SECOND SYMBOL:—THE BROKEN VESSEL

CHAPTERS 19, 20

1. The symbolic action and its interpretation

19:1–13

1Thus saith the LORD [Jehovah], Go and get [buy] a potter’s earthen bottle [vessel],1 and take [some] of the ancients [elders]2 of the people, and of the ancients 2[elders] of the priests; And go forth into the valley of the Son of Hinnom [valley of Ben-Hinnom], which is by the entry of the east [Potters’] gate,3 and 3proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee, And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD [Jehovah], O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus saith the Lord of hosts [Jehovah Zebaoth] the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil upon 4this place, the which whosoever heareth,4 his ears shall tingle. Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged5 this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and 5have filled this place with the blood of innocents; They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons [children] with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind.

6Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD [Jehovah], that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The Valley of the Son of Hinnom [valley of 7Ben-Hinnom] but The Valley of Slaughter. And I will make void [pour out] the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of them that seek their lives; and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the 8beasts of the earth [land]. And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing [a horror of desolation and a derision]; every one that passes thereby [through] shall be astonished and hiss[deride] because of all the plagues thereof.6 And I will 9cause them to eat the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters, 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.7

10Then shalt thou break the bottle [pitcher] in the sight of the men that go with thee. 11And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of Hosts [Jehovah Zebaoth], Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again; and they shall bury them in Tophet, till [because] there be 12[is] no place [room] to bury [elsewhere]. Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD [Jehovah], and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet: 13and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be denied as the place of Tophet, [because of]8 all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out9 drink-offerings unto other gods.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The prophet receives the command to buy another pitcher from the potter, and in company with the elders of the people and priests to betake himself to the valley of Ben-Hinnom, near a gate, which appears here under the name of the Potter’s gate (Jer 19:1 and 2). There he is to proclaim the words which we read in Jer 19:3–13. In these words a severe divine judgment is first proclaimed in general (Jer 19:3). Then the crimes are narrated in detail, which the people and the kings of Judah have committed in this place. Then the divine punishments are mentioned, of which the witness and theatre will be the valley of Ben-Hinnom or Tophet: 1. This will be called the Valley of Slaughter, (Jer 19:6), in consequence of the slaughter, which after the failure of the plans determined on by the people (here the prophet must have made the gesture of pouring out of the pitcher), both the enemy will make among the people, and the people among themselves (Jer 19:8–9). 2. The people and city shall be broken in pieces, which the prophet indicates by the breaking of the pitcher; Tophet for lack of room shall become a place of interment, and the city, with all the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal, shall become a place like the desolate and unclean Tophet (Jer 19:10–13).

