Jeremiah 11:6

6–8. See summary at commencement of section. Gi. omits these three vv. But Jer_11:6 is needed, in order to account for the hostility roused at Anathoth by Jeremiah’s mission. Jer_11:7-8 on the other hand are omitted by LXX, and may well have been inserted here from the parallel passage, Jer_7:23 f.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jer 11:6 Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.

Ver. 6. Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.] Else ye hear to no purpose; as the salamander liveth in the fire, and is not made hot by the fire; as the Ethiopian goeth black into the bath, and as black he cometh forth.

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 11:6-8. Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, &c. — That all may hear, for all are concerned; saying, Hear ye the words, &c., and do them — Let it be thy work to call upon this people, not only to hear, but to do the things which I have commanded them, and which they have engaged to do. For I earnestly protested — Hebrew, in protesting I protested; a way of speaking by which the Hebrews expressed the seriousness and earnestness wherewith any thing was done: by protesting, he means the same with charging and solemnly enjoining, with promises annexed to obedience, and threatenings denounced in case of disobedience. This, God says, he had done with a great deal of patience and diligence, even from the time that this people were brought by him out of the land of Egypt to the present period. Yet they obeyed not — And, because they were resolved not to be subject to God’s commandments, they would not so much as incline their ears to them, but walked every one in the imagination of his evil heart, following their own inventions; and each one acting as his fancy or humour led him, both in their devotions and in their conversations. Therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant — That is, all the threatenings contained in it. Observe, reader, the words of God’s covenant shall not fall to the ground. If we do not by our obedience qualify ourselves for the blessings of it, we shall, by our disobedience, bring ourselves under the curses of it.

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

11:6-7 Jeremiah was to use every available means to broadcast the Lord’s message to as many people as he could. As he visited every town and walked the streets of Jerusalem, he reminded the people to remember and obey the requirements of the ancient covenant.

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

Jeremiah was to take a prophetic tour throughout Judah, to proclaim everywhere the denunciations in the book of the law found in the temple.

Hear . . . do-- (Rom 2:13; Jam 1:22).

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 6. Proclaim all these words] Let the same covenant, with the blessings and cursings, be read in every city of Judah, and in all the streets of Jerusalem, that all the people may know their duty, their privileges, and their danger.

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

Here the Prophet explains more clearly why he had been commanded to promulgate the words of the covenant: for the greater part of the people were no doubt ready boldly to object and say, “What dost thou mean? Are not we the disciples of Moses? Thou, forsooth! thinkest that thou hast to do with a barbarous people. Have we not been from our childhood taught the law of God? Is it not daily enjoined on us? We are sufficiently instructed in this doctrine of which thou pretendest that we are ignorant. Be gone hence; and go either to the Chaldeans or to the Assyrians or to the Egyptians; for we understand what the law teaches.”

There is then no doubt but that Jeremiah had been repulsed by this kind of insolence: he therefore shews that he had a just cause to set before them the law of God; for so great an oblivion had prevailed, that they did not know what God had formerly taught in his law: and besides, they and their fathers had been always rebellious, so that they had ever need of being taught, according to what is said by Isaiah, that the people were to be treated like children and taught, A, A; B, B, and that though the same things were repeated, they yet stopped at the rudiments and never made any progress. (Isaiah 28:10, 13) As then Isaiah reproached the people with tardiness in learning the law, so Jeremiah shews now that they were not to think it strange that God commanded his law to be proclaimed to them, because it had been hitherto despised by them. The rest we shall defer.

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.

(6) In the cities of Judah . . .—It is, at least, probable that the words are to be taken literally, and that the prophet went from city to city, doing his work as a preacher of repentance, and taking the new-found book of Deuteronomy as his text. The narrative of 2Ki_23:13-20 indicates an iconoclastic journey throughout the kingdom as made by Josiah; and the prophetic discourse now before us, enforcing the observance of the covenant just made, would have been a fit accompaniment for such a mission.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For I earnestly protested unto your fathers,.... Or "witnessing, witnessed" (g); testified his great affection for them; importunately solicited their observation of his precepts for their good; and strictly cautioned them against neglect and disobedience:

the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt; See Gill on Jer 11:4,

even unto this day, rising early, and protesting, saying, obey my voice; that is, from the time of the giving of the law, in all successive ages, to the present time, he had sent his prophets to them, time after time, morning by morning, early and late, to press, exhort, and stir them up to an obedience to his will, and to warn them of the evils that would come by disobedience to it.

(g) "testificando tesficatus sum", Schmidt; "contestando contestatus sum", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius.

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

Proclaim ... - Probably Jeremiah accompanied Josiah in his progress 2Ki 23:15-20, and everywhere read to the people the words of the newly-found book.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Cities, or to those who come thence to the temple, that all may know.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Let it be thy work to call upon this people, not only to hear, but to do, the words which I have commanded them, and they have engaged to do.

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

6. In the cities of Judah — Comp. 2Ki_23:15-20. Henderson suggests that Jeremiah accompanied Josiah in visits to the different cities to carry forward his work of reformation. Certainly the work of these two reformers was mutually helpful, and each has an illustrative bearing upon that of the other.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Proclaim all these words, etc. This command probably points to a missionary circuit of Jeremiah, as suggested above. Others render, "read aloud"; (comp. 2Ki_22:8, Hebrew) but Jeremiah receives the direction to "proclaim" or "cry" elsewhere. (Jer_2:2 Jer_3:12, etc.) So Gabriel, in the Koran, directs Mohammed to "cry," i.e. to proclaim or preach (Sura 96:1).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

solemn

serious and important

the words of this covenant

"the terms of this covenant"

carry them out

This is an idiom. AT: "obey them" (See: Idiom)

Listen to my voice

The word "voice" here is a metonym for what the speaker says with the voice, and "listen" is a metonym for "obey." AT: "Obey what I say" (See: Metonymy)

Each person has been walking in the stubbornness of his wicked heart.

Here "walking" is an idiom for the way a person lives. The word "heart" is a metonym for a person's desires and emotions. AT: "Each person has refused to change and has been living by his own wicked desires" or "Each person has refused to change and continues to do the evil things that they want to do" (See: Idiom and Metonymy)

So I brought all the curses in this covenant that I commanded to come against them

"So I punished them with all the curses that I described in this covenant that I had commanded them to obey"

translationWords

preach

walk

stiff-necked

evil

heart

people group

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.