Jeremiah 7:16

Therefore pray not thou for this people,.... These are the words of the Lord to the Prophet Jeremiah, forbidding him to pray for the people of the Jews; which he either was doing, or about to do, and

Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.

God forbids his prophets to pray for them in any kind by any cry or intercession; or, running upon me, which shows that God is resolved to root them out, seeing he will admit of no intercession; according as he charged Moses, , and the like . For God had been wont to suffer himself to be prevailed with by the mediation of his servants, as of Moses, ,14 Numbers 14:19,20; but now he would admit of no intercession. See ,20, and , and the next words. This charge seems to be laid upon the prophet, partly to take off the envy of the people from him, when they knew he was commanded to do no otherwise; partly to embolden him in this unpleasing work, laying aside all compassion. But certainly the prophet did pray that God would mind his covenant in saving a remnant, though not that God would revoke his decree, and to save the body of them.

Jeremiah 7:16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.Ver. 16. Therefore pray not thou for this people.] For I am unchangeably resolved upon their ruin, and I would not have thy prayers, those honeydrops, spilt upon them. Their day of grace is past, their sins are full, the decree is now gone forth, and it is irreversible, therefore pray not for this deplored people; there is a sin unto death, and who knows but their sin was such? Sure it is the prophet was silenced here, and that was a sad symptom. Neither lift up cry.] Verbum aptum precibus est; lift up is a very fit expression, and the word rendered cry comes from a root that signifieth clamare voce contenta et efficaci, to set up the note to some tune, as we say. Neither make intercession to me.] Interdicit ei ne intercedat. Here and elsewhere God flatly forbids the prophet to pray. See Jeremiah 14:7; Jeremiah 14:11; and yet he is at it again. So Exodus 32:11-13, Let me alone, saith God. The Chaldee there hath it, Cease thy prayer; but Moses would not. These were men of prayer, and could truly say of themselves, as David once did, But I gave myself to prayer. Where the Hebrew hath it, But I, prayer; as if he had been made up of it, and had minded little else. The Lord also, they knew, was a prayer hearing God. "Oh thou that art hearing prayers" - so the Hebrew hath it - always hearing some, and ready to hear the rest. Our God is not like Jupiter of Crete, that had no ears; nor as those other heathen deities of whom Cicero sadly complaineth to his brother Quintus in these words: I would pray to the gods for those things, but that they have given over to hear my prayers. Jeremiah could upon better ground pray, than ever he in Plato did, “Zευβασιλευταμενεσθλα, ” &c. In English thus: "Great God, the good thou hast to give, Whether we ask’ t or no, Let’ s still receive: no mischief thrive To work our overthrow." Ranan; unde ranae, ut aliqui volunt. Plat. in Alcibiad.

(16) Pray not thou.—The words imply that a prayer of intercession, like that which Moses had offered of old (Exodus 32:10), was rising up in the heart of the prophet. He is told that he must check it. Judgment must have its way. The discipline must be left to do its work. A like impulse met by a like repression is found in Jeremiah 11:14; Jeremiah 14:11. It is obvious that the utterance of the conflict between his human affections and the Divine will made the sentence which he pronounced more terrible than ever.

Verse 16. Therefore pray not thou for this people] They have filled up the measure of their iniquity, and they must become examples of my justice. How terrible must the state of that place be, where God refuses to pour out the spirit of supplication on his ministers and people in its behalf!

16–20. See introd. note on the section and cp. Jeremiah 15:1. It is hardly probable that this formed part of Jeremiah’s address, seeing that it gives us in fact Jehovah’s words to His prophet abruptly inserted, without any introductory formula. According to some commentators, e.g. Co., the kind of idolatry here spoken of was not practised as late as Jehoiakim’s reign. It is mentioned, however, in Jeremiah 19:13, which may belong to that date. It is true that in ch. 44 the people ascribe their misfortunes to the neglect of it, but it is a question whether the women who there speak are not contrasting their present with their own past practice and not with that of a previous generation. Jeremiah’s tone of hopelessness also points in the direction of the later period, rather than in that of Josiah’s reforms.

They had reached that stage in which men sin without any sense of guilt (see 1 John 5:16). Neither make intercession to me - In Jeremiah 14:7-9 we have an intercessory prayer offered by Jeremiah, but not heard.