Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 25:33
And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from [one] end of the earth even unto the [other] end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
33. the slain of the Lord ] For the phrase cp. Isa 66:16.
they shall not gathered ] omitted by LXX and apparently inserted here by MT. from Jer 8:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Lamented – See the marginal reference and Jer 8:2.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 33. From one end of the earth] From one end of the land to the other. All Palestine shall be desolated by it.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That those who should be slain by commission from the Lord in this time of his judgments should be in all places, and so numerous, that there should be none left to lament for or to bury the dead; but the dead bodies should lie and rot upon the surface of the earth, and be as muck to it. See the like phrases Jer 16:4.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the slain of the Lord,…. Slain by his permission, yea, by his orders, according to his will, in his wrath and sore displeasure, and to glorify his vindictive justice:
shall be at that day from [one] end of the earth even unto the [other] end of the earth; not that this should be at one and the same time; for there never was such a time, that there was such a general slaughter in the world, that the slain should reach from one end to the other; but that within the dispensation, in which the cup should go round to all nations, meant by “that day”, the slain of the Lord would be in all parts of the world; or that, according to his will, there would be a great slaughter everywhere, as the cup went round, or the sword was sent, first ravaging one country, and then another;
they shall not be lamented; having no pity from their enemies; and as for their friends, they will share the same rite with them; so that there will be none to mourn over them:
neither gathered; taken up from the field of battle where they fall; but, where they should fall, there they should lie; none gathering up their bodies or bones, in order for interment:
nor buried; in the sepulchres of their fathers, nor indeed in any place, or in any manner; as not in any grand and magnificent manner, so not so much as in a common way;
they shall be dung upon the ground; spread upon it, and lie above it, as dung, to manure the earth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This verse explains what I have just said; and hence it also appears that the Prophet did not speak of mutual slaughters inflicted by one nation on another, but that he only declared that God’s wrath would spread like a storm so as to extend to all nations and lands. The Prophet no doubt continues the same subject; and we see why he says here, And the slain, of Jehovah shall be in that day, etc.; he calls our attention to God alone; he will speak otherwise hereafter, he does not set here before us the ministers of God’s vengeance, but God himself as acting by himself.
Hence he says, the slain of Jehovah; some read, “the wounded;” and חלל , chelal, means to wound and to kill; but “the slain” is more suitable here. The slain then of Jehovah shall be from one extremity of the earth to the other; as though he had said, that God would not be satisfied with punishing three or four nations, but would shew himself the judge of all the countries of the earth.
Now this passage is worthy of special notice; for we often wonder why God connives at so many crimes committed by men, which none of us would tolerate. But if we consider how dreadful was the tempest of which the Prophet now speaks, we ought to know that God rests for a time, in order that the ungodly and the wicked might be the less excusable. It was at the same time doubtless a sad spectacle, when so many regions and provinces were unceasingly suffering various calamities, when one nation thought itself better off than its neighbors, but presently found itself more cruelly treated. And yet this was generally the case, for God’s wrath extended to the extremities of the earth.
He amplifies the atrocity of the evil by mentioning three things, — They shall not be lamented, nor gathered, nor buried; but they shall be as dung, and shall thus lie on the face of the earth We have said in other places that lamentation does no good to the dead; but as it is what humanity requires, the want of it is rightly deemed a temporal punishment. So when any one is deprived of burial, it is certainly nothing to the dead if his body is not laid in a grave; for we know that God’s holy servants have often been either burnt or hung or exposed to wild beasts; and the whole Church complains that dead bodies were lying around Jerusalem and became food to the birds of heaven and to the beasts of the earth. But these things do not disprove the fact, that burial is an evidence of God’s paternal kindness towards men. For why has he appointed that men should be buried rather than brute animals, except that he designed it to be an intimation of an immortal life? As, then, burial is a sign of God’s favor, it is no wonder that he often declares to the reprobate that their dead bodies would be cast away, so as not to be honored, with a grave.
