Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 18:19
Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
The voice – i. e., the outcry and threats.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
The several following verses, to the end of this chapter, contain the prophets prayer by way of appeal to God against those wicked men: Lord, (saith he,) though they are resolved to take no heed to my words, yet do thou give heed to them, and do thou take notice of those men that contend with me. Take notice of what they say, not to confirm, but to cross their desires, and to be revenged on them for them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. Give heedcontrasted with,”let us not give heed” (Jer18:18). As they give no heed to me, do Thou, O Lord, giveheed to me, and let my words at least have their weight with Thee.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Give heed to me, O Lord,…. To his prayer, since his enemies would not give heed to his prophecies; and God does give heed to the cries and complaints of his ministers, when men will not give heed to their words and doctrines; they have a God to go to, who will hear them, when men despise them:
and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me; hear their reproaches and rantings, their blasphemies and evil speakings, their lies and falsehoods, and judge between me and them; let it appear who is in the right; vindicate my cause, and plead with them that plead against me.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
As the Prophet saw that his labor as to men was useless, he turned to God, as we find he had done often before. This way of speaking, no doubt, had more force than if he had continued to address the people. He might indeed have said, “Miserable men! where are you rushing headlong? what means this madness? what at last do ye think will be the end, since ye are resisting God, being obstinate against his Spirit? for ye cannot extinguish the light by your perverseness or by your effrontery.” The Prophet might have thus reproved them; but it betokens more vehemence, when he leaves men and addresses God, himself. This apostrophe then ought to be carefully noticed, for we hence gather that the madness of the Jews was reprobated, inasmuch as the Prophet did not deign to contend with them. But he notwithstanding said, “As they do not attend, attend thou, Jehovah, to me. ” He saw that he was despised by God’s enemies, and by this prayer he intimates, that his doctrine was in force before God, and retained its own importance and could not fail. Hence he says, Jehovah, regard me, and hear the voice of those who contend with me.
Here Jeremiah asks two things, — that God would undertake his cause, and that he would take vengeance on the wantonness of his enemies. And this passage deserves especial notice, for it is a support which can never fail us, when we know that our service is approved by God, and that as he prescribes to us what to say, so what proceeds from him shall ever possess its own weight, and that it cannot be effected by the ingratitude of the world, that any portion of the authority of celestial truth should be destroyed or diminished. Whenever then the ungodly deride us, and elude or neglect the truth, let us follow the example of the Prophet, let us ask God to look on us; but this cannot be done, except we strive with a sincere heart to execute what he has committed to us. Then a pure conscience will open a door for us, so that we may be able confidently to call on God as our guardian and defender, whenever our labor is despised by men.
He asks, in the second place, that God would hear the voice of those who contended with him. (206) We hence conclude, that the wicked gain nothing by their pride, for they provoke God more and more, when they thus oppose his pure doctrine and contend against his prophets and faithful teachers. Since then we see that the ungodly effect nothing, except that they kindle God’s wrath the more, we ought to go on more courageously in the discharge of our office; for even when for a time they suppress by their great clamours the truth of God, he will yet check them, and so check them, that the doctrine, which is now subverted by unjust calumnies, may shine forth more fully. He afterwards adds —
(206) “The voice of my justification,” is the Septuagint, “the voice of my adversaries,” the Vulgate; “the voice of my oppression,” the Syriac, “the voice of my strife,” the Arabic. But the best is our version and that of Calvin. The Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the Syriac are wholly wrong: for the verb ריב never means any one of the ideas which they convey. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
B. The Prayer of the Prophet Jer. 18:19-23
TRANSLATION
(19) Give ear unto me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of my adversaries. (20) Shall evil be recompensed instead of good? For they are digging a pit for my soul! Remember that I stood before You to speak good on their behalf and to cause Your wrath to turn from them. (21) Therefore give their sons to famine and deliver them to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widows, and let their husbands be slain by death, their chosen young men smitten by the sword in battle. (22) Let a cry be heard from their houses when You bring a troop suddenly upon them; for they have dug a pit to capture me and snares they have hidden for my feet. (23) But as for You, O LORD, You know all of their counsel against me for death. Do not pardon their guilt and do not blot out their sin from before Your face; but let them be made to stumble before You! Deal with them in the time of Your anger!
