A verse by verse commentary on Jeremiah 11 dealing with the complaint of Jeremiah that God seems to favor the wicked and they prosper and live at ease.

1. JEREMIAH 11 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
The Covenant Is Broken
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the
Lord:
BARNES, "The prophecy contained in Jer. 11–12 seems to belong to an early period
of Jeremiah’s life. The covenant Jer_11:2 was that renewed by Josiah in his 18th year,
after the discovery of the Book of the Law in the temple 2Ki_23:3; while Jer_11:13
apparently refers to the public establishment of idolatry by Manasseh Jer_21:3. The
people took no hearty part in Josiah’s reformation, and the prophet therefore sets before
them the consequences that will inevitably fellow upon their disloyalty to their covenant-
God. The prophecy was probably called forth by the conspiracy of the men of Judah and
of his own relatives of Anathoth to murder Jeremiah Jer_11:18-23; Jer_12:1-6, for such
deeds, which but too well represented the nation’s whole course, punishment must
come, if unrepented of.
CLARKE, "The word that came to Jeremiah - This discourse is supposed to
have been delivered in the first year of the reign of Zedekiah. See Dahler.
GILL, "The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying. Here seems to
begin a new prophecy; but when it was, and under what reign, and what time between
this and the former, is not known; however, it was from the Lord, and so to be regarded.
HENRY 1-2, "The prophet here, as prosecutor in God's name, draws up an
indictment against the Jews for wilful disobedience to the commands of their rightful
Sovereign. For the more solemn management of this charge,
I. He produces the commission he had to draw up the charge against them. He did not
take pleasure in accusing the children of his people, but God commanded him to speak it
to the men of Judah, Jer_11:1, Jer_11:2. In the original it is plural: Speak you this. For
what he said to Jeremiah was the same that he gave in charge to all his servants the
prophets. They none of them said any other than what Moses, in the law, had said; to
that therefore they must refer themselves, and direct the people: “Hear the words of this
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2. covenant; turn to your Bibles, be judged by them.” Jeremiah must now proclaim this in
the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, that all may hear, for all are concerned.
All the words of reproof and conviction which the prophets spoke were grounded upon
the words of the covenant, and agreed with that; and therefore “hear these words, and
understand by them upon what terms you stood with God at first; and then, by
comparing yourselves with the covenant, you will soon be aware upon what terms you
now stand with him.”
JAMISON, "Jer_11:1-23. Epitome of the covenant found in the Temple in Josiah’s
reign. Judah’s revolt from it, and God’s consquent wrath.
K&D, "Judah's Disloyalty to the Covenant, with the Consequences Thereof
In Jer_11:2-8 is a short summary of the covenant made with the fathers; in Jer_
11:9-13 is an account of the breaking of this covenant by Judah, and of the calamity
which results therefrom; and in Jer_11:14-17 further description of this calamity.
Jer_11:1-8
"The word which came to Jeremiah from Jahveh, saying: Jer_11:2. Hear ye the
words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, Jer_11:3. And say thou to them: Thus hath Jahve, the God of Israel, said:
Cursed is the man that heareth not the words of this covenant, Jer_11:4. Which I
commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt,
out of the iron furnace, saying: Hearken to my voice, and do them according to all
which I command you; so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God; Jer_11:5. That
I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land
flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. And I answered and said: So be it,
Jahveh. Jer_11:6. Then said Jahveh to me: Proclaim all these words in the cities of
Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear ye the words of this covenant and
do them. Jer_11:7. For I have testified to your fathers in the day that I brought them out
of the land of Egypt unto this day, testifying from early morning on: Hearken to my
voice! Jer_11:8. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked each in the
stubbornness of their evil heart; and so I brought on them all the words of this
covenant which I have commanded them to do, and they have not done them."
PULPIT, "The superscription in Jer_11:1 evidently belongs to the three chapters 11-13,
though Jer_11:1-23 and Jer_12:1-17 are more closely connected with each other than
with Jer_13:1-27. To which period the group of prophecies belongs—whether to the
reign of Josiah, or of Jehoiakim, or of Jehoiachin, or to various periods, is a matter of
dispute. It contains at any rate one passage (Jer_12:7-17) which was almost certainly put
in by a later editor. It is doubtless Jeremiah’s work, but seems out of place here (see
below, on this passage). Naegelsbach’s analysis of Jer_11:1-23; Jer_12:1-17, is striking.
The fundamental idea of the entire discourse he assumes to be the antithesis of covenant
and conspiracy, and proceeds thus:
1. A reminder of the renewal of the covenant between Jehovah and the people lately
made under Josiah (Jer_11:1-8).
2. First stage of the conspiracy; all Israel, instead of keeping the covenant with Jehovah,
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3. conspires against him (Jer_11:9-13).
3. The punishment of the conspiracy is an irreversible, severe judgment (Jer_11:14 17).
4. Second stage of the conspiracy; the plot of the men of Anathoth (Jer_11:18-23).
5. Third stage; the plot in the prophet’s own family (Jer_11:1-6). Naegelsbaeh, however,
with violence to exegesis, continues thus (assuming the homogeneousness of Jer_12:1-6
and Jer_12:7-17):
6. Israel’s conspiracy punished by a conspiracy of the neighboring peoples against Israel
(Jer_12:7-13).
7. Removal of all antitheses by the final union of all in the Lord (Jer_12:14-17).
The opening verses of this chapter give us (as we have seen already in the general
Introduction) a most vivid idea of the activity of Jeremiah in propagating a knowledge of
the Deuteronomic Torah (i.e. the Divine "directions" with regard to the regulation of
life). It may even be inferred from verse 6 that he made a missionary circuit in Judah,
with the view of influencing the masses. It was, in fact, only the "elders" of the different
towns who had taken part in the solemn ceremony described in 2Ki_23:1-37. "The words
of this covenant" had been ratified by the national representatives; but it required a
prophetic enthusiasm to carry them home to the hearts of the people. Hence it was that
"the word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant,
and speak unto the men of Judah," etc.
CALVIN, "Here the Prophet teaches us, that the Jews, though they continued to
profess God’s holy name, were yet wholly perfidious, and had departed altogether
from the law. The import of this discourse is, that the Jews gloried in the name of
God, and yet were violaters of his covenant, for they had broken their faith pledged
to God, and wholly cast aside the doctrine of the law. The Jews, no doubt, were
often greatly exasperated against Jeremiah, as though he was pleading his own
cause: it was therefore necessary to set before them their departure from the law, so
that they might feel assured that their contention was not with Jeremiah but with
Moses, and with God himself, the author of the law. They were doubtless
exasperated with his doctrine; but Jeremiah could not spare them when he saw that
they were so perverse.
We may understand this better by an example: Though the Papists at this day
openly repudiate everything adduced from the law, and the prophets, and the
gospel, yet they dissemble on this point, and even affirm that they receive whatever
proceeds from God. As they then shuffle and do so shamelessly, he who seeks to
restore the pure worship of God and true religion, may deal with them in the same
manner. As for instance, when any one of God’s servants meets the Papists, he may
thus address them: — “Let not the dispute be now between us individually, but hear
what God commanded formerly by Moses, and what he has more fully confirmed by
his prophets, and at last by his only — begotten Son and his apostles; so that it is not
right to do anything any longer against his word: now then attend to the law and the
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4. prophets.”
We now understand what was God’s design in bidding his servant Jeremiah to
speak these words. For, except we duly consider the unfaithfulness of that people,
we shall feel surprised that the word covenant is so often mentioned, and it will
appear unmeaning to us. But the Prophet, as I have said, when he saw that the Jews
by their cavils made evasions, could not deal with them in any other way than by
shewing that, they had violated God’s covenant and had thus become apostates,
having wholly departed from the law. And he says that this was commanded them
by God: nor is there doubt but that God not only suggested this to his servant, but
dictated also to him the way and manner of speaking.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 11:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Ver. 1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.] To him it came, but to be
imparted to other prophets, say some; priests of Anathoth, say others, [Jeremiah
11:2] which might be the reason why they were so enraged against him, and sought
his life, [Jeremiah 11:18-19] as the Popish priests did Mancinel’s, Savonarola’s, and
other faithful preachers’, for exciting them to do their duties.
COFFMAN, "Verse 1
JEREMIAH 11
THE SINAI COVENANT BROKEN BY ISRAEL
This and the next two chapters are thought to have been written about the same
time, coming in the early part of the reign of Jehoiachim, during that four or five
year period while Israel was still feeling a false sense of security by reason of their
friendship for Egypt.[1] This would have been about 620. B.C.
The great theme here is the breaking of the Sinaitic covenant by the Chosen People.
That sacred covenant made by God with the Children of Israel at the time when he
brought them up out of Egypt had been neglected and nearly forgotten for ages,
until the copy of the Law of Moses was discovered by Hilkiah during the renovation
of the temple during the days of Josiah the king (2 Kings 22-23).
Along with Feinberg, we are surprised that, "So much discussion has gone on
among expositors as to `which' covenant is meant in Jeremiah 11:1-3, the one made
with the nation at Sinai, or the one promulgated by Josiah."[2] There is no doubt
whatever that the Sinaitic covenant, all of it, as set forth in the Pentateuch, is the
covenant in view here.
THE SINAITIC COVENANT IN VIEW HERE
We are fully aware that the radical critics have exhausted themselves in efforts to
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5. prove that the covenant mentioned here was only some small part of the Sinaitic
covenant, limited to the Book of Deuteronomy, or even to some very small portion of
Deuteronomy. That eighteenth century falsehood of Satan needs to be exploded.
God's Word tells us what book was discovered. It was designated by Hilkiah as The
Book of the Law (properly capitalized here, as should be the case in every mention
of it) (See 2 Kings 22:3,8). The king referred to it as The Book of the Covenant (2
Kings 23:21), as did also the inspired author of 2Kings, who called it The Book of
the Covenant (2 Kings 23:2). These references absolutely disprove the falsehood that
anything less than the whole Pentateuch constituted that Book of the Law, or Book
of the Covenant, which led to the extensive reforms under king Josiah. "Surely 2
Kings 22-23 makes it clear that Josiah was not introducing a new covenant but only
calling for a reaffirmation of the old Mosaic Covenant."[3]
Absolutely everything connected with the reforms of Josiah indicated the
restoration in Israel of the entire Mosaic covenant. The whole Mosaic covenant is
structured after the pattern of the old suzerainty treaties; and the invocation of the
"list of curses" always attached to such treaties, as Henderson pointed out, "is
indicated in the phraseology of Jeremiah 11:5 which is borrowed from
Deuteronomy 27:26."[4]
Furthermore, there is not even any difference between the covenant as it appears in
Deuteronomy from the one in Exodus; for it is expressly declared in Deuteronomy
that:
"When Moses made an end of writing the words of this law in a book ... Moses
commanded that it be placed by the ark of the covenant." (Deuteronomy 31:24) And
upon that same occasion, Moses entrusted that Law to the custodianship of the
Levites.
More and more scholars of the present era are accepting the proposition that no
fragmentary or incomplete document ever invented by evil men can be substituted
for that whole Book of the Law written by Moses. Note the following:
"This covenant refers to the covenant made at Sinai, as related in Exodus 24, with
its strong emphasis upon the moral law.[5] The covenant (Jeremiah 11:1-8) is a
reference to the covenant that Yahweh made at the time of the national deliverance
of Israel from Egypt, as the condition of God's continued blessing.[6] It is a
reasonable conjecture that `this covenant' refers to the Mosaic covenant of Sinai.[7]
The covenant was the historic agreement sealed centuries earlier at Sinai.[8] "The
words of this covenant" are, as is clear from the succeeding context, the words of the
covenant recorded in the Pentateuch, known from the reading of the Torah.[9]
Jeremiah 11:1-5
"The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, Hear ye the words of this
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6. covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
and say thou unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man
that heareth not the words of this covenant, which I commanded your fathers in the
day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace,
saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall
ye be my people, and I will be your God; that I may establish the oath which I sware
unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.
Then answered I and said, Amen, O Jehovah."
This paragraph fully corroborates all that we stated above concerning what
covenant is here under consideration. Jeremiah at the time indicated here possessed
the whole Pentateuch at least, and he probably also had available to him a great
many of the prophets, certainly including Isaiah. Nothing is any more unbelievable
than the allegation of radical critics that there were no scriptures at that time
except, maybe, some fragment of Deuteronomy. How could God have commanded
Jeremiah to teach the people "the words of this covenant" if, indeed, he did not have
them in his possession?
Besides that, it was not the whole people of Israel who had lost the Book of the Law;
it was that gang of reprobate priests and scribes in the temple that had lost it! That
there was, indeed, at this time, throughout Israel, a residual knowledge of the whole
Law of Moses is evident. "The righteous remnant" would indeed have preserved
countless portions of it. The proof of this is in 2 Chronicles 34, which reveals that,
"The centralization of worship in Jerusalem preceded the discovery of the Book of
the Covenant in the temple by Hilkiah."[10]
In the light of all these things, how can we understand a remark like that of Cheyne,