Jer 19:1 and 2. Thus saith … I shall tell thee. This opening is like that in 17:19—bottle, Heb. bakbuk, is an earthen pitcher with a long neck. The sound of the word seems to imitate the noise of water being poured out.—Comp. the Greek βόμβυλος, βομβύλη, and the German Kutterkrug.—Elders of the priests are mentioned besides only in Isai. 37:2 (2 Ki. 19:2). Whether they are identical with the princes or chief of the priests (2 Chron. 26:14; Neh. 12:7) or only in general the most respectable of the priests is doubtful. Comp. OEHLER, in HERZOG, R.-Enc., XII. S. 183.—Valley of Ben-Hinnom. Comp. Comm. on 7:31 coll. 2:23.—By the entry (פתח), comp. Gen. 18:1; Jud. 9:35, etc.NAEGELSB. Gr., § 70, c.—Potter’s gate. 1. concerning the form, comp. TEXTUAL NOTES. 2. As to the meaning, (a) some of the older Rabbins, cited by KIMCHI, who however does not agree with them, are of opinion that the word is to be derived from חֶרֶם sun, and that by the sun-gate is to be understood the eastern gate of the temple, since there was no gate in the city-wall to the South. So also TEEMELLIUS, PISCATOR, J. D. MICHAELIS and HITZIG, but they would have the southern gate of the outer court (a solis æstu sic dictam) understood to be the nearest way to Tophet. (b) The other commentators agree in deriving חַרִסִית from הֶרֶם, testa. But opinions greatly differ whether the gate was so called because the potsherds were thrown out there [the Chaldee paraphrast renders: the dung-gate], or because the potters lived in its vicinity, or because the clay-pits were just outside the gate. The last is the view of HOFMANN (Weiss, u. Erf. II., S. 124, etc. Vid. Comm. on 7. 31). Apart from the etymological signification of the word Tophet, which HOFMANN gives, it is in favor of this interpretation that this same place is called in Matth. 27:7ἀγρὸς τοῦ κεραμέως (observe the generic article). This name decidedly favors the supposition that the place stood in closer relation to pottery than that of a mere depository of potsherds. White clay, a kind of pipe-clay, is also still dug there. Comp. HERZOG, R.-Enc, 5. S. 475; RAUMER, Pal. S. 306. Finally the choice of an earthen pitcher for the prophetic symbol must have been occasioned by the inner relation which the pitcher bore to the place of the action. If it was merely intended to indicate that death and destruction would come upon Jerusalem even so as to fill Tophet with corpses, the breaking and throwing away of any other object would have answered as well. But Jeremiah is to take an earthen pitcher because Tophet was the place where such vessels were produced, consequently nothing was more natural than to choose for this place of breaking an object to be broken which originated there, in connection with which it is not to be denied that other reasons, as the comparatively easy frangibility, and the climax in relation to Jer 18. (there transformation, here destruction) may have co-operated. And by all this also it. is not disputed that the potters may have lived in the vicinity of the clay-pits, and that the same place may have served at the same time for the deposit of potsherds and other refuse. 3. To what gate otherwise known does the pottery-gate correspond? The name occurs here only. The remark on 17. 19 is here confirmed that the names of the gates of Jerusalem have been often changed. Many commentators proceed, as we have remarked, on the hypothesis that the city wall had no gates to the South. That this is an error will now scarcely be doubted by anyone. Comp. RAUMER, Pal., S. 291. On the southern side of the city were the well-gate [Zion-gate?—S. R. A.] and the dung-gate. Both opened on the Tyropæum, both therefore conducted to Tophet, the former being nearer to this place. But the latter corresponds better to the character of Tophet as an unclean spot, receiving the impurities of the city. Here also the cloaca Betzo disembogued. “The site of this gate,” says RAUMER, S. 352, “is the lowest point of the city, to which all the filth of the city and the ravine of Siloah descends.”—[Comp. THOMSON, The Land and the Book, II. 497]. A definite conclusion is however not to be reached with respect to things concerning which so much uncertainty still prevails.

Jer 19:3-5. And say … into my mind. Here it is not recorded, as in 18:3, that the prophet performed the command received in Jer 19:1, 2, and thereupon in the valley of Hinnom received the revelation contained in Jer 19:3 sqq. For there (Jer 18.) the revelation to be received was occasioned by the observations made at the potter’s (18. 3, 4). There is no similar occasion here, so that Jer 19:3 proceeds at once to communicate the revelation.—And say, reads as though the previous discourse were continued, which cannot be the case on account of I shall tell. We shall not err if we attribute the mode of expression here chosen to the written representation.—Kings of Judah. Here, as in Jer 19:4 coll. 13. 13; 17. 20 the prophet has in view not only the person of the present, king, but the kingdom of Judah generally.—This place is here, in accordance with what follows. Tophet.—They, etc. Comp. 9:15; 16:13; 44:3, 2—Have filled. On the verbal form comp. Comm. on 18. 4.—Blood of innocents. According to the connection and Ps. 106:37, 38 we must understand this of the blood of the children offered in sacrifice.

Jer 19:5 is almost verbatim the same as 7:31 ; 32. 35. Comp. the remarks on the first of these passages.

