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INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK: Yirmeyahu, traditionally called Jeremiah in English, was a priest, and therefore from the tribe of Levi, and a reluctant prophet due to his young age. He prophesied beginning almost 100 years after the fall of the Northern Kingdom (Israel), just after Yoshiyahu's widespread reforms, and just prior to the fall of the Southern Kingdom (Yehudah). The reigns spanned were the fifth-last and (skipping the three-month reign of Yehoachaz) the final three kings of the Southern Kingdom. (Yehoyachin is not mentioned in 1:3, but he reigned for three months between the reigns of Yehoyaqim and Tzidqiyahu.) The time frame was 628 B.C.E. and from 609 through 586 B.C.E. (2 Kings 22-25; 2 Chron. 34-36) During this time Yoshiyahu was killed for meddling in Pharaoh Nekho's military affairs, his son Yehoachaz was taken to Egypt, Nevukhadnetzar of Babylon made Yehudah a vassal, Yehoyaqim rebelled and was then plagued with Chaldean, Aramean, Moavite, and Ammonite raiders, Nevukhadnetzar again besieged Yerushalayim, Yehoyaqim surrendered and was taken captive to Babylon along with the temple and royal treasures (to be imprisoned 37 years, then treated well by the Babylonians until he died, as per 52:31). Tzidqiyahu was installed in his place, until he too rebelled and Yerushalayim was burned and the walls broken down. This particular Yirmeyahu is also mentioned in the 2 Chronicles 36 account, but that this was a common name in his generation is evident from several others mentioned throughout the books of Kings, Chronicles, and Nechemyah, including the grandfather of King Yehoachaz.

Chapters 1- 4 CHAPTER 1 1. The words of Yirmeyahu the son of Chilqiyahu, one of the priests who lived in Anathoth in the land of Binyamin: Yirmeyahu: His name means "YHWH will raise up" or "appoint". One of the priests: Aramaic, one of the leaders of the course of the priests (as listed in 1 Chron. 24:1-19). 2 Kings 22:4 mentions a high priest by this name only 5 years after the time the book begins. So if Yirmeyahu was his firstborn, he would be next in line to be high priest. Anathoth, today called Anata, sits atop a hill about 5 km. outside Yerushalayim and is visible from the road to Yericho. 2. to whom the Word of YHWH came in the days of Yoshiyahu the son of Amon, king of Yehudah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. This is five years after Yoshiyahu began to seek YHWH and five years before he had the Temple repaired and the Book of the Torah was found. (2 Chron. 36) 3. It also came in the days of Yehoyaqim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, until the completion of the eleventh year of Tzidqiyahu the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah--up to the carrying away of Yerushalayim into exile in the fifth month. Eleventh: the Hebrew number is in the form of an afterthought, an extra added after ten, rather than the usual number for eleven, probably since he did not complete the full year as king, since he himself was taken captive. Interestingly, the reigns of the last four kings of Yehudah lasted, respectively, three months, eleven years, three months, and eleven years. 4. Now the Word of YHWH came to me, saying, The Word of YHWH... saying: This is not redundant if it refers to the visible manifestation of YHWH known in Aramaic as His Memra (living Word) and which was later embodied as Yahshua the Messiah. (Yoch. 1:14) It is mentioned overtly in the targum of verses 8 and 19; here, the Aramaic simply has "a word of prophecy from before YHWH". 5. "Before I formed you in the abdomen, I knew you, and before you came out of the womb I set you apart and appointed you a prophet to the nations." I set you apart: Yahshua is described as being ordained before the foundation of the world (1 Kefa/Peter 1:20) then raised up (related to Yirmeyahu's name), and we who are in Him were chosen then as well. (Eph. 1:4) To the nations: yet the whole book is essentially addressed to Yehudah and Israel. Yet Irish tradition (The Book of Wars) says that after the deportation of Yerushalayim to Bavel (Babylon), Yirmeyahu took the daughter of King Tzidqiyahu to Ireland (an area colonized by the Phoenician alliance, of which Yehudah had been a part) and founded cities there, chiefly with the tribe of Menashe. One of the families mentioned there was named Machiri--the Hebrew name for the Machirites, descendants of one of Menashe's grandsons. Perhaps this book was only the "warm-up" for that prophetic role. 6. But I said, "Alas, Master YHWH, I do not know how to speak, because I am [too] young!" Both Moshe (Ex. 4:10; 6:12) and Yeshayahu had similar responses to their call. YHWH does not often call those who have natural confidence in their own abilities, but those who know they need His upholding. Nevertheless, He does not accept excuses: 7. But YHWH told me, "Do not say, 'I am [too] young', because in regard to everywhere I send you, you can go, and you must say whatever I order you [to say]. Compare Yochanan 5:19, 30. 8. "Do not be afraid of their faces, because I am with you to rescue you," declares YHWH. 9. Then YHWH stretched out His hand and touched it to my mouth. And YHWH told me, "Here. I have put My words in your mouth. Stretched out His hand: or "sent forth His Arm [i.e., the Messiah] and had Him touch my mouth." Compare Yeshayahu 6. 10. "Consider [it to be the case that on] this day I have appointed you [as] an overseer over the nations and over the dominions, to pluck up by the roots, and to tear down, and to bring about loss, and to overthrow, to rebuild, and to plant. Plant: or establish. He would cut things out as a doctor does (removing a cancer so the body can survive), not as a butcher does. The pattern of tearing down is how a forest is cleared to plant a field and how a foundation is dug before the house can be built upward. Before we could begin acting as Israel again, we too had to cut down many false interpretations of Scripture that we had nurtured into large trees in the past. The Aramaic adds "and over the House of Israel" before the last two phrases. Compare Ecclesiastes 3:10, which says there is a season for all these things (perhaps one reason the almond, which heralds the season, is chosen as the imagery here): 11. Then the Word of YHWH came to me, saying, "What do you see, Yirmeyahu?" And I said, "What I see is a stick [from] an almond tree." A stick from an almond tree: Aramaic, a king hastening to do evil. Interestingly enough, in light of the note on v. 5, the only place in Europe that almond trees grow is in Ireland and the British Isles. 12. Then YHWH told me, "You have done well in your seeing, because I will keep watch over My Word, in order to [effectively] bring it about." Keep watch: the root word for "almond tree" in v. 11, so this is a play on words as a memory aid. The almond tree is called the "watched tree" its blossoming alerts us to the fact that it is time to plant barley because the new festival year, which depends on the barley being at the right stage, will begin soon. Keep watch over: could also be translated "awaken" or "alert", thus, "I will alert My Word to perform" (i.e., He will call on Yahshua, His living Word, to act; compare Yeshayahu 50:4 where He says YHWH "awakens" Him morning by morning). After all, Yahshua is the one who sowed the Northern Kingdom in tears. (Mat. 13:37) The almond is also called the "resurrection tree" because it is the first to bloom after the "death" of winter. But it is the last tree to bear fruit, so it is a picture of the two comings of Messiah. There are two times during which the almond nut is edible. First, during its green stage, after which it is again inedible until it reaches its dry stage (possibly alluded to in Luke 23:31). Aharon's rod that budded was an almond branch (Numbers 17:8); the "dead tree" that still bore fruit (overnight!) was a sign of his high-priestly authority. This choice of Aharon relates to YHWH's choice of Yirmeyahu, who also might have been high priest but for the fact that there was no Temple left by that time, so YHWH gave him another distinguished role. 13. Then the Word of YHWH came to me a second [time], saying, "What do you see?" And I said, "A seething caldron is what I see, and its face is from the face of the north." A seething caldron: Aramaic, a king who seethes like a caldron. Face of the north: before the hidden place, or from the place where something lurks undiscovered; Aramaic, the arrangement of his troops are advancing from the direction of the north. This repetition of the word "face" emphasizes to Yirmeyahu that though his opponents have threatening faces, YHWH has His own answer to this: faces that are meaner still. Compare v. 17 and Yahshua's warning not to fear those who could kill the body, but those who can destroy both body and soul. (Mat. 10:28) 14. So YHWH told me, "Out of the north will an evil be unleashed upon all those dwelling in the Land, Though Babylon is east of Yehudah, the fertile crescent by which its armies would travel there would make them approach Yehudah from the north. The "north" can also mean "treasury" in Hebrew, so He was simply using one of the tools He had created--the Babylonian army--to carry out His discipline on Yehudah. (See Havaquq 1) Judgment often comes out of the north in Scripture. Perhaps this relates to the "Big Dipper" constellation being so juxtaposed with the North Star. 15. "because here I am, calling to all the families of the kingdoms of the north," declares YHWH. "When they come, each will set up his seat at the entrance to the gates of Yerushalayim, and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Yehudah. Set up his seat (or throne) at the entrance to the gates: i.e., take authority over all the decisions affecting the city. The gate is a place of judgment, so YHWH is using these other kings as His means to render His judgment: 16. "And I will pronounce My verdicts against them on account of all the wickedness of those who have forsaken Me and burned incense to other elohim, and have bowed down to what their [own] hands have made. Bowed down: Aramaic, been enslaved. 17. "So now, tie together [the garments that hang slack at] your sides, get up, and tell them all that I order you. Do not let yourself 'go to pieces' because of their faces, or else I may break you 'to pieces' in front of their faces. Tie together your slack garments: an idiom much like our "roll up your sleeves"; i.e., "Get to work", securing anything that would slow you down. Aramaic, strengthen (your loins). Do not go to pieces: notice YHWH's use of the same phrase in reply again (as in v. 13); Aramaic, do not hold back from reproving them. If we credit authority to anything but Him, He may leave us at the mercy of what we already worship (by fearing). Like Kefa with the wind and waves, things other than Him only have the power we give them by recognition. 18. "And after all, today I have given permission for you to be an inaccessible city, a pillar of iron, and walls of brass against the whole Land--to the kings of Yehudah, to her princes, to her priests, and to the people of the Land. The same is said of Yerushalayim (Zech. 12:2-3), and we are being built into the New Yerushalayim. 19. "Now they will fight against you, but they will not be able [to overcome] you, because I am with you," declares YHWH, "to bring about your deliverance." I am with you: Aramaic, My Memra (living Word) will be at your assistance. In addition to the calling Yirmeyahu had since before His birth (v. 5), he now had this promise to uphold him throughout the trials he was about to experience because of his faithfulness. We, too, as Israel, have a calling that precedes our birth which our ancestors agreed we would live by, and we also have countless promises that those who remain faithful through the coming time of trouble will be delivered (though imprisoned in the process) and inherit the Land which will again be like the Garden of Eden. What more incentive could we be offered to be bold and endure the short-lived attacks that the enemy tries to slip in before the throes of his defeat become obvious to all. CHAPTER 2 1. Then the Word of YHWH came to me, saying, 2. "Go, call out in the hearing of Yerushalayim, saying, 'This is what YHWH says: "I remember [about] you the kindness of your youth, the love of your espousals, your following Me into the wilderness, in a land [that was] not seeded. I remember about you: Aramaic, I remember in your favor. In the wilderness: the Aramaic adds, without provisions. 3. "'"Israel was set apart to YHWH, the firstfruits of His yield. All who devour him will be held guilty; evil will come upon them", declares YHWH. Aramaic, "Firstlings of harvest, the sheaf of the heave-offering, of which everyone who eats... is guilty." 4. "'Hear a word [from] YHWH, O House of Yaaqov, and all the clans of the House of Israel! House of Israel: already in exile at this point, except for a small token remnant who had left Yarav'am's jurisdiction and joined Yehudah (2 Chron. 11:14-16), but this word has now come to us as well. 5. "'This is what YHWH says: "What injustice have your ancestors found in Me, since they distanced themselves from Me and gone after empty [hopes] and become empty [themselves]? And as Israel mixed with the Gentiles and became Gentiles themselves, their descendants have to come back now and confess that their ancestors inherited lies, vanity, and things that are unprofitable. (16:19) 6. "'"They did not [even] say, 'Where is YHWH, Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, leading us through the wilderness--through a land of mixed steppes and sinkholes, through a land of drought and the shadow of death, a land through which not a man has passed and where humanity has not dwelt?' 7. "'"And I brought you into the Land of orchards [so you could] eat its fruit and [enjoy] its pleasantness. But when you went in, you defiled My Land, and changed My possession into something abominable. 8. "'"The priests did not say, 'Where is YHWH?' Nor did those who handle the Torah know Me! Even the shepherds have rebelled against Me, and the prophets prophesied under Ba'al's [influence], so they have gone after things that do not bring benefit. If even the foundation of the house is crooked, how can it not need to be torn down in order to rebuild it? Handle: or wield skillfully; i.e., those who were to teach others how to respond to it, but how could they when they missed the main point? Shepherds: or pastors; compare Yehjezqel 34. Under Ba'al's influence: or, "by the Lord"--a title now thought to refer to Ba'al's arch-enemy, but which is really a translation of Ba'al.. 9. "'"So I am going to bring a case against you", declares YHWH, "and I will lodge a complaint against your children's children. 10. "'"For go across to the islands of Kittim and see; send [word] to Qedar, and consider carefully whether there has been anything like this: Kittim: Cyprus and/or some of the Greek isles. Qedar: Aramaic, the province of the Arabs. 11. "'"Has a nation changed its elohim when they were not elohim? Yet My people have exchanged their [honorable] reputation without gaining anything! Paul was probably alluding to this in Galatians 1:6-7. 12. "'"Be appalled at this, O heavens, and bristle with terror! Become exceedingly desolate," is what was uttered by YHWH, Be appalled, O heavens: a Hebrew wordplay, shamu shamayim. Aramaic, because of the Land of Israel which is to be wasted. 13. "'"because My people have committed two evils: they have let go of Me, the source of living waters, to dig out for themselves cisterns--broken cisterns that cannot contain the water. Cisterns: the root word also means "explanations". Indeed, our own excuses for why we practiced Sunday worship, Christmas, Easter, etc., simply did not hold water. When we tried to pour His living water into them, they acted like sieves. It is bad enough to forsake YHWH, but to replace Him with something of our own making is even worse. 14. "'"Is Israel a servant? If he is born in the house, why has he been plundered? 15. "'"The young lions have roared and set their voices against him, and have laid his land waste; cities of his have been set on fire from [being] without inhabitant. Young lions: a symbol of Babylon. 16. "'"The sons of Nof and Tahpanes have also fed upon your scalp. Nof: Memphis, Egypt. Tahpanes (an alternate spelling for Tahpanhes): Tel Defenneh in Egypt, 18 miles (29 km.) east-southeast of Tanis. 17. "'"Haven't you dealt this out to yourself [by] abandoning YHWH your Elohim during the time He was leading you on the journey? 18. "'"So what is there for you on the road to Egypt now? To drink the waters of Shikhor? Or what is there for you toward the road to Ashur? To drink the waters of the River? Shikhor: "the dark one", a tributary of the Nile that ran along the eastern border of Egypt at that time. Why should we want to drink black water when YHWH has pure, undefiled water for us? Aramaic, to cast your males into the river. The river: the Ferath (Euphrates). 19. "'"Your own wickedness will chastise you, and your own apostasies will reprove you. So recognize and consider [the fact] that forsaking YHWH your Elohim is an evil and bitter [thing], when awe of Me is not upon you," declares Adonai YHWH of Armies. This is the answer to verse 13. If we sow to what is "our own", what is "our own" will come back and bite us. "You should be fearing Me instead", He says. Fearing anything else is paganism. If fear anything else, we prove we do not truly fear YHWH. YHWH of Armies: emphasizing His rulership of those who are under command. 20. "'"For ages ago I broke your yoke and pulled off your bands [of chastisement], yet you said, 'I will not cross over!', because on every lofty hill and under every flourishing tree you stooped over as a prostitute! Cross over or transgress. 21. "'"Yet I Myself had planted you [as] a choice [species of] vine--a completely reliable seed! So how were you changed into the degenerate [shoots] of a vine [that was] foreign to Me? There is another pun here: "choice vine" is soreq, but it had turned out to be surey (degenerate shoots). 22. "'"Even if you wash yourself with that which loosens [the dirt], and greatly increase lye [soap] for yourself, your perversity has [become] a deeply-engrained stain before Me," declares YHWH. 23. "'"How can you say, 'I am not defiled; I have not gone after the Ba'als'? Consider your way in the [deep] gorge! Admit what you have done! [You are like a] swift dromedary crossing [back] over her [own] tracks, 24. "'"a wild donkey accustomed to the uninhabited land, that pants after the wind in the passion of her desire during her time [of heat]; who can turn her back? None who try to find her will weary themselves; they will find her in her month. None who try...: Aramaic, All those who seek My Law will not be forgotten; in its time they shall find it. 25. "'"Hold your leg back from being bare, and your throat from dehydration. But you said, 'It is hopeless! No, because I have loved those who are estranged, and they are the ones I will go after. 26. "'"As [one who is] discovered [to be] a thief is ashamed, so [it is for] the House of Israel--they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, 27. "'"who say to a tree, 'You are my father!' or to a stone, 'You gave birth to us!', because they have turned their back to Me instead of their face, yet in their time of trouble, they will say, 'Rise up and bring us deliverance!' A tree: or a piece of wood. 28. "'"But where are your deities that you have made for yourself? Let them rise up, if they can bring you deliverance in the time of your trouble, because you have come to have as many gods as you have cities, O Yehudah! 29. "'"What will you complain to Me about? It is Me that you have all offended," declares YHWH. 30. "'"I have struck your children in vain; they have not received correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a lion that brings destruction. 31. "'"O generation, consider the Word of YHWH! Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of deep darkness? Why [then] have My people said, 'We are restless; we will not come to You anymore'? Generation: classified by time or characteristics; alt., dwelling-place, which is what YHWH intended Israel to be for Him, beginning in the wilderness. Consider: literally, see, i.e., look around at all He has blessed you with; why are you bored with Him? Do you call that freedom--having nothing to live for, nothing to serve but self? Restless could also be translated "in charge". The rabbis of Yehudah, after 135 C.E., also decided they could out-vote YHWH. The way to repent for saying "We will not" is to say, "We will" and actually do it. (Mat. 21:28ff) They failed to remember that their brother Kingdom was expelled for this very reason. If we (as the latter) have decided to go back to our Father's house (Luk. 15:17), we need to learn His ground rules; we cannot bring our own. 32. "'"Can a [betrothed] virgin forget her finery, or a bride her ornaments? Yet there's no telling [how many] days My people have forgotten Me! 33. "'"How thoroughly will you beautify your manner [of walking] to try to secure love? That is why you have even taught the evil women your ways! I.e., you are even teaching prostitutes new tricks! 34. "'"On the edges [of your skirts] is also discovered the blood of the souls of innocents who yielded [to you]. You have not found [it] by digging, because [it is] on all of these. Digging: looking for "dirt" on someone by snooping in secret places, breaking in where not invited. It is in plain sight, right out in the open, all over your clothes! 35. "'"Yet you say, 'Since I am innocent, [I'm sure] He will turn His anger away from Me!' Pay attention: I will judge you [specifically] on account of the fact that you say, 'I have not sinned!' 36. "'"How you exhaust yourself [going to and fro] to alter your course! You will be disappointed by Egypt too, just as you were disappointed by Ashur. Alter your course: "turn over a new leaf" by seeking out a new lover rather than by confessing and returning to YHWH, her husband. Disappointed by: or, ashamed of. 37. "Indeed, you will go out from [being] with this [one] with your hands atop your head, because YHWH has loathed those in whom you put your trust, and you will not bring prosperity [through] them." Hands atop your head: i.e., as slaves, tied up; Aramaic, the shame of your sins will be upon your head. You have trusted as allies those who are aliens and know nothing about YHWH; they will indeed turn on you. CHAPTER 3 1. "Tell [Me]: If a man dismisses his wife, and she goes away from being with him and becomes another man's, would he return to her again? Wouldn't that land be profaned to [the point of] defilement? Yet you have played the prostitute with many companions, and [still] you come back to Me!", declares YHWH. The command in question is set forth in Deut. 24:4. Companions: literally, those of the same flock; the Aramaic Targum explains that this refers to nations. So Yehudah was considering the other nations as its equal, when in YHWH's eyes they are not to be in the same category. (Num. 23:9) The Land, however, is made up of grains of sand, each of which symbolizes a descendant of Avraham. So if any of us is profaned, YHWH cannot draw near to His dwelling place in us. 2. "Lift up your eyes to the barren heights, and find [a place] where you haven't been ravished! By the roads you have sat [waiting] for them, like an Arab in the wilderness, and you have been polluting [the] Land with your harlotries and your wickedness! Arab: a Bedouin prostitute, in this case; remember they were not yet Muslims at this time, so their character was undoubtedly much less subdued even than it is now. Polluting: the term could even mean "defecating on". He insists on the camp in which His presence resides being kept free of excrement (Deut. 23:12-14), and the same concept extends metaphorically to His entire Land. 3. "That is why the heavy rains have been withheld and there has been no spring rain, yet you have had the forehead of a whore-woman; you have refused to be ashamed. Ample warning of this is given in Deut. 11:16-17; now it was coming to pass as it had in the days of Eliyahu. Forehead: Aramaic, impudence (immodesty); LXX, shamelessness. Be ashamed: Aramaic, humble herself. YHWH calls Himself Israel's husband (Yeshayahu 54:5), so going after any other elohim is adultery or prostitution. The forehead is the place YHWH's name (Ex. 28:36-38) and His commandments belong (Deut. 11:18). A harlot says just anyone can write his name on her head, if he gives her what she wants. (Compare Rev. 13:16; 17:5) But we do the same if we excuse our compromises by saying, "I only did what I had to do." And Colossians 3:5 reveals that even covetousness is a form of idolatry. So we are indeed guilty of the same. 4. "Haven't you just called to Me, 'My Father! You are the guide of my youth!'?" Guide: literally, tamer; Aramaic, redeemer. Youth: LXX, time of virginity. 5. Will He hold back forever? Or will He restrain [His wrath] perpetually? You have indeed said and done [as many] evil things as you could! The shakharit morning prayer includes the intent that all of our potentials be submitted to YHWH, but here, anything Yehudah could potentially have done wrong, she did! 6. YHWH also said to me in the days of Yoshiyahu the king, "Did you see what apostate Israel did? She went [up] onto every high mountain and under every flourishing tree, and played the prostitute there! Apostate: or backslidden; Aramaic, those who restrain themselves from returning to My worship; LXX, given to turning. YHWH reminds Yehudah of her sister, who is already long gone into exile, as an example of how not to be. 7. "But tell [Me], after she has done all of these [things], can she return to Me? She has not yet returned. Her treacherous sister Yehudah was even watching. 8. "But I will watch, because on account of all the reasons [for] which apostate Israel committed adultery, I dismissed her and was giving her a certificate of divorce, treacherous Yehudah, her sister, was still not afraid, and she too went off and played the prostitute! Watch: a turn of meaning from the watching in v. 7 to watching for Israel to come back nonetheless, like the Prodigal's father. 9. "And what came about due to the frivolous noise of her harlotry [was] that she profaned the Land and committed adultery with the stone and with the tree. Frivolous noise: or, how lightly she took the error of her ways; LXX, her fornication was accounted as nothing. 10. "Yet even through all of this, her treacherous sister Yehudah has not returned to Me with her whole heart, but in a cheating [manner]," declares YHWH. Cheating: deceitfully or fraudulently, in vain, or in a feigned way; i.e., pretending, as a put-on. 11. But YHWH told me, "Apostate Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Yehudah. 12. "Go and call out these words toward the north: 'Return, O apostate Israel!', declares YHWH, 'I will not make My presence fail among you, because I am kind, and will not maintain [My anger] forever.' North: i.e., toward Ashur (Assyria), by whom the Northern Kingdom had been exiled. Note that the unfaithfulness of Yehudah (v.11) is one reason He has had mercy on the Northern Kingdom. Here He uses the same shock treatment as in Yahshua's parables of the two sons (Mat. 21:29) and the P'rush and the Tax-Collector (Luke 18:14), and Paul's comments in Romans 1-2 about the Gentiles (see note on v. 17 below) proving to be more obedient to the Torah's demands, though they had turned away from the written Torah. The intent is to provoke Yehudah to jealousy. (Deut. 32:16; Rom. 11:11) 13. "'[Why not go ahead and] admit your perversion, since you have rebelled against YHWH your Elohim? You have [widely] dissipated your journeys to strangers under every flourishing tree, and you have not obeyed My voice, declares YHWH. 14. "'Come back, O apostate children," says YHWH, "because I am married to you [as your overlord], and I will take you away--one from a city, and a pair from a family--and I will lead you to Tzion. I am married to you: Aramaic, I have taken pleasure in you. One from a city, two from a family: this is indeed how we are seeing the firstfruits of the return of the Northern Kingdom taking place. Though many more are descendants of the Northern Kingdom by blood, YHWH said He would return only a remnant. 15. "'Then I will give you shepherds consistent with My heart, and they will feed you knowledge and that [which is] prudent. Prudent: or circumspect, or what leads to success; LXX, they will certainly tend you with knowledge. 16. "And because you increase and are fruitful in the Land in those days", declares YHWH, "what will happen is that they will no longer say, 'The Ark of the Covenant of YHWH!', and it will no longer come to mind, nor will they remember it or miss it, nor will it be made again. This has not yet occurred, for the Ark is still being looked for by some, including archaeologists. Miss it: or more literally, visit it. Be made: Aramaic, they will no longer wage war with it (idolatrously, as in the days of the high priest Eli). In any case, it will not be sought out as an object of worship. 