who substituted for "the words of this covenant" the totally inadequate expression,
"the words of this ordinance!?"[11] In the same breath, he admitted that "the
words of this covenant" is a correct rendition of the text; but he declared it to be
"unsuitable." Of course, it is "unsuitable" for all of the erroneous allegations the
radical critics have thrown at the passages here.
The great significance of God's appeal through Jeremiah to the Israelites at this
juncture in their affairs, calling upon them to hear and obey the commandments of
the covenant, derived from the fact that, "Whether the promised land would remain
in the possession of Israel or not depended upon their observance, or non-
observance, of the covenant."[12]
"Amen ..." (Jeremiah 11:5). "This is the standard response to a covenant; and it is
Jeremiah's pledge to recall Israel to the historic Sinai event when God promised to
supply the material and spiritual needs of his people in their infancy as a nation, in
return for their undivided worship and obedience."[13]
COKE, "Jeremiah 11:1. The word, &c.— This discourse may be considered as a
continuation of the foregoing, which the prophet delivered to the people, at their
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7. entrance into the temple; chap. 7: This at least is insinuated, Jeremiah 11:15 or
rather, the Lord delivered his word to Jeremiah at the time when Josiah assembled
the people in the temple at Jerusalem, to renew their covenant with the Lord. See 2
Chronicles 34:29; 2 Chronicles 34:31 and Calmet.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMMENTARY, "THE BROKEN COVENANT
Jeremiah 11:1-23 and Jeremiah 12:1-17
THERE is no visible break between these two chapters. They seem to summarise the
history of a particular episode in the prophet’s career. At the same time, the style is
so peculiar that it is not so easy as it might appear at a first glance to determine
exactly what it is that the section has to tell us. When we come to take a closer look
at it, we find a thoroughly characteristic mixture of direct narrative and soliloquy,
of statement of facts and reflection upon those facts, of aspiration and prayer and
prophecy, of self-communing and communing with God. Careful analysis may
perhaps furnish us with a clue to the disentanglement of the general sense and drift
of this characteristic medley. We may thus hope to get a clearer insight into the
bearing of this old world oracle upon our own needs and perplexities, our sins and
the fruit of our sins, what we have done and what we may expect as the consequence
of our doings. For the Word of God is "quick and powerful." Its outward form and
vesture may change with the passing of time; but its substance never changes. The
old interpreters die, but the Word lives, and its life is a life of power. By that Word
men live in their successive generations; it is at once creative and regulative; it is the
seed of life in man, and it is the law of that life. Apart from the Divine Word, man
would be no more than a brute gifted with understanding, but denied all answer to
the higher cravings of soul and spirit; a being whose conscious life was a mere
mockery; a self-tormentor, tantalised with vain surmises, tortured with ever-
recurring problems; longing for light, and beset with never-lifting clouds of
impenetrable darkness; the one sole instance, among the myriads of sentient beings,
of a creature whose wants Nature refuses to satisfy, and whose lot it is to consume
forever in the fires of hopeless desire.
The sovran Lord, who is the Eternal Wisdom, has not made such a mistake. He
provides satisfaction for all His creatures, according to the varying degrees of their
capacity, according to their rank in the scale of being, so that all may rejoice in the
fulness and the freedom of a happy life for their allotted time. Man is no exception
to the universal rule. His whole constitution, as God has fashioned it, is such that he
can find his perfect satisfaction in the Word of the Lord. And the depth of his
dissatisfaction, the poignancy and the bitterness of his disappointment and disgust
at himself and at the world in which he finds himself, are the strongest evidence that
he has sought satisfaction in things that cannot satisfy; that he has foolishly
endeavoured to feed his soul upon ashes, to still the cravings of his spirit with
something other than that Word of God which is the Bread of Life.
You will observe that the discourse we are to consider, is headed: "The word that
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8. fell to Jeremiah from Iahvah" (lit. "from with," that is, "from the presence of" the
Eternal), "saying." I think that expression "saying" covers all that follows, to the
end of the discourse. The prophet’s preaching the Law, and the consequences of that
preaching as regarded himself: his experience of the stubbornness and treachery of
the people; the varying moods of his own mind under that bitter experience; his
reflections upon the condition of Judah, and the condition of Judah’s ill-minded
neighbours; his forecasts of the after course of events as determined by the
unchanging will of a righteous God; all these things seem to. be included in the
scope of that "Word from the presence of Iahvah," which the prophet is about to
put on record. You will see that it is not a single utterance of a precise and definite
message, which he might have delivered in a few moments of time before a single
audience of his countrymen. The Word of the Lord is progressively revealed; it
begins with a thought in the prophet’s mind, but its entire content is unfolded
gradually, as he proceeds to act upon that thought or Divine impulse; it is, as it
were, evolved as the result of collision between the prophet and his hearers; it
emerges into clear light out of the darkness of storm and conflict; a conflict both
internal and external; a conflict within, between his own contending emotions and
impulses and sympathies; and a conflict without, between an unpopular teacher,
and a wayward and corrupt and incorrigible people. "From with Iahvah." There
may be strife and tumult and the darkness of ignorance and passion upon earth; but
the star of truth shines in the firmament of heaven, and the eye of the inspired man
sees it. This is his difference from his fellows.
"Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak ye unto the men of Judah, and upon
the dwellers in Jerusalem! And say thou unto them, Thus saith Iahvah, the God of
Israel, Accursed are the men that hear not the words of this covenant, which I lay on
your fathers, in the day that I brought them forth from the land of Egypt, from the
furnace of iron, saying, Hearken unto My voice, and do these things, according to all
that I shall charge you: that ye may become for Me a people, and that I Myself may
become for you a God. That I may make good" (vid. infra) "the oath which I sware
to your forefathers, that I would give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it
now is" (or simply, "today"). "And I answered and said, Amen, Iahvah!" [Jeremiah
11:1-5] "Hear ye speak ye unto the men of Judah!" The occasion referred to is that
memorable crisis in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, when Hilkiah the high priest
had "found the book of the law in the house of the Lord," [2 Kings 22:8 sqq.} and
the pious king had read in the hearing of the assembled people those fervid
exhortations to obedience, those promises fraught with all manner of blessing, those
terrible denunciations of wrath and ruin reserved for rebellion and apostasy, which
we may still read in the closing chapters of the book of Deuteronomy. {Deuteronomy
27:1-26, sq.} Jeremiah is recalling the events of his own ministry, and passes in
rapid review from the time of his preaching upon the Book of the Law, to the
Chaldean invasion in the reign of Jehoiachin. {Jeremiah 13:18 sqq.} He recalls the
solemn occasion when the king and people bound themselves by oath to observe the
law of their God; when "the king stood upon the platform, and made the covenant
before Iahvah, that he would follow Iahvah, and keep his commandments, and his
laws and his statutes, with whole heart and with whole soul; to make good the words
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9. of this covenant that were written upon this roll; and all the people stood to the
covenant." {2 Kings 23:3] At or soon after this great meeting, the prophet gives, in
the name of Iahvah, an emphatic approval to the public undertaking; and bids the
leaders in the movement not to rest contented with this good beginning, but to
impress the obligation more deeply upon the community at large, by sending a
mission of properly qualified persons, including himself, which should at once
enforce the reforms necessitated by the covenant of strict obedience to the Law, and
reconcile the people both of the capital and of the rural towns and hamlets to the
sudden and sweeping changes demanded of them, by showing their entire
consonance with the Divine precepts. "Hear ye"-princes and priests-"the words of
this covenant; and speak ye unto the men of Judah!" Then follows, in brief, the
prophet’s own commission, which is to reiterate, with all the force of his
impassioned rhetoric, the awful menaces of the Sacred Book: "Cursed be the men
that hear not the words of this covenant!" Now again, in these last years of their
national existence, the chosen people are to hear an authoritative proclamation of
that Divine Law upon which all their weal depends; the Law given them at the
outset of their history, when the memory of the great deliverance was yet fresh in
their minds; the Law which was the condition of their peculiar relation to the
Universal God. At Sinai they had solemnly undertaken to observe that Law: and
Iahweh had fulfilled His promise to their "fathers"-to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-
and had given them a goodly land, in which they had now been established for at
least six hundred years. The Divine truth and righteousness were manifest upon a
retrospect of this long period of eventful history; and Jeremiah could not withhold
his inward assent, in the formula prescribed by the Book of the Law, [Deuteronomy
27:15 sqq.} to the perfect justice of the sentence: "Cursed be the men that hear not
the words of this covenant." "And I answered and said, Amen, Iahvah!" So to this
true Israelite, thus deeply communing with his own spirit, two things had become
clear as day. The one was the absolute righteousness of God’s entire dealing with
Israel, from first to last; the righteousness of disaster and overthrow as well as of
victory and prosperity: the other was his own present duty to bring this truth home
to the hearts and consciences of his fellow countrymen. This is how he states the
fact: "And Iahvah said unto me, Proclaim thou all these words in the cities of Judah
and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant and do
them. For I earnestly adjured your fathers, when I brought them up from the land
of Egypt" ("and I have done so continually") "even unto this very day, saying, Obey
ye My voice! And they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear; and they walked, each and
all, in the hardness of their wicked heart. So I brought upon them all the threats"
(lit., "words") "of this covenant, which I had charged them to keep, and they kept it
not." {Jeremiah 11:6-8] God is always self-consistent; man is often inconsistent with
himself; God is eternally true, man is ever giving fresh proofs of his natural
faithlessness. God is not only just in keeping His promises; He is also merciful, in
labouring ever to induce man to be self-consistent, and true to moral obligations.
And Divine mercy is revealed alike in the pleadings of the Holy Spirit by the mouth
of prophets, by the voice of conscience, and in the retribution that overtakes
persistence in evil. The Divine Law is life and health to them that keep it; it is death
to them that break it. "Thou, Lord, art merciful: for thou rewardest every man
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10. according to his works."
The relation of the One God to this one people was neither accidental nor arbitrary.
It is sometimes spoken of as a thing glaringly unjust to the other nations of the
ancient world, that the Father of all should have chosen Israel only to be the
recipient of His special favours. Sometimes it is demanded, as an unanswerable
dilemma, How could the Universal God be the God of the Jews, in the restricted
sense implied by the Old Testament histories? But difficulties of this kind rest upon
misunderstanding, due to a slavishly literal interpretation of certain passages, and
inability to take a comprehensive view of the general drift and tenor of the Old
Testament writings as they bear upon this subject. God’s choice of Israel was proof
of His love for mankind. He did not select one people because He was indifferent or
hostile to all other peoples; but because He wished to bring all the nations of the
earth to the knowledge of Himself, and the observance of His law. The words of our
prophet show that he was profoundly convinced that the favour of Iahvah had from
the outset depended upon the obedience of Israel: "Hearken unto My voice, and do
these things that ye may become for Me a people, and that I Myself may become for
you a God." How strangely must such words have sounded in the ears of people who
believed, as the masses both in town and country appear for the most part to have
done, that Iahvah as the ancestral god was bound by an indissoluble tie to Israel,
and that He could not suffer the nation to perish without incurring irreparable loss,
if not extinction, for Himself! It is as if the prophet had said: You call yourselves the
people of God; but it is not so much that you are His people, as that you may become
such by doing His will. You suppose that Iahvah, the Eternal, the Creator, is to you
what Chemosh is to Moab, or Molech to Ammon, or Baal to Tyre; but that is just
what He is not. If you entertain such ideas of Iahvah, you are worshipping a figment
of your own carnal imaginations; your god is not the universal God, but a gross
unspiritual idol. It is only upon your fulfilment of His conditions, only upon your
yielding an inward assent to His law, a hearty acceptance to His rule of life, that He
Himself - the One only God-can truly become your God. In accepting His law, you
accept Him, and in rejecting His law, you reject Him; for His law is a reflection of
Himself; a revelation, so far as such can be made to a creature like man, of His
essential being and character. Therefore think not that you can worship Him by
mere external rites; for the true worship is "righteousness, and holiness of life."
The progress of the reforming movement, which was doubtless powerfully
stimulated by the preaching of Jeremiah, is briefly sketched in the chapter of the
book of Kings, to which I have already referred. [2 Kings 23:1-37] That summary of
the good deeds of king Josiah records apparently a very complete extirpation of the
various forms of idolatry, and even a slaughter of the idol priests upon their own
altars. Heathenism, it would seem, could hardly have been practised again, at least
openly, during the twelve remaining years of Josiah. But although a zealous king
might enforce outward conformity to the Law, and although the earnest preaching
of prophets like Zephaniah and Jeremiah might have considerable effect with the
better part of the people, the fact remained that those whose hearts were really open
to the word of the Lord were still, as always, a small minority; and the tendency to
10

