Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 4:10
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.
10. Then said I ] We should doubtless, by a slight change, read, And they shall say. The false prophets, who had foretold peace (Jer 6:14, Jer 14:13, Jer 23:17), shall in their dismay charge God with deception. Doubtless an argument in the mouths of those prophets and their supporters had hitherto been, “Isaiah assured us (Isa 37:33 ff.), when the City and Temple were in danger, that Jehovah would protect His own dwelling place. His words were justified by the event. May we not have the same assurance now?”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ah, Lord God! – Alas! my Lord Yahweh: an expression of disapproval on Jeremiahs part. Jeremiah had constantly to struggle against the misgivings of his own melancholy nature, but he never let them prevent him from doing his duty. See the introduction of Jeremiah.
Ye shall have peace – These words are generally referred to the false prophets; they rather refer to real prophecies of future blessedness promised to the Jews. Jeremiah could not reconcile the doom he was now commanded to pronounce, either with his previous prophecy, or with what he read in the writings of his predecessors. Time only could solve the difficulty. Upon the struggles of the prophets to understand their own predictions see 1Pe 1:10-11.
Unto the soul – The sword has reached the life. i. e., has inflicted a mortal wound.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. Ah, Lord God! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people] The Targum paraphrases this verse thus: “And I said, Receive my supplication, O Lord God; for, behold, the false prophets deceive this people and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace.” The prophet could not reconcile this devastation of the country with the promises already made; and he appears to ask the question, Hast thou not then deceived this people in saying there shall be peace, i.e., prosperity?
Whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.] That is, the life; the people being generally destroyed.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Ah, Lord God: the Hebrew aha is a word both of admiration and lamentation together; they are Jeremiahs words and complaint breathed out in the great sorrow and. sighing of soul, which he expresseth more emphatically Jer 23:9.
Surely thou hast greatly deceived this people; either hast suffered them to be thus deluded by these false prophets, Isa 63:17; Eze 14:9; compare 1Ki 22:21-23; 2Th 2:11; or possibly it may be read better by way of interrogation: q.d. How can it possibly be that thou shouldst suffer thy people to be thus deluded by their false prophets, Num 23:19, thou being a God that canst not lie? Tit 1:2.
Ye shall have peace: under the word peace is comprised and intended all good, intimating all things should go on prosperously with them. Gen 37:14; and seems the rather to be thus expressed, because it was the common language and phrase of the false prophets, Jer 8:11; 23:17.
Whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul: to persuade them it should be well with them, when the sword is at the door, not only ready to take away the comforts of life, but even life itself, soul being put for life, Jer 4:30; Psa 69:1; Mat 16:25,26. It may intimate also a great cutting off and slaughter among them, especially their great ones; they being, as it were, the soul of the people.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. thou hast . . . deceivedGod,having even the false prophets in His hands, is here said to do thatwhich for inscrutable purposes He permits them to do (Exo 9:12;2Th 2:11; compare Jer8:15; which passage shows that the dupes of error wereself-prepared for it, and that God’s predestination did notdestroy their moral freedom as voluntary agents). The false prophetsforetold “peace,” and the Jews believed them; God overruledthis to His purposes (Jer 5:12;Jer 14:13; Eze 14:9).
soulrather, “reachethto the life.“
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then said I, ah, Lord God!…. Expressing great sorrow and concern: this “ah” is by way of lamentation. The Targum interprets it as a petition,
“and I said, receive my prayer, O Lord God:”
surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem: what the false prophets did, that God is said to do, because he suffered them to deceive the people; see 1Ki 22:20. The Targum ascribes the deception to the false prophets, and not to God,
“surely behold the false prophets deceive this people, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem;”
or this may be ironically said, because the false prophets pretended to speak in the name of the Lord; wherefore Jeremiah says, “surely thou hast greatly deceived”, c. “saying, ye shall have peace” as the false prophets did, Jer 6:14:
whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul; takes away the life, many are slain by it; so the Targum,
“and now behold the sword killeth among the people;”
great slaughter is made by it. L’Empereur w observes that the word here used signifies, in the Arabic language, to educate or bring up; and then the sense is,
“ah, Lord, thou hast brought up this people with great tenderness, and promised them all manner of happiness; but now thou thunderest out threatenings of calamities of all sorts, and death itself; and assigned a place for the sword to enter into their very souls;”
so the Arabic word used in the version of Ac 22:2.
