Jeremiah 12:7-17 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jeremiah 12:7-13

The people of the Jews are here marked for ruin. I. God is here brought in falling out with them and leaving them desolate; and they could never have been undone if they had not provoked God to desert them. It is a terrible word that God here says (Jer. 12:7): I have forsaken my house?the temple, which had been his palace; they had polluted it, and so forced him out of it: I have left my heritage, and will look after it no more. His people that he has taken such delight in, and care of, are... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jeremiah 12:14-17

The prophets sometimes, in God's name, delivered messages both of judgment and mercy to the nations that bordered on the land of Israel: but here is a message to all those in general who had in their turns been one way or other injurious to God's people, had either oppressed them or triumphed in their being oppressed. Observe, I. What the quarrel was that God had with them. They were his evil neighbours (Jer. 12:14), evil neighbours to his church, and what they did against it he took as done... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 12:7

I have forsaken my house ,.... The temple, where the Lord took up his residence, and vouchsafed his presence to his people; this was fulfilled in the first temple, when it was destroyed by the Chaldeans; and more fully in the second, when Christ took his leave of it, Matthew 23:38 and when that voice was heard in it, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, as Josephus F1 De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 5. sect. 3. relates, "let us go hence.' So the Targum, "I have forsaken the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 12:8

Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest ,.... Which roars, and terrifies passengers from going that way; and which rends and tears in pieces all it meets with. This expresses the clamours of these people against God and his providences, and their rage, fierceness, and cruelty, against his prophets, sent in his name. It crieth out against me ; this is to be understood not of the cry of the oppressed through violence, for this is a cry to God, and not against him; or of idolaters... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 12:9

Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird ,.... Or, "is not mine heritage unto me as a speckled bird?" F2 So V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin, Jarchi, and Kimchi. as a bird of various colours, delightful to look at, as the peacock, so Jerom interprets it here; it was so formerly, but not so now; or as a bird of various colours, and unusual, which other birds get about, look on, hate, and peck at. Some think this refers to the motley party coloured religion the Jews had embraced,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 12:10

Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard ,.... This is a metaphor which is often used of the people of Israel and Judah; see Psalm 80:8 , the pastors that destroyed them are not their own governors, civil or religious, but Heathen princes, Nebuchadnezzar and his generals. So the Targum paraphrases it, "many kings slay my people;' so Kimchi and Ben Melech. They have trodden my portion under foot ; the people of the Jews, that were his portion, and before called his heritage; whom the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 12:11

They have made it desolate ,.... Which is repeated to denote the certainty of it; astonishment at it, and that it might be observed: and being desolate it mourneth unto me ; not the inhabitants of it for their sins, the cause of this desolation; but the land itself, because of the calamities upon it; it crying to God, in its way, for a restoration to its former beauty and glory. The whole land is made desolate ; it was not only the case of Jerusalem, and the parts adjacent, but even... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 12:12

The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness ,.... Of Judea; or which lay between Chaldea and Judea, through which the Chaldean army came; called here the "spoilers", because they spoiled and plundered all places where they came; nor could the high, strong, and fortified places withstand them, or escape their ravage and fury. De Dieu renders it, "upon all the plains in the wilderness"; where was pasture, land for cattle, as Kimchi serves; which were trodden down and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 12:13

They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns ,.... Which may be understood literally, the land of Judea being cursed for their sins, and become barren and unfruitful, as the earth originally was for the sin of the first man, Genesis 3:19 , or rather figuratively, which some interpret of the prophets as Kimchi, sowing the good seed of the word among the Jews; but it did not take place in them, and bring forth fruit; instead thereof thorns sprung up, or evil works were done by them,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 12:14

Thus saith the Lord against all mine evil neighbours ,.... Or, "concerning" F8 על כל "de omnibus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius. them; the Egyptians, Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Tyre, and Sidon; whom the Lord calls his "neighbours", because they were near the land of Canaan, where his people dwelt, to whom he vouchsafed his presence, and where the temple was in which he took up his residence; and his "evil" neighbours, because they often distressed... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jeremiah 12:7-13

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jeremiah 12:14-17

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 12:7

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 12:8

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 12:9

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 12:10

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 12:11

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 12:12

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 12:13

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 12:14

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