Jeremiah 1

Ver. 2. — I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, &c.] I remember my first kindness to thee, when I delivered thee out of Egypt, (compare Hos. ii. 15,) and espoused thee to myself, to be my own peculiar people. The covenant which God made with the Jews at mount Sinai is commonly represented under the metaphor of a marriage contract. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 1:7

7. — did mock at her sabbaths.] The heathen writers commonly ridicule the Jewish sabbaths, as a mark of the sloth and idleness of the people; without considering the excellent uses that day was designed for, namely, to give men leisure to attend upon the service of God, and learn the duties of religion. W. Lowth. 8. — because they have seen her nakedness: She is stripped of all her ornaments, and carried naked and bare into captivity. As she has defiled herself with idolatry, called spiritual adultery in Scripture; so God has ordered her to be exposed to shame, like a common harlot: see note on Jer. xiii. 22. W. Lowth. 9. Her filthiness is in her skirts: The Prophet proceeds in comparing the Jewish people to a woman, whose filthiness is exposed to the publick view. But, as he continues, notwithstanding such degrees of sin, they would not believe or consider what would be the end of their wickedness. Poole.

Jeremiah 1:13

13. From above hath he sent fire into my bones.] That is, a judgment as consuming as fire in the bones, so that the strength of the Jews was exhausted. Poole.

Jeremiah 1:15

15. — trodden—as in a winepress.] God’s vengeance Before CHRIST about 558. Or, the wine press of the virgin, &c. f Jer. 13. 17. & 14. 17. ch. 2. 18. Heb. bring back. c Dan. 9. 7. Heb. mult. h Isa. 16. 11. Jer. 48. 36.

Jeremiah 1:17

17. — gird up thy loins, &c.] See the notes on 1 Kings xviii. 46; Job xxxviii. 3.

18. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, &c. For, behold, I do this day confirm thee against all the opposition which shall be made unto thee; thou shalt be more surely defended from henceforth than a strongly walled city; more firm than a pillar of iron, or walls of brass. Bp. Hall.

Chap. II. The prophecy, begun in this chapter, is continued to the end of the fifth verse of the next chapter. In it God professes to retain the same kindness and favourable disposition towards Israel which He had manifested in their earlier days. He expostulateth with them on their ungrateful returns for his past goodness; and sheweth, that it was not want of affection in Him, but their own extreme and unparalleled wickedness and disloyalty, which had already subjected, and would still subject them to calamities and misery. He concludes with a pathetic address, exhorting them to return to Him, with an implied promise of acceptance; and laments the necessity He was under through their continued obstinacy, of giving them further marks of his displeasure. This prophecy may not improbably have

MOREOVER the word of the LORD came to me, saying,