11. apostasy, though checked, was far from being rooted up. Here and there the
forbidden rites were secretly observed; and the harsh measures which had
accompanied their public suppression may very probably have intensified the
attachment of many to the local forms of worship. Sincere conversions are not
effected by violence; and the martyrdom of devotees may give new life even to
degraded and utterly immoral superstitions. The transient nature of Josiah’s
reformation, radical as it may have appeared at the time to the principal agents
engaged in it, is evident from the testimony of Jeremiah himself. "And Iahvah said
unto me, There exists a conspiracy among the men of Judah, and among the
inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have returned to the old sins of their fathers, who
refused to hear My words; and they too have gone away after other gods, to serve
them the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant, which I
made with their forefathers. Therefore thus saith Iahvah, Behold I am about to
bring unto them an evil from which they cannot get forth; and they will cry unto
Me, and I will not listen unto them. And the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem will go and cry unto the gods to whom they burn incense" (i.e., now;
ptcp.); "and they will yield them no help at all in the time of their evil. For many as
thy cities are thy gods become, O Judah! and many as the streets of Jerusalem have
ye appointed altars to the Shame, altars for burning incense to the Baal. And as for
thee, intercede thou not for this people, nor lift up for them outcry" (i.e., mourning)
"and intercession; for I intend not to hearken, in the time when they call unto Me,
in the time of their evil" (Jeremiah 11:9-14). All this appears to indicate the course
of the prophet’s reflection, after it had become clear to him that the reformation was
illusory, and that his own labours had failed of their purpose. He calls the relapse of
the people a plot or conspiracy; thereby suggesting, perhaps, the secrecy with which
the prohibited worships were at first revived, and the intrigues of the unfaithful
nobles and priests and prophets, in order to bring about a reversal of the policy of
reform, and a return to the old system; and certainly suggesting that the heart of the
nation, as a whole, was disloyal to its Heavenly King, and that its renewed apostasy
was a wicked disavowal of lawful allegiance, and an act of unpardonable treason
against God.
But the word further signifies that a bond has been entered into, a bond which is the
exact antithesis of the covenant with Iahvah; and it implies that this bond has about
it a fatal strength and permanence, involving as its necessary consequence the ruin
of the nation. Breaking covenant with Iahvah meant making a covenant with other
gods; it was impossible to do the one thing without the other. And that is as true
now, under totally different conditions, as it was in the land of Judah, twenty-four
centuries ago. If you have broken faith with God in Christ it is because you have
entered into an agreement with another; it is because you have foolishly taken the
tempter at his word, and accepted his conditions, and surrendered to his proposals,
and preferred his promises to the promises of God. It is because, against all reason,
against conscience, against the Holy Spirit, against the witness of God’s Word,
against the witness of His Saints and Confessors in all ages, you have believed that a
Being less than the Eternal God could ensure your weal and make you happy. And
now your heart is no longer at unity in itself, and your allegiance is no longer single
11

12. and undivided. "Many as thy cities are thy gods become, O Judah!" The soul that is
not unified and harmonised by the fear of the One God, is torn and distracted by a
thousand contending passions: and vainly seeks peace and deliverance by worship
at a thousand unholy shrines. But Mammon and Belial and Ashtaroth and the whole
rout of unclean spirits, whose seductions have lured you astray, will fail you at last;
and in the hour of bitter need, you will learn too late that there is no god but God,
and no peace nor safety nor joy but in Him.
It is futile to pray for those who have deliberately cast off the covenant of Iahvah,
and made a covenant with His adversary. "Intercede not for this people, nor lift up
outcry and intercession for them!" Prayer cannot save, nothing can save, the
impenitent; and there is a state of mind in which one’s own prayer is turned into
sin; the state of mind in which a man prays, merely to appease God, and escape the
fire, but without a thought of forsaking sin, without the faintest aspiration after
holiness. There is a degree of guilt upon which sentence is already passed, which is
"unto death," and for which intercession is interdicted alike by the Apostle of the
New as to the prophet of the Old Covenant.
"What availeth it My beloved, that she fulfilleth her intent in Mine house? Can
vows and hallowed flesh make thine evil to pass from thee? Then mightest thou
indeed rejoice" (Jeremiah 11:15). Such appears to be the true sense of this verse, the
only difficult one in the chapter. The prophet had evidently the same thought in his
mind as in Jeremiah 11:11 : "I will bring unto them an evil, from which they cannot
get forth; and they will cry unto Me, and I will not hearken unto them." The words
also recall those of Isaiah: [Isaiah 1:11 sqq} "For what to Me are your many
sacrifices, saith Iahvah? When ye enter in to see My face, who hath sought this at
your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more a vain oblation; loathly incense it
is to Me!" The term which I have rendered "intent," usually denotes an evil
intention; so that, like Isaiah, our prophet implies that the popular worship is not
only futile but sinful. So true it is that "He that turneth away his ear from hearing
the law, even his prayer is an abomination"; {Proverbs 28:9] or, as the Psalmist puts
the same truth, "If I incline unto wickedness with my heart, the Lord will not hear
me."
"A flourishing olive, fair with shapely fruit, did Iahvah call thy name. To the sound
of a great uproar will He set her on fire; and his hanging boughs will crackle" ("in
the flames"). "And Iahvah Sabaoth, that planted thee, Himself hath pronounced
evil upon thee; because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
which they have done to themselves" [Jeremiah 4:18; Jeremiah 7:19] "in provoking
Me, in burning incense to the Baal" (Jeremiah 11:16-17). The figure of the olive
seems a very natural one, {cf. Romans 11:17} when we remember the beauty, and
the utility for which that tree is famous in Eastern lands. "Iahvah called thy name";
that is, called thee into determinate being; endowed thee at thine origin with certain
characteristic qualities. Thine original constitution, as thou didst leave thy Maker’s
hand, was fair and good. Israel among the nations was as beautiful to the eye as the
olive among trees; and his "fruit," his doings, were a glory to God and a blessing to
12

