Jeremiah 15:7

7 "I will ¹winnow them with a winnowing fork At the gates of the land; I will ²bereave them of children, I will destroy My people; ³They did not repent of their ways.

Jeremiah 15:7 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 15:7

I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land
Either of their own land, the land of Judea; and so the Septuagint version, "in the gates of my people"; alluding to the custom of winnowing corn in open places; and by fanning is meant the dispersion of the Jews, and their being carried captive out of their own land into other countries: or of the land of the enemy, into their cities, as the Targum paraphrases it; gates being put for them frequently; whither they should be scattered by the fan of the Lord; for what was done by the enemy, as an instrument, is ascribed to him: I will bereave them of children;
which shall die of famine, or pestilence, or by the sword, or in captivity: I will destroy my people; which must be when children are cut off, by which families, towns, cities, and kingdoms, are continued and kept up; and this he was resolved to do, though they were his people: since they return not from their ways;
their evil ways, which they had gone into, forsaking the ways of God, and his worship: or, yet they return not from their ways
^F4; though fanned with the fan of affliction, bereaved of their children, and threatened with destruction: it expresses their obstinate continuance in their evil ways, and the reason of God's dealing with them as above.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 (wbv al Mhykrdm) "et tamen a viis suis non sunt reversi", V. L. Diodatus, Genevenses.

Jeremiah 15:7 In-Context

5 "Indeed, who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, Or who will mourn for you, Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?

6 "You who have forsaken Me," declares the LORD , "You keep going backward. So I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am tired of relenting!

7 "I will winnow them with a winnowing fork At the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people; They did not repent of their ways.

8 "Their widows will be more numerous before Me Than the sand of the seas; I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man, A destroyer at noonday; I will suddenly bring down on her Anguish and dismay.

9 "She who bore seven sons pines away; Her breathing is labored. Her sun has set while it was yet day; She has been shamed and humiliated. So I will give over their survivors to the sword Before their enemies," declares the LORD .

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 1:4; Jeremiah 51:2
• 2. Jeremiah 18:21; Hosea 9:12-16
• 3. Isaiah 9:13

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "turn back from"