17. "At that time they will call Yerushalayim 'The Throne of YHWH', and all the nations will be bound to it--to the Name of YHWH, to Yerushalayim--and they will no longer walk after the [twisted] stubbornness of their evil heart. Nations: In context, the tribes of backslidden Israel, who by the time of Yahshua had been declared to be Gentiles for all intents and purposes by the Sanhedrin. This is the background for the understanding of most Renewed Covenant references to "Gentiles". What is twisted started out straight, and will be straightened out again, as indicated by the pet name YHWH gives to Israel when all the tribes are together: Yeshurun ("they will be straight/level/upright"). 18. "In those days the House of Yehudah will walk with the House of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north onto the Land that I gave to your ancestors as an inheritance. Walk with: in the sense of being "added onto"; Aramaic, associate with. Halachah means "the way we walk" (i.e., walk out the Torah in specific ways). Now Efrayim, still envious of Yehudah by and large, is walking according to Yehudah's halachah, but as we become more established in Torah, we will overtake Yehudah to the extent that this envy will no longer be felt (Yeshayahu 11). Here it even appears that the roles will be reversed. (Compare Tzef. 3; Zech. 10:6-7.) Come together: one reason all of Israel had to be brought into Egypt--so they could all return to the Land together, and it appears it will be this way again. 19. "And I Myself said, 'How can I set you among the children and give you a desirable land and a prominent portion among the armies of the nations?' I thought you would call Me 'My Father', and not turn away from [following] after Me. I.e., the only way we can again qualify to be among the recipients of this promise is to return to being all we were originally meant to be as Israel, "forsaking all others": 20. "Truly, like a woman who [is] treacherously unfaithful to her companion, you have indeed been treacherously unfaithful to Me, O House of Israel," declares YHWH. 21. "A voice was heard weeping on the barren heights, the descendants of Israel's beggings for mercy, since they have distorted their way and forgotten YHWH their Elohim. Distorted their way: like one crossing a forest who forgets to mark the way back home. 22. "Return, O apostate children; I will heal your turnings-away!" Look at us! We have arrived for you, because You are YHWH our Elohim! Turnings-away: LXX, bruises. YHWH's call has been effective! Now the Northern Kingdom's response has begun, and continues until the end of the chapter. This is being fulfilled in our own day, 2,600 years after Yirmeyahu prophesied! 23. Indeed, the mountain commotion from the hills is deceptive; in reality, the deliverance of Israel is in YHWH our Elohim! Mountain commotion (uproar): Aramaic, we have been excited about what cannot profit on the mountains. 24. But the shameful thing has consumed our fathers' hard labor since our youth--their flocks and their cattle-herds, their sons and their daughters. 25. We must lie down in our shame, and our reproach will cover us, because we have sinned against YHWH our Elohim--we and our fathers, from our youth all the way up to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of YHWH our Elohim. CHAPTER 4 1. "If you [do] return, O Israel," YHWH declares, "return to Me, and if you will take away your abominable [idols] from My presence without wavering, I.e., if you are going to go to the trouble of repenting, repent all the way and in the right direction--toward Me! 2. "and you will swear, '[As] YHWH lives', in truth, in right legal ruling, and in righteousness, then [even] the Gentiles will bend their knees to Him, and in Him will they make their boast." After this encouraging digression into what will take place among even the scattered tribes of Efrayim (the kingdom that retained the name of Israel), YHWH now returns to His message to Yehudah, which has been turning in the same direction as Israel had a hundred years before. 3. Because this is what YHWH says to the man of Yehudah and to Yerushalayim: "Plow up your untilled ground, and do not sow [your seeds] into the thorns. Untilled ground: LXX, fresh ground. Don't do what the Northern Kingdom did! 4. "Circumcise yourselves unto YHWH, and remove the 'foreskins' of your hearts, O man of Yehudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim, so that the heat of My rage will not come out like fire, with burning that no one can put it out, because of the presence of the wickedness of your practices. Foreskins of your hearts: the excess fleshiness that weighs them down, the part that has not been harvested by Him; LXX, hardness of heart. 5. "Announce it in Yehudah, and make it heard in Yerushalayim, and say, 'When you blow the shofar in the Land, summon [them all to] fill [it up], and say, "Assemble yourselves, and let us go to the fortified cities!" 6. "Lift up a sign toward Tzion: 'Gather for refuge! Do not delay, because I am bringing an evil thing from the north--indeed, a great shattering.' North: Both Israel and Yehudah were taken off to exile in the north (by Assyria and Babylon respectively, via the fertile crescent which required going north first before turning east). 7. "A lion has come up from its lair, and one that brings about the destruction of nations is on [its] way; it has set out from its place to make your Land a horrifying wasteland. Your cities will become a ruin, without an inhabitant. Lion: the symbol Babylon used for itself. Lair: or, thicket. 8. "On account of this, put on burlap; lament and make a howling, because the fierce anger of YHWH has not been turned back from us! Burlap: a sign of mourning. 9. "And what will come about in that day," declares YHWH, "[is that] the king will lose heart; the same [with] the hearts of the officials, and the priests will be stunned and the prophets dumbfounded." As we will see, all the prophets except Yirmeyahu were hearing from the wrong source, so the outcome would not be at all what they expected. The following appears to refer to a natural catastrophe that the kings cannot deal with politically. 10. Then I said, "Alas, Adonai YHWH! Truly You have tricked this people and Yerushalayim, saying, 'There will be peace for you', when the sword reaches [even to] the [very] soul!" I.e., "In Yehudah, the place where YHWH's name is enshrined, in the 'city of peace', no less, we are supposed to be protected, aren't we?" 11. At that time it will be said to this people and to Yerushalayim, "A dazzling wind from the barren heights of the wilderness [in the] direction of the daughter of My people, not to sift or to purge, Dazzling wind: or glowing; LXX, a spirit of error. Aramaic, a cold sweeping wind. Barren heights: Aram., heads of the river-courses. Sift: or winnow. 12. "[but] a wind fuller than these will come for Me. Now I, too, will declare verdicts to them." A wind fuller than these: LXX, a spirit of full vengeance. 13. Behold, like clouds he will come up, and his chariots like a storm-wind; swifter than eagles [are] his horses. Woe to us, because we are devastated! He: Aramaic, a king with his troops. This was spoken when Nevuchadnetzar had withdrawn and all the prophets except Yirmeyahu were prognosticating peace. 14. Wash your hearts [clean] of wickedness, Yerushalayim, so that you may be spared! How long will you let your troublesome plans remain in your midst? 15. Because a voice reports from Dan, and proclaims, "Trouble!" from the mountains of Efrayim. Dan: the northernmost city in Israel, the first place the attackers would become visible, with little warning because of the mountains that block the view when the trade route to Mesopotamia fades from sight. The mountains of Efrayim: often called "the West Bank" today by Israel's enemies--the area between Ramallah (near Beyth-El) and Nablus (Sh'khem). From here one can see all the way across the Yarden Valley, the othe direction from which an attack on Yerushalayim would be likely to be staged. The Aramaic specifies more particularly that the references to Dan and the Mountains of Efrayim are alluding to particular idols set up at each of these places. (1 Kings 12:29; Judges 17) 16. Make mention of it to the nations, make a proclamation about Yerushalayim [that] blockaders are coming from a distant land, and will set their noise against the cities of Yehudah. Make mention to: or, remind. Blockaders: i.e., besiegers, guards, or possibly observers; it is the same Hebrew word as that used for "Christians" today. Aramaic, robbers like grape-gatherers. Set their noise: or, designate their voice. 17. "Like those who watch [over] a field, they have come against her from all around, because she has rebelled against Me," declares YHWH. Rebelled against Me: LXX, neglected Me. 18. "Your way and your practices have brought these things upon you; this is your own misery, because it is bitter, since it reaches [all the way] to your heart. This is an allusion to the bitter waters used to test a woman accused of unfaithfulness to her husband (Numbers 5:18-27) in which her abdomen would swell up if she were guilty: 19. My belly! My belly! I am convulsed [to the] walls of my heart! My heart is clamoring against me; I cannot keep silent, because I have heard the sound of the shofar. My soul, the alarm signaling war! Yirmeyahu seems to identify himself with the guilt of his people, though he himself is not the guilty one, for Israel is all one people. Walls of my heart: LXX, sensitive powers of my heart; Aram., support of my heart. 20. "Crushing upon crushing has been summoned, because the whole Land is devastated. My tents are devastated suddenly, My hanging-drapes in a moment! Tents... hanging-drapes: an allusion to the Tabernacle, symbolizing the Temple, which was to be destroyed. (See also 10:20) 21. "How long must I see the rallying-standard and hear the sound of the shofar? 22. "For My people are foolish; they have not acknowledged Me. They are stupid children; they are not discerning! They are skillful in doing evil, but do not know how to do right!" Foolish: as actually despising and mocking wisdom, not just lacking it. 23. I inspected the Land, and, lo and behold, it was a chaotic ruin and an empty desolation; [I looked] toward the heavens, and none of their light was there. This is an allusion to when YHWH first inspected the earth (the same word as "the Land"), and found it "a chaotic ruin and an empty desolation" (Gen. 1:2), and He brought light into being. Now the actions of His people have brought the order He created to an end. As in Genesis, at one time it had been otherwise, since Genesis picks up after a scene of judgment on rebellious spirits. 24. I looked on the mountains, and, behold, they were quaking, and all the hills were moving themselves to and fro. Moving themselves: Aramaic, displaced; LXX, in commotion. This did not take place when Babylon came to besiege Yerushalayim. Nothing of this magnitude has happened on earth since 701 B.C.E. (long before Yirmeyahu's day), so it still has a fulfillment in the days to come when the story resumes. 25. I paid [close] attention, but there was no man, and all the birds of the skies had fled. Man: Heb., Adam. As at the flood of Noach, YHWH was wondering whether all His work of creation had been futile. There was no one bearing His image anymore. In mystical terms, the man of light had been scattered again. The kingdom had come, and all that remained to make it complete was a marriage ceremony, but the bride could not wait for the wedding and went off with other lovers. So the wedding was off. The Israel that existed as YHWH intended had been destroyed, and the shards of light had to be gathered up again. The process had to be started all over. This was begun by Yahshua's followers. But they dropped the ball also. We need to take warning from this, that it can happen yet again as the option is being given to us once more. 26. I looked, and behold, the fruitful orchard [was] a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down from the presence of YHWH, from the presence of His fierce anger, Fruitful orchard: or, as a proper name, Karmel (a mountain range in an area with the perfect climate for growing many subtropical fruits today as well). 27. because this is what YHWH has said: "The whole Land will be a desolation, but I will not make a complete end [of it]. 28. "Over this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above will grow dark, because I have spoken, I have devised [a plan], and I will not be moved to pity, nor will I turn back from it. Heavens grow dark: probably as a result of heavy volcanic debris in the atmosphere that results from the planet-wide catastrophe being under discussion here. Turn back from it: Aramaic, reconsider it. 29. "From the sound of war-horses and bow-archers every city will be put to flight; they will go to the thickets and go up among the [hollows of the] rocks. Every city will be abandoned, and not a man will dwell in them. Be put to flight: Aram., go into exile. 30. "And [when] you [are] despoiled, what will you do? Though you wear scarlet, though you put on gold ornaments, though you widen your eyes with black cosmetics, you will beautify yourself in vain. Your paramours will loathe you; they will demand your life, 31. "because I have heard a sound like a woman who is made sick, distress as of one giving birth to her first child--the voice of the daughter of Tzion gasping for breath, beginning to spread her palms: 'Alas for me now; my life is fading away because of murderers!'" Spread her palms: LXX, lose the strength of her hands. My life is fading away: or, my soul is weary.	"Pay attention to the sound of the shofar!" (6:17)
Chapters 5-8 CHAPTER 5 1. "Go to and fro now through the streets of Yerushalayim, and please look and be sure; ask in her open plazas if anyone who does justice, who searches for [steadfast] faithfulness, can be found, so I can pardon her. Streets: literally, outdoor spaces; Aramaic, marketplaces. This is reminiscent of Avraham's pleas that YHWH see whether there were not at least ten righteous left in S'dom and Ghamorah, so that He could spare them. (Gen. 18:32) But here, it is YHWH doing the initiating, and He would spare it if there is only one person who renders a right verdict (according to His words)! That is how badly He wants to not have to destroy the city of His favor. Instead, everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Later, He did find one man (Yahshua), on account of whom He could pardon us. But today again He is looking for men to set up a Torah-based court so decisive rulings can be made instead of letting things go on as they have been. Right rulings include both gentleness and strength, kindness and severity--in short, knowing what is best for each one in the flock, for some need their legs broken so they will stop wandering, while others need oil poured on their wounds. 2. "[Even] if they say, '[As] YHWH lives', they have been swearing deceitfully." 3. O YHWH, aren't your eyes [looking] for faithfulness? You have had them beaten, but they are not in agony; You have finished them off, but they have refused to accept correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent! His eyes also go to and fro (v. 1)--not only in Yerushalayim but the whole Land (or earth), looking for someone whose heart is completely His, so He can fully support him. (2 Chron. 16:9) Yet many today who are Israel are resisting the call to act as Israel. In agony: writhing as in the pain of childbirth, or dancing--another way the Psalms tell us to do spiritual warfare. 4. So I said, "Oh, [I'm sure these] are low [grade people] who have [remained] dull since they have not been acquainted with the way of YHWH, the right procedures of their Elohim. Low: or poor, i.e., those who are uneducated and do not know any better. Y'shua said there would always be poor among us (always someone needing to be taught, sheep needing to be fed--Mark 14:7). 5. "I will go to the distinguished and speak to them, because they have been acquainted with the way of YHWH, the right procedures of their Elohim." But, oh! They have broken the yoke and snapped the training-bands just the same! Distinguished: or great; LXX, rich. Broken the yoke: Aramaic, rebelled from the Torah. Just the same: LXX, with one consent. 6. On account [of this], a lion will attack them from the thicket; a wolf of the Aravah will assault them. A leopard is watching over their cities; anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces, because they have been crossing far over the boundaries and they have turned away [too] many [times]. Lion: Babylon. Wolf of the Aravah: a similar phrase means "evening wolf" in Havaqquq 1:8 and Tzef. 3:3, and taken this way here by the Aramaic version. Leopard, or perhaps cheetah (because speed is its characteristic): corresponds with the kingdom of Greece, Babylon's second successor, in Daniel 7:6. They have turned away too many times: or, their backslidings have broken their bones into many [pieces]--as in the previous phrase. 7. "How can I forgive you for this? Your sons have forsaken Me and sworn by what are not elohim! When I had fed them to the full, they still committed adultery and thronged the houses of prostitutes! Fed them to the full: or, made them swear an oath: i.e., a marriage vow. 8. "They have become lustful, well-fed stallions, each neighing to his companion's wife! 9. "Shall I not call them to account over these matters?" says YHWH. "And if My soul will not avenge itself of such a nation as this... 10. "Go up among her vine-rows and ruin [them], but do not carry out a complete destruction. Take away her spreading tendrils, because they do not belong to YHWH, Vine-rows: or battlement-walls. Take away her spreading tendrils (offshoots): or, remove her branches--possibly what Paul was alluding to in Rom. 11:17-24; see also Yirm. 11:16. LXX: leave her buttresses, because they belong to YHWH. But it seems to relate even more directly to those branches of Yahshua, the Vine, who bear no fruit (Yoch. 15:2). These are people who were "in Him", yet the Father has taken them away due to unfaithfulness. 11. "since the House of Israel and the House of Yehudah have offended Me with treachery," declares YHWH. Both houses were cut off (taken away from the Land, where the root was). Only part of Yehudah returned, both after the Babylonian captivity and in our own generation. The penalty is not as unbending in our captivity; how can we truly sing the songs of Tzion in a strange land? (Ps. 137) But He is calling us back to where we must be holy in order to remain, and thus He has mercifully given us time to prepare by learning what holiness means while we are still outside the Land, so it may not happen again once we arrive there. 12. "They have deceptively denied YHWH, and said, 'Not Him! Trouble will not come upon us, nor will we see the sword or famine.' Not Him: Aramaic, Not from before Him do beneficial things come upon us; LXX, These things are not so. 13. "The prophets also will turn into wind, since there is nothing of the Word in them; the same will be done to them. Turn into wind: Aramaic, become nothing. Those who take Christian doctrine to its logical conclusion also end up having none of the actual Word of YHWH left since they spiritualize it away. The root for "word" in Hebrew is "pasture" or a place to feed the sheep. Ear-ticklers are only feeding the sheep with candy. 14. "Therefore, this is what YHWH, Elohim of Armies, says: 'Because you have said this thing, I am indeed here, turning My words into fire within your mouth, and [turn] this people [into] sticks, and it will consume them. A prophet is meant to bring fire, not wind, for His word is a fire. (23:29) The downfall of the Northern Kingdom is that it failed to stoke up the fire when it should. (Hoshea 7:4) You have said: Here "you" is plural. Your mouth: here "your" is singular (probably referring to Yirmeyahu). 15. "Here, I am bringing upon you a nation from a distant [land], O House of Israel," declares YHWH. "It is a strong nation, a nation that has endured for an age--a nation whose tongue you do not know, nor can you understand what they say. That has endured for an age: an ancient people, or a people of this age. Babylon was founded by Nimrod, the great hunter who rebelled against YHWH and founded the "world" system (the same as "age" in Hebrew). 16. "Its quiver is like an open grave; they are all valiant, 17. "and it will devour your harvest and your bread! They will devour your sons and daughters! It will devour your flock and your herd! It will devour your vine and your fig tree, and with the sword it will plunder your fortified cities--those in which you trust. When Israel wanted to have a king so it could be just like the other nations (for which Babylon is the archetype), the prophet Shmuel told them that the repercussions would be very similar to these. (1 Shmuel 8:11-18) 18. "Yet even in those days," declares YHWH, "I will not bring you to an end completely. 19. "Now this is how it will be when you say, 'In return for what has YHWH done all these [things] to us?' Then tell them, 'Just as you have forsaken Me and served other elohim in your Land, in the same way you will serve strangers in a land that is not your own.' Serve: i.e., be enslaved to. Strangers: literally, those who are estranged or alienated, thus possibly even people from the Northern Kingdom who had left the Covenant and already formed new nations, as many of them did. (Not all were enslaved to Assyria.) 20. "Make this conspicuous in the House of Yaaqov, and make it heard throughout Yehudah: 21. "'Now hear this, O foolish and heartless people, [who] have eyes but cannot see, who have ears but cannot hear: Heartless: LXX, senseless; Aramaic, having no understanding. 22. "'Don't you respect Me?' says YHWH. 'Or won't you tremble from My presence--I who have set the sand [as a] boundary for the sea, a prescribed limit that it can never pass? They may toss themselves to and fro, but will not succeed; though its waves rage, they cannot cross over it. Respect, tremble: Coming from a young, inexperienced man like Yirmeyahu, this probably seemed like a joke to those predisposed to reject a message of judgment. Sand: symbolic also of the descendants of Avraham; the sea: symbolic of the Gentile nations. (Compare Zech. 12:3) The nations are limited by Israel. (Deut. 32:8) 23. "'But this people has a stubborn heart; they have turned and walked away. They are not acting as Israel is meant to, though even inanimate nature does what it is supposed to do. (v. 22). 24. "'Nor have they said in their heart, "Let us now fear YHWH our Elohim, who gives rain (both the early and the late) in its time, who preserves for us the weeks prescribed for harvest." If the rains come two weeks too early or too late, the crop can be lost. But they thought that as long as He was on time, everything would be all right. But He was saying that they, too, had to be in season if they were to enjoy His blessings. There is a right time for everything. (Eccles. 3; Prov. 15:23) If we are alert to His signs, we will not be caught by surprise. (Mat. 24:42ff) They took the rain for granted, though they would not even be around to eat the harvest it was bringing. (v. 17) The wheat and tares grow in the same season, but some are destroyed (lest they replant themselves) and others are harvested so there can be more. The more we plant, the more people we can feed, unless our appetites are too big. We have to sow the right things to reap the right results (Gal. 6:7), and even the finest vines need pruning. (Yoch. 15:2) 25. "'Your perversions have turned these away, and your sins have kept back from you what is best, 26. "'because wicked [ones] have been found among My people. They lie in wait like crouching trappers. They lay out a snare; they capture mortal men. 27. "'Like a cage full of birds, their houses are filled with betrayal. This is how they have become great and are growing rich. Cage: Aramaic, a place for fattening animals. 28. "'They have grown fat and slick; they pass over the case [against] the wicked. They do not plead the cause (the cause of the orphan) so that they may become prosperous; nor do they vindicate the rights of the needy. 29. "'Shouldn't I hold them accountable for these things?' says YHWH. 'If My soul will not avenge itself of such a nation as this...' 30. "An appalling, horrifying things has been brought about in the Land! 31. "The prophets prophesy fraudulently, and the priests dominate based on [who can] afford to, and My people love it that way, so what will they do to end it?" Who can afford to: literally, according to their hand. This was still going on in Yahshua's day, for the Romans sold the high priesthood to whomever was the highest bidder, whether or not he was from the lineage YHWH had prescribed. Who would stop it if they were the very ones profiting from it? To end it: or, when its end comes. CHAPTER 6 1. "O descendants of Binyamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Yerushalayim for refuge! And in Theqoa, blow the shofar. Also, over Beyth-HaKerem, raise a signal, because an evil has looked down out of the north, along with a great shattering. Theqoa: from the same root as the next word, "blow", or trumpet. 2. "The pleasant and delicate daughter of Tzion I have brought to silence. Aramaic, O beautiful and noble lady, how you have corrupted your ways; therefore the assembly of Tzion is ashamed. 3. "To her shepherds will come with their flock; they will strike their tents against her all around. Each will feed his hand: Each will feed his hand: Aramaic, They will assist each other. 4. "'Appoint war against her! Let us go up at noon!'" Woe to us, because the day has declined; the shadows of evening have [begun to] stretch themselves out. Appoint: literally, consecrate/set apart. 5. "Rise up and let us go up by night, and let us spoil her palaces!" 6. Because this is what YHWH of Armies has said: "Cut down her trees, and cast up a siege-mound against Yerushalayim! She is the city to be called to account; the innermost part of her is nothing but extortion! Called to account: Aram., whose debts have been stored up against her. 7. "As a cistern keeps its waters fresh, in the same way she keeps her wickedness fresh: violence and devastation are heard within her; grief and wounds are constantly in front of My face. Fresh: or cool. Grief and wounds: or, sickness and plagues. 8. "O Yerushalayim, let yourself be corrected, so that My soul may not be alienated from you, so that I don't [have to] turn you into a desolation--an uninhabited land!" He is not offering to rescind the punishment, but telling them to take the beating and learn from it so they can survive. The two Hebrew words for "teach" mean "to prod" and "to deal blows", so if we want to learn from YHWH , we must prepare to be goaded. If we judge ourselves, we should not need to be judged. (1 Cor. 11:31) Yahshua is the immersion-pool of Israel (17:13; compare Yochanan 8:8), but we are therefore told to wash ourselves. (Yeshayahu 1:16) He makes the provision, but will not do it for us if we make no effort to change. Sycomore figs (Amos 7:14) are inedible if not tended by piercing it with a pin and rubbing it with olive oil. Oil symbolizes the Spirit of Holiness, but it will not benefit us unless we are pierced. His rebuke is a favor. We can take the wounds He gives us in the wrong direction, and they will profit us nothing, or we can let it have the effect He wants. (v. 14; Heb. 12:12-13; Ps. 51:8) The affliction is beneficial if by it we learn His ways. (Ps. 119:71) When His judgments are seen in the world, its inhabitants will learn to be righteous; the wicked will not learn when there is grace. (Yeshayahu 26:9-10) 9. This is what YHWH of Armies says: "They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine. Return your hand like a [grape] gatherer [does] onto the [thinner] tendrils." I.e., come back for a second round of plundering. Aram., your plague will return. 10. To whom can I speak strongly and admonish, and [have] them listen? Indeed, their ear is uncircumcised and they are unable to listen [well]. YHWH's Word has even become for them something to be ashamed of; they take no delight in it. Uncircumcised: i.e., blocked off by excess flesh so that the hearing is dulled. The term can also mean "uncovered", seemingly the opposite, but they were opening their ears to the wrong things (letting those who should not speak into our lives, such as gossips and whisperers, have authority there) and not opening them to the right things. Wise reproof is like a golden earring to an obedient ear. (Prov. 25:12) One who had a hole bored into his ear at the doorpost (Heb., mezuzah) to show that he wished to remain with a beneficent master (Ex. 21:6) would traditionally wear a golden earring to show publicly that he receives instruction, rulings, and protection from that household. YHWH tells us to write His words on our doorposts. (Deut. 11:20) But those who don't listen and respond when He calls are numbered for the sword. (Yeshayahu 65:12) Their ear: Notice that this ear is singular, but it belongs to a plural group. They are meant to hear as one unit. This is why Yahshua constantly told those who had an ear (singular) to hear what the Spirit said. (Rev. 2-3) 11. But I am filled up with the indignation of YHWH. I am tired of holding it in! [I want] to pour it out on the babies in the open [squares] and the youthful circle of friends alike, because even the man with a wife will be captured, the aged with fullness of days, Tired of: or impatient with. 12. and their houses will be turned over to others, fields and women together, "because I will stretch out My hand over the inhabitants of the Land," declares YHWH, 13. "because from the least of them all the way to the greatest, every one gains a profit unjustly, and from the prophets to the priest, every one [of them] deals fraudulently! 