13. men, like that precious oil, for "which God and man honour" the olive [ 9:9;,
Zechariah 4:3;, Hosea 14:7] But now the noble stock had degenerated; the "green
olive tree," planted in the very court of Iahvah’s house, had become no better than a
barren wilding, fit only for the fire. The thought is essentially similar to that of an
earlier discourse: "I planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed; how then hast
thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Me?" [Jeremiah 2:21]
Here, there is an abrupt transition, which forcibly expresses the suddenness of the
destruction that must devour this degenerate people: "To the sound of a great
uproar"-the din of invading armies "he will set her" (the beloved, symbolised by the
tree) "on fire; and his" (the olive’s) "hanging boughs will crackle in the flames."
And this fierce work of a barbarous soldiery is no chance calamity; it is the
execution of a Divine judgment: "Iahvah Sabaoth Himself hath pronounced evil
upon thee." And yet further, it is the nation’s own doing; the two houses of Israel
have persistently laboured for their own ruin; they have brought it upon themselves.
Man is himself the author of his own weal and woe; and they who are not "working
out their own salvation," are working out their own destruction.
"And it was Iahvah that gave me knowledge, so that I well knew; at that time, Thou
didst show me their doings. But, for myself, like a favourite" (lit. tame, friendly,
gentle: Jeremiah 3:4) "lamb that is led to the slaughter, I wist not that against me
they had laid a plot. ‘Let us fell the tree in its prime, and let us cut him off out of the
land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.’ Yea, but Iahvah Sabaoth
judgeth righteously, trieth reins and heart. I shall see Thy vengeance on them; for
unto Thee have I laid bare my cause. Therefore thus said Iahvah: Upon the men of
Anathoth that were seeking thy life, saying, Thou shalt not prophesy in the name of
Iahvah, that thou die not by our hand:-therefore thus said Iahvah Sabaoth, Behold I
am about to visit it upon them: the young men will die by the sword; their sons and
their daughters will die by the famine. And a remnant they shall not have: for I will
bring an evil unto the men of Anathoth, the year of their visitation" (Jeremiah
11:18-23).
The prophet, it would seem, had made the round of the country places, and come to
Anathoth, on his return journey to Jerusalem. Here, in his native town, he
proclaimed to his own people that same solemn message which he had delivered to
the country at large. It is very probable that the preceding verses (Jeremiah 11:9-17)
contain the substance of his address to his kinsfolk and acquaintance; an address
which stirred them, not to repentance towards God, but to murderous wrath against
His prophet. A plot was laid for Jeremiah’s life by his own neighbours and even his
own family; [Jeremiah 12:6] and he owed his escape to some providential
circumstance, some "lucky accident," as men might say, which revealed to him their
unsuspected perfidy. What the event was which thus suddenly disclosed the hidden
danger, is not recorded; and the whole episode is rather alluded to than described.
But it is clear that the prophet knew nothing about the plot, until it was ripe for
execution. He was as wholly unconscious of the death prepared for him, as a petted
lamb on the way to the altar. "Then"-when his fate seemed sure-then it was that
something happened by which "Iahvah gave him knowledge," and "showed him
13

14. their doing": The thought or saying attributed to his enemies, "Let us fell the tree
(s) in the prime thereof!" may contain a sarcastic allusion really made to the
prophet’s own warning (Jeremiah 11:16): "A flourishing olive, fair with shapely
fruit, did Iahvah call thy name: to the noise of a great uproar will He set it on fire,
and the branches thereof shall crackle in the flames." The words that follow
(Jeremiah 11:20), "yea, but" (or, and yet) "Iahvah Sabaoth judgeth righteously;
trieth reins and heart," {cf. Jeremiah 20:12} is the prophet’s reply, in the form of an
unexpressed thought, or a hurried ejaculation upon discovering their deadly malice.
The timely warning which he had received, was fresh proof to him of the truth that
human designs are, after all that their authors can do, dependent on the will of an
Unseen Arbiter of events; and the Divine justice, thus manifested towards himself,
inspired a conviction that those hardened and bloodthirsty sinners would, sooner or
later, experience in their own destruction that display of the same Divine attribute
which was necessary to its complete manifestation. It was this conviction, rather
than personal resentment, however excusable under the circumstances that feeling
would have been, which led Jeremiah to exclaim: "I shall see Thy vengeance on
them, for unto Thee have I laid bare my cause."
He had appealed to the Judge of all the earth, that doeth right; and he knew the
innocency of his own heart in the quarrel. He was certain, therefore, that his cause
would one day be vindicated, when that ruin overtook his enemies, of which he had
warned them in vain. Looked at in this light, his words are a confident assertion of
the Divine justice, not a cry for vengeance. They reveal what we may perhaps call
the human basis of the formal prophecy which follows; they show by what steps the
prophet’s mind was led on to the utterance of a sentence of destruction upon the
men of Anathoth. That Jeremiah’s invectives and threatenings of wrath and ruin
should provoke hatred and opposition was perhaps not wonderful. Men in general
are slow to recognise their own moral shortcomings, to believe evil of themselves;
and they are apt to prefer advisers whose optimism, though ill-founded and
misleading, is pleasant and reassuring and confirmatory of their own prejudices.
But it does seem strange that it should have been reserved for the men of his own
birthplace, his own "brethren and his father’s house," to carry opposition to the
point of meditated murder. Once more Jeremiah stands before us, a visible type of
Him whose Divine wisdom declared that a prophet finds no honour in his own
country, and whose life was attempted on that Sabbath day at Nazareth. {Luke 4:24
sqq.}
PETT, "Verses 1-15
YHWH Calls On His People To Hear The Word Of His Covenant And Reminds
Them Of The Covenant Curse Which Falls On All Who Fail To Observe It, But
Then Draws Attention To Their Failure To Observe It, Indicating That The
Resulting Consequences Are Therefore Inevitable (Jeremiah 11:1-15).
These words may well have been spoken after the discovery of the Book of the Law
in the Temple in the days of Josiah (2 Kings 22) as YHWH sought to reinforce what
14

15. Josiah was doing. This is suggested by the fact that ‘the covenant’ is mentioned five
times in the passage, and not previously in Jeremiah (apart from in a reference to
the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH in Jeremiah 3:16. Similar clusters will appear
again in chapters 31-34). But the emphasis here is especially on the curse which is a
part of that covenant (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28), in order to bring out the
reason why YHWH is now about to visit them with inescapable judgment in view of
their continual apostasy.
Jeremiah 11:1-2
‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH, saying, “Hear you the words of this
covenant, and speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,”
Once again it is emphasised that Jeremiah receives ‘the word of YHWH’. And His
word was not only for him but for all his fellow genuine prophets (like Huldah,
Uriah and Barak). This is brought out by the use of the plural ‘YOU’ which
indicates that having heard it they are to proclaim it to Judah. And as we shall see
this ‘word’ was in the nature of a reminder to Judah of the curses of the covenant.
Note the continual distinction that is made between the men of Judah and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was regularly looked on as a separate city,
standing on its own, being not strictly a city of Judah but the city of David (the same
was also true in New Testament times. See Mark 1:5).
YHWH’s Curse On Those Who Have Broken His Covenant.
PULPIT, "Verses 1-23
EXPOSITION
The superscription in Jeremiah 11:1 evidently belongs to the three chapters 11-13,
though Jeremiah 11:1-23 and Jeremiah 12:1-17 are more closely connected with
each other than with Jeremiah 13:1-27. To which period the group of prophecies
belongs—whether to the reign of Josiah, or of Jehoiakim, or of Jehoiachin, or to
various periods, is a matter of dispute. It contains at any rate one passage (Jeremiah
12:7-17) which was almost certainly put in by a later editor. It is doubtless
Jeremiah's work, but seems out of place here (see below, on this passage).
Naegelsbach's analysis of Jeremiah 11:1-23; Jeremiah 12:1-17, is striking. The
fundamental idea of the entire discourse he assumes to be the antithesis of covenant
and conspiracy, and proceeds thus:
1. A reminder of the renewal of the covenant between Jehovah and the people lately
made under Josiah (Jeremiah 11:1-8).
2. First stage of the conspiracy; all Israel, instead of keeping the covenant with
Jehovah, conspires against him (Jeremiah 11:9-13).
15

16. 3. The punishment of the conspiracy is an irreversible, severe judgment (Jeremiah
11:14 17).
4. Second stage of the conspiracy; the plot of the men of Anathoth (Jeremiah
11:18-23).
5. Third stage; the plot in the prophet's own family (Jeremiah 11:1-6). Naegelsbaeh,
however, with violence to exegesis, continues thus (assuming the homogeneousness
of Jeremiah 12:1-6 and Jeremiah 12:7-17):
6. Israel's conspiracy punished by a conspiracy of the neighboring peoples against
Israel (Jeremiah 12:7-13).
7. Removal of all antitheses by the final union of all in the Lord (Jeremiah 12:14-17).
The opening verses of this chapter give us (as we have seen already in the general
Introduction) a most vivid idea of the activity of Jeremiah in propagating a
knowledge of the Deuteronomic Torah (i.e. the Divine "directions" with regard to
the regulation of life). It may even be inferred from verse 6 that he made a
missionary circuit in Judah, with the view of influencing the masses. It was, in fact,
only the "elders" of the different towns who had taken part in the solemn ceremony
described in 2 Kings 23:1-37. "The words of this covenant" had been ratified by the
national representatives; but it required a prophetic enthusiasm to carry them home
to the hearts of the people. Hence it was that "the word came to Jeremiah from
Jehovah, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of
Judah," etc.
Jeremiah 11:2
Hear ye … and speak. To whom is this addressed? To Jeremiah and his disciples.
The Septuagint, indeed, followed by Hitzig and Graf, read (instead of "speak ye"),
"Thou shalt speak unto them," adopting one different vowel-point. But this involves
an inconsistency with the first verb, and is not at all necessary, for why should we
suppose Jeremiah to have been completely isolated? If the prophet had well-wishers
even among the princes, it stands to reason that he must have had more pronounced
adherents in the classes less influenced by the prejudices of society.
2 “Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell
them to the people of Judah and to those who live
16

