Jeremiah 11:12

Jer 11:12 Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.

Ver. 12. Then shall the cities of Judah … go and cry unto the gods.] Or, Let them go and cry unto them - q.d., let them for me. This is one of those bitter answers that God giveth to wicked suitors. {Eze 14:3-5 Jdg 10:14} Or, if he give them better at any time, it is in wrath, and for a mischief to them.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jer 11:12-14. Then shall the cities of Judah cry unto the gods, &c. — “When great calamities threaten men, their fears suggest all possible ways of seeking for succour. Thus, when the Jews found themselves forsaken of God, they betook themselves to idols, but found all such applications vain, and to no purpose: see 2Ch 28:23. For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, &c. — See note on Jer 2:28. Ye have set up altars to that shameful thing — Hebrew, בשׁת, bosheth, shame, so called, because it was what they had cause to be ashamed of, and what would certainly bring them to shame and confusion. See note on Jer 3:24. Therefore pray not thou for this people — See note on Jer 7:16.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11:12 The people of Judah and Jerusalem prayed and worshiped in their time of trouble, but not to the Lord; instead, they prayed to their idols. They were bonded to unreal and powerless images of wood and stone instead of to the one true God.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

cry unto the gods . . . not save-- (Deu 32:37-38). Compare this verse and beginning of Jer 11:13; Jer 2:28.

in the time of their trouble--that is, calamity (Jer 2:27).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 12. Go, and cry unto the gods] See Jer 2:28.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Prophet then shews in these words that they were not touched by a true and sincere feeling of repentance who cried thus indiscriminately to God and to idols.

But another question may be here raised, How could they flee to God and to foreign gods too? The ready answer is this, that the unbelieving, in a turbulent state of mind, turn here and there, so that they lay hold of nothing certain, or sure and fixed. This we see in the Papists — they cry to God and at the same time to a great number of gods. Let us therefore know, that there is in all the unbelieving a spirit, as it were, of giddiness, which turns them into different expedients, so that now they call on God, then they flee to their idols. Men naturally are led to God when any distress holds them bound; hence they call on God: but afterwards, being not satisfied with him alone, they betake themselves to their own devices, and heap together, as I have said, a vast multitude of gods. Since then we see this to be done under the Papacy in our day, we need not wonder that it was done formerly, and that the Jews were on this account condemned.

The Prophet now addresses the Jews only; he had before spoken of the Israelites, but he now speaks especially to his own people, Go shall the cities of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem, etc. What shall they do? They shall cry to their gods We hence see that their prayers were rambling, as though they poured them unto the air: therefore God could not have heard them. For whenever God promises to be propitious and appeasable he requires faith and repentance: but there was in this people an impious wantonness, and no faith, for they were entangled in their own superstitions.

The meaning is, that the Jews, when oppressed by calamities, would make their prayers to the true God, but without understanding, without any discrimination, but on the contrary, in a confused state of mind: and that this would be sufficiently evident, for they would at the same time seek the aid of various idols, but that they would gain no help, either from God or from their idols; and why? because they would be unworthy to be heard by God, as they would not call on him in a right spirit, not with faith and repentance; and their idols would not be able to bring them any help. It hence follows that they would be altogether in a hopeless state.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah,.... See Gill on Jer 2:28,

and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem; of which there were many, and some of note (i):

have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal; one of whose names is Bosheth, "shame"; see Hos 9:10, hence Jerubbaal is called, in Sa2 11:21, Jerubbesheth; very properly is this name given to Baal, not only because the worship of him was to the reproach of the true God, but brought shame and confusion in the issue to its worshipper; as well as because shameful things were done in the worship of it, especially of Baalpeor; who seems to be the same with the Priapus of other nations.

(i) Vid. Lightfoot, Chorograph. Cent. ad Matt. p. 34.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Shall here signifieth will, and might as well have been so translated, denoting the hardness of the hearts of this people, whom affliction would not reduce to God; or rather the indicative mood is here put for the imperative, and the sense, Let

the cities of Judah, & c., and the phrase taken ironically. So it agreeth with God’s answer to the people crying to him, Jdg 10:14, and what this prophet had before said, Jer 2:28. But, saith the prophet, they shall do them no good, then they shall understand their vanity in their superstition and idolatry, that they have bestowed a divine homage upon lies and vanities, and things able to do them no good, nor at all to profit them.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And they shall go the cities of Judah From the cities of Judah.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.