COMMENTS
The text does not indicate how Jeremiah became aware of the plot against him. But when he hears what his enemies have planned for him he cries out to God asking Him to take note of the threat against His messenger (Jer. 18:19). Jeremiah cannot understand why he is the object of such a vicious plot. He has preached bluntly but always with the ultimate good of his people at heart. He had wept for his people, pled with them and interceded for them at the throne of grace. He was the only true friend that the nation really had. When the people should be honoring him for what he has been doing, they are instead plotting against him. Jeremiah is both perplexed and perturbed by this turn of events. Borrowing the terminology from the Psalmist[213] he cries, They are digging a pit for my soul! (Jer. 18:20).
[213] See Psa. 57:6; Psa. 35:7.
The prayer moves from narrative to petition and the petition takes the form of bitter imprecation. He prays that the sons of his enemies might experience famine and that they might be delivered over to (literally, poured out to) the power of the sword. The same terminology occurs also in Psa. 63:10 and Eze. 35:5 and the meaning is that the young soldiers would be thrust upon the sword until their life-blood had been poured out. He prays that the wives of his enemies will become childless and widows (Jer. 18:21). He prays that the homes of his enemies might be plundered by a troop of enemy soldiers (Jer. 18:22). He asks God not to pardon these men and to deal with them in the time of divine anger (Jer. 18:23).
Several points need to be considered in interpreting this difficult prayer.
1. The imprecation is not hurled at the nation as a whole but at those enemies who plotted his death.
2. The prophets were neither vegetables nor ma chines but men of like passions with ourselves (G. A. Smith).
3. This outburst does not represent Jeremiah at his best and is uttered in a moment of exasperation.
4. The anger of the prophet is aroused not so much because he personally is being attacked as because God was being rejected in the person of His prophet. To blaspheme the Lords messenger is to blaspheme the Lord Himself.
5. The particular blasphemy which the enemies hurled at Jeremiah was that his prophecies had not been fulfilled and that consequently he was a false prophet. Jeremiah now is calling upon God to execute those threats which he has so boldly proclaimed (Jer. 4:6-31; Jer. 9:17-22; Jer. 14:15-18; Jer. 15:2-9).
6. The prophet does not pray for these hardened people because the Lord has already indicated His unwillingness to forgive. Cf. Jer. 7:16; Jer. 14:10; Jer. 14:12; Jer. 15:1; Jer. 15:6; Jer. 16:5 b.
7. Precedents for such prayers of imprecation can be found in the Psalms. Jeremiah may have been borrowing the language of the Psalms in formulating this prayer.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(19) Give heed to me . . .This is the prophets answer to the resolve of the people, Let us not give heed. He appeals in the accents of a passionate complaint to One who will heed his words. The opening words are almost as an echo of Psa. 35:1.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Jeremiah’s Distress At Their Treatment Of Him And His Violent Reaction To It ( Jer 18:19-23 ).
Jeremiah was naturally disturbed by this suggestion. But while recognising that Jeremiah’s subsequent response does not match up to the teaching of Jesus Christ we do have to remember that he had not had the benefit of hearing Him. We must not judge Old Testament saints by New Testament standards. Even they could not have conceived of the sacrificial love that Jesus Christ had come to bring. Indeed it is this that demonstrates the supreme moral status of Jesus Christ above all others. No one else ever dared to teach that we should love our enemies, bless those who persecute us, do good to those who hate us and pray for those who use us badly. He was unique. It went against all that seemingly seemed rational.
Jeremiah had, after all, good reason for his distress and anger. He had fought for his people with YHWH, seeking to turn His wrath away from them, and he had loved them and had prayed for them even in the face of opposition and derision, yet all that they had done in return was to recompense him evil for good and dig a pit for him to fall into. In other words they had ‘fought’ with him (compare Psa 35:1) and then they had sought by every means to bring him down, to entrap him, and then to bury him (compare Psa 57:6).