14. "Also, they have healed the fracture of My people as if it were insignificant, saying, 'Wholeness, total well-being', when there is no soundness [in it]! I.e., they pasted a band-aid over a broken leg, kissed it, and said it was "all better"! 15. "Were they ashamed when they committed a disgusting [act]? They not only were not ashamed; they were not even familiar with [what it means] to blush! Therefore they will fall with those who fall. When I call them to account, they will be made to stumble," says YHWH. In contrast, the Northern Kingdom will be ashamed of its ways (16:19; 31:19). 16. This is what YHWH says: "Stand on the roadways and look intently; ask for the ancient [well-trodden] paths--which one is the beneficial way--and walk on it. Then you will find settledness for your souls." But they said, "Let's not walk [on it]." Ask whom? YHWH gives wisdom to those who need it. (Yaaqov 1:5) Ancient: or eternal. Settledness for your souls: Compare Yahshua's promise of "rest for your souls" in Matt. 11:28-30. His yoke is the same as this ancient path. Perhaps this is why His disciples were originally simply called followers of "the Way". (Yoch. 14:6; Acts 9:2; 19:9. 23; 24:14) They pointed many back to it, but again the reunited Israel did not continue in the direction He intended. But again He is bringing many back to it today, for which we praise Him. We will never find settledness when seeking security directly, but if we seek YHWH's kingdom, everything else we need will be provided. (Mat. 6:33) But Yahshua was speaking more directly against those who loaded people down with unnecessary restrictions that went far beyond the intent of the Torah. (Mat. 12) Indeed, one can hardly feel settled when he is always wondering whether his obedience is accepted or not. But Yirmeyahu's audience was off the scale of obedience altogether: 17. "I have caused watchmen to rise up on your behalf: 'Pay attention to the sound of the shofar!' But they said, 'We will not pay attention.' Watchmen: Aramaic, teachers. Yehezqel 33:1-20 reveals that the sound of the shofar signals that it is time to repent, or else war will come against them. 18. "So listen, O nations, and notice what is upon them! 19. "Listen, O earth: behold, I am bringing evil upon this people--the fruit of their [own] inventions, because they have not paid attention to My words, and [as for] My instruction, they have rejected it. Fruit of their own inventions (thoughts or plans): they are only reaping what they sowed. (Gal. 6:7) He brought witnesses so that no one could accuse Him of giving them what they did not deserve. Instruction: Heb., torah. 20. "Why is this frankincense coming to Me from Sh'va, along with the high-quality calamus from a far-away land? Your ascending-offerings are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to Me!" When hearts are not right, YHWH does not see any point in us going through the motions. (Compare Amos 5:21.) Pleasing: from a root meaning exchanged or given in pledge. He will not be placated with plea-bargains if there is no repentance; He will not accept quantity of gifts in lieu of quality of heart. Calamus: LXX, cinnamon. 21. So this is what YHWH says: "Here I am, setting out stumblingblocks for this people, and the fathers and the sons alike will stumble over them; [both] neighbor and his companion will perish." Companion: Aramaic, near-relation. 22. Thus says YHWH: "Indeed, a people is coming from the land of the north, and a great nation will be stirred up from the [extreme] recesses of the earth. 23. "They will retain their hold on bow and javelin; it is fierce and merciless. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, set in array like men to battle against you, O daughter of Tzion!" 24. We have heard the report about it. Our hands have grown weak; distress has taken hold of us--pain like a woman in childbirth! Hands have grown weak: Just as the report about the Israelites made the people of Yericho lose heart. (Yehoshua 5:1) But Israel is not to operate by the same rules as the Kanaanites. They are not acting as Israel. (See note on v. 30) 25. Do not go out [into] the field, and do not walk on the road, because the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side! Yahshua warns of similar times in Mat. 24:15ff that are yet ahead for us (the time of Yaaqov's trouble, also known as the birthpangs of Messiah, in context of v. 24), but which can be a reparation for the breaches made during the time being spoken of here, if we pick up where our ancestors left off. When the same temptation comes around again, if we respond in the way He desires this time, what was broken can be salvaged, for the ancient path (v. 16) is also an eternal one, and we can get back onto it today if we repent. Even a fool will remain protected if he stays on the right road. (Yeshayahu 35:8) That is the task before us now. 26. "O daughter of my people, put on burlap, and roll yourself in ashes! Perform a mourning ritual for yourself, [as] for an only child--bitter wailing, because the [violent] destroyer will come upon us suddenly! Burlap (sackcloth) and ashes are signs of deep mourning. Only child: or, idiomatically, a favorite. The term was used of Yitzhaq. (Gen. 22:2) When Yehudah sees Yahshua returning, they will mourn for Him as for an only child. (Zech. 12:10) 27. "I have appointed you as an inspector and an examiner among My people, and you will consider and scrutinize their way. Inspector: one who assays metals and places a value on them. Examiner: or restrainer; the word often means a walled fortress. (2 Thess. 2:7) Like Yoseyf, Yahshua was sent to check on how His Father's tenants were treating what was His. (Mat. 21:33-41) He, too, found insufficient repentance. (Mat. 23:37) Know: Aram., make known. Scrutinize: put to the proof-test. 28. "All of them are turning away--rebels, walking [about as] talebearers. They are all copper and iron; bringers of corruption they are! All of them: compare Paul's condemnation of Yehudah in Romans 3:9-20. Copper and iron: Copper is the same as bronze in Hebrew, and bronze represents the kingdom of Greece, and iron the kingdom of Rome (Dan. 12:32)--the two chief cultures that continue to drive the Western world and the church today, and have indeed brought corruption there. 29. "The bellows are scorched [dry]; the lead is consumed by the fire. The refiner smelts uselessly, as the wicked have not been drawn off. When silver is melted down, the lead which may be mixed in is relatively easy to smelt off. But iron and copper have a much higher melting temperature, and when they are mixed together, the total temperature needed to melt the silver is higher. Iron and copper can be removed more easily from gold than silver, for with silver, all have to reach the temperature of vaporization before they are removed. A bellows cannot accomplish this. So only one of the three corrupters has been burned away. The resulting silver may look purer indeed, but if we stop there and think we have arrived, we are thoroughly unacceptable to Him: 30. "'Reject silver' is what they call them, because YHWH has rejected them. Reject: or refuse, here an adjective, not an imperative verb; Aramaic, blemished. He has done all He could, but they have not allowed Him to purify them. Silver is what is used to redeem, and this is Israel's calling in the world, but it could not serve its purpose since it, too, was corrupted, and thus had to end up on a slagheap. Such silver is sold very cheaply, for Israel had profaned itself. Yet YHWH retained a remnant--"seed corn" which He planted again, hoping that the next harvest would produce an edible crop. CHAPTER 7 1. The word that came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH: 2. "Stand in the gate of the House of YHWH and call out this word there: 'Listen to the word of YHWH, all you of Yehudah who enter at these gates to bow yourselves to YHWH! 3. "'This is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: "Correct your directions and your practices, and I will allow you to remain in this place. 4. "'"Do not entrust yourselves to the words of deception that say, 'This is the Temple of YHWH, the Temple of YHWH, the Temple of YHWH!' 5. "'"For if you do right [by] making your directions and your practices right, and truly make just rulings between a man and his fellow, He allows one more opening to repent. Restoration cannot come without the execution of right judgment, favoring no one. 6. "'"[if] you do not exploit the newcomer, the orphan, or the widow or shed innocent blood in this place, nor go after other elohim to your [own] injury, The emphasis is on community--teaching the newcomer rather than going after his money, and taking care of one another when truly needy. 7. "'"then I will allow you to remain in this place, in the Land that I gave to your ancestors to [be] from age to age. 8. "'"Indeed, you are entrusting yourselves to the words of deception that [will leave you] without profit. 9. "'"Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, adjure yourselves fraudulently, and burn incense to Ba'al, and go after other elohim that you have not been acquainted with, 10. "'"then come and stand before My face in this House which has been reputed to have My Name upon it, and say, 'We are delivered', just to [go back and] do all these disgusting things? We are delivered...: This sounds very much like, "We are free from the Law; we can be forgiven, no matter what we do wrong." His response, in so many words, is, "Will you tell Me this in My own house, just because I did you a favor?" He does not desire just a "confessional", but true repentance. 11. "'"Has this House which has been reputed to have My Name upon it become a den of robbers? And I have indeed noticed," declares YHWH. Den of robbers: Yahshua quoted this verse in the affirmative when He came and cleansed the Temple of the "leaven" of unjust monetary exchange just before Passover twice. 12. "'"Because go now to My place which [was] in Shilo, where I first made My Name reside, and look at what I did to it in the face of the wickedness of My people Israel! Shilo is where the Tabernacle had a semi-permanent place with a low foundational wall that has been excavated there by archaeologists. 13. "'"And now, because you have done all these deeds," declares YHWH, "and I [was] speaking to you, rising up early to speak, but you did not listen, and I [was] calling to you, but you did not respond. 14. "'"So I will do to the House which has been reputed to have My Name upon it, on [account of] which you are feeling secure, and to the place that I gave to you and your ancestors, just as I did to Shilo, Just as I did: He made His presence depart. The background for why is found in 1 Shmuel 3-4. 15. "and I will throw you out of My presence, just as I have thrown out all of your brothers (all the descendants of Efrayim)."' 16. "And [as for] you, do not intervene for this people nor lift up an outcry or a prayer on their behalf; do not intercede with Me, because there is nothing in Me that will hear. You: Yirmeyahu. I.e., don't even begin to do what Avraham did, because it would break My heart to tell you "No". Do not stand in the way, for if I relent, Israel will not survive. Let the judgment come so that it can be salvaged. A similar command was given to Shmuel the prophet in regard to King Sha'ul. (1 Shmuel 16) There was no longer a point of contact for Him within one who had rejected His word and deliberately disobeyed. 17. "Don't you see what they are doing in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim? 18. "The children are gathering sticks and the fathers are kindling the fire; the women are kneading dough to make [prepared] cakes for the 'queen of heaven' and to pour out libations to other elohim in order to spite Me. Queen of heaven: the Babylonian goddess Semiramis (later called Astarte, the Egyptian Hathor, the Greek Aphrodite, and Roman Venus) that had the veneer of "the Virgin Mary" pasted over it after Roman religion was mixed with Biblical in what then became the catholic (universal) church. This claim that very different beings are identical is the hallmark of the conglomerate world religion that is taking shape again. Cakes: part of the worship ritual. 19. "Is it Me they are spiting?" says YHWH. "Isn't it themselves, to the shame of their own faces?" 20. "Therefore, this is what Adonai YHWH says: 'Indeed, My anger and My rage will be poured out toward this place--upon both the man and the beast, upon both the tree of the field and the fruit of the ground--and it will burn and will not be put out.' Be poured out toward: Aramaic, hover over. 21. "Thus says YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel: 'Sweep your ascending [offering]s onto your slaughterings, and eat meat, 22. "'because I did not speak with your ancestors nor give them orders in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning the matters of ascending offerings or slaughterings; He desires obedience, not sacrifice. (1 Shmuel 15:22) I.e., He would rather we had no need to repent at all. 23. "'rather, this is the thing that I commanded them: "Listen to My voice, and I will become for you an Elohim, and you will come to be My people. And walk in the whole way that I have commanded you so that it may go well for you." 24. "'But they did not listen, nor did they bend their ear [toward Me], but walked in the plans and the stubbornness of their evil heart, and they went backward instead of forward. Stubbornness: Aramaic, corrupt fancy. 25. "'Since the day that your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have been sending you all My servants the prophets--even rising up early [in the] day to send [them]. 26. "'Yet they did not listen to Me, nor did they bend their ear [toward Me], but were making the back of their neck stiff; they did [more] evil than their parents.' 27. "So say all these words to them, but they will not listen; you will call to them, but they will not answer. 28. "But you must tell them, 'This is the nation that does not obey the voice of YHWH their Elohim, nor do they receive correction. Faithfulness has vanished and has been cut off from their mouth. 29. "'Shear off [the hair of] your Nazirite consecration, and take up a dirge on the barren heights, because YHWH has rejected and will let loose the generation of His overflowing fury, Let loose: paralleled in his depiction with cutting his hair. Perhaps this Nazirite state had been part of Yirmeyahu's being set apart from his mother's womb (1:6), and this was the first he had cut his hair. But more probably it was just that he set himself apart for the purpose of delivering this prophecy. The word "Nazir" literally means "an untrimmed vine" (Lev. 25:5); thus a Nazir's locks are a picture of YHWH's acceptance of Israel. (Yehezqel 5) 30. "'because the descendants of Yehudah have done what is evil in My eyes,' declares YHWH. 'They have set their detestable [idol] in the House which has been reputed to have My Name upon it, [in order] to defile it. 31. "'They have built the cultic platforms of the Tofeth which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, which I neither commanded nor did it [even] come up in My mind. Tofeth: may mean "place of burning", but is identical to a word for "spit", which is YHWH's opinion of it. It comes from a root word meaning "to beat or drum upon" or "play the tambourine", which may have been part of the ritual that went on there. The Valley of [the Son of] Hinnom (which means "lamentation") became corrupted to the Greek Ge-henna, which became an idiom for "hell" because of the constant fires there after it was relegated to being a dumping-ground after the practices mentioned here rendered it unworthy of any nobler use. It formed the southern and western sides of the city of Yerushalayim in ancient times. The Tofeth in particular was at the confluence of the Valley of Hinnom and the Qidron Valley (the eastern edge of the city), at the southeastern corner of Mt. Tzion (the City of David). 32. "'Therefore, behold, the days are coming,' declares YHWH, 'when it will no longer be called Tofeth or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but rather the Valley of the Slaying, because they will bury [people] in Tofeth due to lack of space, Slaying: or murder, but the emphasis is on the numbers who will be killed here when YHWH brings judgment; LXX and Aramaic, Valley of the Slain. Due to lack of space: Aramaic, until there is no place. 33. "'and the corpses of this people will become food for the fowls of the sky and for the beast of the earth, and [there will be] no one [to] frighten them away. Compare Rev. 19:17-21. Frighten them away: or startle them. This is reminiscent of Avram driving away the birds that started coming after the carcasses of the animals he had divided in his initial covenant with YHWH. (Gen. 15) Birds or fowls are often symbolic of evil spirits. They were driven away then, but the covenant-cutting was itself a declaration that if one of the parties to the covenant failed to keep his part, the other party would have a right to do the same to him. YHWH had already divided the nation of his descendants in half, but now the unstated, more gruesome consequence of this treason was also to be fulfilled. 34. "'And I will put an end to the voice of gladness and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride from [within] the cities of Yehudah and the streets of Yerushalayim, because the land will become a place laid waste [and desolate]. Joy: LXX, those who make merry. This is repeated again in 16:9 and 25:10, but compare 33:10-11. The same curse is transferred to Babylon in Rev. 18:23. CHAPTER 8 1. "At that time", declares YHWH, "they will bring out the bones of the kings of Yehudah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Yerushalayim from their graves, Prophets: Aramaic adds, of falsehood, to clarify that YHWH does not wish to defame His prophets. Yet the bones of the kings would seem to include even David's. Was even he so disgraced because of the choices made by those who came after him? Their true inner weakness was exposed, for no matter how muscular one looks, his body will collapse under strain if his bones are not strong. (Compare Acts 3:7.) No matter how wealthy and powerful these kings appeared, and how religious the priests and prophets seemed, inwardly they had no foundation whatsoever. 2. "and they will spread them out to the sun, to the moon, and to all the hosts of heaven whom they have loved, whom they have served, after whom they have walked, after whom they have enquired, and to whom they have bowed down. They will not be collected or buried; they will come to serve as fertilizer on the surface of the ground. Compare Yehezqel 6:5. This ultimate act disrespect represented the opposite of being "gathered to one's fathers", for the bones of many generations were traditionally placed together after the bodies had decomposed. They were being separated from their heritage as Israelites. Normally one's bones last for centuries, if not millennia, after one dies, but "envy is the rottenness of the bones." (Prov. 14:29) Wanting another's position for oneself makes the bones decay, ultimately making it as if this person had never existed, removing their memory from the earth. Fertilizer: LXX, as an example. 3. "And death will be chosen over life by all of the remnant who are left of this wicked family, who remain alive in all the places where I have caused them to be banished," declares YHWH of Armies. Death will be chosen: Aram., they will delight in death--as every aspect of Egyptian life emphasized preparation for death. YHWH said He set before us the choice of life or death. (Deut. 30:19) Those who did not wish to be subject to His Torah are described as having turned their hearts back to Egypt. (Acts 7:39) But choosing death is not as simple as being suicidal. Choosing self--our own lives--means death, because when we "find our lives", we lose them. (Mat. 10:39) 4. "So you shall say to them, 'This is what YHWH says: "Will they fall and not get up? If they turn away, won't they come back? They: apparently the Babylonian army, who may have appeared to be in "remission". Or, Don't those who fall get up again? Don't those who turn away come back? So why...? 5. "'"Why has this people turned away? Yerushalayim is [one] constant apostasy! They cling tightly to deceitfulness; they refuse to repent. Their measure of a successful, strong person is how well he is able to deceive others. 6. "'"I paid [close] attention and listened, but they did not speak like this. Not a man of them regrets his wickedness, saying, 'What have I done?' They all have turned back to their own lifestyles, like a horse running into the battle. The first step toward changing is admitting guilt, but they refused to do so. Their heart is not asking where it has fallen short of its potential. They ignore the early warning signs that could spare them much more trouble later. Lifestyles: or, racecourses. Turned back...: LXX, The runner has failed from his course, like a tired horse. 7. "'"Even a stork in the skies knows her appointed time, and a turtledove, a swallow, and a thrush maintains the season of her coming, but My people do not recognize YHWH's manner of judging. 8. "'"How can you say, 'We are wise, and YHWH's Torah is with us', [when] in fact, look--the lying pen of the scribes has perpetrated fraud? 9. "'"Wise [men] have withered away; they have been broken in pieces, and will be captured. They have melted away at the word of YHWH, so what [kind of] wisdom [can] they have? 10. "'"So I will give their wives to others, their fields to those who are dispossessing them, because from the small to the great, everyone is wrongfully gaining an unjust profit. From the prophet to the priest, everyone is perpetrating fraud, An unjust profit is not always about money. It can include thinking we deserve to be held in high esteem by men. The prophets were not content to hear from YHWH and speak authoritatively; they want their own authority, like Jezebel. This is why several in Scripture were struck with leprosy. (e.g., 2 Chron. 26:16-21) Even the priests, who had the most respected position in Israel, wanted more. Yahshua said they had received all the reward they were going to get. 11. "'"and they have healed the fracture of My people as if it were insignificant, saying, 'Wholeness, total well-being', when there is no soundness [in it]! When people say there is peace in this age when peace has not yet arrived, it should be a red flag warning us not to trust them. (Daniel 8:25) The only way to true peace is through the painful inquiry into "what we have done". To say we can be at peace just because "Jesus died for us" (so we can never be punished) or even because we are "doing the best we can" to obey is out of season in our day. 12. "'"Were they ashamed when they committed a disgusting [act]? They not only were not ashamed; they were not even familiar with [what it means] to blush! Therefore they will fall with those who fall. When I call them to account, they will be made to stumble," says YHWH. 13. "'"I will collect [and] consume them," is said by YHWH. "No grapes [will be] on the vine, and no figs on the fig tree; even the leaves will wither and fall off, and I will give [them] to those who overrun them."'" He has found no value in them. (9:9) Yahshua cursed a fig tree for having leaves (as if there would also be fruit) but no figs. (Mark 11:13ff) 14. On what account are we sitting still? Gather yourselves together, and let's go into the fortified cities, and be silenced there, because YHWH our Elohim has silenced us there, and given us water of hemlock to drink, because we have sinned against YHWH. Hemlock: or poison, bitterness, gall; Aramaic, the cup of cursing. 15. We waited expectantly for peace, but there is nothing agreeable; for a time of healing, but--lo and behold, [sudden, overwhelming] terror! Healing: Aramaic, pardon from debts. This is what all who go on sinning willfully can expect, because they are taught that "God will forgive any sin", so they do not truly repent. 16. "The snorting of his stallions was heard from Dan; from the sound the neighing of his mighty ones, the whole Land shakes, because they will come and devour the Land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell there, His: the King of Babylon's. 17. "for behold, I am sending out among you serpents--poisonous snakes, which there is no way to charm, and they will bite you [hard]", declares YHWH. 18. After [having been] cheerful, grief [has come] upon me; faintheartedness [has come] over me. 19. "There it is--the sound of the outcry of my people from a faraway land! Isn't YHWH in Tzion? Isn't her King within her? Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images, with foreign things that are empty?" 20. The harvest has passed; the summer has come to an end, and we have not been delivered! This is at Sukkoth, when the grace period of the foregoing days is finally completed and one's direction for the coming year is sealed. Atonement has not been granted as anticipated. (During the 40 years following Yahshua's death the red cord tied around the "scapegoat's"{ horn We need to count the cost and request an adequate "budget" for the coming year at this time, so that we will be able to complete what we need to. What we truly seek in the spirit will be found (Mat. 7:7), so be sure you are seeking the right thing. 21. On account of the crippling of the daughter of my people, I have been made crippled. I have been darkened [with mourning]; appalling horror has gotten a firm grip on me. The Aramaic targum has Yerushalayim saying these words. Been darkened: Aram., my [Yerushalayim's] face has been covered with a coating of blackness like a pot. Perhaps this refers to the burning of the city. But one day she will again speak, expressing amazement at all the children she has regained when they turned back to YHWH in their exile. (Yeshayahu 49:20-21) 22. Isn't there any salve in Gil'ad? And isn't there a healer there? So why hasn't the health of the daughter of my people improved? Salve: the Aramaic sees it as symbolic of the teaching of Eliyahu the prophet, who was from Gil'ad. If we had heeded his words, we would have been healed. His words are, "How long will you hobble between two opinions? If YHWH is Elohim, serve Him!" (1 Kings 18:21) The spirit of Eliyahu is returning today to precede the "great and terrible" Day of YHWH, and again it says, "YHWH--He is Elohim!" Not "the Lord", "God", or some other substituted name; at best, these obscure the truth, and at worst are idolatry.	"Go to and fro through the streets of Yerushalayim." (5:1)
