Jeremiah 16

6 nor cut themselves. This was one of the heathen customs adopted by the Jews, in opposition to the law in Lev. xix. 28.

7. Neither shall men tear, etc. Rather, Neither shall men “break [bread] for them” (R.V., so also the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the French and German versions), alluding to the funeral feast which was usually provided for mourners: cp. Deut. xxvi. 14; Ezek. xxiv. 16, 17; Hos. ix. 4. So “the cup of consolation.”

9. In (before) your eyes, and in your days. As if to correct the feeling, “These judgements will not come at any rate in our time.”

13 there shall ye serve other gods day and night. The meaning appears to be ironical, “Ye shall have your fill of your idol-worship.”

14 the days come, etc. A promise of signal deliverance inserted in the midst of threatenings.

15 that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north. The restoration of the Jews from Babylon, though not accompanied by miracles, as the deliverance from Egypt had been, was likely to make a greater impression upon the world; partly as being a manifest fulfilment of prophecy, and partly because of the extensive dispersion of the people.

16. I will send for many fishers, etc. There shall be no hiding-place by sea or land for these sinners, where God will not find them.

18 first. Before the deliverance promised in ver. 14.

because they have defiled My land, etc. Or, “For they have polluted My land with the carcasses of their abominations (i.e., their lifeless idols), and they have filled My inheritance with their detestable things”: cp. R.V.