Furthermore we must recognise that what he was asking for was what he knew that YHWH had actually already declared that He would do to them. He was not trying to persuade YHWH to go against His otherwise merciful inclinations, but was simply showing that he had become so exasperated and upset that he had finally been persuaded to agree with Him. In other words he was demonstrating that he had finally been brought to the position of admitting that YHWH had been right after all. Can we criticise a man who takes up such a position when all that he is doing is agree that YHWH should carry out what He had already declared was His will in respect of them? He is simply agreeing that he now realises just how sinful and reprobate this people are, and that there is no hope for them (as they had themselves said) and confirming that he is resigned to YHWH doing what He had already purposed because he has nothing further to say in their defence. Every sentence of his cry to YHWH is in fact paralleled by previous declarations of YHWH indicating what He intended to do. We might even say, how could Jeremiah then have asked otherwise? And yet, with the example of Jesus Christ before us, we do ask that question, because we are called on to see things differently (compare Luk 9:54-55).
Jer 18:19-20
‘Listen to me, O YHWH,
And hear the voice of those who contend with me.
Will evil be recompensed for good?
For they have dug a pit for my soul.
Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them,
To turn away your wrath from them.’
He asks YHWH to take note of the way that the people were arguing with him and disputing his words (the word of YHWH), contending with him about every little thing; how they were recompensing him evil for good; how they had constantly sought to entrap and smother him; and how they had ignored the fact that he had stood before YHWH on their behalf and had tried to turn away His wrath from them. He had good cause to be aggrieved.
Jer 18:21
‘Therefore deliver up their children to the famine,
And give them over to the power of the sword,
And let their wives become childless,
And widows,
And let their men be slain of death,
Their young men smitten of the sword in battle.’
He therefore now basically admits that he has been wrong and calls on YHWH to carry out His stated purpose on the people. Let Him do His will. For the deliverance of their children to famine and the sword see, for example, Jer 14:16; Jer 14:18; Jer 15:2. For their wives being childless see Jer 15:8-9; Jer 16:3-4; Jer 16:6. For their wives becoming widows see Jer 15:8. For them and their young men being slain see Jer 11:22-23; Jer 14:16; Jer 14:18; Jer 15:2; Jer 16:3-4; Jer 16:16. This was what YHWH had already commanded him to proclaim, while warning him not to pray for them because it was too late and the people had gone beyond the mark of what was acceptable. In view of the constant antagonism that he faced he can hardly therefore be castigated for echoing what YHWH had drummed into him as being His will, an antagonism which did after all reveal that YHWH was right.
Jer 18:22
‘Let a cry be heard from their houses,
When you bring a troop suddenly upon them,
For they have dug a pit to take me,
And hid snares for my feet.’
Then he prays (no doubt without thinking through fully what the actual consequence would be in terms of the cruelty involved) that the people might be taken by surprise in their houses as YHWH brought a military unit upon them, in the same way as by their traps they had sought to take him by surprise.
Here his prayer is more related to his own direct experience. These people had constantly sought to trap and ensnare him in all manner of ways, and to take him by surprise, and so he prays that they might, as YHWH has said, also find themselves similarly trapped as the enemy came upon them, so that they had to cry out in anguish and despair, and experience for themselves something of what they had made Jeremiah experience. He was asking that they reap what they had sown.
Jer 18:23
‘Yet you, YHWH, know all their counsel against me,
To slay me,
Do not forgive their iniquity,
Nor blot out their sin from your sight,
But let them be overthrown before you,
Deal you with them in the time of your anger.’
Finally he draws YHWH’s attention to the way in which they had constantly plotted against him to kill him. We see in this a mirror image of what our Lord Jesus Christ also experienced in His life on earth, as He too faced constant plots against His life (Mat 12:14; Mat 27:1; Mar 3:6; Luk 6:11; etc.). And we recognise that Jesus’ response was of a different kind to Jeremiah’s as He prayed, ‘Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.’ But that is precisely the point. A greater and more compassionate than Jeremiah was now here, the submissive Suffering Servant (Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12), the ‘Lamb as it had been slain’, in contrast with the hurt and bewildered ‘pet lamb led to the slaughter’ (Jer 11:19).