Chapters 9-12 CHAPTER 9 1. [8:23 in Heb.] Who will let my head [become] water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that day and night I can bewail the mortally wounded of the daughter of my people? Though the trampling out of YHWH's judgment is like a winepress, and therefore a thing of joy in most cases, this is Israel that is being judged; it holds no joy for Yirmeyahu, nor for YHWH. (v. 18) 2. Who will let me have a travelers' lodge in the wilderness, so that I can leave my people behind and go away from them? Because all of them are adulterers--an assembly of the treacherous! Though this is the only heritage Yirmeyahu had ever wished to have, he cannot stand to remain in his home, because lying has come to be so normal that no one can trust anyone anymore: 3. "They even bend their tongues [as] their bow; lies have prevailed in the Land instead of faithfulness, because they proceed from evil to evil, and Me they are not [intimately] acquainted with," says YHWH. Or, their bow is a lie; it is not for faithfulness that they are valiant in the Land. A lie cannot exist on its own; it can only be the bending, twisting, or corrupting of something real and true. 4. Let each one be on his guard against his fellow, and do not trust any brother, because any brother may indeed detain [you], and any neighbor may walk with an informer, Detain: literally, take by the heel (i.e., hold you back; related to Yaaqov's name); Aram., every brother surely lurks in wait. 5. and any man may deceive his fellow [for sport], and the truth they will not tell. They have trained their tongue to speak lies; they tire themselves out to commit perversity! Trained: in the sense of exercising, like an athlete. 6. "Your dwelling place is in the midst of craftiness; through craftiness they refuse be [intimately] acquainted with Me," declares YHWH. Your dwelling place: Aram., their assembly-houses. LXX: There is usury upon usury, deceit upon deceit. 7. "Therefore, this is what YHWH of Armies says: 'Look here! I will melt them down and scrutinize them, because what [else] can I do because of the face of the daughter of My people?' Melt them down and scrutinize them: LXX, try them by fire and prove them. The face: Aramaic, the sins. 8. "'Their tongue is an arrow used for slaughtering; he speaks craftily. With his mouth, one promises his neighbor safety, but in his innermost [heart] he sets his ambush. Craftily: or, misleadingly. There is nothing left to be said in their defense: 9. "'Shouldn't I hold them accountable for these things?' says YHWH. 'Or shouldn't My soul avenge itself on such a nation as this?'" 10. I will take up wailing and a song of lamentation in regard to the mountains, and a dirge on account of the beautiful meadows of the wilderness, because they are burned away, without even a man to pass through them, nor do they hear the voice of cattle. Everything from the bird of the skies to the beast has fled away; they are gone. Voice: LXX, sound of life. In regard to: or, upon. 11. "I will even allow Yerushalayim [to become] a heap [of ruins], a lair of dragons, and I will let the cities of Yehudah [become] desolate, without inhabitant." Dragons: Aramaic, jackals. Compare the description of Babylon in Rev. 18:2, because Yehudah had let itself become like Babylon. 12. Who is the learned man who can understand this, and to whom the mouth of YHWH has spoken, so that he may make it clear on what account the Land is being destroyed, burned away like an uninhabited land that no one passes through? 13. So YHWH says, "On account of their forsaking My Torah which I set before them and not obeying My voice or walking in it. 14. "[Instead], they have been walking after the stubbornness of their own heart and after the Ba'alim, as their fathers taught them." 15. So this is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: "Here I am! I will make this people eat wormwood, and make them drink the water of hemlock. Make them eat wormwood: LXX, feed them with trouble. 16. "And I will scatter them among the nations that neither they nor they fathers have been familiar with, and I will send the sword after them until I have finished them off." 17. This is what YHWH of Armies says: "Show yourself to have foresight, and call for the women who chant a dirge to come, and send for the wise women to come, 18. "and have them hurry and take up a mourning song over us, so that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids flow with water, 19. "because a sound of lamentation is heard out of Tzion: 'How devastated we are! How extremely shamefully we have acted, because we have left behind a Land since our dwelling places have thrown us out.'" Devastated: LXX, wretched; Aramaic, plundered. Our dwellings have thrown us out: or, they have cast down our dwelling places; LXX, we have abandoned our tabernacles. YHWH warned that if our ancestors lived like the nations that inhabited Kanaan before them, the very Land itself would spit them out (Lev. 18:28; 20:22), and this is what was happening here. 20. For listen to the word of YHWH, O women, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth, and now teach your daughters a song of mourning, and each [teach] her neighbor a dirge, 21. because death has come up through our windows, entering our citadels to cause the nursing babies to be cut off from the streets, and the young men in their prime from the open plazas. 22. "Speak!" This is what YHWH says: "Even human corpses will fall like fertilizer on the surface of the field, and like the swath of fallen grain after the reaper, but there will be no one to gather." 23. This is what YHWH says: "Do not let a wise [man] boast in his wisdom, nor let the strong [man] boast in his strength, nor let the rich [man] boast in his wealth, Boast: means to rave about something even to the point of appearing foolish. When the lights are really turned on, all will see that living for oneself is the real foolishness, but in the era when such philosophies have precedence in the public eye, walking the most straightforward, simple way will be what is called foolish. And that is what we must accept for His sake. (1 Cor. 1;19-2:16) 24. "but rather, let the one who boasts boast in this: pondering and knowing Me [by experience]--that I am YHWH, the One who brings about lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness in the Land, because in these things I have taken pleasure," declares YHWH. Yahshua echoed this concept when He told His disciples not to rejoice because the demons were subject to them, but because their names were inscribed in Heaven. (Luke 10:20) What is called wisdom now is usually just knowing the way the system works and capitalizing on it. But all of this knowledge will be thrown into disarray soon when He shakes all that can be shaken. (Haggai 2:6) If we think we know anything, we have not yet begun to have true knowledge (1 Cor. 8:2), because we know in part (1 Cor. 13:9), i.e., by contrasting one thing with another, and by fragmenting things into manageably-sized increments. But the only true knowledge is to connect directly with the Source in which all of the parts hold together. This consolidates our debts and infinitely simplifies life. (Compare Micha 6:8) Justice: or judgment, right legal ruling. Asking Him, as we do in the shakharit prayers, to "restore our judges as at the earliest times" seems extremely undemocratic, but it is the way of Israel. We must "be transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Rom. 12:2) so our reasons for boasting can be reset. 25. "Behold, days are coming", declares YHWH, "when I will bring punishment upon everyone who is circumcised while [still having] the foreskin: While still having the foreskin: or, in their uncircumcision; LXX, I will visit upon the circumcised their uncircumcision. Aramaic, whose deeds are like the deeds of the uncircumcised. 26. "upon Egypt as well as upon Yehudah, and upon Edom and upon all the sons of Ammon and upon Moav, as well as upon all who cut off the corners, who inhabit the wilderness, because all the nations are uncircumcised, but the whole House of Israel is uncircumcised of heart." Cut off the corners: LXX, shaves his face round about--most likely a pagan ritual, since Israel is specifically forbidden to do this (Lev. 19:27, in the context of 19:9 which speaks of not cutting down--a related word--the corners of the fields so that the poor and sojourners would have something to eat). The lying mentioned all through this chapter is a symptom of this unwillingness to expose one's true heart. CHAPTER 10 1. Listen to the word that YHWH is speaking to you, O House of Israel! To you: This is for us today, as the House of Israel in exile. 2. This is what YHWH says: "You shall not learn the ways of the nations, nor should you be terrified by the omens of the heavens [just] because the nations are terrified by them, Learn the ways: or, be goaded into, become expert in. There will be many signs in the heavens in the coming years, and they will indeed cause great dismay and huge changes in the topography of the earth, the economy, and the safety of many people. But we also need to remember that these are the things that will lay the physical foundations for the Messiah's Kingdom to come. We must ride their tidal waves as the ark did, and not fear being inundated by them, because YHWH is in control. But we should also not utilize other Gentile customs, or operate in their manner (Mat. 10:5): 3. "since the customs of the peoples--[they] are a vapor, because one has cut a tree from a forest, the achievement of the hands of a craftsman with an axe. Customs: or rulings, prescriptions--i.e., the remedy they prescribe for the problems they face, as well as the decrees they make. They told us to cut down a tree and put it in our house, but YHWH says this kind of idea is a mere vapor: untrustworthy, always changing, having no substance, compared to the reality that is YHWH. 4. "They will brightly beautify it with silver and gold; they stabilize it with nails and hammers so it will not wobble. Doesn't this sound just like a Christmas tree? It also refers to idols made from trees: 5. "They are shaped out of one piece like a post, and they cannot speak at all; to be carried along they have to be picked up, because they cannot take a step. Do not be afraid of them, because they can't do [any] harm, [but] neither is it in them to [do anything] beneficial. Contrast the presence of YHWH as depicted by the pillar of cloud and fire in the wilderness. Israel moved when it moved, not vice versa. He spoke, and Israel could not control this, but held Him in awe. 6. "Insomuch as there is none like You, YHWH--You are great, and Your Name is shown to be distinctive by [Your] ability to [really] accomplish [things]-- 7. who would not stand in awe of You, O King of the nations? Because it is fitting for You, since among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like You. Anyone used to the ways Israel was being seduced by would have instantly seen how unique YHWH was! He could do things none of the "gods" could do. 8. "They, however, are [both] equally brutish and dull-hearted; he [too] is a tree instructed in vain things. They: the idols as well as the ones who make them, but here, also Israel and Yehudah as well. 9. "Silver beaten out into thin plates is brought from Tharshish, along with gold from Ufaz, the workmanship of a craftsman and the hands of a refiner. Their apparel is blue and purple, all of them the work of skillful [men]. Blue and purple: the same shades used for many articles in the Tabernacle, for they were trying to take YHWH's place. Tharshish: Aramaic, Africa, but usually thought of as the westernmost extremity of the known world. Ufaz: thought to be another name for Ofir, which means "reducing to ashes". 10. "But YHWH is [the] true Elohim; He is the living Elohim, and an eternal King. The earth will tremble from His anger, and the nations will not be able to stand His indignation. 11. "On account of this you must tell them, 'The elohim that have not created the heavens or the earth will perish from the ground and from under these heavens. This verse (and only this) is written in Aramaic within the Hebrew text. The targum explains that it is a copy of the letter Yirmeyahu sent to the elders of the Exile who were in Babylon. 12. "'He who made the earth by His [own] ability is arranging the habitable world by His [skillful] wisdom, and He has stretched out the skies through His intelligence. Is arranging: Aramaic, completed. 13. "'When He utters His voice [there is] a roaring of waters in the heavens; He causes [clouds of] mist to ascend from the extremities of the earth. He produces the lightning to send rain, and brings forth wind from His storehouses.'" Produces the lightning to send rain: scientifically, there is a connection. If a cloud is not sufficiently saturated to begin to form rain droplets on its own, the charge of electricity from lightning can break up the integrity of the molecular units of water vapor that are bound together and cause them to condense into liquid form. 14. All of humanity has been made unreceptive to knowledge; every refiner is put to shame because of the carved image, because his cast-metal image is a deception, and there is no breath in them. 15. Vanity they are--the labor of deluded ones. At the time when they are called to account, they will be destroyed. Deluded ones: or, mockers, scorners. 16. Yaaqov's share is not like these, because He is the one Who forms everything, and Israel is the tribe He has inherited as a possession; YHWH of Armies is His Name. Yaaqov's share: or portion, the One allotted to him. LXX, the One who formed all things, He is his inheritance. 17. Gather up your bag, you [women] who are sitting in the besieged [city], 18. because this is what YHWH says: "Indeed, this time I will sling out the inhabitants of the Land, and will cause them distress, so that they may find out." Find out: Israel still does not believe YHWH is so unique. Though He had given us every head start so we could avoid the trial and error that the Gentiles are left with, as He had with Adam and Chavvah, still Israel, of all peoples, was turning to chasing after wind! (v. 8) So He has to cast them out among the nations to show how bad it really is out there. Then, like the Prodigal Son, perhaps they will long for home. 19. "Woe to me on account of my [being] crippled! My wound is weakening me. But I said, 'Oh, this is [just] a disease, and I have to put up with it.' Just a disease: Aramaic, my sickness; LXX, Surely this is your wound, and it has overtaken you. 20. "My tent is devastated, and all my cords have been torn away. My children have left me, and they are not [here]; there is no one to stretch out my tent or set up my curtains again, Tent... curtains: This is an allusion to the Tabernacle. This is still YHWH speaking, including Himself in this sadness. The worst part of it is that He no longer has a dwelling place. 21. "because the shepherds have become dull-hearted and have not been seeking YHWH, so no attention will be paid to them, and all those they feed will be dispersed. 22. The sound of a report: "Here it comes with a great shaking [of the ground] out of the land of the north, to turn the cities of Yehudah into a wasteland and a lair of dragons!" 23. O YHWH, I have recognized that a human being's course [of action] is not in himself; a man who walks does not have [what it takes] to rightly direct his steps. A human being's course is not in himself: or, the way of Adam is not in him. Originally, Adam could go directly to YHWH and ask Him to direct his steps. He did not have to figure it out for himself. All He had to do was ask Abba. YHWH had no complaint about this dependency. But the Rival, bitter from being punished, convinced Adam and Chavvah that by experiencing evil within themselves, they could have within themselves what it takes to know right from wrong without having to go to YHWH for answers. So when YHWH began to remedy the curse, He created a nation that was NOT to be independent--not to have enough horses or chariots to win their battles by natural means, not to know how many fighting men they had, but trust YHWH to instill in each the desire to stand up for the truth and fill in where they were still lacking. Yahshua, who bore the curse away, said even He did not have in himself what it would take, but judged as He heard from His Father and acted only as He saw the Father acting. (Yochanan 5:19, 30) Paul, who carried the message of the remedy to exiled Israel, said he had determined to have none of the world's wisdom--the security of knowledge about so many things--and know only Messiah and His remedy. That was what the foolishness of his preaching and the bizarre pictures many of the prophets acted out were meant to make us see. Autonomy is YHWH's enemy. Disney's advice to "follow your heart" is "the way that seems right to a man" but whose end is death. (Prov. 16:25) The heart is deceitful. (17:9) And Yirmeyahu got the point: 24. Correct Me, O YHWH--but in the right measure, not in Your anger, so that you will not diminish me. In the right measure: Aramaic, with clement judgment. (The word does mean both judgment and justice, i.e., limited to what we deserve, not done according to whim, yet establishing what is in line with the Torah and unbendingly carried out.) Otherwise we will be decimated; there will not be much left. Yirmeyahu realizes he is so deformed that he needs to be trained back into the right shape a little at a time, not all at once, or he will break. YHWH remembers that we are weak (Psalm 103), so He exercises us. (Heb. 12:11) We can let His correction go either way. If we are willing to discipline ourselves, He will not meet us in a punishing mode (1 Cor. 11:31), but will be patient and train us step by step to simply learn how to walk before expecting us to go anywhere, and if we submit our way to Him and acknowledge Him in all our ways, He will direct our steps. (Psalm 37:5; Prov. 3:5-6) 25. Pour out your hot displeasure [instead] on the nations who have not acknowledged You, and on clans who have not called on Your Name, because they have devoured Yaaqov; they have both consumed him and finished him off, and have deflowered his beautiful abode! Those who do evil hate the light and run from it, not even wanting to acknowledge that they have a need, let alone that it can be remedied. (Yochanan 3:19) They will keep squirming in the other direction when He wants to reset their fracture, so it will only get worse. Wrath (hot displeasure) is the built-in result when there is a breach in the wall and they will not let Him repair it; there are always enemies ready to rush in and plunder. But these "nations and clans (families)" include those within Israel who would not repent, for they are the ones who have really done the most to destroy Israel. CHAPTER 11 1. The word that came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH: 2. "Heed the words of this covenant, and speak to each [one from] Yehudah and to the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, 3. "and tell them, 'This is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says: "Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant, 4. "'"which I laid as a charge upon your ancestors in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt--out of the iron-smelting furnace, saying, 'Obey My voice, and carry them out according to all the orders I will give you, and you will come to serve as a people for Me, and I will come to serve as an Elohim for you', In other words, "Do everything I say, and I will remain with you." Even David was afraid that, after all the righteousnesses he had done, YHWH might still take away His spirit of holiness from him on account of one wrong he had done. (Ps. 51) 5. "'"in order to put into effect the oath that I swore to your ancestors--to give them a Land gushing with milk and honey, as it is today."'" Then I began to answer, saying, "May it be upheld, O YHWH!" 6. But YHWH told me, "Call out all these words in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim: 'Listen to the words of this covenant, and carry them out, 7. "'because over and over I have solemnly warned your ancestors in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until today, rising up early to warn, saying, "Listen to My voice!" 8. "'But they did not listen, nor did they hold out their ear, but each one kept walking in the stubbornness of their evil heart. So I will bring upon them all the promises of this covenant which I ordered them to carry out, but they did not do [so].'" 9. Then YHWH told me, "A conspiracy has been discovered in the man of Yehudah and among the inhabitants of Yerushalayim! Man: singular. Now Yehudah is united, acting as one man, but for the other side. The conspiracy is complete, so how can He withhold judgment any longer? 10. "They have turned back to the perversities of their ancestors who first refused to obey My words and went after other elohim to serve them. The House of Israel and the House of Yehudah have breached My covenant, which I cut with their forefathers." 11. "Therefore, this is what YHWH says: 'Here I am, bringing upon them trouble from which they will not be able to escape, and [though] they cry out to Me for help, I will not listen to them. 12. "'Then the cities of Yehudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim will go and cry to the gods to whom they burned incense, but they are not at all [able] to rescue them in the time of their trouble, 13. "'because you had as many gods as you had cities, O Yehudah, and you have set up as many altars to the shameful thing as there are streets in Yerusahalyim--altars to burn incense to Ba'al.' 14. "And you must not [go] behind this people to intervene for them, or lift up a supplication or prayer for them, because there is nothing in Me [that] will listen on the occasion in which they cry out to Me about their trouble. Go behind this people: i.e., clean up after them, to make it look like what they had done was not so bad, no matter how much you love them. 15. "What is there [left] for My beloved in My house, [with her] organizing [so] many plots? Even the holy flesh has passed on from you, because you are triumphant when you do evil." LXX, "Why has My beloved wrought abomination in My house? Will prayers and holy offerings take away the wickedness from you, or shall you escape by these things?" She broke the marriage contract, so what is she even doing in My household any longer? 16. YHWH called your name, "A flourishing olive tree--beautiful, with well-shaped fruit." To the noise of a great roaring, He has started a fire on it, and its branches are broken in pieces, Well-shaped fruit: LXX, of goodly shade in appearance. Roaring: LXX, being lopped (off). Branches are broken: Perhaps this forms part of the background for Romans 11:17-19. Broken in pieces: LXX, worthless. 17. and YHWH of Armies, has pronounced evil against you in the rolling together of the House of Israel and the House of Yehudah, which they have done to themselves to provoke Me to anger, to burn incense to Ba'al. Rolling together: i.e., into one bundle of sticks useful for nothing but to be burned. Yahshua says YHWH will have the inedible "crop" gathered for destruction before He harvests the beneficial crop. (Mat. 13:30) 18. As YHWH was letting me know, I made [it] known. Then You let me see what they were doing, LXX: YHWH, teach me and I will know; then I saw their practices. 19. and I [was] like a docile lamb that is led away to be butchered, and I did not realize [it], because they had devised schemes against me: "Let's cause wood to spoil in his bread, and let's cut him off from the land of the living, so his name will no longer be remembered!" Cause wood to spoil in his bread: LXX, put wood in his bread; Aramaic, Let us cast deadly poison into his food. 20. But YHWH of Armies, [You] who judge [with] righteousness, testing the kidneys and the heart, let me see You avenged of them, because to You I have laid bare my [legal] case. Tests the kidneys and the heart: He scrutinizes both the emotions and affections (embodied in the kidneys, the seat of our "gut feelings" and the part of us that depicts discernment, flushing out what is useless) and the inclination of our will or determination (embodied as the heart). 21. "For this reason, this is what YHWH says about the men of Anathoth (who are demanding your life, saying, 'Do not prophesy in the Name of YHWH, and you will not die by our hand'). Men of Anathoth: priests (v. 1). Today it is pastors, "priests", and rabbis who tell us not to use YHWH's name. In Stefanos' case, the extremely religious men even blocked their ears from hearing it mentioned. (Acts 7:57) Life: literally, soul. Anathoth means "answers to prayer". But to whom were they really praying? 22. "For this reason, this is what YHWH of Armies says: 'Behold, I am the one who punishes them. The young men in their prime will die by the sword; their sons and their daughters will die in the famine, 23. "and they will not have a survivor, because I will bring adversity upon the men of Anathoth--the year of their calling to account!" CHAPTER 12 1. You are righteous, O YHWH, when I bring my case to You. Yet still, let me discuss procedures of justice with You. Why does the way of the wicked advance [so] rapidly to success? Those who act so treacherously are flourishing! Flourishing: or, at ease; Aramaic, unconcerned. The wicked: in this case, Yirmeyahu's audience. It seems unjust that YHWH has not punished them already. He does not understand, but in reality they are, as Yahshua said, receiving their reward now, and will have none left later. 2. You have planted them; they have taken root. They have started to grow, and have produced fruit. You are nearby in their mouth, but far away from their affections. They are always talking about YHWH, but their minds are on themselves. 3. Yet You know Me, O YHWH. You have inspected me and tested my appetite for You. Pull them away like sheep for the butchering, and set them apart for the day of slaughtering. 4. How long must the Land mourn, and the glistening plants of the whole field dry up because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it? Beasts and fowls are swept away because they said, "He will not see what we are after." The whole field: everyone YHWH has planted in Israel. Swept away: or, captured. 5. "If you have run with the footsoldiers and they have worn you out, then how will you compete with horses? And you feel safe [only] in the tranquil Land, so how will you do when the Yarden rises up? I.e., "You haven't seen anything yet!" YHWH understands his concerns, but says, in essence, "They are not worth My time to punish; they will receive theirs when the rest do. This is not your battle; I have bigger fish for you to fry--your own family, who are priests, no less! I'll take care of them; you do what I've given you." The Aramaic targum identifies the foot-soldier as Nevukhadnetzar, to whom YHWH was kind, astonishing Yirmeyahu, but then asks how much more He can then be expected to reward his righteous ancestors. 6. "Because even your brothers and your father's household have dealt treacherously with you; even they have summoned a filling-up [to come] after you. Do not believe them [just] because they speak agreeable words to you. Your brothers: fellow Israelites and even priests (whom Yirmeyahu was begging YHWH to have mercy on) brought trouble on the rest of their countrymen by their sins. A filling-up: perhaps like the sin of the Amorites, which had not yet been completed in Avraham's day, so his descendants had to wait to possess the whole Land. Y'shua also told the religious leaders of Yehudah to fill up the determined measure of the sins of their ancestors so YHWH could go ahead and judge them. (Mat. 23:32ff; compare 1 Thess. 2:16.) 7. "I have abandoned My house; I have cast off My share. I have delivered My soul's most dearly beloved into the hand of their enemies. 8. "My heritage has become to Me like a lion in the forest; she has given out [things] about Me with her voice, so I have come to hate her. 9. "My heritage is the speckled bird of prey to Me; they birds of prey are upon her all around. Go ahead, gather all the living things of the field! Let them arrive [for that which they are] to devour. Speckled bird of prey: the odd one in the group, which is persecuted by the others. Israel can never fit in with the nations, and when it tries, they only turn on her. LXX, a hyena's cave; Aramaic, like a fowl that hovers. Of the field: that is, wild--a picture of being "of the world". (Mat. 13:38) 10. "Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard; they have trodden down My parcel [of land underfoot]! They have turned My desirable tract [of land] into a deserted wilderness! 11. "They have changed her into a wasteland; she mourns over Me. The whole Land has been made desolate, because there is no man [who] lays it on [his] heart." 12. Onto all the barren heights in the wilderness the despoilers have come, because a sword devours for YHWH from [one] end of the Land all the way to [the other] end of the Land. No [mortal] flesh has any peace. 13. They have sown wheat, but reaped thorns. Making themselves sick, they will not profit [from it at all]. They are disappointed by your produce because of the fierce anger of YHWH. Aramaic: sowing in an untilled field. Making themselves sick: or, exhausting themselves. 14. "This is what YHWH says about all My evil neighbors who have touched the property that I have given to My people--to Israel--to inherit: "Here I am! I am uprooting them from their land, and will pluck the House of Yehudah from out of their midst! Touched: or struck; Aramaic, damaged. 15. "And [what] will come about after I have pulled them up [is that] I will come back and have compassion on them, and will bring them back--[each] man to his inheritance and [each] man to his land. Pulled them up: Aramaic, exiled them. I will come back: Aramaic, I will return in My Memra (Living Word); i.e., through Yahshua. (2 Cor. 5:19) 16. "And [what] will take place [is that] if they intently learn the ways of My people--to swear by My Name ('As YHWH lives'), just as they taught My people to swear by Ba'al--then [that nation] will be built up in the midst of My people. Swear: from the word for seven or "complete", possibly because the oath would be repeated seven times. 17. "But if they will not obey, then I will uproot that nation--tearing it out and destroying [it]", declares YHWH. This correlates with what happens to the nations during Messiah's Kingdom who do not attend the feast of Sukkoth in Yerushalayim. (Zech. 14:18)	One of the "high places" (cultic platforms to idols) at Megiddo, which had been King Shlomo's chariot base.
