Jeremiah 6:19

19 Listen, earth! I'm going to bring disaster on these people. It is the result of their own plots, because they won't pay attention to my words. They reject my teachings.

Jeremiah 6:19 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 6:19

Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people,
&c.] The people of the Jews; the evil of punishment, for the evil of sin committed by them; wherefore the earth, and the inhabitants of it, are called upon to bear witness to, the righteousness of such a procedure: even the fruit of their thoughts;
which they thought of, contrived, and devised; which shows that they did not do what they did inadvertently, but with thought and design. Kimchi interprets it of sinful deeds and actions, the fruit of thoughts; but his father, of thoughts themselves. The Talmudists, ^F25 comment upon it thus,

``a thought which brings forth fruit, the holy blessed God joins it to an action; but a thought in which there is no fruit, the holy blessed God does not join to action;''

that is, in punishment; very wrongly. For the sense is, that God would bring upon them the calamities and distresses their thoughts and the evil counsels of their minds deserved. The Targum renders it,

``the retribution or reward of their works.''

Because they have not hearkened unto my words;
spoken to them by the prophets: nor to my law, but rejected it;
neither hearkened to the law, nor to the prophets, but despised both. The Targum is,

``because they obeyed not the words of my servants, the prophets, and abhorred my law.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 40. 1.

Jeremiah 6:19 In-Context

17 I posted watchmen over you. Pay attention to the sound of the ram's horn. But you said that you wouldn't pay attention.

18 Listen, you nations, and learn, you witnesses, what will happen to them.

19 Listen, earth! I'm going to bring disaster on these people. It is the result of their own plots, because they won't pay attention to my words. They reject my teachings.

20 Incense that comes from Sheba is no good to me. Sugar cane that comes from a distant land is no good to me. I won't accept your burnt offerings. I'm not pleased with your sacrifices.

21 This is what the LORD says: I'm going to lay stumbling blocks in front of these people. Parents and children will stumble over them. Neighbors and their friends will die.