16. Hearken not] As the false prophets, equally with the true, spake in Jehovah's name, how were the people to know them apart? This difficulty Jeremiah now answers by shewing that the false prophet always brings a message that quiets the conscience and gives it a delusive peace.

they make you vain] i.e. they deceive you, fill you with vain hopes.

a vision of their own heart] As the heart was regarded by the Jews as the seat of the intellect, this means, not a vision after their own wishes, but one of their own invention.

17. They say still] Or, They say continually. Lit. they say a saying, i.e. they say it perpetually.

The LORD hath said] See Note at end of Chapter.

after the imagination] In the stubbornness. See ch. iii. 17.

This verse gives the chief note by which the false prophet is to be detected, namely, that his predictions violate the laws of morality.

18. For who hath stood...] The prophet has just given the people a test by which they may distinguish the false prophet from the true. He now applies this to the circumstances of the times. A whirlwind is already gone forth. Had these false prophets stood in God's secret counsel, they like Jeremiah would have laboured to avert the danger by turning men from their evil way.

the counsel] The Hebr. word (sôd) is a confidential meeting of private friends, see notes on ch. vi. 11, and Ps. xxv. 14, where as here it means the nearness of the saints to God. Jeremiah demands that they shall produce from among the false prophets any one who stands in this confidential relation to Jehovah.

his word] The A. V. accepts as usual the correction of the Masorites, but the written

text (C'tib) has my sword. This change of person is too common to necessitate any alteration, and, moreover, the prophet's word was also God's word.

Behold, the tempest of Jehovah, even 19. Behold, a whirlwind...in fury] Rather, shall burst upon the head of the wicked. The hot anger bath gone forth, and a whirlwind first noun does not mean a whirlwind, but So in simply a tempest, as in Isai. xxix. 6. Ps. cvii. 25 the A. V. has a stormy wind, the Hebr. being a wind of tempest. Next the A.V. takes fury as an epithet of the tempest: really, it is an explanation of it.

grievous] must be omitted, the Hebr. being a whirling tempest = a whirlwind.

shall fall grievously] Lit. shall whirl, i.e. the full fury of the storm shall burst upon the wicked.

20. The anger of the LORD] This again is an explanation of the tempest.

in the latter days] This phrase means the proper and final development of any event or series of events. Thus it is constantly used of the Christian dispensation as the full development of the Jewish Church. But here it means the destruction of Jerusalem, as the legitimate result of the sins of the Jews.

ye shall consider it] Rather, ye shall understand it perfectly. When Jerusalem is destroyed the exiles taught by adversity will understand that it was sin which brought ruin upon their country, and thereupon will repent and return from Babylon a regenerate people. This and the preceding verse occur again with slight variations in ch. xxx. 23, 24.

21. yet they ran] i.e. hurried with indecent eagerness to take upon them the responsibilities of the prophetic office.

22. they should have turned them...] In vv. 16, 17 we had the test by which to dis

tinguish the true teacher from the false; here we have the work of the true prophet, which is to turn men from evil unto good.

23. Am I a God at hand...?] Or, near. The phrase at hand now signifies ready, within call. But this is an appeal to the omnipresence

of God in demonstration of the wickedness of the prophets. His power is not limited, so as for Him to notice only things close to Him, but is universal. That this is the right sense is proved by what is said in the next verse, "Do not I fill heaven and earth?"

25. I have dreamed] Even as early as Deut. xiii. 1 a dreamer of dreams is used in a bad sense, and with reason. For though there are several examples in Scripture of God communicating His will by dreams, it was yet a thing too easy to counterfeit for it not to be misused. And as all superstitious people attach importance to dreams, the false prophets were sure of the credulous multitude being ready to give open-mouthed audience to them every time they said I have dreamed.

26. How long shall this be in the heart...?] i.e. how long shall this prophesying of lies be the purpose of the false prophets? In the Hebrew, however, the first interrogative, How long? is followed by another interrogative particle, for which reason most modern commentators follow L. de Dieu in translating, How long? Is it in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, and prophesy the deceit of their heart-do they purpose to make my people forget my name by their dreams which they tell one to another? The first interrogative marks the prophet's impatience, How long is this state of things to last? He then puts the real question, but for emphasis' sake breaks off at the end of the verse, and resumes and completes it in v. 27. Both ways offer difficulties, but either is better than Nägelsb.'s conjecture, How long still is the fire in the heart, &c.? The

as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal] Rather, as their fathers forgot my name through Baal. The superstition which attaches importance to dreams keeps God as entirely out of men's minds as absolute idolatry.

