Jeremiah 29:17

17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.

Jeremiah 29:17 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 29:17

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold, I will send upon them
the sword
The sword of the Chaldeans, by which many of them should fall, as they did. The Targum is,

``I will send upon them those that kill with the sword:''

who, though they were prompted to come against the Jews, through a natural and ambitious desire of conquering and plundering, yet were sent of God; nor would they have come, had he not willed and suffered it: the famine and the pestilence;
to destroy others that escaped the sword; both these raged while Jerusalem was besieged by the Chaldeans: and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so
evil;
to which they are compared, ( Jeremiah 24:8 ) . The sense is, that as they had made themselves wicked and corrupt, like naughty and rotten figs, so the Lord would deal with them as men do with such, cast them away, as good for nothing. The word ^F26 for "vile" signifies something horrible; and designs such figs so bad, that they even strike the eater of them with horror.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F26 (Myrevh Mynatk) "tanquam ficus horrendas", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Stockius, p. 1129.

Jeremiah 29:17 In-Context

15 Because ye have said, The LORD hath raised up for us prophets in Babylon;

16 [Know] that thus saith the LORD concerning the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and concerning all the people that dwelleth in this city, [and] concerning your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity;

17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.

18 And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them:

19 Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising early and sending [them]; but ye would not hear, saith the LORD.