Chapters 13-17 CHAPTER 13 1. This is what YHWH told me: "Go and buy a linen waistband for yourself, and put it over your hips, but do not let it get into [any] water." Buy: or simply obtain, procure, or get. Linen: anciently, made from flax, not cotton. The root word means "disintegrate", because the stalks were put into troughs until they degenerated enough to loosen the hull from the long, fine fiber inside. Modern methods have still not equaled the length of fibers they were able to extract in ancient Egypt. Waistband: or sash, which was tied around the waist and loins in such a way as to make a robe able to function like trousers, letting men move freely while they worked. Ephesians 6:14 reveals that this represents truth. 2. So I went and bought the wasteband as YHWH had said, and put it over my hips. 3. Then the word of YHWH came to me a second time, saying, 4. "Take the waistband that you bought--[the one] that is on your hips--and get up, go to [the] Ferath, and conceal it there in a crevice in the cliff." Ferath: the Euphrates River. 5. So I went and hid it at the Euphrates, as YHWH had commanded me. 6. And it came about that, at the end of many days, YHWH told me, "Get up, go to the Ferath, and get from there the waistband that I told you to conceal there." Many days: or, the great days, perhaps the "high holy days" at the end of the summer. 7. So I went to the Ferath and started digging, and took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it there. But, lo and behold, the waistband had rotted; it was not useful for anything. It was rotten because it had not been allowed to touch water, the picture of YHWH's word (Eph. 5:26). Yahshua taught that defilement comes from within (Mat. 15:11-20), and here we see that, though unaffected by other forces, this product of "disintegration" (note on v. 1) decayed on its own. It had also been seeking protection in Babylon. Babylon allowed Israelite religion to flourish, but still they were influenced by its ways. When the truth was hidden near the teachings of Babylon, it was ruined. One of Babylon's customs was to never speak the name of their deity lest it pay them too much attention, and when Yehudah returned from captivity there, it had adopted this custom, rendering many blessings ineffective. (Contrast 12:16.) 8. Then the word of YHWH came to me, saying, 9. "This is what YHWH says: 'In just the same way, I will cause the pride of Yehudah and the greater pride of Yerushalayim to rot. Compare Hoshea's words: "Israel's pride is a witness in his face, so Israel (that is, Efrayim) will be tripped up by their crookedness; Yehudah has also stumbled along with them." (5:5; cf. Ovadyah 3.) 10. "'This wicked people, who refuse to obey My words, walking in the stubbornness of their heart, and who have been going after other elohim to serve and worship them, will become like this waistband, which cannot be used for anything, Having convinced themselves that their lies were true, they would no longer feel guilty. They thought they could partake of these other things while keeping truth intact. 11. "'because just as the waistband sticks close to a man's hips, in the same way I have caused the whole House of Israel and the whole House of Yehudah to stay close to Me,' says YHWH, 'to come [to serve] as a people for Me, and for renown and for praise and for splendor! But they would not listen!' Stay close: cling devotedly or intensely, like a child that does not want his parent to leave him. Renown and praise and splendor: Israel was designed for these things, but thought other pursuits were more valuable. Someone had radically "switched the price tags"! If they served Mammon, they could no longer be close to Him. (Mat. 6:24) When Israel does not fulfill its purpose as given by YHWH, it is indeed useless, because it has been separated from every other purpose and not trained for any other livelihood. 12. "So speak this word to them: 'This is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says: "Every bottle will be filled with wine!"' Then they will say to you, 'Don't we [already] know [very well] that every bottle will be filled with wine?' Bottle: or wineskin. They thought He was telling them nothing new, but He was hinting that an overfilled bottle, like a water balloon, would be more prone to burst when dashed against another. (v. 13-14) One too full of strong drink will not have the judgment to fight back coherently when attacked. 13. "Then tell them, 'This is what YHWH says: "Here I am, filling to the fullest the inhabitants of this Land, even the kings that sit for David on his throne, as well as the priests, the prophets, and all those dwelling in Yerushalayim, [with] drunkenness! 14. "'"And I will [surely] dash them to pieces, each [one] against his brother, both the fathers and sons alike," declares YHWH. "I will not spare, nor look with pity, nor have mercy [to keep] them from rotting."'" Dash to pieces: i.e., like bottles. The word can also mean scatter, which is what YHWH did to all of Israel. 15. Listen and cup your ear; do not be haughty, because YHWH has spoken! 16. Give YHWH your Elohim due honor, before He brings darkness and before your feet stumble on the mountains [at] twilight. Indeed, [when] you were expecting light, He turned it into the shadow of death, and will make it like thick darkness. 17. But if you will not listen to it, my soul will wail and weep bitterly in hidden places from the face of [such] a lifting up [of the back], and my eye will drip with tears, because YHWH's flock has been taken captive! 18. Tell the king and the great woman, "Humble yourselves! Take a seat, because the crown of your splendor has come down from your place of headship!" Great woman: either the queen or the king's mother. Humble: or, lower. 19. "The cities of the Negev have been closed up, and no one is opening them. Yehudah has been taken into exile; all of it has been completely taken away! 20. "Lift up your eyes and see those who are coming from the [hidden place of the] north! Where is the flock that was given to you--your beautiful sheep? 21. "What will you say when He brings punishment upon you? For you goaded them into being captains over you, [serving] as a head! Won't pangs seize you like a woman who is giving birth? Captains: from a word for "teach". Goaded them into being over you: Israel lured Babylon into ruling over it when King Hizqiyahu opened doors and gave it information about Israel that he should never have made known, tempting them to be greedy for what belonged to YHWH. (2 Kings 20:12-17; 1 Chron. 32:31) His great-great grandson Yehoyaqim let Yehudah become a vassal of Babylon as soon as it became a great power, and when he rebelled, Yehudah became an occupied nation. (2 Kings 24) In his son Yehoyachin's day, Babylon besieged Yerushalayim and took away all the holy implements of the Temple as well as the royal treasures amassed since Shlomo's day. Later Yehudah also invited the Greeks and Romans to rule over them in similar fashion by first becoming their allies in seemingly innocent pursuits. 22. "And since you are saying in your heart, 'Why have these things happened to me?', in the abundance of your perversion your skirts have been removed; your heels have suffered violence. Happened: the emphasis in this Hebrew word is indeed on their thinking that this is merely a chance encounter with fate. Removed: also the word for being exiled. Heels: removing our covering of obedience exposes us to Amaleq, who attacked Israel's rear guard, and Yahshua (part of Yehudah)'s having to have His heel bruised due to our sin. (Gen. 3:15; Yeshayahu 53:5) 23. "Can the Kushite change his skin, or the leopard [reverse] its spots? [Then] you, too--who are accustomed to doing evil--will be able to do what is right! Kushite: someone with black skin. Accustomed: taught by practice; they have gone too far and will not be granted repentance, but have been turned over to their own delusion. We often take this merciful gift for granted, but in truth it is not guaranteed. 24. "So I will cause them to be scattered like stubble that is taken away by the desert wind. 25. "This is your lot, the assigned portion measured to you from [having been with] Me", declares YHWH, "as you have forgotten Me and started trusting in what is fraudulent." Assigned portion...: LXX, the reward of your disobedience to Me. 26. "And I have also stripped off your skirts over your face, so your dishonorable [parts] may be looked on-- 27. "your adulteries and your neighings, your [lewd] plotting [of] prostitution on the hills. I have seen your abominations in the field. Woe to you, Yerushalayim! After so long have you still not been purified?" After so long...: Aramaic, you will not be clean again; now you have a respite, many days. Compare Lamentations 1:8-9 and Nachum 3:4-7. CHAPTER 14 1. That which came--YHWH's word to Yirmeyahu--concerning the matter of the droughts: Droughts: an intensive form of the word for withholding, restraining, or making inaccessible. So this was something deliberate on YHWH's part. 2. "Yehudah has [started] mourning and her gates have drooped; they are darkened [with ashes] for the Land, and the outcry of Yerushalayim has ascended. "Gates" is an idiom for the government of a city, since the gates are where the elders sat to make decisions, including that of who could enter the city. Darkened: probably in mourning, but this may refer to the gates having been burned "to the ground". LXX, her gates are emptied. Tzion mourns simply because her gates are desolate since no one is coming in for YHWH's feasts. (Lam. 1:4) Indeed, in a drought, many aspects of the feasts, like the rich fruit and branches used at Sukkoth, would be unavailable. 3. "Even the nobles have sent their youngest [children] for water. They came to the cisterns, [but] did not find water. They returned with their containers empty. They were ashamed and humiliated, and covered their heads. Nobles: those used to luxury, not such hardship. Youngest: or little ones; Aramaic, deputies. Cisterns: or pits that had been dug. Found no water: a picture of their spiritual condition, from which YHWH's word was lacking. Were humiliated: or, blushed. Children would have more stamina to keep searching, but, still failing in their mission, would indeed be embarrassed to return home. 4. "On account of the ground being cracked open since there has been no rain in the Land, those working the land have become ashamed; they have covered their heads, 5. "because even the doe, having given birth in the field, has deserted [her young], because there was no vegetation, 6. "and the wild donkeys have stood on the barren heights and sniffed the wind like dragons; their eyes have failed because there was no grass." 7. O YHWH! Though our perversities respond [in testimony] against us, act for Your Name's sake, because many [are the times] we have turned away. Toward You we have become guilty. 8. Purification Pool of Israel, who brings him deliverance in the time of distress, why should You become like a stranger in the Land, or like a traveller who [merely] turns aside to find lodging for the night? Purification pool: Heb., miqveh, used for ritual bathing, whereupon the one who descends under its waters receives the status of "clean". 9. Why should You be like a man who is knocked unconscious, like a mighty man who is [nonetheless] unable to bring deliverance? Yet You are in our midst, O YHWH, and Your Name is proclaimed upon us! Don't abandon us! 10. This is what YHWH says to this people: "Yes, they have loved to wander; they have not kept their feet in check, and YHWH has not been satisfied with them. He will now bring their guilt to remembrance, and called [them] to account [for] their wanderings from the way." Loved to wander: or waver. Like those Eliyahu addressed (1 Kings 18:21), they could not choose between two opinions and stick faithfully to one or the other. They move back and forth as is convenient to them, especially if they are trying not to offend anyone. But this in itself offends YHWH, and proves they are fearing someone other than Himself. This is the main reason they are being punished, and the best thing for them is to be destroyed so that a remnant may actually recognize their guilt and return to Him. Therefore it will not help for Yirmeyahu to pray that they be spared: 11. Then YHWH told me, "Do not intercede for this people's welfare. 12. "[Even] if they fast, there is nothing in Me [that will] listen to their screams, and though they raise an ascending offering with a grain offering, there is nothing in Me [that can] find them acceptable, because with the sword and with the famine and with the plague, I am bringing them to an end." Ascending offering: usually done as a way to request the forgiveness of sins. Acceptable: or pleasing, an object of delight or enjoyment. 13. Then I began to say, "Alas, Master YHWH! Notice that the prophets are telling them, 'You will not see the sword, nor will you have famine, because I will give you true well-being in this place.'" 14. But YHWH told me, "The prophets are prophesying fraudulently in My Name; I neither sent them nor gave them orders. I never even spoke to them! [What] they are prophesying to you [is] a deceitful oracle, ineffective divination, and the deceitfulness of their own heart. Deceitfulness: from a word meaning to throw off track, i.e., mislead. They themselves were misled, "the blind leading the blind". 15. "So this is what YHWH says concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, though I did not send them, and those who are saying, 'There will be no sword or famine in this Land': By sword and famine will those prophets be brought to an end, They had chosen to be prophets because it could bring them personal gain. No sword or famine: the teaching that believers will simply be "raptured" and escape both tribulation and death indeed gets many "warm bodies" into church doors, because it is the kind of message they want to hear. 16. "and the people to whom they prophesy will be thrown out into the streets of Yerushalayim due to the presence of the famine and the sword, and there will be no one to bury them--themselves, their wives, their son, or their daughters--and I will pour out their wickedness on them. 17. "So you must speak this word for them: 'Let my eyes drip with tears night and day, and do not let them cease, because the virgin of the daughter of my people is broken in pieces with a great crash, a blow that wounds exceedingly!'" Let my eyes: LXX, let your eyes. 18. If I go out [into] the field, there [they] are--those mortally pierced with the sword! But if I go into the city, there [I see] those made sick by the famine, because both the prophet and the priest have gone off to a land they are not familiar with. 19. "Have You utterly rejected Yehudah? Has Your soul abhorred Tzion? Why have You hit us when there is no [way] for us to be healed? We waited expectantly for peace, but there is nothing agreeable; for a time of healing, but--lo and behold, [sudden, overwhelming] terror! 20. "We acknowledge our wickedness, O YHWH--the perversion of our forefathers--because we have become guilty toward You. Just as Yirmeyahu had to weep for those who would not weep, we have to repent for those who cannot repent, since they have already died. 21. "For Your Name's sake, do not hold us in contempt! Do not let the throne of Your honor sink down! Remember, don't nullify Your covenant with us! Sink down: in disgrace. They think that because there is a drought, He is reneging on His promises to provide for His people, when in fact they are the ones who had not kept their part of the bargain for so many years. 22. "Among the [useless] vapors of the nations, is there any who can make it rain? Or can the skies provide heavy showers? Isn't it You, YHWH our Elohim? So we will eagerly wait for You, because You [are the One] who accomplishes all of these [things]." Useless vapors: often a term for idols, and understood that way by the translators of the Septuagint (LXX). But notice its significance as regarding clouds that cannot bring rain. Verses 19 through 22 seem to be YHWH's mockery of what Yehudah, trying to escape the punishment they now realize they deserve, is saying to Him. But they have gone too far, and He has already say He does not want to hear any more from them. CHAPTER 15 1. Then YHWH told me, "If Moshe and Shmu'el [themselves] would take their stand before Me, I could not have emotion toward this people. Send them away from in front of My face, and let them leave. Moshe and Shmu'el were known for prevailing with Him in intercession (e.g., Psalm 106:23), but even Shmu'el was told to stop praying for King Sha'ul. Let them leave: i.e., do not stop them if they want to go. Alt., let them go: release them from your mind as well; if even these men who completely laid their lives down for Israel could not persuade Me to relent, how could you? You are only a beginner! 2. "And if they should say to you, 'Where should we go?', then tell them, 'This is what YHWH says: "Those who are [marked] for death, to death [shall they go]; and those for the sword, to the sword; and those for famine, to famine; and those for captivity, to the captivity. 3. "I will appoint over them four categories", declares YHWH: "The sword to kill, the dogs to drag off, the fowls the sky and the beast of the earth to devour and to destroy. 4. "And I will turn them into an object of horror for all the kingdoms of the earth on account of what Menashe the son of Hizqiyahu, the king of Yehudah, did in Yerushalayim, Mensahe filled Yerushalayim with innocent blood, rebuilt the idolatrous worship centers his father had broken down, dealt with mediums, and sacrificed infants in the fire. He himself repented, but his influence continued to pull Israel downhill. 5. "for who will take pity on you, O Yerushalayim? And who will lament you? Or who will go out of [their] way to ask about your welfare? 6. "'You have left Me alone', declares YHWH. 'You have moved backward, so I will extend My hand against you and destroy you. I have become tired of feeling sorry [for you].' Backward: to the Egyptian tendencies He had worked so long and mercifully to train out of them. 7. "So I will scatter them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the Land; I will bereave them [of children] and make My people lost since they are not turning back from their [own] ways. 8. "Their widows are piling up for Me [higher] than the sand of the seas. I have brought for them a despoiler at noonday, against the mother of a young man [in his prime]; I have caused anguish and alarm to fall upon her suddenly. Piling up: the connotation is "like bones". (Compare Yehezqel/Ezekiel 37.) Higher than the sand: their sins supersede the fact that they are children of Avraham. Instead of giving them so many descendants, he will give them many childless widows. 9. "The one who gave birth to seven [now] has been enfeebled. She has given up [on] her life; her sun has gone down in the middle of the day. She has become disconcerted and ashamed, and I will give those who are left of them to the sword before the face of their enemies," declares YHWH. 10. Alas for me, my mother, that you have given birth to me, a man of controversy and a man of discord for the whole Land! I have neither lent at interest nor been lent to, yet everyone is treating me as despicable. A man of discord for: LXX, at variance with. Treating me as despicable: or, cursing me (no matter what I do). 11. YHWH said, "If I do not set you free to prosperity... If I do not cause you to encounter the enemy at a disagreeable moment and at a time of distress... If I do not...: A common Hebraic form of swearing an oath. I.e., I will certainly do this. 12. "Can one break apart iron--iron from the north--or bronze? Iron from the north: The Hittites, from due north of Israel (modern-day Turkey), were the best ironworkers of that day. 13. Your wealth and your treasure-store I will give [away] as plunder, not for a price but [as a recompense] for all your sins, even within all your territories. Your: He reverts to the use of the plural object after speaking to Yirmeyahu personally in v. 11. 14. "Then I will make you cross over with your enemies into a land you are not familiar with, because a fire has been kindled in My anger; it will be lit upon you." 15. O YHWH, You understand! Remember me, and look after me; let me be avenged of those who persecute me. In Your slowness to anger, do not take me away! Recognize that on Your account I have endured taunting. 16. Your words were found, and I fed on them, and Your word was for me the joy and gladness of my heart, because Your name is proclaimed over me. Fed on them: Aramaic, I received Your words and confirmed them; LXX: ...endured taunting from those who set at naught Your words; consume them, and... 17. I did not sit in the inner circle of mockers, nor did I triumph. In the presence of Your hand, I sat alone, because You had filled me with denunciation. Denunciation: i.e., in his prophecies. (Aramaic) 18. Why has my pain become constant, and my wound incurable--refusing to be healed? You have indeed become for me like disappointing waters that cannot be trusted! Disappointing waters: like the many streams in Israel that are only seasonal, and give out once the rain run-off stops flowing. It is as if one settled beside them in the rainy season, then found that it was not a true river. 19. Therefore, this is what YHWH says: "If you turn back, I will bring you back; you will remain in front of My face. And if you remove what is valuable from what is vile, you will serve as My mouth. They may turn back toward you, but you must not turn back toward them. If you turn back: We must take the first step to show our willingness. Remain in front of My face: or, stand/endure before me. But the "you" here is singular, so He is addressing Yirmeyahu, not all of Israel. He himself needed to repent for the complaint in the last verse, which made him as guilty in YHWH's eyes as the rest, though he was offered an open door to repent, unlike them. Valuable: precious, costly, rare, prized, weighty. They may turn back: or, Let them turn back. Yirmeyahu himself is to be an example of this removing what is valuable from what is vile (or worthless, or what is being shaken), which is really the definition of holiness. When someone refuses to allow himself to be holy, we must leave them behind, or we will lose our holiness in the process. However, if they truly repent, we must be ready to welcome them back. But they must come on the terms of the higher standard; we cannot lower the standard in order to include them. We could also apply this to the corporate level; if a body such as the church has allowed itself to be defiled, how could we stay within it, once a higher step has become available to us? 20. And I will set you up as a wall of reinforced brass to this people. When they fight against you, they will not [be able to] prevail against you, because I am [the one] with you to deliver you and to rescue you," declares YHWH. 21. "And I will rescue you from the hand of a wicked [one], and redeem you from the palm of a ruthless [tyrant]." CHAPTER 16 1. Then the word of YHWH came to me, saying, 2. "Do not take a wife for yourself, nor will you have sons or daughters in this place, In this place: Thus this does not mean Yirmeyahu never had a wife or children anywhere else later in life. 3. "because this is what YHWH says about the sons and about the daughters who are being born in this place, and about their mothers who are giving birth to them and their fathers who begot them in this Land: 4. "'They will die deaths [from deadly] diseases. They will be neither mourned nor buried; they will serve as fertilizer on the surface of the ground. Or, they will be finished off by the sword and by famine, and their bodies will be food for the fowls of the sky and for the beast of the earth.' Not buried: This would grate on the sensitivities of Hebrews who are used to burying as soon as possible. YHWH is saying that things have become so bad that His followers should not try to salvage the community He had created, but let its fermentation have the fullest effect so that later generations could find usefulness in it and bear fruit thereby. As He did so once to Yehudah, He is doing so now with the Church, which was a framework He had worked within for a time, but has now become so paganized, compromised, and corrupt that the best thing to do with it is let it rot and start over—yet He is starting over not with something never seen before, but by recreating the community that preceded both Yehudah and the Church: a united Israel. 5. "Because this is what YHWH says: 'Do not enter the house of wailing, nor go to lament or express condolence, because I have gathered away My peace from this people,' declares YHWH, 'along with the mercy and compassions. Yahshua likewise told those He sent to withdraw their peace from a house where they were staying which proved unworthy. (Mat. 10:13) Mercy: Aramaic, my loyalty. 6. "'Both [the] important and [the] insignificant in this Land will die. They will not be buried, nor will [anyone] mourn for them, nor cut himself, or shave himself bald for them, Cutting oneself and shaving oneself bald on behalf of the dead are forbidden by Torah anyway. (Deut. 14:1) But apparently they were practicing it. Important and insignificant: Aramaic, the big and the tender. No one will mourn: so many will die that there will not be enough mourners left for all of them. 7. "'nor will [they] break [bread] for them in mourning to comfort him on account of the dead, nor will they give them to drink the cup of consolation for his father or his mother.' 8. "You must not even go into the banqueting-house to sit with them to eat or to drink, Compare Eccles. 7:2. 9. "because this is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: 'Here I am, causing the voice of gladness and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride to cease from this place before your eyes and in your days.' Our presence even at such seemingly-harmless events is our endorsement. His absence was a sign that We partake of those with whom we partake of food. Eating together, scripturally, is a sign of unity with another person, which is why YHWH commands us to eat together at the Temple on certain occasions. (e.g., Lev. 7:15) The Essenes were so scandalized by the corruption in the priesthood that they stopped frequenting the Temple altogether, though they knew it was the right place. Even our parents' influence (represented by their food) can affect us adversely if holiness is our goal; even things in the church that feed those who are starving may not be acceptable to the mature. Voice of gladness...: This is a refrain repeated often throughout Yirmeyahu. Prophets would sing out their prophecies with their own distinctive styles. 10. "And when you announce all these words to this people, what they will say to you is, 'On what account has YHWH pronounced all this great calamity against us? And what is our crookedness, and what is the offense by which we have sinned against YHWH our Elohim?' Like Malakhi's audience, they do not even know enough of Torah to know what they are doing wrong. (Mal. 1:6-7; 2:17; 3:8) 11. "Then say to them, 'On account of [the fact] that your ancestors forsook Me,' declares YHWH, 'and walked after other elohim, served them, and bowed down to them, but Me they forsook, and did not guard My instruction. Not guarding His instruction constitutes how they forsook Him. 12. "'But you have caused more evil to be done than your ancestors, because here you are, each walking after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so as not to show Me any [interested] attention. We are safer at a distance from YHWH than being right beside His fire if we are not part of His fire. (He would rather we be hot, but being cold is better than being lukewarm, Rev. 3:16) Following one's own heart is in YHWH's eyes worse than idolatry, because it indicates that we are not even worshipping something outside ourselves, but are worshipping our very selves. If we are not listening to YHWH, it means we think we already have enough information to guide us in how to act. 13. "'So I have thrown you out from upon this Land into the land that neither you nor your ancestors have been familiar with, and you will [certainly] serve different elohim day and night, [from] which I will not grant you [any] consideration.' Any consideration: favor, pity, or reprieve; that is, there will be no room given to repent, and the punishment will include being subject to the merciless treatment of the pagan deities that they had asked to serve. 14. "'Because of this, the days are coming,' declares YHWH, 'when it will no longer be said, "[As] YHWH lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the Land of Egypt", Because of this: the casting out from the Land is what made the larger exodus possible. 15. "'but rather, "[As] YHWH lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north, and from all the lands into which He had caused them to be banished." Indeed, I will bring them back onto their Land, which I gave to their ancestors. Bring them back: or, allow them to return. This exodus will so supersede the earlier one, that people will all but forget it in comparison! And this process has begun today. The House of Yehudah has been coming back for over fifty years, but only recently have the other tribes begun realizing that this applies to us as well. 16. "'Here I am, sending out numerous fishermen,' declares YHWH, 'and after they have indeed fished for them [and catch them], I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from upon every mountain and every hill or from the holes [bored into] the rocky cliffs, Fishermen: This is what Yahshua was alluding to when He told the literal fishermen who followed Him that He was now sending them out as fishers of men. (Mat. 4:19) After they have fished: This is the stage we have reached in the present day, for He is taking many who were missionaries out of the Church, and thus terminated the first stage of the job. Yahshua's parable of the dragnet clarifies what the "hunters" will do. They will sort out the unclean from the clean, and throw back the fish or other creatures caught that are not kosher. (Mat. 13:47ff) I.e., those in the gathered-out congregations that are fit for His consumption will be preserved, and those who are not will become part of the only other entity at the time, the Beast's worldwide system which no one can buy or sell without identifying with. The Hebrew form of the word "hunt" is not the form that indicates "hunt for themselves", i.e., to enjoy the provision as their own sustenance. Thus they will not be professional evangelists or pastors who make this their livelihood, but will be doing it for YHWH. Holes bored into the rocky cliffs: where YHWH had told Yirmeyahu to hide away his waist-sash (13:4). 17. "'because My eyes are on all their journeyings; they are not concealed from My face, nor is their crookedness hidden from before My eyes. 18. "'But first I will repay their crookedness and their sin doubly, because they have profaned My Land with the corpses of their detestable things, and have filled My property with their disgusting things.'" Detestable things: i.e., non-kosher animals they had eaten, the unburied bodies of their loved ones (v. 4), as well as the "bodies" of their idols. Doubly: Each of the two Houses of Israel has a different number of years of punishment assigned to it (Yehezqel/Ezekiel 4). Yehudah's was much shorter than Israel's, being only 40 years, and when doubled, 80. Thus their return to the Land began much earlier. Israel's was 390 years, and when doubled, it is 780 years. From the time of the final exile in 722 B.C.E., this comes out to 46 C.E., the time Sha'ul/Paul turned his attention toward the "Gentiles", which in this case specifically meant those who had "undone their circumcision"--the Northern Kingdom which had mingled with the Gentiles whose company they preferred, and whose punishment was thus to become Gentiles. Hoshea 1 also mentions two sentences, running concurrently: that of "no mercy", and that of "not being a people". By the time the first sentence for the Northern Kingdom was up, Yahshua had already come and made amnesty available to individuals from the House of Israel to again become part of the Commonwealth of Israel even in their continued exile, a theme Paul (Eph. 2:12ff), Kefa (1 Peter 1:1; 2:11), and Yaaqov (James 1:1) all highlighted. Yirmeyahu continues on this same theme: 19. O YHWH, my strength, my stronghold, and My refuge in the day of distress, to you [swarms of] Gentiles will come from the ends of the earth and say, "Truly our parents have inherited falsehood--a vapor, in which there is no benefit!" Ends of the earth: can also mean "final [days] of the earth", which further clarifies the point of reference--our own day. Falsehood: includes the sense of being a disappointment. Vapor: a breath, or vanity--something of no substance. Gentiles: By the first century, Jews spoke of only fellow Jews as "men"; other were counted on the same level as dogs. But this presented one problem: they could not relegate their exiled relatives, the other tribes, to this category, so they spoke of them as "Gentiles" since they had become like a mixture between man and animal. (See notes on 3:17; 4:2) Everything the Apostles wrote about the "Gentiles" must therefore be taken in this context. The second sentence (not being a people), which was not doubled (as in v. 18), but extended sevenfold (Lev. 26:24) to 2,730 years, is now at an end, and many who thought we were Gentiles are realizing that though YHWH allowed us some degree of mercy by providing salvation through Yahshua, have still been understanding Him in many wrong ways, and are now being called to jettison many theological concepts and rediscover what it means to be Israel and to know YHWH (v. 21) as YHWH and not as anyone else. No benefit: something you cannot "cash in", but at the root, something by which you cannot ascend; they keep us on the same level where we are. Falsehood: a sham, something meant to deceive. What our parents DID give us served to obscure what they did NOT give us--the Torah, which they said would kill us! So to ascend again, we must call on the merits of our fathers' fathers, to whom it was given, since we want to be more like them than our immediate ancestors. 20. Can humanity make elohim for itself? Yet they are not elohim! Or, can Adam act as an elohim for himself? A rhetorical question proving that the advice our first parents (v. 19) were handed was indeed a vaporous falsehood. 21. "This being the case, here I am, bringing them to admit [it]; this time I will cause them to recognize My hand and My excellency, and they will realize that My Name is YHWH." This time: literally, this beat, as on occurrence in a rhythmic series. Recognize: or simply, see. As soon as the confession of v. 19 is made, He will be so quick to bring about the Messianic Kingdom, in which His hand (the Messiah) will indeed be seen. My excellency: including how much greater I am than they--the very focus of the first lie, as well as His strength, as exhibited previously in the exodus from Egypt. CHAPTER 17 1. "Yehudah's sin is recorded with an iron pen; with a diamond stylus it is engraved on the tablet of their heart and on the horns of your altars, 2. "while their sons remember their altars and their Asherim by the flourishing trees on the high hills. Asherim: a linguistically improper term, for it is a masculine pulral. The singular form is Asherah, which is feminine. The proper plural is asheroth. We do find that term used 3 times in Scripture, but Asherim is used 16 times in Scripture. Joseph Good says it could be a "marriage of the names" of two gods. The amulets associated with Asherah were themselves shaped like a womb. They were highly stylized, with sexual features emphasized. Some of the "groves" were phallic symbols that did not represent Asherah, but were said to be "for" her—i.e., her consorts. So the masculine form of her name is used for them. As "Artemis of the Ephesians", she is mentioned in Acts. Idols were more often meant to convey functions and attributes of the gods than their appearance. (They were pictograms, not portraits.) Some were life-sized and of wood, sometimes overlaid with silver or gold, with eyes of precious stones. A.L. Oppenheim explains that the "deity" was present in the image if it s paraphernalia showed certain crucial features and it was treated in a special manner. Its spirit was "made present" by a rite called "opening or washing the mouth". It was fed twice a day, because they believed it needed nourishment. It was outfitted in splendor, lavishly clothed in blue and purple. (10:9) They did not worship the image itself, but the god they believed was in it. In a sort of "mystic unity", the statue "became" what it represented. The deity therefore both was and was not the idol. Fornication with the priests (as with Eli's sons) was counted as having relations with the god itself. 