Jeremiah 5:27

Jer 5:27 As a cage is full of birds, so [are] their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.

Ver. 27. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit,] i.e., Of ill-gotten goods, which will prove no such catch in the close, as they count upon.

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.

full of deceit--full of treasures got by deceit.

rich-- (Psa 73:12, Psa 73:18-20).

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 27. As a cage is full of birds] There is no doubt that the reference here is to a decoy or trap-cage, as Dr. Blayney has rendered it; in these the fowlers put several tame birds, which when the wild ones see, they come and light on the cage, and fall into the snare.

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

Jeremiah goes on with the same subject. He made use, as we have said, of a similitude taken from fowling: he now applies this similitude to the Jews, — that their houses were full of fraud, as the cage (some render it basket ) is full of birds: for fowlers, when they go for game, carry with them either bags or cages or baskets. So then Jeremiah says, that they collected plunder on every side, so that their houses were full of frauds: but by fraud he means spoils, which they acquired by unjust means. It may at the first view seem an obscure language; but if we take the word מרמה, mereme, in a passive sense, there will be nothing ambiguous. The Prophet then does not use a language strictly correct when he says, that their houses were full of deceit or fraud; but they were full of spoils which they had acquired by deceit and fraud. Hence, what he means by fraud were the plunders by which they had become rich, as he afterwards explains.

We now perceive, that the meaning of the Prophet is, — that there was no longer a proof required, that the Jews circumvented the helpless and the poor, for their houses were filled with such spoils as made evident their wickedness: they had scraped together their riches by depriving the helpless and the poor of their substance. And hence he adds, By this have they increased and become rich It is probable that they gloried in their wealth, like thieves, whose trade is to plunder: for when they increased, they thought themselves raised above all danger. They were like courtiers, who by rapines and frauds and tyrannical violence, draw to themselves from all quarters the possessions of others, so that one got annually sixty thousands and another a hundred thousands; and then they became the more ferocious, because they thought that they could not be called to an account, being blinded by the splendor of their riches. But the Prophet here derides this besotted glorying, and says, “Behold, they are become great in the world, and they would have themselves to be on this account exalted;” increased have they, he says, and become rich; that is, “If any one will now search their houses, he will indeed find many things by which they make a display before the eyes of the simple; but they are nothing but rapines, plunders, frauds, spoils, thefts, and, in a word, robberies.” This is what he simply means. He afterwards 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.

(27) A cage.—The large wicker basket (Amo_8:1-2) in which the fowler kept the birds he had caught, or, possibly, used for decoy-birds.

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

27. cage] The Hebrew word occurs elsewhere only in Amos (Jer_8:1), “a basket of summer fruit.” Here, however, Cheyne (Pulpit Comm., ad loc.), quoting Hitzig, thinks that “the cage was at the same time a trap.” He quotes Sir_11:30 (see note in C.B.), “As a decoy partridge in a cage,” where the Greek word used is that with which LXX render “baskets” in Jer_6:9.

deceit] riches won by craft, as birds by the fowler.

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.

As a cage is full of birds,.... Jarchi and Kimchi understand it of a place in which fowls, are brought up and fattened, what we call a "pen"; and, so the Targum renders it, a house or place of fattening. The word is rendered a "basket" in Amo 8:1 and may here design one in which birds taken in snares, or by hawking, were put. The Septuagint version, and those that follow it, render it, "a snare": which agrees with what goes before. It seems to intend a decoy, in which many birds are put to allure others; and, what with them, and those that are drawn in by them, it becomes very full; and this sense of the comparison is favoured by the rendition or application, which follows:

so are their houses full of deceit; of mammon, gathered by deceit, as Kimchi interprets it; ungodly mammon; riches got in a fraudulent way, by cozening and cheating, tricking and overreaching:

therefore they are become great; in worldly things, and in the esteem of men, and in their own opinion, though of no account with God:

and waxen rich; not with the true riches, the riches of grace, the unsearchable riches of Christ, his durable riches and righteousness; nor indeed with the riches of the world, honestly and lawfully gotten; but with unrighteous mammon.

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

As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit, i.e. they fill up their houses with the goods and wealth of those that they deceive and overreach; ill-gotten goods; a metonymy of the efficient; as the fowler carries his cage along with him, wherein he puts the birds which he catcheth, to keep safe that they get not away, when once they are caught, as also by their appearance and singing to entice others.

Therefore they are become great, and waxen rich; showing how and in what manner they got their riches, therefore, or by this means; such as are gotten by a lying tongue, Pro 21:6, called the treasures of wickedness, Mic 6:10.

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

A cage. The Hebrew word klub is used in Amo_8:1 for a basket such as was used for fruit; it seems to be the parent of the Greek word klwbov , used in the "Anthology" for a bird-cage. The root means to plait or braid; hence some sort of basket-work seems to be meant. Connecting this with the preceding verse, Hitzig seems right in inferring that the "cage" was at the same time a trap (comp. Ecc 11:30, "Like as a partridge taken in a cage en kartallw , a peculiar kind of basket, so is the heart of the proud"). Canon Tristram suggests that there is an allusion to decoy-birds, which are still much employed in Syria, and are carefully trained for their office ("Natural History of the Bible," p. 163), But this seems to go beyond the text. Deceit; i.e. the goods obtained by deceit.

Vers. 27, 28. The devil"s lure.

"Their houses are full of deceit, therefore they are become great," etc.

I SEVERAL OF THESE LURES ARE NAMED HERE.

1. Wealth: "They are waxen rich.

2. Luxury: "They are waxen fat, they shine.

3. Impunity: "They overpass... they judge not... yet they prosper.

4. Success: "They prosper.

II AND THE LIKE LURES ARE HELD OUT STILL. Satan is ever seeking, and with sad success, in seduce men by such and similar snares.

III IT IS WHAT WE MIGHT EXPECT. For that Satan should in this manner tempt men is in keeping with his constant method of parodying and travestying all the good works of God. What virtue, what Christian grace, is there that he does not caricature-modesty by servility, prudence by meanness, generosity by careless waste, etc.? And so here, "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich," and hence Satan sets to work to devise a blessing of his which also shall make rich and this is his great lure.

IV AND THIS LURE IS MADE THE MORE ATTRACTIVE BY THE FACT THAT GOD OFTEN SUFFERS HIS SERVANTS TO FALL INTO GREAT DISTRESS. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous;" "In the world ye shall have tribulation." For God desires that we shall love him for himself, yea, when our earthly interests even plead against him. Such trial of on; faith is exceeding precious in his sight.

V OUR DUTY AND DEFENSE, THEREFORE, IS:

1. To look right on beyond the present reward, even to "the end.

2. To expose to others the treachery of these apparent rewards.

3. To pray for and cherish the spirit of Nehemiah, who said, "So did not I, because of the fear of God.

4. To yield our heart and soul up to the better attraction of Christ and his cross, until we come to say of him, "Thou art mine exceeding joy. C.

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

Their houses - They fill their houses with the goods of those they deceive, and over-reach.

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

As a cage That is a place where they fatten fowl, and so does Jonathan render it, like a fattening place, and in O.F. (frank).

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.