Jeremiah 16:10

10 "When you tell the people of Judah these things, they will ask you, 'Why has the Lord said these terrible things to us? What have we done wrong? What sin have we done against the Lord our God?'

Jeremiah 16:10 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 16:10

And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show this people
all these words
Or, "all these things" F1; which he was forbid to do; as marrying and having children, going into the house of mourning or feasting, with the reasons of all, because of the calamities coming upon them: and they shall say unto thee, wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all
this great evil against us?
as if they were quite innocent, and were not conscious of anything they had done deserving such punishment, especially so great as this was threatened to be inflicted on them; as their dying grievous deaths, parents and children, great and small, and be unlamented, and unburied: or "what is our iniquity?" or "what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?" supposing we have been guilty of some weaknesses and frailties; or of some few faults; which though they cannot be justified, yet surely are not to be reckoned of such a nature as to deserve and require so great a punishment: thus would they either deny or lessen the sins they had been guilty of, and suggest that the Lord was very hard and severe upon them.


FOOTNOTES:

F1 (hlah Myrbdh lk) "omnes res hasce", Gataker, Piscator.

Jeremiah 16:10 In-Context

8 "Do not go into a house where the people are having a feast to sit down to eat and drink,
9 because this is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: I will soon stop the sounds of joy and gladness and the happy sounds of brides and bridegrooms in this place. This will happen during your lifetime.
10 "When you tell the people of Judah these things, they will ask you, 'Why has the Lord said these terrible things to us? What have we done wrong? What sin have we done against the Lord our God?'
11 "Then say to them: 'This is because your ancestors quit following me,' says the Lord. 'And they followed other gods and served and worshiped them. Your ancestors left me and quit obeying my teaching.
12 But you have done even more evil than your ancestors. You are very stubborn and do only what you want to do; you have not obeyed me.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.