3. "O, my mountain on the plain! Your wealth--all your treasure-store I will give [away] as plunder; your cultic platforms in sin throughout all of your territories. My mountain: Israel, which stands out to Him from among all other nations, as well as the holy Temple Mount in particular. 4. "And you (on your own) will even let it drop from your inheritance that I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in the land you are not familiar with, because you have kindled a fire in My nostril[s]; it will be kept burning forever." Let it drop: fall or rest; from the same root as the release in the fiftieth year, when debts are all canceled and inherited lands returned to the owners who have had to sell them to pay debts. (Lev. 25:10-11). This time it would "fall" to their enemies instead of to its original owners. 5. This is what YHWH says: "The warrior who trusts in humanity, who lets flesh constitute his arm, and who turns away from YHWH, is under a curse, Warrior: or simply, strong or great man. His arm: a concrete way of describing strength--what he relies on. 6. "because he will be like a [forlorn] shrub in the Aravah, and will not notice when prosperity comes, but will inhabit the parched regions in the uninhabited area of the Land of Salt. Shrub: identified variously as a heath, juniper, wild tamarisk (LXX), or thistle (Aramaic). The root word indicates "something to be razed, stripped off, or wiped away"--almost like a rootless tumbleweed. Land of Salt: in the Aravah (part of the Great Rift Valley south of where the Yarden flows), this has to mean the area around the Dead Sea, which is full of salt and mineral residue, the remnants of S'dom's overthrow. 7. "The warrior who trusts in YHWH, and whose object of confidence is YHWH, is blessed, 8. "and he will be like a tree planted over waters and [that] sends out its roots onto an aquifer. He will not even notice when heat comes, and his leaves will [still] be luxuriant. He will not be concerned in the year of drought, nor will he stop producing fruit. Luxuriant: LXX, shady. 9. "The heart is more insidious than anything [else], and it is woefully incurable; who can decipher it? Insidious: sly, slippery, deceitful. Contrast this with today's popular philosophy of "following your heart". LXX, the heart is deep… and it is the man. It will lie to you more than haSatan will! 10. "I, YHWH, thoroughly examine a heart and scrutinize the affections, [so as] to give to each man [what] his habitual manners [of life deserve], according to the fruit of his practices. Affections: or mind; literally, kidneys, the physical organ that performs the same function of discerning and choosing what to retain and what to dispose of, but also seen anciently as the seat of thoughts and emotions (the gut reaction we cannot control, and thus what shows what we really fear). Habitual manners: literally, paths or ways—i.e., the course he continues on. Practices: or actions, accomplishments—what we actually get done. (Mat. 21:28ff) This is how He tests us. (Mat. 7:16, 20) 11. "The one who produces wealth but not by just [means] is a partridge [that] broods but does not hatch [the eggs]; at the halfway-point of his days it will abandon him, and later [in] his [life] he will be [called] a fool." The Aramaic explains: Like the partridge which gathers eggs which are not his own, and hatches the broods which will not follow him; LXX, gathers eggs it did not lay. 12. An honorable throne, elevated since the earliest [time], is the site of our sanctuary. Aramaic: Punishment shall be exacted of him before the One whose Sh'khina is upon the throne of glory in the heavens on high… corresponding to the place of the House of our Sanctuary. This shows how ancient is the tradition that the heavenly throne sits just above the site of the Temple, which the rabbis say is what "Yerushalayim is established as a city that is joined together" means. (Psalm 122:3) 13. O YHWH, Purification Pool of Israel, any who forsake You will be ashamed; those who turn away from Me will be inscribed in the earth, because they have forsaken YHWH, the Source of living waters. This is part of the liturgy for the festival of Sukkoth, and is quoted in the Mishnah in reference to atonement on Yom Kippur, which precedes Sukkoth by only a few days. Turn away: or depart. Living waters: freshly-flowing, non-stagnant waters, which are essential if ritual purification is to take place. Inscribed in the earth: Contrast having one’s name written in heaven. (Luke 10:20) If it is not there, our only reward can come now; the name of the wicked will decay (Prov. 10:7), and thus one day be no more. Yahshua alluded to this verse one Sukkoth by writing on the ground the names of those who had brought the woman taken in adultery to Him for judgment. (Yochanan 8) By trying to trap Him in His words, they proved they had turned away from YHWH, for He had just the previous day (Yoch. 7:37-38) in the Temple during the water-pouring ceremony on the greatest day of Sukkoth (v. 10), in the Temple (the site of YHWH's sanctuary, v. 12), proclaimed Himself the one anyone could come to if he was thirsty for living water (i.e., purification). And, true to the verse, they turned away and departed in shame, beginning with the oldest, who had heard the liturgy more often and recognized the connection. After the Day of Atonement, when the gates are closed, there may yet remain some grace, but if someone is still unrepentant by the end of Sukkoth, he has sealed his choice. These supposedly-holy men refused what Yirmeyahu chose to partake of: 14. Heal me, O YHWH, and I will be healed; deliver me, and I will be delivered, because You are my [object of] praise. And I will be: or, so I may be. 15. Here they are indeed, saying to me, "Where is YHWH's word? Please let it come!" Where: we need to see the sarcasm in their question. 16. But I have not pressed [to be free] from shepherding after You, nor have I longed for the day of [being] incurable. You know that what went forth from My lips was right in front of Your face. Yirmeyahu was frustrated by trying to shepherd YHWH's flock, but he did not give up or take pleasure in the coming judgment (Aram.) because his audience was so stubborn. But he now realizes that they are indeed incurable. 17. Do not be a cause of terror to me; You [Yourself] are my refuge in the day of trouble! 18. Let those who persecute me be ashamed, but do not let me be put to shame! Let them be shattered, but don't let me be shattered! Bring on them the day of trouble, and crush them with a double crushing! Ashamed: or disconcerted. 19. This is what YHWH told me: "Go and stand in the Gate of the Sons of the People, by which the kings of Yehudah enter and leave, and in all of the gates of Yerushalayim, 20. "and tell them, 'Listen to the word of YHWH, O kings of Yehudah, as well as all of Yehudah, and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim who come in by these gates! 21. "'This is what YHWH says: "Restrain yourselves, and do not carry a load on the Sabbath day, nor bring them in by the gates of Yerushalayim, Restrain yourselves: or, beware for [the sake of] your lives, for they were even breaking one of the most basic commands. We ask YHWH to open the gates for us when we come to worship YHWH, but our baggage--our personal burdens--are to be left outside; perhaps they will not even be there anymore when we come out on the other side of the Sabbath! We need to count everything as already finished, with nothing still needing to be done, when we enter His courts. (Heschel; compare Mat. 5:24) The Sabbath is not for serving the creation, but for creatying the Kingdom. 22. "'"and do not take a load out from your houses, nor do any work at all, but set the Sabbath day apart as sacred, as I commanded your ancestors."'" Work: not the word for service to others, but livelihood, business, or craftsmanship which is for the purpose of benefiting yourself. 23. But they did not obey or hold out their ears, but [instead] stiffened their neck so as neither to [be able to] hear nor receive correction. Hold out their ears: as if they could not understand, but wanted to. One cannot "walk circumspectly" (aware of the dangers on all sides) if he is stiff-necked and only looking at the path he has chosen to walk. 24. "Now this is how it will be if you listen to Me [and] obey," declares YHWH, "by refraining from bringing a load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but set the Sabbath day apart as sacred by not doing any work on it: He asks so little, and offers such great rewards! If we do just this one thing, He says, we can start over and the Messiah can come as well! This is why the rabbis teach that if every Jew (substitute Israelite!) were to simultaneously keep the Sabbath just once, the Messiah would be obligated to come. 25. "Then kings and princes who sit on the throne of David will enter the gates of this city riding on chariots and horses--they, their princes, the men of Yehudah, and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, and this city will be inhabited forever. 26. "And they will come from the cities of Yehudah, from the [suburbs] surrounding Yerushalayim, from the land of Binyamin, from the Sh'felah, from the mountainous area, and from the Negev, bringing ascending [offering], grain tributes, and frankincense, and carrying thank offerings [into the] House of YHWH. Sh'felah: the foothills or lowland west of Yerushalayim and east of the coastal plain. 27. "But if you will not obey Me [by] keeping the Sabbath day separate and refraining from carrying a load while entering at the gates of Yerushalayim on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire within her gates, and it will devour the palaces of Yerushalayim, and it will not be quenched." Palaces: from a word meaning elevated; as seen from archaeology, the highest buildings in many cities were the palaces and temples (where unauthorized ones were built). Interestingly, Heschel describes the Sabbath as a "palace in time". Since they did not respect this palace, the physical ones were taken away as well.
CHAPTERS 18-21 CHAPTER 18 1. The word that came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH: 2. "Get up and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear My words." House: the first letter in the Torah is "beyt", which means house; as we see what happens in verse 4, there is a clear parallel with the judgment of the world prior to our own and the reconstitution that took place when the world we are familiar with was created. 3. So I went down to the potter's house, and at just [that moment] he was producing a work on the stone [wheel]s. Wheels: literally simply "stones", but set together in a particular way to be useable for forming vessels of pottery. They move in a circle, which is related to the word for YHWH's cycle of "festivals" (chagim). 4. But the article he was forming from clay was damaged in the potter's hand, so, going back, he made it into a different article, according to what was right to make, in the potter's eyes. Was damaged: or ruined; LXX, fell. If the clay is not kneaded properly, a small bubble, lump, or bulge can remain in the clay can make it impossible to center the clay to form it into a particular vessel, since this anomaly has a ripple effect while the wheel spins, and makes the whole vessel lobsided. If it becomes ruined like this, it all collapses, and cannot be straightened out; the only thing left to do is throw it away, or flatten it again and start over. This is a lot more work, but the covenant demands that He study the clay itself to see what shape would be more appropriate according to the material he is working with. Often it is tossed into a bucket with other bad clay and reshaped together. This is like the Northern Kingdom, which was tossed out among the other nations until it was ready for YHWH to rework into a people again. 5. Then the word of YHWH came to me, saying, 6. "Am I not able to do to you like this potter [did], O House of Israel?" says YHWH. "After all, in My hand you are just like clay in the potter’s hand, O House of Israel. We are dug out of the mire (a Hebrew word that is often used to represent the world at large), and set up on the rocks where He can form us. (Psalm 40) We cannot question His choices or why He forms us the way He does. (Yeshayahu 29:15-16; 30:14; 41:25; 44:21ff; 45:7-10; Romans 9:15ff) Efrayim, too, thought it was bad when He started applying the pressure. (Hoshea 7) But the proper response to His shaping us is, "O YHWH, You are our Father! We are the clay, and You are the one who forms us; we are all the workmanship of Your hand." (Yesh. 64:8). We are not our own, but He has chosen to use us for His purposes. What He most wants to build from the clay vessels that we are now (2 Cor. 4:6ff) is a mold for the golden vessels that will result after He burns away our impurities--an unpleasant experience, but not one we cannot bear, since He applies a predetermined degree of stress to make us come out just right. (1 Kings 7:46; Yaaqov/James 1:2; 1 Kefa/Peter 1:6; 1 Cor. 10:12ff) For this to be accomplished, we have to remove the things that are in our vessels which stand in His way (2 Timothy 2:20ff, and trust His judgment. If we do not, He will have to pour caustic materials in to eat away what has hardened onto the inside of the pots, so that there is hope that they can be used after all. If we do not submit to it, we will be put on the shelf. 7. "[The] moment I [may] promise concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to root out or pull down or cause it to vanish, 8. "then that nation turns back from its evil against which I have spoken, then I will relent from the trouble that I planned to cause for it. Nin'veh is the salient example of this, in the book of Yonah. 9. "But the moment I promise concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build it up or to establish it, 10. "then it does what is wicked in My eye to avoid obeying My voice, then I will be sorry regarding the pleasantness with which I promised to benefit it. Compare Yahshua's parable of the two sons (Mat. 21:28-32) and the branches that boast arrogantly that they have been grafted in to replace others that were broken off. (Romn. 11:16-24) 11. "So now, please speak to the man of Yehudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, saying, "This is what YHWH says: 'Indeed I am fashioning trouble for you, and devising a plan against you. Each of you, turn back from his evil course, and make your directions and practices right!' Fashioning: the same word as for "potter" above (literally, the one who fashions or shapes). Remember, his audience are priests, who already know what is right. 12. "Yet they have said, "Give up [any] hope [of that], because we're going to walk after our own plans, and [each] man will carry out the stubbornness of his wicked mind." Give up hope: or, it's hopeless; i.e., we have a whole economy built on the worship that is going on now. Think of how many people would be out of jobs if we changed things! (cf. Acts 19:27) We can't upset this! Though we have all these examples of our forebears' How different is this from, "I know it's right to keep the Sabbath and not Sunday, but I'd lose my job if I did!"? These well-off clerics had too much to lose, even though they would have been well-rewarded for being the servants they were meant to be in Israel. But they feared something besides YHWH. Such people usually say, "He knows My heart", but we have seen (17:9) that our hearts are deceitful and that our hearts are revealed through our deeds. 13. "Therefore this is what YHWH says: 'Please inquire [as to] who among the nations has heard [things] like these! The virgin of Israel has done a very horrifying thing! 14. "'Does the snow of Levanon desert the rock of the field? Or are the cold waters that flow from a foreign [land] displaced? LXX, Will fertilizing streams fail to flow from a rock…? Cold waters: LXX, water violently impelled by the wind. 15. "Because My people have forgotten Me! They have [started] burning incense to empty nothings, and they have caused them to stagger in their journeyings from the eternal ways to walk on the paths [more often] trodden--a road that is not lifted up, Paths more trodden: A road that is not lifted up: LXX, impassable paths. Alt., a bypath, and not on a highway. 16. "to turn their land into a wasteland, a constant [cause for] whistling. All who pass through it will be awestruck and shake his head. Whistling: from appalled surprise at what has become of it. Seventeen centuries after the Jews were exiled, Mark Twain made a famous comment that not even a chicken could scratch out a living in it. 17. "Like an east wind, I will cause them to be dispersed in the face of an enemy; I will show them [My] back and not [My] face on the day of their calamity." East wind: or ancient spirit. 18. Then they said, "Come, let's devise schemes against Yirmeyahu, because [the] Torah is not going to be lost from a priest, nor advice from the wise, nor a word from a prophet! Come on, let's conquer him with the tongue, and not pay attention to any of his words." Conquer: or, wound, destroy. 19. Pay attention to me, O YHWH, and listen to the voice of my opponents! 20. Should evil be repaid in the place of [what is] beneficial? Because they have dug a pit for my soul! Remember [that] I stood before You to promise [what is] beneficial toward them, and to turn Your hot rage away from them! He kept asking YHWH to forgive them when YHWH said not to, but changed his tune once they started plotting against him. 21. So give their children over to the famine! And pour them out toward the hand of the sword! Let their women be bereaved [of their children] and become widows! And let their men be murdered by death, their young men [in their prime] struck down by the sword in battle! This is a custom-ordered massacre! (Compare Psalm 109; Yeshayahu 13:16) He sees that the Land continues to be defile as the Kanaanites before them had, and so it needs to be emptied out and re-conquered. Remember, these were his own nephews and nieces he was asking to have killed, because though He interceded on their behalf, they did not uphold him. This man who hears from YHWH understands justice, though in our modern world, he seems so intolerant and un-Christian. To treat a cancer, you sometimes have to remove other cells as well. Chemotherapy operates in the hope that the cancer cells will die off before their host dies. This is why it has taken so long to cleanse the people of Israel and prepare the new man in YHWH's image for Him to inhabit as a Temple. 22. Let an outcry be heard from their houses because You have caused a marauding band [of raiders] to come upon them suddenly, because they have dug a pit to capture me, and buried traps for my feet! 23. And You, O YHWH, are familiar with all of their plotting against me for [my] death. Do not cover over their guilt, or let their sin be wiped away from in front of Your face! Rather, let them be those who are made to totter in Your presence. Deal with them at the time [when You are] angry! CHAPTER 19 1. This is what YHWH said: "Go and acquire a potter's earthenware jar, as well as [items] from the elders of the people and from the eldest of the priests, 2. "and go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom which [is] an opening of the Potsherd Gate, and call out there the words that I will tell you. Potsherd gate: where they dumped broken pottery that could be used for nothing else. Yehudah ("Judas") hanged himself on a tree overhanging this valley, then fell down into it. He considered himself of no further use to Y'shua, in contrast to Kefa, who repented with bitter weeping. 3. "Then say, 'Listen to the word of YHWH, O kings of Yehudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim! This is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: "Here I am, causing a calamity to come upon this place which will [make] the ears of anyone who hears it tingle, 4. "'"since they have forsaken Me and treated this Place as strange, and burned incense to other elohim which neither they, their ancestors, nor the kings of Yehudah have been familiar with, and have filled this place with the blood of innocent [people]! Strange: or foreign; compare Hoshea 8:12, where Efrayim calls the Torah a "strange thing", which was the reason for the Northern Kingdom's exile. Now Yehudah is doing the same. 5. "'"They have also rebuilt the cultic platforms of Ba'al so [they could] burn their children with fire as ascending offerings to Ba'al--[something] that I never commanded or mentioned, nor did it even cross My mind! Cross My mind: literally, come up onto My heart. Thousands of tiny bull-idols and Ashtaroth from the period of Hebrew occupation have been found in Yerushalayim. Archaeologist Gabi Barkey located it at the juncture of the three valleys that frame Yerushalayim. A complete graveyard of earthenware ossuaries marked "for Ba'al" have been unearthed at the Tofeth with children's bones in them, including babies. 6. "'"Therefore, indeed, days are coming," declares YHWH, "when this place will no longer be called Tofeth or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but rather, the Valley of the Slaying. Tofeth means "spitting"; i.e., a byword whose name people loathe even to mention. Though Yoshiyahu had taken special pains to defile this place when bringing his reforms (2 Kings 23), the practice was started up again. After 586 B.C., the Valley of Hinnom (Ge-Henna in Greek) is referred to as a perpetually-burning rubbish heap. After such an awful usage, no one wanted to use it for anything but garbage. 7. "'"I will also bring the plan of Yehudah and Yerushalayim to nothing in this place, and make them fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who are seeking their lives, and I will give their dead bodies as food to the fowls of the air and the beast of the earth. Plan: or counsel, advice, purpose. They had their positions structured as they wanted them, and, like Kayafa the high priest in Y'shua's day, would rather be rid of YHWH's prophet than disrupt the status quo. Israel is not to make firm plans, only to be responsible about our decisions. We are to be flexible, not stiff-necked, ready to break camp and move when the pillar of cloud or fire starts moving. We cannot know until the aviv barley is ready when the year will begin; we cannot set the dates for the festivals until the new moon is seen. Israelites are tent-dwellers, who can go with the flow, and ascend the steps to YHWH's courts more quickly. Beast of the earth: or land. There is a secondary fulfillment of this slaughter in the last days when the blood flows up to the horses’ bridles in the Tofeth, also the site of Messiah's tribunal. (Yoel 3:12-17; Rev. 14:20; 19:18) The Sheep and Goats judgment will also take place here. (Mat. 25:31ff) The remains of those who transgressed against YHWH will still be visible here for the pilgrims who come up to Yerushalayim for the Millennial feasts to see (Yeshayahu 66:24) The valleys then will undoubtedly be deeper, as the Temple Mount is raised to be the highest of hills. (Micha 4:1) 8. "'"And I will turn this city into a wasteland and a [cause for] whistling; all who pass through it will be awestruck and will whistle over all the blows that ravage it. 9. "'"And I will have them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each will eat the flesh of his companion in the siege and the [dire] straits [into] which their enemies who seek their life will press them.'" 10. "Then you must shatter the jar in the sight of the mortals who are walking with you, 11. "and tell them, 'This is what YHWH of Armies says: "In the same way I will shatter this people and this city, just as one can break the potter's vessel, which can never be repaired again. And they will bury [them] in Tofeth since they have no other place to bury them. 12. "'"Indeed I will do just that to this place," declares YHWH, "and to its inhabitants, and give this city over [to become just] like Tofeth. 13. "'"Then the houses of Yerushalayim and the households of the kings of Yehudah will become like the defiled site of Tofeth, for all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the armies of heaven and for [the purpose] of pouring out libations to other elohim."'" 14. Then Yirmeyahu came from the Tofeth, where YHWH had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the [enclosed] court of the House of YHWH, and said to all the people, 15. "This is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: 'Here I am, bringing to this city and upon all its towns all the trouble that I have threatened against it, because they have stiffened their necks so as not to listen to My words.'" CHAPTER 20 1. When Pash'hur the son of Immer the priest (who was also chief overseer in the House of YHWH) heard Yirmeyahu prophesying these words, Son: includes the possibility of being a less immediate descendant of Immer, the priest who headed the 16th course to serve twice a year in the Temple, as appointed by David. (1 Chron. 24:14) 2. Pash'hur both beat Yirmeyahu and put him up [in] the stocks that were in the Upper Gate of Binyamin, which is by the House of YHWH. Gate of Binyamin: the northern part of the Temple complex was in Binyamin’s tribal land. If Yirmeyahu could get the common people (v. 21) stirred up, it would weaken the power base of those who were abusing their position. Pash'hur thought this embarrassment would shut Yirmeyahu up and elicit a cowering apology. Instead he gets a bold rebuke: 3. Now on the next day when Pash'hur let Yirmeyahu out of the stocks, Yirmeyahu told him, "YHWH has not called your name Pash'hur, but rather Magor-Misaviv. Pash'hur means "freedom" or "torn loose", reminding us of the garment Aviyah the prophet tore into 12 pieces to represent the dividing of the kingdom. If self is torn up, we are free. But to Christian theology, freedom is having the Torah torn up. Yet this is not freedom at all. There must be boundaries, as set by the "perfect law of liberty". (Yaaqov/James 1:25) Magor-Misaviv means "terror from every side". He feels secure in this freedom, but he has set aside the Torah, which is something that cannot be set aside without eventual consequences; freedom set on the wrong base must fall, leaving us wide open and exposed to terror. Without law, anyone can take whatever he wants without repercussions, and nothing can be done about it, because there is no justice. Freedom specifically means one cannot do whatever he wants. Babylon always seems to be connected with a reckoning. (e.g., Rev. 18:9-15) Babylon has continued through a set of philosophies and principles. 4. "Because this is what YHWH says: 'Behold, I am giving you over to being a terror to [both] yourself and all whom you love, and they will fall by the sword of their enemies while your eyes look on, and I will deliver all of Yehudah into the hand of the king of Bavel, and he will carry them away into exile in Bavel or strike them with the sword. All whom you love: or, all who love you. Bavel: Babylon in Greek. 5. "'Then I will give over all of this city's wealth, and all the property it has worked for, and everything it values highly, and I will give all the treasures of the kings of Yehudah into their enemies’ hands, and they will plunder them and snatch them away, and bring them to Bavel. 6. "'And you [yourself], Pash'hur, and all who live in your house, will go into captivity, and Bavel you will enter, and there you will die, and there you will be buried--you and all your loved ones to whom you have prophesied fraudulently.'" 7. O YHWH, You have seduced me, and I was persuaded; You were stronger than I, and prevailed! I have become a laughingstock all day [long]; everyone is mocking me! Seduced: implies intimacy, and he could not resist. He wishes he could get away from his family's hating him and disrespect from his whole nation, but he cannot. He gives in, saying YHWH has won. But the fact that he did not insist on his freedom "bought" him his own freedom once the captivity would begin. Therefore, he is the freest person in the equation. Paul, on the other hand, insisted on his rights as a Roman citizen, and it ended up costing him his life after years in custody. 8. Because whenever I speak, I proclaim violence and summon havoc! Because the word of YHWH has become a reproach to me and a cause for mocking all day [long]. Whenever I speak: LXX, I will laugh with my bitter speech. 9. So I said, "I will not bring Him to mind or speak anymore in His Name." But it was like a fire burning in my heart, restrained within my bones, and I was tired of holding it in, and I was not able to, Bring Him to mind: LXX, name the Name of YHWH. 10. because I heard the [whispered] slander of many, terror on every side: "Expose! Yes, let's expose him!" Every mortal of my welfare is watching [for] me to stumble: "Maybe he will be gullible, and we can beat him and take our revenge on him!" Terror on every side: the same as the new name YHWH had given to Pash'hur. Watching for me to stumble: LXX, Watch his intentions! 11. But YHWH is with me like a giant who awakens terror, so [it is] my pursuers [who] will be tottering, and they will not win. They will be sorely put to shame, because they have not proven successful--an everlasting disgrace that will never be forgotten! Will not win: LXX, could not perceive anything against me. 12. But YHWH of [organized] Armies, who scrutinizes the righteous, seeing the affections and the mind, let me see Your vengeance, because I have laid my case open to You. His audience has already been judged; his faithfulness to keep prophesying in the face of such opposition was more for his own sake, because it raised his standing before YHWH. He understands it is a test, and submits to it; he only asks that it be over quickly. 13. Sing to YHWH! Praise YHWH, because He has snatched the soul of the needy away from the hand of those who do harm. 14. Cursed be the day on which I was born; do not let the day on which my mother bore me be blessed! Yirmeyahu's emotions are "bipolar" due to the intensity of the situation--not just his own, for the ramifications for the whole world because of what is happening to Israel are staggering. 15. Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, saying, "A male offspring is born to you!", making him very glad. 16. And let that man be like the cities that YHWH overthrew without regretting [it] (though He heard the outcry in the morning and the alarm at noon-time), The cities: probably S'dom and Ghamorah. 17. who did not kill me [right] from the womb, so that my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always pregnant! 18. Why this? Did I come out from the womb to see grief and anguish, with my days consumed away by shame? Or, Why is it that I came out…? Shame: or confusion. Everyone thinks he is a lunatic and has betrayed him except YHWH, and this is all he has to hang onto. CHAPTER 21 1. The word which came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, when King Tzidqiyahu sent Pash'hur the son of Malkhiyah and Ts'fanyah the son of Maaseyah the priest to him, saying, This is a different Pash'hur from the one in chapter 20. This "freedom" is the son of "YHWH is my king"--the only true freedom; the other's father was named "He truly said"--reminiscent of haSatan's casting of doubts on YHWH's intentions in Eden. This apparent freedom is a sham. Tsidqiyahu means “YHWH is my righteousness”. Ts’fanyah means "YHWH has stored up". Maaseyah means "an act of YHWH". 2. "Please ask YHWH on our behalf, because Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, is making war against us. Maybe YHWH will deal with us according to all His extraordinary deeds, and he will draw up from upon us!" Despite all that these priests had done to Yirmeyahu, they still had to admit that he had more influence with YHWH. They only remembered what YHWH could do for them, forgetting how disobedient they had been to Him, rendering them undeserving of His special favor. He rewards their audacity with a shock of His own: 3. But Yirmeyahu told them, "This is what you must tell Tzidqiyahu: 4. "'This is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says: "Here I am, turning back the instruments of war that are in your hand, with which you fight against the king of Bavel and the Khasdim who are pressing against you from outside to the wall. Then I will [indeed] 'remove' them--into the middle of this city! They asked Him to take the Khasdim (Chaldean) army away from the outskirts of the city; He will do so, but not in the way they are hoping for! Yirmeyahu will appear to be a traitor, because they have been traitors way for generations. Probably the reason they did not kill him was that they now see his words beginning to come true. They should be fearing YHWH instead of the Babylonians, so He turns them over to what they fear. (Compare 1:17) 5. "'"I Myself will even fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a firm shoulder, both in anger and in rage, and with great displeasure! 6. "'"I will also bring a scourge [on] the inhabitants of this city, both the human being and the beast; they will die through a great plague. 7. "'"Then indeed, afterwards," declares YHWH, "I will deliver Tzidqiyahu, king of Yehudah, and his servants and the people who are left in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, and into the hand of your enemies, and into the hand of those who demand their life. He will conquer them with the mouth of the sword; he will not pity or spare or have mercy!"' 8. "And you must tell this people, 'This is what YHWH says: Look at Me! I am setting before you the path of life and the path of death. YHWH is reiterating a choice He vividly portrayed to Israel in Y'hoshua's day. (Compare Deut. 11:26; 28; 30:19; Y'hosh. 8:33ff.) 9. "'Whoever remains in this city will die by the sword or by famine or by the plague, but whoever goes out and lowers himself to the Chasdim who are pressing in on you, he will survive, though his soul will belong to him as plunder, Belong to him: i.e., the king of Bavel; alternate, and his life will be his own as spoil. I.e., all he will have left is his life. During World War II, many wealthy Jews survived by likewise taking a lower position--menial jobs in that kept them in obscure places where the Nazis did not even wish to tread. YHWH rewarded those who did submit; they soon found themselves held in high esteem by the Babylonians and even given positions within the Babylonian government. (See Daniel.) Life was so pleasant for them there that the majority did not come back to the Land when they were permitted to after the 70 years. 10. "'because I have set My face against this city for adversity and not for prosperity,' declares YHWH. 'It will be delivered into the hand of the king of Bavel, and he will burn it with fire!' 11. "Then to the house of the king of Yehudah, [say], 'Heed the word of YHWH! There were still some peasants who remained in the Land, but the priests and kings (who had to write out a copy of the Torah for themselves upon inauguration and study it daily) were expected to know better, and so incurred stricter judgment than, for example, the potter Yirmeyahu visited. 12. "'O House of David, this is what YHWH says: "Execute justice in the morning, and bring about the rescue of the one taken away by force out of the hand of the oppressor, lest My rage go forth like fire and set ablaze so there is no one who can extinguish [it], from the face of the wickedness of your practices! In the morning: or, in the seeking, i.e., at the time when there is enough light to distinguish the right path from the wrong one. (v. 8) YHWH keeps raising the standard for Israel. Earlier He said He would bring the kingdom back with total amnesty if they would repent. But they refused to ascend at that point. There was a small window during which they could prove they were repentant. They were past the point of turning back His judgment, so the choice now was to survive or not survive. Yet He still was merciful enough to give them this. They can at least show that they admit that they are receiving what they deserve and that they concur that YHWH is right. They have reached the "seventy-times-seven" limit of which Y'shua spoke. (2 Chron. 36:21) For 490 years they had not obeyed His command to let the Land have a rest every seven years, so now He would recoup those years by sending them into captivity for 70 years. 13. "'Indeed, I am against you, O [Woman] who inhabits the valley, the leveled Rock,' declares YHWH '—those who are saying, "Who can penetrate into us? Or who can enter our habitations?" Penetrate into us: LXX, alarm us. They are still cocksure that their current prosperity guarantees that YHWH will not bring any punishment upon them. The king's audacity in refusing to pay tribute to Bavel is what brought the army after them, on the natural (political) level. 14. "'And I will call you to account according to the fruit of your endeavors,' declares YHWH. 'Then I will set a fire in her forest, and it will consume everything around it.'"
