Jeremiah 32:17

17 'Ah, Lord GOD! It is 1you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by 2your outstretched arm! 3Nothing is too hard for you.

Jeremiah 32:17 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 32:17

Ah Lord God!
&c.] Which the Vulgate Latin version repeats three times, "Ah, ah, ah", as being greatly distressed with the trouble that was coming upon his people; and, it may be, not without some doubts and temptations about their deliverance; or, at least, was pressed in his mind with the difficulties and objections started by the Jews that were with him in the court: behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and
stretched out arm;
with great propriety is the making of the heaven and the earth ascribed to the mighty power of God; for nothing short of almighty power could have produced such a stupendous work as the heavens, with all the host of them, sun, moon, and stars, the terraqueous globe, the earth and sea, with all that in them are; and all this produced out of nothing, by the sole command and word of God: and with great pertinency does the prophet begin his prayer with such a description of God; both to encourage and strengthen his faith in him touching the fulfilment of the above prophecy, and to stop the mouths of the Jews, who objected the impossibility of it: wherefore it follows, [and] there is nothing too hard for thee;
or "hidden from thee" F26; so the Targum; which his wisdom and knowledge did not reach, or his power could not effect: or which is "too wonderful for thee" F1; there is nothing that has so much of the wonderful in it, as to be above the compass of his understanding, and out of the reach of his power, as such things be, which are beyond the power and skill of men; but there is no such thing with God, whose understanding is unsearchable, and his power irresistible; with him nothing is impossible; and who can think there is that observes that the heaven and earth are made by him?


FOOTNOTES:

F26 (Kmm alpy) "non est absconditum a te quicquam", Pagninus; "non potest occultari tibi ulla res", Junius & Tremellius.
F1 "Non mirabile est prae te ullun verbum", Schmidt; "non est ulla res abscondita a te, sive mirabile", Calvin; "non mirificabitur a te ullum verbum", Montanus.

Jeremiah 32:17 In-Context

15 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.'
16 "After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying:
17 'Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.
18 You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts,
19 great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.

Cross References 3

  • 1. Isaiah 37:16
  • 2. See Jeremiah 21:5
  • 3. ver. 27; See Genesis 18:14
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.