Jeremiah 8:13

13 I will take away their harvest, declares the LORD. There will be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the tree, and even the leaf will wither. Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.”

Jeremiah 8:13 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 8:13

I will surely consume them, saith the Lord
Or, "gathering I will gather them" ^F11; into some one place, the city of Jerusalem, and there destroy them. The word is, (hyylk Nwvl) , expressive of consumption and destruction, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech observe; and so the Targum,

``destroying I will destroy them, saith the Lord.''

There shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the
leaf shall fade;
some understand this by way of complaint, that there were no fruit on the vine and fig tree, nor even leaves; which they allegorically interpret of the fruit of good works being wanting in them, which was the cause of their ruin. Others think there are metaphors which describe the manner of their destruction; and so the Targum,

``and they shall fall, as the grapes fall from the vine, and as the falling fruit from the fig tree, and as the leaf from the tree.''

Though it rather intends the sterility of the land, and in general the famine that should attend the siege of Jerusalem. Grapes and figs are mentioned only, as Kimchi observes, because they were the chief fruits, and they are put for the whole. And the things that I have given them shall pass away from them;
whatever they had in their barns and cellars, or were just becoming ripe in their fields, vineyards, and gardens, should either be blasted, or rather be taken away and devoured by their enemies, so that they themselves should not enjoy them. The Targum interprets it of the law transgressed by them, as the cause of their ruin, and paraphrases it thus,

``because I have given them my law from Sinai, and they have transgressed it;''

and so Jarchi,

``this shall be unto them, because I have given them statutes, and they have transgressed them.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 (Mpyoa Poa) "eolligendo colligam eos", Montanus, Tigurine version. So Piscator.

Jeremiah 8:13 In-Context

11 They dress the wound of the daughter of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.

12 Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will collapse, says the LORD.

13 I will take away their harvest, declares the LORD. There will be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the tree, and even the leaf will wither. Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.”

14 Why are we just sitting here? Gather together, let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has doomed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

15 We hoped for peace, but no good has come, for a time of healing, but there was only terror.