Jeremiah 32:31

Jer 32:31 For this city hath been to me [as] a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face,

Ver. 31. From the day that they built it.] Ever since Solomon beautified it, and made it the metropolis. Nevertheless Hegesippus was out, in saying that Jerusalem was so called quasi ιερον Sολομωντος. Solomon made it famous by his magnificence; but odious by his idolatry there.

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.

32:31 The time this city was built refers to the reigns of David and Solomon, when Jerusalem became the capital city of Israel. During the history of the northern kingdom of Israel, every king promoted worship of false gods. In the kingdom of Judah, only a few kings encouraged worship of the Lord, usually without lasting success (e.g., 2 Chr 14:3; 17:6; 29:5; 33:15-16; 34:3, 31-32). The northern kingdom had already been destroyed (2 Kgs 17:5-12), and now the Lord had decided to get rid of the southern kingdom of Judah (see Deut 8:19-20).

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

provocation of mine anger--literally, "for mine anger." CALVIN, therefore, connects those words with those at the end of the verse, "this city has been to me an object for mine anger (namely, by reason of the provocations mentioned, Jer 32:30, &c.), that I should remove it," &c. Thus, there will not be the repetition of the sentiment, Jer 32:30, as in English Version; the Hebrew also favors this rendering. However, Jeremiah delights in repetitions. In English Version the words, "that I should remove it," &c., stand independently, as the result of what precedes. The time is ripe for taking vengeance on them (Kg2 23:27).

from the day that they built it--Solomon completed the building of the city; and it was he who, first of the Jewish kings, turned to idolatry. It was originally built by the idolatrous Canaanites.

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 confirms what we have just said, even that God, however, severely he might punish the Jews, would not yet exceed due limits in his judgment, because their iniquity had reached the highest pitch. It was a dreadful judgment when the city was wholly demolished by fire, and the Temple destroyed. Hence the atrocity of the punishment might have driven many to complain that God was too severe. Here he checks all such complaints, and says, that the city had been built as it were for this end, even to provoke him, as we say in French, Elle a este faite pour me depiter, pour me facher. Some read, “Reduced to me has been the city;” but they pervert and obscure the meaning. It might more properly be rendered, “The city has been destined to me for my wrath and indignation.” But the meaning which I have given is simpler. Thus the words אפי, aphi, and חמתי chemeti, are to be taken passively, even that the city Jerusalem had been in a manner devoted to this madness, so that it ceased not to inflame more and more against itself the vengeance of God. In a word, he repeats in other words what he had before said, even that the children of Israel did nothing else than provoke God by their misdeeds.

There is then nothing new said here, but as it was a thing difficult to be believed, the Prophet dwells on it, and says, that the city Jerusalem had been for the wrath and indignation of God, from the time in which it had been founded And we may gather from the end of the verse that this is the true meaning, for he says, Even to this day, that I should remove it from my sight; as though he had said, that the Jews had made no end of sinning, so that it was now quite the time to punish a people so wicked, whose impiety was un-healable. And he points out their persistency when he says, even to this day For the people had not only begun to sin in the wilderness, but they pursued in a regular course, so to speak, their impiety, so that at no age, in no year, in no day, did they cease from their vices. Here then is pointed out their constant habit of sinning. 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.

(31) From the day that they built it . . .—The words confirm the inference already drawn in the preceding note, that the thoughts of the prophet turn to the time when Israel was yet one people under David and Solomon. Even then, he seems to say, the city had fallen far short of the holiness which it ought to have attained. and which David sought for it (Psalms 15-24), and had only been for anger and for fury to the Lord. There is no Hebrew word answering to “provocation.” It is noticeable that the prophet, as if forgetting that Jerusalem had been a Jebusite city before David took possession (2Sa_5:6-10), speaks as if it had been built by Israel. It is obvious, however, that it was so much enlarged and altered after this capture, that the words which so describe it may have been not only practically, but almost literally, true.

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

31. from the day that they built it] a somewhat loose expression (as it existed in Canaanitish times; see 2Sa_5:6 ff.) for its earliest days as an Israelitish city.

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.

Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah,.... His anger and fury were because of their sins, and so his carrying them captive:

which they have done to provoke me to anger; which was done, as if they had done it on purpose to provoke him; and which was done, not by a few, but by them all; not by the lower people only, but by men of every rank and order; as follows:

they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets; that is, their false prophets, as the Targum; yea, all the inhabitants of the land, both in city and country:

and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: the "metropolis" of the nation; the seat of the kings of Judah; and where the temple was, the priests ministered, and the prophets taught, and the people came up to worship.

