Jeremiah 18:21

21–23. See on Jer_17:18. Here also we may be permitted to consider the passage to be an editorial addition. Erbt retains 22 b and 23 as genuine, Gi. all but “and their … battle” (Jer_18:21), while Du. and Co. reject the passage, which in its bitter imprecations indeed forms a harsh contrast to the prophet’s expressions elsewhere of affectionate mourning for the attitude taken up by his countrymen, as well as to the teaching of the N.T. (Mat_5:44).

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 18:21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their [blood] by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and [be] widows; and let their men be put to death; [let] their young men [be] slain by the sword in battle.

Ver. 21. Therefore deliver up their children to the famine.] He who had prayed so hard for them, could and did pray here as earnestly against them; yet not out of private revenge, but by a prophetic spirit, whereby he foretelleth their calamities auxesi verborum per hypotyposin. This is usual with the psalmist and other prophets.

And let their men be put to death.] Heb., Be killed with death. See Rev 2:23. {See Trapp on "Rev 2:23"}

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.

18:21-23 In his prayer for vengeance, Jeremiah asked God to fulfill his promised curses against those who violated his covenant (cp. Deut 27:11-26; 28:15-68; see also “Prayers for Vengeance” Theme Note).

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

Seeing the obstinate malice of the adversaries, which grew daily more and more, the Prophet being moved with God’s Spirit, without any carnal affection prayeth for their destruction, because he knew that it should tend to God’s glory, and profit of his Church.

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

pour out their blood by the force of the sword--literally, "by the hands of the sword." So Eze 35:5. MAURER with JEROME translates, "deliver them over to the power of the sword." But compare Psa 63:10, Margin; Isa 53:12. In this prayer he does not indulge in personal revenge, as if it were his own cause that was at stake; but he speaks under the dictation of the Spirit, ceasing to intercede, and speaking prophetically, knowing they were doomed to destruction as reprobates; for those not so, he doubtless ceased not to intercede. We are not to draw an example from this, which is a special case.

put to death--or, as in Jer 15:2, "perish by the death plague" [MAURER].

men . . . young men--HORSLEY distinguishes the former as married men past middle age; the latter, the flower of unmarried youth.

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 21. Therefore deliver up their children] The execrations in these verses should be considered as simply prophetic declarations of the judgments which God was about to pour out on them.

If we consider them in their grammatical meaning, then they are not directions to us, to whom our Lawgiver has said, "Love your enemies."

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

The Prophet seems here to have been driven through indignation to utter imprecations which are not consistent with a right feeling; for even if Christ had not said with his own mouth, that we are to pray for those who curse us, the very law of God, ever known to the holy fathers, was sufficient. Jeremiah then ought not to have uttered these curses, and to have imprecated final destruction on his enemies, thouglt they fully deserved it. But it must be observed, that he was moved not otherwise than by the Holy Spirit, to become thus indignant against his enemies; for he could not have been excused on the ground that indignation often transgresses the bounds of patience, for the children of God ought to bear all injuries to the utmost; but, as I have said, the Prophet here has announced nothing rashly, nor did he allow himself to wish anything as of himself, but obediently proclaimed what the Holy Spirit dictated, as his faithful instrument.

We have said elsewhere, that the first thing to be noticed is, that when we pray for any evil on the wicked, we ought not to act on private grounds; for he who has a regard to himself, will ever be led away by too strong an impulse; and even when our prayers are calmly and rightly formed, we are yet ever wrong, when we consult our private advantages or redress our own injuries. That is one thing. And secondly, we ought to have that wisdom which distinguishes between the elect and the reprobate. But as God bids us to suspend our judgment, inasmuch as we cannot surely know what will take place to-morrow, we ought not to imitate indiscriminately the Prophet in praying God to destroy and scatter ungodly men of whom we despair; for, as it has been stated, we are not certain what has been decreed in heaven. In short, whosoever is disposed, after the example of Jeremiah, to pray for a curse on his enemies, must be ruled by the same spirit, according to what Christ said to his disciples; for as God destroyed the wicked at the request of Elijah, the Apostles wished Christ to do the same by fire from heaven; but he said,

“Ye know not by what spirit ye are, ruled.” (Luke 9:55)

They were unlike Elijah, and yet; wished like apes to imitate what he did.

