Jeremiah 32:22-32

22 Then you gave them this land, which you had sworn to their ancestors that you would give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

23 They entered and took possession of it; but they did not pay attention to your voice, did not live according to your Torah, and did nothing of all you ordered them to do. Therefore you made this complete disaster befall them -

24 the siege-works are already there; they have come to the city to capture it; and the city, by means of sword, famine and plague, is being handed over to the Kasdim fighting against it. What you foretold is being fulfilled; here, you see it, yourself.

25 Yet you, ADONAI, God, have said to me, 'Buy the field for money, and call witnesses; even as the city is being turned over to the Kasdim!'"

26 Then this word of ADONAI came to Yirmeyahu:

27 "Look, I am ADONAI, the God of every living creature; is there anything too hard for me?

28 Therefore, here is what ADONAI says: 'I will hand this city over to the Kasdim and to N'vukhadretzar king of Bavel; and he will capture it.

29 The Kasdim who are fighting against this city will enter and set this city on fire; they will burn it down, including its houses, on whose roofs they offered to Ba'al and poured out drink offerings to other gods, in order to make me angry.

30 For from their youth, the people of Isra'el and the people of Y'hudah have done only what is evil from my perspective; the people of Isra'el have done nothing but provoke me with what their hands make,' says ADONAI.

31 'This city has so provoked my anger and fury from the day they built it to this day that I ought to remove it from my presence,

32 because of all the evil that the people of Isra'el and the people of Y'hudah have done in order to make me angry - they, their kings, their leaders, their cohanim, their prophets, the men of Y'hudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim.

Jeremiah 32:22-32 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 32

This chapter contains an account of Jeremiah's imprisonment, and the cause of it; of his buying a field of his uncle's son, and the design of it; of his prayer to God, and of the answer returned to him. The time of his imprisonment, the place where, and the reasons of it, are observed in Jer 32:1-5; that his uncle's son would come and offer the sale of a field to him was told him by the Lord, which he did accordingly, Jer 32:6,7; of whom he bought the field, paid the money, had the purchase confirmed in a legal way, before witnesses, Jer 32:8-12; and the writings of it he committed to Baruch, to put in an earthen vessel, where they were to continue some time as a pledge of houses, fields, and vineyards, being possessed again after the captivity, Jer 32:13-15; then follows a prayer of his to the Lord, in which he addresses him as the Maker of all things; as the Lord God omnipotent; as a God of great grace and mercy, as well as strict justice; as a God of wisdom, counsel, and might, and an omniscient and righteous Being, Jer 32:16-19; and recounts the wonderful things he had done for the people of Israel, Jer 32:20-22; and observes the ingratitude and disobedience of that people, which were the cause of the present siege of the city, which should surely be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans, Jer 32:23-25; to which prayer an answer is returned, Jer 32:26; in which the Lord describes himself as the God of all flesh, and as able to do what he pleases, Jer 32:27; and confirms the delivery of the city of Jerusalem unto the Chaldeans, Jer 32:28,29; and assigns the causes of it, the backslidings, disobedience, and dreadful idolatry of the people, Jer 32:30-35; and, notwithstanding, promises a restoration of them to their own land again, Jer 32:36,37; when an opportunity is taken to insert the covenant of grace, and the special articles and peculiar promises of it, for the comfort of the spiritual Israel of God, whether Jews or Gentiles, Jer 32:38-40; and the chapter is concluded with a fresh assurance of the return of the captivity, and of the punctual performance of the promise of it; when fields should be bought in every part of the land, in like manner as Jeremiah had bought his, Jer 32:41-44.