Verse-by-Verse Bible CommentaryJeremiah 9:15
therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink. Jump to: Clarke Commentary • Gill's Exposition • Geneva Study Bible • Commentary Critical and Explanatory • Calvin's Commentary • Trapp's Commentary • Coke's Commentary • Poole's Annotations • Constable's Expository Notes • Haydock's Catholic Commentary • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes • Commentary Critical and Explanatory - Unabridged • Ellicott's Commentary • Treasury of Knowledge • Other Authors
Adam Clarke CommentaryI will feed them - with wormwood - They shall have the deepest sorrow and heaviest affliction. They shall have poison instead of meat and drink. Copyright Statement Bibliography John Gill's Exposition of the Whole BibleTherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,.... He calls himself "the Lord God of hosts", of armies above and below, in heaven and in earth, in opposition to Baalim, the idols of the Gentiles; which word signifies "lords"; which, though there be many who are called so, there is but one God, and one Lord, who is God over all, and "the God of Israel"; who had chosen them, and distinguished them by the blessings of his goodness; and yet they had forsaken him, and followed after other gods; by which the eyes of his glory were provoked, and he was determined to chastise them for it: behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood; that is, with straits or difficulties, as the Septuagint version; with bitter afflictions; such are not joyous, but grievous; which are irksome and disagreeable, as bitter things, and particularly wormwood, are to the taste. The Targum is, "I will bring tribulation upon them, bitter as wormwood:' and give them water of gall to drink; meaning either of the entrails of a beast so called, or of the juice of the herb hemlock, as the word is rendered in Hosea 10:4, as Kimchi; or of the poison of a serpent, as Jarchi; and so the Targum, "and I will give them the cup of cursing to drink as the heads of serpents:' signifying that their punishment would be very severe, though just. Copyright Statement Bibliography Geneva Study BibleTherefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, [even] this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall m to drink.(m) Read (Jeremiah 8:14). Copyright Statement Bibliography Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Biblefeed — (Jeremiah 8:14; Jeremiah 23:15; Psalm 80:5). Copyright Statement Bibliography Calvin's Commentary on the BibleHe at length concludes that God would take vengeance, but speaks in a figurativle language, I will feed them with bitterness The word לענה lone, is rendered “wormwood;” but as this is a wholesome herb, I prefer to render it “bitterness.” (249) It is never found in a good sense, and therefore unsuitable to the nature of wormwood, which is often mentioned by Moses: and the other prophets (Deuteronomy 19:18; Deuteronomy 32:32; Hebrews 2:15.) Hence I am inclined to adopt a general term, “bitterness.” He then adds, I will give them poisonous waters to drink; (250) as though God had said that he would execute a dreadful vengeance, so that it would appear in the meat and drink given them, which yet were remarkable testimonies of his paternal kindness towards them: for we cannot eat a crumb of bread nor drink a drop of water, except God’s goodness, and the care which he takes for our safety, shines upon us. Hence is that awful imprecation in Psalms 69:22, “Turned let their table be into an offense.” David also complained, when describing the barbarous cruelty of his enemies, that they gave him gall to drink: and we shall hereafter see what Jeremiah says; for in speaking. of his enemies, he says that they had conspired to put him to death, and said, “Let us set wood for his bread.” (Jeremiah 11:19) By these words then Jeremiah intended to express the dreadful vengeance of God; for he would not onty deprive the Jews of his benefits, but also turn their bread into poison, and their water into bitterness. We now then perceive the Prophet’s meaning; and at the same time we must observe the expression, the God of Israel The foolish boasting, that they were the descendants of Abraham, and that they were a holy people, chosen by God, always deluded the Jews. In order then to check their glorying, the Prophet says, float the God who spoke to them was the God whose name they falsely professed, and that he was the God who had chosen the children of Abraham as his peculiar people. It follows — Copyright Statement Bibliography John Trapp Complete CommentaryJeremiah 9:15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, [even] this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. Ver. 15. Behold, I will feed them with wormwood,] i.e., With bitter afflictions. Et haec poena inobedientiae fidei respondet. And this penalty answers to disobiedent faith. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways; [Proverbs 14:14] he shall have his belly full of them, as we use to say. See Jeremiah 8:14. Copyright Statement Bibliography Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy BibleJeremiah 9:15. Behold, I will feed, &c.— See Deuteronomy 29:18. Copyright Statement Bibliography Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy BibleEven this people: this supplement even shows that it is spoken emphatically, though they be a people that presume to be my peculiar. Wormwood; worms, Dutch Annotations. A plant to purify and cleanse them, say some; but this doth not seem to be spoken in favour to them; therefore rather some poisonous plant, which may agree to any other destructive herb as well as wormwood, and this the Hebrew word doth intimate, to which purpose the water of gall is mentioned in the next words; both joined together Deuteronomy 29:18; possibly the one pointing at their drink, the other at their bread; both metaphorically to be understood, of which see on Jeremiah 8:14. Copyright Statement Bibliography Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable
Because the people were stubborn, the Lord promised to feed them with wormwood (instead of honey), and to give them poisoned water ("gall" AV, instead of milk) to drink (cf. Jeremiah 8:14; Jeremiah 23:15; Deuteronomy 29:18; Matthew 27:34). "Wormwood" was a plant with a very bitter taste. Copyright Statement Bibliography George Haydock's Catholic Bible CommentaryGall. Hebrew rosh, "poison," &c., Deuteronomy xxix. 18. (Haydock) Copyright Statement Bibliography E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notesthe LORD of hosts, the God of Israel. See note on Jeremiah 7:3. wormwood . . . gall. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 29:18). Repeated in Jeremiah 23:15. Occurs also in Lamentations 3:19. water of gall. Compare Jeremiah 8:14. Copyright Statement Bibliography Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - UnabridgedTherefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. I will feed them with wormwood - (Psalms 80:5, "Thou feedest them with the bread of tears"). Copyright Statement Bibliography Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(15) Wormwood.—As a plant, probably a species of Artemisia, four species of which are found in Palestine. In Deuteronomy 29:18 it appears as the symbol of moral evil, here of the bitterness of calamity. Water of gall.—See Note on Jeremiah 8:14. Copyright Statement Bibliography Treasury of Scripture KnowledgeTherefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
Copyright Statement Bibliography 13 4. THE FOURTH TRUMPET , 13JUDGMENT AFFECTS THE SUN, MOON AND STARS The darkening of heavenly bodies is always a sign in scripture of troublous times--see Luke 21:25-26. Isaiah 5:20 also refers to the darkening of light as troubled times when men are mixed in mind and can"t see the difference between evil and good. John"s picture is drawn from the plague in Egypt, Exodus 10:21-23. The point which these four trumpets make is that God"s judgments are really what man"s own sin has made inevitable. But God does not leave man to reap the full consequences of his sins. God"s judgments are in mercy and are aimed to bring man to repentance. These first four trumpets, if read with the story in Genesis , seems like the undoing of creation. But the last three trumpet judgments are more terrible and described as THE THREE WOES. In verse13John "looked and heard AN EAGLE" (a far-sighted bird of prey, uttering the warning of these woes). Copyright Statement Bibliography |
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