Bible Commentaries
Jeremiah 16

Verses 1-18

Jeremiah’s Ninth Prophecy (Reign of Jehoiakim?). Punishment of Judah by Pestilence and Exile.

It is clear from Jeremiah 17:15, in which the people challenge the prophet to point to a fulfilment of his prophecies of woe, that it is at any rate earlier than the capture of Jerusalem at the end of Jehoiachin’s reign.

Verses 1-21

1-13. Selfdenial and an ascetic, life are to be the prophet’s lot.

6. Nor cut themselves] in token of mourning: cp. Jeremiah 47:5.

7. Tear themselves for them] RV ’break bread for them.’ The reference here and in the rest of the v. is to the custom that the friends should urge the mourners to eat and drink: cp. 2 Samuel 3:35; 2 Samuel 12:16; Proverbs 31:6.

12. Imagination] cp. Jeremiah 3:17.

13. There shall ye serve other gods] if you please. Spoken ironically.

14-21. The deliverance will be in proportion to the severity of the punishment.

14. 15. Yet the coming deliverance shall be one in comparison with which even the exodus from Egypt shall pale. For Jeremiah’s custom of throwing in a bright thought among gloomy ones see Jeremiah 3:14; Jeremiah 4:27; Jeremiah 5:10, Jeremiah 5:18; Jeremiah 27:22; Jeremiah 30:3; Jeremiah 32:37.

15. The land of the north] i.e. Babylon: a promise of restoration after the exile.

16. Many fishers] Judah’s enemies. The people shall be hunted down with energy wherever they may be found.

19-21. God’s power thus shown in the care of His people for evil and then for good, and witnessed by other nations, shall lead even the most distant of them to acknowledge Him.