Jeremiah 12

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Jeremiah 12:8

(8) As a lion in the forest.—i.e., fierce, wild, untamed, uttering its sharp yells of passion. That mood was utterly unlovable, and therefore, speaking after the manner of men, the love which Jehovah had once felt for it was turned to hatred. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Jeremiah 12:9

(9) Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird.—The Hebrew is interrogative, Is mine heritage . . .? Are the birds come round about against her? The word for “bird” in both cases means a “bird of prey” (Isaiah 46:11; Genesis 15:11), and the “speckled bird” is probably, but not certainly, some less common species of vulture. The image was probably suggested by something the prophet had observed, birds of prey of one species collecting and attacking a solitary stranger of another, joined by the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Jeremiah 12:10

(10) Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard.—The use of the word “pastors,” with all its modern spiritual associations, instead of “shepherds” (Jeremiah is the only book in the Old Testament, it may be noted, in which the word occurs), is peculiarly unhappy in this passage, where the “pastors” are reckless and destructive. Here the image (as in Jeremiah 6:3) is that of the shepherds of a wild, nomadic tribe (who represent the Chaldean and other invaders), breaking down the fence of the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Jeremiah 12:11

(11) They have made it desolate.—The Hebrew is impersonal. “One has made it . . . ,” i.e., it is made desolate. As in other poetry of strong emotion, the prophet dwells with a strange solemn iteration on the same sound—“desolate,” “desolate,” “desolate”—thrice in the same breath. The Hebrew word shemâma, so uttered, must have sounded like a wail of lamentation.Because no man layeth it to heart.—Better, no man laid it . . . The neglect of the past was bearing fruit in the misery of the present. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Jeremiah 12:12

(12) All high places.—i.e., the bare treeless heights so often chosen as the site of an idolatrous sanctuary.The sword of the Lord.—As in the cry of “the sword of Jehovah and of Gideon” (Judges 7:18) all man’s work in war is thought of as instrumental in working out a Will mightier than his own. The sword of the Chaldean invader was, after all, His sword. The thought was more or less the common inheritance of Israel, but it had recently received a special prominence from Deuteronomy 32:41.No... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Jeremiah 12:13

(13) But shall reap thorns.—Better, have reaped thorns; and so in the next clause they have profited nothing. This which is truer to the Hebrew is also truer to the Prophet’s meaning. The sentence of failure is already written on everything. The best plans are marred, the “wheat” turned to “thorns.” The words are obviously of the nature of a proverbial saying, of the same type as that of Haggai 1:6.They shall be ashamed.—The word is imperative, be ashamed.Revenues.—The word had not acquired, at... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Jeremiah 12:14

(14) Thus saith the Lord.—The introduction of a new message from Jehovah, speaking through the prophet, is indicated by the usual formula.Mine evil neighbours.—These were the neighbouring nations—Edomites, Moabites, Hagarenes—who rejoiced in the fall of Judah, and attacked her in her weakness (2 Kings 24:2; Psalms 83:6-9; Psalms 137:7). In the midst of his burning indignation against the sins of his own people the prophet is still a patriot, and is yet more indignant at those who attack her.... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Jeremiah 12:15

(15) I will return, and have compassion on them.—The words refer, as Jeremiah 12:16 shows, not to Judah only, but to the “evil neighbours.” For them also there is hope, and that hope is bound up with the return of Judah. Strong as was the prophet’s desire for retribution, it is overpowered by the new love shed abroad in his soul, and he sees that it does not exclude, even in their case, the pity and the yearning that look beyond it for an ultimate restoration. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Jeremiah 12:16

(16) To swear by my name.—There is an obvious reference to the hopes expressed in Jeremiah 4:2. To acknowledge Jehovah in all the most solemn forms of adjuration (comp. Jeremiah 5:2; Psalms 63:11), and to do this, not hypocritically, but in the spirit of reverence and righteousness, was the ideal state of the restored Judah. To be led by her example of faith and holiness, instead of leading her to acknowledge Baal by like forms of speech as they had done, was the ideal state of the nations... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Jeremiah 12:17

(17) I will utterly pluck up.—In this, as in the preceding verse, there is an obvious reference to the prophet’s calling as described in Jeremiah 1:10, the self-same word being used as that which is there rendered “root out.” The adverb “utterly” answers to the usual Hebrew reduplication of emphasis. read more

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