Bible Commentaries

Jeremiah 25:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that [was] the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;

Ver. 1. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim.] See on Jeremiah 1:2. Above twenty years had Jeremiah spent his worthy pains upon them, illi vero ne teruntio quidem meliores facti sunt, but they were nothing the better; here, therefore, is their doom most deservedly denounced.

That was the first year.] This first year of Nebuchadnezzar, reigning alone after his father’s death, fell out part of Jehoiakim’s third, and part of the fourth. [Daniel 1:1]

Jeremiah 25:2 The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,

Ver. 2. Unto all the people of Judah.] The circumstances both of time when, and of persons to whom, is thus set down, for the reason given on Jeremiah 25:1.

Jeremiah 25:3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that [is] the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.

Ver. 3. Rising early and speaking.] A dilucula indesinenter: as good husbands use to do, taking the best times.

Jeremiah 25:4 And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending [them]; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.

Ver. 4. But ye have not hearkened.] See Jeremiah 7:24; Jeremiah 7:26.

Jeremiah 25:5 They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:

Ver. 5. They said, Turn ye again.] This was the sum of all the prophet’s sermons, as of the apostles’, "Repent ye and believe the gospel.," [Mark 1:15]

Jeremiah 25:6 And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.

Ver. 6. And I will do you no hurt.] Heb., I will not do evil to you; as else I must. The Romans honoured their Vejoves, that they might not harm them.

Jeremiah 25:7 Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

Ver. 7. That ye might provoke me.] See Jeremiah 7:17-18.

Jeremiah 25:8 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,

Ver. 8. Because ye have not heard,] i.e., Not heeded them. {as Jeremiah 7:19}

Jeremiah 25:9 Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

Ver. 9. Behold, I will send and take.] By a secret instinct. {as Jeremiah 1:15}

And Nebuchadnezzar my servant,] i.e., Mine executioner, the rod of my wrath, [Isaiah 10:5] and the scourge of the world, as Attila styled himself.

And against all these nations round about.] Who were so infatuated that they did not combine against Nebuchadnezzar, whom the Septuagint called a dove, Jeremiah 25:38, but he was a vulture rather, and these nations were as so many silly doves, which save themselves by flight, not fight; and sitting in their dove cots, see their nests destroyed, and their young ones killed before their eyes, never offering to rescue or revenge, as other fowls do. So dealt the old Britons when invaded by the Romans; they joined not their forces against the common enemy, sed dum singuli pugnabant, universi vincebantur. but while the fought separately, they were conquered together. ^(a)

Jeremiah 25:10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.

Ver. 10. Moreover, I will take from them.] See Jeremiah 7:34, Revelation 18:22.

Jeremiah 25:11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, [and] an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Ver. 11. And this land shall be a desolation - seventy years.] Which commenced at the deportation of Jeconiah. [2 Kings 24:8 Jeremiah 29:1-3 Ezekiel 4:1; Ezekiel 33:21] Avignon in France, was the residence of the Pope for seventy years, which time the Romans yet remember, till this day, by the name of the Babylonian captivity. ^(a) Luther, when he first began to stir against the Pope, wrote a book bearing title De captivitate Babylonica, which when Bugenhagius, a Pomeranian divine, first read, he pronounced it to be the most heretical piece that ever was written, but afterwards, having better considered the contents of it, he retracted his former censure; he told his colleagues that all the world besides was in deep darkness, and that Luther alone was in the light and in the right, and him he would follow. So he did, and drew many more with him. ^(b)

Jeremiah 25:12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, [that] I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.

Ver. 12. I will punish the King of Babylon.] As had been previoulsy threatened, [Isaiah 13:19-22; Isaiah 14:21-23; Isaiah 21:2-10; Isaiah 47:5; Isaiah 47:8-9] and was accomplished. [Daniel 5:25-28; Daniel 5:30]

Jeremiah 25:13 And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, [even] all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.

