Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 14:11
Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for [their] good.
11, 12. These vv. (to “accept them”) are very possibly (so Hitzig and Co.) an insertion by a later hand to connect the preceding passage relating to drought with that dealing with other woes. See introd. note. Gi. ( Metrik) holding 11 14 to be only poetic prose, with inah “shining through,” considers that they may have had their ultimate origin with Baruch.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
11 18. See introductory summary to section.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 11. Pray not for this people] They are ripe for destruction, intercede not for them. O, how dreadful is the state of that people in reference to whom the Lord says to his ministers, Pray not for them; or, what amounts nearly to a prohibition, withholds from his ministers the spirit of prayer and intercession in behalf of the people!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Twice before God had given the prophet this charge, Jer 7:16; 11:14; how it could consist with the piety of Jeremiah after those charges to put up the prayer we have Jer 14:7-9 of this chapter, See Poole “Jer 11:14“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. (Jer 7:16;Exo 32:10).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then said the Lord unto me,…. To the prophet; now the Lord gives a more direct answer to him, and to his prayers and intercession for the people; which he forbids, saying,
pray not for this people for their good; or “for good things”, as the Septuagint; for rain, that the famine might cease; and for deliverance from their enemies, that they might not go into captivity; for these things were determined upon by the Lord: he does not forbid him praying at all for them, or for their repentance and reformation; or for spiritual good things for them, for eternal life and salvation for the remnant of his own people among them; but not for external good things for the bulk of them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
God first forbids the Prophet to pray for the people, as we have before seen, (Jer 7:16; Jer 11:14) But we must remember what I have said before, that this prohibition is to be understood as to their exile; for as God had already decreed that the people should be banished from the promised land, the Prophet was forbidden to pray, inasmuch as that decree was immutable. It is not, therefore, a general prohibition, as though the Prophet was not allowed to ask God’s forgiveness in behalf of the whole people, or at least in behalf of the godly who still remained. The Prophet might indeed pray in a certain way for the whole people, that is, that God, being satisfied with their temporal punishment, would at length spare the miserable with regard to eternal life: he might have also prayed for the remnant; for he knew that there was some seed remaining, though hidden; nay, he was himself one of the people, and he not only knew that some true servants of God were still remaining, but he had also some friends of his own, whose piety was sufficiently known to him. God, therefore, did not strictly exclude all his prayers, but every prayer with regard to the exile which was soon to be undergone by the people.
Except we bear in mind this.circumstance, the prohibition might seem strange; for we know that it is one of the first duties of love to be solicitous for one another before God, and thus to pray for the wellbeing of our brethren. (Jas 5:16) It is not then the purpose of God to deprive the Prophet of this holy and praiseworthy feeling, which is necessarily connected with true religion; but his design was to shew, that it was now in vain to implore him for the remission of that punishment which had been determined.
We hence see first, that under the name of people every individual was not included, for some seed remained; and we farther see that this prohibition extended not to eternal life, but on the contrary to temporal punishment. And the demonstrative pronoun this indicates contempt or disdain, as though he had said, “What! why shouldest thou pray for a people wholly unworthy of mercy; let them perish as they deserve.” So when he says, for good — לטובה lethube, it ought also to be referred to their exile, by which he intimates, “Hope not that what has been once fixed by me respecting this people can be changed by any prayers; they must therefore suffer the punishment which they have deserved, for I will banish them from the land.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) Pray not . . .As before, in Jer. 7:16; Jer. 11:14, the saddest, sternest part of the prophets work is to feel that even prayerthe prayer that punishment may be avertedis unavailing and unaccepted.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
YHWH Informs Jeremiah That He Will No Longer Hear His People But Rather Intends To Continue To Visit Them with the Sword And With Famine ( Jer 14:11-18 ).
Once again we learn with something of a shock that God no longer wished Jeremiah to pray for His people (compare Jer 7:16; Jer 11:14). The time when He would respond to prayer for them was past. Now only judgment awaited, judgment by sword, famine and pestilence. They had rebelled against Him once too often. It is a reminder to us that there does come a time when God has been so rejected that the time for mercy ceases, and only judgment awaits. We cannot go on putting Him off for ever.
A different story, however, was being taught by the false prophets. They were promising that YHWH would bring peace to Jerusalem. But YHWH assured Jeremiah that they had not been sent by Him and that what they were prophesying was lies. Indeed they too would experience the sword and the famine, along with the people. (This may well have been prophesied prior to the great famine described above). Meanwhile Jeremiah himself was to confirm that not only Jerusalem, but also the whole land, was soon to experience sword and famine.
Jer 14:11-12
‘And YHWH said to me,
Do not pray for this people for good,
When they fast, I will not hear their cry,
And when they offer burnt-offering and meal-offering,
I will not accept them,
But I will consume them by the sword,
And by the famine, and by the pestilence.
YHWH informs Jeremiah that he was not to pray for good to come to His people, for He would no longer hear such prayers. When they fasted He would not hear their cry, when they offered their burnt offerings and cereal offerings He would not accept them, for their hearts were not right and they were not coming to Him in restored obedience to His covenant. Intercession for them would thus no longer be successful, for His intention was to consume them by sword, by famine, and by pestilence. These were three of the curses which were threatened for breach of the covenant. See Lev 26:19-20; Lev 26:25; Lev 26:33; Deu 28:21-24; Deu 28:49-52. The three regularly went together, as well as occurring independently. War would bring famine, and famine would bring pestilence, or they could occur independently.
Jer 14:13
‘Then said I, “Ah, Lord YHWH! Behold, the prophets say to them, You will not see the sword, nor will you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.”
