Jeremiah 3:23

Jer 3:23 Truly in vain [is salvation hoped for] from the hills, [and from] the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God [is] the salvation of Israel.

Ver. 23. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills.] Heb., Truly in vain from the hills, the multitude, the mountains: it is like to that in Hos 14:3, "Asshur shall not save us; neither will we say any more to the works of our hands, Ye are our gods." {See Trapp on "Hos 14:3"}

Truly in the Lord our God.] They trust not God at all that trust not God alone.

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 3:23. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills — From idols worshipped on hills and mountains. It is a continuation of that form of confession begun Jer 3:22, drawn up with a reference to the present state of the idolatrous Israelites; wherein they express their abhorrence of those idols which they worshipped upon the hills and mountains, and declare their firm resolution of adhering to, and depending upon, the Lord their God. There being nothing in the original of this clause for salvation is hoped for, it has been differently interpreted by learned men. The LXX. render it, οντως εις ψευδος ησαν οι βουνοι, και η δυναμις των ορεων, Truly the hills and the power of the mountains were for a lie. And the Vulgate nearly to the same sense, Vere mendaces erant colles, et multitudo montium, Truly the hills were liars, and the multitude of mountains; that is, they were deceitful: they promised what they did not perform. To the same purpose the Syriac. Blaney renders the verse,

“Surely the hills are lies; the tumult of mountains: surely in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.” “The people,” he observes, “acknowledge that the hills, the places sacred to idolatrous worship, and the tumultuous rites with which that worship was accompanied, (see 1Ki 18:26; 1Ki 18:28,) were mere impostures, deceiving and disappointing those that trusted in them; whereas Jehovah was indeed the author of salvation to his people.”

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

multitude of mountains--that is, the multitude of gods worshipped on them (compare Psa 121:1-2, Margin).

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

And in the same sense is to be taken what follows, Surely, deceit is from the hills, and the multitude of mountains, or, from the multitude of mountains, as the letter מ is to be repeated. Here the Prophet more fully expresses the evidence of their repentance, as though he had said, “We have been deceived by the hills and the multitude of mountains; we thought that there would be more defense from a large number of gods than if we worshipped one God: this deception has led to ruin. Let then all these deceits be now discarded; for we shall be content with the only true God.” In short, the Israelites confess, in these words, that they had been drawn into ruin by the worst of errors, while they sought many gods, and did not acquiesce in the one true God.

Then they add, for surely in Jehovah our God is salvation They set here the one true God in opposition to all their idols, as though they had said, that the cause of all their evils was, that they did not continue in the service of the one true God, but wandered after a multitude of Gods. We hence see that these two things cannot possibly be connected, — to worship the true God, — and to seek for ourselves various other gods, and to form vain hopes, as they do, who are not satisfied with the only true God. 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.

(23) Truly in vain . . .—The italics show the difficulty of the verse, and represent an attempt to get over it. According to the senses given to the word translated “multitude” we get, in vain (literally, as a lie) from the hills is the revelry (as in Amo_5:23), or the wealth, or the multitude, of the mountains. The first gives the best meaning, and expresses the confession of the repentant Israelites that their wild ritual on the high places had brought them loss and not gain.

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

23. Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the tumult on the mountains] The Hebrew construction is difficult. MT. reads, Truly in vain from the hills the tumult the mountains. Probably a word such as sound should be restored in the first clause, while the change of a Hebrew vowel point enables us to insert on in the second. So Dr. The tumult (mg. noisy throng) denotes the orgies that attended on idol worship. Cp. Hos_4:13.

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.

Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains,.... From any natural defence, by hills and mountains encompassing; or from idols worshipped on hills and mountains. So the Targum,

"truly in vain we worship upon the hills, and for no profit are we gathered upon the mountains;''

and to this purpose Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; or from the multitude of the people, the kingdoms of the world, and the nations of the earth, from whom the Jews have in vain expected salvation and deliverance:

truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel; or, "in the Word of the Lord our God", as the Targum; in Christ, the essential Word of God, is the salvation of all the chosen people, both Jews and Gentiles; it was put into his hands by his Father, and it is wrought out by him; and it resides in him, and it is to be had in him, and in him only, Act 4:12, who is God the Lord, and therefore was able to effect it, and to give it; and hence these repenting ones, discarding all other saviours, apply to him for it.

