Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 13:9
Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
9 11. These vv. have been thought (so Co.) to contain, as they stand, two explanations, mutually exclusive, of the symbol, Jer 13:9 making the marring to denote exile, but Jer 13:10-11 Judah’s disobedience and idolatry, and it has been concluded that the latter is the original application intended and that the supposed inconsistency has come about through the introduction of some modification of the text. Thus Co. omits the whole passage except from “as the girdle” to “house of Israel” ( Jer 13:11). The omission, however, seems scarcely warranted. We should notice that it is in consequence of the prophet’s action that the girdle is spoiled, and that Jeremiah, as wearing the girdle, represents Jehovah, the action by which the girdle’s beauty is destroyed corresponding thus to exile (to which the mention of Euphrates as the place of hiding further alludes), but not to apostasy. Accordingly it is the pride of Judah and Jerusalem that shall be humbled by transportation, and it is this humbling that the symbol represents, and not moral corruption, although it is of course the latter ( Jer 13:10) which is the cause of the humiliation.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
By this it appears that God commanded Jeremiah to do this, not only as a representation of the rotten and corrupt state of this people, but of his vengeance, which should suddenly be brought upon them, though they were a proud people, lifted up and swelled in the opinion of themselves, from the favour which God had showed them, in making them a people near unto him, and as it were wearing them upon his loins; yet, they having corrupted themselves by mixing their streams with the streams of Euphrates, corrupting themselves with the superstitions, corruptions, and idolatries of heathens, God would make use of some of those nations to abate their pride and pluck their feathers, and they should rot amongst those people and in some of those nations with whom and by whose example they had sinned against the Lord. This sense of these words is much confirmed by the following words.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. (Le26:19).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thus saith the Lord, after this manner,…. As this girdle has been hid in Euphrates, and has been marred and rendered useless; so in like manner, and by such like means,
will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem; or their glory, or excellency t; that which they gloried in, and were proud of; their city which was burnt, and their temple which was destroyed by the Chaldeans; their king, princes, and nobles, who were carried captive into Babylon, by the river Euphrates, and stripped of all their grandeur, honour, and glory; and so the Targum,
“so will I corrupt the strength of the men of Judah, and the strength of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, which is much;”
and to which agrees the Syriac version, which renders it,
“the proud or haughty men of Judah, and the many haughty men of Jerusalem.”
t “excellentiam”, Calvin, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
As to the application of the Prophecy, the Prophet then distinctly describes it; but he sets forth with sufficient clearness the main point, when he says, Thus will I mar the stateliness ( altitudinem , the altitude or height) of Judah and the great stateliness of Jerusalem Other interpreters unanimously render the word, pride; but as גאון gaun, may be taken in two senses, it means here, I have no doubt, excellency, and this will appear more fully from what follows. (72) The word then signifies here that dignity with which God had favored the seed of Abraham, when he intended them to be an ornament to himself. So it is said in Exo 15:7,
“
In thy greatness thou wilt destroy the nations.”
And in Isaiah he says,
“
I will make thee the excellency of ages.” (Isa 60:15)
There no doubt it is to be taken in a good sense. And these things harmonize together, — that God had prepared the Jews for himself as a belt, and then that he cast them from him into a cavern, where they would be for a time without any light and without any glory.
The import of this clause then is, “Though the dignity of Judah and Jerusalem has been great, (for the people whom God had adopted were renowned according to what is said in Psa 73:0) though then the stateliness of Judah and Jerusalem has been great, yet I will mar it.” We see how the Prophet takes from the Jews that false confidence by which they deceived themselves. They might indeed have gloried in God, had they acted truly and from the heart: but when they arrogated all things to themselves, and deprived God of his authority, whose subjects they were, how great was their vanity and folly, and how ridiculous always to profess his sacred name, and to say, We are God’s people? for he was no God to them, as they esteemed him as nothing; nay, they disdainfully and reproachfully rejected his yoke. We hence see that the word גאון gaun, is to be taken here in a good sense. The Prophet at the same time reproachfully taunts them, that they abused the name of God and falsely pretended to be his people and heritage. The rest we cannot finish; we shall go on with the subject to-morrow.
(72) It is strangely rendered “reproach — ὕζριν,” by the Septuagint, but “pride” by the Vulgate, — “the haughty ones,” by the Syriac, — “insolence” by the Arabic, and “strength” by the Targum. Blayney agrees with Calvin and renders it “excellency,” and Horsley, “glory.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) The pride of Judah.As the girdle was the part of the dress on which most ornamental work was commonly lavished, so that it was a common gift among princes and men of wealth (1Sa. 18:4; 2Sa. 18:11), it was the natural symbol of the outward glory of a kingdom. As Jeremiah was a priest, we may, perhaps, think of the embroidered girdle for glory and for beauty of the priestly dress (Exo. 28:40; Eze. 44:17).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Mar the pride of Judah This was fulfilled in her physical decay the loss of her temporal greatness.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 13:9. After this manner will I mar the pride, &c. Will I mar the glory of Judah, and the great honour of Jerusalem. See Jer 13:11. “I will transport them beyond Euphrates; I will hide them in Babylon, as in the hole of a rock, whence they cannot come out. They shall be marred in the midst of the nations, without temple, without sacrifice, without priests, without external worship. I will humble their presumption, and teach them to acknowledge and adore my mercy.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 13:9 Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
Ver. 9. After this manner will I mar the pride. ] Their pomp and power, wherein they pride themselves.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jeremiah’s Ninth Prophecy (see book comments for Jeremiah).
mar the pride, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Lev 26:19). App-92.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
After: Jer 18:4-6, Lam 5:5-8
the pride: Jer 13:15-17, Lev 26:19, Job 40:10-12, Pro 16:18, Isa 2:10-17, Isa 23:9, Eze 16:50, Eze 16:56, Nah 2:2, *marg. Zep 3:11, Luk 18:14, Jam 4:6, 1Pe 5:5
the great: Jer 48:29, Isa 16:6
Reciprocal: Zec 1:4 – but
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 13:9. The meaning of the performance with the girdle is to be given by the Lord beginning with this verse. Pride is from a Hebrew word that, is defined “arrogance or majesty. Judah (especially the leaders) had a feeling of importance that caused her to resist the teachings of the Lord. The first word in the definition is another word for “stubbornness, and the people of Judah (likewise of Israel) certainly had manifested much of that spirit ib all of their history. But the Lord was determined to mar that pride through the captivity in the region of the Euphrates River.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 13:9. After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, &c. Or, as some translate the verse, Will I mar the glory of Judah, and the great honour of Jerusalem. I will bring down their pride and stubbornness, by making them slaves and vassals to strangers, Lam 5:8; Lam 5:13. Or, alluding to the transaction about the girdle, I will transport them beyond the Euphrates; I will bide them in Babylon, as in the hole of a rock, whence they cannot come out. They shall be marred in the midst of the nations, without temple, without sacrifice, without priests, without external worship. I will humble their presumption, and teach them to acknowledge and adore my mercy.