Jeremiah 8:1

Lexham English Bible

Contextual Overview

¹ "At that time," declares Yahweh, "they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its officials, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Judah from their graves. ² And they shall spread them out before the sun, and before the moon, and before all the host of heaven, which they have loved, and which they have served, and which they have gone after, and which they have inquired about, and to which they have bowed in worship. They shall not be gathered, and they shall not be buried; they will be like dung on the surface of the ground. ³ And death will be preferred to life by all the remaining of this evil clan in all the remaining places where I have driven them away," declares Yahweh.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Jeremiah 7:32-34, 1 Kings 13:2, 2 Kings 23:16, 2 Kings 23:20, 2 Chronicles 34:4, 2 Chronicles 34:5, Ezekiel 6:5, Ezekiel 37:1, Amos 2:1

Reciprocal: Genesis 15:15 - buried Leviticus 26:30 - I will destroy Deuteronomy 28:26 - General 2 Kings 23:5 - all the host 2 Kings 23:14 - the bones of men Nehemiah 9:32 - on our kings Psalms 79:3 - and there Isaiah 14:19 - thou Isaiah 34:3 - slain Jeremiah 7:33 - General Jeremiah 16:4 - as dung Ezekiel 6:4 - and I Amos 4:10 - the stink

Cross-References

Genesis 8:7
And he sent out a raven; it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from upon the earth.

Genesis 8:9
But the dove did not find a resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned to him into the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the earth. And he stretched out his hand and took her, and brought her to himself into the ark.

Genesis 8:20
And Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and he took from all the clean animals and from all the clean birds, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Genesis 8:22
As long as the earth endures, seed and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease.

Genesis 19:29
So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out from the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

Genesis 30:22
Then God remembered Rachel and listened to her, and God opened her womb.

Exodus 2:24
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob,

Exodus 14:21
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and Yahweh moved the sea with a strong east wind all night, and he made the sea become dry ground, and the waters were divided.

Numbers 22:32
The angel of Yahweh said to him, "Why have you struck this donkey three times? Look, I have come out as an adversary because your conduct is perverse before me.

1 Samuel 1:19
Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before Yahweh and returned to their house at Ramah. Then Elkanah had sexual relations with Hannah his wife, and Yahweh remembered her.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

At that time, saith the Lord, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah,.... That is, either the Chaldeans or the Romans would do this; for this refers to the destruction of Jerusalem, either by the former or the latter; and it is certain that Jerusalem was ploughed up by the Romans, whereby the prophecy in Micah 3:12 was accomplished; when it is highly probable the graves were dug up, and the bones of the dead brought out, and scattered abroad by way of revenge; or it may be that graves were opened, especially the graves of kings and great men, for the sake of finding treasure in them: it follows,

and the bones of his princes; of the princes of Judah:

and the bones of the priests; that sacrificed to idols:

and the bones of the prophets: the false prophets; though this might be the case of the priests and prophets of the Lord; whose bones, in this general devastation, might be exposed as well as others; which of all might be thought to be the most sacred: and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem out of their graves; high and low, rich and poor, male and female; their graves, in common, were without the city.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Not the living only but the dead shall be exposed to the ruthless violence of the enemy, who will ransack the graves of the wealthier classes.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER VIII

The judgments threatened in the last chapter are here declared

to extend to the very dead, whose tombs should be opened, and

the carcasses treated with every mark of indignity, 1-3.

From this the prophet returns to reprove them for their

perseverance in transgression, 4-6;

and for their thoughtless stupidity, which even the instinct of

the brute creation, by a beautiful contrast, is made to

upbraid, 7-9.

This leads to farther threatening expressed in a variety of

striking terms, 10-13.

Upon which a chorus of Jews is introduced, expressing their

terror on the news of the invasion, 14, 15;

which is greatly heightened in the next verse by the prophet's

hearing the snorting of Nebuchadnezzar's horses even from Dan,

and then seeing the devastation made by his army, 16,

whose cruelties God himself declares no entreaties will soften,

17.

On this declaration the prophet laments most bitterly the fate

of the daughter of his people, changing the scene unawares to

the place of her captivity, where she is introduced answering

in mournful responses to the prophet's dirge, 18-22.

The variety of images and figures used to diversify the same

subject is equally pleasing and astonishing. The dress is

generally new, always elegant.

NOTES ON CHAP. VIII

Verse Jeremiah 8:1. They shall bring out the bones — This and the two following verses are a continuation of the preceding prophecy, and should not have been separated from the foregoing chapter.

In order to pour the utmost contempt upon the land, the victorious enemies dragged out of their graves, caves, and sepulchres, the bones of kings, princes, prophets, priests, and the principal inhabitants, and exposed them in the open air; so that they became, in the order of God's judgments, a reproach to them in the vain confidence they had in the sun, moon, and the host of heaven-all the planets and stars, whose worship they had set up in opposition to that of Jehovah. This custom of raising the bodies of the dead, and scattering their bones about, seems to have been general. It was the highest expression of hatred and contempt. Horace refers to it: -

Barbarus, heu, cineres insistet victor, et urbem

Eques sonante verberabit ungula:

Quaeque carent ventis et solibus ossa Quirini

(Nefas videre) dissipabit insolens.

Epod. xvi. 11.

"Barbarians fell shall wanton with success,

Scatter the city's flaming ruins wide;

Or through her streets in vengeful triumph ride,

And her great founder's hallowed ashes spurn,

That slept uninjured in the sacred urn."

FRANCIS.

See this judgment referred to, Baruch 2:24, 25.