w Not. ad Mosis Kimchi, , p. 186.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“ Then said I, Ah, Lord Jahveh, truly Thou hast deceived this people and Jerusalem in saying, Peace shall be to you, and the sword is reaching unto the soul.” This verse is to be taken as a sign addressed to God by Jeremiah when he heard the announcement of the judgment about to fall on Judah, contained in Jer 4:5-9. The Chald. has well paraphrased thus : et dixi: suscipe deprecationem meam, Jahveh, Deus . but Hensler and Ew. wish to have changed to , “so that they say,” quite unnecessarily, and indeed unsuitably, since , thou hast deceived, is out of place either in the mouth of the people or of the lying prophets. That the word quoted, “Peace shall be to you,” is the saying of the false prophets, may be gathered from the context, and this is directly supported by Jer 14:13; Jer 23:17. The deception of the people by such discourse from the false prophets is referred back to God: “Lord, Thou hast deceived,” inasmuch as God not only permits these lying spirits to appear and work, but has ordained them and brought them forth for the hardening of the people’s heart; as He once caused the spirit of prophecy to inspire as a lying spirit the prophets of Ahab, so that by promises of victory they prevailed upon him to march to that war in which, as a punishment for his godlessness, he was to perish; 1Ki 22:20-23. Umbr. takes the words less correctly as spoken in the name of the people, to whom the unexpected turn affairs had now taken seemed a deception on the part of God; and this, although it was by itself it had been deceived, through its revolt from God. For it is not the people’s opinion that Jeremiah expresses, but a truth concerning which his wish is that the people may learn to recognise it, and so come to reflect and repent before it be too late. On the use of the perf. consec. , see Ew. 342, b. As to the fact, cf. Jer 5:18, Psa 69:2.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Some so understand this passage as though the Prophet brought forward what was said by the people; for all the most wicked, when oppressed by God’s hand, usually cast the blame on him, and in their complaints contend and dispute with him. Hence they think that the Prophet here, not in his own person, but in that of the whole people, speaks thus: “O Lord, what can this be? thou surely hast deceived us.” Others give somewhat a looser explanation, that the Prophet here indirectly expostulates with God, because he had suffered the false prophets to flatter the people so as to stupefy the minds of all. But a different meaning is what I approve of: the Prophet, I think, tauntingly exposes those false adulations, by which the prophets had caused the ruin of the miserable Jews, by promising them God’s forgiveness, and by ever announcing favorable predictions.
God no doubt rendered the Jews their just reward, when he suffered them to be deceived by impostors: we, indeed, know that the world is ever afflicted with this disease, — that they seek flatteries, as God upbraids them by Micah:
“
Ye seek prophets who promise to you an abundant harvest, an abundant vintage.” (Mic 2:11)
Since, then, the Jews wished their vices to be spared, and not only disliked their faithful and severe reprovers, but also hated them, they had deserved to be thus dealt with: it was God’s will that many impostors should assume the prophetic name. Thus it happened, that the Jews thought that their peaceable condition would be perpetual; and this, as I have said, is usual with hypocrites. Now the Prophet, in a biting strain, exposes here these deceptions, and says, Ah, ah, Jehovah! surely thou hast deceived this people: for the Prophet does not speak in the person of the people, nor does he complain, that God permitted so much liberty to false prophets; but he derides these impostors as well as the people. And further, as they were all deaf, he turns to God, as though he had said, “Behold, Lord, worthy of this reward are they, who have sought flatteries, and have not attended to the holy warnings of thy servants: as, then, no kind of correction was what they could endure, let them now begin to learn that they have been deceived by others rather than by thee.” (107)
We then see that the Prophet ridicules that stupidity in which the Jews had been so long asleep; and the simple meaning is, that he turned to God: I have said, O Lord Jehovah, surely thou hast deceived this people. “ Surely” is to be taken in an ironical sense; that is, “It now really appears that they have been deceived; but by whom? They wish, indeed, to throw the blame on thee; but they are justly chargeable with foolish credulity, so that they, whom the false prophets have deceived, have been rightly dealt with.” What they said was, Peace shall be to you
This never came from the mouth of God; for Jeremiah daily thundered and threatened approaching ruin; for he was like a celestial herald, who filled every place with terror; but he was not heard: and at the same time the Jews praised the false prophets, who soothed them with various promises. We hence perceive, that God had not spoken peace to them; but that the Jews, not only willingly, but with avidity, laid hold on those things by which the false prophets sought to gratify them.
