Jeremiah 16:13

13 So then, I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. And there you will serve other gods day and night, and I will show you no mercy.' "

Jeremiah 16:13 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 16:13

Therefore will I call you out of this land
By force, and against their wills, whether they would or not, and with abhorrence and contempt: it is to be understood of their captivity, which was but a just punishment for the above sins; for since they had cast off the Lord and his worship, it was but just that they should be cast off by him, and cast out of their land, which they held by their obedience to him: into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers;
a foreign country, at a great distance from them; with which they had no alliance, correspondence, or commerce; and where they had no friends to converse with, or show them any respect; and whose language they understood not; all which was an aggravation of their captivity in it: and there shall ye serve other gods day and night;
should have their fill of idolatry, even to loathsomeness; and what they had done willingly in their own land, following the imagination of their own evil hearts, now they should be forced to; and what they did for their own pleasure, and at certain times, when they thought fit, now they should be obliged to attend tonight and day. The Targum is, "and there shall ye serve people that worship idols day and night"; that as they had served idols, now they should serve the people, the worshippers of those idols; the former was their sin, the latter their punishment: where I will not show you favour;
or, "not give you grace" ^F2; the favour and mercy of God serve to support persons in distress; but to be denied these is an aggravation of it, and must needs make the captivity of those people the more afflicting. Some understand this of the Lord's not suffering their enemies to show them any favour or mercy; so Kimchi,

``the enemy shall have no mercy on you, but make you serve with rigour;''

and to the same purpose the Targum, connecting them with the people, the idol worshippers, and paraphrasing them thus,

``who shall not be merciful to you;''

and so the Septuagint and Arabic versions, "who shall not give you mercy"; or "rest", as the Vulgate Latin. The Jews ^F3 interpret this of the Messiah, whose name, they say, is Chaninah, the word here used, whom the Lord would not give them where they were.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 (hnynx Mkl Nta al) "non dabo vobis gratiam", Cocceius, Schmidt; "non dedero vobis gratiam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
F3 T. Bab Sanhedrin, fol. 98. 2. Echa Rabbati, fol. 50. 2.

Jeremiah 16:13 In-Context

11 Then tell them that the Lord has said, "Your ancestors turned away from me and worshiped and served other gods. They abandoned me and did not obey my teachings.

12 But you have done even worse than your ancestors. All of you are stubborn and evil, and you do not obey me.

13 So then, I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. And there you will serve other gods day and night, and I will show you no mercy.' "

14 The Lord says, "The time is coming when people will no longer swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

15 Instead, they will swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of a northern land and out of all the other countries where I had scattered them. I will bring them back to their own country, to the land that I gave their ancestors. I, the Lord, have spoken."