Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 3:23
Truly in vain [is salvation hoped for] from the hills, [and from] the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God [is] the salvation of Israel.
23. Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the tumult on the mountains ] The Hebrew construction is difficult. MT. reads, Truly in vain from the hills the tumult the mountains. Probably a word such as sound should be restored in the first clause, while the change of a Hebrew vowel point enables us to insert on in the second. So Dr. The tumult (mg. noisy throng) denotes the orgies that attended on idol worship. Cp. Hos 4:13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Rather, Surely in vain from the hills is the revelry of the mountains. The penitents contrast in it the uselessness of idol-worship with the salvation which Yahweh gives to His people.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
From the hills, i.e. either from their idols, which were worshipped upon hills, a metonymy of the subject, Jer 2:20, idols of the hills; or from any other external power whatsoever, either of persons or things, as the strength of hills, or forts, high places, and strong places, and assistance from kings, Hos 14:3.
The multitude of mountains, viz, the abundance of them that they have in their mountains, or the multitude of sacrifices which they offer in the mountains, or to multiply sacrifices.
Quest. But doth not the psalmist hope for salvation from the hills? Psa 121:1.
Answ. Yes, the hills of the Land of Promise, which were a pledge of Gods favour to his people, especially those two of Zion and Moriah, where God did peculiarly manifest his presence, Psa 87.
In the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel; or, our salvation which we do now acknowledge is only in our God, and not in idols, of which we have had ample experience, Psa 44:7; 130:7,8. See Isa 43:10,11; Ho 13:4,9.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. multitude of mountainsthatis, the multitude of gods worshipped on them (compare Psa 121:1;Psa 121:2, Margin).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains,…. From any natural defence, by hills and mountains encompassing; or from idols worshipped on hills and mountains. So the Targum,
“truly in vain we worship upon the hills, and for no profit are we gathered upon the mountains;”
and to this purpose Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; or from the multitude of the people, the kingdoms of the world, and the nations of the earth, from whom the Jews have in vain expected salvation and deliverance:
truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel; or, “in the Word of the Lord our God”, as the Targum; in Christ, the essential Word of God, is the salvation of all the chosen people, both Jews and Gentiles; it was put into his hands by his Father, and it is wrought out by him; and it resides in him, and it is to be had in him, and in him only, Ac 4:12, who is God the Lord, and therefore was able to effect it, and to give it; and hence these repenting ones, discarding all other saviours, apply to him for it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And in the same sense is to be taken what follows, Surely, deceit is from the hills, and the multitude of mountains, or, from the multitude of mountains, as the letter מ is to be repeated. Here the Prophet more fully expresses the evidence of their repentance, as though he had said, “We have been deceived by the hills and the multitude of mountains; we thought that there would be more defense from a large number of gods than if we worshipped one God: this deception has led to ruin. Let then all these deceits be now discarded; for we shall be content with the only true God.” In short, the Israelites confess, in these words, that they had been drawn into ruin by the worst of errors, while they sought many gods, and did not acquiesce in the one true God.
Then they add, for surely in Jehovah our God is salvation They set here the one true God in opposition to all their idols, as though they had said, that the cause of all their evils was, that they did not continue in the service of the one true God, but wandered after a multitude of Gods. We hence see that these two things cannot possibly be connected, — to worship the true God, — and to seek for ourselves various other gods, and to form vain hopes, as they do, who are not satisfied with the only true God. (95) It follows —
(95) The literal rendering of these two verses is the following:-
22. Return, ye apostate children, I will heal your apostasies. — Behold us! We come to thee; For thou art Jehovah our God:
23. Surely, in vain are the hills, The multitude of mountains; Surely, in (or through) Jehovah our God Is the salvation of Israel.
The word rendered “apostate,” does not mean “rebellious,” but such as turn away, i.e., from God; and the word for “apostasies” means the same, being from the same root. The מ before the word for “hills,” is not a preposition, as it is commonly taken, but a formative: so it appears from all the versions. Blayney conjectures that it belongs to the former word, and makes it לשקרים; but then he does not account for the ל prefixed to it. There is no different reading. The Septuagint is, εἰς ψεῦδος ἧσαν οἱ ζουνοὶ — for a lie were the hills. The Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, are materially the same. — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(23) Truly in vain . . .The italics show the difficulty of the verse, and represent an attempt to get over it. According to the senses given to the word translated multitude we get, in vain (literally, as a lie) from the hills is the revelry (as in Amo. 5:23), or the wealth, or the multitude, of the mountains. The first gives the best meaning, and expresses the confession of the repentant Israelites that their wild ritual on the high places had brought them loss and not gain.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. In vain from the hills Various translations of this text have been made: “Surely in vain from the hills is the revelry of the mountains.” Dean Smith. “As certainly as hills are false, mountains are empty sound,” etc. Nagelsbach. “Surely hills are lies, the tumult of the mountains.” Blayney. “In vain resounds from the hills revelry, even from the mountains.” Ewald. “Truly the sound from the hills, from the mountains, is become falsehood.” Keil. This last conforms closely to the original, and gives a sense manifestly congruous with the context. The passage states the falseness of idolatrous trusts, and calls back the thought of the people to the one God as the only ground of confidence.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 3:23. Truly in vain, &c. Certainty there is nothing in the hills but a lie, in the mountains but vanity. Houb. This refers to the idols, and the high places where they were worshipped. Shame, in the next verse, bosheth, signifies the confusion arising from the worship of idols. See ch. Jer 11:13 and Hos 10:6.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 3:23 Truly in vain [is salvation hoped for] from the hills, [and from] the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God [is] the salvation of Israel.