He afterwards adds, And reached has the sword unto the soul; that is, “Yet we are now destroyed by fatal evils.” The Prophet here indirectly sets before them those delusive flatteries with which the Jews pleased themselves, and shews that they would at length really find how falsely they pretended the name of God. It follows —
(107) There are various expositions of this verse: but the simpler and the plainer mode would be to take אמר as a noun, word, speech, saying, with an auxiliary verb, which is commonly omitted in Hebrew. The connection with the foregoing would be obvious and natural, —
And the saying will be, “Alas! Lord Jehovah, Surely, deceiving thou hast deceived This people and Jerusalem, By saying, ‘Peace shall be to you;’ And reach does the sword even to the soul.”
This would be the language of such as believed the false prophets, and considered them as sent by God.
But Lowth, Henry, Venema, Scott, and others, take this view, — that God had permitted or suffered the people to be deceived by the false prophets. It is said that this verb in Hiphil, as the case is here, has sometimes this meaning, and Lowth refers, as instances, to Isa 63:17, and also to Psa 119:10; Pro 10:3. But the sentiment of the passage in this case would not be very suitable: for, according to this view, the cause of the Prophet’s grief is, that God had suffered the people to be deceived.
“
It shall be said,” in the next verse, seems to be put in contrast with this “saying.” Instead of what would be commonly said of the people, God reminds them of what he would cause to be said and effected. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) Ah, Lord God! (literally, my Lord Jehovah!) surely thou hast greatly deceived this people.The words are startling, but are eminently characteristic. Jeremiah had been led to utter words that told of desolation and destruction. But if these were true, what was he to think of the words of the other prophets, who, speaking in the name of the Lord, had promised peace through the reign of Josiah, and even under Jehoiakim? Had not Jehovah apparently sanctioned those prophets also? and, if so, had He not deceived the people? (Comp. Jer. 20:7.) This seems, on the whole, preferable to the interpretations which see in it a dramatic irony representing the prophet as having shared in the hopes of the people and awakening to a terrible disappointment, or refer the words to the contrast between the glorious visions of the future in Isaiah and his own terrible predictions, or to the bolder course of an alteration of the text, so that the words would run it is said, the complaint being represented as coming from the people.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Ah, Lord God, etc. This is interjectional. It is Jeremiah’s sigh of sorrow and deprecation. He confronts what seems to be a vision of utter ruin and extermination, and protests that it is incongruous with God’s promises to his people.
Thou hast greatly deceived this people In assuring them of thine everlasting covenant, while the sword reacheth unto the soul. It is better to take this view than to assume a reference to the lying spirits in false prophets, as do most commentators.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 4:10. Then said I, &c. And shall say, &c. The passage is very plain, from this version which I have given. According to the common interpretation it must mean, “Thou hast suffered this people to be deceived by false prophets:” for God, in the language of Scripture, is often said to do that which he barely allows or suffers to be done.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
I read this verse alone, in order, by praying over it, to seek instruction from the Lord, for the right apprehension of it. Jeremiah could not mean to charge the Lord, with either the cause or the consequence of the people’s deception. The lying prophets, such as Hananiah (see Jer 28 ) by preaching peace, had deceived them: and as he presumed to come to the people in the Lord’s name, as well as Jeremiah, they might be said in this sense, to be deceived by the Lord. And if for their rebellion, the Lord gave them up to believe a lie; though the deception was their own, yet God’s judgment was in it. Certain it is, that there is no evil in the city, but the Lord hath done it; that is, permitted it. Amo 3:6 . But while the sovereignty of the Lord is still the same, the evil of transgression is the sinner’s, Jas 1:13 ; Eze 14:1-11 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 4:10 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.
Ver. 10. Surely thou hast greatly deceived this people, ] sc., By those false prophets. Jer 4:9 Compare 1Ki 18:22-29 Eze 14:9 . This God doth as a just judge, punishing sin with sin. The words may be rendered as a question, “Hast thou indeed thus deceived this people?” Is it possible that thou shouldst have an active, or so much as a permissive, hand in such a business?
Whenas the sword reacheth unto the soul,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 4:10
10Then I said, Ah, Lord GOD! Surely You have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace’; whereas a sword touches the throat.
