Jeremiah 1:16

16 And I shall speak my dooms with them on all the malice of them, that forsook me, and made sacrifice to alien gods, and worshipped the work of their hands. (And I shall tell out my judgement of them, for all the malice of those who have deserted me, and made sacrifice to strange, or foreign, gods, and who worshipped the work of their own hands.)

Jeremiah 1:16 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 1:16

And I will utter my judgments against them
Not against the kingdoms of the north, but against the people of the Jews. The sense is, that God would enter into judgment with this people, and pass sentence upon them, and execute it: touching all their wickedness;
or on account of all their sins and transgressions hereafter mentioned: who have forsaken me.
The Targum is, "who have forsaken my worship"; for to forsake the public worship of God, attendance on his word and ordinances, or to forsake the assembling of themselves together for such a purpose, is to forsake the Lord himself, the fountain of living waters; and this is to forsake their own mercies: and have burnt incense to other gods;
to the idols of the Gentile, as the Targum explains it; to Baal, to the queen of heaven, and to others: and worshipped the works of their own hands:
idols of gold, silver, brass, and wood, which their own hands formed and carved, and which argued great stupidity and ignorance.

Jeremiah 1:16 In-Context

14 And the Lord said to me, From the north shall be showed all evil on all the dwellers of the land. (And the Lord said to me, From the north shall come all evil for all the inhabitants of this land.)
15 For lo! I shall call together all the nations of [the] realms of the north, saith the Lord; and they shall come, and set each man his seat in the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and on all the walls thereof in compass, and on all the cities of Judah. (For lo! I shall call together all the nations of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord; and they shall come, and each king shall set up his throne before the gates of Jerusalem, and against the walls all around it, and in all the cities of Judah.)
16 And I shall speak my dooms with them on all the malice of them, that forsook me, and made sacrifice to alien gods, and worshipped the work of their hands. (And I shall tell out my judgement of them, for all the malice of those who have deserted me, and made sacrifice to strange, or foreign, gods, and who worshipped the work of their own hands.)
17 Therefore gird [up] thou thy loins, and rise thou (up), and speak to them all things which I command to thee; dread thou not of the face of them, for I shall not make thee for to dread the cheer of them. (And so gird thou up thy loins, and rise thou up, and say to them all the things which I command thee; fear thou not to go before them, or else I shall truly make thee afraid when thou art before them.)
18 For I gave thee today into a strong city, and into an iron pillar, and into a brazen wall, on all the land, to the kings of Judah, and to the princes thereof, and to the priests thereof, and to all the people of the land. (For I have made thee this day like a strong city, and like an iron pillar, and like a bronze wall, to stand against all the land, yea, against the kings of Judah, and its princes, or its leaders, and its priests, and all the people of the land.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.