Jeremias 1:12

12 And the Lord said to me, Thou hast well seen: for I have watched over my words to perform them.

Jeremias 1:12 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 1:12

Then said the Lord unto me, thou hast well seen
The thing seen is a very proper emblem of what I am about to do, and the quick dispatch that will be made therein: for l will hasten my word to perform it;
the words (yna dqv) , "shoked ani", "I will hasten", or "I am hastening", are in allusion to (dqv) , "shoked", the name of the almond tree in Hebrew; which is so called because it is quick and early, and, as it were, hastens to bring forth its flowers, leaves, and fruit; in like manner the Lord says he would hasten to perform what he had said or should say by him concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, and the captivity of the people, and every thing else he should give him in commission to say. Jarchi and Abendana make mention of an ancient Midrash, or exposition, to this sense; that from the time of the almond tree's putting forth, until its fruit is ripe, are one and twenty days, according to the number of days which were between the seventeenth of Tammuz, in which the city was broken up, and the ninth of Ab, in which the temple was burnt; but though the almond tree is the first of trees, and is very early in putting forth, yet there is a greater time than this between its putting forth and its fruit being ripe; for Pliny ^F19 says, that the almond tree first of all flowers in January, and its fruit is ripe in March.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Nat. Hist. l. 16. c. 25.

Jeremias 1:12 In-Context

10 Behold, I have appointed thee this day over nations and over kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to rebuild, and to plant.

11 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, What seest thou? And I said, A rod of an almond tree.

12 And the Lord said to me, Thou hast well seen: for I have watched over my words to perform them.

13 And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, A caldron on the fire; and the face of it is toward the north.

14 And the Lord said to me, From the north shall flame forth evils upon all the inhabitants of the land.