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

Built it. The Jebusites polluted it. David himself offended, as well as Solomon, and under all the kings many crimes were committed, (Calmet) which is always the case in large cities. These general terms only denote a great corruption, tough some would be virtuous. (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).

Solomon finished the building of Jerusalem, and he at least suffered idolatry in it, 1Ki 11:4,8. People have always been so fond of worshipping God according to their own fancies and inventions, that even in Judah (except in David’s time) the worship of God could hardly be preserved pure during the entire reign of one king. As if they had done it on purpose to provoke me to destroy the city, and cast the people of it out. Nothing more easy than for people to keep close to the Divine rule, as to external acts in worship; nothing is more provocative of God than their doing the contrary. Yet nothing hath been more rarely done in any nation, as if men had set themselves to dare a jealous God.

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

31. For this city hath been to me… a provocation — The construction here is unusual and difficult. The exact force of the original is, For upon my anger and upon my fury was for me this city, etc. The meaning seems to be, Jerusalem has been a burden on my wrath; that is, it has called it forth, so that it has been hard to bear with it.

From the day that they built it — An individualizing phrase for “from the earliest times.” Of course the meaning is limited to Jerusalem as a Jewish city.

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

From the day that they built it. It is useless to tell an impassioned orator that his words are not strictly consistent with primitive history. The Israelites may not have built Jerusalem, but Jeremiah was not to be debarred from the strongest form of expression open to him for such a reason. He means "from the earliest times.

Vers. 31-33. Love"s labour apparently lost.

As we read this record (ver. 33) of the persevering and earnest, but nevertheless fruitless, labours of God"s servants, and remember that they were sent by the Lord, we are almost led to ask, "To what purpose is this waste?" We can understand loving, earnest labour persevered in, though nothing may come of it, when those who so toil are sustained by hope, even though it may be sometimes hoping against hope. But "love hopeth all things, believeth all things, endureth all things," and "never faileth." How many and how pathetic are the stories that might be told where such love has toiled to save some reprobate from the doom be would persist in bringing on himself! the loving wife, sister, mother, striving to save those who won"t be saved! How full this weary world is of such eases! But it is evident that these continue to labour and pray because they cannot know that they shall fail, and their hope is that they shall succeed. How David fasted and wept whilst his child was yet alive! but when the child was dead, David arose and ate, anointed himself, and put on his royal robes. And when his servants asked him wherefore he so altered his behaviour, he said, "Whilst he was alive I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell if God will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again?" It was hope that sustained the sorrowing king; but when hope was gone, he gave over his fruitless toil. Now, all this we can understand and sympathize with. But in the long continued ministry of Jeremiah and others like him, when all the while God knew what the end would be, how apparently wasted it would all be, when he could never have any hope of a different result from that which actually occurred, the inquiry is suggested Wherefore did God commission, and wherefore does he still, such fruitless toil? "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning." There can be nothing contingent with him. Hope is a mental condition impossible to God; he cannot be said to hope for anything. It is entirely human; but to an omniscient and omnipotent Being who "ordereth all things after the counsel of his own will," hope, or doubt, or uncertainty of any kind cannot be. Therefore, knowingly, with full certainty that all his servant"s severe labour would not bring the people to repentance, as in fact it did not, nevertheless God commissioned him and his fellow servants to go and speak to them. How are we to explain this? Reasons suggest themselves in connection with

I THE PROPHET HIMSELF.

1. That his trust in God might not fail. Had the career of the guilty nation been cut short because God foresaw what the certain end would be, such certain foresight being impossible to any but God, the faith of his servants would have been severely strained. They had ever heard of God as the long suffering God. They would have found it hard to believe that, if but more time had bean given, and a longer ministry allowed, and the whole truth had been put before the people perseveringly and earnestly, they would after all have remained unrepentant. The miserable paralysis of doubt as to the Divine equity would have fastened on them, and their power as his prophets would have thenceforth ceased.

2. That trust and love might be greatly increased. This could not but be when the prophet saw that the long suffering of God was no mere word, but a reality, a reality greater than could have been conceived. What human authority would endure to be despised and set at nought as God endured that his should be? "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity," etc.? Such was once and again the adoring exclamation of those who witnessed and marveled at the all but infinite patience of God. And this too when all the while God knew, as his prophet did not, that there was no hope. "We are saved by hope;" but there is no such salvation for God. He goes on blessing and doing good to those whom he knows will turn upon him in defiance and black ingratitude to the last day of their lives. It is wonderful The Saviour went about doing good amongst a people whom he knew would crucify him. What an added conception of the Divine love does this fact give! Now that his servants the prophets might yet more know and rejoice in the God in whom they believed, God was and is long suffering to those whom nevertheless he is compelled to condemn.

