Jeremiah 18:19-23

19 Listen to me, LORD; hear what my accusers are saying!
20 Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember that I stood before you and spoke in their behalf to turn your wrath away from them.
21 So give their children over to famine; hand them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives be made childless and widows; let their men be put to death, their young men slain by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring invaders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.
23 But you, LORD, know all their plots to kill me. Do not forgive their crimes or blot out their sins from your sight. Let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.

Jeremiah 18:19-23 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.

Cross References 15

  • 1. Psalms 71:13
  • 2. S Genesis 44:4
  • 3. Psalms 35:7; Psalms 57:6; S Psalms 119:85
  • 4. Jeremiah 15:1
  • 5. S Genesis 20:7; S Deuteronomy 9:19; Psalms 106:23; Jeremiah 14:7-9
  • 6. Jeremiah 11:22; Jeremiah 14:16
  • 7. S Psalms 63:10
  • 8. S 1 Samuel 15:33; Psalms 109:9; S Isaiah 47:9; Lamentations 5:3
  • 9. S Isaiah 9:17
  • 10. S Jeremiah 6:26
  • 11. S Psalms 119:85
  • 12. Psalms 35:15; Psalms 140:5; Jeremiah 5:26; Jeremiah 20:10
  • 13. S Jeremiah 11:21; Jeremiah 37:15
  • 14. S Nehemiah 4:5; Psalms 109:14
  • 15. Psalms 59:5; S Jeremiah 10:24
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