1Jsi spravedlivý, Hospodine, proto si u tebe chci stěžovat. Jen s tebou chci mluvit o věcech práva. Proč je cesta ničemů úspěšná a proč se všem podvodníkům daří? 2Zasadil jsi je a oni i zakořenili, rostou a dokonce vydávají plody. Mají tě plná ústa, ale jejich nitru jsi daleko. 3Ty, Hospodine, mě znáš, vidíš mě a zkoumáš mé srdce, že je s tebou. Odtáhni je jako stádo na porážku, odděl je pro den popravy. 4Dokdy bude země usychat a vadnout všechna polní zeleň? Pro zlo těch, kteří v ní bydlí, zmizela zvěř i ptactvo; a to proto, že řekli: On nevidí náš konec. 5Když jsi běžel s pěšáky a unavili tě, jak chceš potom závodit s koňmi? Když se v pokojné zemi cítíš bezpečný, co budeš dělat v jordánské houštině? 6Vždyť i tvoji bratři a dům tvého otce, i oni tě podvedli, i oni za tebou hlasitě pokřikují. Nevěř jim, i když s tebou mluví hezky. 7Opustil jsem svůj dům, zanechal jsem své dědictví, vydal jsem svou milovanou do moci jejích nepřátel. 8Mé dědictví se pro mě stalo podobné lvu v houštině, pozvedlo proti mně svůj hlas, proto ho nenávidím. 9Cožpak mi není mé dědictví skvrnitým dravcem? Což okolo něj nejsou jiní dravci? Jděte, shromážděte všechnu polní zvěř, přijďte se nažrat! 10Mnozí pastýři zničili mou vinici, pošlapali můj díl pole, proměnili můj vzácný díl ve zcela opuštěnou pustinu. 11Učinili ji zcela opuštěnou, zpustošená přede mnou truchlí. Celá země je zpustošená a nikdo si to nebere k srdci. 12Na všechna holá návrší v pustině přicházejí ničitelé, protože Hospodin má meč, který požírá od jednoho konce země až na druhý a nikdo nemá pokoj. 13Zaseli pšenici, ale sklidili trní; unavili se, ale nic tím nezískali. Styďte se za svou úrodu kvůli Hospodinovu planoucímu hněvu. 14Toto praví Hospodin: O všech mých zlých sousedech, kteří sahají na dědictví, jež jsem dal do vlastnictví svému lidu, Izraeli: Hle, vyrvu je z jejich země a dům judský vyrvu z jejich středu. 15I stane se, že až je vyrvu, znovu se nad nimi slituji a přivedu je zpět, každého do jeho dědictví a každého do jeho země. 16A jestliže se opravdu naučí cestám mého lidu a budou přísahat v mém jménu: Jakože živ je Hospodin, tak jako učili můj lid přísahat při Baalovi, pak budou zbudováni uprostřed mého lidu. 17Jestliže však nebudou poslouchat, zcela onen národ vyrvu a vyhubím, je Hospodinův výrok.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 CONTINUATION OF THE SUBJECT AT THE CLOSE OF THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER. (Jer. 12:1-17)(
Ps 51:4).
let me talk, &c.--only let me reason the case with Thee: inquire of Thee the causes why such wicked men as these plotters against my life prosper (compare
Job 12:6;
Job 21:7;
Ps 37:1,
Ps 37:35;
Ps 73:3;
Mal 3:15). It is right, when hard thoughts of God's providence suggest themselves, to fortify our minds by justifying God beforehand (as did Jeremiah), even before we hear the reasons of His dealings.
2 grow--literally "go on," "progress." Thou givest them sure dwellings and increasing prosperity.
near in . . . mouth . . . far from . . . reins-- (
Isa 29:13;
Matt 15:8). Hypocrites.
3 knowest me-- (
Ps 139:1).
tried . . . heart-- (
Jer 11:20).
toward thee--rather, "with Thee," that is, entirely devoted to Thee; contrasted with the hypocrites (
Jer 12:2), "near in . . . mouth, and far from . . . reins." This being so, how is it that I fare so ill, they so well?
pull . . . out--containing the metaphor, from a "rooted tree" (
Jer 12:2).
prepare--literally, "separate," or "set apart as devoted."
day of slaughter-- (
Jas 5:5).
4 land mourn--personification (
Jer 14:2;
Jer 23:10).
for the wickedness-- (
Ps 107:34).
beasts-- (
Hos 4:3).
He shall not see our last end--Jehovah knows not what is about to happen to us (
Jer 5:12) [ROSENMULLER]. So the Septuagint. (
Ps 10:11;
Ezek 8:12;
Ezek 9:9). Rather, "The prophet (Jeremiah, to whom the whole context refers) shall not see our last end." We need not trouble ourselves about his boding predictions. We shall not be destroyed as he says (
Jer 5:12-
Jer 5:13).
5 Jehovah's reply to Jeremiah's complaint.
horses--that is, horsemen: the argument a fortiori. A proverbial phrase. The injuries done thee by the men of Anathoth ("the footmen") are small compared with those which the men of Jerusalem ("the horsemen") are about to inflict on thee. If the former weary thee out, how wilt thou contend with the king, the court, and the priests at Jerusalem?
wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee--English Version thus fills up the sentence with the italicized words, to answer to the parallel clause in the first sentence of the verse. The parallelism is, however, sufficiently retained with a less ellipsis: "If (it is only) in a land of peace thou art confident" [MAURER].
swelling of Jordan--In harvest-time and earlier (April and May) it overflows its banks (
Josh 3:15), and fills the valley called the Ghor. Or, "the pride of Jordan," namely, its wooded banks abounding in lions and other wild beasts (
Jer 49:19;
Jer 50:44;
Zech 11:3; compare
2Kgs 6:2). MAUNDRELL says that between the Sea of Tiberias and Lake Merom the banks are so wooded that the traveller cannot see the river at all without first passing through the woods. If in the campaign country (alone) thou art secure, how wilt thou do when thou fallest into the wooded haunts of wild beasts?