Ver. 23. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills. ] Heb., Truly in vain from the hills, the multitude, the mountains: it is like to that in Hos 14:3 , “Asshur shall not save us; neither will we say any more to the works of our hands, Ye are our gods.” See Trapp on “ Hos 14:3 “
Truly in the Lord our God.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Truly = Thus continuing her confession.
in vain, &c. = as certainly as the hills [have proved] false, and the noisy throng on the mountains fan empty sound], so truly is the salvation of Israel with our God. The “hills” and “mountains” are put by the Figure of speech Metonymy (of Subject), for the idolatry practiced on them. Compare Eze 18:6, Eze 18:11, Eze 18:15.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
in vain: Jer 3:6, Jer 10:14-16, Psa 121:1, Psa 121:2, Isa 44:9, Isa 45:20, Isa 46:7, Isa 46:8, Eze 20:28, Jon 2:8, Jon 2:9
in the Lord: Jer 14:8, Psa 3:8, Psa 37:39, Psa 37:40, Psa 121:1, Psa 121:2, Isa 12:2, Isa 43:11, Isa 45:15, Isa 45:17, Isa 63:1, Isa 63:16, Hos 1:7, Joh 4:22
Reciprocal: Gen 7:19 – and all the high hills Gen 7:20 – and the mountains Exo 14:13 – see the Exo 15:2 – my salvation Jos 11:21 – the Anakims Job 13:16 – my salvation Psa 62:1 – from Psa 62:7 – In God Psa 80:19 – Turn us Isa 30:15 – in returning Jer 12:13 – put Jer 16:19 – Surely Jer 50:6 – on the Eze 6:3 – to the mountains Eze 20:19 – the Lord Eze 36:25 – from all your idols Hos 3:5 – seek Mic 5:10 – that I Rom 2:4 – goodness Rev 6:14 – and every Rev 7:10 – Salvation
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 3:23. The people are again reminded of the uselessness of idolatry. The hills is a reference to the “high places where idol gods had altars erected for their worship. The long period of the captivity caused the Jews to reflect, upon their experiences in the home land with reference to the idoi worship, After many centuries of this devotion to idols they were finally brought to national humiliation, and tliis verse is an acknowledgement of their failure. They also confess their belief in the Lord God as the only true source of salvation.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 3:23. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills From idols worshipped on hills and mountains. It is a continuation of that form of confession begun Jer 3:22, drawn up with a reference to the present state of the idolatrous Israelites; wherein they express their abhorrence of those idols which they worshipped upon the hills and mountains, and declare their firm resolution of adhering to, and depending upon, the Lord their God. There being nothing in the original of this clause for salvation is hoped for, it has been differently interpreted by learned men. The LXX. render it, , , Truly the hills and the power of the mountains were for a lie. And the Vulgate nearly to the same sense, Vere mendaces erant colles, et multitudo montium, Truly the hills were liars, and the multitude of mountains; that is, they were deceitful: they promised what they did not perform. To the same purpose the Syriac. Blaney renders the verse,
Surely the hills are lies; the tumult of mountains: surely in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel. The people, he observes, acknowledge that the hills, the places sacred to idolatrous worship, and the tumultuous rites with which that worship was accompanied, (see 1Ki 18:26; 1Ki 18:28,) were mere impostures, deceiving and disappointing those that trusted in them; whereas Jehovah was indeed the author of salvation to his people.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Israelites confessed that the hills and mountains on which they had worshipped idols had been sites of deception for them and places of unrest. The idols had not provided what they promised, and instead of finding rest by worshipping them, the Israelites had experienced turmoil. They finally acknowledged that only in Yahweh their God could they find true salvation (cf. Exo 20:2-6; Deu 5:6-10; Deu 6:4).