Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 25:10
Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.
10. take from them ] lit. as mg. cause to perish from them.
the voice of mirth, etc.] Cp. Jer 7:34. Here mention of the millstones and of the candle (lamp) is added, typical of domestic labour and social cheer. See the same description somewhat amplified in Rev 18:22 f.
millstones ] See Dr.’s note for description of the hand-mill in daily use in an Eastern village.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Take from them … the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle – (or, lamp). To denote the entire cessation of domestic life. The one was the sign of the preparation of the daily meal, the other of the assembling of the family after the labors of the day were over.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. I will take from them] See Jer 7:34; Jer 16:9.
The sound of the mill-stones, and the light of the candle.] These two are conjoined, because they generally ground the corn before day, by the light of the candle. Sir J. Chardin has remarked, that every where in the morning may be heard the noise of the mills; for they generally grind every day just as much as is necessary for the day’s consumption. Where then the noise of the mill is not heard, nor the light of the candle seen, there must be desolation; because these things are heard and seen in every inhabited country.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I will take away all your mirth and jollity, whether used at weddings, or at any of your merry meetings; I will leave you nothing to rejoice in; your very wedding times shall be times of mourning and lamentation. Nay, I will not only deprive you of your mirth, but of those things that are necessary for you, as necessary as bread and light; the millstone shall not move; you shall not have the light so much as of a candle. See the like expressions Rev 18:22,23. God here threatens not only to take away their superfluities, and what he had hitherto lent them for their pleasure and delight, but also what they had for their necessary sustenance, and to capacitate them to do their ordinary works.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. (Jer 7:34;Rev 18:23). The land shall be sodesolated that even in the houses left standing there shall be noinhabitant; a terrible stillness shall prevail; no sound of thehand-mill (two circular stones, one above the other, forgrinding corn, worked by two women, Exo 11:5;Mat 24:41; in daily use in everyhouse, and therefore forbidden to be taken in pledge, De24:6); no night-light, so universal in the East that thepoorest house has it, burning all night.
candlelamp (Job 21:17;Job 18:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness,…. At their festivals, and nuptial solemnities:
the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride; expressing their mutual love unto, and delight in, each other; so agreeable to one another and their friends: or it may mean those epithalamies, or nuptial songs, sung unto them by their friends:
the sound of the millstones; either the voice of those that sing at the mill while grinding; or rather the sound of the stones themselves used in grinding; either in grinding spices for the bride cakes; or rather in grinding corn for common use; and so denotes the taking away of bread corn from them, and the want of that. The sense is, there should be corn to grind, and so no use of the mill:
and the light of the candle; at their feasts and weddings, or rather, for common use; signifying that houses should be desolate, without inhabitants, no light in them, nor work to be done. The whole shows that they should be deprived of everything both for necessity and pleasure. John seems to have borrowed some phrases from hence,
Re 18:22; in which he appears to have followed the Hebrew text, and not the Greek version. The Targum of the last clause is,
“the voice of the company of those that sing at the light of candles.”
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He confirms here what I have just said, — that the Jews were not to be chastised in a common manner, but be exposed to extreme distress. For though all things may not be with us prosperous and according to our wishes, yet marriages may still be celebrated, and some hilarity may remain; we may yet eat and drink and enjoy the necessaries of life, though we may have no pleasures; but the Prophet shews here that such would be the devastation of the land, that there would be no thoughts about marriages, that all hilarity and joy would cease, that there would be no preparations of food, no grinding of corn, and that, in short, all feasts usually kept by the light of candles would be no more celebrated. Here, then, he describes to the life that devastation which had been before mentioned. (131)
The Prophet no doubt indirectly condemns that insensibility by which the devil had possessed the minds of the people; for though the prophets continually threatened them, yet there was no end to their exultations and no moderation in them, according to what is said by Isaiah, who complains of such wantonness, that they said, “Let us feast, tomorrow we shall die;” and who also says,
“
I have called you to sackcloth and ashes, but ye went to the harp and to feastings.” (Isa 22:12)
When, therefore, the Prophet speaks here of the voice of joy and gladness, of the noise of millstones, and of lamps, he doubtless upbraids them with their stupid security; for they feared nothing, and thought themselves safe even when God was shewing himself, as with an outstretched hand, to be their avenging judge. It follows, —
(131) As this verse is connected with the foregoing, the ו would be better rendered for, —
10. For I will make to cease from among them The voice of exultation and the voice of joy, The voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, The voice of the millstone, and the light of the lamp.
The time for grinding was the morning; the earliest thing in the morning was this work, and was done every day. The time for the light of the lamp was the evening; when this disappears, it is an evidence that there are no inhabitants. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) The voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness.The language is mainly an echo of Jer. 7:34; Jer. 16:9, but there are new features in the cessation of the sound of the millstone, i.e., of the grinding of corn by female slaves for the mid-day meal (Exo. 11:5; Mat. 24:41), and the lighting of the candle when the days work was done (Mat. 5:15). No words could paint more terribly the entire breaking up of family life, not only in its occasional festivities, but in its daily routine. The imagery reappears in Rev. 18:22-23.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 25:10. The voice of the bridegroom, &c. The song of the bridegroom, and the song of the bride; the songs of the mill, and the light of the lamp. By the songs of the mill, are meant the songs of those female slaves, who in ancient times used to grind at the mill. See Mat 24:41. The ideas in Rev 18:23 are similar to those of our prophet; and the general meaning is, that every voice of gladness and of business shall be silent; and the whole land depopulated, and universal desolation reigning.
