Jeremiah 23:10 - Exposition

The land is full of adulterers . The false prophets connive at flagrant immoralities, one of which is mentioned as a typical sin. As to the nature of the adultery, see note on Jeremiah 5:7 . Because of swearing ; rather, because of the curse ; the curse, namely, with which God punishes the guilty earth (comp. Zechariah 5:3 ; Daniel 9:11 ; and especially Isaiah 24:6 , where in the original there is a paronomasia very similar to that here). The land mourneth ; a figurative expression, suggested partly by the assonance of the word for "curse." Drought is what is meant (comp. Jeremiah 12:4 ; Jeremiah 14:1 , Jeremiah 14:2 ). The pleasant places of the wilderness ; rather, the pastures of the prairie-land ("wilderness" suggests ideas very alien to the context). Their course ; literally, their running (comp. Jeremiah 8:6 ). The subject is "the inhabitants of the land." Their force is not right ; rather, their might (or, heroism) is untruth . They are "mighty men" only in telling untruths (comp. Jeremiah 9:3 ; Isaiah 5:22 ).