Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Jeremiah 14:17

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Jeremiah 14:17. For the virgin daughter of my people is broken — First, the land was sadly distressed by Pharaoh-necho, king of Egypt. Secondly, it was laid under a heavy tribute by Nebuchadnezzar. And, thirdly, it was nearly desolated by a famine afterwards. In a few years all these calamities fell upon them; these might be well called a great breach, a very grievous blow.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Drought, disease and war (14:1-15:9)

A severe drought had hit Judah. People in all walks of life, from nobles to farmers, were affected by it, and they covered their heads as a sign of their distress. They had difficulty in getting enough water to keep themselves alive, and their animals were beginning to suffer from disease. Some had already died because of the lack of food (14:1-6).
Pleading on behalf of the people, Jeremiah confesses the nation’s sins. He asks God to cease acting as if he were an uninterested traveller passing through a strange land, and instead act to help them. After all, the land is his and so are the people (7-9). In reply God points out that he cannot overlook their sin. Jeremiah should stop pleading for them, because nothing can now save them from God’s judgment, a judgment that will come through war, famine and disease (10-12).
Jeremiah tells God that prophets have been assuring the people that these calamities will not overtake them (13). God replies that such prophets are false prophets. They will perish in shame and so will all those who believe them. The people have welcomed these prophecies of peace, because by such assurances they feel free to increase their wrongdoing without fear of punishment (14-16). Jeremiah weeps publicly to impress upon people the sorrow he feels as he foresees their terrible suffering (17-18).
Though his past pleas have not been answered, Jeremiah pleads with God yet once more. On behalf of the people he confesses their wrongdoing and asks that God will be merciful to them and give them rain. He prays that God will not forsake his people but will remember his covenant with them. There is no other God they can call upon to help them (19-22).

God replies that though Moses and Samuel had in the past pleaded successfully on behalf of the people (e.g. Exodus 32:11-14; Numbers 14:13-25; 1 Samuel 7:5-9; 1 Samuel 7:5-9; 1 Samuel 12:19-25), the nation has now passed the point where God can extend his mercy further. The false religion promoted by Manasseh still controls the attitudes of the people, and the nation will come to a cruel and humiliating end (15:1-4).

Time and again God has punished his people, with the purpose that they might acknowledge their sin and return to him; but always it has been without result. They do not deserve any further pity (5-6). The final slaughter is too horrible to imagine, but when people refuse to change their ways, such a judgment becomes inevitable (7-9).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

BOTH PEOPLE AND FALSE PROPHETS ARE DOOMED

“And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them - them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them. And thou shalt say this word unto them, Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound. If I go forth into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then, behold, they that are sick with famine! for both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge.”

Following false teachers is no valid excuse for not obeying God’s Word. These words prophesy the destruction of false prophets and their followers alike. As Jesus put it, “If the blind lead the blind, they shall both fall into the ditch.”

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

A message from God to the effect that the calamity would be so overwhelming as to cause perpetual weeping; it is set before the people under the representation of Jeremiah’s own sorrow.

The virgin daughter of my people - The epithet testifies to God’s previous care of Judah. She had been as jealously guarded from other nations as virgins are in an oriental household (compare Song of Solomon 4:12).

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

God shews here again how tardy, yea, how stupid the people were, whom no threatenings could induce to return to a right mind. When, therefore, they daringly neglected all threatenings, God bids a sad spectacle to be presented to them, justly calculated to fin them with fear and shame; he bids his Prophet to speak rims to them, “Behold, I shall be wholly dissolved into tears, and that on your account.” The Prophet, no doubt, wept sincerely when he saw his own people wilfully drawing upon themselves the wrath of God and their final dest, ruction; nor could he divest himself of his humane feelings: but he speaks not here only of his own solicitude, but God himself bids him thus to speak, in order that the Jews might be ashamed of their carelessness, as they ridiculed or despised, with dry eyes, the calamity which was nigh them, and the Prophet alone wept for them. We have spoken of this in the ninth chapter and in other places. There indeed the Prophet wished that his eyes were fountains of tears; but his object was, no doubt, not only to shew his concern for his own nation, but also thus to try whether they could be turned to repentance, their hardness being so great: and in this place the same thing is shewn still more clearly; for God bids the Prophet to weep, not in secret, but to declare this to the whole people, Behold, my eyes come down into tears, and there shall be no rest, no cessation.