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

Rather, Surely “in vain from the hills” is the revelry of the mountains. The penitents contrast in it the uselessness of idol-worship with the salvation which Yahweh gives to His people.

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

Liars, unfruitful; and the idols have left us empty. (Calmet) --- They were placed on the hills. (Houbigant)

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).

From the hills, i.e. either from their idols, which were worshipped upon hills, a metonymy of the subject, Jer 2:20, idols of the hills; or from any other external power whatsoever, either of persons or things, as the strength of hills, or forts, high places, and strong places, and assistance from kings, Hos 14:3.

The multitude of mountains, viz, the abundance of them that they have in their mountains, or the multitude of sacrifices which they offer in the mountains, or to multiply sacrifices.

Quest. But doth not the psalmist hope for salvation from the hills? Psa 121:1.

Answ. Yes, the hills of the Land of Promise, which were a pledge of God’s favour to his people, especially those two of Zion and Moriah, where God did peculiarly manifest his presence, Psa 87.

In the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel; or, our salvation which we do now acknowledge is only in our God, and not in idols, of which we have had ample experience, Psa 44:7; 130:7,8. See Isa 43:10,11; Ho 13:4,9.

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

23. In vain… from the hills — Various translations of this text have been made: “Surely in vain from the hills is the revelry of the mountains.” — Dean Smith. “As certainly as hills are false, mountains are empty sound,” etc. — Nagelsbach. “Surely hills are lies, the tumult of the mountains.” — Blayney. “In vain resounds from the hills revelry, even from the mountains.” — Ewald. “Truly the sound from the hills, from the mountains, is become falsehood.” — Keil. This last conforms closely to the original, and gives a sense manifestly congruous with the context. The passage states the falseness of idolatrous trusts, and calls back the thought of the people to the one God as the only ground of confidence.

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

Truly in vain, etc. An obscure and (if corruption exists anywhere) corrupt passage, which, however, it is hopeless to attempt to emend, as the corruption consists partly in wrong letters, partly in omitted letters or words (or both); and, moreover, the text employed by the Septuagint appears to have presented the same difficulty. The latter point is especially noteworthy. It is far from proving that the traditional text is correct; what it does suggest is that the writings of the prophets were at first written down in a very insecure manner. The rendering of the Authorized Version is substantially that of Hitzig, who explains "the multitude of the mountains," as meaning "the multitude of gods worshipped on the mountains too forced an expression for so simple a context. It seems most natural to suppose (with Ewald, Graf, and Keil), a contrast between the wild, noisy cultus of idolatrous religions, and the quiet spiritual worship inculcated by the prophets. Compare by way of illustration, the loud and ostentatious demonstrations of Baal"s ritual in 1Ki 18, with the sober, serious attitude of Elijah in the same chapter. The word rendered in the Authorized Version "multitude" has a still more obvious and original meaning, viz. "tumult;" and probably the Targum is not far from the true sense in rendering, "In vain have we worshipped upon the hills and not for profit have we raised a tumult on the mountains.

From false to true salvation.

I THE NEED OF SALVATION. This seems to be confessed before as much as after repentance. In both conditions Israel must turn somewhere for deliverance.

1. The need is universal. Israel was in national danger; but socially and privately men felt a vague sense of unrest and helplessness, and their heathen rites were a proof of this. The mystery of existence, the weariness of toil, the sorrow and disappointments of common experience, the terror of death, make men feel their helplessness. All religions witness to this fact.

2. The need is felt to be such that only religion can meet it. Men instinctively cry to their gods in the storm. (Jon_1:5) This element of religion is retained when every other vestige of it has vanished. This element is common to the most diverse forms of religion, the most degraded equally with the most elevated. Is not such a fundamental fact of human nature a ground for hope? Can we believe that such a deep, instinctive cry will meet with no response?

