Jeremiah 32:17

17 Alas! alas! alas! Lord God, Lord, thou madest heaven and earth in thy great strength, and in thine arm stretched forth; each word shall not be hard to thee; (Alas! alas! alas! Lord God, lo! thou madest the heavens and the earth with thy great strength, and with thy arm stretched forth; nothing shall be too hard for thee;)

Jeremiah 32:17 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 32:17

Ah Lord God!
&c.] Which the Vulgate Latin version repeats three times, "Ah, ah, ah", as being greatly distressed with the trouble that was coming upon his people; and, it may be, not without some doubts and temptations about their deliverance; or, at least, was pressed in his mind with the difficulties and objections started by the Jews that were with him in the court: behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and
stretched out arm;
with great propriety is the making of the heaven and the earth ascribed to the mighty power of God; for nothing short of almighty power could have produced such a stupendous work as the heavens, with all the host of them, sun, moon, and stars, the terraqueous globe, the earth and sea, with all that in them are; and all this produced out of nothing, by the sole command and word of God: and with great pertinency does the prophet begin his prayer with such a description of God; both to encourage and strengthen his faith in him touching the fulfilment of the above prophecy, and to stop the mouths of the Jews, who objected the impossibility of it: wherefore it follows, [and] there is nothing too hard for thee;
or "hidden from thee" F26; so the Targum; which his wisdom and knowledge did not reach, or his power could not effect: or which is "too wonderful for thee" F1; there is nothing that has so much of the wonderful in it, as to be above the compass of his understanding, and out of the reach of his power, as such things be, which are beyond the power and skill of men; but there is no such thing with God, whose understanding is unsearchable, and his power irresistible; with him nothing is impossible; and who can think there is that observes that the heaven and earth are made by him?


FOOTNOTES:

F26 (Kmm alpy) "non est absconditum a te quicquam", Pagninus; "non potest occultari tibi ulla res", Junius & Tremellius.
F1 "Non mirabile est prae te ullun verbum", Schmidt; "non est ulla res abscondita a te, sive mirabile", Calvin; "non mirificabitur a te ullum verbum", Montanus.

Jeremiah 32:17 In-Context

15 For why the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Yet houses, and fields, and vines shall be wielded in this land.
16 And I prayed to the Lord, after that I betook the book of possession to Baruch, the son of Neriah; and I said, (And I prayed to the Lord, after that I gave the copies of the deed of purchase to Baruch, the son of Neriah; and I said,)
17 Alas! alas! alas! Lord God, Lord, thou madest heaven and earth in thy great strength, and in thine arm stretched forth; each word shall not be hard to thee; (Alas! alas! alas! Lord God, lo! thou madest the heavens and the earth with thy great strength, and with thy arm stretched forth; nothing shall be too hard for thee;)
18 which doest mercy in thousands, and yieldest the wickedness of fathers into the bosom of their sons after them. Thou strongest, great, mighty, Lord of hosts is name to thee; (who doest mercy to thousands, and yieldest the wickedness of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them. O Strongest One, great, and mighty, the Lord of hosts is thy name;)
19 great in counsel, and uncomprehensible in thought, whose eyes be open on all the ways of the sons of Adam, that thou yield to each after his ways, and after the fruit of his findings (and after the fruits of his deeds);
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.