17. in Jerusalem.
BARNES, "The words of this covenant - The phrase used 2Ki_23:3 to describe
the contents of the Book of the Law.
CLARKE, "Hear ye the words of this covenant - It is possible that the prophet
caused the words of the covenant made with their fathers in the desert (Exo_24:4-8) to
be read to them on this occasion; or, at least, the blessings and the cursings which Moses
caused to be pronounced to the people as soon as they had set foot in Canaan,
Deuteronomy 27, 28.
GILL, "Hear ye the words of this covenant,.... Which. Dr. Lightfoot understands
of the covenant lately made in the times of Josiah, upon finding and reading the law of
Moses, 2Ki_23:3, but it seems rather to design the law of Moses itself; or the covenant
made with the people of Israel on Mount Horeb, Exo_24:7, or rather which was made
with them in the land of Moab, Deu_29:1. The words of it are the things contained in it,
the blessings and curses; the order to hear them is in the plural number, and is directed,
not to Jeremiah only, but to others with him, the rest of the prophets that were in his
days; as Zephaniah, who prophesied, as Kimchi observes, in the reign of Josiah; and
there was Baruch his companion; or the priests at Anathoth are here addressed with
him; though it is usual, in the Hebrew language, to put one number for another; and
Jeremiah, in the next verse, is singly addressed; and the Syriac version renders it in the
singular number; perhaps the book of the law might lie before him, and be pointed at;
and so he is bid to take it, or "receive" it, as the Targum is, and read and publish it to the
Jews, as follows:
and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: the
words of the covenant, and what follows.
HENRY, "The form of address, Jer_11:2 : hear ye (‫עוּ‬ ְ‫מ‬ ִ‫,)שׁ‬ and speak ye (‫ם‬ ֶ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫בּ‬ ִ‫,)דּ‬ is
noteworthy since we are not told who are to hear and speak; while at Jer_11:3, in ָ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫מ‬ ָ‫א‬ ְ‫ו‬
Jeremiah receives the commission to declare the words of the covenant to the people,
and to make known in the cities of Judah, etc. (Jer_11:6). The difficulty is not removed
by the plan adopted by Hitz. and Graf from the lxx, of changing ‫ם‬ ֶ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫בּ‬ ִ‫ד‬ ְ‫ו‬ into ‫ם‬ ָ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫בּ‬ ִ‫ד‬ ְ‫,ו‬
"and speak them;" for the ‫עוּ‬ ְ‫מ‬ ִ‫שׁ‬ remains to be dealt with. To whom then, is it addressed?
Schleussner proposed to change it into ‫ה‬ָ‫ע‬ ְ‫מ‬ ִ‫שׁ‬ - a purely arbitrary change. In Jer_11:4
"hearing" is used in the sense of giving ear to, obeying. And in no other sense can it be
17

18. taken in Jer_11:1. "The words of this covenant" are, as is clear from the succeeding
context, the words of the covenant recorded in the Pentateuch, known from the reading
of the Torah. The call to hear the words thereof can only have the meaning of: to give ear
to them, take them to heart. Hence Chr. B. Mich. and Schnur. have referred the words to
the Jews: Listen, ye Jews and ye citizens of Jerusalem, to the words of the covenant, and
make them know to one another, and exhort one another to observe them. But this
paraphrase is hardly consistent with the wording of the verse. Others fancied that the
priests and elders were addressed; but if so, these must necessarily have been named.
Clearly it is to the prophets in general that the words are spoken, as Kimchi observed;
and we must not take "hear ye" as if the covenant was unknown to the prophets, but as
intended to remind the prophets of them, that they might enforce them upon the people.
Taken thus, this introductory verse serves to exalt the importance of the truths
mentioned, to mark them out as truths which God had commanded all the prophets to
proclaim. If it be the prophets in general who are addressed in Jer_11:2, the transition to
"and say thou" is easily explained. Jeremiah, too, must himself do that which was the
bounden duty of all the prophets, must make the men of Judah and Jerusalem call to
mind the curse overhanging transgressors of the covenant. The words: Cursed is the
man, etc., are taken from Deu_27:26, from the directions for the engagement to keep the
covenant, which the people were to solemnise upon their entry into Canaan, and which,
acc. to Jos_8:30., they did solemnise. The quotation is made freely from memory.
Instead of "that heareth not the words of this covenant," we find in Deut. l.c.: "the
confirmeth not (‫ים‬ ִ‫ָק‬‫י‬) the words of this law to do them." The choice there of the word
‫ים‬ ִ‫ָק‬‫י‬ is suggested by its connection with the act of solemnisation enjoined. The recitation
and promulgation of the law upon Mount Gerizim and Ebal (Deut 27) had no other aim
than that of solemnly binding the people to keep or follow the law; and this is what
Jeremiah means by "hearing." The law to be established is the law of the covenant, i.e.,
the covenant made by Jahveh with Israel, and spoken of in Deu_28:68 and Deu_29:8 as
the "words of this covenant." This covenant, which Moses had made with the sons of
Israel in the land of Moab (Deu_28:68), was but a renewal of that solemnly concluded at
Sinai (Ex 24). And so Jeremiah speaks of this covenant as the one which Jahveh
commanded the fathers in the day, i.e., at the time, of their leaving Egypt. "In the day
that," etc., as in Jer_7:22. "Out of the iron furnace:" this metaphor for the affliction
endured by Israel in Egypt is taken from Deu_4:20. The words: hearken unto my voice
and do them (the words of the covenant), suggest Deu_27:1-2; and the words: so shall ye
be my people, suggest Deu_29:12, a passage which itself points back to ex. Jer_6:7 (Jer_
19:5.), Lev_27:12; Deu_7:6, etc. That I may establish, i.e., perform, the oath which I
have sworn unto your fathers, i.e., the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Deu_7:8,
etc.), promising to give them a land flowing, etc. The frequently repeated description of
the promised land; cf. Exo_3:8, Exo_3:17; Deu_6:3, etc. ‫ם‬ ‫יּ‬ַ‫כּ‬ , as in Deu_2:30; Deu_
4:20, etc., is not: at this time, now (Graf), but: as this day, meaning: as is even now the
case, sc. that ye still possess this precious land. The assenting reply of the prophet: ‫ן‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ָ‫א‬
‫,יהוה‬ yea, or so be it (γένοιτο, lxx), Lord, corresponds to the ‫ן‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ָ‫א‬ with which the people,
acc. to Deu_27:15., were to take on themselves the curses attached to the breaking of the
law, curses which they did take on themselves when the law was promulgated in Canaan.
As the whole congregation did on that occasion, so here the prophet, by his "yea,"
expresses his adherence to the covenant, and admits that the engagement is yet in full
force for the congregation of God; and at the same time indicates that he, on his part, is
ready to labour for the fulfilment of the covenant, so that the people may not become
18

19. liable to the curse of the law.
JAMISON, "this covenant — alluding to the book of the law (Deu_31:26) found in
the temple by Hilkiah the high priest, five years after Jeremiah’s call to the prophetic
office (2 Kings 22:8-23:25).
Hear ye — Others besides Jeremiah were to promulgate God’s will to the people; it
was the duty of the priests to read the law to them (Mal_2:7).
K&D, "The form of address, Jer_11:2 : hear ye (‫עוּ‬ ְ‫מ‬ ִ‫,)שׁ‬ and speak ye (‫ם‬ ֶ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫בּ‬ ִ‫,)דּ‬ is
noteworthy since we are not told who are to hear and speak; while at Jer_11:3, in ָ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫מ‬ ָ‫א‬ ְ‫ו‬
Jeremiah receives the commission to declare the words of the covenant to the people,
and to make known in the cities of Judah, etc. (Jer_11:6). The difficulty is not removed
by the plan adopted by Hitz. and Graf from the lxx, of changing ‫ם‬ ֶ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫בּ‬ ִ‫ד‬ ְ‫ו‬ into ‫ם‬ ָ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫בּ‬ ִ‫ד‬ ְ‫,ו‬
"and speak them;" for the ‫עוּ‬ ְ‫מ‬ ִ‫שׁ‬ remains to be dealt with. To whom then, is it addressed?
Schleussner proposed to change it into ‫ה‬ָ‫ע‬ ְ‫מ‬ ִ‫שׁ‬ - a purely arbitrary change. In Jer_11:4
"hearing" is used in the sense of giving ear to, obeying. And in no other sense can it be
taken in Jer_11:1. "The words of this covenant" are, as is clear from the succeeding
context, the words of the covenant recorded in the Pentateuch, known from the reading
of the Torah. The call to hear the words thereof can only have the meaning of: to give ear
to them, take them to heart. Hence Chr. B. Mich. and Schnur. have referred the words to
the Jews: Listen, ye Jews and ye citizens of Jerusalem, to the words of the covenant, and
make them know to one another, and exhort one another to observe them. But this
paraphrase is hardly consistent with the wording of the verse. Others fancied that the
priests and elders were addressed; but if so, these must necessarily have been named.
Clearly it is to the prophets in general that the words are spoken, as Kimchi observed;
and we must not take "hear ye" as if the covenant was unknown to the prophets, but as
intended to remind the prophets of them, that they might enforce them upon the people.
Taken thus, this introductory verse serves to exalt the importance of the truths
mentioned, to mark them out as truths which God had commanded all the prophets to
proclaim. If it be the prophets in general who are addressed in Jer_11:2, the transition to
"and say thou" is easily explained. Jeremiah, too, must himself do that which was the
bounden duty of all the prophets, must make the men of Judah and Jerusalem call to
mind the curse overhanging transgressors of the covenant. The words: Cursed is the
man, etc., are taken from Deu_27:26, from the directions for the engagement to keep the
covenant, which the people were to solemnise upon their entry into Canaan, and which,
acc. to Jos_8:30., they did solemnise. The quotation is made freely from memory.
Instead of "that heareth not the words of this covenant," we find in Deut. l.c.: "the
confirmeth not (‫ים‬ ִ‫ָק‬‫י‬) the words of this law to do them." The choice there of the word
‫ים‬ ִ‫ָק‬‫י‬ is suggested by its connection with the act of solemnisation enjoined. The recitation
and promulgation of the law upon Mount Gerizim and Ebal (Deut 27) had no other aim
than that of solemnly binding the people to keep or follow the law; and this is what
Jeremiah means by "hearing." The law to be established is the law of the covenant, i.e.,
the covenant made by Jahveh with Israel, and spoken of in Deu_28:68 and Deu_29:8 as
the "words of this covenant." This covenant, which Moses had made with the sons of
Israel in the land of Moab (Deu_28:68), was but a renewal of that solemnly concluded at
19