We now perceive the design of the Holy Spirit; for as the obstinacy of the people was so great that they shed no tears, though God often terrified them with the most dreadful threatenings, it was necessary that this coming calamity should be set before their eyes, in the person of Jeremiah, as in a mirror, in order that they might at length learn to fear. Whenever such passages occur, let us remember that at this day also men are equally stupid, so that they ought not to be less sharply urged, and that, God in the gospel adds vehemence and sharp goads to the truth; for such is not only the sloth of our hearts, but also their hardness, that it is necessary to constrain those who will not suffer themselves to be drawn and led.

Some render the words, “Descend shall tears from mine eyes;” but more correct is the other version, “Mine eyes shall descend into, tears,” as ב,beth, is to be prefixed to דמעה damoe, or ל lamed; and it is added, night and day, because the daughter of my people is broken with a great breaJeremiah As yet the Jews were indeed existing as a nation; but the Prophet gives here a striking representation, as though the scene was present, that they might know that a sudden destruction was at hand, though they as yet trusted in their own auxiliaries; nor indeed could they have been led to fear God in any degree until, their quietness was disturbed. ⁽¹¹⁸⁾

He calls them the virgin daughter of his people, not for honor’s sake, but because God had hitherto spared the Jews. Virgin is sometimes taken in a good sense; for God, when speaking of the holy marriage, by which he had bound the Jews to himself, compares his people to a virgin. But the daughter of Babylon is also often called a virgin, because the Chaldeans, through long peace, had accustomed themselves to delicacies. So also in this place the Prophet, by way of concession, says that his own nation were soft and tender, because they had been borne with through the indulgence of God. But as in war virgins are exposed to violations, and the lust of men rages without shame and beyond all limits, so God intended here to set forth the fierceness of his vengeance; as though he had said, “Now indeed ye are tender and delicate young women, but in a short time your condition will be changed; nor is there any reason why the constant happiness which ye have hitherto enjoyed should deceive you.”

And for the same purpose he adds, that the smiting would be very bitter It was indeed necessary by many words to exaggerate that vengeance, of which the people made no account. It now follows —

(118) More consistent with the character of the Hebrew is to render the verse thus, —

17.And thou shalt say to them this word, — Pour down shall my eyes the tear Night and day, and shall not cease; For great has been the breach, Broken has been the virgin of the daughter of my people; The smiting has been very grievous.

The event, though future, is represented as having past; for he relates a vision. The “daughter” is not in apposition but in construction with “virgin.” Vitringa says, that a state, or a kingdom, is often called a virgin in the prophets. It is rendered here “kingdom” by the Targum. See Isaiah 37:22.

“Those cities,” says Lowth, “are called virgins, which never came into a conqueror’s hands.” Jerusalem was in this sense a virgin. He says further, “The dissolution of the body politic is called a breach, in allusion to the breaking of the limbs of the human body.” The “smiting,” or the stroke, was “very grievous,” because the body politic, or the state, was shattered into pieces.” — Ed.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 14

The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the deaRuth ( Jeremiah 14:1 ).

For a drought filled the land.

Judah mourns, and the gates languish; they are black upon the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And their nobles have sent their little ones to the water holes: they came to the water holes, and found no water; so they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and they covered their heads. Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads. Yea, the hind also calved in the field, but it forsook the calf, because there was no grass. And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass. O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee ( Jeremiah 14:2-7 ).

So the message that God gave to Jeremiah concerning the drought. And then he prays:

O the hope of Israel, the saving thereof in time of trouble, why should you be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turns aside to tarry for a night? Why should you be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; don't leave us ( Jeremiah 14:8-9 ).

So Jeremiah continues to intercede though God told him not to.

Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good ( Jeremiah 14:10-11 ).

Jeremiah just prayed. God said, "Don't pray to Me for their good."

When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offerings and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets are saying unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets are prophesying lies in my name: I did not send them, neither have I commanded them, neither did I speak unto them: they are prophesying unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their hearts. Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed ( Jeremiah 14:12-15 ).

It's a terrible thing to speak in the name of the Lord your own opinions, thoughts or ideas. It's all right to speak your own opinions, thoughts and ideas as your own opinions, thoughts and ideas. Now Paul the apostle was careful to make a distinction. In writing he said, "Now I don't have a word from the Lord on this, but this is my opinion on this subject." And that's good. You can express your opinion. There's nothing wrong with expressing your opinion. It's just when you express your opinion in the name of the Lord that it becomes wrong, because then when it doesn't work out, then you make God to be a liar or God to be made a fool. So there are a lot of people that are speaking in the name of the Lord things that are not really of the Lord, things that aren't really scriptural. Things that are really anti-scriptural. In fact, much like these prophets. "Everything is going to be great. Everybody is going to prosper. Everybody's just going to be healed and everybody should be prospering and God wants you all to go out and purchase new Mercedes and you'll be blessed and prosperous now. Peace, peace, prosperity." God said, "They're not prophesying from Me." For God said, "They that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" ( 2 Timothy 3:12 ). If any man suffers according to the will of God. These false prophets, some of them are now saying if Jesus only had enough faith He wouldn't have had to suffer the cross. Oh, what blasphemy. And God will deal with them.

And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them ( Jeremiah 14:16 ),

The bodies, they'll die and they'll just throw them out in the street. It's a horrible thing in some places in the world today. People are dying and there's really no one. They just put the body out in the street and they sweep them up like dust in the morning. Tragic. Person dies; you don't have enough strength. You just put the body out in the street and let someone else carry it off.

Therefore thou shalt say this word to them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day ( Jeremiah 14:17 ),

The weeping prophet.

and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow. If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold those that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not ( Jeremiah 14:17-18 ).

So he questions God.

Have you utterly rejected Judah? does your soul loathe Zion? why have you smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold there is trouble! We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee. Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us. Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? ( Jeremiah 14:19-22 )

Here's this great drought. People are dropping off like flies. They're dying all over the place because of the famine and all. Are there any of these vanities of the Gentiles or the gods that the Gentiles worship, the pagan gods, that can cause rain?

or can the heavens give showers? Art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things ( Jeremiah 14:22 ).

He continues this message on the drought. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Jeremiah was to tell the people that he had asked God to let him weep constantly because Judah, like a virgin daughter, had experienced a major tragedy. She had suffered a devastating assault and had incurred a severe injury.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them,.... Instead of praying for the people, the prophet has a doleful lamentation put into his mouth, to pronounce in their hearing, in order to assure them of the calamities that were coming upon them, and to affect them with them.

Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: or "be silent" p; signifying that there would be quickly just reason and occasion for incessant grief and sorrow in them; and if they were so hardened as not to be affected with their case, he could not refrain shedding tears night and day in great abundance; which would have a voice in them, to call upon them to weeping and lamentation also. Some take these words to be a direction and instruction to the people; so the Septuagint,

"bring down upon your eyes tears night and day, and let them not cease;''

and the Arabic version,

"pour out of your eyes tears night and day continually;''

and the Syriac version is,

"let our eyes drop tears night and day incessantly.''

For the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow; cities are sometimes called virgins, which were never taken; and so Jerusalem here, it having never been taken since it was in the hands of the people of Judah; nor were its inhabitants as yet carried captive, but now would be; which, together with the famine and the sword, by which many should perish, is the great breach and grievous blow spoken of; and which is given as a reason, and was a sufficient one, for sorrow and mourning.

p תדמינה "sileant", Schmidt; "taceant", Pegninus, Montanus.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      17 Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.   18 If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.   19 Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul loathed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!   20 We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.   21 Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.   22 Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.

      The present deplorable state of Judah and Jerusalem is here made the matter of the prophet's lamentation (Jeremiah 14:17; Jeremiah 14:18) and the occasion of his prayer and intercession for them (Jeremiah 14:19; Jeremiah 14:19), and I am willing to hope that the latter, as well as the former, was by divine direction, and that these words (Jeremiah 14:17; Jeremiah 14:17), Thus shalt thou say unto them (or concerning them, or in their hearing), refer to the intercession, as well as to the lamentation, and then it amounts to a revocation of the directions given to the prophet not to pray for them, Jeremiah 14:11; Jeremiah 14:11. However, it is plain, by the prayers we find in these verses, that the prophet did not understand it as a prohibition, but only as a discouragement, like that 1 John 5:16, I do not say he shall pray for that. Here,

      I. The prophet stands weeping over the ruins of his country; God directs him to do so, that, showing himself affected, he might, if possible, affect them with the foresight of the calamities that were coming upon them. Jeremiah must say it not only to himself, but to them too: Let my eyes run down with tears,Jeremiah 14:17; Jeremiah 14:17. Thus he must signify to them that he certainly foresaw the sword coming, and another sort of famine, more grievous even than this which they were now groaning under; this was in the country for want of rain, that would be in the city through the straitness of the siege. The prophet speaks as if he already saw the miseries attending the descent which the Chaldeans made upon them: The virgin daughter of my people, that is as dear to me as a daughter to her father, is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow, much greater and more grievous than any she has yet sustained; for (Jeremiah 14:18; Jeremiah 14:18) in the field multitudes lie dead that were slain by the sword, and in the city multitudes lie dying for want of food. Doleful spectacles! "The prophets and the priests, the false prophets that flattered them with their lies and the wicked priests that persecuted the true prophets, are now expelled their country, and go about either as prisoners and captives, whithersoever their conquerors lead them, or as fugitives and vagabonds, wherever they can find shelter and relief, in a land that they know not." Some understand this of the true prophets, Ezekiel and Daniel, that were carried to Babylon with the rest. The prophet's eyes must run down with tears day and night, in prospect of this, that the people might be convinced, not only that this woeful day would infallibly come, and would be a very woeful day indeed, but that he was far from desiring it, and would as gladly have brought them messages of peace as their false prophets, if he might have had warrant from heaven to do it. Note, Because God, though he inflicts death on sinners, yet delights not in it, it becomes his ministers, though in his name they pronounce the death of sinners, yet sadly to lament it.

      II. He stands up to make intercession for them; for who knows but God will yet return and repent? While there is life there is hope, and room for prayer. And, though there were many among them who neither prayed themselves nor valued the prophet's prayers, yet there were some who were better affected, would join with him in his devotions, and set the seal of their Amen to them.

      1. He humbly expostulates with God concerning the present deplorableness of their case, Jeremiah 14:19; Jeremiah 14:19. It was very sad, for, (1.) Their expectations from their God failed them; they thought he had avouched Judah to be his, but now, it seems, he has utterly rejected it, and cast it off, will not own any relation to it nor concern for it. They thought Zion was the beloved of his soul, was his rest for ever; but now his soul even loathes Zion, loathes even the services there performed, for the sake of the sins there committed. (2.) Then no marvel that all their other expectations failed them: They were smitten, and their wounds were multiplied, but there was no healing for them; they looked for peace, because after a storm there usually comes a calm and fair weather, after a long fit of wet; but there was no good, things went still worse and worse. They looked for a healing time, but could not gain so much as a breathing time. "Behold, trouble at the door, by which we hoped peace would enter. And is it so then? Hast thou indeed rejected Judah? Justly thou mightest. Hath thy soul loathed Zion? We deserve it should. But wilt thou not at length in wrath remember mercy?"