Jer 19:6-9. Therefore behold … shall straiten them. After, in Jer 19:4 and 5, the abominations practised in Tophet have been enumerated, the announcement is now made of the corresponding punishments. This announcement, which appears to be a specification of the summary denunciation in Jer 19:3b, is made in two stages, of which the first (Jer 19:6–9) is accompanied by the gesture of pouring out (Jer 19:7), and the second by the act of breaking (Jer 19:10).—The days come, etc., Jer 19:6. Comp. Comm. on 7:32.—Pour out. Isai. 24:1; Nah. 2:3. What is poured out falls to the ground, which is frequently used as a figurative expression for coming to naught. Comp. 1 Sam. 3:19; 2 Kings 10:10.—In this place. Is this the term, in quo, or in quern? I believe the latter. In Tophet all the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem is to find its tragical end, as this is indeed expressed by the name Valley of Slaughter, and by burying in Tophet (Jer 19:11) and by becoming like Tophet (Jer 19:12).—I will give, etc. Comp. 7. 30; 16. 4.—A hissing, Jer 19:8. Comp. 18. 16; 25. 9, 18; 51. 37.—Every one, etc. Comp. 1 Ki. 9. 8; Jer. 18. 16; 49. 17; 1. 13.

Jer 19:9 is taken entire from Deut. 28. 53–55 (Lev. 26. 29). Comp. Lam. 2. 20; 4. 10. As historical analogies, comp. 2 Ki. 6. 28, 29. JOSEPH, Bell. Jud., 4. 3, 3–5.

Jer 19:10-13. Then shalt thou break … unto other gods. The second stage of the symbolic action. The progress consists in this, that by the breaking of the pitcher the total ruin of the city and people (therefore not merely of individuals) and by the casting into Tophet its desolation and defilement, or in other words its becoming itself Tophet, is symbolized.’—As one breaketh (Jer 19:11). Comp. Comm. on 5. 26; 6. 29; 8. 4; 10. 3; 12. 11; NAEGELSB. Gr., § 101, 2, b.—Cannot be made whole again. Though uttered concerning another object, we find the same words verbatim in Deut. 28:27, 35.—And they shall bury, etc. Comp. 7:32. These words being wanting in the LXX., have been suspected. But they stand in a good connection, and correspond to the casting out, by which the pitcher was not merely broken but buried in Tophet. Consequently by this act Tophet is as it were dedicated to the purposes of a cemetery. Jeremiah says interments will be made in Tophet for want of room. This prophecy may have been fulfilled after the destruction of the city by Nebuchadnezzar (comp. 32:29) though we have no positive statements to this effect. But Tophet. having once become a place of burial, must have accomplished this destination afterwards in a significant manner. It is the ἀγρὸς τοῦ κεραμέως which was bought with the price of blood for the burial-place of pilgrims (Matth. 27:3 sqq.; Acts 1:18, 19). And still at the present day Aceldama is the burial-place of pilgrims dying in Jerusalem; indeed the whole of the valley surrounding Zion on the West and South, on its right side, contains numerous rock sepulchres, a true “Necropolis,” says RAUMER. Comp. his Pal., S. 306.

Jer 19:12. Thus will I do, etc. The Lord will do to the city as is indicated by the breaking of the pitcher. Thus will Jerusalem become a heap of ruins, and unclean, for the want of room presupposes that even the city itself will be full of corpses. Therefore we find וְ before לָתֵת = and indeed. Comp. rems. on 17:10.—Shall be defiled, (הטמאים). [HENDERSON renders: which are polluted, shall be as this place; HITZIG, UMBREIT, NAEGELSBACH: shall be as the place of Tophet, the unclean, or unclean.—S. R. A.]. Since the Hebrew in a much higher degree than our modern languages is capable of the constructio ad sensum, since especially an ideal plural is often contained in singular words (comp. 1 Ki. 5:17; 2 Sam. 15:23. NAEGELSB. Gr., § 105, 2f.) so the connection of the singular Tophet with הטמאים presents in itself no difficulty. Only it is not clear what are the several elements included in the unity of Tophet. HOFMANN and others suppose them to be graves, a referred above, on 7:31, to altars. This word is certainly elsewhere used as feminine. But in respect also to gender, the same ideal construction prevails in the Hebrew. (Comp. NAEGELSB. Gr., § 60, 4). It appears to me therefore that the prophet had here the places of worship in view. These he calls unclean both en account of the abominations practised there, and the defilements caused by Josiah, 2 Ki. 23:10. The other renderings (defiled as the predicate, or as in apposition to houses or to place or another division of the words: תֹּבְּתֵּה טְמֵאִֹים) are opposed by such strong grammatical objections, that the remaining uncertainty of our explanation is scarce worth consideration in comparison with them. The houses of Jerusalem will however in this sense be like Tophet, that the place where they now stand, will in the future become as desolate and unclean as it.—Upon the roofs. Comp. Zeph. 1:5; 2 Ki. 23:12. J. D. MICHAELIS quotes STRABO (16. p. 1131): Ναβαταῖοι (comp. 1 Macc. 5:25; 9:35) ἥλιον τιμῶσιν ἐπὶ τοῦ δώματος ίδρυσάμενοι βωμὸν, σπένδοντες ἐν αὐτῷκαθ ἡμέραν καὶ λιβανίζοντες.