20. Sinai (Ex 24). And so Jeremiah speaks of this covenant as the one which Jahveh
commanded the fathers in the day, i.e., at the time, of their leaving Egypt. "In the day
that," etc., as in Jer_7:22. "Out of the iron furnace:" this metaphor for the affliction
endured by Israel in Egypt is taken from Deu_4:20. The words: hearken unto my voice
and do them (the words of the covenant), suggest Deu_27:1-2; and the words: so shall ye
be my people, suggest Deu_29:12, a passage which itself points back to ex. Jer_6:7 (Jer_
19:5.), Lev_27:12; Deu_7:6, etc. That I may establish, i.e., perform, the oath which I
have sworn unto your fathers, i.e., the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Deu_7:8,
etc.), promising to give them a land flowing, etc. The frequently repeated description of
the promised land; cf. Exo_3:8, Exo_3:17; Deu_6:3, etc. ‫ם‬ ‫יּ‬ַ‫כּ‬ , as in Deu_2:30; Deu_
4:20, etc., is not: at this time, now (Graf), but: as this day, meaning: as is even now the
case, sc. that ye still possess this precious land. The assenting reply of the prophet: ‫ן‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ָ‫א‬
‫,יהוה‬ yea, or so be it (γένοιτο, lxx), Lord, corresponds to the ‫ן‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ָ‫א‬ with which the people,
acc. to Deu_27:15., were to take on themselves the curses attached to the breaking of the
law, curses which they did take on themselves when the law was promulgated in Canaan.
As the whole congregation did on that occasion, so here the prophet, by his "yea,"
expresses his adherence to the covenant, and admits that the engagement is yet in full
force for the congregation of God; and at the same time indicates that he, on his part, is
ready to labour for the fulfilment of the covenant, so that the people may not become
liable to the curse of the law.
CALVIN, "Rightly then does Jeremiah begin by saying, that this word was given to
him. By using the plural number in the second verse, he no doubt shews that he had
a few assistants remaining, whom God addressed in connection with him, that they
might unite together in delivering his message. For though there were very few good
men, yet Jeremiah was not wholly deprived of colleagues, who assented to and
confirmed his doctrine. Baruch was one of them, and there were a few like him.
These, then, God addresses in the second verse, when he says, Hear ye the words of
this coveant, and say ye (30) to the men of Judah and to the citizens of Jerusalem
Jeremiah indeed knew, and also those who were with him, that they brought
forward nothing but what was in the law: but however conscious they were of their
own sincerity, and could testify before God and his angels that they drew nothing
from puddles but from a pure fountain, yet God intended to strengthen them
against the contumacy of the people; for they had this objection ready at hand, “Ye
indeed boast that whatever it pleases you to bring forward, is the word of God; but
this we deny.” Since then the prophets had to undergo such a contest, it seemed
good to God to strengthen their hands, that they might first be themselves assured,
and then become fit and bold witnesses of his truth to others, having good authority,
as it was derived from the law itself, and not from the devices of men.
And we see to whom God intended this to be proclaimed, even to the men of Judah
and to the citizens of Jerusalem The ten tribes, as it has elsewhere appeared, were
now driven into exile; and here was the flower, as it were, of the chosen people; and
having survived so many calamities, they thought that they had been preserved by
Divine power, because religion and God’s worship prevailed among them. Thus they
were inebriated with false notions and self — flatteries. Hence the Prophet, and
20

21. those who were with him, are expressly bidden to declare, what we shall hereafter
notice, to the citizens of Jerusalem and to the inhabitants of the land who remained,
and thought that they were the chosen of God and would continue safe, even if all
others were to perish.
The ‫ם‬ at the end of the verb may be rendered “them;” so Blayney regards it. We
may consider the end of this verse and the following as parenthetic;
otherwise the particle “this” seems singular. It will thus appear to be “this
covenant which I commanded your fathers.” Still the whole passage seems
not to run well. I am disposed to render ‫,הזאת‬ “even these,” and to put a part
in a parenthesis, thus, —
2.Hear ye the words of the covenant, even these, (and thou shalt speak them
to every man of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
3.and thou shalt say to them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel,)
4.“Cursed is the man who hearkens not to the words of the covenant, even
these, which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them up from
the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, “Hearken to my voice, and
do ye according to all that I shall command thee; and ye shall be to me a
people,
5.and I shall be to you a God; that I may confirm the oath which I have sworn to
your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.” —
And I answered and said, Amen, O Jehovah.
— Ed.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 11:2 Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the
men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
Ver. 2. Hear ye the words - and speak ye.] Ye priests, whose ordinary office it is to
teach Jacob God’s judgments, and Israel his law. [Deuteronomy 33:10]
3 Tell them that this is what the Lord, the God of
21

22. Israel, says: ‘Cursed is the one who does not
obey the terms of this covenant—
CLARKE, "Cursed be the man that obeyeth not - After the reading, the prophet
appears to sum up the things contained in what was read to them; as if he had said, “Ye
hear what the Lord saith unto you: remember, the sum of it is this: The man is cursed
who obeyeth not; and he is blessed who obeys. From these declarations God will not
depart.”
GILL, "And say thou unto them,.... This shows that the command of publishing the
law or covenant was, however, principally given to Jeremiah:
thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; that made them, and brought them out of
Egypt, and made a covenant with them, and had taken care of them, and had bestowed
many favours upon them:
cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant; which the
prophet, it may be, had in his hands, even the book of the law, and held it forth unto
them, while he was speaking; the language of which is, cursed is everyone that does not
constantly and perfectly perform what is contained in it, Deu_27:26.
PULPIT, "Jer_11:3
Here begins a series of direct references to Deuteronomy, determining the date of the
discourse. Cursed be the man, etc.; alluding to Deu_27:26. Nothing, perhaps, is so
injurious to a correct understanding of the Scriptures as persistently rendering a Hebrew
or Greek word by the same supposed equivalent. "Covenant" is no doubt appropriate in
some passages (e.g. Jos_9:6; 1Sa_18:3), because an "appointment" between men, if
equals, involves "giving and taking;" but is inadequate when the parties are not equals,
and most of all when the superior party is the Divine Being. In these cases we must
clearly recur to the original meaning of" appointment" or "ordinance;" and we have one
such case here (see also Hos_6:7; 2Ki_11:4; Job_31:1.; Psa_105:10; but not Gen_17:9).
Διαθήκη (1, an arrangement; 2, a will or testament; 3, a covenant) is to some extent
parallel (see Cremer’s ’Biblico-Theological Lexicon of New Testament Greek,’ s.v.).
JAMISON, "From the iron furnace - Rather, out of “the iron furnace,” Egypt (see
Deu_4:20). The constant reference to Deuteronomy shows how great had been the effect
22

23. upon Jeremiah’s mind of the public recitation of the “Book of the covenant” found in the
temple.
PULPIT, "Jer_11:3
Here begins a series of direct references to Deuteronomy, determining the date of the
discourse. Cursed be the man, etc.; alluding to Deu_27:26. Nothing, perhaps, is so
injurious to a correct understanding of the Scriptures as persistently rendering a Hebrew
or Greek word by the same supposed equivalent. "Covenant" is no doubt appropriate in
some passages (e.g. Jos_9:6; 1Sa_18:3), because an "appointment" between men, if
equals, involves "giving and taking;" but is inadequate when the parties are not equals,
and most of all when the superior party is the Divine Being. In these cases we must
clearly recur to the original meaning of" appointment" or "ordinance;" and we have one
such case here (see also Hos_6:7; 2Ki_11:4; Job_31:1.; Psa_105:10; but not Gen_17:9).
Διαθήκη (1, an arrangement; 2, a will or testament; 3, a covenant) is to some extent
parallel (see Cremer’s ’Biblico-Theological Lexicon of New Testament Greek,’ s.v.).
CALVIN, "The Prophet afterwards shews more clearly that the command was
especially given to him, for he uses the singular number, Thou shalt say to them Nor
is it inconsistent that at first he joined others with himself; for God might have
united the suffrages of the few who wished the restoration of pure religion among
the people, while yet Jeremiah, who was superior to the rest, sustained the chief
part. There is no doubt but that others were anxious by their consent to confirm his
doctrine: but there was no emulation among them; and though he excelled them, he
yet winingly admitted into a connection with himself all those whom he found to be
united with him in so good and holy a cause. God then, in the last verse, spoke of
them in common, for he wished all his servants to add their testimony to that of his
Prophet; but now he addresses the Prophet alone, for his authority was greater.
It follows,Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, cursed the man who does not
hearken to the words of this covenant As often as the word covenant is mentioned,
Jeremiah no doubt cuts off every pretext for all those evasions to which the Jews,
according to what we have said, had recourse: for they never winingly allowed that
they took away anytiling from the law, though they yet despised Jeremiah, who was
its true and faithful interpreter, who had blended with it nothing of his own, but
only applied what had been taught by Moses to the condition of the people at that
time. There is then to be understood an implied contrast between the word covenant
and the doctrine of Jeremiah; not that there was any difference or contrariety, or
that Jeremiah had anything apart from the law, but that he formed his discourse so
as to suit the condition of the people. And there is a kind of concession, as though he
had said, “I do not now demand to be heard by you, but hear only the law
itself: I have hitherto brought forward nothing but what God has
commanded; and I have taught nothing at variance with Moses; there has
been nothing additional in my doctrine: but as I cannot convince you of this,
23

24. I now give over speaking to you; Moses himself speaks, hear him. ”
By adding the pronoun demonstrative, “Hear ye the words of this covenant,”
it is the same as though he had openly shewed them as by his finger, so that
there was no room for any doubt. (31) He then upbraided them by pointing
out the covenant, as though he had said, “What avails you to feign and to
pretend that what we say is ambiguous, and to hold it as uncertain whether
we are or not the servants of God? whether we speak by his Spirit? whether
he himself has sent us? The thing is clear; this is the covenant.” We now
perceive the force of this pronoun.
But in referring to the curse, his purpose, no doubt, was to bend the stubbornness of
the people. Had the Jews been teachable and submissive, God would have used a
milder strain, and allured them by words of kindness and love: but as he had to do
with perverse minds, he was under the necessity of addressing them in this manner,
in order to strike them with terror, and to render them more attentive, and also to
make them to hear with more reverence, as they usually treated with contempt what
he had spoken before. We hence see why he began with mentioning a curse. God
followed in the law another order; for he first introduced the rule of life, and added
also promises to render the people wining to obey; and then he subjoined the curses.
But Jeremiah here begins by saying, Cursed are all those who hear not the words of
this covenant Why was this done? Even because he had already found out the
hardness and the obstinate wickedness of the people. He then does not propound a
simple doctrine, but before all things he sets before them the curse of God; as
though he had said, “It is very strange that you have not hitherto been moved,
since God’s curse has been so often denounced on you: as then ye are so
stupid, before I begin to speak of God’s commands, his curse shall be
mentioned to awaken your torpidity.”
But we learn from the Prophet’s words that he alluded to the form prescribed
in the law: for after Moses rehearsed all the precepts, he added, “Cursed is
every one who turns aside to foreign gods;” and he commanded the people
to respond, Amen; and, “Cursed is every one who curses father and mother, ”
and he bade them to respond, Amen; and after having narrated all the
precepts, he added, “Cursed is every one who fulfils not all the words of this
law,” and the people responded, Amen. (Deuteronomy 27:15) The same form
does Jeremiah now adopt when he says,
“Declare then to the people, that they are all accursed who obey not my precepts;”
24

