Jeremiah 18:23

Jer 18:23 Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay [me]: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal [thus] with them in the time of thine anger.

Ver. 23. Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel.] Though I know it not, yet thou art privy to it, and canst prevent it; for wisdom and might are thine. {Dan 2:20}

To slay me.] All malice is bloody.

Forgive not their iniquity.] He knew their sin to be unpardonable; and therefore prayeth for vengeance upon them unavoidable. This was fulfilled upon the Jews by the Babylonians in respect of Jeremiah, and by the Romans in respect of Christ.

Neither blot out their sin from thy sight.] A heavy curse. Woe to such as whose debts stand uncrossed in God’s book. Their sins may sleep a long time, like a sleeping debt, not called for of many years; as Saul’s sin in slaying the Gibeonites was not punished till forty years after; as Joab’s killing of Abner slept all David’s days. Men’s consciences also may sleep (in such a case) for a season; but their damnation sleepeth not, nor can their condition be safe till God have wiped out their sins for his own sake, till he have crossed out the black lines of our iniquities with the red lines of his Son’s blood, and taken out of his coffers so much as may fully satisfy, &c.

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.

forgive not-- (Psa 109:9-10, Psa 109:14).

blot out--image from an account-book (Rev 20:12).

before thee--Hypocrites suppose God is not near, so long as they escape punishment; but when He punishes, they are said to stand before Him, because they can no longer flatter themselves they can escape His eye (compare Psa 90:8).

deal thus--exert Thy power against them [MAURER].

time of thine anger--Though He seems to tarry, His time shall come at last (Ecc 8:11-12; Pe2 3:9-10).

Referred by MAURER, &c., to the beginning of Zedekiah's reign.

Next: Jeremiah Chapter 19

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

The words of the last verse of the eighteenth chapter we gave yesterday. Let us now see what the Prophet means by them, and what fruit we ought to gather from them. He says, that God was a witness of the wickedness of his enemies — that all their counsels had in view his destruction. There is, moreover, to be understood a contrast, — that the Prophet, as we have before seen, cared faithfully for their salvation. It was then a most base ingratitude in them to plot the death of the holy Prophet, who was not only innocent, but highly deserved their thanks for laboring for their salvation. We hence conclude that they deserved no mercy. Thou knowest, he says, their counsel, that what they consult among themselves tends to bring death on me: be not thou then propitious to their iniquity, and blot not out their sin

We said in our last lecture that this vehemence, as it was dictated by the Holy Spirit, is not to be condemned, nor ought it to be made an example of, for it was peculiar to the Prophet to know that they were reprobates: and we also shewed why no common law is to be made from particular examples: for Jeremiah was endued with the spirit of wisdom and judgment, and zeal also for God’s glory so ruled in his heart, that the feelings of the flesh were wholly subdued, or at least brought under subjection; and farther, he pleaded not a private cause. We said in the first place, that it was oracular; for God designed to make it known, that they who thus obstinately resisted true doctrine were reprobate and irreclaimable. As all these things fall not to our lot, we ought not indiscriminately to imitate Jeremiah in this prayer: for that would then apply to us which Christ said to his disciples,

“Ye know not what spirit, governs you.” (Luke 9:55.)

And doubtless it ought to fill us with dread when we hear, Be not propitious to them, nor blot out their sin. God testifies in many plaices that he is gracious and inclined to mercy, and that when he is angry it is only for a moment. (Numbers 14:18; Psalm 103:8; Psalm 30:5) There seems then a great difference between the words of the Prophet and these testimonies, by which God makes known his own nature. But we have said already that the destruction of the people, against whom the Prophet thus prayed, had been made evident to him: and we must also bear in mind what we have stated, that he did not include the people without exception; for he knew that there was a seed remaining among them. He then confined his imprecation to the reprobate and irreclaimable, as he knew that they were already doomed to ruin, even by the eternal purpose of God’ and as they had over and over again destroyed themselves, he boldly declares that God would never be propitious to them.

To the same purpose is what follows, Let them ever stumble before thy face. He mentions face here for manifest judgment; for the wicked exult as long as he spares them. The Prophet then would have God to sit on his throne, that he might appear as a Judge, and thus check the wantonness of those who despised his judgment, being constrained to know that they could not escape. There is also a contrast to be understood here between the presence and the absence of God. For hypocrites think that God is absent as long as he is indulgent to them and does not take vengeance hence they grow wanton, as though they had a permission to deceive him: but when God constrains them to acknowledge what they are unwilling to do, they are said to stand in his presence; for they are pressed too near to render it possible for them to evade, and willing or unwilling they are held fast, as the Lord proves that he is their Judge. We hence see the meaning of the expression when the Prophet says, Let them stumble before thy face.

He in the last place adds, In the time of thy wrath deal thus with them. The manner of his presence is set forth. There is, however, no doubt but that the Prophet here checks both himself and all the godly, that they may not be hasty, for we are often too precipitant in our wishes; for we would that God would fulminate every moment from heaven. This hastiness ought to be moderated; and the Prophet here prescribes to us the rule of moderation, by saying, In the time of thy wrath; as though he had said, “Even though thou deferrest and seemest now to connive at these great crimes, yet the time will eventually come in which thou wilt take vengeance on the reprobate.”

Whenever then the Scripture speaks of the time of God’s wrath, let us know that under this form of speaking there is an exhortation to patience, so that excessive ardor may not lead us beyond the limits of moderation, but that we may wait with resigned minds until the due time of judgment comes. This is one thing; but at the same time the Prophet expresses also something more: for he would have the reprobate of whom he speaks, to be so involved in endless judgment as never to be able to extricate themselves. It is said in Psalm 106:4,

“Remember me, O Lord, with the favor of thy people,”

that is, “O Lord, this only I ask, to be joined to thy people; for even when thy Church is afflicted and deemed miserable, it will still be enough for me to be of the number of those whom thou honorest with thy paternal favor.” The favor then of God’s people is that paternal regard which he entertains for his Church. So, on the other hand, the time of wrath is that judgment by which God devotes the reprobate to eternal perdition, so that there is no hope of salvation remaining for them. Deal thou with them, but when? even in the time of thy wrath; that is, deal with them as thou art wont to deal with thine irreclaimable enemies, to whom thou wilt never be reconcilable. This is the meaning. Now another discourse 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.

(23) Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel . . .—Secret as their plots had been, they were not hidden from Jehovah, nor, indeed, as the words show, from the prophet himself. The words might seem, at first, to refer specially to the conspiracy of the men of Anathoth (Jer_11:21), but by this time, as Jer_18:18 shows, the hatred provoked by the warnings of the prophet had spread further, and united the priests and false prophets of Jerusalem in a common hostility against him. So afterwards, in the Gospel history, the conspiracies that began at Capernaum (Mar_3:6) were developed in Jerusalem (Mat_27:1).

Deal thus with them.—The interpolated word “thus,” intended to emphasise the prayer, really weakens it: in the. time of Thine anger deal with them, as implying that the day of grace was past, that nothing now remained but retribution. The prayer was the utterance of an indignation, not unrighteous in itself, yet showing all too plainly, as has been said above, like the language of the so-called imprecatory Psalms, the contrast between the Jewish and the Christian and Christ-like way of meeting wrong and hatred. For us such prayers are among the things that have passed away, and we have learnt to admire and imitate the nobler temper of the proto-martyr, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge” (Act_7:60). The New Testament utterances of St. Peter against Simon the sorcerer (Act_8:20), of St. Paul against Ananias (Act_23:3), the Judaisers of Galatia (Gal_1:9), and Alexander the coppersmith (2Ti_4:14), present an apparent parallelism; but the words spoken in these cases have more the character of an authoritative judicial sentence.

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

23. overthrown] lit. as mg. made to stumble. Cp. Jer_6:15; Jer_6:21.

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.

Yet, Lord - Better, But, Lord. They conceal their plots, but God knows, and therefore must punish.

Neither blot out ... - Or, “blot not out their sin from before Thy face that they may be made to stumble before Thee.”

Thus - Omit this word. Since there is an acceptable time and a day of salvation, so there is a time of anger, and Jeremiah’s prayer is that God would deal with his enemies at such a time, and when therefore no mercy would be shown. On imprecations such as these, see Ps. 109 introductory note. Though they did not flow from personal vengeance, but from a pure zeal for God’s honor, yet they belong to the legal spirit of the Jewish covenant. We must not, because we have been shown a “more excellent way,” condemn too harshly that sterner spirit of justice which animated so many of the saints of the earlier dispensation.

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

Destroy. Hebrew, "with them." use them as vessels of ignominy: abutere. (Haydock)

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).

Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me; Lord, thou knowest I do not charge them falsely, though their counsels have been secret against my life. Forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight.

Object. Will some say, Doth Jeremiah here pray for the eternal damnation of his adversaries? Is this lawful?

Solut. I do not think this is to be granted lawful, being so highly against charity; nor that Jeremiah in this is to be excused as a prophet, for even prophets had no such revelations; but I take these phrases to be expounded by the next words,

let them be overthrown before thee; and that all which the prophet prayeth for is God’s showing some temporal displeasure and vengeance against them. For forgiving, and not forgiving sin, doth not always in holy writ signify the discharging or not discharging the persons, from the obligation to eternal death, under which sin layeth them; but sometimes the discharging or not discharging of them from the punishments in this life, to which sin doth expose the sinner; and all Jeremiah’s meaning is, that however it should please God to deal with these wicked men as to their eternal state, yet he would so far not forgive, not blot out, their sins, as that he would set some mark of his vengeance on them in this life for their treachery and ingratitude to him. Whether we in it consider Jeremiah as an ordinary suppliant in this cause, praying in faith, or as a prophet, foreknowing what God would do, it ought to lay a law upon, all to take heed of being mischievous and treacherous to others. It is seldom but God, before they die, repays such men into their own bosom, especially if it be against any who are God’s ministers or people; and that for their speaking to or doing before them the will of God: it is a sin seldom escapes without a temporal vengeance; and if such men be saved at last, it will be as through fire. God will mind them that he hath said, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm, 1Ch 16:22; Psa 105:15.

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

23. Thou knowest all their counsel — A comprehensive summing up of the whole prayer. For some excellent observations on Jeremiah’s imprecatory prayers, see Keil in his Commentary on this place.

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

Let them be overthrown before thee; i.e. count them as those who have been brought to ruin. This explanation seems required by the parallelism, the companion clause meaning do not regard their sin as cancelled." The ruin may be either spiritual or temporal; the parallelism favors the former. (comp. ver. 14; Hos_14:9, where "fall" should be "stumble Deal thus with them. "Thus" is interpolated by the Authorized Version; "deal" should rather be deal terribly. ("deal" is constantly used in a pregnant sense; see on Jer_14:7)

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

let not be erased let it not be erased. And because it is a feminine gender, he placed a ‘yud’ therein. This too is superfluous, as the ‘yud’ of (Ezekiel 16:17) “And you played the harlot (וַתִּזְנִי) with them.”

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.