Footnotes:

[1]Jer 19:1.—בקבק is found as an appellative in 1 Ki. 14:3, and as a proper name in Ezr. 2:51; Neh. 7:53, coll. בַּקְסֻּקְיָה, Neh. 11:17; 12:9, 25. GESENIUS (Thes., I., p. 232 [Lax. s, v.]) derives it from בקק, evacuavit (comp. Jer 19:7), according to the analogy of חַרְחֻר ,בַּרְבֻדִים, etc. So also OLSH. § 190, e. [HITZIG renders: a bottle,—NAEGELSB.: a pitcher,—from the maker of earthenware.—S. R. A.]—יוצר חרשׂ. There is also יֹצְרֵי פֶסֶל, Isa. 44:9 coll. 54:16, 17. חרשׂ synonymous with חֶרֶם, is that which has become dry and rough by heat. (Comp. חֶרֶם, scabies a scabiendo, as Krätze from kratzen in German), Deut. 28:27, and חֶרֶם, sun, in Jud. 8:13; Job 9:7; then especially the burnt earthenware: בְּלִי ח׳, Lev. 6:21, etc. נִבְלֵי ח׳, Lam. 4:2.

[2]Jer 19:1.—ומזקני ו׳. LXX., καὶ ἂξεις ἀπὸ τῶν πρεσβντέρων, etc. They certainly did not read וְלָקַחְתָּ, but correctly supplied it from וְקָנִיתָ, for the prophet was not merely to buy the pitcher, but to take it with him. It is a species of very bold construction peægnins, the verb to be supplied governing not the preposition present in the sentence, but the preposition of a second sentence, connected by וְ, to which it forms a predicate, comp. NAEGELSB. Gr., § 112, 7.

[3]Jer 19:2.—שַׁעַר חַחַרְסִית. The form חַרְסוּת is not the later, as HITZIG supposes, but חַרְסִית is the only form used by the Rabbins, and from this both the Keri and the Χαρσείθ (LXX.) or Ἁρσίθ (Aqu., Symm., Theod.), of the Greek translators is to be explained. The Syriac text in the London Polyglot strangely has Chadsit.

[4]Jer 19:3—Comp. 1 Sam. 3:11; 2 Ki. 21:12. As to the construction 1. בָּל־שֹׁמְעָה Partic. absolutum to be resolved into a hypothetical sentence. (Comp. Exod. 12:15; Numb. 21:3: NAEGELSB. Gr., § 97, 2 b); 2. אֲשֶׁר is accusative, attracted by שׁמְעָתּ; 3. The apodosis on account of the brevity of the sentence is without the connecting Vau. (Comp. Gen. 4:15; Ruth 1:16,17). תִּצַלְנָה for תְּצִלֶּינָה (so in 1 Sam. 3:11) according to the Aramaic formation. Comp. EWALD, § 197, a; OLSH., § 243, b, d.

