Jeremiah 11:16

Lexham English Bible

Contextual Overview

¹¹ Therefore thus says Yahweh, "I am about to bring on them disaster from which they will not be able to escape. Though they cry out to me, yet I will not listen to them. ¹² Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they are making smoke offerings, but they will certainly not save them in the time of their trouble. ¹³ For the number of your towns are your gods, O Judah, and the number of the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful things, to make smoke offerings to Baal. ¹⁴ Therefore you must not pray for this people, and you must not lift up for them a cry of entreaty, or a prayer, for I will not listen in the time of their calling to me, in the time of their trouble. ¹⁵ What rights has my beloved in my house when she has done many wicked things? Can the flesh of holiness pass over you? For you engage in your wickedness, then you exult. ¹⁶ Yahweh called your name, ‘A leafy olive tree, beautiful with fine fruit.' With the sound of a great storm he will set fire to it, and its branches will be good for nothing. ¹⁷ And Yahweh of hosts, the one who planted you, has spoken evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, that they have done to themselves, to provoke me to anger by making smoke offerings to Baal."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

A green: Psalms 52:8, Romans 11:17-24

with: Psalms 80:16, Isaiah 1:30, Isaiah 1:31, Isaiah 27:11, Ezekiel 15:4-7, Ezekiel 20:47, Ezekiel 20:48, Matthew 3:10, John 15:6

Reciprocal: Job 20:18 - and he shall Psalms 128:3 - olive plants Revelation 11:4 - two olive

Cross-References

Genesis 10:21
And to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the older brother of Japheth, children were also born.

Genesis 10:25
And to Eber two sons were born. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and the name of his brother was Joktan.

Numbers 24:24
The ships will come from the hand of the Kittim, and they will afflict Asshur and will afflict Eber; also he will be forever ruin."

1 Chronicles 1:19
And two sons were born to Eber: the name of the one was Peleg (for in his days the earth was divided), and the name of his brother was Joktan.

Luke 3:35
the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The Lord called thy name a green olive tree,.... That is, compared the Jewish church and people to one, and made them as one, very prosperous and flourishing in the enjoyment of privileges, civil and religious, being highly favoured with the word and ordinances: fair, and of goodly fruit; which, for a while, brought forth the fruit of good works; and, while such, was amiable and goodly to look upon; was, as the Syriac version is, "fair with fruit, and beautiful in sight"; and whereas it might have been expected she would have so continued, and been still as a green olive tree in the house of God, as David says, Psalms 52:8, now it was otherwise, she was become barren, dry, and fruitless: and therefore it follows:

with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it: that is, by means of the Chaldean army, which came with a mighty rushing noise, as a numerous army does; the Lord hath destroyed it, and burnt it with fire; what the Chaldeans did is ascribed to God, because it was done according to his will, and by his direction and overruling providence:

and the branches of it are broken; the high and principal ones, the king, princes, and nobles, their palaces, and the house of God. The apostle seems to have respect to this passage in Romans 11:17. The Targum is,

"as an olive tree that is beautiful in form and comely of sight, whose branches overshadow the trees, so the Lord hath magnified thy name among the people; but now that thou hast transgressed the law, the armies of the people, who are strong as fire, shall come against thee, and helps shall be joined to them.''

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A parenthesis. As in Jeremiah 7:16, all intercession is forbidden, and for this reason. Prayer for others for the forgiveness of their sins avails only when they also pray. The cry of the people now was that of the guilty smarting under punishment, not of the penitent mourning over sin.

Jeremiah 11:15

This passage, like Isaiah 1:12, rebukes the inconsistency of Judah’s public worship of Yahweh with their private immorality and preference for idolatry. Translate it: “What hath My beloved in My house to practice guile there? The great men and the holy flesh (i. e., the sacrifices) shall pass away from thee.”

Jeremiah 11:16

The “goodly” or “shapely fruit,” signifies the righteousness and faith which ought to have been the result of Israel’s possession of extraordinary privileges. The tree did not bear this fruit, and God now destroys it by a thunderstorm.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 11:16. The Lord called thy name, A green olive tree — That is, he made thee like a green olive-fair, flourishing, and fruitful; but thou art degenerated, and God hath given the Chaldeans permission to burn thee up.