But we must remember this truth, — that temporal punishments happen in common to God’s children and to aliens; God extends without any difference temporal punishments to his own children and to the unbelieving, and that in order that it may be made evident that our hope ought not to be fixed on this world. But however this may be, it is yet true that when God punishes the unbelieving in this way, he adds at the same time some remark by which it may be understood, that it happens not in vain nor undesignedly, that those are deprived of burial, who deserve that God should exterminate them from the earth, and that their memory should be obliterated, so that they should not be connected among men. But we have said also in another place, that such expressions admit of another meaning, which yet is not at variance with the former, but connected with it, and that is, that so great would be the slaughter, that none would be left to shew this kindness to his friend or to his neighbor or to his brother. For when four or ten or a hundred die, they may be buried; but when God slays by the sword a great number in one day, none are found to take care of burying the dead, as few remain alive, and even they dread their enemies. When therefore the prophets say that those whom God slew would be without lamentation and burial, they intimate that so great would be the number, that all would lie on the ground; for no one would dare to perform this humane act towards the dead, and were all to do their utmost, they would not be able, as the number would be so great.
Thus Jeremiah confirms what we have said, — that God’s vengeance would extend to all lands and all nations, so as to involve in ruin the nobles as well as the common people, and to leave remaining but a small number.
For the same purpose he adds what follows, that they would be as dung on the face of the earth This is added by way of contempt. It was then hardly credible, that so many illustrious, wealthy, and powerful nations could thus in so short a time be destroyed. But the Prophet, in order to shake off this false conceit, says that they would become like dung, that however great their dignity and power, their wealth and strength, might be, they could not yet escape the hand of God, for he would reduce to nothing the glory of the whole world. We now perceive the real meaning of the Prophet. It then follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(33) They shall not be lamented . . .As in other pictures of slaughter (Jer. 8:2; Jer. 16:4) the omission of the usual rites of sepulture is brought in as an aggravation of the wretchedness. The corpses of the slain are to lie rotting on the ground. The phrase slain of the Lord reproduces Isa. 66:16.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 25:33 And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from [one] end of the earth even unto the [other] end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
Ver. 33. And the slain of the Lord shall be, &c. ] Such an utter destruction of the wicked is expected by the Jews at the coming of their Messiah, as of all people under heaven they are the most apt to work themselves into the fool’s paradise of a sublime dotage, being light, aerial, fanatical.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 25:33-38
33Those slain by the LORD on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be lamented, gathered or buried; they will be like dung on the face of the ground.
34Wail, you shepherds, and cry;
And wallow in ashes, you masters of the flock;
For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions have come,
And you will fall like a choice vessel.
35Flight will perish from the shepherds,
And escape from the masters of the flock.
36Hear the sound of the cry of the shepherds,
And the wailing of the masters of the flock!
For the LORD is destroying their pasture,
37And the peaceful folds are made silent
Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
38He has left His hiding place like the lion;
For their land has become a horror
Because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword
And because of His fierce anger.
Jer 25:34 There are two difficulties in this verse.
1. dispersions (NASB, NKJV, NRSV)
shattered (NJB, NIV)
break you in pieces (JPSOA)
The Hebrew word is found only here and its root is uncertain.
2. vessel (MT, NASB, NKJV, NJB, JPSOA)
rams (LXX, TEV, AB)
The Hebrew word is uncertain. The UBS Text Project gives vessel a B rating.
Jer 25:38 His fierce anger See Special Topic: God Described As Human (anthropomorphism) .
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the slain. By the sword. Compare Isa 66:16.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the slain: Jer 25:18-26, Jer 13:12-14, Isa 34:2-8, Isa 66:16, Zep 2:12, Rev 14:19, Rev 14:20, Rev 19:17-21
they shall not: See note on Jer 8:2, Jer 9:21, Jer 9:22, Jer 16:4-7, Psa 79:3, Psa 83:10, Eze 39:4-20, Rev 11:9
they shall be: 2Ki 9:37, Isa 5:25
Reciprocal: 2Sa 9:7 – eat bread Jer 6:26 – gird Jer 7:33 – General Eze 6:7 – slain Eze 7:11 – neither Eze 21:11 – to give Eze 29:5 – I will leave Eze 32:4 – General Zec 7:14 – scattered
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 25:33. The slain of the Lord means those who will be slain by each other through the effect of the Lord’s plan concerning them.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
25:33 And {y} the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from [one] end of the earth even to the [other] end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be refuse upon the ground.
(y) They who are slain at the Lord’s appointment.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord would slay people in all parts of the world during this judgment. So many people would die that they would lie on the ground unburied like manure (cf. Rev 14:20).