3. The prophet"s own spiritual improvement. Such labour, severe though it be, is not lost on him who engages in it. Was not "the Captain of our salvation made perfect through sufferings," and those of a kindred kind? And for the discipline and development of the spiritual powers of his servants, to further in them that which is well pleasing in his sight, and for which process the unseen and eternal world will, in all probability, have constant though blessed employ, for such reasons God keeps his servants in the world, and spares the world, guilty and ready for condemnation though it be.

II THE WITNESSES AND ALL THEY WHO SHOULD AFTERWARDS HEAR OF HIS JUDGMENTS ON THE GUILTY NATION.

1. The righteousness of God would be vindicated. All would see that it was not without cause God dealt with them as he did.

2. Sinners in all ages would be warned not to presume on the long-suffering of God. St. Paul says of these ancient records, "All these things were written for our learning.

3. Sin would be seen to be exceeding sinful Men are ready to attribute their sorrows to any and every cause but sin. But by thus branding sin with God"s mark of sore displeasure, men would be better able to resist its attractions and overcome its power.

III THE UNREPENTANT PEOPLE THEMSELVES. God having borne with them so long, now that at length his judgment had come, the remembrance of that long suffering would:

1. Silence them. All would feel that God was just when he spoke against them, and clear when he condemned them. That Psalm 51 and other penitential psalms bear many marks of having been adapted to, if not produced by, the sorrows of the Exile; cf. too Ezra"s confession and prayer.

2. Humble them. Jeremiah declares once and again that it is their "pride" which was causing them to persist in their evil ways. (cf. Jer_13:17) They had trusted in their national descent, on the possession of so many and so great privileges; cf. "The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord,... are these". (Jer 7) As they realized their present misery they would see the worthlessness of all those lying words in which they had so fondly trusted, and they would be bowed down with shame, as they now knew what their pride had brought upon themselves and their children. "Humbled in the dust" would be the fitting description of them as they thought of the way in which they had despised the long continued and loving warnings of God.

3. Convert them. For God intended that they should be restored; he would bring them again, give them a heart to know him (cf. vers. 36-44). And no means could be more adapted to subserve this end than those which God employed. Had they been cut off in their guilt, or had the Exile taken place much earlier, there could not have been the feeling which we know was aroused, and which was so salutary that they were without excuse. The wise physician knows that there are fit times and seasons for the successful administration of his medicines, and till such times all administration of those medicines would be of no avail. And so, until a right condition of mind was brought about in the exiled people, no real conversion could take place. They must be without excuse before they could be made to feel that they were so, and therefore a further reason why God bore with them so long, that this their utter inexcusableness and their undeniable guilt might be the more deeply felt and more contritely and sincerely confessed.

4. Accomplish the number of his elect amongst them. For it is not to be thought that the prophet"s ministry was utterly lost. The better part of the people were called out, educated, and prepared for the purifying discipline which awaited them by means of it. And it was that which brought the exiles back sadder but yet wiser men. And during the Exile the souls of the people were nurtured by the prophet"s words which, during this prolonged ministry, he had spoken to them. That ministry was one proof out of so many more that God"s Word shall not return to him void, although, in regard to immediate and much desired effect, it may seem as if all were apparently lost. Now, all these considerations which apply to Jeremiah and his ministry and the long suffering of God with Judah, apply with equal force to like long suffering of God now for God often repeats his mercies and judgments both and happy shall we be if the gracious purposes of God in his forbearance are realized by us. C.

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

Connecting Statement:

Yahweh continues speaking to Jeremiah.

this city has been a provocation of my wrath and fury since the day that they built it

Here "city" is a metonym for the people that live there. The words "wrath" and "fury" mean basically the same thing and emphasize how very angry he is. AT: "the people of Jerusalem have made me very angry since the day they built their city" (See: Metonymy and Doublet)

has been a provocation of

The abstract noun "provocation" can be translated as a verb. AT: "has been something that has provoked" (See: Abstract Nouns)

It has been that right up to this present day

"They continue to make me angry even now"

from before my face

The face is a metonym for the person's presence. AT: "from my presence" or "completely" (See: Personification and Metonymy)

translationWords

wrath

face

king

prince

priest

prophet

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

since the day they built it On the day that the Temple was founded, Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter.

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.