Jeremiah 15:7

7 And I will winnow them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children; I will destroy My people, since they return not from 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 "For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? Or who shall bemoan thee? Or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?

6 Thou hast forsaken Me," saith the LORD, "thou art gone backward; therefore will I stretch out My hand against thee and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.

7 And I will winnow them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children; I will destroy My people, since they return not from their ways.

8 Their widows are increased to Me above the sand of the seas; I have brought upon them, against the mother of the young men, a despoiler at noonday; I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.

9 She that hath borne seven languisheth; she hath given up the ghost. Her sun is gone down while it was yet day; she hath been ashamed and confounded; and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies," saith the LORD.