The sound of the milstones, and the light of the candle Mr. Harmer has an excellent critical observation on this place, which I cannot do better than present the reader with at large.
“The time for grinding their corn is the morning; which consideration makes the prophet’s selecting the noise of milstones, and the lighting up of candles, as circumstances belonging to inhabited places, appear in a view, which no commentators, that I have examined, have taken notice of.”
I am indebted to Sir John Chardin’s Manuscript for the knowledge of this fact. It informs us, that “in the East they grind their corn at break of day; and that when one goes out in a morning, one hears every where the noise of the mill; and that it is the noise that often awakens people.”
“It has been commonly known that they bake every day; and that they usually grind their corn as they want it; but this passage informs us, that it is the first work done in a morning, as well as that this grinding of their mills makes a considerable noise, and attracts every ear; and as the lighting up of candles begins the evening, there is an agreeable contrast observable in these words: Moreover I will take from thee the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of milstones, and the light of the candle. And their whole land shall be a desolation. Gloomy shall be the silence of the morning, melancholy the shadows of the evening, no cheerful noise to animate the one, no enlivening ray to soften the gloom of the other. Desolation shall every where reign. In the East, where no milstones are heard in the morning, no light seen in the evening, it must be a dreary dismal solitude.” Ch. 4 Obs. 4. See also ch. 3 Obs. 18.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 25:10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.
Ver. 10. Moreover, I will take from them. ] See Jer 7:34 Rev 18:22 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I will take from them. Quoted in Rev 18:23. Compare Jer 7:34; Jer 16:9; Jer 33:11.
candle = lamp.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
take from: Heb. cause to perish from, Est 3:13, Est 7:4, Est 8:11
voice of mirth: Jer 7:34, Jer 16:9, Jer 33:10, Jer 33:11, Isa 24:7-12, Eze 26:13, Hos 2:11, Rev 18:22, Rev 18:23
the sound: Sir J. Chardin remarks, that in the East, every where in the morning may be heard the noise of the mills, which often awakens people; for they generally grind every day just as much as may be necessary for the day’s consumption. Where, then, the noise of the mill is not heard in the morning, nor the light of the candle seen in the evening, there must be an utter desolation. Ecc 12:2-4
Reciprocal: Psa 78:63 – maidens Isa 23:1 – for it is Isa 24:8 – General Isa 32:10 – Many days and years Isa 47:5 – silent Jer 22:6 – surely Jer 48:33 – joy Jer 51:55 – destroyed Jer 52:6 – the famine Lam 5:14 – the young Eze 15:8 – I will
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 25:10. Grain for bread was ground by millstones, but the country was to be so desolate and shorn of its crops that the millstones would not be needed. Hence the stopping of such sounds would be caused by the condition of famine.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 25:10. Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth, &c. See the note on Jer 7:34; Jer 16:9. The sound of the millstones and the light of the candle There shall be no longer any marks of trade carried on, even respecting the common necessaries of life, such as the grinding of corn; and there will be no use of candles, where the inhabitants are dispersed and destroyed; nor will there be occasion for such illuminations as are usual on festival solemnities, in the time of general desolation, Jer 25:11. See the like expressions used, Rev 18:22; where we may observe that St. John exactly follows the Hebrew text; whereas the LXX., in this place, instead of the sound of the millstones, read , the smell of ointment. From which, and several other places of the New Testament, it appears that the apostles and evangelists did not implicitly follow the Greek translation, but only when they thought it consistent with the original text. See Lowth. Mr. Harmer has an excellent observation on this place, which the reader will be glad to see. The time for grinding their corn is in the morning; which consideration makes the prophets selecting the noise of millstones, and the lighting up of candles, as circumstances belonging to inhabited places, appear in a view which no commentators, that I have examined, have taken any notice of. I am indebted to Sir John Chardins MS. for the knowledge of this fact. It informs us that in the East they grind their corn at break of day; and that when one goes out in a morning, he hears everywhere the noise of the mill, and that it is the noise that often awakens people. It has been commonly known that they bake every day; and that they usually grind their corn as they want it; but this passage informs us, that it is the first work done in a morning, as well as that this grinding of their mills makes a considerable noise, and attracts every ear; and as the lighting up of candles begins the evening, there is an agreeable contrast observable in these words, I will take from thee, &c., the sound of millstones and the light of the candle. And their whole land shall be a desolation Gloomy shall be the silence of the morning, melancholy the shadows of the evening; no cheerful noise to animate the one, no enlivening ray to soften the gloom of the other. Desolation shall every where reign. A land may abound with habitations, and furnish an agreeable abode, where the voice of mirth is not heard; none of the songs, the music, and the dances of nuptial solemnities; but in the East, where no millstones are heard in the morning, no light seen in the evening, it must be a dreary dismal solitude. Chap. 4. obs. 4. See also chap. 3. obs. 18.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
25:10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the {h} millstones, and the light of the candle.
(h) Meaning that bread and all things that would serve to their feasts would be taken away.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
He would remove everyday joy from their lives, even the joy of new marriages, as well as the productivity of the people. They would run out of grain, oil, and other necessities. He would leave them dwelling in darkness. All these expressions refer to the ending of life (cf. Ecc 12:3-6).
"I must say that when I pray for my country and our culture, I do not pray for God’s justice. I can only plead for His mercy. If we had the justice of God, we would not have peace. We would have a situation like Jeremiah’s. How dare we pray for justice upon our culture when we have so deliberately turned away from God and His revelation? Why should God bless us?" [Note: Schaeffer, pp. 50-51.]