Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Jeremiah 21:8 - 21:14
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
A Message to Judah and its King
v. 8. And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death, putting it up to their own choice and laying the responsibility of their decision upon them.
v. 9. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence, the three great scourges of God's punishment which have been mentioned time and again; but he that goeth out and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, voluntarily surrendering to them, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey, keeping it safely from the greed of the enemies.
v. 10. For I have set My face against this city for evil and not for good, saith the Lord, being fully determined to pursue His course of vengeance; it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
v. 11. And touching the house of the king of Judah, addressing himself to the reigning house, say, Hear ye the word of the Lord:
v. 12. O house of David, whose descendants were still occupying the throne of Judah, thus saith the Lord, Execute judgment in the morning, with all promptness and eager application, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, so that justice would be dispensed in his case, lest My fury go out like fire and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings, which challenged the holiness of the avenging Lord.
v. 13. Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley and rock of the plain, saith the Lord, Jerusalem being considered, on the one hand, as being situated beneath Mount Olivet and its range, and on the other as being exalted above the lowlands toward the south and west, which say, in proud self-confidence, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations? deeming themselves safe from attack within fortifications which were well-nigh impregnable in those days.
v. 14. But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the Lord, in agreement with her wicked deeds; and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it, the city itself, with all its suburbs, being considered a forest of dwellings. Thus the specific items in the destruction of Jerusalem were ever and again brought to the attention of the apostate Jews, just as the individual incidents of the Last Judgment are set forth at length and with careful attention to details in the New Testament.