6 even thy brethren--as in Christ's case (
Ps 69:8;
John 1:11;
John 7:5; compare
Jer 9:4;
Jer 11:19,
Jer 11:21;
Matt 10:36). Godly faithfulness is sure to provoke the ungodly, even of one's own family.
called a multitude after thee-- (
Isa 31:4). JEROME translates, "cry after thee with a loud (literally, 'full') voice."
believe . . . not . . . though . . . speak fair-- (
Pro 26:25).
7 I have forsaken--Jehovah will forsake His temple and the people peculiarly His. The mention of God's close tie to them, as heretofore His, aggravates their ingratitude, and shows that their past spiritual privileges will not prevent God from punishing them.
beloved of my soul--image from a wife (
Jer 11:15;
Isa 54:5).
8 is unto me--is become unto Me: behaves towards Me as a lion which roars against a man, so that he withdraws from the place where he hears it: so I withdrew from My people, once beloved, but now an object of abhorrence because of their rebellious cries against Me.
9 speckled bird--Many translate, "a ravenous beast, the hyena"; the corresponding Arabic word means hyena; so the Septuagint. But the Hebrew always elsewhere means "a bird of prey." The Hebrew for "speckled" is from a root "to color"; answering to the Jewish blending together with paganism the altogether diverse Mosaic ritual. The neighboring nations, birds of prey like herself (for she had sinfully assimilated herself to them), were ready to pounce upon her.
assemble . . . beasts of . . . field--The Chaldeans are told to gather the surrounding heathen peoples as allies against Judah (
Isa 56:9;
Ezek 34:5).
10 pastors--the Babylonian leaders (compare
Jer 12:12;
Jer 6:3).
my vineyard-- (
Isa 5:1,
Isa 5:5).
trodden my portion-- (
Isa 63:18).
11 mourneth unto me--that is, before Me. EICHORN translates, "by reason of Me," because I have given it to desolation (
Jer 12:7).
because no man layeth it to heart--because none by repentance and prayer seek to deprecate God's wrath. Or, "yet none lays it to heart"; as in
Jer 5:3 [CALVIN].
12 high places--Before, He had threatened the plains; now, the hills.
wilderness--not an uninhabited desert, but high lands of pasturage, lying between Judea and Chaldea (
Jer 4:11).
13 Description in detail of the devastation of the land (
Mic 6:15).
they shall be ashamed of your--The change of persons, in passing from indirect to direct address, is frequent in the prophets. Equivalent to, "Ye shall be put to the shame of disappointment at the smallness of your produce."
14 Prophecy as to the surrounding nations, the Syrians, Ammonites, &c., who helped forward Judah's calamity: they shall share her fall; and, on their conversion, they shall share with her in the future restoration. This is a brief anticipation of the predictions in the forty-seventh, forty-eighth, and forty-ninth chapters.
touch-- (
Zech 2:8).
pluck them out . . . pluck out . . . Judah--(Compare end of
Jer 12:16). During the thirteen years that the Babylonians besieged Tyre, Nebuchadnezzar, after subduing Cślo-Syria, brought Ammon, Moab, &c., and finally Egypt, into subjection [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 10:9.7]. On the restoration of these nations, they were to exchange places with the Jews. The latter were now in the midst of them, but on their restoration they were to be "in the midst of the Jews," that is, as proselytes to the true God (compare
Mic 5:7;
Zech 14:16). "Pluck them," namely, the Gentile nations: in a bad sense. "Pluck Judah": in a good sense; used to express the force which was needed to snatch Judah from the tyranny of those nations by whom they had been made captives, or to whom they had fled; otherwise they never would have let Judah go. Previously he had been forbidden to pray for the mass of the Jewish people. But here he speaks consolation to the elect remnant among them. Whatever the Jews might be, God keeps His covenant.
15 A promise, applying to Judah, as well as to the nations specified (
Amos 9:14). As to Moab, compare
Jer 48:47; as to Ammon,
Jer 49:6.
16 swear by my name-- (
Jer 4:2;
Isa 19:18;
Isa 65:16); that is, confess solemnly the true God.
built--be made spiritually and temporally prosperous: fixed in sure habitations (compare
Jer 24:6;
Jer 42:10;
Jer 45:4;
Ps 87:4-
Ps 87:5;
Eph 2:20-
Eph 2:21;
1Pet 2:5).
17 (
Isa 60:12).
Many of these figurative acts being either not possible, or not probable, or decorous, seem to have existed only in the mind of the prophet as part of his inward vision. [So CALVIN]. The world he moved in was not the sensible, but the spiritual, world. Inward acts were, however, when it was possible and proper, materialized by outward performance but not always, and necessarily so. The internal act made a naked statement more impressive and presented the subject when extending over long portions of space and time more concentrated. The interruption of Jeremiah's official duty by a journey of more than two hundred miles twice is not likely to have literally taken place.
