Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 1:12
Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
12. I watch over ] The Hebrew word recurs in Jer 5:6, Jer 31:28, Jer 44:27. Here the sense is, The Lord is rousing Himself. The period of trial is rapidly approaching its end, and the punishment so long delayed is about to be at last inflicted.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Hasten – Rather, I watch over my word to perform it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 12. I will hasten my word] Here is a paronomasia. What dost thou see? I see shaked, “an almond,” the hastening tree: that which first awakes. Thou hast well seen, for ( shoked) I will hasten my word. I will awake, or watch over my word for the first opportunity to inflict the judgments which I threaten. The judgment shall come speedily; it shall soon flourish, and come to maturity.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thou hast well seen; or, Thou hast seen and judged right; or, as the Hebrew,
Thou hast done well to see, i.e. in seeing so.
I will hasten; word for word,
I will almond-tree it, i.e. I will be upon them speedily, in a short time, and suddenly, ere they are aware; or, I will watch, and be ready to accomplish this in due time.
My word, i.e. my word of threatening against Judah and its inhabitants.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. hastenrather, “Iwill be wakeful as to My word,” c. alluding to Jer1:11, “the wakeful tree” [MAURER].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then said the Lord unto me, thou hast well seen,…. The thing seen is a very proper emblem of what I am about to do, and the quick dispatch that will be made therein:
for l will hasten my word to perform it; the words , “shoked ani”, “I will hasten”, or “I am hastening”, are in allusion to
, “shoked”, the name of the almond tree in Hebrew; which is so called because it is quick and early, and, as it were, hastens to bring forth its flowers, leaves, and fruit; in like manner the Lord says he would hasten to perform what he had said or should say by him concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, and the captivity of the people, and every thing else he should give him in commission to say. Jarchi and Abendana make mention of an ancient Midrash, or exposition, to this sense; that from the time of the almond tree’s putting forth, until its fruit is ripe, are one and twenty days, according to the number of days which were between the seventeenth of Tammuz, in which the city was broken up, and the ninth of Ab, in which the temple was burnt; but though the almond tree is the first of trees, and is very early in putting forth, yet there is a greater time than this between its putting forth and its fruit being ripe; for Pliny s says, that the almond tree first of all flowers in January, and its fruit is ripe in March.
s Nat. Hist. l. 16. c. 25.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
God then caused his servant to see the staff of a watcher. For what purpose? The answer is given: Thou hast rightly seen the staff of a watcher, because I watch over my word to execute (or, fulfill) it Interpreters seem to have unwisely confined this to the punishments afterwards mentioned: they think that what is intimated is, that the threatenings which the Prophet announced would not be without effect, because God was prepared to inflict whatever he would denounce. But this, as I think, is too restricted a view; for God, I have no doubt, extols here his own word, and speaks of its accomplishment; as though he had said, that he spoke not by his servants, that what they said might vanish into air, or fall to the ground, but that power would accompany it, according to what is said in Isaiah,
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Not return shall my word to me empty, but shall prosper in all things,” (Isa 55:11)
that is, “I will cause the prophetic doctrine to take effect, that the whole world may know that I have not spoken in vain, and that my word is not an empty sound, but that it has real power, which in due time will appear.”
Hence I have said that these verses ought to be connected with the last, in which God said, that he sent his Prophet to root up and to plant, to demolish and to build. He then gives a proof of this in other words, and says that he would watch over his word, that he might execute whatever he had announced by his servants; as though he had said, “I indeed allot their parts (so to speak) to the prophets; but as they speak from my mouth, I am present with them to fulfill whatever I command them.” In short, God intimates that the might and the power of his hand would be connected with the word, of which the prophets were ministers among men. Thus it is a general declaration which refers not only to punishments, but also to promises. Rightly, then, hast thou seen, he says; for I am watching.
God does not here resign his own office to Jeremiah, though he employs him as his teacher; for he shews that the power to accomplish what the Prophet would declare remained with him. God indeed does not here ascribe to Jeremiah anything as his own, or apart from himself, but sets forth only the power of his word; as though he had said, “Provided thou be my faithful minister, I will not frustrate thy hope, nor the hope of those who shall obey thee; for I will fulfill whatever thou and they may justly hope for: nor shall they escape unpunished who shall resist thee; for I will in due time bring on them the punishment they deserve.”
He therefore uses the word to watch, or to hasten, in order to shew that he stood ready to give effect to his word at the appointed time. The effect does not indeed always appear to us: it is on this account said by Habakkuk, that if prophecy delays, we are to wait;
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for it will not be,” he says, “beyond its time; but coming it will come.” (Hab 2:3)
God then bids us with quiet minds to wait for the accomplishment of his word; but he afterwards adds, in order to modify what he had said, “coming it will come;” that is, “I will accomplish and really perform whatever my prophets have spoken by my command.” So there shall be no delay, for the suitable time depends on God’s will, and not on the judgment of men. It then follows, — but as the clock strikes, I cannot proceed farther today.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) I will hasten.The Hebrew, by using a participle formed from the same root (shkd), presents a play upon the name of the almond, as the watcher, which it is impossible to reproduce; literally, I, too, am watching over my word to perform it.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. I will hasten Better, I will be watchful over.
My word to perform it In winter the reign of death over the vegetable kingdom is well nigh universal. The almond wakes to life as a visible token and proof of the mindfulness of God and the sure return of life’s resistless dominion. So now God gives to Jeremiah this token of an activity which will assert his power, and call the nation out of its sinful sleep. But that this watchfulness of God was not for purposes of judgment only is clearly stated in the parallel passage in Jer 31:28.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 1:12 Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
Ver. 12. Thou hast well seen. ] Heb., Thou hast done well to see, i.e., so to see.
For I will hasten my word.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I will hasten . . . it = I am watching. Forming the Figure of speech Paronomasia (App-6), “an almond tree (shaked) . . . I am watching (shoked)”, thus emphasizing the certainty.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Thou hast: Deu 5:28, Deu 18:17, Luk 10:28, Luk 20:39
I will: Jer 39:1-18, Jer 52:1-34, Deu 32:35, Eze 12:22, Eze 12:23, Eze 12:25, Eze 12:28, Amo 8:2
Reciprocal: Exo 25:33 – like unto Jer 48:16 – near Lam 4:18 – our end is near Eze 11:3 – It is not Joh 13:13 – and
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Yahweh explained that He would watch over His word to perform it.
"In a day when the word of the Lord seemed to be forgotten entirely, Jehovah declared, ’I watch over My word to perform it.’" [Note: G. Campbell Morgan, An Exposition of the Whole Bible, p. 321.]
The connection with the almond branch is a play on words. "Almond" is shaqed in Hebrew, which also means "awake," and "watching" is shoqed. The meaning seems to be that just as the blooming of the almond branch announced that spring was near, so the prophet’s word would herald the imminence of what he predicted. The NEB translated the last part of the Lord’s statement in this verse, "I am early on the watch to carry out my purpose."
"Jeremiah’s vision of the ’awake tree’ reminded him that God was awake and watching over His word to make sure it came to pass." [Note: Dyer, "Jeremiah," p. 1131.]
These two verses summarize a central theme of Jeremiah: the inevitable fulfillment of Yahweh’s announcements concerning Judah and the nations.