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Jeremiah 18:11-21

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11 Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 'Thus says the LORD, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. 1Return, every one from his evil way, and 2amend your ways and your deeds.'
12 "But they say, 3'That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to 4the stubbornness of his evil heart.'
13 "Therefore thus says the LORD: 5Ask among the nations, Who has heard the like of this? The virgin Israel has done 6a very horrible thing.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon leave the crags of Sirion?[a] Do the mountain waters run dry,[b] the cold flowing streams?
15 7But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to 8false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, 9in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, 10not the highway,
16 making their land 11a horror, a thing 12to be hissed at forever. 13Everyone who passes by it is horrified 14and shakes his head.
17 15Like the east wind 16I will scatter them before the enemy. 17I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity."
18 Then they said, 18"Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, 19for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. 20Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words."
19 Hear me, O LORD, and 21listen to the voice of my adversaries.
20 22Should good be repaid with evil? Yet 23they have dug a pit for my life. 24Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.
21 Therefore 25deliver up their children to famine; give them over to the power of the sword; let their wives become childless 26and widowed. May their men meet death by pestilence, their youths be struck down by the sword in battle.
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Jeremiah 18:11-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 18

This chapter expresses the sovereign power of God ever his creatures, and his usual methods of dealing with them; it threatens destruction to the Jews for their idolatry; and is closed with the prophet's complaint of his persecutors, and with imprecations upon them. The sovereign power of God is expressed under the simile of a potter working in his shop, and making and marring vessels at pleasure, Jer 18:1-4; the application of which to God, and the house of Israel, is in Jer 18:5,6; and is illustrated by his usual dealings with kingdoms and nations; for though he is a sovereign Being, yet he acts both in a kind and equitable way; and as the potter changes his work, so he changes the dispensations of his providence, of which two instances are given; the one is, that having threatened ruin to a nation, upon their repentance and good behaviour he revokes the threatening, Jer 18:7,8; and the other is, that having made a declaration of good to a people, upon their sin and disobedience he recalls it, and punishes them for their wickedness, Jer 18:9,10; then follows a prophecy of the destruction of the Jews in particular, in which they are exhorted to repentance to prevent it; their obstinacy is observed; their folly in departing from God, and worshipping idols, is exposed; and they are threatened with utter ruin, Jer 18:11-17; the conspiracy and evil designs of the Jews against the prophet, their malice and ingratitude, are complained of by him, Jer 18:18-20; his imprecations upon them, and prayers for their destruction, are delivered out in Jer 18:21-23.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 26

  • 1. Jeremiah 35:15; 2 Kings 17:13; Jonah 3:8
  • 2. Jeremiah 7:3; Jeremiah 25:5; Jeremiah 35:15
  • 3. Jeremiah 2:25
  • 4. See Jeremiah 3:17
  • 5. Jeremiah 2:10, 11
  • 6. Jeremiah 5:30
  • 7. Jeremiah 2:13, 32; Jeremiah 17:13
  • 8. Jeremiah 2:5; Jeremiah 10:15; Jeremiah 16:19
  • 9. Jeremiah 6:16
  • 10. [Isaiah 57:14]
  • 11. Jeremiah 19:8; Jeremiah 25:9, 11, 18; Jeremiah 49:13, 17; Jeremiah 50:13; Jeremiah 51:37; 2 Chronicles 29:8
  • 12. Jeremiah 19:8; Jeremiah 25:9, 11, 18; Jeremiah 49:13, 17; Jeremiah 50:13; Jeremiah 51:37; 2 Chronicles 29:8
  • 13. Jeremiah 50:13; Lamentations 2:15
  • 14. Job 16:4; Psalms 22:7; Matthew 27:39
  • 15. Gen. 41:6, 23, 27; Exodus 10:13; Job 27:21; Psalms 48:7; Ezekiel 27:26; Hosea 13:15; Jonah 4:8
  • 16. Jeremiah 13:24
  • 17. [Jeremiah 2:27]
  • 18. Jeremiah 11:19
  • 19. [Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 5:13, 31; Jeremiah 6:13]
  • 20. Jeremiah 9:3, 8; Job 5:21; [Psalms 31:20]
  • 21. Psalms 35:1; Isaiah 49:25
  • 22. Psalms 35:12
  • 23. Psalms 35:7; Psalms 57:6; Psalms 119:85
  • 24. [Nehemiah 13:14]
  • 25. Psalms 109:10
  • 26. Psalms 109:9

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Hebrew of the field
  • [b]. Hebrew Are foreign waters plucked up
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.