Jeremiah 18:11

11 So now, say to the men of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem: This is what the Lord says: I am about to bring harm to you and make plans against you. Turn now, each from your evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds.^[a]

Jeremiah 18:11 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 18:11

Now therefore go to
This is the application of the above general rules of procedure to the people of the Jews, and particularly that which relates to the destruction of a nation or kingdom, and the declaration of it in order to reclaim them: speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
saying, thus saith the Lord;
or, "to the man of Judah" ^F21; the body of the Jewish nation, and especially the inhabitants of the metropolis of it; which was the source of sin to the whole kingdom, and on which the calamity threatened would chiefly come, if not prevented by a reformation: behold, I frame evil against you;
as the potter frames his clay upon the wheel, to which the allusion is; which is to be understood of the evil of punishment, but not of any secret purpose, and settled determination, in the mind of God to bring it upon them; for that is never disannulled by himself or others, or ever changed; but some operation in Providence, which began to work towards their destruction; some providential step which God had taken, and which threatened their ruin: and devise a device against you;
the same as before; by which it looked as if he had thought of the matter, and had contrived a scheme, which if he went on with, would issue in the subversion of their whole state: return you everyone from his evil way;
that so the reformation may be as general as the corruption was: it supposes a sense of the evil of their former conduct, and repentance for their sins, of which their forsaking and abstaining from them would be an evidence: and make your ways and your doings good;
for it is not sufficient barely to abstain from sin, which is only a negative holiness; but there must be a performance of good works, a walking in them, a constant series and course of obedience to God, according to the rule of his word.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 (hdwhy vya la) "ad virum Jehudah", Montanus, Cocceius, Schmidt.

Jeremiah 18:11 In-Context

9 At [another] time I announce that I will build and plant a nation or a kingdom.

10 However, if it does what is evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, I will not bring the good I had said I would do to it.

11 So now, say to the men of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem: This is what the Lord says: I am about to bring harm to you and make plans against you. Turn now, each from your evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds.

12 But they will say: It's hopeless. We will continue to follow our plans, and each of us will continue to act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart."

13 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: Ask among the nations, Who has heard [things] like these? Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing.

Footnotes

• [a] Jr 7:3