Jeremiah 6:19

19 Hear, O earth: Behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto My words nor to My law, but rejected it.

Jeremiah 6:19 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 6:19

Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people,
&c.] The people of the Jews; the evil of punishment, for the evil of sin committed by them; wherefore the earth, and the inhabitants of it, are called upon to bear witness to, the righteousness of such a procedure: even the fruit of their thoughts;
which they thought of, contrived, and devised; which shows that they did not do what they did inadvertently, but with thought and design. Kimchi interprets it of sinful deeds and actions, the fruit of thoughts; but his father, of thoughts themselves. The Talmudists, ^F25 comment upon it thus,

``a thought which brings forth fruit, the holy blessed God joins it to an action; but a thought in which there is no fruit, the holy blessed God does not join to action;''

that is, in punishment; very wrongly. For the sense is, that God would bring upon them the calamities and distresses their thoughts and the evil counsels of their minds deserved. The Targum renders it,

``the retribution or reward of their works.''

Because they have not hearkened unto my words;
spoken to them by the prophets: nor to my law, but rejected it;
neither hearkened to the law, nor to the prophets, but despised both. The Targum is,

``because they obeyed not the words of my servants, the prophets, and abhorred my law.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 40. 1.

Jeremiah 6:19 In-Context

17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, `Hearken to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, `We will not hearken.'

18 Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.

19 Hear, O earth: Behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto My words nor to My law, but rejected it.

20 To what purpose cometh there to Me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto Me."

21 Therefore thus saith the LORD: "Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish."