The Strand Study Bible

JEREMIAH 18:9

JEREMIAH 19:3

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9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; 10 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. 11 Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. 12 And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. 13 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. 14 Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? The promise of Judah/Jerusalem’s fall to Babylon (Fulfilled - II Ki 25 - 586 BC) 15 Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up; 16 To make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing; 1 every one that pass- eth thereby shall be astonished, and wag his head. P 17 1 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the 2 back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity. P 18 Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor coun- sel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with

the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words. 19 Give heed to me, O LORD, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me. 20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them. 21 1 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle. P 22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for they have digged a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet. P 23 Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, 1 but let them be over- thrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger. P Jeremiah 19 1 Thus saith the LORD , Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle, and 3 take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests; 2 And go forth unto 4 the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee, 3 And say,Hear ye thewordof theLORD,O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD OF HOSTS , the God of Israel; 1 Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle. P The sign of the broken vessel Date Written - c. 603 BC/AM 3397

1. Fulfilled - II Ki 25 (Fall of Judah)

2. or, “God’s back” Note - God would turn His back on Judah and the city of Jerusalem during the Babylonian invasion. 3. that is, “ take witnesses” 4. Note - The valley of the son of Hinnom (or, Tophet – vs 13) was the smoldering garbage dump outside the city where the worship of false gods and child sacrifice was conducted. It was here by way of the prophet’s prophetic declaration that the sinful kingdom of Judah was about to be tossed and broken (vs 10) on history’s junk pile.

19:1 Jeremiah was told to go and take three things with him to the city dump: (1) a clay vessel; (2) witnesses ; and (3) the Word of God (vs 2). God’s Word, an audience, and an illustration are all a preacher needs to accomplish God’s will in this world. Point being: You don’t need fancy buildings, cunnings programs, or proven gimmicks in order to get God’s message across to people. All you need is a man or woman of God by the Spirit of God proclaiming the Word of God without apology to people who are willing or unwilling to listen. A preacher’s job is not to gain an audience. His job is to proclaim to an audience God’s Word without apology. 19:3 God would bring evil upon the inhabitants of Judah for three reasons: 1. They forsook God’s Word ( Because they have forsaken me – vs 4)… to forsake God’s Word is to forsake God. 2. They shed innocent blood ( and have filled this place with the blood of innocents – vs 4)… over 16,000 Americans are murdered each year, and that doesn’t count the 3,700 abortions that are legally performed each day. 3. They selfishly sacrificed their children’s future ( They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire – vs 5)… humanistic thinking always leads to human waste (pun intended). NOTE – Because America has forsaken the Word of God ( Isa 19:14 ), shed innocent blood ( Isa 5:20 ), and sacrificed the future of their sons and daughters on the altar of humanistic thinking ( They have built also the high places – higher education, exalted intellectualism, elitism – Prov 14:34 ), America is as doomed as the kingdom of Judah is here.