Jeremiah 25:5

Jer 25:5 They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:

Ver. 5. They said, Turn ye again.] This was the sum of all the prophet’s sermons, as of the apostles’, "Repent ye and believe the gospel.," {Mar 1:15}

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.

25:5-6 The Lord appealed to his people to turn from . . . the evil things they were doing that provoked his anger. Then he would not harm them, but instead pour out his covenant blessings.

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

He showeth that the Prophets, wholly with one consent did labor to pull the people from those vices, which then reigned, to wit, from idolatry, and the vain confidence of men: for under these two all others were contained, 2 Kings 17:13; Jer. 18:11 and 35:15; Jonah 3:8.

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

Turn . . . dwell--In Hebrew there is expressed by sameness of sounds the correspondence between their turning to God and God's turning to them to permit them to dwell in their land: Shubu . . . shebu, "Return" . . . so shall ye "remain."

every one from . . . evil--Each must separately repent and turn from his own sin. None is excepted, lest they should think their guilt extenuated because the evil is general.

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

He afterwards explains what God required them to do, Turn ye, I pray, every one from his evil way and from the wickedness of your doings, and dwell in the land which Jehovah has given to you and your fathers from age even to age What God required was doubtless most just; for he demanded nothing from the Jews but to repent. There was also a promise added; God not only exhorted them to repent, but wished also to be reconciled to them, and having blotted out all memory of their sins, to shew them kindness: had they not been harder than stones, they must have been turned to his service by so kind a treatment. God might have indeed sharply reproved them, he might have threatened them, he might, in short, have cut off every hope of pardon; but he only required them to repent, and at the same time added a promise of free forgiveness. As then they had despised so great a favor, it follows that they must have been men of reprobate minds and of irreclaimable habits.

When they were bidden to repent of their evil way and of the wickedness of their doings, it was done for sake of amplifying; for the Prophet wished to take away from them every pretense for evasion, lest they should ask what was the wickedness or what was the evil way. He then intimates that they were fully proved guilty; and for this purpose he made the repetition. By way is designated a continued course of life; but as they had fully shewed themselves perverse in many ways, he refers to their fruits, as though he had said, that they in vain contended with God, by inquiring what had been their evil way, for their whole life sufficiently testified that they were wholly given to wickedness.

Now there is a striking alliteration in the verbs שבו and ושבו: the verb שבו, shebu, means sometimes to rebel, it means to return to the right way, and it means to rest or dwell in. He uses the same verb, though the sense is different when he says, “Return ye,” and “ye shall dwell.”

He also emphatically uses the word איש, aish “every one:” it means properly “man;” but it is taken in Hebrew for every one or each one, “each one from his evil way.” The Prophet exempted none, lest they thought that their fault was extenuated, had not the evil been universal. He hence says, that every one was given to wickedness; as though he had said, that impiety not only prevailed among the whole people, as the case commonly is, but that every one had become corrupt, so that there was not one sound or upright among the whole people.

And this is what ought to be observed; for we are wont, in a cold manner, to confess our sins, and to pray to God when we are proved guilty, except when each one is touched with the sense of his own guilt, and owns himself to be justly exposed to God’s judgment; for while every one mingles with the multitude, it so happens that no one acknowledges the heinousness of his own sins. Therefore, for true and sincere repentance this peculiar examination is necessary, so that every one may repent and not regard his friends.

When he says, Dwell ye in the land, though it be the imperative mood, yet it is a promise, by which God declared that he was ready to receive the Jews into favor, provided they returned from the heart to him: he proposed to them, as a symbol of his paternal layout, the possession of the land; for that land was as it were the pledge of their adoption; and the Jews, while they dwelt there, might have felt assured that God was their Father. He adds, From age even to age; as though he had said, “I am prepared to do you good not only for one day, or for a short time, but also to shew you kindness from age to age. It will then be your fault if ye be not happy, and if this happiness will not pass on from you to your children and grandchildren.” But the more delightful the invitation was, the more detestable became the impiety of the people, as it will be stated hereafter. He now adds, —

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.

(5) Turn ye again now . . .—The sum and substance of the work of all true prophets has always been found, it need scarcely be said, in the call to repentance and conversion; but there is, perhaps, a special reference to the substance of their preaching as recorded in 2Ki_17:13. The words are interesting as showing that Jeremiah was probably seconded in his work by other prophets whose names have not come down to us.