      2. He makes a penitent confession of sin, speaking that language which they all should have spoken, though but few did (Jeremiah 14:20; Jeremiah 14:20): "We acknowledge our wickedness, the abounding wickedness of our land and the iniquity of our fathers, which we have imitated, and therefore justly smart for. We know, we acknowledge, that we have sinned against thee, and therefore thou art just in all that is brought upon us; but, because we confess our sins, we hope to find thee faithful and just in forgiving our sins."

      3. He deprecates God's displeasure, and by faith appeals to his honour and promise, Jeremiah 14:21; Jeremiah 14:21. His petition is, "Do not abhor us; though thou afflict us, do not abhor us; though thy hand by turned against us, let not thy heart be so, nor let thy mind be alienated from us." They own God might justly abhor them, they had rendered themselves odious in his eyes; yet, when they pray, Do not abhor us, they mean, "Receive us into favour again. Let not thy soul loathe Zion,Jeremiah 14:19; Jeremiah 14:19. Let not our incense be an abomination." They appeal, (1.) To the honour of God, the honour of his scriptures, by which he has made himself known--his word, which he has magnified above all his name: "Do not abhor us, for thy name's sake, that the name of thine by which we are called and which we call upon." The honour of his sanctuary is pleaded: "Lord, do not abhor us, for that will disgrace the throne of thy glory" (the temple, which is called a glorious high throne from the beginning,Jeremiah 17:12; Jeremiah 17:12); let not that which has been the joy of the whole earth be made a hissing and an astonishment. We deserve to have disgrace put upon us, but let it not be so as to reflect upon thyself; let not the desolations of the temple give occasion to the heathen to reproach him that used to be worshipped there, as if he could not, or would not, protect it, or as if the gods of the Chaldeans had been too hard for him. Note, Good men lay the credit of religion, and its profession in the world, nearer their hearts than any private interest or concern of their own; and those are powerful pleas in prayer which are fetched thence and great supports to faith. We may be sure that God will not disgrace the throne of his glory on earth; nor will he eclipse the glory of his throne by one providence without soon making it shine forth, and more brightly than before, by another. God will be no loser in his honour at the long-run. (2.) To the promise of God; of this they are humbly bold to put him in mind: Remember thy covenant with us, and break not that covenant. Not that they had any distrust of his fidelity, or that they thought he needed to be put in mind of his promise to them, but what he had said he would plead with himself they take the liberty to plead with him. Then will I remember my covenant,Leviticus 26:42.

      4. He professes a dependence upon God for the mercy of rain, which they were now in want of, Jeremiah 14:22; Jeremiah 14:22. If they have forfeited their interest in him as their God in covenant, yet they will not let go their hold on him as the God of nature. (1.) They will never make application to the idols of the heathen, for that would be foolish and fruitless: Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? No; in a time of great drought in Israel, Baal, though all Israel presented their prayers to him in the days of Ahab, could not relieve them; it was that God only who answered by fire that could answer by water too. (2.) They will not terminate their regards in second causes, nor expect supply from nature only: Can the heavens give showers? No, not without orders from the God of heaven; for it is he that has the key of the clouds, that opens the bottles of heaven and waters the earth from his chambers. But, (3.) All their expectation therefore is from him and their confidence in him: "Art not thou he, O Lord our God! from whom we may expect succour and to whom we must apply? Art thou not he that causest rain and givest showers? For thou hast made all these things; thou gavest them being, and therefore thou givest them law and hast them all at thy command; thou madest that moisture in nature which is in a constant circulation to serve the intentions of Providence, and thou directest it, and makest what use thou pleasest of it; therefore we will wait upon thee, and upon thee only; we will ask of the Lord rain,Zechariah 10:1. We will trust in him to give it to us in due time, and be willing to tarry his time; it is fit that we should, and it will not be in vain to do so." Note, The sovereignty of God should engage, and his all-sufficiency encourage, our attendance on him and our expectations from him at all times.