(a) That is, the city.

2 And though they say, The {b} LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.

(b) Though they pretend religion and holiness, yet all is but hypocrisy: for under this kind of swearing is contained the true religion.

3 O LORD, are not thy eyes upon the {c} truth? thou hast {d} stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

(c) Do you not love uprightness and faithful dealing?

(d) You have often punished them, but all is in vain, Isa 9:13.

4 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.

5 I will go to the {e} great men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

(e) He speaks this to the reproach of them who would govern and teach others, and yet are farther out of the way than the simple people.

6 Wherefore a {f} lion from the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out from there shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

(f) Meaning, Nebuchadnezzar and his army.

7 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and {g} sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.

(g) He shows that to swear by anything other than by God is to forsake him.

8 They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife.

9 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

10 {h} Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: {i} take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD'S.

(h) He commands the Babylonians and enemies to destroy them.

(i) Read Jer 4:27.

11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.

12 They have {k} lied about the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:

(k) Because they gave no credit to the words of his prophets, as in Isa 28:15.

13 And the prophets shall become {l} wind, and the word is {m} not in them: thus shall it be done to them.

(l) Their words will be of no effect, but vain.

(m) They are not sent from the Lord, and therefore that which they threaten to us will come on them.

14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in {n} thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

(n) Meaning, Jeremiah.

15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you {o} from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say.

(o) That is, the Babylonians and Chaldeans.

16 Their quiver is as an {p} open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.

(p) Who will kill many with their arrows.

17 And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.

18 Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with {q} you.

(q) Here the Lord declares his unspeakable favour toward his Church, as in Jer 4:27.

19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why doeth the LORD our God all these things to us? then shalt {r} thou answer them, As ye have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

(r) Meaning, the prophet Jeremiah.

20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:

22 Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?

23 But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.

24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

25 Your {s} iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you.

(s) If there is any stay, that we receive not God's blessings in abundance, we must consider that it is for our own iniquities, Isa 59:1,2.

26 For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.

28 They have become fat, they shine: yea, they exceed the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they {t} prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

(t) They feel not the plague of God for it.

29 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

30 A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;

31 The {u} prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in its end?

(u) Meaning that there could be nothing but disorder, where the ministers were wicked and corrupt.