28. let him tell a dream] Rather, let him tell it as a dream. The word is used adverbially in opposition to truth, translated adverbially at the end of the next clause, faithfully, better, as truth. The dream is but a dream, and is to be told as such, but God's word is to be spoken (faithfully of course, but that is not the prophet's meaning: it is to be spoken)

as certain and absolute truth.

The

What is the chaff to the wheat?] dreams are the chaff, worthless, with nothing in them; the corn is God's word. What have these two in common? The word rendered wheat means the pure grain after it is cleansed and winnowed. Thus there is in it no evil admixture; it is (1) man's food, and can maintain life, and (2) it possesses life in itself, and can take root and grow. Such too is God's word to the soul, but the chaff has no such qualities.

words mark another quality in God's word. 29. Is not my word like as a fire?] These It is the great purifier which destroys all that is false and leaves only the genuine metal. Cp. Heb. iv. 12.

like a hammer...] Man's word lulls and weakens the conscience: God's word rouses and strengthens it, and crushes within the heart everything that is evil.

30. I am against the prophets] Jeremiah

14, 15.

now contrasts the words of the false prophets with that of Jehovah, giving in succession the main characteristics of their teaching. The first is that they steal God's words from one another. Having no message from God they catch up what is said by other people, and especially try to imitate the true prophets. In Nebuchadnezzar's invasion many, no doubt, tried to play the same part that Isaiah had so nobly filled in the invasion of Sennacherib.

31. that use their tongues] Lit. that take their tongues. This is their second characteristic. They have no message from God, but they take their tongues, their only implement, and say, He saith. The word thus translated is the solemn formula by which Jehovah affirms the truth of His words. Hypocrites and deceivers of all men most delight in these

solemn asseverations. They seem to give reality to their emptiness.

32. that prophesy false dreams] On this, the third characteristic, see above, v. 25.

by their lightness] By their vain talk. The meaning of the root is to bubble up like a fountain. It may thus mean vain boasting, or, better, empty talk. See Gen. xlix. 4; Judg. ix. 4; Zeph. iii. 4.

therefore they shall not profit...] Or, and they will not profit this people at all.

33. What is the burden of the LORD?] The Hebr. word massa comes from a root signifying to lift up, and so its general meaning is a burden (see Introduction to Proverbs, p. 518). But the verb is also used of pronouncing anything aloud, see Num. xxiii. 7, &c.; Isai. iii. 7, xxxvii. 4, and thus in 1 Chro. xv. 22, 27 massa even means a song. In the present place it signifies a prophecy, either (1) as being something weighty: or (2) as something said aloud. Those who adopt the first explanation consider that a massa must always be of a minatory character; but probably this, confessedly its general use in Scripture, is an accident, arising from the fact that a prediction spoken publicly and with a raising of the voice would frequently be a de

33 ¶ And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.

34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even * punish that man and his house.

35 Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD an

+ Heb. visit upon.

nunciation. Still in Mal. i. I it seems to bear no such sense. Apparently its employment to signify a prophetic declaration is comparatively modern, not being found till 2 K. ix. 25, where Jehu applies it to the public condemnation of Ahab by Elijah. Isaiah, however, brought it into general use, as it occurs nine or ten times in the titles of his prophecies. Subsequently it was used in Prov. xxx. 1, xxxi. 1, and by Nahum, Habakkuk, Zechariah and Malachi, but never by Jeremiah, though his predictions were all of impending evil. Plainly, however, the false prophets applied it in derision to Jeremiah's prophecies, playing upon its double sense, and so turning solemn realities into mockery.

that there can be little doubt that the LXX. What burden?...] The Hebr. is so unusual ing Ye are the burden. This involves no and Vulg. with several MSS. are right in read

change of the consonants, but only another division of them ( D for D DAN). The explanation attempted by Keil and Nägelsb., that it is a retort, and that therefore the very words of the previous question are repeated, does not at all account for the sign of the accusative being prefixed to them.