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

They said,.... The prophets: this was the substance of their discourses and prophecies, what follows:

turn ye again now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings; repent of sins, and reform from them; particularly their idolatries, to which they were prone, and are after mentioned:

and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you to your fathers for ever and ever; that is, the land of Canaan, which was given to them, and their fathers before them, by the Lord, for an everlasting inheritance, provided they behaved towards him aright; for they held the possession of it by their obedience to his law; and now, notwithstanding all that they had done, or had been threatened with; yet, if they repented and reformed, they should still dwell in the land, and enjoy it, and all the blessings and privileges of it.

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

Turn ye - i. e., Repent ye; the great summons of God to mankind at all times (Luk 24:47; Act 2:38; compare Mat 3:2).

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

The substance both of their and my sermons hath been to persuade you to leave off those sinful courses wherein you have lived, and which you might have amended by virtue of that common grace which I did not deny you. We have not differed in our doctrine, to the practice of which you have also been encouraged both by them and me, with an assurance from God that if you did it, you should enjoy this good land, which the Lord promised and gave to you and your fathers, and you have now possessed from age to age.

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

Vers. 5, 6. The chief purpose of prophecy.

Jeremiah here sums up the general purpose not only of his own mission extending now over twenty-three years but of that of the whole series of Hebrew prophets. We may thus see the one great aim towards which all their labors were directed.

I PROPHECY IS PRACTICAL. Jeremiah"s summary takes the form of an exhortation. The prophets were preachers, not philosophers. Their aim was not to satisfy curiosity but to affect conduct. In this they are an example to all preachers. The preacher"s duty is to lead men, not merely to teach doctrines. Still the exposition of truth is necessary to effect this end. The prophets did not content themselves with simple exhortations to good conduct. These exhortations needed the enforcement of clear conviction. Their authority was not magisterial (a mere command of superior power) nor priestly (an influence of spiritual rank erected on unquestioning faith), but reasonable (the authority of truth seen and felt). Hence their revelations of God and of the future. Yet these were all given for a practical end. The preacher should make his most abstract expositions of truth point towards some course of conduct.

II PROPHECY IS A CALL TO REPENTANCE. This urgent call rings through the messages of all the prophets. It was revived by John the Baptist, (Mat_3:2) adopted by our Lord (Mat_4:17) and his apostles, (e.g. St. Peter, Act_2:38; and St. Paul, Act_17:30) and by all great reformers, such as Savonarola, John Knox, John Wesley, etc.

1. Men must be preached to about their own condition as well as about God"s will. We want a Divine revelation that we may know ourselves just as much as that we may know God. A large part of the Bible is occupied with revelations of human nature.

2. Together with these revelations there comes the call to turn and change. The result of the exposure of mankind to itself is not satisfactory. This exposure alone is a call to turn from our evil ways. The mere exposure, however, is of little use. A Juvenal is not a Jeremiah. A satirist is not a prophet. There must be the call to a better life, and a declaration of the way to find it.

3. The prophets imply that men not only need to change but can change. The most fundamental change of heart must be through the influence of God. Yet this is only possible when men freely and willingly turn to him in repentance.

4. The special sin denounced was apostasy from God; the special repentance called for was a return to God. These are always the fundamental elements of sin and repentance.

III PROPHECY IS A VOICE OF WARNING AND OF PROMISE. Evil is denounced to the impenitent; good is promised to the penitent. This is the simplest form in which the motives to repentance can be put. But the tracing out of it is not simple. It required an inspired prophet to detect the seeds of ruin in riotous prosperity and the dawning of a day of redemption in the stormy night of adversity. The prophets not only detect these facts, they discern the principles that govern them. Thus they speak for all ages. They show us how sin is ruinous; how God has a sure blessedness in store for his faithful children a blessedness which is eternal.

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

Let each man turn from his wicked way and the corruption of his practices

Jeremiah speaks of people who stop committing an action as if those people were turning away from that action. (See: Metaphor)

his wicked way and the corruption of his practices

The terms "wicked way" and "corruption of his practices" mean the same thing and refer to every sinful thing that they do. (See: Doublet)

the corruption of his practices

"his corrupt practices"

do not walk after other gods

Jeremiah speaks of a person being devoted to a god as if the person were walking behind the god. AT: "do not become devoted to other gods" (See: Metaphor)

do not provoke him with the work of your hands

The word "him" refers to Yahweh. Possible meanings for the phrase "the work of your hands" are 1) it is a reference to the idols that the people have made with their hands. AT: "do not provoke Yahweh with the idols that you have made" or 2) It is an idiom that refers to the actions of a person, with the word "hands" being a synecdoche that represents the person who does those actions. AT: "do not provoke Yahweh by the things that you do" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Synecdoche and Idiom)

translationWords

turn

evil

gift

walk

false god

worship

bow

works

hand

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