Jeremiah 44:11

Jer 44:11 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.

Ver. 11. Behold, I will set my face against you for evil.] I will be implacable, as you are irreclaimable.

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 44:11-14. I will set my face against you for evil — See note on Jer 21:10. And I will take — Or, I will take away, namely, by destruction; the remnant of Judah, &c. — The direful punishments denounced against those who went to Egypt were not denounced because it was a sin in itself for the Jews to leave their country, and seek a securer habitation in Egypt, but because, in so doing, they showed their distrust of God’s power or goodness, as if he were not able or willing to protect them in Judea, and also were guilty of disobeying his express commands, and disbelieving his faithful promises, whereby he had engaged to protect them. To which must be further added, the great danger and probability, not to say certainty, there was that they would fall into the idolatry of the Egyptians. Therefore God uttered grievous threatenings against their going thither, that they might be deterred from it. For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, &c. — See notes on Jer 42:15-18. So that none of the remnant of Judah which are gone, &c. — Blaney translates this more agreeably to the Hebrew, thus: “And the remnant of Judah, those who are come into the land of Egypt, with a view to sojourn there, and to return into the land of Judah, &c., shall not have one escaper or surviver; whereas none shall return but escapers.” And he observes, “It is evident, from Jer 44:28, that some Jews were to escape the general destruction in Egypt, and to return into their own country, although but a few; and the same thing is implied in the latter sentence of this verse. But the former part of this verse excludes out of the number of the escapers every individual of those that were called properly the remnant of Judah, those that had set their faces to enter Egypt to sojourn there, in opposition to the express command of God, upon a presumption that they knew better than God how to consult their own restoration. The few then who were destined to escape, and to return back to the land of Judah, were to be such as had come into the land of Egypt in a less offensive manner, and happened to be there when the storm burst upon them.”

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

44:11 The Lord pronounced a death sentence, backed by the authority of his own name.

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

Behold, I will set my face against you for evil--(See on Lev 17:10).

and to cut off all Judah--that is, all the idolaters; Jer 44:28 shows that some returned to Judea (compare Jer 42:17).

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 again denounces punishment on the obstinate; nor is it a wonder that these threatenings were so often repeated, since he had to do with men so ferocious and refractory. The reason then why he denounced on them God’s judgment, was because they boldly derided him; and it will become more evident from what follows how necessary was such vehemence.

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.

11. I will set my face] See on Jer_21:10.

11–14. See introd. summary to the ch.

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.

Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,.... Because of these sins of idolatry, impenitence, and disobedience:

I will set my face against you for evil; to bring the evil of punishment upon them, for the evil of sin committed by them: this the Lord determined with himself, and resolved to do; which the phrase, "setting his face against them", is expressive of, by way of retaliation for their setting their faces to go down to Egypt, as well as of his wrath and indignation against them:

and to cut off all Judah; not the whole tribe of Judah; not those that were in Babylon, which were by far the greatest number of that tribe; but those that were in Egypt.

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

All Judah - i. e., all Judah in Egypt, yet even there with exceptions (see Jer 44:14, Jer 44:28), while Judah in Babylon was entirely exempt from this denunciation.

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

Face, to punish grievously, Ezechiel iv. 3., and xx. 35. (Calmet) --- All did not perish, but the far greatest part, ver. 14, 28. (Worthington)

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).

Therefore thus saith the lord of hosts, the God of Israel: these names are frequently given to God in threatening prophecies, partly to let this people know that God is able to make good his word, and to bring the threatened evils upon them; and partly to let them know that the dealing thus with them would not make him quit his relation to Israel, but he was and still would approve himself the God of those who were his true Israel.

Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah; the meaning is, My full design against you is to bring evil upon you; this is expressed under the notion of setting his face, and, Amo 9:4, setting his eyes against them.

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

11. All Judah — Namely, all Judah in Egypt. The passage has no reference to those in Babylon.

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

To cut off all Judah; i.e. the Judah in Egypt, not that in Babylon. Notice the qualification of this too absolute statement in vers. 14, 28.

Vers. 11-14. The doom on those making sure of safety in Egypt.

I A FIXED RESOLUTION. The obstinate self-will of man brings into relief the inflexibility of the righteous judgments of God. The remnant of Judah set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there. What, then, is to be expected but that Jehovah should set his face against them? The more self-will becomes a power in the life, the more nearly does it move in direct opposition to him who is the true Sovereign and Disposer of every human life. We can guess something of the thoughts of these Egypt seekers. They say to themselves, "Henceforth we shall consult for our own safety." They speak as if the peculiar perils hitherto besetting them were the perils of one place rather than another. Perhaps even they reckoned that outside the land of Israel they were beyond Jehovah"s reach. Here there is a lesson for us in our selfish aims and pursuits. All selfishness is bad, but even in selfishness a lesser badness is a degree of goodness, and it is well for a man if he gets frequently shaken in his selfishness; for then, his face not being steadily against God, he will find God looking on him encouragingly, to draw him out of his selfishness altogether.

II A COMPLETE DESTRUCTION. Complete, that is, in the sense of general and final. There was but a remnant to begin with, and of that a very small remnant might escape. The very smallness of the remnant, however, would but magnify the completeness of the destruction, no place is secure against the visitations of God"s righteous wrath. Indeed, the greater the appearance of natural security, the more manifest will be the breaking in on this security of the Divine justice. Men must be taught, even by terrible lessons, that, as there is the best kind of safety under the shadow of God"s wings, so there is the worst kind of danger the further we go from God. To multiply our own defences is really to multiply our own perils.

III A NULLIFIED PURPOSE. This remnant, not finding in Egypt the expected safety, thinks there is nothing easier than to go back again to the land of Judah. Whereas they find too late that, while departure from their own proper place is easy enough, return to it may be impossible. Opening the door to get out was one thing; opening it to get in again quite another. Seventy years was to pass before they of the Captivity should return from Babylon indeed, it would really be another generation altogether; and should those who sought Egypt in contumacy and rebellion expect to fare better? We must be wise in time. To be wise too late gives suffering its keenest edge. So Judas brought back in vain the thirty pieces of silver, and Esau found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears. This is why God is so earnest in promising wisdom and light to those who seek for them, that we may seek for them at the right time, at the beginning of the great opportunity of life, and at the beginning of every smaller opportunity. Y.

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

Yahweh of hosts ... says this

Jeremiah often uses these words to introduce an important message from Yahweh. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 6:6.

I am about to set my face against you

This idiom means he "firmly decided." See how you translated a similar phrase in Jeremiah 21:10. AT: "I have made up my mind to oppose you" (See: Idiom)

set my face against

"stare angrily at"

to bring disaster to you

Causing disaster to happen is spoken of as if disaster were an object that can be brought to someone. AT: "to cause disaster to happen to you" (See: Metaphor)

They will fall by sword and famine

Here "fall" means to die. And "sword" represents the enemies carrying weapons. AT: "Enemies will kill some of them and others will die of hunger" (See: Idiom and Metonymy)

From the least to the greatest

This is a way to refer to people from every social status. Here "least" and "greatest" represent those who are least important and those who are most important. AT: "all the people from every social status" or "all the people, including the least important and the most important people" (See: Merism)

will become an object of swearing, cursing, reproaching, and a horrible thing

"people will be horrified because of what happened to the people of Judah, and people will mock and curse them"

translationWords

Yahweh of hosts

face

Judah

Egypt

perish

sword

famine

die

oath

curse

reproach

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