Jeremiah 12:8

Jer 12:8 Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it.

Ver. 8. Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest.] Roaring against me, and revelling in the ruin of my messengers. Ubi affectus augetur in antithesi verborum; haereditas mea, et contra me; sheep they were wont to be, now they are become lions.

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 12:8-9. My heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest — Those that were my lambs and sheep, following me, their chief shepherd, and the guidance of those prophets and pastors whom I set over them, are become like lions in the forest roaring against me, and rending and tearing the prophets whom I send unto them, and who speak to them in my name. It — My heritage; crieth out against me — They blaspheme my name, oppose my authority, and bid defiance to my justice. Therefore have I hated it — My disposition and conduct are changed toward them, and my heart is alienated from them, because their temper and behaviour are altered, and their hearts and ways alienated from me. My heritage is unto me as a speckled bird — Colorata, id est, fœdata sanguine, died or sprinkled with the blood of her prey. So R. Salomon interprets the words עישׂ צבוע, here used. Or, as some read it, Avis digitata, a bird with talons: so the margin; that is, a ravenous bird, uncis unguibus in prædam volans, says Buxtorf, flying on its prey with crooked claws. The meaning is, My people are become wild and savage, and, like a speckled, rapacious bird, are only fit for prey and deeds of violence. And as all the rest of the birds flock about such a one, and are ready to pull it in pieces; so have I stirred up all the enemies of my people to annoy them on every side; compared, in the next clause, to so many beasts of prey. See Jer 2:15; Isa 56:9.

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

Ever ramping and raging against me and my Prophets.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

is unto me--is become unto Me: behaves towards Me as a lion which roars against a man, so that he withdraws from the place where he hears it: so I withdrew from My people, once beloved, but now an object of abhorrence because of their rebellious cries against Me.

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 8. Mine heritage is unto me as a lion] The people are enraged against me; they roar like a furious lion against their God. They have proceeded to the most open acts of the most flagrant iniquity.

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

God now shews the reason why he resolved to cast away the people; for it might appear at the first view very inconsistent, that God’s covenant, which he had made with Abraham and his seed, should become void. Hence he shews here that he was not too rigid in heavily punishing the Jews, and that he could not be accused of levity or inconstancy in rejecting or repudiating them.

Mine heritage, he says, has become like a lion in the forest; that is, they have not only acted insolently towards me, but they have even dared furiously to attack me, like a lion who roars against men in the forest. God then here complains of their contempt, and then he declares how furious was their impiety: for the Jews, as though seized by the rage of a wild beast, dared to make a violent attack on him. And the words, as they are connected, render the sin the more atrocious, My heritage, he says, has become to me as a lion in the forest: one’s heritage and patrimony, we know, is his delight; and then, they who possess small tenements live much more quietly than those who occupy large ones. God now shews that he was in his own heritage as though he was in a vast and wild forest, and also, that the fields which ought to have been his delight, and also his vineyards and meadows, were become places of the greatest horror, as though a lion were roaring and raging against unhappy men.

He says further, that it had sent forth its voice By these words he accuses the people of extreme wantonness; and such is to be found in the world at this day; for how audaciously do the Papists vomit forth their blasphemies against God? The unprincipled and the dregs of society hesitate not with a full mouth to be insolent towards God; and courtiers also and epicures, and those who admire themselves for their splendor and wealth, with what haughtiness do they rise up against; him; and how disdainfully do they reject every truth that is set before them! We therefore in this miserable age experience the very same thing which the Prophet deplores in the men of his own time, — that they raised their voices against God himself.

He therefore comes to this conclusion, — that he hated his own heritage. “Since then,” he says, “the Jews are become to me as lions in a forest, since they have rendered themselves a horror instead of a delight to me, what am I to do with them? Can I treat them as my patrimony and heritage? But they have put me to flight by their treachery, yea, by their diabolical fury. It is therefore nothing strange that I hate them, though they have been my heritage.” Thus the Prophet shews, that it availed the Jews nothing that they had been of old adopted, since they had repudiated themselves and had become alienated from God their Father.

Let us also hence learn, that whatever honor hypocrites at this day possess in the Church, they yet boast in vain; for though they may for a time be counted as the heritage of God, they are at the same time hated by God, inasmuch as they are within full of wickedness and of perverseness towards him; and then, when urged and pressed, they hesitate not to vomit forth their insolence. It follows: —

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.

(8) As a lion in the forest.—i.e., fierce, wild, untamed, uttering its sharp yells of passion. That mood was utterly unlovable, and therefore, speaking after the manner of men, the love which Jehovah had once felt for it was turned to hatred.

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

8. as a lion] The open hostility of the people towards the Lord is likened by Him to the angry roar and fierce attack of a lion ranging the forest. He therefore withdraws and leaves it as some savage beast to the solitude that it has made for itself.

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.

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 to idols, as Baal's prophets to him, in the time of their service; which senses are mentioned by Kimchi: but either of their charging God with inequality and injustice, in the ways of his providence; or their blaspheming his name, and speaking ill of his ministry

Therefore have I hated it; which he showed by leaving his house, forsaking his heritage, and delivering his people into the hands of their enemies; the reason of which was not in himself, but them; the fault was not his, but theirs; this is all to be understood of the change in the dispensation of the divine Providence towards them; otherwise the love of God to his chosen in Christ is unchangeable; it is never turned into hatred, but remains invariably the same, as it did to those, among these people; who belonged to the election of grace; for, as the love before expressed to this people in general only respects external favours and privileges, which they were indulged with above all people; so this hatred of them signifies the taking away of such favours, and leaving them to become a prey to their enemies.

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

That is, the reason why my heart is alienated from them, is because they are altered; those that were as my sheep, following me their chief Shepherd, and the guidance of those prophets and pastors which I set over them, are become like lions in the forest roaring against me, and rending and tearing the prophets which I sent unto them.

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

8. As a lion — Fierce and uncontrollable, roaring against him with rage and blasphemy.

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

The reason why Jehovah has given up his people. Israel (or, more strictly, Judah) has proceeded to open hostility against his God. He is unto me or rather, has become unto meas a lion in the forest; a familiar circumstance. (comp. on Ver. 5 and Jer_4:7) Therefore have I hated it. "To hate" is a strong expression for the withdrawal of love, shown by the giving up of Israel into the power of his enemies, as Mal_1:3 (Keil).

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

As a lion - Those that were my sheep, are become like lions.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

she raised her voice against Me The cry of her violent deeds has ascended before Me.

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.