Chapter Book
Loading
Change Translation
Loading...
  • Recent Translations
  • All Translations

Jeremiah 18:13-23

Share

Settings

13 "Therefore thus says the LORD, '1Ask now among the nations, Who ever heard the like of this? The 2virgin of Israel Has done a most 3appalling thing.
14 'Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country? Or is the cold flowing water from a foreign land ever snatched away?
15 'For 4My people have forgotten Me, 5They burn incense to worthless gods And they have stumbled from their ways, From the 6ancient paths, To walk in bypaths, Not on a 7highway *,
16 To make their land a 8desolation, An object of perpetual 9hissing; Everyone who passes by it will be astonished And 10shake his head.
17 'Like an 11east wind I will 12scatter them Before the enemy; I will show them 13My back and not My face 14In the day of their calamity.' "
18 Then they said, "Come and let us 15devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the 16law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor 17counsel to the sage, nor the divine 18word to the prophet! Come on and let us 19strike at him with our tongue, and let us 20give no heed to any of his words."
19 Do give heed to me, O LORD, And listen to what my opponents are saying!
20 21Should good be repaid with evil? For they have 22dug a pit for me. Remember how I 23stood before You To speak good on their behalf, So as to turn away Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore, 24give their children over to famine And deliver them up to the power of the sword; And let their wives become 25childless and 26widowed. Let their men also be smitten to death, Their 27young men struck down by the sword in battle.
22 May an 28outcry be heard from their houses, When You suddenly bring raiders upon them; 29For they have dug a pit to capture me And 30hidden snares for my feet.
23 Yet You, O LORD, know All their deadly designs against me; 31Do not forgive their iniquity Or blot out their sin from Your sight. But may they be 32overthrown before You; Deal with them in the 33time of Your anger!
Read Chapter Compare

Jeremiah 18:13-23 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 33

  • 1. Isaiah 66:8; Jeremiah 2:10, 11
  • 2. Jeremiah 14:17; Jeremiah 31:4
  • 3. Jeremiah 5:30; Jeremiah 23:14; Hosea 6:10
  • 4. Jeremiah 2:32; Jeremiah 3:21
  • 5. Isaiah 65:7; Jeremiah 7:9; Jeremiah 10:15; Jeremiah 44:17
  • 6. Jeremiah 6:16
  • 7. Isaiah 57:14; Isaiah 62:10
  • 8. Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 49:13; Jeremiah 50:13; Ezekiel 33:28, 29
  • 9. 1 Kings 9:8; Lamentations 2:15; Micah 6:16
  • 10. Psalms 22:7; Isaiah 37:22; Jeremiah 48:27
  • 11. Psalms 48:7
  • 12. Job 27:21; Jeremiah 13:24
  • 13. Jeremiah 2:27; Jeremiah 32:33
  • 14. Jeremiah 46:21
  • 15. Jeremiah 11:19; Jeremiah 18:11
  • 16. Jeremiah 2:8; Malachi 2:7
  • 17. Job 5:13; Jeremiah 8:8
  • 18. Jeremiah 5:13
  • 19. Psalms 52:2; Jeremiah 20:10
  • 20. Jeremiah 43:2
  • 21. Psalms 109:4
  • 22. Psalms 35:7; Psalms 57:6; Jeremiah 5:26; Jeremiah 18:22
  • 23. Psalms 106:23
  • 24. Psalms 109:9-20; Jeremiah 11:22; Jeremiah 14:16
  • 25. 1 Samuel 15:33; Isaiah 13:18
  • 26. Jeremiah 15:8; Ezekiel 22:25
  • 27. Jeremiah 9:21; Jeremiah 11:22
  • 28. Jeremiah 6:26; Jeremiah 25:34, 36
  • 29. Jeremiah 18:20
  • 30. Psalms 140:5
  • 31. Nehemiah 4:5; Psalms 109:14; Isaiah 2:9
  • 32. Jeremiah 6:15, 21
  • 33. Jeremiah 7:20; Jeremiah 17:4

Footnotes 12

  • [a]. Lit "these"
  • [b]. Lit "to worthlessness"
  • [c]. So ancient versions; Heb "caused them to"
  • [d]. Or "in"
  • [e]. Or "in"
  • [f]. So ancient versions; M.T. reads "look them in the back and not in the face"
  • [g]. Lit "the voice of my opponents"
  • [h]. Lit "my soul"
  • [i]. Lit "hands of"
  • [j]. Lit "unto death"
  • [k]. Lit "cover over, atone for"
  • [l]. Lit "ones made to stumble"
New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.  All rights reserved.