Yirmeyah 16:10

10 And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt tell this people all these Devarim, and they shall say unto thee, Why hath Hashem pronounced all this ra’ah hagedolah against us? Or what is avonenu (our iniquity)? Or what is chattatenu (our sin) that we have committed against Hashem Eloheinu?

Yirmeyah 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.

Yirmeyah 16:10 In-Context

8 Thou shalt not go into the bais mishteh (house of feasting), to sit with them to eat and to drink.

9 For thus saith Hashem Tzva’os Elohei Yisroel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of hamakom hazeh before your eyes, and in your days, the voice of sasson, and the voice of simcha, the voice of the choson, and the voice of the kallah.

10 And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt tell this people all these Devarim, and they shall say unto thee, Why hath Hashem pronounced all this ra’ah hagedolah against us? Or what is avonenu (our iniquity)? Or what is chattatenu (our sin) that we have committed against Hashem Eloheinu?

11 Then shalt thou say unto them, Because avoteichem have forsaken Me, saith Hashem, and have walked after acharei elohim, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not been shomer over My torah;

12 And ye have done more wickedly than avoteichem; for, behold, ye walk every one after the sherirut (stubbornness) of his lev harah, that they may not pay heed unto Me: