Jeremiah 25:22

Jer 25:22 And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which [are] beyond the sea,

Ver. 22. And all the kings of the isles.] As Cyprus, Rhodes, and the Cyclades, subdued also by the Babylonian, saith Jerome, Rabanus, and Vatablus.

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 25:22-24. And all the kings of Tyrus and Zidon — The nobles, or chief men of each city, seem to be meant by kings here, for neither of these cities had more than one king. And the kings of the isles, which are beyond the sea — Cyprus, &c., which Nebuchadnezzar subjected. Or, as the Hebrew, האי בעבר הים, is rendered in the margin, The region by the sea-side. For that אי, rendered isle in the text, does not always signify an island, properly so called, is manifest from many passages. Dedan, and Tema, and Buz — A person called Dedan was descended from Abraham by Keturah, Gen 25:3. Probably he founded the city Dedan; which, however, in process of time, seems to have been annexed to Edom: see Jer 49:8; Eze 25:13. Tema was one of the sons of Ishmael, Gen 25:15, and a city, or district, called after him, was situate near the mountains which separate Arabia from Chaldea. — An. Univ. Hist., vol. 7. p. 230, fol. Buz was the brother of Uz, Gen 22:21, and settled most probably, in his neighbourhood. Elihu, the wisest of Job’s friends, was a Buzite, Job 32:2. And all that are in the utmost corners — Or, all that have the coast insulated, as Blaney translates it: see note on Jer 9:26. These, he supposes, to be the inhabitants of the peninsula of Arabia, especially those situate toward the bottom, or narrow part of it. And all the kings of Arabia — “The whole country to which we give the general name of Arabia seems to have been thrown, in Scripture, into two great divisions, one of which is called properly ערבה, Arabah, the other קדם, Kedem, according to their respective situations; Arabah, signifying the west, as Kedem does the east. Each of these had their subdivisions; the first, comprehending that which geographers have distinguished by the name of Arabia Petræa, and also, perhaps, those parts along the western coast of the Red sea bordering upon Egypt. The other part, called Kedem, comprehended Arabia Felix, and Arabia Deserta; the former of which the Scripture seems to have distinguished by the name of קצוצי פאת, those that have their coast insulated, mentioned in the preceding verse; and the latter in this verse, by the mingled race of those that dwell in the desert, meaning such as inhabited the great desert country, lying between Mesopotamia and Palestine. These may have been so called from the manner of inhabiting the desert promiscuously and in common, without any fixed property or abode, settling, for a time, where they found pasture, and then removing with their flocks to another place; or, from their being made up of people of different descents.” — Blaney.

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

As Greece, Italy and the rest of those countries.

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

all the kings of Tyrus--the petty kings of the various dependencies of Tyre.

isles--a term including all maritime regions (Psa 72:10).

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 22. Tyrus and - Zidon] The most ancient of all the cities of the Phoenicians.

Kings of the isles which are beyond the sea.] As the Mediterranean Sea is most probably meant, and the Phoenicians had numerous colonies on its coasts, I prefer the marginal reading, the kings of the region by the sea side.

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

As to the word Island, the number is to be changed; for the Prophet means not one island, but the countries beyond the sea. Some restrict the reference to Cyprus, Crete, Mitylene, and other islands in the Mediterranean; but it is a common way of speaking in Hebrew, to call all countries beyond the sea islands.

“The kings of the islands shall come.” (Psalm 72:10.)

The Prophet in that passage calls those the kings of the islands who would come in ships to Judea. So also in this place we may understand by the kings of the islands all those who were beyond the sea.

We now see that kings of one age only are not those summoned to God’s tribunal; for why does the Prophet mention all the kings of Tyre and all the kings of Sidon? Was it possible for these two cities to have four or two kings at the same time? But we must bear in mind what I have already stated, — that the children of God were warned, lest they should entertain a too fervid expectation as to the fulfillment of this prophecy. It is then the same as if he had said, “Though God’s vengeance may not come upon the present king of Tyre or of Sidon, it is yet suspended over all kings, and shall be manifested in its time.” Tyre and Sidon, we know, were cities of Phoenicia, and very celebrated; and Tyre had many colonies afar off, among which the principal was Carthage; and the Carthaginians offered honorable presents to it every year, in order to shew that they were its descendants. And Tyre itself was a colony of Sidon, according to historians; but it so prospered, that the daughter as it were swallowed up the mother. But it appears evident that there were kings there in the time of Isaiah and Jeremiah, though in the time of Alexander both cities were republics; for many changes during that period had taken place in them. Now the Prophet says only, that Tyre and Sidon would be involved in the punishment which he denounced on both kings and people. 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.

