactly stated that only a few individuals shall escape the sword and return to Judah; thus, no one shall remain behind in Egypt. By this judgment, all the remnant of Judah that went to Egypt shall find out whose word - Jahveh's or theirs - will endure, i.e., prove true. ממּנּי properly depends on דבר, "the word from me or from them" (the people).