So Jeremiah prays (as YHWH has already made clear will be the situation) that He will not pardon their sins nor forgive their iniquity, but will rather allow them to be overthrown as they are dealt with by YHWH in His anger, an anger of which he himself has constantly been made aware (Jer 4:8; Jer 4:26; Jer 7:18; Jer 7:20; Jer 7:29; Jer 8:19; Jer 11:17; Jer 12:13; Jer 15:14; Jer 17:4), and which earlier he had tried to avert on their behalf (Jer 18:20). This was not, however, a prayer for their eternal condemnation, which was not an idea in Jeremiah’s mind at the time, but was a prayer that they might not be spared what was their due at that time (their overthrowing) by a sudden act of mercy. He had had enough of their behaviour towards him and towards YHWH. Let them reap what they had sown. He was thinking in the short term not the long term. So yes, we may say that he fell short of the ideal, but there are very few even today, with Jesus’ teaching echoing in their ears, who would have responded in any better way. He was essentially a prophet who was admitting that he himself had been wrong to want mercy for the people because they had gone too far, and was therefore asking YHWH to fulfil what He had made him prophesy. But we cannot, even as we say this, deny a certain level of understandable vindictiveness which he would have done better to have avoided (and would have had he been Jesus Christ)
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Prayer is the sure relief of an afflicted mind; and more especially if men persecute, where can we find support but in God? The apparent harshness of the Prophet’s prayer, ceases to be so, when we consider, for whom those judgments are desired, namely, the sworn foes of God and of his Christ. Reader! you will always find relief from reading scriptures of this kind spoken by Jesus, or his servants, as referring to the seed of the serpent. The war began between Abel and Cain, and hath continued ever since, and will continue, until time is lost in eternity. And let not the Reader forget, that the happiness of the redeemed in heaven, can only consist in the everlasting and uninterrupted enjoyment of God and the Lamb. The day of vengeance, and the year of the Redeemed are connected in one. The everlasting destruction of Satan, and his kingdom, his people, children, and empire, form as grand a part in the scheme of Christ’s triumphs, as the everlasting happiness of his chosen. Oh! for grace to take part with all that belongs to Christ, and to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. Isa 63:4 ; Rev 12:10 ; Rth 1:16-17 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 18:19 Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
Ver. 19. Give heed to me, O Lord. ] Though they will not, yet do thou, I beseech thee. This is ordinary with good men, when wearied out with the world’s misusages, to turn them to God, and to seek help of him.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 18:19-23
19Do give heed to me, O LORD,
And listen to what my opponents are saying!
20Should good be repaid with evil?
For they have dug a pit for me.
Remember how I stood before You
To speak good on their behalf,
So as to turn away Your wrath from them.
21Therefore, give their children over to famine
And deliver them up to the power of the sword;
And let their wives become childless and widowed.
Let their men also be smitten to death,
Their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
22May an outcry be heard from their houses,
When You suddenly bring raiders upon them;
For they have dug a pit to capture me
And hidden snares for my feet.
23Yet You, O LORD, know
All their deadly designs against me;
Do not forgive their iniquity
Or blot out their sin from Your sight.
But may they be overthrown before You;
Deal with them in the time of Your anger!
Jer 18:19-23 Jeremiah answers their plans with a prayer to YHWH (another of his laments/confessions). It starts out with the same VERB that ends Jer 18:18 (heed). Notice his requests (hyperbolic, prophetic IMPERATIVES, see D. Brent Sandy, Plowshares and Pruning Hooks).
1. Do give heed to me – BDB 904, KB 1151, Hiphil IMPERATIVE. His enemies will not heed/hear, but YHWH will!
2. Listen to what my opponents are saying – BDB 1033, KB 1570, Qal IMPERATIVE
a. MT – listen to opponents
b. LXX – listen to me
3. Remember how I stood before You for them – BDB 269, KB 269, Qal IMPERATIVE
a. to speak good on their behalf (i.e., Jer 14:13-16)
b. to turn away Your wrath from them (cf. Jer 15:1)
