Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 25:14
For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.
14. shall serve themselves of them, even of them ] lit. shall work by (means of) them, i.e. shall use them as slaves. As the Chaldaeans have done to the people of God, so shall He requite them.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Shall serve themselves of them also – i. e., shall impose forced labor upon the Chaldaeans, and reduce them also to servitude.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 14. Many nations and great kings] The Medes and the Persians, under Cyrus; and several princes, his vassals or allies.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
God threateneth the destruction of that monarchy by the Persians, according to the prophecy of this prophet, and declareth that their destruction was of themselves, God did but recompense unto them their own deeds, and the works of their hands; which is not to be restrained to their excesses in executing Divine vengeance, and the cruelty they used to the Israelites, but more generally interpreted of all their wicked courses.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. serve themselves (Jer 27:7;Jer 30:8; Jer 34:10).Avail themselves of their services as slaves.
them alsothe Chaldees,who heretofore have made other nations their slaves, shall themselvesalso in their turn be slaves to them. MAURERtranslates, “shall impose servitude on them, even them.“
recompense themnamely,the Chaldees and other nations against whom Jeremiah had prophesied(Jer 25:13), as havingoppressed the Jews.
their deedsrather,”deed,” namely, their bad treatment of the Jews (Jer 50:29;Jer 51:6; Jer 51:24;compare 2Ch 36:17).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also,…. Take their cities, seize upon the kingdoms, spoil them of their wealth and riches, and bring them into servitude to them: these “many nations”, which should and did do all this, were the Medes and Persians, and those that were subject to them, or were their allies and auxiliaries in this expedition; and the “great kings” were Cyrus and Darius, and those that were confederate with them:
and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands; as they have done to others, it shall be done to them; as they have served themselves of other nations, other nations shall serve themselves of them; as they have cruelly used others, they shall be used with cruelty themselves; and as they have made other countries desolate, their land shall become desolate also; not only their tyranny and cruelty, but all their other sins, shall receive a just recompence of reward.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The perfect is to be regarded as a prophetic present. , impose labour, servitude on one, cf. Jer 22:13, i.e., reduce one to servitude. is an emphatic repetition of the pronoun , cf. Gesen. 121, 3. Upon them, too (the Chaldeans), shall many peoples and great kings impose service, i.e., they shall make the Chaldeans bondsmen, reduce them to subjection. With “I will requite them,” cf. Jer 50:29; Jer 51:24, where this idea is repeatedly expressed.
(Note: Jer 25:11-14 are pronounced by Hitz., Ew., Graf to be spurious and interpolated; but Hitz. excepts the second half of Jer 25:14, and proposes to set it immediately after the first half of Jer 25:11. Their main argument is the dogmatic prejudice, that in the fourth year of Jehoiakim Jeremiah could not have foretold the fall of Babylon after seventy years’ domination. The years foretold, says Hitz., “would coincide by all but two years, or, if Darius the Mede be a historical person, perhaps quite entirely. Such correspondence between history and prophecy would be a surprising accident, or else Jeremiah must have known beforehand the number of years during which the subjection to Babylon would last.” Now the seventy years of Babylon’s sovereignty are mentioned against in Jer 29:10, where Jeremiah promises the exiles that after seventy years they shall return to their native land, and no doubt is thrown by the above-mentioned critics on this statement; but there the seventy years are said to be a so-called round number, because that prophecy was composed nine years later than the present one. But on the other hand, almost all comm. have remarked that the utterance of Jer 29:10: “when as for Babylon seventy years are accomplished, will I visit you,” points directly back to the prophecy before us (25), and so gives a testimony to the genuineness of our 11th verse. And thus at the same time the assertion is disposed of, that in Jer 29:10 the years given are a round number; for it is not there said that seventy years will be accomplished from the time of that letter addressed by the prophet to those in Babylon, but the terminus a quo of the seventy years is assumed as known already from the present twenty-fifth chap. – The other arguments brought forward by Hitz. against the genuineness of the verse have already been pronounced inconclusive by Ng. Nevertheless Ng. himself asserts the spuriousness, not indeed of Jer 25:11 (the seventy years’ duration of Judah’s Babylonian bondage), but of Jer 25:12-14, and on the following grounds: – 1. Although in Jer 25:11, and below in