But, as I have said, let first all regard to our own benefit or loss be dismissed, when we would shew ourselves indignant against the wicked; and secondly, let us have the spirit of wisdom and discretion; and lastly, let all the turbulent feelings of the flesh be checked, for as soon as anything human be mixed with our prayers, some confusion will ever be found. There was nothing turbulent in this imprecation of Jeremiah, for the Spirit of God ruled his heart and his tongue, and then he forgot himself; and lastly, he knew that they were reprobate and already doomed to final ruin. He therefore hesitated not, through the prophetic spirit, to imprecate on them what we here read. And there is no doubt but that he was ever solicitous for the remnant, for he knew that there were some faithful; and though they were unknown, he yet prayed God for them. But he fulminates here against the reprobate who were already given up to ruin. This is the reason why he hesitated not to pray that they might be delivered up to famine and given to the sword, so that their women might be bereaved and become widows, and their men put to death, and their youth smitten by the sword. It now 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.

(21) Therefore deliver up their children . . .—The bitter words that follow startle and pain us, like the imprecations of Psalms 35, 69, 109. To what extent they were the utterances of a righteous indignation, a true zeal for God, which had not yet learnt the higher lesson of patience and forgiveness, or embodied an element of personal vindictiveness, we are not called on to inquire, and could not, in any case, decide. It is not ours to judge another man’s servant. In all like cases we have to remember that the very truthfulness with which the prayer is recorded is at least a proof that the prophet felt, like Jonah, that he did well to be angry (Jon_4:9), that a righteous anger is at least one step towards a righteous love, and that we, as disciples of Christ, have passed, or ought to have passed, beyond that earlier stage.

Pour out their blood by the force of the sword.—Literally, with a bolder metaphor, pour them out into the hands of the sword.

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

Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me,.... However deep they had laid them; and however unknown they were to him; or however private and secret they might be thought to be by them; God is an omniscient God, and knows and sees all things; the thoughts of men's hearts, and all their secret designs in the dark against his ministers, people, and interest:

forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight; they had sinned the unpardonable sin; or, however, a sin unto death; for which prayer for the forgiveness of it was not to be made, Jo1 5:16; this the prophet knew: what he here imprecates, and both before and after, must be considered, not as flowing from a private spirit, or from a spirit of malice and revenge; but what he delivered out under a spirit of prophecy, as foretelling what would be the sad estate and condition of these persons; for, otherwise, the temper and disposition of the prophet were the reverse; and he was inclined to sue for mercy for these people, as he often did; wherefore this is not to be drawn into a precedent and example for any to follow:

but let them be overthrown before thee; by the sword, famine, and pestilence: or, "let them be made to stumble before thee" (i); and fall into perdition; they having made others to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths of truth and goodness; so that it was but a righteous thing that they should be punished after this manner; see Jer 18:15;

deal thus with them in the time of thine anger; the set time for his wrath to come upon them to the uttermost; then do unto them according to all the imprecations now made; which the prophet foresaw, and believed he would do; and therefore thus spake.

(i) "propellantur in offendiculum coram te", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "offensi ruant coram te", Cocceius.

Next: Jeremiah Chapter 19

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

Pour out ... sword - literally, “pour them out upon the hands of the sword, i. e., give them up to the sword.”

Put to death - Rather, slain of death. The prophet’s phrase leaves it entirely indefinite in what way the men are to die.

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

Therefore. He foretells of the event, and approves of the chastisement of the impenitent, (Calmet) whose "impurity might be a bad precedent for others.["] (St. Jerome) See chap. xvii. 18.

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).