[5]Jer 19:4.—וינכרו ו׳ LXX. ἀπηλλοτρίωσαν; Vulg., alienum fecerunt. This rendering accords both with the connection and the etymology of the word. The latter occurs in Piel besides only in Deut. 32:7; 1 Sam. 23:7; Job 21:29; 34:19. With the exception of the passages in Job, in which the Piel evidently has the meaning of the Hiphil, the meaning is everywhere appropriate, “to estrange one’s self or another.”

[6]Jer 19:8.—On the suffix form in מַכֹּתֵהָ comp. NAEGELSB. Gr., § 44, 4 Anm. coll. OLSH., § 131, 1.

[7]Jer 19:9.—אשר יציקו להם wherewith they procure them distress (Deut. 28:53, 55, 57). אשׁר is the Acc. instrumentalis (comp. NAEGELSB. Gr., § 70, i.); הֵצִיק, is that Hiphil, which has the substantive idea contained in the verb with respect to the nearer object (comp. NAEGELSB. Gr., § 69, 1 Anm. 2; Judg. 16:16; Isai. 29:2, 7).

[8]Jer 19:13.—לְ .לכל is distributive. Comp. Ezek. 44:9. NAEGELSB. Gr., § 112, 5 b.

[9]Jer 19:13.—והסד. Comp. rems. on 7:18; 44:17 sqq. coll. 32:29. With respect to the construction, comp. NAEGELSB. Gr., § 92, 2 a.

2. THE OPPOSITION AND PUNISHMENT OF PASHUR

19:14–20:6

14Then came Jeremiah [back] from Tophet, whither the LORD [Jehovah] had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord’s [Jehovah’s] house; and 15said to all the people, Thus saith the LORD of hosts [Jehovah Zebaoth], the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.

1XX. Now Pashur, the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor10 in the house of the LORD, heard [that] Jeremiah prophesied [prophesy] these things. 2Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks [prison] that were [was] in the high gate of Benjamin, [the Benjamin-gate, the upper] which was 3by [in] the house of the LORD [Jehovah]. And it came to pass on the morrow that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks [prison]. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD [Jehovah] hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magor-missabib, 4[“Terror round about”]. For thus saith the LORD [Jehovah], Behold, I will make thee [give thee up] a [to] terror to [for] thyself and to [for] all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them5captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword. Moreover I will deliver all the strength [store]11 of this city, and all the labours [gains] 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 to6Babylon. And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The prophet betakes himself back from Tophet into the temple, and probably repeats there his predictions of calamity (Jer 19:14, 15). For this he is struck by Pashur, the governor of the temple, and committed to prison for the night (20:1–2). Released from this confinement in the morning, Jeremiah announces to Pashur that the Lord has changed his name to Magor-missabib, for he will be given up, a prey to the torments of mortal anguish, his friends shall be slain before his eyes, Judah carried away to Babylon, all its treasures plundered; he himself shall survive all this, and die and be buried in Babylon, the prophet of lies in the midst of those whom he has deceived (Jer 19:4–6).

Jer 19:14, 15. Then came Jeremiah … my words. As these words are closely connected with the previous context וַיָבֹא, Jer 19:14, corresponds to יָצָאתָ. In antithesis to יָצָא however בוֹא has always the meaning of return. Comp. Numb, 27:17; Deut. 28:6; 1 Chron. 11:2; Ps. 121:8; 126:6.

Jer 19:15. Thus saith, etc. It is incredible that Jeremiah spoke only these few words in the temple. He would then have said nothing new, and have given no motive to the evidently increased anger of the temple-governor. We must therefore refer all that I have pronounced specially to the words spoken in Tophet, and assume a repetition of these words, in order that the reference might be understood.—I will bring. Comp. 2 Sam. 5:2; Mic. 1:15, etc.OLSH., § 38, c.; § 208, d.—All her towns. Comp. Josh. 10:37, 39; 13:17; Jer. 34:1; Zech. 7:7.—Hardened, etc. Comp. 17:23; 7:26.—That they might not hear. Comp. 16:12; 18:10; 42:13.