(22) The isles which are beyond the sea.—Better, island. The Hebrew word is in the singular, and is properly, as in the margin, a “region by the sea-side”—a “coast-land,” and thus wider in its extent than our “island.” Here the position in which it occurs tends to identify it either with Cyprus or the coast of Cilicia, or Phœnician colonies generally in the Mediterranean. Cyprus seems the most probable of these.

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

22. Zidon] the ordinary form of the name in the O.T. Cp. Jer_27:3, Jer_47:4. Sidon, as the Greek form, is that which occurs in the N.T.

isle] mg. coastland, lit. where a mariner betakes himself for refuge or rest; hence used of the colonies planted by Phoenicians on the shores of the Mediterranean.

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.

Dedan, and Tema, and Buz,.... These seem to be places in Edom or Idumea, of whose destruction Jeremiah prophesies in Jer 49:7; or rather in Arabia and Mesopotamia. Jerom reckons them among the Ishmaelites and Saracens, The persons from whom they descended are mentioned in Gen 22:21;

and all that are in the utmost corners; that is, either of the above countries, or of the whole earth: or "all that had their hair shorn" (m); or the corners of their beards; which Jerom says is applicable to the Saracens.

(m) "universis qui attonsi sunt in comam", V. L. "barbitonsis", Syr.

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

The isles - Rightly explained in the margin; it probably refers here to Cyprus.

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

Kings. Ithobaal (Josephus, Antiquities x. 11.) had many governors under him. Nabuchodonosor besieged Tyre for 13 years, Ezechiel xxvi., &c. --- Sea, or Gibraltar. See Jos.[Josephus?], sup. v. 22. (Haydock) He had navies on the Mediterranean, Ezechiel xxx. 9.

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).

Tyrus was a strong city upon the borders of the tribe of Asher, Jos 19:29; 2Sa 24:7, a very rich city, and a kingdom, with the king of which (who was Hiram) Solomon in his time traded much, 2Ch 2:3. Isaiah prophesied its ruin, Jer 23:1; so did Ezekiel, Eze 27:28,29; it was destroyed by Nebuchadrezzar, Eze 29:18.

Zidon was nigh to it, therefore we shall ordinarily find Tyre and Zidon joined together in Scripture: both Isaiah and Ezekiel, as well as this prophet, prophesied their ruin. By

the isles beyond the sea, some understand Greece and Italy; others Rhodes, Cyprus, and Crete; but others think Nebuchadnezzar never conquered these, and rather understand those parts of Syria that coasted upon the midland sea.

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

22. Kings of Tyrus, etc. The plural is, in Jer_25:18; Jer_19:3; Jer_13:13, used to include the present kings and their successors. Isles, more exactly, as in the margin, region by the sea side, probably including generally the colonies in and upon the Mediterranean.

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

Kings of Tyrus, kings of Zidon. Under the names of the two leading cities, the prophet includes the various dependent Phoenician commonwealths. Hence the plural "kings." The isles. The Hebrew has the singular, "the isle," or rather, "the coast-laud" (more strictly, the region), i.e. perhaps either Tartessus in Spain, or Cyprus (which Esarhaddon describes as "lying in the midst of the sea," and as having two kings, "Records of the Past," 3:108).

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

Beyond the sea - Probably those parts of Syria that coasted upon the mid-land sea.

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

Connecting Statement:

This passage continues the metaphor of Yahweh's extreme anger as wine that he causes the people of the nations to drink from a cup. (See: Metaphor)

the sea

This is a reference to the Mediterranean Sea.

Dedan, Tema, and Buz

These are the names of places. (See: How to Translate Names)

all the ones who cut the hair on the sides of their heads

This probably refers to people who cut their hair short in order to honor a pagan god. Some modern versions interpret this Hebrew expression as "all the people who live on the edge of the wilderness." See how you translated a similar phrase in Jeremiah 9:26.

they also had to drink it

"they also had to drink the wine from the cup"

translationWords

Tyre

Sidon

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 the kings of the isle All these that he counts (ֹשֶמוֹנֶה) until here are neighbors of Eretz Israel.

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.