Jeremiah 8:13

13 I will surely consume them. There will be no more harvests of figs and grapes. Their fruit trees will all die. Whatever I gave them will soon be gone. I, the LORD, have spoken!’

Jeremiah 8:13 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 8:13

I will surely consume them, saith the Lord
Or, "gathering I will gather them" ^F11; into some one place, the city of Jerusalem, and there destroy them. The word is, (hyylk Nwvl) , expressive of consumption and destruction, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech observe; and so the Targum,

``destroying I will destroy them, saith the Lord.''

There shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the
leaf shall fade;
some understand this by way of complaint, that there were no fruit on the vine and fig tree, nor even leaves; which they allegorically interpret of the fruit of good works being wanting in them, which was the cause of their ruin. Others think there are metaphors which describe the manner of their destruction; and so the Targum,

``and they shall fall, as the grapes fall from the vine, and as the falling fruit from the fig tree, and as the leaf from the tree.''

Though it rather intends the sterility of the land, and in general the famine that should attend the siege of Jerusalem. Grapes and figs are mentioned only, as Kimchi observes, because they were the chief fruits, and they are put for the whole. And the things that I have given them shall pass away from them;
whatever they had in their barns and cellars, or were just becoming ripe in their fields, vineyards, and gardens, should either be blasted, or rather be taken away and devoured by their enemies, so that they themselves should not enjoy them. The Targum interprets it of the law transgressed by them, as the cause of their ruin, and paraphrases it thus,

``because I have given them my law from Sinai, and they have transgressed it;''

and so Jarchi,

``this shall be unto them, because I have given them statutes, and they have transgressed them.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 (Mpyoa Poa) "eolligendo colligam eos", Montanus, Tigurine version. So Piscator.

Jeremiah 8:13 In-Context

11 They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when there is no peace.

12 Are they ashamed of these disgusting actions? Not at all—they don’t even know how to blush! Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered. They will be brought down when I punish them, says the LORD .

13 I will surely consume them. There will be no more harvests of figs and grapes. Their fruit trees will all die. Whatever I gave them will soon be gone. I, the LORD, have spoken!’

14 “Then the people will say, ‘Why should we wait here to die? Come, let’s go to the fortified towns and die there. For the LORD our God has decreed our destruction and has given us a cup of poison to drink because we sinned against the LORD .

15 We hoped for peace, but no peace came. We hoped for a time of healing, but found only terror.’