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Jer_23:33-40
Ask thee, What is the burden of Jehovah?
Thou shalt tell them what the burden of Jehovah Isaiah 30
Namely, “I reject you,”saith Jehovah.
34 And the prophet, the priest, or the people
That say, “Burden of Jehovah;”
On such a man and his house will I visit it.
35 Thus shall ye say, every one to his neighbour and every one to his brother:
What hath Jehovah answered? or What hath Jehovah spoken?
36 But “burden of Jehovah ” ye shall no more take into your mouth;
For the burden will be to each his own word;
Because ye have perverted the words of the living God,
Jehovah Zebaoth, our God.
37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet:
What has Jehovah answered thee?
Or, What has Jehovah spoken?
38 But if ye say, “Burden of Jehovah,”
On this account saith Jehovah thus:
Because ye say this word, “Burden of Jehovah,”
And I had sent unto you a message of this purport,
“Ye shall not say, ‘Burden of Jehovah,’ ”—
39 Therefore, behold, I burden you and thrust you,
And this city which I gave to you and your fathers,
Away from my presence;
40 And lay upon you everlasting reproach,
And everlasting shame, that shall not be forgotten.
Jer_23:33-34. And when this people … visit it.—What burden? It appears to have been the custom, whenever the prophets made their appearance in public to ask them if they had received any new revelation. There can be no doubt that îùׂà means “saying, utterance,” as well as “burden.” Comp. the thorough demonstration in Graf, S. 315. The passages from which it evidently follows that îùׂà signifies effatum, any utterance, besides those where the verb ðֶùָׂà is used in the sense vocem proferre with and without ÷åֹì , voice (Isa_3:7; Isa_42:2; Isa_42:11 coll. Exo_20:7; Exo_23:1; Num_23:7; Psa_139:20, etc.), are especially the following: Isa_14:28; Lam_2:14; 2Ki_9:25; Pro_30:1; Pro_31:1. Hengstenberg and Rueckert, following the example of Jonathan, Aquila, the Syriac, Jerome and Luther, would take the word exclusively in the sense of “burden.” We have translated “burden” above, but only because we have no expression, which without forcing unites both meanings. Of the many attempts to unite them by De Wette, Ewald, Fuerst, Meier, none are really satisfactory. De Wette’s translation is most so. [Wehsagung: utterance of woe.—S. R. A.]. At all events the opposers emphasized the idea of burden. They wished to say that every declaration of Jehovah was only a new burden, that only what was burdensome, not what was pleasing, came from this God. In so far the question was one of blasphemous derision. It is implied by the word namely that what follows is a quotation. The passage to which Jeremiah refers is doubtless Jer_12:7, “rejected mine inheritance.” The significance of this passage is clear from the fact that it is reproduced in a comprehensive survey in 2Ki_21:14.—Will I visit it. Besides the judgment announced to the people generally on account of their sins, those who make use of the expression “burden” in a wicked manner, shall receive special punishment.
Jer_23:35-37. Thus shall ye say … Jehovah spoken.—For the burden will be, etc. Even the insolent words will be to him who utters them a crushing burden, though the utterance of Jehovah, with respect to which he uses the term, is not in itself a burden at all.—These words are a parenthesis, and hence because ye have perverted, etc., is connected with ye shall no more take into your mouth and declare the result of using the forbidden word.—Living God. Comp. Jer_10:10.
Footnotes:
Jer_23:33.—The article is general, and ðָáִéà expresses the idea of species. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 71, 4, a.
Jer_23:33.— àúÎîäÎîùׂà . Many modern commentators follow the LXX. and Vulg. which read àַúֶּí úַîַּùָׂà , but incorrectly. In His answer the Lord purposely uses the words of the question: Verba retorquet. The arrow directed against him must, being reversed, strike those insolent questioners. It should indeed properly read àַú àֲùֶׁø îַùָׂà . But the necessity of retaining the words of the question justified this grammatical license, which moreover (Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 79, 6) is not altogether without precedent. àֵú depends on åְàָîַøְúָּ Comp. Jer_14:17, etc. The construction is therefore by no means so artificial and clumsy as Ewald supposes.
Jer_23:33.— åðèùúé å× is not co-ordinated with åàîøú , as is apparent from ðְàֻí é× . It rather expresses the purport of that which Jeremiah is to proclaim as the “burden,” etc. å is therefore=and indeed. It should only be remarked that å here in this meaning stands before a whole sentence, which, however, on account of its brevity is not thereby rendered less easily intelligible.
Jer_23:35.—On the interchange of òַì and àֵì , comp, rems. on Jer_10:1.
Jer_23:39.— åðּùׁéúé ðùׁà . The paronomasia requires us to read ðָùׂà ðָùִׂéúִé , as the LXX., Vulg., Syr., and some Codd. and editions really do. It is not necessary to assume the Piel form ðִùֵׂéúִé , since forms like ëַּìִàúִé Psa_119:102; ëְּìִúִðִé 1Sa_25:33; öָîִú Rth_2:9, justify the assumption of é also in the Kal according to the analogy of the ìä× verbs. Comp. Olsh., § 223, a, Anm.—The reading âָùִּׁéúִé , which does not afford any satisfactory sense, but may be translated “I forget,” or “I heard not,” is doubtless occasioned by the unusual punctuation ( ðùׂéúé ). A proof that- the latter is the original is found in the Inf. ðùֹׁà , the à of which is likewise abnormal and therefore a sure trace of the original ëִּìִîּåּú . ðָùׂà is ἄð . ëåã . and perhaps to be read ëְּìִîַּú , after Jer_20:11.