Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the (a) signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them. (a) God forbids his people to give credit or fear the constellations and conjunctions of stars and planets which have no power of themselves but are governed... [ Continue Reading ]
For the (b) customs of the people [are] vain: for [one] cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. (b) Meaning not only in the observation of the stars, but their laws and ceremonies by which they confirm their idolatry, which is forbidden, (Deuteronomy 12... [ Continue Reading ]
They deck it (c) with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it may not move. (c) The prophets use thus plainly and simply to set forth the vile absurdity of the idolaters that men might learn to be ashamed of that to which their corrupt nature is most subject, (Isai... [ Continue Reading ]
Forasmuch as [there is] none like thee, O LORD; (d) thou [art] great, and thy name [is] great in might. (d) He teaches the people to lift up their eyes to God, who has all power and therefore ought only to be feared: and in this he shows them not only the evil that they ought to hate: but the good... [ Continue Reading ]
But they are altogether senseless and foolish: the stock [is] a (e) doctrine of vanities. (e) Because the people thought that to have images was a means to serve God, and to bring them to the knowledge of him, he shows that nothing more displeases God, nor brings man into greater errors and ignoran... [ Continue Reading ]
Silver beaten into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold (f) from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman, and of the hands of the goldsmith: blue and purple [is] their clothing: they [are] all the work of skilful [men]. (f) Where they found the best gold; showing that they thought nothing too dear fo... [ Continue Reading ]
Thus shall ye say to them, The gods (g) that have not made the heavens and the earth, [even] they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. (g) This declares that all that has been spoken of idols in this chapter, was to arm the Jews when they would be in Chaldea among the idolater... [ Continue Reading ]
Every man is (h) senseless in [his] knowledge: every goldsmith is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image [is] falsehood, and [there is] no breath in them. (h) The more man thinks to do anything well by his own wisdom, and not as God instructs him, the more he proves himself to be a vi... [ Continue Reading ]
The (i) portion of Jacob [is] not like them: for he [is] the former of all [things]; and Israel [is] the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts [is] his name. (i) By these words, portion and rod, he signifies their inheritance, meaning that God would be all sufficient for them: and that their ha... [ Continue Reading ]
(k) Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress. (k) The prophet wills the Jews to prepare themselves for this captivity, showing that it was now at hand that they would feel the things of which he had told them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this (l) [is] a grief, and I must bear it. (l) It is my just plague, and therefore I will take it patiently: by which he teaches the people how to behave themselves toward God.... [ Continue Reading ]
(m) My tabernacle is laid waste, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone from me, and they [are] not: [there is] none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. (m) He shows how Jerusalem will lament.... [ Continue Reading ]
For the shepherds (n) have become senseless, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered. (n) The governors and ministers.... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, the sound of a rumour is come, and a great commotion from the (o) north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, [and] a den of dragons. (o) Read (Jeremiah 4:15).... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD, I know that (p) the way of man [is] not in himself: [it is] not in man that walketh to direct his steps. (p) He speaks this because Nebuchadnezzar purposed to have made war against the Moabites and Ammonites, but hearing of Zedekiah's rebellion he turned his power to go against Jerusalem, ... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD, correct me, but with (q) judgment; not in thy anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. (q) Considering that God had revealed to him the certainty of their captivity (Jeremiah 7:16) he only prays that he would punish them with mercy which Isaiah calls in measure, (Isaiah 27:8) measuring his rod... [ Continue Reading ]
Pour out (r) thy fury upon the nations that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate. (r) As God cannot only be known and glorified by his mercy that he uses toward his Chu... [ Continue Reading ]