Jeremiah 11:11-21

11 Therefore ADONAI says, "I am going to bring on them a disaster which they will not be able to escape; and even if they cry to me, I will not listen to them.

12 Then the cities of Y'hudah and the people living in Yerushalayim will go and cry to the gods to whom they are making offerings; but they will not save them at all in their time of trouble.

13 For you have as many gods, Y'hudah, as you have towns; and you have erected as many altars for sacrificing to that shameful thing, Ba'al, as there are streets in Yerushalayim.

14 "So you, [Yirmeyahu,] don't pray for this people! Don't cry or pray on their behalf, because I won't listen to them when they cry to me because of their troubles.

15 What right does my beloved have to be in my house, when she has behaved so shamelessly with so many? Offerings of consecrated meat can no longer help, because it is when you are doing evil that you are happy."

16 ADONAI once called you an olive tree, beautiful, full of leaves and good fruit. Now with the roar of a violent storm, he has set it on fire; and its branches will be consumed.

17 For ADONAI-Tzva'ot, who planted you, has decreed evil for you. "It is because of the evil which the house of Isra'el and the house of Y'hudah did to themselves, provoking me with their offerings of incense to Ba'al."

18 ADONAI made this known to me, and then I knew - you showed me what they were doing.

19 But I was like a tame lamb led to be slaughtered; I did not know that they were plotting schemes against me - "Let's destroy the tree with its fruit, we'll cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be forgotten."

20 ADONAI-Tzva'ot, righteous judge, tester of motives and thoughts, I have committed my cause to you; so let me see your vengeance on them.

21 Therefore, here is what ADONAI says concerning the men from 'Anatot who seek your life and who tell you, "Stop prophesying in the name of ADONAI, or we will kill you ourselves" -

Jeremiah 11:11-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 11

This chapter gives an account of the covenant God had made with the people of the Jews; their breach of it; and the evils threatened them on that account; and particularly against the men of Anathoth, for their ill treatment of the prophet. It begins with the order to Jeremiah to rehearse the words of the covenant in the ears of the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Jer 11:1-3, which covenant is described by the sanction of it; a curse in case of disobedience; and a promise of being their God, and bringing them into the good land, in case of obedience; and by the time when it was made, when the Israelites were brought out of Egypt, Jer 10:3-5, which order, the prophet agreeing to, is repeated, Jer 10:5,6 declaring the earnest protestation and exhortation of God to obey it, which they not observing, were threatened with the curses of it, Jer 11:7,8, the present Jews doing as their forefathers had done, breaking the covenant, particularly by their idolatry, are threatened also with punishment they should not escape, Jer 11:9-11 which is aggravated by a resolution to show no regard to their cries, Jer 11:11, by the impotence of their idols to save them, though so numerous, Jer 11:12,13, by forbidding the prophet to pray for them, Jer 11:14, by their having no longer a place and protection in the house of God, because of their wickedness, Jer 11:15, by comparing their former and present state together, having been as a beautiful and fruitful olive tree, but now burnt, and its branches broken, Jer 11:16, next follows an account of a design of the men of Anathoth against the prophet, to take away his life, which he was ignorant of, till the Lord gave him knowledge of it, Jer 11:17-19, when he imprecates vengeance on them, Jer 11:20, and, under a spirit of prophecy from the Lord, foretells their utter ruin and destruction, Jer 11:21,22.