Jeremiah 9:12

12 Who is wise enough to understand all this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it to others? Why has the land been so ruined that no one dares to travel through it?

Jeremiah 9:12 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 9:12

Who is the wise man that may understand this?
&c.] Not the calamity, but the cause of it; a man of wisdom would inquire into it, find it out, and understand it; but the intimation is, that there was not a wise man among them, at least very few; there were scarce any that took any notice of these things, or were concerned about them: and who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken;
and foretold this desolation and destruction; meaning a prophet: that he may declare it;
as from the Lord, namely, what follows: for what the land perisheth, and is burnt like a wilderness, that none
passeth through?
that is, what were the sins of the inhabitants of the land, which brought such distress upon it, and for which it became such a ruinous heap, and like the heath in the wilderness, so that it had no inhabitant, nor even a passenger: they must be some very great and abominable iniquities that were the cause of all this.

Jeremiah 9:12 In-Context

10 I will weep for the mountains and wail for the wilderness pastures. For they are desolate and empty of life; the lowing of cattle is heard no more; the birds and wild animals have all fled.

11 “I will make Jerusalem into a heap of ruins,” says the LORD . “It will be a place haunted by jackals. The towns of Judah will be ghost towns, with no one living in them.”

12 Who is wise enough to understand all this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it to others? Why has the land been so ruined that no one dares to travel through it?

13 The LORD replies, “This has happened because my people have abandoned my instructions; they have refused to obey what I said.

14 Instead, they have stubbornly followed their own desires and worshiped the images of Baal, as their ancestors taught them.