Jeremiah 12:16

16 et erit si eruditi didicerint vias populi mei ut iurent in nomine meo vivit Dominus sicut docuerunt populum meum iurare in Baal aedificabuntur in medio populi mei

Jeremiah 12:16 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 12:16

And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the
ways of my people
Not their evil ways of sin or superstition, they sometimes stray into; but the ways which God has prescribed to them, and has directed them to walk in, and in which they do walk; and which are to be learned of the Lord, by a diligent attendance with his people on his word and ordinances; see ( Isaiah 2:3 ) : to swear by my name, the Lord liveth;
that is, to worship and serve the living God, a self-existent Being, who has life in himself, and of himself, and not another; and is the fountain, author, and giver of natural life to all creatures, and spiritual and eternal life to his true worshippers: swearing is here put for the whole of religious worship, as in ( Deuteronomy 6:13 ) : (as they taught my people to swear by Baal;)
to worship him, and other idols: then shall they be built in the midst of my people;
become part of the spiritual building the church; being laid upon the same foundation of the apostles and prophets, and built up a holy temple; a spiritual house for the Lord to dwell in; partaking of the same privileges and ordinances as the people of God; being fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ by the Gospel, ( Ephesians 2:20 Ephesians 2:21 ) ( 3:6 ) , it denotes the settlement and establishment of the Gentiles with the Jews in a Gospel church state. So the Targum,

``and they shall be established in the midst of my people.''

Jeremiah 12:16 In-Context

14 haec dicit Dominus adversum omnes vicinos meos pessimos qui tangunt hereditatem quam distribui populo meo Israhel ecce ego evellam eos de terra eorum et domum Iuda evellam de medio eorum
15 et cum evellero eos convertar et miserebor eorum et reducam eos virum ad hereditatem suam et virum in terram suam
16 et erit si eruditi didicerint vias populi mei ut iurent in nomine meo vivit Dominus sicut docuerunt populum meum iurare in Baal aedificabuntur in medio populi mei
17 quod si non audierint evellam gentem illam evulsione et perditione ait Dominus
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.