Chapters 22-25 CHAPTER 22 1. This is what YHWH says: "Go down to the house of the King of Yehudah and speak this word there, 2. "and say, 'O king of Yehudah, who sits on the throne of David, you and your servants, and your people who enter by these gates, 3. "'this is what YHWH says: "Do justice and righteousness, and rescue those being taken away by force from the hand of an oppressor, and do not mistreat the foreign visitor, the fatherless, or the widow, nor do violence, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, Even if the king himself were not personally guilty of oppressing people (though we know Shlomo was in his grandiose building projects), he is the one responsible for making justice happen in the whole land, because he has his own copy of the Torah and is required to read from it every day. (Deut. 17:18-20) Thus he incurs the judgment when it is not done, just as Yahshua was held responsible when His students were perceived as doing wrong. And why not? Teachers are judged more harshly as well (Yaaqov 3:1), since, by uncovering the depths of what YHWH has hidden they fulfill the prerogative of kings. (Prov. 25:2) A rescue of this type must be harsh, but the only alternative is injustice. The visitor, the fatherless, and the widow are all without a direct covering, and are thus especially vulnerable. The visitor came to learn about YHWH, but when the Nation is not living the Torah, he cannot find Him. 4. "'"because if you indeed do this thing, then kings will enter into the gates of this house, [in the position] of David on his throne, riding on chariots and on horses--he along with his servants and his people. In 17:24-25 he said the same results would follow if the nation kept the Sabbath: if you will DO (not just "believe"), then He will do. 5. "'"But if you will not heed these words, I swear by Myself", declares YHWH, "that this House will come to be laid waste," This house: the royal palace and family in the lineage of David. 6. "'because this is what YHWH says about the house of the King of Yehudah: "You are [as] Gil'ad to Me, the top of the Levanon. If I will not make you a wilderness of cities no [longer] inhabited...! Gil'ad: a very fruitful, lush land. Top of the Levanon: snow-capped peaks, the source of plentiful water. 7. "'"And I will dedicate destroyers [to come] against you, each one with his own tools, and cut down the choicest of your cedars and let them drop into the fire. Dedicate: literally, "set apart", the same word for the most sacred rooms in the Temple. Thus these destroyers are His hand-picked "special forces". Cedars: Levanon’s greatest boast. 8. "'"Then many Gentiles will pass by this city and say, 'Why has YHWH done this to this great city?' 9. "'"Then they will say, 'On account of their forsaking the covenant of YHWH their Elohim, and bowing down to other elohim and serving them.' Forsaking YHWH: yet the crimes listed above are against fellow men. Thus we learn that remaining neutral when it is time to judge is forsaking His covenant and is tantamount to idolatry. The covenant is not just an agreement; it is a written document which constitutes none other than the Torah. If we simply forgive an attacker when Torah says to do justice, it means we place no value on the life of an unborn child or the life of a person who was murdered. All His judgments are righteous. When it is time to be severe, we are guilty if we are not. YHWH provides for both sides--protection and the means to remove the evil that threatens the rest of the people who still remain. (Psalm 23's well-known phrase "Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me" means this very thing--that the presence of just judgment is what brings peace.) We through our ancestors have forsaken the covenant in this way by worshipping a moral system that says we must always forgive and never judge, due to taking Yahshua’s words out of the whole context of Torah and all He said. 10. "'"Don't cry for the dead or express sorrow for him; instead, weep bitterly for the one who is going away, because he will never return or see the Land of his birth." In other words, he would be better off dead. 11. "'For this is what YHWH says toward Shallum, the son of Yoshiyahu, King of Yehudah, who is reigning in the place of his father Yoshiyahu, who left this place: he will not return there again; Shallum means "full retribution", and is another name for Yehoakhaz; Yoshiyahu means "whom YHWH supports". 12. "'rather, he will die in the place where they have taken him captive, and he will never again see this Land.'" 13. "Woe [to] him who builds up his household without righteousness, and his roof-chambers without proper legal procedures, who [makes his] neighbor serve without pay, and gives him nothing for his work-- Roof-chambers: or perhaps, stairways. Either way, they need props beneath them in order to remain intact. Without proper legal procedures, the ground-floor is relatively safe, being on solid ground, but the higher we ascend, the more support our steps need. The closer we get to YHWH, the more He can smell the stench that remains in our lives if we do not judge ourselves. 14. "the one who says, 'I will build a spacious house for myself with well-ventilated roof-chambers’, with windows cut out for it, both paneled with cedar and painted in vermilion! Vermilion: a reddish-orange coloring obtained from the "kermes" insect. 15. "Will you be king [just] because you have a passion for cedar? Didn't your father eat and drink as well as carrying out justice and righteousness? It was well for him then. Have a passion for cedar: or, enclose yourself in cedar, which historically in Israel represented caring for oneself before providing for YHWH's House. (2 Shmuel 7:2; Haggai 1:4) Cedar is one of the longest-lasting woods, representing natural security. Eat and drink: i.e., keep YHWH's feasts, when everyone in Israel, including the poor, foreign visitors, and widows all had plenty to eat, celebrating YHWH together: 16. "He pleaded the cause of the poor and needy; then [things went] well. Isn't this [what it means] to know Me?" says YHWH. The poor: those who realize they have a need; the word also means those who are busy (dealing with themselves--the true fast, Yeshayahu 58). Not knowing Elohim is the defining factor in our exile, and yet many want to go back to that sad state of affairs! (Gal. 4:8) 17. "But there is nothing in your eyes or heart except [thoughts] about your own profit or how to shed innocent blood, about how to effect extortion and oppression! 18. "So this is what YHWH says regarding Yehoyaqim, son of Yoshiyahu, the king of Yehudah: they will not mourn for him, saying, 'Alas, my brother!' or 'Alas, beloved!' They will not mourn for him, saying, 'Alas, my master!' or, 'Alas, [your] majesty!' Yehoyaqim: the third last king of Yehudah. His name means "YHWH raises up". 19. "He will be buried with the burial of an ass--dragged away [roughly] and thrown beyond the gates of Yerushalayim. 20. "Ascend the Levanon and cry out! And in Bashan, employ your voice! Cry out [from grief] from all the regions on the other side, because all your lovers are crippled! Bashan: the plateau east of the Sea of Galilee (the Golan Heights today). 21. "I spoke to you when you were prosperous; you said, 'I will not listen.' This is the way you have been since your childhood, because you have not obeyed My voice. Prosperous: or, at ease (true or perceived prosperity). Our propensity is to become spoiled when YHWH blesses us, and become ungrateful like a child used to being rich, thinking we deserve His mercy. (Parallel passage: Deut. 32:15) Yet we have done the same with "grace": we stop our ears to His instruction (Torah) because we think it is our right to be forgiven over and over without penalty. 22. "All of your shepherds will shepherd the wind, and into captivity will your lovers go, because then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness. Shepherd the wind: i.e., have no sheep left to tend. Alt., All your pastors will feed the spirit. LXX, the wind shall tend your shepherds. 23. "O inhabitant of Levanon who builds a nest among the cedars, how graceful will you be when the pangs come upon you--the anguish as of [a woman] giving birth? How graceful will you be: or, How you will be pitied! LXX, you will groan heavily. 24. "[As] I live", says YHWH, "even if Konyahu the son of Yehoyaqim, king of Yehudah, were the signet ring on My right hand, still I would uproot you from there, Konyahu: another name for Yehoyachin. It means "YHWH will establish". In this case, it was presumptuous. Signet ring: used for sealing royal decrees and confidential documents. 25. "so I will turn you over into the hand of those who are seeking your life, and into the hand of those whose face you are terrified of--that is, the hand of Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, and into the hand of the Khasdim. 26. "I will even cast you away—both you and the mother who bore you—into another land in which you were not born, and there you will die. 27. "But as for the Land to which they long in their souls to return, they will not return there. Long to: literally, are intensely lifting up their souls for. 28. "Is this man Konyahu a shattered creation who is considered worthless, or a vessel in which no one takes delight? [Then] why are he and his sons thrown away and hurled into a land with which they were not familiar? Creation: a shaped object, as by a potter; perhaps even an idol. 29. "O Land, Land, Land! Listen to the word of YHWH! 30. "This is what YHWH says: 'Record this man [as] childless--a warrior who will not be successful, because not one of his seed will succeed [him in] sitting on the throne of David or ever again reign in Yehudah. This seems like a death-knell to the Messianic kingdom, for the Messiah is to reign on the throne of his ancestor David! Yet he could not descend from Konyahu (Yechonyah), who was in direct line from Shlomo, through whom David chose the royal line to run. Through Miryam (whose genealogy may be the one that appears in Lukas 3:23ff), Y'shua descended from David by another line (Nathan's), but Yoseyf, his adoptive father and the rightful heir to the throne, gave Him legal right to inherit the throne through Shlomo (cf. v. 20), without making YHWH a liar. He circumvented this curse because Y’shua was not Yechonyah's physical offspring. (Missler on Matithyahu 1:6-16) Favor was restored to the line when Zerubbavel, his grandson (as per Mat. 1:12) sought YHWH diligently. YHWH even used the imagery of the signet ring again (as in v. 24) when speaking of him. (Haggai 2:23). CHAPTER 23 1. "Woe to the shepherds who cause the sheep of My pasture to go astray, and scatter [them]!", declares YHWH. Scatter: the opposite of uniting them—making each go his own direction, which is dissipation. Even if physically present, they have wandered off in their hearts and forgotten their true identity as Hebrews, so He will just finish the process. Yochanan 11:52 tells of the reversal of this curse through Messiah. 2. "Therefore, this is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says about the shepherds who are tending My people: 'You have scattered My flock, and driven them away and not gone after them. Indeed, I will come after you [and bring back upon you] the wickedness of your habits,' declares YHWH. Driven them away: or misled them, taking them down a road of lawlessness. Gone after them: or, counted them--which means getting them ready for war, setting the gifts in order for optimum synergy (as in the Counting of the Omer). 3. "'Then I will collect the remnant of My flock from all the lands to which I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their sheepfold, and they will be fruitful and multiply. I have driven: yet He just blamed the shepherds for driving them away. He had to do so because they had defiled His Land, but the shepherds are the ones who bore the responsibility; the sheep could come back after an appropriate time of punishment. These were the "other sheep not of this fold" whom He would collect back and merge into one with Yehudah again. (Yoch. 10:16) Those who hear the shepherd's voice (in the pure tongue of Hebrew) have circumcised ears, having removed the Hellenized church teachings that stop them up to who we really are. Fruitful and multiply: the name of Efrayim and a specific prophecies about Menashe (Gen. 48:19), but also the exact words used in YHWH's first command to mankind. Thus this will also finally bring about the obedience to the command YHWH gave to Adam and Chavvah. (Gen. 1:22; 8:17) 4. "'And I will station over them shepherds who will shepherd them, and they will never again be afraid or terrified, nor will they be missing,’ declares YHWH. Shepherds: plural, not just Yahshuah (v. 6), but those who are under Him--those over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. (Exodus 18:21) Israel will finally be organized the way He wants it. The message of "no fear" is what will nourish them. Missing: or, lacking anything (either of provision or of any aspect of truth, since they will be taught its fullness; compare Amos 9:9). THEN the King can come... 5. "'Indeed, the days are coming,' declares YHWH, 'when I will raise up for David a righteous offshoot, and a King will reign and act wisely, and carry out right rulings and justice in the Land! For once, a king of Israel would do the right thing—something He has not seen in a long time. But this is the lineage He had chosen, and so He found a way to redeem it, though it cost Him so much. 6. "'In his days Yehudah will be liberated, and Israel will dwell securely. Now this is the name by which He will be called: "YHWH [is] our Righteousness." The LXX adds "both" to the first phrase, highlighting the fact that the two groups mentioned are not just poetic synonyms, but two peoples who will again be united. The name: compare 33:16, where His bride is given the very same name. 7. "'This being so, behold, the days are coming,' declares YHWH, 'when they will no longer say, "[As] YHWH lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the Land of Egypt", 8. "'but rather, "[As] YHWH lives, who brought up and led the seed of the House of Israel out of the land of the north, and from all the lands into which He had caused them to be banished, and they will settle down on their own ground."'" He reiterates the promise given in 16:14-15, changing "the descendants of Israel" to the more specific "seed of the House of Israel", that is, the Northern Kingdom in particular, and its physical, not just spiritual seed. YHWH did not forsake them and start over with someone else, but has already begun bringing back the very same holy race to fulfill the calling that our forefathers left off. 9. My heart within me is broken for the prophets, and all my bones have gone slack. I am like a drunken man, and like a hero overcome by wine, from the face of YHWH and from the presence of the accounts of His separateness, 10. because the Land is full of people committing adultery, because the Land mourns in the face of a curse. The [pleasant] meadows of the pastureland are dried up, their place to run has become unpleasant, and their strength is not as it should be, 11. because both prophet and priest are corrupt. "Even in My own house I have encountered their wickedness!" declares YHWH. 12. "So their path will become for them like slippery places in the dark, and it will make them fall down flat [on their faces], because I will cause evil to come upon them [right in] the year of their calling to account," declares YHWH. 13. "I have also seen tastelessness among the prophets of Shomron: they have been prophesying by Ba’al and leading My people Israel astray. Tastelessness: or foolishness, silliness. 14. "I have also seen something among the prophets of Yerushalayim that causes Me [to bristle with] horror: they commit adultery and walk in deception. They even strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that not a man repents of his wickedness. They have all become like S'dom to Me, and her inhabitants like Ghamorah. 15. "So this is what YHWH of Armies says about the prophets: 'Here I am, feeding them with wormwood, and have given them bitter water to drink, because from within the prophets of Yerushalayim, defilement has gone out into the whole Land.'" Bitter water: The test YHWH prescribed for a woman suspected by her husband of adultery. (Num. 5:12-31) If she was guilty, YHWH would bring a curse through that water, which was made from words scraped off a scroll--the curse Paul says the Torah brings. It results in the loss of her husband (the opposite of YHWH's putting His Name upon us) and childlessness for life--though she always looks pregnant (with a swollen belly). The root of bitterness is selfishness, and it bears only bitter fruit. (Deut. 29:18; Yesh. 35:3) However, for the woman who is not guilty, the reward of this test is that she bears many more children! (29:28) The Torah is a blessing to the one who works along with it, but a curse to the one who tries to oppose it. Defilement: profaneness (i.e., making something that is set-apart common again) or corruption. 16. This is what YHWH of Armies says: "Let none of you listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying themselves to you; they are causing you to become [nothing but] a vain breath! They are speaking a vision out of their own heart, not from YHWH's mouth. LXX: They frame a vain vision for themselves. 17. "They keep telling those who intensely despise Me, 'YHWH has said you will have peace!' And [to] everyone who walks in the [twisted] stubbornness of his own heart, they have been saying, 'Nothing bad is going to come against you!' The parallel today is the teaching that we need not "prepare our oil" in advance because we will just be removed from the world before troubled times come. 18. "Because who has stood in the innermost council of YHWH and [both] seen and heard His word? Who has paid attention to His word and will obey? Innermost council: or, intimate secret, the term used for the deepest level of understanding and interpretation of YHWH's Word. We cannot hear the fullness on the literal level, though it is where we must begin, and we cannot divorce the two. (That is how Paul’s words were twisted to our destruction, 2 Kefa/Peter 3:16; cf. Mat. 23:23.) The outward works are the package, like the peel of a fruit which houses the real food until it is time to eat it. He is telling the kings here to act like it--to uncover the depths of what He has hidden. (Prov. 25:2) 19. "Indeed, a storm-wind of YHWH has gone forth in rage--a twisting whirlwind, at that; it will twist upon the head of the wicked. LXX: There is an earthquake from YHWH, and anger proceeds to a convulsion. 20. "YHWH's anger will not turn back until He has accomplished--until He has established--the purposes of His heart; in the last days you will discern understanding in it. LXX: at the end of days, they will understand it (completely). Compare Yeshayahu 30:8; Psalm 102:18; Daniel 9:24. 21. "I have not sent the prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied! These were then men who truly had the prophetic office, yet they must have thought that whatever they said must therefore be true, and were not careful to make sure it was really from YHWH and not from their own deductions about what must be the case. 22. "But if they had [only] stood in My innermost council, then they would have caused My people to hear My words, and they would have turned them from their evil direction, and from the wickedness of their practices. The blindness has been partially removed for many centuries, but the restoration of the nation has not yet come about, because the fullness of repentance is not possible without this deepest understanding of His secrets. But He is giving it back to us now. Will we get it right this time? 23. "I am the Elohim from nearby," declares YHWH, "and not an elohim from far away. The innermost council was not in Ba'al's homeland, but right in Yerushalayim, in the heart of the Land. 24. "Or can a man hide himself in secret places so that I will not see him?" says YHWH. "Isn't it [true] that I fill heaven and earth?" says YHWH. 25. "I have heard what the prophets who prophesy falsely in My Name have said, [and I quote]: 'I have dreamed! I have dreamed!' 26. "How long will the prophesying of lies be in the heart of the prophets? --prophets of the fraudulence of their own heart, that is! 27. "Through their dreams which they each tell to his companion, they count on making My people forget My Name, as their forefathers forgot My Name for 'the Lord'. 'The Lord': Heb., Ba'al. But the name 'Lord' is also rooted in the name of a pagan deity, so there is no practical difference in what people do today, except that usually they are ignorant of this fact due to the carelessness or, worse, malicious intent, of their forebears. They miss the mark nonetheless, and it is our responsibility as those who again know His Name to inform His true people of what they are doing. My Name: The first time, the LXX has, My law; thus the two are seen as closely linked. 28. "Let the prophet who has a dream within him recount his dream, but whoever has My word within him, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff [compared] with the pure [grain]?" says YHWH. Or, what is there for the chaff with the pure [present]? They could speak their minds, but this would not nourish anyone as the real substance would. Their dreams would be valid if upheld by His actual words; prophecy is a wonderful gift when founded on Torah (1 Cor. 14), but they were not sticking to His word, and thus they got off track. 29. "Isn't My word thus like a fire?" says YHWH, "Or like a forge-hammer that will shatter a rock?" 30. "Therefore, I am indeed against the prophets", declares YHWH, "--each of whom steals My words from his companion. They were doing their own thing for power, position, profit, and peace, telling people what they wanted to hear so they could then influence and control them. ("See? I've prophesied peace for you; why not give me an offering?") With all the things they were doing right, would YHWH not overlook these little indiscretions, or their sending a token of recognition to the priests of Ba'al on the side? Contrast this young upstart who says it doesn't matter if you are the high priest himself if your heart is not toward YHWH. 31. "Indeed I am against the prophets," declares YHWH, "who take up their own tongues and claim, '[He] declares...'! 32. "Indeed I am against those who prophesy of fraudulent dreams," declares YHWH. "When they relate them, they cause My people to wander into error by their lies and their recklessness. Yet I neither sent them nor appointed them, and they will not benefit this people at all," declares YHWH. 33. "So if this people--or a prophet or a priest--should ask you, 'What is the burden of YHWH?' then you must say to them, 'What burden? I will even cast you off,' declares YHWH. What burden? LXX, "You are the burden!" Burden: oracle or utterance. Cast you off: or, let you loose; notice the relationship to the idea of a burden. 34. "And [any] prophet or priest or ethnic group who says, 'The burden of YHWH...', I will even single that man and his household out for special attention," declares YHWH. Single out for special attention: the term also includes being held accountable and being punished. 35. "This is what you must each say to his companion, or each [ask] his brother: 'What has YHWH answered?' or 'What has YHWH said?' 36. "And 'the burden of YHWH' you must never even mention, because each man's own word will be his burden, because you have turned the words of the living Elohim every which way--[the words of] YHWH of Armies, our Elohim! The office of prophet was thus rescinded from those who abused it. 37. "This you may say to the prophet: 'What has YHWH answered?' or 'What has YHWH said?' 38. "But if you say, 'The burden of YHWH', then this is what YHWH says: 'On account of your saying this word--'the burden of YHWH'--when I have sent [word] to you, saying, 'Do not say "the burden of YHWH", This phrase was used frequently by other prophets, especially Yeshayahu, but it must have become a fad, sort of a mark of validity on the prophets' words, so He would no longer let them use it at all. 39. "I will therefore even utterly forget you and let you go, away from My presence, along with the city that I gave to you and to your forefathers. 40. "And I will appoint over you an age-long disgrace which cannot be shrugged off." Shrugged off: forgotten, ignored, or, in modern parlance, "blown off". Age-long: but not forever, since YHWH would still recall His people and His city to memory when everything else was completed. CHAPTER 24 1. YHWH let me see, and lo and behold, two baskets of figs [that had been] set in front of the Temple of YHWH after Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, had taken Y'chonyahu, the son of Yehoyaqim, king of Yehudah, along with the rulers of Yehudah and Yerushalayim’s artisans and locksmiths, into exile and had them brought into Bavel. Locksmiths: or possibly door-keepers. (Jastrow) The firstfruits of figs are offered in the Temple at Sukkoth, so the time of selecting them coincides with Yom T'ruah, when the books are opened in the heavens: 2. The one basket [held] figs of very high quality, like the figs that ripen first, while the [other] basket had very unpleasant figs--so bad they could not be eaten. If the figs that ripen first are of the best quality, this is why the firstfruits are required to be offered to YHWH. 3. And YHWH said to me, "What do you see, Yirmeyahu?" And I said, "Figs! The ones of quality are of very high quality, but the bad [ones] are so bad that they cannot be eaten for their badness." These coincide with the books of the righteous and the wicked 4. Then the Word of YHWH came to me, saying, 5. "This is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says: 'Just like these high-quality figs, I will acknowledge [and honor] the Jewish exiles whom I have sent out of this place [into the] land of the Khasdim, as of high quality, 6. "'because I will fix My eyes on them for [their] benefit, and bring them back onto this Land. Then I will build them up and not tear them down, and I will plant them and not uproot them. I will fix My eyes on them: Aram., I will set my Memra (Living Word) over them. Plant: or, establish. YHWH took special care of those, like Daniel, who were willing to accept His punishment. They ended up being given high positions of honor in Bavel because of their wisdom. He removed these dedicated people and made them even more righteous. Though most of the priests were wicked, we see the high priest, Y'hoshua, recognized by YHWH as righteous when the remnant returns along with Ezra and Nechemyah, and even the king's descendant, Zerubavel (which means "sown in Bavel"). The exile was fruitful for them. They maintained a Jewish community and had a group ready to come back and rebuild as soon as their punishment was up. 7. "'And I will give them a heart [and mind] to know Me, because I am YHWH, and they will become a people for Me, and I will be [in the position] of an Elohim to them, because they will turn back to Me with their whole heart!' This was not something that happened magically. The exile did its work. They were put in a hard place where they would appreciate Torah more by its absence, and in this way it was planted deep within them. It is convoluted reasoning that says we need not obey it if it is written on our hearts! If something is on one's heart, he is thinking about it at every free moment. Hoshea promises the same regarding Efrayim after our much longer exile. May we be the ones it applies to! 8. "And [as for] the bad figs, which cannot be eaten for their badness, this is what YHWH says: 'I will treat Tzidqiyahu, king of Yehudah and his princes, and the remnant of Yerushalayim who are left in this Land and those who settle in the land of Egypt, in the same way -- In the land of Egypt: i.e., those who tried to avoid surrendering to Bavel by running to a stronger nation further away from them. But YHWH hunted them down as well. No place is safe if His hand is set against you. 9. "'I will even make them into an object of horror to all the kingdoms--to be [a nation] scorned, a byword, used as a gibe and a vilification in all the places into which I will drive them, Gibe: Indeed, the term "Jew" has come, in many languages, to be just that, but YHWH will bring justice upon this as well. A byword: LXX, a proverb. 