Jeremiah 44:9

9 Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers, and the evils of the kings of Juda, and the evils of their wives, and your evils, and the evils of your wives, that they have done in the land of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

Jeremiah 44:9 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 44:9

Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers
And what judgments it brought upon them; meaning not their more remote ancestors in the wilderness, and the idolatry they committed, and the punishment inflicted upon them for it; but more near, such who lived a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, and whose sins had brought on that; and therefore could not be easily forgotten by them; or, if they were forgotten, it argued great stupidity: and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their
wives;
by whom they were drawn into idolatry, particularly Solomon; and it is in the original text, "the wickedness of his wives" F26; and Dr. Lightfoot thinks respect is had to Solomon's wives; but it may be understood distributively of everyone of their wives, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it F1: and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which you
have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?
where they had built altars, and worshipped strange gods, they, and their wives, as well as those who were carried captive; and which were the cause of all those evils that came upon them; these, being recent things, could not be forgotten by them; or however should have been remembered, and that so as to have deterred them from going into such practices again, as they now did in Egypt.


FOOTNOTES:

F26 (wyvn twer) "mala mulierum ejus", Schmidt; "et mala foeminarum ejus", Cocceius; "uxorum ejus", V. L. Montanus.
F1 "Et mala uxorum cujusque illorum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Jeremiah 44:9 In-Context

7 And now thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against your own souls, that there should die of you man and woman, child and suckling out of the midst of Juda, and no remnant should be left you:
8 In that you provoke me to wrath with the works of your hands, by sacrificing to other gods in the land of Egypt, into which you are come to dwell there: and that you should perish, and be a curse, and a reproach to all the nations of the earth?
9 Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers, and the evils of the kings of Juda, and the evils of their wives, and your evils, and the evils of your wives, that they have done in the land of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem?
10 They are not cleansed even to this day: neither have they feared, nor walked in the law of the Lord, nor in my commandments, which I set before you and your fathers.
11 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will set my face upon you for evil: and I will destroy all Juda.
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