Jeremiah 7:29

29 Cut off the hair of your sacred vow^[a][b]and throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights,^[c] for the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation under His wrath.

Jeremiah 7:29 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 7:29

Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away
This supplement is made, because the word is feminine; and therefore cannot be directed to the prophet, but to Jerusalem, and its inhabitants; shaving the head is a sign of mourning, ( Job 1:20 ) and this is enjoined, to show that there would soon be a reason for it; wherefore it follows: and take up a lamentation on high places:
that it might be heard afar off; or because of the idolatry frequently committed in high places. The Targum is,

``pluck off the hair for thy great ones that are carried captive, and take up a lamentation for the princes:''

for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath;
a generation of men, deserving of the wrath of God, and appointed to it, on whom he determined to pour it out; of which his rejection and forsaking of them was a token: this was remarkably true of that generation in which Christ and his apostles lived, who disbelieved the Messiah, and had no faith in him, and spoke lying and blasphemous words concerning him; and therefore were rejected and forsaken by the Lord; and wrath came upon them to the uttermost.

Jeremiah 7:29 In-Context

27 "When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you.

28 You must therefore declare to them: This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the Lord their God and would not accept discipline. Truth has perished-it has disappeared from their mouths.

29 Cut off the hair of your sacred vowand throw it away. Raise up a dirge on the barren heights, for the Lord has rejected and abandoned the generation under His wrath.

30 "For the Judeans have done what is evil in My sight." [This is] the Lord's declaration. "They have set up their detestable things in the house that is called by My name and defiled it.

31 They have built the high places of Tophethin the Valley of Hinnomin order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit off your consecration
• [b]. Nm 6:1-8
• [c]. Jr 3:2,21