Jeremias 18:18

18 Então disseram: Vinde, e maquinemos projetos contra Jeremias; pois não perecerá a lei do sacerdote, nem o conselho do sábio, nem a palavra do profeta. Vinde, e firâmo-lo com a língua, e não atendamos a nenhuma das suas palavras.

Jeremias 18:18 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 18:18

Then said they, come, and let us devise devices against
Jeremiah
Being enraged at the judgments threatened them, they propose to enter into a confederacy and consultation together, to think of ways and means to stop the mouth of the prophet, and even to take away his life; since he had told them that God had devised a device against them, they were for devising devices against him; that so they might walk after their own devices, without being teased and tormented with this prophet: for the law shall not perish from the priest;
whose business it is to teach it; we have other priests besides Jeremiah, and we shall seek the law at their mouths, and not at his; and perhaps these are the words of the priests themselves, the men of Anathoth; so Jarchi thinks; pleasing themselves with their character and office, and the perpetuity of it; that, notwithstanding what Jeremiah had said, there would be a constant succession of this order of then; nor should the law ever cease from being aught by them, to whose instruction men ought to listen, and not to such a prophet: nor counsel from the wise;
we have wise rulers and governors, counsellors of state, and members of the sanhedrim, and judges of all controversies, and who are capable of giving advice upon any occasion; nor shall we ever want such, to whose prudent counsel we do well to attend, and not to what this babbling man says; does he think to know better than our statesmen and sages, our counsellors in church and state? nor the word from the prophet;
we have prophets among us, that prophesy as well as he, and better things; and whose words of prophecy shall be fulfilled, when his will not; who assure us that we shall have peace and prosperity; and therefore let us not regard what this man says, or be intimidated by his threatenings: come, and let us smite him with the tongue;
by saying all the evil we can of him: by threatening him with pains and penalties; by loading him with reproaches and calumnies; by taking away his good name, and lessening his character and reputation among the people; and so the Targum,

``let us bear false witness against him;''

or, "let us smite him in the tongue" ^F3; cut it out, as Abarbinel; or stop his mouth, and hinder him from speaking any more in this manner to the people; or, "let us smite him for the tongue" ^F4; because of the words he says, or the prophecies he delivers out: and let us not give heed to any of his words;
or, "to all his words" {e}; all which they reckoned his own, and not the words of the Lord. The Septuagint version is, "and we shall hear all his words"; we shall provoke him to say all he has to say, and shall hear and have enough out of his mouth to condemn him; and in all this, and in many other things that follow, Jeremiah was a type of Christ, to whom Jerom applies the whole passage.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F3 (Nwvlb) "in lingua", Montanus, Castalio.
F4 Propter "linguam istam", Junius & Tremellius.
F5 (wyrbd lk la) "ad omnia verba ejus", Gataker; "ad universa verba ejus", Pagninus, Montanus.

Jeremias 18:18 In-Context

16 para fazerem da sua terra objeto de espanto e de perpétuos assobios; todo aquele que passa por ela se espanta, e meneia a cabeça.

17 Com vento oriental os espalharei diante do inimigo; mostrar-lhes-ei as costas e não o rosto, no dia da sua calamidade.

18 Então disseram: Vinde, e maquinemos projetos contra Jeremias; pois não perecerá a lei do sacerdote, nem o conselho do sábio, nem a palavra do profeta. Vinde, e firâmo-lo com a língua, e não atendamos a nenhuma das suas palavras.

19 Atende-me, ó Senhor, e ouve a voz dos que contendem comigo.

20 Porventura pagar-se-á mal por bem? Contudo cavaram uma cova para a minha vida. Lembra-te de que eu compareci na tua presença, para falar a favor deles, para desviar deles a tua indignação.