Jer 25:26, it is indicated that Babylon itself will not be left untouched by the judgment of the Lord, yet (he says) it is incredible that in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the prophet could have spoken of the fall of Babylon in such a full and emphatic manner as is the case in Jer 25:12-14. But no obvious reason can be discovered why this should be incredible. For though in Jer 25:26 Jeremiah makes use of the name Sheshach for Babylon, it does not hence follow that at that moment he desired to speak of it only in a disguised manner. In the statement that the Jews should serve the king of Babylon seventy years, it was surely clearly enough implied that after the seventy years Babylon’s sovereignty should come to an end. Still less had Jeremiah occasion to fear that the announcement of the fall of Babylon after seventy years would confirm the Jews in their defiant determination not to be tributary to Babylon. The prophets of the Lord did not suffer themselves to be regulated in their prophesyings by such reasons of human expediency. – 2. Of more weight are his other two arguments. Jer 25:12 and Jer 25:13 presume the existence of the prophecy against Babylon, Jer 50 and 51, which was not composed till the fourth year of Zedekiah; and the second half of Jer 25:13 presumes the existence of the other prophecies against the nations, and that too as a . And although the greater number of these prophecies are older than the time of the battle at Carchemish, yet we may see (says Ng.) from the relation of apposition in which the second half of Jer 25:13 stands to the first, that here that Sepher against the peoples is meant in which the prophecy against Babylon was already contained. But from all this nothing further follows than that the words: “all that is written in this book and that Jeremiah prophesied against the peoples,” were not uttered by Jeremiah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, but were first appended at the editing of the prophecies or the writing of them down in the book which has come down to us. The demonstrative does by no means show that he who wrote it regarded the present passage, namely Jer 25, as belonging to the Sepher against the peoples, or that the prophecies against the peoples must have stood in immediate connection with Jer 25. It only shows that the prophecies against the peoples too were found in the book which contained Jer 25. Again, it is true that the first half of Jer 25:14 occurs again somewhat literally in Jer 27:7; but we do not at all see in this reliable evidence that Jeremiah could not have written Jer 25:14. Ng. founds this conclusion mainly on the allegation that the perf. is wrong, whereas in Jer 27:7 it is joined regularly by consec. to the indication of time which precedes. But the perfect is here to be regarded as the prophetic present, marking the future as already accomplished in the divine counsel; just as in Jer 27:6 the categorical represents as accomplished that which in reality yet awaited its fulfilment. Accordingly we regard none of these arguments as conclusive. On the other hand, the fact that the Alexandrian translators have rendered Jer 25:12 and Jer 25:13, and have made the last clause of Jer 25:13 the heading to the oracles against the peoples, furnishes an unexceptionable testimony to the genuineness of all three verses. Nor is this testimony weakened by the omission in that translation of Jer 25:14; for this verse could not but be omitted when the last clause of Jer 25:13 had been taken as a heading, since the contents of Jer 25:14 were incompatible with that view.)
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
The beginning of the verse is obscure. When the verb עבד, obed, is followed by ב, beth, they think that it is to be taken actively, and rendered, to force or drive to bondage. It means properly, to serve; but they think that found as here it is a transitive verb. Some render it, “they employed them;” but this is frigid and ambiguous; for friends may be said to employ one another, when the work is mutual; hence the meaning is not sufficiently expressed. But the meaning may be given by a paraphrase, that they “forced them into bondage.” Still the meaning of the Prophet is not yet sufficiently clear; for עבדו, obedu, may be taken either in the past or future tense. It is, indeed, in the past tense; but the past may be taken for the future: thus the meaning may be different. If it be taken in the past tense, then it cannot be applied except to the Babylonians; for they were those who had treated the Israelites as slaves, or had forced them into bondage; and בם, bem, “them,” might be understood of the Israelites; for we know that pronouns are often thus used, when the Church, or God’s elect people, is the subject. Then the Prophet’s words may be thus rendered, “for they have tyrannically ruled over them,” even the Israelites, “and they themselves,” that is, the Israelites, shall in their turn rule, the latter words being understood. But the meaning, as it seems to me, would be more simple, were we to read the whole together in this way, “For they also themselves shall rule over them, even over strong and valiant nations and great kings, and I will recompense them,” etc.