10. "'and I will send the sword, the famine, and the plague among them until they are completely [removed] from off the Land that I gave to them and to their ancestors.'" The fruitless tares are gathered together just like the wheat—but burned. (Mat. 13:29) The evil of the world will also be united (like Israel) before the end-time destruction comes upon it. But there were many who were neither blessed nor cursed as these two groups were. These coincide with the three books opened during the Days of Awe--that of the righteous, who are sealed for redemption; that of the wholly wicked, who are not granted repentance; and that of sinners, the common, lukewarm people in the middle, who have not made their decision and do not even receive YHWH's attention. They are left in the land without protection, without wisdom, and without rulers to guide them. They are open prey for whatever comes along. He concentrates on His enemies and those who love Him, yet those in between were Israel(Yehudah) too--yet He "never knew them". We need to take warning form this. CHAPTER 25 1. The word that came over Yirmeyahu concerning all the people of Yehudah in the fourth year of [the reign of] Yehoyaqim, the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah (this was the first year of [the reign of] Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel), 2. which Yirmeyahu the prophet declared concerning the whole nation of Yehudah and to all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, said [the following]: 3. "From the thirteenth year belonging to Yoshiyahu the son of Amon, king of Yehudah, all the way to this day, these twenty-three years, the word of YHWH has been coming to me, and I have been declaring it to you—getting up early to declare it! Yet you have not obeyed [it]. Getting up early: indicates willingness and eagerness to obey, though it was difficult. 4. "YHWH has also sent you all His servants the prophets—having them get up early, and sending [them]! Yet you have not obeyed or turned your ear to listen. 5. "[He has had them] say, 'Please turn back, [each] man from his own evil direction and from the wickedness of your practices, and remain on the ground that YHWH has given to you and to your ancestors to [be] from antiquity and unto eternity, Remain on the ground: not just a promise, but a command. Being dedicated to the inheritance of Yaaqov is part of Israel's obedience to YHWH. We are meant to be established in it, let it be what we are about, not just live in it. How many who live in the Land today have this attitude? 6. "'and do not walk after other elohim to serve them or bow down to them, so you will not provoke Me [to anger] with what your hands have made, and I will do you no harm. 7. "'Yet you have not obeyed Me,' declares YHWH, 'with the result of provoking Me to [anger] with what your hands have made, to your own hurt.' 8. "Therefore, this is what YHWH of Armies says: 'Because you have not obeyed My words, 9. "'here I am, sending and will fetch all the clans of the north,' declares YHWH, 'and to Nevukhadretzar, king of Bavel, My servant, and I will cause them to come against this Land and against her inhabitants, and against all these nations all around, and I will dedicate them for destruction and turn them into an appalling wasteland [that people will] whistle [at], and into a [land] laid waste for an age, My servant: Not until many years later did Nevukhadretzar acknowledge YHWH’s sovereignty (Dan. 4:34-37), but YHWH was still using Him for His purposes. Clans: or families; in Aramaic, interpreted as kingdoms. Whistle at: i.e., out of shock or surprise. 10. "'and I will cause the voice of gladness and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of a pair of millstones and the light of a lamp, to vanish from [among] them, YHWH promised that if Israel would obey, He would cause our grain, wine, and oil to multiply. (Deut. 7:13) The wine symbolizes the joy mentioned here, the oil provides the light of the lamp, and the millstones make the grain useable. All of these are present at the Sabbath table, so as we return to His set-apart days, these things that were taken away are restored to us in some measure even in our exile. 11. "'and this whole Land will become a place laid waste and an appalling horror, and these nations will serve the king of Bavel [for] seventy years. Daniel took this quite literally, and when he saw that the set time was approaching, he began to take steps to prepare for the restoration of the Israelite heart so that the Land could be resettled. (Daniel 9:2) The very same task is before us today, as our exile is also calculated to be over after not seventy but 2,730 years of not being a people. It would not "just happen" automatically or magically, nor will it this time either. We have to turn our hearts toward bringing it about while again asking YHWH to do His part as He promised. 2 Chronicles 36:21 explains that these 70 years were overdue to YHWH because for 490 years no one had let the land rest on the seventh year as YHWH had commanded. The only cause for this could be lack of faith, which in itself is idolatry. 490 years prior to this extended to the time the monarchy began, or a few years prior to it. This means that none of the kings of Yehudah or the united kingdom had ever enforced this law! 12. "'But what will take place is that, when seventy years have been fully [completed], I will bring punishment upon the king of Bavel and that nation,' declares YHWH, '[for] their perversity, and upon the land of the Khasdim, and I will turn it into an age-long desolation. Bring punishment: or call to accountability, because of the way they acted toward His people, even while He was using them as His tool to chastise His nation. Nevukhadretzar himself repented (Dan. 4:37), but his son Belshazzar profaned YHWH's set-apart vessels for a drinking feast, and that was the last straw. (Daniel 5:25) Bavel lost its sovereignty to Medo-Persia well before the 70 years were up. 13. "'and I will bring upon that land all My words that I have spoken against her--all that is being written in this book which Yirmeyahu has prophesied against all the Gentiles, 14. "'because many nations and great nations will work them as well, and I will pay them back as they have done and according to the work of their hands,' I.e., as their deeds deserve. 15. "for this is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, is telling me: 'Take the cup of the wine of this fury from My hand, and cause all the nations to whom I am sending you to drink it. My hand: Yahshua, the one who will bring YHWH's wrath upon men. (Rev. 19:11) Fury: Aramaic, curse. 16. "'And when they have drunk it, they will reel to and fro and act like madmen from the presence of the sword that I Myself am sending among them [to divide them].'" 17. So I began to take the cup from YHWH's hand and began to cause all the nations to whom YHWH had sent me to drink [it]-- 18. Yerushalayim, the cities of Yehudah, and her kings and princes (to turn them over [to being] a ruin, an appalling wasteland, something to whistle [about], and something to despise, just as [it truly is] this day), 19. Pharaoh, king of Egypt and his servants, his princes, and his whole nation, 20. and all the mixed peoples and all the kings of the land of Utz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashqelon, and Gaza, and Eqron, and what remains of Ashdod, Mixed peoples: Aramaic, auxiliaries. Utz means "wooded". The meaning of the name Philistines is "immigrants". Ashqelon means "the fire of infamy", Gaza, "strong",Eqron, "emigration" or "torn up by the roots", and Ashdod, "powerful". 21. Edom, Moav, and the sons of Ammon, These three are all modern-day Jordan. 22. and all the kings of Tzor and all the kings of Tzidon, and all the kings of the coast across the sea-- Tzor and Tzidon: meaning "a rock" and "hunting", these are in present-day Lebanon. 23. D'dan, Theyma, Buz, and all who have the edges cut off, D'dan means "low country", Theyma, "desert", and Buz, "contempt". The edges: of their beards--perhaps a reference to a particular group of people, or simply all non-Israelites. 24. all the Arab kings, all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness, Arabs...mixed people: related terms in Hebrew, and interpreted so in Aramaic. Arab means "darkening", and by extension, sterile. 25. all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Eylam, all the kings of Madai, Zimri means "my music". Eylam means "eternal", and Madai, "the middle land". All these nations were punished because of tiny Israel! Only the presence of the righteous remnant (until the time they were called back to the Land) kept YHWH’s judgment back from Bavel (Babylon): 26. and all the kings of the north, both those near and those far away, [each] man against his brother, and all the kingdoms of the earth that are on the face of the Land, and after them the king of Sheshakh will drink. Earth… Land: the same word in Hebrew, but probably referring to the time when all the kings of the earth gather against Yerushalayim (Zech. 12:2; Rev. 16:14) Sheshakh: a code name for Bavel through a form of Hebrew encryption called "atbash", in which one letter is substituted for another by replacing letters of the normal alphabet with the equivalent order of letters when reversed (Missler), i.e., like substituting Y-Y-O for B-B-L in English. Varying orders of the Hebrew alphabet for ciphering purposes have been found dating all the way back to the earliest known forms of writing it. 27. "Then you must tell them, 'This is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: "[All of you], drink and become drunken! Vomit [it] up! Fall down, and do not get up, due to the presence of the sword that I [Myself] am sending among you!' Vomit: Aramaic, be confused. 28. "And what must take place is [this]: If they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you must tell them, 'This is what YHWH of Armies says: "You will indeed drink [it], 29. "'"because, look! I am beginning to bring trouble on the city upon which My name has been proclaimed, and will you be exempt from punishment? No, you [won’t] be exempt, because I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the Land," declares YHWH of Armies.' Exempt from punishment: or innocent, clear; related to the word for a nursing infant. 30. "Then prophesy all these words against them, and tell them, 'YHWH will roar from an elevated place, and issue forth His voice from His set-apart habitation. He will roar powerfully over His [beautiful] abode, cheering like those who tread [out grapes]; He will testify against all the inhabitants of the Land. Issue forth His voice: Aramaic, lift up His Memra (living Word). Roar powerfully: Aram., summon, so that plunderers will come. 31. "'A [crashing] uproar will reach the extremities of the earth, because YHWH has a case against the nations; He is entering into a legal dispute with all flesh. He will assign the wicked to the sword,' declares YHWH. 32. "'This is what YHWH of Armies says: "Behold, a calamity is proceeding from nation to nation, and a great storm-wind will be stirred up from the extreme recesses of the earth, 33. "'"and in that day those mortally pierced [by] YHWH will [be strewn] from [one] end of the earth to [the other] end of the earth. They will not be mourned, collected up, or buried; they will come to serve as fertilizer on the surface of the ground." 34. "'Make a great howling, you shepherds, and cry out and roll yourselves [in ashes], you chiefs of the flock, because your days are filled up to be butchered and scattered, and you will be thrown down like a coveted article! Chiefs: most majestic, principal ones, nobles; LXX, the choice rams. They bear the brunt of the punishment because they are the ones responsible to dissuade all of Israel from disobeying the covenant and taking on the ways of the nations. Coveted: includes the sense of being beautiful, costly, precious, and desirable, bringing great pleasure. 35. "'The shepherds' way of escape has been taken away from [them], along with the chiefs of the flocks' place to flee [for refuge]. Since the Latin word pastor means "shepherd", any prophecy about shepherds should be heeded by those who go by that title today. 36. "'The sound of the outcry of the shepherds and the howling of the chiefs of the flock [is heard], because YHWH is devastating their pasture, 37. "'and the peaceful meadows have been left silent due to the presence of the fierceness of YHWH’s anger! 38. "'He has left His lair like the lion, because their Land has become an appalling wasteland due to the presence of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of the fierceness of His anger. He has left: Aramaic, a king has gone into exile from his fortified place.
Chapters 26-27 CHAPTER 26 1. At the beginning of the reign of Yehoyaqim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, this word came from YHWH: 2. "This is what YHWH says: 'Stand in the trumpeting-court of the House of YHWH, and speak about all the cities of Yehudah that are coming to bow themselves [in] the House of YHWH; [of] all the words that I order you to speak to them, you may not withhold a word. Trumpeting-court: The place the new moons and festivals were announced for all Israel. 3. "'Perhaps they will listen and [each] man may turn back from the evil direction [in which] he [is going], so that I may be moved to relent from the trouble that I am planning to bring them because of the wickedness of their practices.' Trouble: or simply, evil; the same word as "wickedness" in the next phrase. YHWH has a face-off with Yehudah, saying, so to speak, "Put down your gun, and I'll put down mine." What we sow, we reap. If we feed into Him, He feeds the same back to us in a magnified way. ("Those who honor Me, I will honor." 1 Shmuel 2:30) 4. "So tell them, 'This is what YHWH says: "If you will not obey Me by walking in My instruction that I have set before you, Instruction: Heb., Torah. 5. "'"by listening to My servants the prophets whom I Myself am sending to you (even getting up early and sending, yet you have not listened), 6. "'"then I will make this House like Shiloh, and this city of little account to all the nations of the earth."'" Like Shiloh: where the ark of the Covenant no longer rested, and the Tabernacle no longer sat, making the town of little importance anymore. (e.g., I Shmuel 4:4) Two sons of the high priest were killed there by YHWH, and the authority departed (4:21), so "like Shiloh" would have an especially ominous meaning to this "household" of priests. 7. When the priests and prophets and all the people heard Yirmeyahu speaking these words in the House of YHWH, 8. and Yirmeyahu had indeed finished saying all that YHWH had ordered him to say to all the people, then the priests and prophets and all the people arrested him, saying, "You are going to die a death! Finished: YHWH allowed him to 9. "Why have you prophesied in YHWH's Name, saying, 'This house will become like Shiloh, and this city struck down [by the sword] and [left] without inhabitant'?" And all the people were assembled together against Yirmeyahu in the House of YHWH. Note that they changed his words to an interpretation, albeit a correct one. 10. When the princes of Yehudah heard [about] these things, they came up from the king’s house to the House of YHWH, and sat at the entrance to the Gate of YHWH, 11. then the priests and prophets said to the princes and to all the people, "A death sentence for this man, because he has been prophesying against this city, as you have heard with your [own] ears!" This sounds very much like what happened to Yahshua, and He called Yerushalayim the place that "killed the prophets". 12. Then Yirmeyahu told all the rulers and all the people, "YHWH sent me to prophesy against this House and against this city all the words that you have heard. 13. "So now, make your directions and practices right, and obey the voice of YHWH your Elohim, so that YHWH may be moved to retract the trouble He has threatened [to bring] upon you! Make right: or, amend; Aramaic, reform. Retract: He did so in the case of Nin'veh. (See the book of Yonah.) 14. "And as for me, here I am in your hands; do to me what is right and proper in your eyes. Right: LXX, expedient. 15. "Yet know for certain that if you put me to death, then you are ascribing innocent blood on yourselves and to this city and to its inhabitants, because in truth YHWH has sent me upon you to speak all these words into your ears." 16. Then the princes and all the people told the priests and the prophets, "There is no death sentence for this man, because he has spoken to us in the Name of YHWH our Elohim!" Both Gamaliel (Acts 5:34ff) and Pontius Pilate (Yochanan 19:4) had similar responses. 17. And some men from among the elders of the Land rose up and spoke to the whole assembly of the people, saying, 18. Michayah of Moresheth was prophesying in the days of Hizqiyahu, [the] king of Yehudah, and he told all the people of Yehudah, 'Tzion shall be plowed [like] a field, and Yerushalayim will become [twisted] heaps of ruins, and the Mount of the House [will be given over] to pagan worship-sites like [those found in the] forest.' Michayah: the same as Micha. Moresheth: Aramaic, Mar'shah, one of the defense cities for Yerushalayim which stood along the Sh’felah (piedmont) a few miles inland from the coast. This passage is from Micha 3:12, dating from 730 B.C.E. This original Tzion should not be confused with the western mount in the city that is now called Mt. Tzion; that was misnamed due to an error in identification of David's tomb. In 1977 Arthur C. Custance wrote that what had once been David's stronghold was still gently sloping farmland. (It has since become an Arab slum.) This leveling was begun when the Maccabees, wanting to be sure that the cumulatively-raised level of the City of David did not encroach on the defensibility of the Temple Mount, worked night and day for three years between 141 and 135 B.C.E. to remove the ancient Citadel of David, lowering the City of David until it stood below the level of the Temple! (Josephus, Antiquities xiii., 7:7) Though resettled, this area was left outside the city wall the Roman Emperor Hadrianus built on the site of Yerushalayim after the two Jewish revolts, and time completed the process of bringing the original city of David to ruins. Pagan worship-sites: the Romans built a temple to Jupiter on the precise site of the Holy of Holies, then the Christians built churches with icons in them within the Temple precincts. Now the Muslim Dome of the Rock, dedicated to what was originally the moon-god of southern Arabia, stands on the site until the time comes for the House of YHWH to be rebuilt there. 19. "Did Hizqiyahu, king of Yehudah, or any of the people of Yehudah, do [anything at all] to put him to death? Didn’t he fear YHWH and plead [so] strongly before YHWH [as to make himself sick] that YHWH had compassion in regard to the trouble that He had threatened [to bring] against them? So we are doing ourselves great harm!" This Hebraic reasoning from valid and just precedent has made it into our modern system of jurisprudence. 20. (Though there was another man who prophesied in the Name of YHWH--Uriyahu the son of Shemayahu from the Village of the Forests, who prophesied against this city and against this Land with words just like Yirmeyahu's, Village of the Forests: Heb., Kiryath ha-Ye'arim. 21. and when the king, Yehoyaqim, and all his mighty men and all the princes heard his words, the king tried very hard to put him to death, but Uriyahu heard and was afraid, and ran away into Egypt, Since this event took place "at the beginning of Yehoyaqim's reign" (v. 1), the Uriyahu affair must have occurred only a short time prior to this. 22. But Yehoyaqim the king sent men to Egypt (Elnathan the son of Akhbor and [other] men with him) into Egypt, Elnathan was Yehoyaqim's father-in-law. (2 Kings 24:8) Pharaoh-Nekho was the one who had installed Yehoyaqim in place of his brother Yehoakhaz (2 Kings 23:31-35), so this would have been a simple move diplomatically. Akhbor means "mouse". 23. and they extradited Uriyahu from Egypt and brought him to King Yehoyaqim, who had him struck by the sword and his dead body thrown into the graves of the sons of the people.) Graves of the sons of the people: i.e., common, unmarked graves. The treatment of this man is the opposite of the behavior these men brought forth as their precedent. (Compare 2 Chron. 10:8) Yet YHWH distinguishes and honors him with this parenthetical account. The Aramaic targum has "graves of the exiles". 24. But the hand of Akhiqam the son of Shafan was with Yirmeyahu, so he avoided being given over into the hand of the people to be put to death. Akhiqam (whose name means "my brother has risen") was the son of the scribe who had read the Torah to Yoshiyahu when he was repairing the Temple. (2 Chron. 34:18-20) His son Gedalyah was the one whom the king of Bavel would appoint to rule those he left behind in Yehudah after the siege. (2 Kings 25:22) His tragic murder by another Jew is still remembered to this day by a special fast that falls during the Counting of the Omer. CHAPTER 27 1. At the beginning of the reign of Yehoyaqim, the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, this word came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH: 2. This is what YHWH told me: "Make chastening-bands and yoke-bars for yourself, and put them over the back of your neck, 3. "then send them to the king of Edom and to the king of Moav and to the king of the sons of Ammon, and to the king of Tzor and to the king of Tzidon by the hand of messengers who have come to Tzidqiyahu, king of Yehudah, in Yerushalayim, 4. "having given them orders for their masters, saying, 'This is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: "This is what you must tell your masters: 5. "'"'I Myself have made the earth, mankind, and the beast[s] that [are] on the surface of the earth by my great power and My outstretched arm, and have given it to whomever was appropriate in My eyes. I Myself: Aramaic, by My Memra (living Word, i.e.,Yahshua). 6. "'"'And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nevukhadnetzar, king of Bavel, My servant. I have even given him the animals of the field to serve him, 7. "'"'so all the nations must serve him, his son, and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes, and his own [time] as well, and [then] many nations and great kings will put him to work [as a slave]. 8. "'""And what will become of the nation or kingdom that will not serve him (Nevukhadnetzar, king of Bavel) or will not yield the back of its neck to the yoke of the king of Bavel, I will bring punishment upon that nation with the sword and with the famine and with the plague,' declares YHWH, 'until I have finished them off with his hand. 9. "'"'So [all of] you must not listen to your own prophets or diviners or dreamers or cloud-conjurers or sorcerers, who tell you, “You will never be enslaved to the king of Bavel", 10. "'"'because they are prophesying to you fraudulently, in order to remove you far from your land so that I would [have had to] thrust you out and you would have vanished [as a nation]. 11. "'"'But the nation that [does] bring the back of its neck into the yoke of the king of Bavel and serve him, I will allow to remain on its own land,' declares YHWH, 'and they will work it and inhabit it.'"'" Yehudah did not have this promise, because more was expected of it, and its king and princes had already chosen punishment for the whole nation; however, there was still mercy for those who surrendered: 12. I also spoke the same kind of words as all of these to Tzidqiyahu, king of Yehudah, saying, "Bring your necks into the king of Bavel's yoke and serve him and his nation, and survive. 13. "Why should you and your people die by the sword, the famine, or the plague, as YHWH has said [would happen] to the nation that will not serve the king of Bavel? 14. "So do not listen to the words of the prophets who tell you, 'You will never be enslaved to the king of Bavel', because they are prophesying to you fraudulently, 15. "since YHWH declares, 'I have not sent them, yet they are prophesying in My Name to deceive [you], so that I would [have had to] thrust you out and you would have vanished [as a nation]--you along with the prophets who are prophesying to you." 16. I spoke to the priests and this whole nation as well, saying, "This is what YHWH says: 'Do not listen to your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, "Indeed the vessels of the House of YHWH will now be brought back from Bavel quickly", because they are prophesying to you fraudulently. 17. "'Do not listen to them! Serve the king of Bavel and survive! Why should this city become a ruin? This was the last thing YHWH wanted. Yet for a limited time, the way for the set-apart nation to survive was to leave its Land, though He had indicated that He never wanted them to leave it. (25:5) There will be another time when another "king of Bavel" besieges the city, and Yahshua said those who were to survive would have to temporarily leave Yehudah to do so. (Mat. 24:16) 18. "'But if they are prophets, and if they have the word of YHWH with them, let them please interceded with YHWH of Armies that the vessels that are left in YHWH's House and in the house of the king of Yehudah and in Yerushalayim, may not [have to] go into Bavel, 19. "'because this is what YHWH says about the pillars, and about the sea, and about the pedestal-bases, and about the rest of the vessels that remain in this city, Sea: i.e., the huge washing-basin, or laver, that (according to 1 Kings 7:38) held 40 baths (360 gallons, or, according to rabbinic writings, half as much). Also called a sea in 2 Kings 25:13, it was a copy of the "sea" before the heavenly throne. (Rev. 4:6; 15:2) All of these things were made of bronze, which symbolizes the need for sin to be dealt with before we can approach YHWH. This may be the message He intended to convey by having only these leftover items mentioned. Perhaps it also symbolized that it was generally the less noble of the people who were left in the Land. 20. "'which Nevukhadnetzar, king of Bavel, did not take when he carried Yechonyahu the son of Yehoyaqim, king of Yehudah, away into exile along with all the [free-born] nobles of Yehudah and Yerushalayim-- 21. "'because this is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says about the vessels that are left [in] the House of YHWH and the house of the king of Yehudah, and Yerushalyim: 22. "'they will be taken to Bavel, and they will be there until the day I call for them,' declares YHWH. "Then I will have them brought up and restored to this place.'" The day I call for them: or visit them; Aramaic, the day their memorial comes up before Me. He still planned to have them taken away, and they would be profaned (Dan. 5:2), just as His holy people were, but He asked them to pray that they would not be damaged beyond reusability. In the deepest sense, we as Israel are His vessels that are now being brought back out of Babylon.