Jeremiah then points out that many prophets claiming to speak in the name of YHWH were promising the people that neither sword nor famine would come on them, but that they would have assured peace ‘in this place’. There are never lacking those who will promise fair weather ahead, and who dismiss ideas of God’s severity against sin, and there were plenty such in the final days of Judah before disaster came on them, as there had been previously in the days of Mic 3:8-11. It was, of course, a popular message and one that the people wanted to hear, and made life very difficult for Jeremiah with his constant warnings of judgment. It was such prophets whose urgings were responsible for the final fatal rebellion against Babylon.
Jer 14:14
‘Then YHWH said to me,
“The prophets prophesy lies in my name,
I sent them not,
Nor have I commanded them,
Nor did I speak to them,
They prophesy to you a lying vision,
And divination,
And a thing of nought,
And the deceit of their own heart.”
YHWH’s reply is comprehensive as He describes the activities of such prophets, many involving methods condemned by the covenant. He declared that what these prophets were declaring in His name were lies, and that they were not prophets who had been sent by Him, or who had been commanded by Him, or who had heard His voice speaking to them (note the threefold rebuttal), for He had not spoken to them. They were thus not authorised to speak in His name. What they prophesied was a lying vision, which included what they learned from divination which was forbidden by the Law. It was a nonsense, a thing of nought, arising from their being taken up with ‘no-gods’ (as many are today), and it arose from the deceit within their own hearts.
Jer 14:15
“Therefore thus says YHWH concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, ‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land.’ By sword and famine will those prophets be consumed.”
Such prophets were declaring that ‘the sword and famine will not be found in this land’. But the truth was that those prophets would themselves experience the sword and the famine.
Jer 14:16
“And the people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and they will have none to bury them – them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters, for I will pour their wickedness on them.”
And not only would the false prophets experience it, but also the sinful people of Jerusalem. There would be massive slaughter and large numbers of deaths as a result of famine and sword, so that the bodies would be thrown out into the streets with none to bury them. And this would happen to all, to the menfolk, to their wives, and to their sons and daughters because He would pour out on them the punishment for their many sins. This no doubt partially occurred during the droughts described above as people died of malnourishment, but it would be multiplied over and over again when the invaders arrived.
Jer 14:17
“And you shall say this word to them,
‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,
And let them not cease,
For the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach,
With a very grievous wound.’ ”
Jeremiah is to appeal to the people on the basis of his own grief for them. He is to bring home to them that his eyes run with tears day and night because of what is coming on his people. Here was no hardened, denunciating prophet, but a prophet whose love reached out longingly on behalf of his people, even though he knew that there was no hope for them. Right to the end they would have no excuse for their failure to respond from the heart to YHWH.
But the reason for his tears was the terrible wound that was about to be inflicted on Judah, a great breach that would break them. And this is made all the more terrible by his description of them as ‘the virgin daughter of my people’, a description which brings out their helplessness in the face of such a fearsome enemy (compare Jer 6:2; Jer 8:11; Jer 8:19). The pathos is underlined by the fact that this is what they should have been, a pure daughter, untarnished and untouched. The irony comes out in that they were far from that, having adulterated themselves with idols.
Jer 14:18
‘If I go forth into the open country (field),
Then, behold, the slain with the sword!
And if I enter into the city,
Then, behold, those who are sick with famine!
For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land,
And have no knowledge.’
Jeremiah looks ahead and describes the vision of the future that YHWH has given him. Wherever he goes he will find nothing but death. When he goes into the open country all he will find will be bodies slain with the sword. When he enters the besieged cities he will find nothing but famine and need. There is much sickness because of famine. In contrast when the priests and the prophets go about the land they see nothing of this. For they are without the knowledge of what YHWH is going to do. They are oblivious to the future. They ‘go about the land and know not’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jer 14:11 Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for [their] good.
Ver. 11. Pray not for this people. ] See on Jer 7:16 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Pray not, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 32:10). Compare Jer 7:16; Jer 11:14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 7:16, Jer 11:14, Jer 15:1, Exo 32:32-34
Reciprocal: Gen 20:7 – pray Exo 32:10 – let me alone Deu 9:14 – Let me 1Sa 16:1 – seeing Job 42:8 – my servant Job shall Jer 4:28 – because Lam 3:44 – that Eze 14:14 – Job Eze 20:4 – judge them Eze 23:36 – judge 1Jo 5:16 – I do not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 14:11. For their good Is said in the sense of the favor they desired, which was that they might he spared the punishment that had been threatened to come upon them. There was no use for Jeremiah to pray for such a favor upon the nation for it was bound to be punished according to the prediction previously made. Let the reader now see the note at 2Ki 22:17 in Vol, 2 of this Commentary.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
14:11 Then said the LORD to me, {i} Pray not for this people for [their] good.
(i) Read Jer 7:16; Jer 11:14 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord further instructed Jeremiah not to pray for Him to turn back from punishing them (cf. Jer 7:15; Jer 11:14). Fasting and presenting sacrifices would not move Him to change, either (cf. Jer 5:12; Jer 14:15; Jer 27:8; Jer 29:18; 2Sa 24:22-25; Isa 51:19). He had determined to destroy them with the sword, famine, and disease, the classic trio of war accompaniments. This is "tough love."
"A theological question is raised as to whether it is ever proper to give up praying for anyone. Perhaps one may pray for them to come to repentance by way of divine judgment, but breach of covenant leads unerringly to divine judgment." [Note: Thompson, p. 382.]