The reason which has constrained me to give this interpretation is this: It is said in the last verse that Jeremiah prophesied against all nations; then follows an explanation, and the Prophet briefly shews, or reminds us, what would be the issue of these prophecies, even that they also would themselves rule over these nations. Then בם, bem, as I think, refers to the Babylonians and other heathen nations; and it is a common thing with the prophets, when they speak of the restoration of the ancient Church, and of Christ’s coming, to promise power to God’s children to hold the whole world under their feet. The sentence also will flow better, when we give this version, “They shall rule.” There is, indeed, a change as to time, but this is a common thing in Hebrew. It is then; For they shall rule over them, that is, the nations. Jeremiah had spoken of all heathen nations; mention had been made of all that he had prophesied against all nations; and he says now what seemed incredible, and hence the particle גם, gam, is introduced, “even these very Israelites,” as though he had said, “Though this shall happen beyond hope, so as to appear strange and fabulous, yet God by the issue will shew that he has not in vain communicated this to me; for they, even the Israelites, shall have their turn to exercise dominion; and they shall constrain all nations to obey them.” And what follows confirms my view; for he adds, over strong nations, גוים רבים, guim rebim, (for the ב, beth, may be repeated here;) or we may render the words “many nations;” for the word רבים, rebim, means both; but as it follows “and great kings,” I am disposed to render the words, “strong nations.” Then he says, “For they shall rule over strong nations and great kings.” (134)
He then subjoins, I will recompense them, that is, both kings and nations, according to their doing, and according to the work of their hands, because they had exercised every kind of cruelty towards the miserable Israelites. Hence the Prophet pursues the same subject, — that God would at length really shew, that though he had been angry with his Church, yet all hope of mercy was not lost, for he was mindful of his covenant. He thus mitigates the severity of what he had previously said; he promises them something far better than what the wretched Jews could have expected in their extreme calamities.
We may again learn from the words of the Prophet, that God so employed Nebuchadnezzar and others, that they performed no service deserving of praise; for had they been without fault, God must doubtless have unjustly punished them. This passage then teaches us, that though the devil and the reprobate execute God’s judgments, they yet deserve no praise for their obedience, for they have no such purpose in view. It now follows, —
(134) A reference to Jer 27:7, will enable us to understand this passage. The words are alike. “Many nations and great kings” in that verse mean the conquerors of the king of Babylon; and so they mean the same here, no doubt. “All the nations” in the preceding verse were “all the families of the north,” mentioned in Jer 25:9, who were subject to the king of Babylon; and “them” at the beginning of this verse are these nations, which are here spoken of as being subjected to bondage or to servitude, while in Jer 27:7, the king of Babylon himself is mentioned.
The verb עבר, when followed by ב, means invariably to enslave, to reduce to bondage, to bring into subjection, or to subdue. Then the verse should be thus rendered, —
For make them, even these, to serve, Shall many nations and great kings;
And I will render to them according to their work, According to the doing of their own hands. This is the meaning given by the Targ.; the Vulg. and the Syr. render the verb incorrectly, though in both the pronoun them is made to refer to the nations in the preceding verse. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(14) Shall serve themselves of them.Better, shall make them their servants. The English serve themselves (a Gallicism in common use in the seventeenth century), which occurs again in Jer. 27:7, is now ambiguous, and hardly conveys the force of the original. What is meant is that the law of retribution will in due time be seen in its action upon those who were now masters of the world. The thought is the same as that expressed in the familiar Grcia capta ferum victorem cepit of Horace (Ep II. i., 156).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Shall serve themselves Shall make them, namely, the Chaldeans. their slaves. See Jer 50:29; Jer 51:24.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 25:14. For many nations For of them, even of these, shall many nations and great kings exact service; and I will render to them, &c. Houbigant renders it, For powerful people, and mighty kings, shall reduce even those nations to servitude; and so, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 25:14 For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.