II THE FALSE HOPE OF SALVATION. Israel had turned to the pagan worship on the hills for deliverance; but in vain.

1. Superficially regarded, there was much to recommend this.

(1) It was conspicuous and imposing on the hilltops.

(2) It was noisy; there was tumult on the mountains. The more noise and hustle there is in a thing the more important does it seem to those who forget that the real power is with "the still small voice" and the "gentleness" that makes great.

(3) It was popular; in religious matters, as in all else, unthinking people go with the multitude.

(4) It was multiform; not one temple service, but sacrifices on every hill. Unspiritual people put faith in the number of prayers, the amount of gifts, etc., rather than in the motive and spirit which prompt them.

(5) It was easy to follow; it required no purity of life, no spiritual effort of faith. Men like a cheap religion.

2. Experience proved the hope to be false. The salvation was hoped for in vain. Heathen gods neither protected from external foes nor cured the internal wretchedness of Israel. This must have been the case, because

(1) they were not gods at all, the ground of the hope did not exist;

(2) the corruption which was permitted and encouraged in the rites with which these gods were served was the very source of the nation"s ruin. The hope of salvation was the cause of destruction. So is it whenever men turn from God to lower grounds of confidence. The very apostasy thus committed is the source of the ruin which it is expected to avert. It is a great thing to have made the discovery of this fact. To see the mistake of the false hope is the first step towards deliverance.

III THE TRUE HOPE OF SALVATION. "Truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.

1. God only caw deliver, since he only can control nations and subdue the hearts of individual men.

2. God does deliver by his providence in outward events and his spiritual help in the internal battle with sin.

3. God is known as the Deliverer by his actions in the past. Israel turns to "Jehovah our God," the God who had often shown himself as a Savior. He who rightly reads the story of his own past life will see in it reasons for trusting God for the future. 4. God is sought as the Deliverer when all other refuges fail. After making the painful discovery mentioned in the earlier part of the verse, Israel comes to recognize the true salvation, but not till then. Trouble is good if it reveals the rottenness of our mistaken hope in time to set us free to seek the true hope. Yet how sad that men should need to have the veil thus forcibly torn from their eyes!

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

The hills - From idols which were worshipped upon hills. Mountains - The multitude of sacrifices, which they offer in the mountains.

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

Surely lies come from the hills

Here "the hills" represent the people's worship of false gods on the hills. The people now realize that those false gods could not guide and help them. AT: "The false gods that we worshiped on the hills could not guide us" (See: Metonymy)

a confusing noise from the mountains

People made a lot of noise on the hills and mountains when they worshiped false gods. AT: "We made a confusing noise on the mountains while we worshiped them, but they did not help us" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

surely Yahweh our God is the salvation of Israel

"surely Yahweh our God is the savior of Israel" or "surely Yahweh our God is the only one who can save Israel"

shameful idols have consumed what our ancestors have worked for

This represents the people of Israel losing many of their possessions because they offered them to the idols. (See: Metaphor)

their flocks and cattle, their sons and daughters

This is a list of animals and people that the people of Israel had killed and offered to the idols.

Let us lie down in shame. May our shame cover us

These phrases share similar meanings and emphasize that the people are fully aware of their shameful behavior. AT: "Let us be completely humiliated" (See: Parallelism)

May our shame cover us

Being fully aware of their shame is spoken of as if shame were covering them like a blanket or a garment. (See: Metaphor)

from the time of our youthfulness

Possible meanings are that 1) "the time of our youthfulness" refers to when each person was young. AT: "from when we were young" or 2) "the time of our youthfulness" is a metaphor that refers to when Israel was first becoming a nation. AT: "from when we were first becoming a nation" (See: Metaphor)

have not listened to the voice of Yahweh our God

Here "listened" represents obeying, and "the voice of Yahweh" represents what Yahweh has said. AT: "have not obeyed what Yahweh our God has said" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

save

false god

consume

works

flocks

cow

sin

voice

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

Truly, in vain we awaited from the hills and the multitude of mountains where we worshipped idols.

Truly in truth.

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.