Jer 4:10 Surely You have utterly deceived this people Jer 4:10 is a comment from Jeremiah to YHWH about the message of the false prophets. Jeremiah speaks bluntly and honestly to God (cf. Jer 12:1; Jer 15:17-18; Jer 20:7-9). This false message of hope and deliverance from invasion was what the false prophets were preaching in God’s name (cf. Jer 6:14; Jer 8:11; Jer 14:13; Jer 23:16-17; Jer 28:1 ff). God let this occur but the speaker and hearer are responsible!
One more possibility in understanding this difficult phrase is that the people were clinging to Isaiah’s prophecies about the invulnerability of Jerusalem (cf. Isaiah 36-39). Jeremiah would have to remind them that Isaiah’s promises were also based on a conditional covenant model (i.e., if. . .then. . ., cf. Jer 4:1-2). Judah did not obey the covenant, therefore, its curses, not its promises, were what they would reap (cf. Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28-29).
throat This is the word nephesh (BDB 659, cf. Gen 2:7 [of man] and Jer 2:19 [of animals]). It basically means the life on this planet that breathes (related to the Hebrew word for breath). See note at Gen 35:18 .
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
greatly deceived. Hebrew idiom for declaring that they would be deceived: i.e. by the false prophets who prophesied peace.
soul. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Ah: Jer 1:6, Jer 14:13, Jer 32:17, Eze 11:13
surely: Jer 14:13, Jer 14:14, 1Ki 22:20-23, Isa 63:17, Eze 14:9, Eze 14:10, Rom 1:24, Rom 1:26, Rom 1:28, 2Th 2:9-12
Ye shall have: Jer 5:12, Jer 6:14, Jer 8:11, Jer 23:17, Isa 30:10, Isa 37:35
the sword: Jer 4:18, Exo 9:14, Lam 2:21
Reciprocal: Jer 6:18 – hear Jer 6:25 – the sword Jer 7:8 – ye trust Jer 8:15 – General Jer 28:9 – which Eze 9:8 – Ah Eze 13:10 – Peace Eze 13:18 – that sew Eze 13:22 – with lies
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 4:10. Greatly deceived this people will confuse us if we do not carefully consider the subject in the light of other passages. We know that God never causes a good man to become a bad one, nor does he directly mislead a worthy person who sincerely wishes to go in the right way. But if a man persists in going In the wrong path or shows a determination to follow false teachers, the Lord will deliver him over to his own ways that he may learn the hard way a lesson he is not willing to learn directly from the true source. (See Psa 81:11-12; Eze 20:25; Eze 20:39; Rom 1:24; Rom 1:28; 2Th 2:11-12.) The false prophets of Israel had promised peace to that disobedient people (Jer 6:13-14) In spite of the warnings of God that trouble was in store for them. Since they preferred the words of their false prophets to those of the Lord, he just let them take their own unwise course. In this way It was true that the Lord indirectly deceived the people by suffering their false prophets to lead them into a false sense of security.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 4:10. Then said I, Ah, Lord God! The Hebrew word, Aha, is a word expressive both of admiration and lamentation. Surely thou hast greatly deceived this people Hast suffered them to be deceived by their false prophets. These pretenders to prophecy studied only to speak pleasing things to the people, and sooth them up in their impenitency and carnal security; and thou hast, in thy just judgment, given them up to follow these delusions: compare 2Th 2:11-12. Saying, Ye shall have peace The word peace here comprises all good, signifying that all things should go on prosperously with them; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul Whereas the sword is at the door, not only to take away the comforts of life, but even life itself.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
4:10 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly {h} deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; though the sword reacheth to the soul.
(h) By the false prophets who promised peace and tranquillity: and thus you have punished their rebellious stubbornness by causing them to hearken to lies who would not believe your truth, 1Ki 22:23, Eze 14:9, 2Th 2:11 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jeremiah reacted to this revelation, by objecting that the sovereign Lord had misled His people-by telling them that they would have peace when really they would have war. The basis of his charge seems to be that God had allowed false prophets to predict peace. [Note: See Chisholm, Handbook on . . ., p. 161; idem, "Does God Deceive?" Bibliotheca Sacra 155:617 (January-March 1998):18-19; and Robert P. Carroll, Jeremiah, pp. 161-62.] Even though Jeremiah announced this judgment, he took no personal delight in it, because it meant the destruction of his own people.
"At first glance Jeremiah’s comments appear to be blasphemous. . . . Rather must we see in such an utterance not so much a considered judgment, but the spontaneous reaction of a man who felt deeply about the tragedies of life, whether his own or those of others." [Note: Thompson, p. 222.]