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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jeremiah 7:16-20

God had shown them, in the foregoing verses, that the temple and the service of it, of which they boasted and in which they trusted, should not avail to prevent the judgment threatened. But there was another thing which might stand them in some stead, and which yet they had no value for, and that was the prophet's intercession for them; his prayers would do them more good than their own pleas: now here that support is taken from them; and their case is said indeed who have lost their interest... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jeremiah 7:21-28

God, having shown the people that the temple would not protect them while they polluted it with their wickedness, here shows them that their sacrifices would not atone for them, nor be accepted, while they went on in disobedience. See with what contempt he here speaks of their ceremonial service (Jer. 7:21). ?Put your burnt-offerings to your sacrifices; go on in them as long as you please; add one sort of sacrifice to another; turn your burnt-offerings (which were to be wholly burnt to the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 7:16

Therefore pray not thou for this people ,.... These are the words of the Lord to the Prophet Jeremiah, forbidding him to pray for the people of the Jews; which he either was doing, or about to do, and which, from the great affection he had for them, he was inclined unto; wherefore, to show how much the Lord was displeased with them, and how determined he was to punish them with captivity, he orders the prophet not to make any supplication for them: neither lift up cry nor prayer for them ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 7:17

Seest thou not what they do in the cities Judah ,.... Not in one city only, but in all of and particularly the chief of them; as follows: and in the streets of Jerusalem ? these words, with what is said next, show the reason why the prophet was forbid to pray for this people, and the Lord was so provoked with them as to cast them out of his sight; and he appeals to the prophet, and to what he saw, or which he might see; for what was done was done not in secret, but openly, in the very... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 7:18

The children gather wood ,.... In the fields, or out of the neighbouring forest; not little children, but young men, who were able to cut down trees, and bear and carry burdens of wood: and the fathers kindle the fire ; take the wood of their children, lay it in order, and put fire to it; which shows that they approved of what their children did, and that what they did was by their direction and order: and the women knead their dough ; so that every age and sex were employed in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 7:19

Do they provoke me to anger? saith the Lord ,.... No: he cannot be provoked to anger as men are; anger does not fall upon him as it does on men; there is no such affection in God as there is in men; his Spirit cannot be irritated and provoked in the manner that the spirits of men may be; and though sin, and particularly idolatry, is disagreeable to him, contrary to his nature, and repugnant to his will; yet the damage arising from it is more to men themselves than to him; and though he... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 7:20

Therefore thus saith the Lord God ,.... Since these are their thoughts, and this the fruit of their doings: behold, my anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place ; like fire, to consume and destroy it; meaning Jerusalem, which was burned with fire; as an emblem of God's wrath, and an instance of his vengeance upon it, for sins; which came down in great abundance, like a storm or tempest: upon man and upon beast ; upon beasts for the sake of man, they being his property,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 7:21

Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel ,.... The Lord of armies above and below, and the covenant God of the people of Israel; who were bound to serve him, not only by the laws of creation, and the bounties of Providence, but were under obligation so to do by the distinguishing blessings of his goodness bestowed upon them; wherefore their idolatry, and other sins committed against him, were the more heinous and aggravated: put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 7:22

For I spake not unto your fathers ,.... Meaning not Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but Moses, Aaron, and others, who were living at the time of the bringing of the children of Israel out of Egypt, as appears by what follows: nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings, or sacrifices ; these are not in the decalogue or ten commands; these are no part of that law or covenant, but are an appendage or addition to it; and though they are... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 7:23

But this thing commanded I them, saying ,.... This was the sum and substance of what was then commanded, even obedience to the moral law; this was the main and principal thing enjoined, and to which the promise was annexed: obey my voice : the word of the Lord, his commands, the precepts of the decalogue; obedience to which was preferable to the sacrifices of the ceremonial law; see 1 Samuel 15:22 , wherefore it follows: and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people ; the... read more

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