Jeremiah 6:7

7 Just as a cistern keeps its water fresh, so she keeps her wickedness fresh! Violence and destruction are heard within her, always before me sickness and wounds.

Jeremiah 6:7 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 6:7

As a fountain casteth out her waters
In great abundance, and continually: so she casteth out her wickedness;
this metaphor expresses the multitude of her sins, the frequent and constant commission of them, and the source and spring of them, the corrupt fountain of the heart; see ( Matthew 12:34 Matthew 12:35 ) ( 15:19 ) : violence and spoil is heard in her;
that is, the cry of those that are oppressed and spoiled is heard, and that by the Lord himself, whose ears are open to the cries of the oppressed, and will avenge them: before me continually is grief and wounds;
the poor, who were grieved and wounded by their oppressors; the Lord was an eye and ear witness of their grievances, and would redress them; nor could their enemies expect to escape his wrath, since they were all known to him; or else the sense is, that because of their violence and spoil of the poor, it was continually before the Lord, in his mind and purpose, and he was just ready to bring upon them, by way of punishment for these things, what would grieve and wound them; so Jarchi interprets it, which Kimchi mentions; and to it the Targum agrees,

``the voice of robbers and plunderers is heard in her before me continually, therefore will I bring upon her evil and smiting.''

Jeremiah 6:7 In-Context

5 "Get up! Let's attack at night! Let's destroy her palaces!"

6 For ADONAI-Tzva'ot says this: "Cut down her trees, and raise a siege-ramp against Yerushalayim! This is the city to be punished; in her there is nothing but oppression.

7 Just as a cistern keeps its water fresh, so she keeps her wickedness fresh! Violence and destruction are heard within her, always before me sickness and wounds.

8 Accept correction, Yerushalayim, or I will be estranged from you and turn you into a desolate waste, a land without inhabitants."

9 Thus says ADONAI-Tzva'ot: "They will glean the remnant of Isra'el as thoroughly as in a vineyard - one last time, like a grape-picker, pass your hand over the vines."