Bible Commentaries
Jeremiah 25

Verse 1

25:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the {a} fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that [was] the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon;

(a) That is, in the third year accomplished and in the beginning of the fourth: for though Nebuchadnezzar began to reign in the end of the third year of Jehoiakim’s reign yet that year is not counted here because it was almost over, Daniel 1:1 .

Verse 3

25:3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even to {b} this day, that [is] the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come to me, and I have spoken to you, {c} rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.

(b) Which was the fifth year and the ninth month of Jehoiakim’s reign.

(c) That is, I have spared no diligence or labour, Jeremiah 7:13 .

Verse 5

25:5 They {d} 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 to you and to your fathers for ever and ever:

(d) He shows that the prophets, wholly with one consent laboured to pull the people from those vices, which then reigned, that is, from idolatry and the vain confidence of men: for under these two all others were contained, 2 Kings 17:13, Jeremiah 18:11; Jeremiah 35:15, Jonah 3:8 .

Verse 9

25:9 Behold, I will send and take all the {e} families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my {f} servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations {g} around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an horror, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

(e) The Chaldeans and all their power.

(f) So the wicked and Satan himself are God’s servants, because he makes them serve him by constraint and turns that which they do out of malice to his honour and glory.

(g) As the Philistines, Ammonites, Egyptians and others.

Verse 10

25:10 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 {h} millstones, and the light of the candle.

(h) Meaning that bread and all things that would serve to their feasts would be taken away.

Verse 12

25:12 And it shall come to pass, when {i} seventy years are accomplished, [that] I will punish {k} 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.

(i) This revelation was for the confirmation of his prophecy because he told them of the time that they would enter and remain in captivity, 2 Chronicles 36:22, Ezra 1:1, Jeremiah 29:10, Daniel 9:2 .

(k) For seeing the judgment began at his own house, the enemies must be punished most grievously, Ezekiel 9:6, 1 Peter 4:17 .

Verse 14

25:14 For many nations and great kings shall be {l} served by them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

(l) That is of the Babylonians as in Jeremiah 27:7 .

Verse 15

25:15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel to me; {m} Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.

(m) Signifying the extreme affliction that God had appointed for everyone, Psalms 75:8, Isaiah 51:17 and this cup which the wicked drink, is more bitter than that which he gives to his children, for he measures the one by mercy, and the other by justice.

Verse 18

25:18 [That is], Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and her kings, and her princes, to make them a desolation, an horror, an hissing, and a curse; {n} as [it is] this day;

(n) For now it begins and will so continue till it is accomplished.

Verse 20

25:20 And all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land {o} of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and {p} Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,

(o) Read Job 1:1 .

(p) Which were cities of the Philistines.

Verse 21

25:21 {q} Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,

(q) Edom is here taken for the whole country and Uz for a part of it.

Verse 22

25:22 And all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the {r} isles which [are] beyond the sea,

(r) As Greece, Italy and the rest of those countries.

Verse 23

25:23 {s} Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all [that are] in the utmost corners,

(s) These were people of Arabia which came of Dedan the son of Abraham and Keturah.

Verse 24

25:24 And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people that dwell in the {t} desert,

(t) For there were two countries so named, the one called plentiful and the other barren, or desert.

Verse 26

25:26 And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which [are] upon the face of the earth: and the king of {u} Sheshach shall drink after them.

(u) That is of Babylon, as in Jeremiah 51:41 .

Verse 29

25:29 For, lo, {x} I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.

(x) That is Jerusalem, read Jeremiah 25:12 .

Verse 33

25:33 And {y} the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from [one] end of the earth even to the [other] end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be refuse upon the ground.

(y) They who are slain at the Lord’s appointment.

Verse 34

25:34 Howl, {z} ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves [in the ashes], ye chief of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a {a} pleasant vessel.

(z) You that are chief rulers, and governors.

(a) Which are most easily broken.

Verse 35

25:35 And the {b} shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the chief of the flock to escape.

(b) It will not help them to seek to flee.