4. Therefore, YHWH, respond to them.
a. give over their children to famine – BDB 678, KB 733, Qal IMPERATIVE
b. deliver them to the power of the sword – BDB 620, KB 669, Hiphil IMPERATIVE
c. let their wives become childless – BDB 224, KB 243, Qal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense
d. let their wives become widows – same as c
e. let their men also be smitten to death (by pestilence, BDB 560) – BDB 246, KB 255, Qal PASSIVE PARTICIPLE
f. let their young men be struck down by the sword – BDB 645, KB 697, Hophal PARTICIPLE
g. let an outcry be heard from their homes – BDB 1033, KB 1570, Niphal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense. For the NOUN cry out, see Jer 20:16; Jer 48:4; Jer 48:34; Jer 50:46; Jer 51:54; Isa 15:5
h. do not forgive their iniquity – BDB 497, KB 493, Piel IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense
i. Do not blot out their sin from Your sight – BDB 562 I, KB 567, Hiphil IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense
j. may they be overthrown before You – BDB 224, KB 243, Qere, Qal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense
k. deal with them in the time of Your anger – BDB 793 I, KB 889, Qal IMPERATIVE
Jer 18:20 Should good be repaid with evil Apparently this refers to Jeremiah’s prayers (I stood before You) for Judah (cf. Jer 17:16), but they responded by trying to kill him.
they have dug a pit for me This is an allusion to a hunting technique (cf. Psa 57:6; Psa 119:85). It may be literal (i.e., they will try to kill him) or figurative (they will try to ruin his reputation, cf. Jer 18:22, i.e., his prophecies have not occurred, cf. Deu 13:1-5).
Jer 18:23 Is Jeremiah being vindictive? He seems to want justice for Judah’s repeated covenant violations. His own circumstances bothered him but Judah’s sin bothered him more! There will be justice. There will be a day when humans give an account to God for the gift of life (i.e., Mat 25:31-46; Rev 20:11-15). It will be an especially bad day for covenant, informed people (cf. Luk 12:48)!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Give: Jer 20:12, Psa 55:16, Psa 55:17, Psa 64:1-4, Psa 56:1-3, Psa 109:4, Psa 109:28, Mic 7:8, Luk 6:11, Luk 6:12
hearken: 2Ki 19:16, Neh 4:4, Neh 4:5, Neh 6:9
Reciprocal: Psa 56:7 – in thine Jer 17:18 – the day Rom 11:2 – how he maketh 2Ti 4:14 – reward
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 18:19. The attitude of the people worried Jeremiah so that he came to the Lord with a prayer for help.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 18:19-23. Give heed to me, O Lord The people had determined not to give heed to any of his words, (Jer 18:18,) nor to admit any of his complaints, nor take the least notice of his grievances; therefore he appeals to God, as an impartial judge, that would hear both sides, as every judge ought to do. It is a matter of comfort to faithful ministers that, if men will not give heed to their preaching, yet God will give heed to their praying. And hearken to the voice of them that contend with me Hear what they have to say against me, and for themselves, and then make it appear that thou sittest upon the throne judging right. Shall evil be recompensed for good? And shall it go unpunished? Wilt not thou recompense me good for that evil? see 2Sa 16:12. To render good for good, says Henry, is human, evil for evil is brutish, good for evil is Christian, but evil for good is devilish; it is so very absurd and wicked a thing that we cannot think but God will avenge it. They have digged a pit for my soul That is, They have laid snares for me as for a wild beast; for pits are digged for wild beasts to fall into, that so they may be taken. Therefore the sense is, They have formed a design against my life, and that not in a generous way, by an open assault, against which I might have had an opportunity of defending myself; but in a base, cowardly, clandestine way. Such was the evil they did or devised against him. But see how great the good was which he had done for them: Remember, he says, that I stood before thee to speak good for them That is, in the execution of my prophetical office, I always interposed, with my prayers, in their behalf, to avert those judgments which, by thy command, I denounced against them. Therefore deliver up their children, &c. Since they are thus incorrigible, I shall not any more intercede for them, but let those calamities of famine and sword, with which thou hast threatened them, overtake them. Let a cry be heard from their houses, &c. When they are unexpectedly assaulted by a troop of their enemies, that come to plunder and destroy them. Yet Lord, or, rather, For Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me, to slay me; forgive not their iniquity, &c. Compare chap. Jer 11:20; Jer 15:15; Psa 59:5; on which passages see the notes. Although it redounds to the glory of Gods justice that incorrigible sinners should meet with exemplary punishment; yet these strong imprecations are not to be considered as the effusions of an unholy zeal, but as simple prophecies, in which light, we have shown, in our commentary on the Psalms, many similar expressions occurring there are to be considered.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jeremiah became aware of the plot and went to the Lord in prayer about it. He asked God to listen to him and to what his opponents were saying (cf. Jer 11:18-20).