25. and then the Prophet adds, I answered and said, Amen, O Jehovah But it
must be observed, that the Prophet here personates as before the whole
people; as though he had said, “I subscribe to God’s judgment, even though
ye should be all gainsayers, as ye really are. Though then ye think that ye
can escape from God’s hand, as though it were easy to elude the curse which
is pronounced in his law, yet I subscribe with my own name, and answer
before God, Amen, O Jehovah
But we must notice also the other words, Cursed, he says, is every one who hears not
the words of this covenant To hear, in this place, and in many other places, is to be
taken for obeying. He then speaks of the words or of the covenant itself; for the
expression may be taken in either sense, as God had made a covenant with the Jews
and at the same time expressed words. I am inclined to consider the covenant itself
as intended. God then says that he had made a covenant with them. There is yet a
fuller explanation, The words which I commanded your fathers, he says, in the day
when I brought them up from the land of Egypt, God shews here by a circumstance
as to the time how inexcusable the Jews were; for he says that he gave the law to
their fathers at the very time when they were extricated from death; as they were
drawn out of the grave, as it were, when God made them a passage through the Red
Sea. That redemption ought to have made such a deep impression as to convince
them wholly to devote themselves to God; yea,, the memory of such a benefit ought
to have been deeply fixed in their hearts.
We hence see how aggravated here is the sin of ingratitude; for the law was given to
the Israelites when they had before their eyes the many deaths to which they had
been exposed, and from which the Lord had miraculously delivered them. For the
same reason also he mentions their miserable state as an iron furnace, according to
what we find in the third chapter of Exodus and in many other places, he then
compares their Egyptian bondage to a furnace; for the Jews were then like wood
and straw in a burning furnace; and he calls the furnace iron, as it could melt and
reduce to nothing things harder than wood, evcn gold or silver or any other metal.
In short, the deplorable state of the people is here set forth; and the Prophet, by the
comparison, magnifies the favor shewn to them — that God, beyond all hope, had
delivered them from death. Since then the authority of the law was
sanctioned by so great a benefit, it became evident how much was the
impiety of the people, and how unbecoming and wicked their ingratitude; for
they did not winingly suffer God’s yoke to be laid on them.
He says that God commanded these things This expression, as I have said, is to be
applied to the words of the law, and not to the covenant. But the Prophet speaks
indiscriminately, now of the covenant, then of the things it embraces, that is, of all
25

26. the precepts it includes. In other words, he expresses how inexcusable was the sin of
the people; for God, in substance, required of them no other thing but to hear his
voice: and what can be more just than that they who have been redeemed should
obey the voice of their deliverer? and what could have been more detestable and
monstrous than for the Israelites to refuse what God had a right to demand? We
now then perceive the design of the Prophet in saying, that God commanded this
only to his redeemed people, even to hear his voice, and to do what he commanded.
(32)
He further adds a promise, which ought to have softened their stony hearts, Ye shall
be, he says, to me a people, and I will be to you a God God might have positively
required of the Jews what is implanted in all by nature; for they who have never
been taught acknowledge that God ought to be worshipped; and the right way of
worshipping him is when we obey his precepts. God then might have thus
commanded them according to his supreme aufilority. The commands of kings, as it
is said, are brief, for they are no soothing expressions, nor do they reason, nor
employ any persuasive language. How much greater is the authority of God, who
can intimate by a nod what he pleases and what he demands? But as though he
descended from his high station, he seeks by promises to attach people to himself, so
that they may winingly obey him. Thus God recommends his law by manifesting his
favor, and does not merely assert his own authority. Since then God thus kindly
addresses his people, and promises so great a reward to obedience, how base and
abominable is the contumacy of men when they repudiate his law. Hence the
Prophet shews here more clearly why he began by saying, Cursed is every one who
obeys not, etc.: for kindness had profited nothing; friendly and tender words, the
paternal invitation of God, produced no effect; as though he had said, “God could
not, doubtless, have treated you more gently and kindly than by reminding
you in a paternal manner of your duty, and by adding promises sufficient to
soften even the hardest hearts; but as this has been done without effect, what
now remains for God to do but to thunder and announce only his curses? ”
We now understand what the Prophet had in view. But it may be here objected, —
that all this was useless and without any benefit, for the Jews could not have
undertaken the yoke of the law, until it was inscribed on their hearts. To this
I answer, that of this very thing they were here at the same time reminded:
for though the teaching of the letter could do nothing but condemn the
people, and hence it is said by Paul to be what brings death, (2 Corinthians
3:6) yet the faithful knew that the Spirit of regeneration would not be
denied them, if they sought it of God. Then, in the first place, it was their
fault that the law was not inscribed on their hearts; and, in the second place,
a free promise of forgiveness was added; for why were those sacrifices and
26

27. expiations under the law, and so many ceremonies, which had respect to
their reconciliation to God, but in order that the people might feel assured
that God would be propitious and appeasable to them, though they could not
satisfy the law? This teaching then was not useless as to the faithful; for God,
when he required from the Israelites what they ought to have done, was at
the time ready to inscribe the law on their hearts, and also to forgive their
sins. But when through obstinate wickedness they rejected the whole law, the
Prophet justly declares here that the curse of God was on them; because they
basely rejected God’s promises, by which he testified his paternal kindness
towards them.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 11:3 And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of
Israel; Cursed [be] the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant,
Ver. 3. And say thou unto them.] Thou, Jeremiah, whether the rest will join with
thee or not.
Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant.] It is probable that
Jeremiah, when he said thus, held the book in his hand, viz., the book of
Deuteronomy, which the Rabbis call Sepher Tochechoth, because of the many
increpations and curses therein contained.
PETT, "Jeremiah 11:3-5
“And say you to them, Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel,”
“Cursed be the man,
Who does not hear the words of this covenant,
Which I commanded your fathers,
In the day that I brought them forth,
Out of the land of Egypt,
Out of the iron-smelting furnace,
Saying, Obey my voice, and do them,
According to all which I command you,
27

28. So will you be my people,
And I will be your God,”
That I may establish the oath,
Which I swore to your fathers,
To give them a land flowing with milk and honey,
As at this day.”
The word that was now to be emphasised to Judah and Jerusalem was the
curse that backed up and underlined the covenant, referred to in
Deuteronomy 27:16-26, and expanded on in Deuteronomy 28:15 ff. ‘Cursed
be the man --’ specifically reflects Deuteronomy 27:16. The basic idea is thus
to draw attention to Deuteronomy 27:16-26, especially Deuteronomy 27:26
which is the catch all verse following the detail, something which parallels
the idea here.
The words in question were a solemn curse against those who were disobedient to
the sacred words of the covenant, and were accepted by the people saying ‘Amen’
(see Deuteronomy 27:16-26 and note Jeremiah 11:5 b below). And the aim
of its mention here was to bring out the fact that this curse was now coming
into effect. Such curses were a regular feature of covenants, and indeed of
many aspects of life.
It is made clear that it was ‘commanded to your fathers’ at the time when they
were redeemed from Egypt, with the consequence being that ‘they would be
His people and He would be their God’. That had been God’s intention. But
it is now being made clear that they had forfeited it by their behaviour
(compare Hosea 1:9). This redemption out of Egypt, underlined at Sinai, lay
(in the best times and in the hearts of the true remnant at all times) at the
very heart of Israel/Judah’s psyche as the Psalms especially bring out. They
were to be seen as His people because He had demonstrated that He was
their God by redeeming them from Egypt. For the idea ‘So will you be my
people, and I will be your God,” see especially Leviticus 26:12, another
passage having the curses of the covenant in mind and linked with the
28

29. redemption from Egypt. Compare also for the idea Jeremiah 7:23; Jeremiah
30:22; Hosea 1:9 and see Deuteronomy 29:15; Leviticus 19:5-6. If this was
spoken around the time of the discovery of the Law Book in the Temple both
Deuteronomy 27-28 and Leviticus 26 would appear to have been included in
it.
The hardship of the conditions in Egypt is brought out by the words, ‘out of the
land of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace’ (i.e. a furnace hot enough to
smelt iron). Life had not been easy there. Reference to ‘out of the iron-
smelting furnace’, linked with ‘out of Egypt’ is found in Deuteronomy 4:20,
but the phrases are the other way round, and ‘land of’ is omitted. It is not
therefore to be seen as a direct citation.
The consequence of the covenant was that they should obey His voice and do all that
He had commanded them, and their being His people is seen as depending on that
fact. This would then result in His ‘establishing His oath’ (compare for the
phrase Genesis 26:3) which He had sworn to their fathers, to give them a
land flowing with milk and honey (two natural basic ingredients of life
promised regularly from Exodus 3:8 on, in Exodus to Deuteronomy). That He
had kept that promise is indicated by the words ‘as at this day’.
The phrase ‘the words of this covenant’ appears in Deuteronomy 29:9.
‘Brought them forth out of the land of Egypt’ appears in Exodus 29:46;
Deuteronomy 29:25. (‘broughtyouforth out of the land of Egypt’ occurs
regularly in Leviticus and Deuteronomy). Jeremiah was well founded in the
Scriptures.
PULPIT, "Jeremiah 11:3
Here begins a series of direct references to Deuteronomy, determining the date of
the discourse. Cursed be the man, etc.; alluding to Deuteronomy 27:26. Nothing,
perhaps, is so injurious to a correct understanding of the Scriptures as persistently
rendering a Hebrew or Greek word by the same supposed equivalent. "Covenant"
is no doubt appropriate in some passages (e.g. Joshua 9:6; 1 Samuel 18:3), because
an "appointment" between men, if equals, involves "giving and taking;" but is
inadequate when the parties are not equals, and most of all when the superior party
is the Divine Being. In these cases we must clearly recur to the original meaning of"
appointment" or "ordinance;" and we have one such case here (see also Hosea 6:7;
2 Kings 11:4; Job 31:1.; Psalms 105:10; but not Genesis 17:9). ‫היבט‬́‫ח‬‫ךח‬ (1, an
29

