A.C.599. his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan

*Heb. lift up their mind.

of Jerusalem.

9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.

JEREMIAH XXII. VER. 24, TO THE END.

24 As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;

25 And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

26 And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.

27 But to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return.

28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?

29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

30 Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

chapter begins with denunciations of woe against all those evil shepherds who scattered, instead of attending to the flock. Zedekiah is generally supposed to be alluded to as one of the evil pastors, ver. 1, 2. From ver. 3-9, the people are consoled with gracious promises of future blessings, of their return from captivity, and of the glorious establishment of Messiah's kingdom. Jeremiah then, with a broken heart, seems to revert again to the ruin that awaited the house of David, and, in proclaiming its decay, denounces the just judgments of God on those false prophets who had predicted its duration, who had deceived the nation to its ruin; and whose bad examples, and evil doctrines, had so largely contributed to the corruption of the visible church. He exhorts the people not to trust in them, and threatens with severe punishment all those who, in defiance of this command, still continue to give ear to their deceitful dreams, and calls the word of the Lord spoken by his true prophets "a burden," which signifies a calamitous prophecy, always portending evil. See 1 Kings xxii. 8, where Ahaz makes the same objection to Micaiah. The judgment threatened in the two last verses of this chapter is still fulfilling, and the Jews will remain “an everlasting reproach," and a " perpetual shame," till they shall be finally restored to the city of their fathers.-Lightfoot; Blayney; Hales.

JEREMIAH XXIII.

1 He prophesieth a restoration of the scattered flock. 5 Christ shall rule and save them. 9 Against false prophets, 33 and mockers of the true prophets.

1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the A. C. 599. sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.

dEzek. xxxiv.

2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against 2 the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.

3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.

e

Ezek. xxxiv.

4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall ech 15, feed them and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, 23, &c. neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.

:

xl. 11. ch.

5 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will f Is. iv. 2. & raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign xxxiii. 14, 15. and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the John i. 45. earth.

Dan. ix. 24.

28.

6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall gDeut. xxxiii. dwell safely and this is his name whereby he shall be called, *THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

h

Heb. Jeho vah tsidkenu.

15.

7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, hch. xvi. 14, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

8 But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.

9¶ Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.

10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of +swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the + Or, cursing. wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.

11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.

12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.

13 And I have seen § folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.

+ Or, violence.

Or, an abHeb. wasa

surd thing.

voury.

A.C. 599.

* Or, filthi

ness.

i Is. i. 9.

kch. viii.

& ix. 15.

+ Or, hypo

crisy.

14.

14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as i Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is † profaneness gone forth into all the land.

16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.

17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD 1 ch. vi. 14. & hath said, 'Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every xiii. 10. Zech. one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.

viii. 11. Ezek.

x. 2.

+ Or, stub. bornness.

Or, secret.

m ch. xxx. 23.

n ch. xxx. 24.

o ch. xiv. 14. & xxvii. 15.

p Ps. cxxxix. 7, &c. Amos ix. 2, 3.

18 For who hath stood in the & counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?

19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.

20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.

21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. 23 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?

24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed."

26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;

27 Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neigh9 Judg. iii. 7. bour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. & viii. 33, 34.

Heb. with whom is.

28 The prophet || that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word

faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the A.C. 599. LORD.

29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

r

20. ch. xiv. 14,

30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith r Deut. xviii. the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neigh- 15. bour.

31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, *that use their tongues, and say, He saith.

* Or, that smooth their

32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, tongues. saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness: yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.

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 + Heb. visit 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 answered? 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 LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD;

39 Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:

upon.

40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, s ch. xx. 11. and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.

2 KINGS XXIV. VER. 10-17.

Heb. came

10 ¶At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king t Dan. i. 1. of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.

11° And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.

into siege.

A.C. 599.

12 And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and *Or, eunuchs. his princes, and his officers: " and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

u Nebuchad

nezzar's

eighth year,

Jer. xxv. 1. x ch. xx. 17.

13 And he carried out thence all the treasures of the Is. xxxix. 6. house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.

y 2 Chron. xxxvi. 10. Esth. ii. 6.

+ Or, eunuchs.

z 2 Kings xxiv. 8.

+ Heb. at the return of the year.

14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.

15 And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon 5.

16 And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

2 CHRONICLES XXXVI. VER. 9, 10.

9¶ Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.

10 And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the § goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made | Zedekiah his niah, his fa- brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

Heb. vessels of desire.

|| Or, Matta

ther's brother,

2 Kings xxiv.

17.

a Jer. xxxvii.

1.

b 2 Kings xxiv. 18.

SECTION IV.

Accession of Zedekiah-Prediction of the Restoration of the

Jews.

JEREMIAH LII. VER. 1-4.

1 Zedekiah was bone and twenty years old when he *Heb. reign-* began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

ed.

5 The prophet Ezekiel and Mordecai were among the captives carried to Babylon after the surrender of Jehoiakin, and this second conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.-Ezekiel i. 2. Esther ii. 6.