Jeremiah 23:10

10 for the land is filled with adulterers. For the earth mourned of the face of cursing; the fields of desert be made dry, the course of them is made evil, and their strength is unlike. (for the land is filled with adulterers. Because of cursing/Because of them, the earth mourned; the fields of the desert be made dry, their course is made evil, and their strength is not rightly used.)

Jeremiah 23:10 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 23:10

For the land is full of adulterers
Of such as were guilty of corporeal adultery, and of spiritual adultery, which is idolatry. Now, though in this, and in the following verses, the prophet describes the men of his generation, both ecclesiastics and laics; yet also so as to have regard to the Jews in the times of Christ, to which this prophecy has respect; between whom there was a great resemblance; adulteries were so frequent in Christ's time, that the Jews left off the use of the bitter waters F14; and our Lord sometimes calls the generation in which he lived an adulterous one, ( Matthew 12:39 ) ( 16:4 ) ; for because of swearing the land mourneth;
because of false swearing and cursing; because of the oaths and imprecations of men; or because of the curse of God, for the sins of men, the land was desert or desolate, as the Targum; it became barren and unfruitful, the land of Judea; just as the earth was cursed for the sin of man originally; though it seems rather to signify perjury or false swearing, which, and adultery, were the reigning vices of the age; see ( Matthew 5:33-37 ) ; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up;
or the pastures of the wilderness, where cattle used to feed, were dried up for want of rain, and so were unfruitful, and produced no grass for the beasts of the field: and yet their course is evil;
the course of their ministry or prophesying was bad; and the course of their lives and conversations was one continued series of iniquity; the race they ran, both prophet and people, was a wicked one; they ran and made haste to commit sin; though a professing people, their conversation was according to "the course of this world", ( Ephesians 2:2 ) ; and not according to the rule of God's word: and their force [is] not right;
or, "is not so" F15; as it ought to be, or employed in the manner it should: the power and authority of the prophets over the people was not used, as it might have been, for the preserving of the people from sin; nor their courage and valour shown for truth, as it ought to have been; and they used their power to hurt and oppress, and not to relieve and help: so the Pharisees in Christ's time laid heavy burdens on others, but would not move them themselves; and, through a pretence of devotion, devoured widows' houses, ( Matthew 23:4 Matthew 23:14 ) . So some render the words here, "and their violence is not right" F16; their rapine and oppression were very unjust; so that, besides adultery and swearing, they are charged with violence in particular, and with a wicked course of life in general.


FOOTNOTES:

F14 Misn. Sota, c. 9. sect. 9.
F15 (Nk al) "non sic", Montanus; "dissimilis", V. L.
F16 (Mtrwbg) "violentia eorum". So the margin of our Bible.

Jeremiah 23:10 In-Context

8 but, The Lord liveth, that led out (who led out), and brought (back) the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north, and from all lands to which I had cast them out thither; and they shall dwell in their [own] land.
9 To the prophets; Mine heart is contrite, either all-broken for sorrow, in the midst of me, all my bones trembled together; I am made as a man drunken, and as a man wet of wine, of the face of the Lord, and of the face of the holy words of him (I am made like a drunken man, and like one who is wet with wine, because of the Lord, and because of his holy words);
10 for the land is filled with adulterers. For the earth mourned of the face of cursing; the fields of desert be made dry, the course of them is made evil, and their strength is unlike. (for the land is filled with adulterers. Because of cursing/Because of them, the earth mourned; the fields of the desert be made dry, their course is made evil, and their strength is not rightly used.)
11 For why the prophet and the priest be defouled; and in mine house, saith the Lord, I found the evil of them. (For the prophet and the priest be defiled; and I found them doing evil, even in my own House, saith the Lord.)
12 Therefore the way of them shall be as slidery thing(s) in darknesses, for they shall be hurtled, either shoved, and shall fall down therein; for I shall bring on them evils, the year of [the] visitation of them, saith the Lord. (And so their way shall be slippery in the darkness, for they shall be hurtled, or shall be shoved, and shall fall down there; for I shall bring in evil upon them, yea, the time of their punishment, saith the Lord.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.