I will even forsake you] Rather, and I will cast you away, ch. vii. 29, xii. 7. No sense can be made out of these words as long as the Masoretic reading What burden? is retained, as may be seen in the A. V. and the two

commentators mentioned above. But with the slight emendation given above all is easy. And thou shalt say unto them Ye are the burden: but I will cast you away, saith Jehovah. From the idea of a burden the

thought naturally arises of refusing to bear it, and throwing it off.

34. I will even punish] This proves that the word burden was used by the false prophets in mockery,

35. What bath the LORD answered? and, What bath the LORD spoken?] Henceforward both in their intercourse with one another, and

swered? and, What hath the LORD spoken ?

36 And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.

37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken ?

38 But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the

in addressing the prophets (v. 37), these are to be the proper words for prophecy. It is to be called an answer when the people have come to inquire of Jehovah: but His word when it is sent unasked.

36. every man's word shall be his burden] Rather, every man's burden shall be his word; i.e. his mocking use of the word burden shall weigh him down and crush him. je bave perverted] i.e, have turned them round, and put them into a ridiculous light: a habit which is its own punishment, because it is fatal to all seriousness and earnestness.

38. But since ye say] Or, But if ye say.

39. I will utterly forget you] This verse should be translated, Therefore, behold, I will even take you up (or will burden you), and I will cast you, and the city which I gave you and your fathers, out of my presence. See Note at end of Chapter: and, on I will cast you, see on v. 33. Our translators have so felt the necessity of the right translation of this verb that they have inserted the words and cast you in the text on their own authority.

40. With this verse cp. ch. xx. II.

the LXX. and the Syr. (wrongly translated in the London Polyglot), namely, 737 in they say continually to those who despise the word of Jehovah. But the Vulg. and Targ. support the rendering of the A.V.

39. The Masoretic reading is

same root as the noun massa. Thrice in v. it a taking up, and then in v. 39 retorts it 38 the prophet uses the noun a burden, upon them, saying that God would certainly take them up, but only to cast them away. The elaborate repetition of burden in v. 38 is a preparation for nothing if we retain the Ma

captivity.

3 Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.

4 ¶ Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will Heb. the I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.

6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land and I will build them, and not pull them down; and

1. two baskets of figs were set before...] The word were is to be omitted. Set before, i.e. put in the appointed place for offerings of firstfruits in the forecourt of the temple. the carpenters and smiths] The craftsmen and smiths, see note on 2 K. xxiv. 14.

2. like the figs that are first ripe] The fig-tree bears three crops of figs, of which the first is regarded as a great delicacy. See note on Isai. xxviii. 4. The bad figs may have been those of the sycomore tree, which, unless they are punctured as they ripen, contain an acrid juice which renders them uneatable, Tristram, 'Nat. Hist. of Bible,' p. 399. Or, as the fig is easily bruised, they may have been fruit too decayed to be eaten.

5. so will I acknowledge them...for their good] The influence of men like Daniel must have greatly improved the general condition of the Jewish exiles, but the word points even more strongly to spiritual blessings.

7. I will give them an heart to know me] The complete fulfilment of this prophecy belongs to the Christian Church. As has been pointed out before, there is a close analogy between Jeremiah at the first destruction of

give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:

removing,

tion.

9 And I will deliver them to be Heb. for removed into all the kingdoms of the or, vexa earth for their hurt, to be a reproach Deut. 28. and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, chap. 15. 4. in all places whither I shall drive them.

IO And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.

CHAPTER XXV. I Jeremiah reproving the Jews' disobedience to the prophets, 8 foretelleth the seventy years'

Jerusalem, and our Lord at the second. So too there the good figs were those converts picked out by the preaching of Christ and the Apostles; the bad figs were the mass of the people left for Titus and the Romans to destroy.

8. that dwell in the land of Egypt] Neither those carried captive with Jehoahaz into Egypt, nor those who flee thither, are to share in these blessings. The new life of the Jewish nation is to be the work only of the exiles in Babylon.

to the words of Deut. xxviii. 25, 37, which 9, 10. Jeremiah in these verses refers back had a partial fulfilment in the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, but their full and final accomplishment only when the house was left unto the Jews desolate by the Romans (Matt. xxiii. 38).

JEREMIAH'S FOURTEENTH PROPHECY. Chap. xxv.

The Wine-cup of fury.

The fourth year of Jehoiakim was the turning-point in the history of the East (see Introd. p. 315). Oriental empires before the time of