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the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

4 For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.

6 For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.

7 And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

8 And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, "Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city?

9 Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.

10 Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.

11 For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more:

12 But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.

13 ¶ Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that, useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;

14 That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

15 Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?

16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.

2 Chap. 17. 25. 3 Heb. for David upon his throne.
6 Heb. thorough-aired.
7 Or, my windows.

17 But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.

18 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!

19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

20 T Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the pas sages: for all thy lovers are destroyed.

21 I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice.

22 The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.

23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail !

24 As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;

25 And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

26 And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die.

27 But to the land whereunto they "desire to return, thither shall they not return.

28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not?

29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

30 Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

5 Lev. 19. 13. Deut. 24. 14, 15. Heb. 2. 9. 9 Heb. prosperities. 10 Heb. inhabitress.

4 Deut. 29. 24. 1 Kings 9. 8. 8 Or, incursion.

11 Heb. lift up their mind.

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mourners.

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Verse 18. They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister!...Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!This doubtless describes some of the more customary cries of the women and children when a person died, or of the people on the demise of some chief person, especially a king. Of the professional mourners we have already written under chap. ix. 17; but the present case seems more especially to refer to the lamentations of actual When a death takes place in a family, particularly of one of its chief members, the sudden cry which is raised in the house, and continued at intervals, is most appalling; and it is interspersed with such exclamations as the present, praising the dead and lamenting his loss. Mohammed endeavoured to put down this practice, considering the outrageous lamentation which usually took place as an act of rebellion against the Divine will, although he allowed tears and silent sorrow to be becoming; but he failed in this and many other of his attempts against ancient usages, which still continue in as full operation as ever. The following, from the Mishatul-Masabih, will shew the ancient Arabian usages in this matter. 'Omm Salmah said, When Abù Salmah, who was my first husband before the prophet, died, I said he was a stranger, and died in a strange land. Verily I will cry a cry for him, which shall be related among men, saying, "She cried as no person ever did." Then I was ready to cry for Abù Salmah; when unexpectedly a woman came to me, and wished to assist and accompany me in crying. Then the prophet came and said, "Do you wish, O woman! to bring the devil into the house, from which God has brought him forth twice?"...When his highness said this, I desisted from crying, and did not cry

afterwards.' From this it seems that Mohammed had heard in the street the cry by which she expected to gain renown.- Abdullah-bin Rawahah was senseless when he was ill and near dying; and his sister, whose name was Amrah, stood crying, and said, "O mountain! O that! and O the other!" when she was enumerating his accomplishments, and praised him, wailing. And Abdullah said to Amrah, when he recovered, "There is not one of those qualities, which you have ascribed to me, but will be spoken of to me in a troublesome way.' Again, Abu-Musa-al-Ashari said, I heard the prophet say, "There is no dead person, the people of whose tribe stood crying and saying, O mountain, O chief! (and such like, which is said in wailing); but God appoints two angels for him, to shake him, and to say in a taunting manner, Were you as they said?" It is very remarkable that Mohammed, in mentioning his dislike to the custom, lets us know that it was in his time exhibited in a most exaggerated form by the Jews in Arabia. Compare this with what Mr. Lane says of the modern Egyptian practice. Before the spirit has departed, or the moment after, ‘the women of the family raise the cries of lamentation, called wellwel'eh, or wilwa'l; uttering the most piercing shrieks, and calling upon the name of the deceased. The most common cries that are heard upon the death of the master of the family, from the lips of his wife, or wives, and children, are, "O my master!" "O my camel!" (that is, "O thou that broughtest my provisions, and hast carried my burdens!") "O my lion!" "O camel of the house!" "O my dear one!" "O my only one!" "O my father!" "O my misfortune!"'

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CHAPTER XXIII.

1 He prophesieth a restoration of the scattered flock. 5 Christ shall rule and save them. 9 Against false prophets, 33 and mockers of the true prophets.

'WOE be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.

2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.

3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.

4 And I will set up 'shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.

5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

6 'In his days Judah shall be saved, and

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Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name. whereby he shall be called, "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

7 Therefore, behold, "the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

8 But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.

9 Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holi

ness.

10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of 'swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.

11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.

12 Wherefore their ways shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I 3 Isa. 4. 2, and 40. 11. Chap. 33. 14, 15. Dan. 9. 24. John 1. 45. Chap. 16. 14, 15. Or, cursing. 8 Or, violence.

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16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.

17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, "Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. 18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?

17

19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.

19

20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.

21 20I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

23 Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?

24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

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25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.

26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;

27 Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.

22

28 The prophet 23that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.

29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

30 Therefore, behold, "I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.

31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, 25that use their tongues, and say, He saith.

32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.

33 ¶ And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.

34 And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even 26punish that man and his house.

35 Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken?

36 And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.

37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken?

38 But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD; Be

11 Or, filthiness. Ezek. 13. 10. Zech. 10. 2.

20 Chap. 14. 14, and 27. 15.

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24 Deut. 18. 20. Chap. 14. 14, 15. 25 Heb. visit upon.

cause ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD; 39 Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and

the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:

40 And I will bring "an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.

27 Chap. 20. 11.

Verse 15.