20:1–6. Now Pashurheard … prophesied lies. According to Ezr. 2:38; 10:22; Neh. 7:41, there was a course of priests of the name Pashur. Not of this, however, but of the course named as that of Immer in these passages (comp. 1 Chron. 24:14) was the Pashur of the text. He is not mentioned elsewhere. For though the name frequently occurs (21:1; 38:1; 1 Chron. 9:12; Neh. 10:3; 11:12), none of the individuals designated by it can be regarded as identical with this Pashur. It is at most possible that the father of Gedaliah mentioned in 38:1 may be the same. Comp. HITZIG. ad loc.—Chief governor. The expression involves that there were several overseers (comp. JOSEPH. Antiqq., X. 8, 5). Without doubt the temple-watch (comp. WINER, R.-W.-B, Art., Tempel at the end) was under the orders of the “governor.” From a comparison of 29:25, 26, with 52:24, it seems that the temple-governor took the second rank to the high-priest. As the head of the temple-police, Pashur now puts Jeremiah into the מַהְכֶּכֶת. The expression occurs besides only in 29:26; 2 Chron 16:10. It is without doubt a contrivance for shutting up in כ crooked position (στρεβλωτήριον. Symm. ποδοστράβη). Comp. Acts 16:24.—Gate of Benjamin, etc. From 37:13; 38:7, it is evident that there was a city-gate which led into the territory of the tribe of Benjamin, and was therefore called the gate of Benjamin. The one mentioned in the text is expressly distinguished from this as a temple-gate. The same name intimates identity of cause. We must then look for this temple-gate also in the direction of Benjamin, i.e., to the north. The upper gate corresponds to the upper court, forming one of the entrances to it. Whether this upper gate of Benjamin is the same with the new gate, leading to the upper court (36:10; 26:10) which, according to 2 Kings 15:35, was built by Jotham, is questionable. Comp. Ezek. 8:3; 14:5; 9:2.—Not called Pashur, Jer 20:3. The signification of the name Pashur is very obscure. Most commentators derive the word from the Arabic pasaha=amplius fuit, and סְחוֹרcircumcirca. Hence FUERST: extension—around. Others from בּושׁ, Lev. 13:5, 7, and חור, Josh. 29:22, as though “the widely extended authority of the man, making all pale” (comp. NEUMANN), were indicated. EWALD renders Joy (כַּשׁ or כָּשׁ from כִּשׁ, Mal. 3:20) around (as though חוֹר were pronounced חוֹל). MEIER: Spirit of the free (כַּשׁ as in Job 35:15=extension, high spirit, pride;חוֹר=חוּרthe noble, the free). HITZIG and GRAF cannot dispute that Jeremiah had the etymology, obscure as it is to us, in view, for how otherwise can we explain the choice of the name which he gave to the priest? It is certainly natural that Pashur should have some meaning opposed to that of the name Magor-missabib. It is noteworthy that the explanation afterwards given in Jer 20:4, sqq., corresponds exactly to this name, in so far as Pashur seems to be always surrounded by terrors, but never himself brought to extremity, for he is to die and be buried in Babylon (Jer 20:6). In this sense the words thine eyes shall see, are especially important. For by these the position of a man is designated, who is not himself reached by the most terrible calamity, but is compelled continually to behold how this comes upon others, and therefore does not escape the torture of anxiety. I would therefore neither render לִךָthee, after נתֶנְךָ as distributive (19:13), nor would I allow it to depend on the latter, but on מָגוֹר, terror:I give thee up to fear for thyself and thy friends. This is to be the specific punishment of Pashur, that he is not visited by death itself, but by the constant fear of death.—To whom thou hast prophesied lies. From these concluding words we learn that Pashur was active, not merely as a priest, but also as prophet. But his prophetic office was assumed and false; and his behaviour toward Jeremiah may, in part at least, be thus accounted for.

Footnotes:

[10]Jer 19:1.—והוא־פקיד נניד. The construction is like אֵל נִבּוֹר ,דֶשֶׁא עֵשֶׂב, Comp. NAEGELSB. Gr., §§ 72 and 66.

[11]Jer 19:5.—הֹסֶז—copia, store. Comp. Prov. 15:6; 27:24; Isai. 33:6; Ezek. 22:25.