Deliver up their children to the famine; a dreadful imprecation; we meet with more of the same nature, Jer 11:20; 15:15; 17:18. We find also several such imprecation in the Psalms, Psa 35:4; 40:14; 69:22-25,27,28; 109:6-10, &c. Hence a question is raised, whether it be lawful for God’s servants to pray for evil against their enemies. That which makes the doubt is, Christ’s command to us to pray for them that persecute us, Mat 5:43,44, his own example, and Stephen’s, Act 7:60. See the notes upon the aforementioned texts. It is doubtless our duty to pray for the conversion, forgiveness, and eternal salvation of our worst enemies; so Christ prayed, and Stephen, but neither of them prayed for their outward prosperity in their persecution and rage; and without doubt we may pray against God’s enemies, that God would tie their hands, weaken their power, confound their devices. For such other particulars as are mentioned in this verse, and the beginning of the following verse, and such as David mentions, Psa 69, we must know they were both prophets, and did but pray to God to do that thing which God had revealed to them he would do.

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

21. Pour out their blood, etc. — Literally, pour them out upon thee hands of the sword; that is, give them up to its power.

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

Pour out their blood by the force, etc.; rather, spill them into the hands of, etc.; (see Psa_63:10) a phrase akin to that in Isa_53:12. The sword is personified. Let their men he put to death; another personification, for the Hebrew has "slain of Death pestilence is referred to, as Jer_15:2.

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

Therefore - But is it lawful for God's servants to pray for evil against their enemies? It is not lawful for Christians. It is doubtless our duty, to pray for the conversion, forgiveness, and eternal salvation of our worst enemies.

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

give their children over to famine

The idiom "give over" means to place a person in the power of another person. Jeremiah speaks of "famine" as if it were a person who could have power over others. AT: "cause their children to die from famine" (See: Idiom and Personification)

give them to the hands of those who use the sword

Here the word "hands" represents power. AT: "cause those who use the sword to have power over them" or "cause them to die in battle" (See: Metonymy)

let their women become bereaved and widows

"let the children and husbands of their women die." The word "bereaved" refers to a woman whose children have all died.

their men be killed

The verb may be supplied from the previous phrase. This can be stated in active form. AT: "let people kill their men" (See: Ellipsis and Active or Passive)

their young men killed by the sword in battle

The verb may be supplied from the previous phrase. This can be stated in active form. AT: "let people kill their young men with swords in battle" (See: Ellipsis and Active or Passive)

Let a distressed shout be heard

The phrase "a distressed shout" can be translated with a verbal phrase. This can be stated in active form. AT: "Let people hear a distressed shout" or "Let people hear others shout in distress" (See: Active or Passive)

For they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden traps for my feet

These two phrases share similar meanings. Jeremiah speaks of his enemies planning to kill him as if they had dug a pit for him to fall into and set traps in which to capture him. (See: Parallelism and Metaphor)

they have dug a pit

See how you translated this in Jeremiah 18:20.

have hidden traps for my feet

Here the word "feet" represents Jeremiah. AT: "have hidden traps for me" or "have hidden traps for me to step on" (See: Synecdoche)

Do not wipe their sins away from you

Jeremiah speaks of Yahweh forgiving his enemies' sins as if someone had written their sins down and Yahweh would erase them. This phrase means the same thing as the previous phrase. AT: "Do not pardon their sins" (See: Parallelism)

let them be overthrown before you

This can be stated in active form. AT: "let people overthrow them in your presence" (See: Active or Passive)

in the time of your wrath

The word "wrath" can be translated with a verb. AT: "when you are still angry with them" (See: Abstract Nouns)

translationWords

hand

children

famine

power

sword

snare

Yahweh

forgive

iniquity

sin

blot out

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

and spill their blood (Bring them down by the sword,) an expression of (Lam. 3:49) “My eye runs (נִגְרָה)”; (Micah 1:4) “Like water that runs (מֻגָרִים).”

by the sword by troops.

and their husbands i.e., the husbands of the widows shall be slain by the angel of death.

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.