Ver. 14. For many nations. ] The Medes and Persians, together with the rest that served under them.
And great kings.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
of them: i.e. of the Chaldeans.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
many: Jer 27:7, Jer 50:9, Jer 50:41, Jer 51:6, Jer 51:27, Jer 51:28, Isa 14:2, Isa 45:1-3, Dan 5:28, Hab 2:8-16
I: Jer 50:29-34, Jer 51:6, Jer 51:20-27, Jer 51:35-41, Psa 137:8, Isa 66:6, Rev 18:20-24
Reciprocal: Lev 25:39 – compel him to serve as 2Ch 36:22 – that the word Jer 25:12 – that I Jer 30:8 – serve Jer 34:9 – serve Jer 51:7 – the nations Eze 7:4 – but Eze 34:27 – served Hab 1:5 – ye among
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
DIVINE RECOMPENSE
According to their deeds.
Jer 25:14
I. The repetition of Gods entreaties through Jeremiah, to arrest the downward progress of his people, is very touching.For three- and-twenty years the Word of the Lord had come to the prophet, and he had passed it forward with all the urgency of which he was capable, rising up early and speaking. But the people were absolutely obdurate, until there was no alternative but to silence the voices of mirth and gladness, and to extinguish the light of the candle. If we harden our hearts against Gods love our destruction is inevitable. If we will not bend, we must break. If the golden pruning-knife is not strong enough, the iron pruning-knife will be employed. For three years the owner of the vineyard comes seeking fruit, and finally he may have to cut down the tree.
This chapter is one of the most terrible in the Book, but the prophet was enabled to stand alone, not against his own people only, but as a prophet of woe to all the surrounding nations. It is a marvel that this sensitive nature should have been made as an iron pillar and brazen walls (chap. Jer 1:18).
II. The prophet looks out on the surrounding nations, names them in order, and predicts that upon them too would fall the sword of Divine vengeance.Especially notice Jer 25:29; it suggests the words of the Apostle, The time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if it begin first with us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (1Pe 4:19).
Under the figure of a lion, the prophet depicts God as tearing the flock and driving the shepherds back in dismay. This also carries our mind forward to the seers vision of the Lord, as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Who appears in the midst of the throne on behalf of His own. Ah! soul, it is well for thee to make peace with God; lest He Who would fight on thy behalf should become thine enemy, and the might which would have secured thee from peril should turn against thee to thine undoing.
Illustrations
(1) We are reminded of Ziegenbalg, the first missionary to the East Indies, standing against the whole power of the authorities, who were determined to crush his mission in the bud; of Judson, pursuing his work for Burmah, amid the treachery and hostility of the king; of Moffat, going alone and unarmed into the territory of the terrible Africaner; of John Hunt, amid the ferocious cannibals of Fiji; of John G. Paton, who was preserved amid fifty attempts to take his life. Our sole duty is to finish the work which God has given us to do, though it brings us to the cross. We are immortal till it is done, and when it is done the welcome into our Masters joy is sure.
(2) God always begins with His own people, because their sins traduce His character and bring it into contempt, and because sinners might otherwise establish a just charge of favouritism against Him. Besides, He loves them so dearly that He is eager to see them rid, as soon as may be, from the blight and parasitism of evil. It is a terrible thing to be an inconsistent child of God; for just in proportion to His love for you will God put forth the most strenuous and unremitting efforts to bring you back to Himself.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Jer 25:14, Serve themselves of them denotes that many nations will take advantage of the ones that have mistreated God’s people. As one specific instance we might cite the Medes and Persians who served themselves (helped themselves) to the property of the Babylonians on the night ol Belshazzar’s feast (Dan 5:30-31).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
25:14 For many nations and great kings shall be {l} served by them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.
(l) That is of the Babylonians as in Jer 27:7 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Other nations and great kings would enslave the Babylonians, Judah’s mighty captors. Yahweh would pay back Babylon for all that she had done (cf. Habakkuk 1-2). Some of these many nations with great kings included the Medes, the Persians, and their several allies under Cyrus the Great.