Ver. 13. And I will bring upon that land,] scil., By Cyrus and his successors, who out of the ruins of Babylon built two cities, Ctesiphon and Seleucia.

Jeremiah 25:14 For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

Ver. 14. For many nations.] The Medes and Persians, together with the rest that served under them.

And great kings.] Cyrus and Darius especially.

Jeremiah 25:15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.

Ver. 15. Take the wine cup of this fury.] ^(a) Or, Take this smoking wine cup. A "cup" is oft put for "affliction," and wine for extreme confusion and wrath. Poison in wine works more furiously than in water. [Psalms 75:8]

And cause all the nations.] According to that power which I have put into thine hands. [Jeremiah 1:10] Vengeance is still in readiness for the disobedient, [2 Corinthians 10:6] as ready every whit in God’s hand, as in the minister’s mouth, who threateneth it.

Jeremiah 25:16 And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

Ver. 16. And be moved and be mad.] As men that are overcome by some hot and heady liquor, are mad drunk.

Because of the sword that I shall send.] For it is God who puts the sword in commission, [Jeremiah 47:6-7] and there it many times rideth circuit, as a judge, in scarlet. There are certain seasons, wherein, as the angel troubled the pool, so doth God the nations: and commonly when he doth it to one, he doth it to more, as here, and 2 Chronicles 15:5-6, and as at this day in Europe.

Jeremiah 25:17 Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:

Ver. 17. And made all drink,] viz., In vision, and by denunciation.

Jeremiah 25:18 [To wit], Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as [it is] this day;

Ver. 18. To wit, in Jerusalem.] Judgment beginneth at God’s house [1 Peter 4:17] {See Trapp on "1 Peter 4:17"} {See Trapp on "Matthew 25:41"} Sed si in Hierosolymis maneat scrutinium, quid fiet in Babylone? saith an ancient.

Jeremiah 25:19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;

Ver. 19. Pharaoh king of Egypt.] Pharaohhophra, [Jeremiah 44:30] of whom Herodotus ^(a) writeth that he persuaded himself and boasted, that his kingdom was so strong that no god or man could take it from him. He was afterwards hanged by his own subjects.

Jeremiah 25:20 And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,

Ver. 20. The mixed people.] That lay scattered in the deserts, and had no certain abode; Scenitae and Hamaxobii.

And all the kings of the land of Uz.] Job’s country, called by the Greeks, Ausitis.

Jeremiah 25:21 Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,

Ver. 21. Edom and Moab, &c.] By the destruction of all these nations we may make a conjecture at the destructiou of all the wicked, when Christ shall come to judgment. All that befalleth them in this world, is but as drops of wrath forerunning the great storm: or as a crack foretokening the fall of the whole house. Here the leaves only fall upon them as it were, but then the body of the tree in its full weight to crush them for ever.

Jeremiah 25:22 And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which [are] beyond the sea,

Ver. 22. And all the kings of the isles.] As Cyprus, Rhodes, and the Cyclades, subdued also by the Babylonian, saith Jerome, Rabanus, and Vatablus.

Jeremiah 25:23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all [that are] in the utmost corners,

Ver. 23. Dedan, and Tema, and Buz.] The Hagarens or Saracens [Jeremiah 49:8]

And all that are in the utmost corners.] Qui attonsi sunt in comam; Roundheads. See Jeremiah 9:26.

Jeremiah 25:24 And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,

Ver. 24. And all the kings of Arabia.] Petraea.

That dwell in the desert.] In Arabia Deserta.

Jeremiah 25:25 And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,

Ver. 25. And all the kings of Zimri,] i.e., Of Arabia Felix. Zamarens, Pliny ^(a) calleth them.

Jeremiah 25:26 And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which [are] upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

Ver. 26. And all the kingdoms.] See on Jeremiah 25:16.

And the king of Sheshak,] i.e., Belshazzar, that bezzling king of Babylon, while he is quaffing in the vessels of God’s house to the honour of Shat, ^(a) the Babylonian goddess; whence those feast days were called σακεαι ημεραι, being like the Roman Saturnalia. Antichrist also, who hath troubled all the kingdoms of the earth, shall himself perish, together with his Babylon the great, which hath made the nations drunk with the wine of her fornications.