Wormwood.'-The original word is n la'anah, which is used in a figurative sense in most of the passages in which it occurs (Deut. xxix. 18; Prov. v. 4; Jer. ix. 15; xxiii. 15; Lam. iii. 15, 19; Amos v. 7, 12). In the last text cited it is translated hemlock;' but everywhere else, as here, wormwood.' It is clear that it denotes some plants of the extremest bitterness, and is hence adopted as a type or figure of the sins and miseries of men. The Septuagint and Arabic translators substitute the proper term which they conceived the plant to denote, except in Prov. v. 4; Lam. iii. 19, where the latter, as well as the other Oriental versions, have words signifying 'wormwood,' and this has been adopted throughout by the Vulgate, and, after that, by most modern versions, our own included. There is in fact little doubt that a species of Artemisia or Absinthium or wormwood is really intended; but as various species are common in Palestine, and as many of them resemble each other very closely in their properties, it is difficult to say which particular species, or whether any species in particular, is denoted by the Hebrew word. The probability seems to be that it is generic name for all the plants of this kind, which are distinguished for their intense bitterness. The species particularly noticed by travellers are Artemisia Judaica, A. Nilotica, A. fruticosa, A. cinerea. The first is parti cularly noticed by Rauwolff as growing everywhere in Palestine. He describes it as having small, ash-coloured leaves and many small stalks, and affording a great abundance of small, yellowish seeds; and that it is of an unpleasant smell, very bitter, with a saline sharpness. Both the leaves and seeds of the plant are used medicinally in the East, and are reported to be stomachie, tonic, and an

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thelminthic. This, if any particular species, is probably the LA'ANAH of Scripture.

25. That prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed.'-They professed to have received dreams from God; or, having had dreams, pretended that they were oracles and intimations from God. The facility of this kind of imposition, and the impossibility of immediate detection, rendered this a common method by which the old Pagan priests and prophets deluded the people. Besides extraordinary and professedly unsought dreams, there were some of the heathen gods which were considered to deliver their oracles principally, if not exclusively, through their instrumentality, such as Osiris, Isis, and Serapis, in Egypt; Hercules (so called by Tacitus, but perhaps Baal), in Mesopotamia; Amphiaraus, in Attica; Pasiphae, in Sparta, and many others. When a responsive dream was sought, some observances were practised; after which the dream was supposed to give the required answer. Often the dream-seeker slept in the temple of the idol, and sometimes upon the skins of the victims which had been offered in sacrifice. Those who sought a prophetic dream sometimes fasted the previous day, and abstained three days from wine; those who did not fast were careful to eat nothing difficult of digestion, such as beans and raw fruit. It was sometimes considered necessary that the dreamer should wear a white garment; and the dreams of the morning were those to which most attention was paid. Such were some of the practices of the heathen dreamers, and which were very probably adopted by the false prophets of the Hebrews. See Banier (Mythology, i. 345, 353); Rosinus (Antiq. Romanarum, ii. 2); and Harwood (Grec. Antiq. p. 192). Similar practices, for similar purposes, still prevail in different parts of Pagan Asia.

CHAPTER XXIV.

1 Under the type of good and bad figs, 4 he foresheweth the restoration of them that were in captivity, 8 and the desolation of Zedekiah and the rest.

THE LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar 'king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.

2 One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.

3 Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.

1 2 Kings 24. 12, &c. 2 Chron. 36. 10.

4 Deut. 30. 6. Chap. 32. 39. Ezek. 11. 19, and 36. 26, 27.

4 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.

6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

7 And I will give them 'an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

8 And as the evil 'figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of

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Chap. 29. 17.

Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt :

9 And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt

7 Heb. for removing, or, vexation.

and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.

10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.

8 Deut. 28. 23. Chap. 15, 4.

Verse 2. The figs that are first ripe.'-The figs here called ni, baccuroth, or first-ripe figs, still bear the same name in the Levant. There are three sorts of figs: the first, that here mentioned, makes its appearance about the vernal equinox, and comes to maturity about the middle or latter end of June. Before it is ripe it is called, in Scripture, the green fig, but when ripe, the untimely (i. e., precocious) fig. It is generally considered to have a flavour superior to any other, and is deemed a great delicacy-partly perhaps from its earliness, which renders it the more prized, as all early fruits are. Then there is, second, the summer or dry fig (called kermez), which appears about the middle of June, and is ripe in August. This is

the sort which is dried in the sun and preserved in masses, called 'cakes' in our version; and which is to be considered as the proper and regular fig. Lastly, there is the winter fig, which appears in August, and is not ripe till towards the end of November. This is usually of a longer figure and darker colour than the others. When the weather is favourable, some of these figs will hang ripening upon the tree after the leaves are shed, and through the winter, being gathered as delicious morsels early in the spring. All figs fall when they are ripe, and especially the early figs. This circumstance is alluded to in Nahum iii. 12.

CHAPTER XXV.

1 Jeremiah reproving the Jews' disobedience to the prophets, 8 foretelleth the seventy years' captivity, 12 and after that, the destruction of Babylon. 15 Under the type of a cup of wine he foresheweth the destruction of all nations. 34 The howling of the shepherds.

THE word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;

2 The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,

3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened."

4 And the LORD hath sent unto all his you servants the prophets, 'rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.

5 They said, "Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil_of_your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:

6 And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.

1 Chap. 29. 19.

7 Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own

hurt.

8 T Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,

9 Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

10 Moreover "I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the 'voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.

11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12 ¶ And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will "punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.

13 And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations. 14 For many nations and great kings shall

6 Heb. visit upon.

22 Kings 17. 13. Chap. 18. 11, and 35. 15. Jonah 3. 8. 3 Heb. I will cause to perish from them. 4 Chap. 7. 34, and 16. 9. Ezek. 26. 13. Hos. 2. 11. 52 Chron. 36. 21, 22. Ezra 1. 1. Chap. 29. 10. Dan. 9. 2.

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