Jeremias 9:12

12 Who is the wise man, that he may understand this? and he that has the word of the mouth of the Lord to him, let him tell you wherefore the land has been destroyed, has been ravaged by fire like a desert, so that no one passes through it.

Jeremias 9:12 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 9:12

Who is the wise man that may understand this?
&c.] Not the calamity, but the cause of it; a man of wisdom would inquire into it, find it out, and understand it; but the intimation is, that there was not a wise man among them, at least very few; there were scarce any that took any notice of these things, or were concerned about them: and who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken;
and foretold this desolation and destruction; meaning a prophet: that he may declare it;
as from the Lord, namely, what follows: for what the land perisheth, and is burnt like a wilderness, that none
passeth through?
that is, what were the sins of the inhabitants of the land, which brought such distress upon it, and for which it became such a ruinous heap, and like the heath in the wilderness, so that it had no inhabitant, nor even a passenger: they must be some very great and abominable iniquities that were the cause of all this.

Jeremias 9:12 In-Context

10 Take up a lamentation for the mountains, and a mournful dirge for the paths of the wilderness, for they are desolate for want of men; they heard not the sound of life from the birds of the sky, nor the cattle: they were amazed, they are gone.

11 And I will remove the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and make it a dwelling-place of dragons; and I will utterly waste the cities of Juda, so that they shall not be inhabited.

12 Who is the wise man, that he may understand this? and he that has the word of the mouth of the Lord to him, let him tell you wherefore the land has been destroyed, has been ravaged by fire like a desert, so that no one passes through it.

13 And the Lord said to me, Because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them, and have not hearkened to my voice;

14 but went after the lusts of their evil heart, and after the idols which their fathers taught them :