Jeremiah 6:7

7 As a cistern maketh his water cold, so it made his malice cold; wickedness and destroying shall ever be heard therein before me, sickness and wound. (Like a cistern maketh its water cold, so Jerusalem made its malice cold; wickedness and destruction be heard there, sickness and wounds be ever before me.)

Jeremiah 6:7 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 6:7

As a fountain casteth out her waters
In great abundance, and continually: so she casteth out her wickedness;
this metaphor expresses the multitude of her sins, the frequent and constant commission of them, and the source and spring of them, the corrupt fountain of the heart; see ( Matthew 12:34 Matthew 12:35 ) ( 15:19 ) : violence and spoil is heard in her;
that is, the cry of those that are oppressed and spoiled is heard, and that by the Lord himself, whose ears are open to the cries of the oppressed, and will avenge them: before me continually is grief and wounds;
the poor, who were grieved and wounded by their oppressors; the Lord was an eye and ear witness of their grievances, and would redress them; nor could their enemies expect to escape his wrath, since they were all known to him; or else the sense is, that because of their violence and spoil of the poor, it was continually before the Lord, in his mind and purpose, and he was just ready to bring upon them, by way of punishment for these things, what would grieve and wound them; so Jarchi interprets it, which Kimchi mentions; and to it the Targum agrees,

``the voice of robbers and plunderers is heard in her before me continually, therefore will I bring upon her evil and smiting.''

Jeremiah 6:7 In-Context

5 Rise ye, and ascend we in the night, and destroy we the houses thereof. (Rise ye, and go we up in the night, and let us destroy its houses.)

6 For the Lord of hosts saith these things, Cut ye down the tree(s) thereof, and shed ye earth about Jerusalem; this is the city of visitation; all false challenge is in the midst thereof. (For the Lord of hosts saith these things, Cut ye down its trees, and heap ye earth all around Jerusalem; this is the city to be punished; for oppression is widespread in its midst.)

7 As a cistern maketh his water cold, so it made his malice cold; wickedness and destroying shall ever be heard therein before me, sickness and wound. (Like a cistern maketh its water cold, so Jerusalem made its malice cold; wickedness and destruction be heard there, sickness and wounds be ever before me.)

8 Jerusalem, be thou taught, lest peradventure my soul go away from thee; lest peradventure I set thee forsaken, a land unhabitable. (Jerusalem, make thyself able to be taught, lest perhaps my soul go away from thee; lest perhaps I make thee deserted, yea, a land uninhabited/yea, an uninhabitable land.)

9 The Lord of hosts saith these things, They shall gather till to a raisin, they shall gather the remnants of Israel as in a vinery (they shall gather the remnants of Israel like in a vineyard); turn thine hand, as a gatherer of grapes to the basket.