Jeremiah 32:23

23 'They ¹came in and took possession of it, but they ²did not obey Your voice or ³walk in Your law; they have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have made ⁴all this calamity come upon them.

Jeremiah 32:23 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 32:23

And they came in and possessed it
After forty years travel in the wilderness; they entered into it with Joshua at the head of them, and the Lord with them; giving victory over the Canaanites, who were soon subdued; and the Israelites with little trouble settled in their land, which was divided to them by lot, and possessed as their inheritance: but they obeyed not thy voice;
though they promised at Sinai they would, and though they were so much obliged by the goodness of God to them; this shows great ingratitude in them: neither walked in thy law;
moral, ceremonial, and judicial, given at Harsh as the rule of their obedience; but they walked not according to it: they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to do;
they were not only deficient in some things, but in everything; they not only broke some of the laws of God, but all of them; there was not one law, one command, observed by them as it ought to have been; and yet these people were always prone to establish their own righteousness, and seek for justification by it: therefore thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them;
the Chaldean army, now besieging them; and the famine and pestilence among them; which, the prophet serves, were but the righteous judgments of God upon them for their sins.

Jeremiah 32:23 In-Context

21 'You brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders, and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror;

22 and gave them this land, which You swore to their forefathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

23 'They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey Your voice or walk in Your law; they have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have made all this calamity come upon them.

24 'Behold, the siege ramps have reached the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, the famine and the pestilence; and what You have spoken has come to pass; and behold, You see it.

25 'You have said to me, O Lord GOD, "Buy for yourself the field with money and call in witnesses "-although the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.' "

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 44:2, 3; Psalms 78:54, 55; Jeremiah 2:7
• 2. Nehemiah 9:26; Jeremiah 11:8; Daniel 9:10-14
• 3. Ezra 9:7; Jeremiah 26:4; Jeremiah 44:10
• 4. Lamentations 1:18; Daniel 9:11, 12