Jeremiah 25:27 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.

Ver. 27. Drink ye, and be drunk, and spue, and fall.] Eckius, or Eccius, otherwise by some called Jeccius, from his casting or spuing, being nonplussed by Melanchthon, and well nigh madded, started drinking, for his own solace, and drank himself to death. ^(a) So should these do of the cup of God’s wrath, not only till they were mad drunk, {as Jeremiah 25:16} but dead drunk.

Jeremiah 25:28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.

Ver. 28. Ye shall certainly drink.] See on Jeremiah 25:15.

Jeremiah 25:29 For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.

Ver. 29. The city that is called by my name.] Periphrasis Hierosolymae argumentosa.

And should ye be utterly unpunished?] See on Jeremiah 25:18.

Ye shall not be unpunished.] But suffer as surely and as sorely.

Jeremiah 25:30 Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread [the grapes], against all the inhabitants of the earth.

Ver. 30. The Lord shall roar from on high.] As a lusty lion, having discovered his prey, runneth upon it, roaring so horribly that he astonisheth the creatures and sets them at a stand.

He will mightily roar upon his habitation.] Pliny reporteth of the lioness, that she bringeth forth her whelps dead, and so they remain for the space of three days, until the lion, coming near to the den where they lie, lifteth up his voice, and roareth so fiercely, that presently they revive and rise. The "Lion of the tribe of Judah" will roar to like purpose at the last day; and doth afore, when he pleaseth, roar terribly upon his enemies, to their utter amazement. [Joel 3:16 Amos 1:2; Amos 3:8]

He shall give a shout, as those that tread the grapes.] When they have their feet in the winepress, and the new liquor in their heads, as one phraseth it.

Jeremiah 25:31 A noise shall come [even] to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them [that are] wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.

Ver. 31. For the Lord hath a controversy with the nations.] ^(a) A disceptation, which showeth that his revenge to be taken upon them shall be just and lawful. It shall well appear to be so, at that day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. [Romans 2:5]

Jeremiah 25:32 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

Ver. 32. Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation.] See on Jeremiah 25:16.

Jeremiah 25:33 And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from [one] end of the earth even unto the [other] end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.

Ver. 33. And the slain of the Lord shall be, &c.] Such an utter destruction of the wicked is expected by the Jews at the coming of their Messiah, as of all people under heaven they are the most apt to work themselves into the fool’s paradise of a sublime dotage, being light, aerial, fanatical.

Jeremiah 25:34 Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves [in the ashes], ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.

Ver. 34. Howl, ye shepherds.] Ululate, volulate. Shriek and roll. This is spoken to the governors and grandees; for in public calamities such usually suffer more than meaner men. The corks swim, saith one, when the plummets sink. If a tree have thick and large boughs, it lieth more open to lopping.

And ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel,] i.e., Irremediably. Like as a crystal glass or China dish once broken cannot be pieced again.

Jeremiah 25:35 And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.

Ver. 35. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee.] Who had formerly divers strongholds. See Amos 2:14.

Jeremiah 25:36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, [shall be heard]: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture.

Ver. 36. For the Lord hath spoiled their pastures,] i.e., Their kingdoms and states, or their flocks.

Jeremiah 25:37 And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

Ver. 37. And the peaceable habitations.] Heb., The habitations or folds of peace. The fierce anger of the Lord hath unrooted them, their dwellings are demolished.

Jeremiah 25:38 He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.

Ver. 38. He hath forsaken his covert, as a lion.] God hath, or, as some will, Nebuchadnezzar hath. He is come out of Babylon his den, to range about for prey. Ut in praeda involet.

Because of the fierceness of the oppressor.] Of the dove, say some, who also tell us that the Chaldees had in their standard this picture of a dove. But of that there is no such certainty.