30. arrangement; 2, a will or testament; 3, a covenant) is to some extent parallel (see
Cremer's 'Biblico-Theological Lexicon of New Testament Greek,' s.v.).
4 the terms I commanded your ancestors when I
brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-
smelting furnace.’ I said, ‘Obey me and do
everything I command you, and you will be
my people, and I will be your God.
BARNES, "From the iron furnace - Rather, out of “the iron furnace,” Egypt (see
Deu_4:20). The constant reference to Deuteronomy shows how great had been the effect
upon Jeremiah’s mind of the public recitation of the “Book of the covenant” found in the
temple.
GILL, "Which I commanded your fathers,.... To observe and keep:
in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: that is, quickly
after, when they were in the wilderness, and before they came into the land of Canaan.
The "day" seems to include the whole time from their coming out of Egypt, to their
entrance into Canaan's land; it was in the first year of their coming out from thence that
the law was given them on Mount Sinai, Exo_19:1, and it was in the fortieth year, and
when they were upon the borders of Canaan, that the covenant was made with them in
the land of Moab, Deu_1:3, "from the iron furnace"; meaning Egypt, and their bondage
and affliction in it, compared to an iron furnace for the grievousness of it, its long
continuance, and the use of it to try and prove them; see Deu_4:20,
saying, obey my voice; in the law:
and do them; the commands of it, the words of the covenant:
according to all which I command you; everything was to be done that was
commanded, and as it was commanded; a perfect and uniform obedience is to be yielded
to the law, in order to enjoy the blessing, or a penalty is incurred:
30

31. so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God; this is the tenor of the covenant
of works; covenant interest in God, according to the law, depends upon obedience; that
is the condition of it; but the covenant of grace is not clogged with such a condition; but
runs absolutely,
they shall be my people, and I will be their God, Jer_32:39.
HENRY 4-7, "He opens the charter upon which their state was founded and by which
they held their privileges. They had forgotten the tenour of it, and lived as if they thought
that the grant was absolute and that they might do what they pleased and yet have what
God had promised, or as if they thought that the keeping up of the ceremonial
observances was all that God required of them. He therefore shows them, with all
possible plainness, that the thing God insisted upon was obedience, which was better
than sacrifice. He said, Obey my voice, Jer_11:4 and again Jer_11:7. “Own God for your
Master; give up yourselves to him as his subjects and servants; attend to all the
declarations of his mind and will, and make conscience of complying with them. Do my
commandments, not only in some things, but according to all which I command you;
make conscience of moral duties especially, and rest not in those that are merely ritual;
hear the words of the covenant, and do them.” 1. This was the original contract between
God and them, when he first formed them into a people. It was what he commanded
their fathers when he first brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, Jer_11:4 and
Jer_11:7. He never intended to take them under his guidance and protection upon any
other terms. This was what he required from them in gratitude for the great things he
did for them when he brought them from the iron furnace. He redeemed them out of the
service of the Egyptians, which was perfect slavery, that he might take them into his own
service, which is perfect freedom, Luk_1:74, Luk_1:75. 2. This was not only laid before
them then, but it was with the greatest importunity imaginable pressed upon them, Jer_
11:7. God not only commanded it, but earnestly protested it to their fathers, when he
brought them into covenant with himself. Moses inculcated it again and again, by
precept upon precept and line upon line. 3. This was made the condition of the relation
between and God, which was so much their honour and privilege: “So shall you be my
people and I will be your God; I will own you for mine, and you may call upon me as
yours;” this intimates that, if they refused to obey, they could no longer claim the benefit
of the relation. 4. It was upon these terms that the land of Canaan was given them for a
possession: Obey my voice, that I may perform the oath sworn to your fathers, to give
them a land flowing with milk and honey, Jer_11:5. God was ready to fulfil the promise,
but then they must fulfil the condition; if not, the promise is void, and it is just with God
to turn them out of possession. Being brought in upon their good behaviour, they had no
wrong done them if they were turned out upon their ill behaviour. Obedience was the
rent reserved by the lease, with a power to re-enter for non-payment. 5. This obedience
was not only made a condition of the blessing, but was required under the penalty of a
curse. This is mentioned first here (Jer_11:3), that they might, if possible, be awakened
by the terrors of the Lord: Cursed be the man, though it were but a single person, that
obeys not the words of this covenant, much more when it is the body of the nation that
rebels. There are curses of the covenant as well as blessings: and Moses set before them
not only life and good, but death and evil (Deu_30:15), so that they had fair warning
given them of the fatal consequences of disobedience. 6. Lest this covenant should be
forgotten, and, because out of mind, should be thought out of date, God had from time
to time called to them to remember it, and by his servants the prophets had made a
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32. continual claim of this rent, so that they could not plead, in excuse of their non-payment,
that it had never been demanded; from the day when he brought them out of Egypt to
this day (and that was nearly 1000 years) he had been, in one way or other, at sundry
times and in divers manners, protesting to them the necessity of obedience. God keeps
an account how long we have enjoyed the means of grace and how powerful those means
have been, how often we have been not only spoken to, but protested to, concerning our
duty. 7. This covenant was consented to (Jer_11:5): Then answered I, and said, So be it,
O Lord! These are the words of the prophet, expressing either, (1.) His own consent to
the covenant for himself, and his desire to have the benefit of it. God promised Canaan
to the obedient: “Lord,” says he, “I take thee at thy word, I will be obedient; let me have
my inheritance in the land of promise, of which Canaan is a type.” Or, (2.) His good will,
and good wish, that his people might have the benefit of it. “Amen; Lord, let them still be
kept in possession of this good land, and not turned out of it; make good the promise to
them.” Or, (3.) His people's consent to the covenant: “Then answered I, in the name of
the people, So be it.” Taking it in this sense, it refers to the declared consent which the
people gave to the covenant, not only to the precepts of it when they said, All that the
Lord shall say unto us we will do and will be obedient, but to the penalties when they
said Amen to all the curses upon Mount Ebal. The more solemnly we have engaged
ourselves to God the more reason we have to hope that the engagement will be
perpetual; and yet here it did not prove so.
JAMISON, "in the day — that is, when. The Sinaitic covenant was made some time
after the exodus, but the two events are so connected as to be viewed as one.
iron furnace — (Deu_4:20; 1Ki_8:51). “Furnace” expresses the searching ordeal;
“iron,” the long duration of it. The furnace was of earth, not of iron (Psa_12:6); a
furnace, in heat and duration enough to melt even iron. God’s deliverance of them from
such an ordeal aggravates their present guilt.
do them — namely, the words of the covenant (Jer_11:3).
so, etc. — (Lev_26:3, Lev_26:12).
PULPIT, "Jer_11:4
From the iron furnace; rather, out of the iron furnace. It is Egypt which is thus
described (comp. Deu_4:20; 1Ki_8:51). The oppression in Egypt was like the furnace in
which iron is rendered malleable by heat (so Isa_48:10, "I have tested thee in the
furnace of affliction").
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 11:4 Which I commanded your fathers in the day [that] I
brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my
voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people,
and I will be your God:
Ver. 4. From the iron furnace.] Where iron is melted, and a fierce fire required.
Obey my voice.] See Jeremiah 7:23.
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33. BI, "Obey My voice, and do them.
Obedience of primary import
Much is said about the demoralising effects of army life. Perhaps there is a tendency to
moral decline in the army, but one thing about army life is good. It is a good thing to
learn the lesson of implicit obedience to properly constituted authority. A Christian must
learn this lesson. No man can be a Christian who does not obey God. And why should
this be thought a difficult thing? Soldiers do not complain because they are required to
obey. The hard thing about a soldier’s life is to be required to obey an unreasonable and
incompetent leader. Many officers are superior to the men in the ranks only in official
position. In all other respects they are inferior. But the Christian is never subjected to
this sort of humiliation. He has but one Leader. The pastor is not the Master. Christians
are all comrades, all brethren, all equal before one Lord. One is yore Master. What He
says, we will do. Where He sends, we will go. (Christian Age.)
5 Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your
ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk
and honey’—the land you possess today.”
I answered, “Amen, Lord.”
BARNES, "As it is this day - God had kept the terms of the covenant. Whether the
promised land would permanently remain the property of the Jews would depend
upon their observance of their part of the covenant.
So be it, O Lord - Or, “Amen, Yahweh.” The prophet was literally obeying the
command given in Deu_27:14-26, and the same word should be kept in both places.
CLARKE, "So be it, O Lord - Let thy promises be fulfilled; and let the incorrigible
beware of thy threatenings!
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34. GILL, "That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your
fathers,.... Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob:
to give them a land flowing with milk and honey: that is, abounding with plenty
of all kind of provisions; see Exo_3:8,
as it is this day; the land of Canaan continued to those times a very fruitful country; it
was as it was promised it should be, and which was a clear thing; their eyes saw it, and
the day bore witness to it:
then answered I, and said; that is, the Prophet Jeremiah, to whom the above order
was given:
so be it, O Lord; or, "Amen, Lord" (f); either agreeing to publish what the Lord
commanded him; or as wishing that the land of Canaan might continue the same fruitful
land it was, and the people of the Jews in it, they keeping the words of this covenant; or
else as assenting that the curse might fall upon the men that did not observe them,
alluding to Deu_27:15. This is the sense of Abarbinel; Jarchi and Kimchi observe, that
the word "Lord" is vocative, and in the language of prayer.
HENRY, "This covenant was consented to (Jer_11:5): Then answered I, and said, So
be it, O Lord! These are the words of the prophet, expressing either, (1.) His own consent
to the covenant for himself, and his desire to have the benefit of it. God promised
Canaan to the obedient: “Lord,” says he, “I take thee at thy word, I will be obedient; let
me have my inheritance in the land of promise, of which Canaan is a type.” Or, (2.) His
good will, and good wish, that his people might have the benefit of it. “Amen; Lord, let
them still be kept in possession of this good land, and not turned out of it; make good
the promise to them.” Or, (3.) His people's consent to the covenant: “Then answered I,
in the name of the people, So be it.” Taking it in this sense, it refers to the declared
consent which the people gave to the covenant, not only to the precepts of it when they
said, All that the Lord shall say unto us we will do and will be obedient, but to the
penalties when they said Amen to all the curses upon Mount Ebal. The more solemnly
we have engaged ourselves to God the more reason we have to hope that the engagement
will be perpetual; and yet here it did not prove so.
JAMISON, "oath — (Psa_105:9, Psa_105:10).
a land flowing with milk and honey — (See on Num_14:8).
as it is this day — These are the concluding words of God to the Israelites when
formerly brought out of Egypt, “Obey ... that I may at this time make good the promise I
made to your fathers, to give,” etc. [Maurer]. English Version makes the words apply to
Jeremiah’s time, “As ye know at this time, that God’s promise has been fulfilled,”
namely, in Israel’s acquisition of Canaan.
So be it — Hebrew, Amen. Taken from Deu_27:15-26. Jeremiah hereby solemnly
concurs in the justice of the curses pronounced there (see Jer_11:3).
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