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but shall leave it, in the midst of his days, and, in the end, shall find that he hath been a fool.

XVII. 12 A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.

God hath highly honoured Judea above all the nations of the world, in that he hath erected in her the place of his Sanctuary; which is that high and glorious throne, wherein God, from the beginning, ordained and decreed to seat himself.

XVII. 13 And they that depart from me shall be written in the earth.

They, that take part against me, however they boast themselves to be the holy and noble offspring of faithful Abraham, and God's peculiar people, yet their memory shall be either base or forgotten; their names shall be written in the dust of the earth.

XVII. 15 Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD! let it come now.

Behold, this obstinate and incredulous people is ready to say, Where is this word of the Lord, which we hear so much talk of? We have been told of grievous things; of plagues, and famines, and the sword; but where are they? Why do they not come, as it is foretold us?

XVII. 16 As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee.

As for me, O Lord, it is thou, that hast called me; and I have not dared to be averse from following thee, in that charge, which thou hast laid upon me; neither have I been ambitious and desirous of this sad and busy task, as thou well knowest, and that, which I have spoken, is thy true message, and no other.

XVII. 21 Thus saith the LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.

As ye Jews have shamefully broken all my other commandments, so also this of my sabbath; but now, recollect yourselves, and reform this abuse: see that you do no servile work on that day; bear no burden on that day of the Lord, in or out at the gates of Jerusalem. So verse 22.

XVII. 23 But made their neck stiff.

But wilfully hardened their hearts, and resolved to persist in their obstinacy.

XVII. 25 Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, &c.

Then shall your kings and princes be established in this throne of David, and shall rule over you, and maintain that royal magnificence, which is meet for them, amongst you, &c.

XVIII. 12 There is no hope: &c. See chap. ii. verse 25. XVIII. 13 Ask ye now among the heathen, &c. See chap. ii. verse 10 and 11.

XVIII. 14 Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh

from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?

Will any man be so foolish, as, when he may make use of the pure snow of mount Lebanon, which he may take up from the clean rock of his own field, to seek afar off for some dirty puddle? or, when he may have the cool flowing waters from his own cry. stal spring, to go lade out of the muddy channel?

XVIII. 17 I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

I will not so much as look at them, in their distress; but turn my back upon them, as they have done upon me.

XVIII. 18 Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet, &c.

Let us lay a plot for Jeremiah: he is a false prophet, doubtless; for, whatsoever he saith, it cannot be, that God should utterly take his law from the priest, or his counsel from the wise, or his word from the prophets; but so he hath done, so he shall do, if this man may be heard. Come; let us raise slanders and accusations against him, &c.

XIX. 4 And have filled this place with the blood of innocents. Have filled this valley, with the blood of those children, which they have offered unto Moloch.

XIX. 6 Therefore, behold, the day is come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.

In this place, wherein you have pleased your idols with innocent blood, shall your blood be abundantly shed; so as, this valley shall change the name, and, instead of Tophet, be called A valley of slaughter.

XIX. 7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusa lem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies.

I will utterly cross the hopes and conceits of Judah and Jerusalem, concerning this very place; for, whereas they thought to have endeared themselves to me the more, by so zealous oblations of their own children, they shall find how much I hate this their cruel idol. atry by that destruction, which I will bring upon them, by the sword of the enemy.

XIX. 12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make their city as Tophet. I will make this whole city of Jerusalem, like unto Tophet, a place of slaughter and burial for the inhabitants.

XX. 1 Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.

Now Pashur, the son of Immer the priest, who was next in place to the high priest, as being his vicar or assistant in the government

of the temple, heard that Jeremiah, one of his own order, prophesied these things.

XX. 3 The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magor-missabib.

The Lord hath not called thee Pashur, which signifies an enlarging of thy rule, or diffusing of terror and paleness unto others; but he hath now called thee, Magor-missabib, that is, Fear on every side; which shall hereafter possess thee and thine.

XX. 7 O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.

O Lord, this people are still crying out that I am deceived in this my prophecy; but if I be deceived, O ye fond countrymen, know that I am deceived by him, that can neither deceive nor be deceived; even by thee, O Lord, the God of Truth: it is thou, that hast put me upon this task: I could not, I durst not withdraw my obedience from thee; and now, I am, for doing my duty, made a scorn and derision to the world.

XX. 8 For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.

For, since I spake from thee, I am so rated, and reviled, and persecuted on all sides, that I cannot but complain and cry out of their intolerable violences and cruelties; for I do daily suffer reproach and scornful insultations on all hands, for delivering thy

message.

XX. 9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones.

Then was I ready, in my weakness, to give in, and to resolve not to speak any more these unpleasing things, in his name; but I had not the power to hold in that word, which I had received: it was as a burning fire within my bosom, yea in my very bones.

XX. 10 For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it.

For I heard the defaming of many, and especially of him whom I have justly named, Fear on every side; which said, Raise scandals and accusations against him, and we will second them.

XX. 13, 14, 15 Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hands of the evil man. Cursed be the day, &c.

I have cause to sing praises unto the Lord, who hath delivered me from the very mouth of the pit; out of that miserable condition, wherein I was overtaken with so weak and sinful an impatience, as to curse the day wherein I was born, &c.

XXI. 4 Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, &c, I will utterly disable all your forces, and your weapons that are in your hands, from hurting or opposing your enemies or helping yourselves.

XXI. 12 O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor,

O thou king of Judah, the heir of David's throne, do thou stir up thyself zealously and faithfully to do justice in thy place: deliver and right the oppressed.

XXI. 13 Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?

Behold, I am against thee, O Jerusalem, who hast vainly trusted hitherto in thy strength and situation: it is not that defenced valley, wherein a great part of thee, towards mount Libanus, is seated, nor the forts of thy plain, that can keep out my power, or the power of that enemy, the Chaldean, which I shall stir up against thee.

XXI. 14 I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.

I will kindle a fire in the forest of Libanus; and, by the goodly cedars thereof, will set Jerusalem on a flame, which shall devour it to ashes.

XXII. 4 For if ye do these things, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings &c. See chap. xvii. 25.

XXII. 6 For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited. Thus saith the Lord unto the king's house, which is his ancient court, upon the hill of Zion; As mount Gilead is the prime hill of all those mountains which go under the name of Lebanon, so art thou the most eminent and remarkable place in all Judea; yet surely thou shalt, through my just judgments, become a very wilderness.

XXII. 7 And they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

They shall cut down those choice cedar-beams, wherewith thou art built, and cast them into the fire.

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

Never take up lamentations for them that are slain in the siege, for they are past their pain; but weep for those miserable men, that are led into captivity, for they shall endure a lingering death, and never return back to their home.

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

Woe be to thee, Jehoiakim, which buildest a goodly royal palace, out of the extreme oppressions of my people; putting them to servile works, for that purpose, without all recompence of wages for their labour;

XXII. 14 That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, &c.

Which sayest, I will not take up with the old and mean buildings of my ancestors: I will set up a sumptuous pile, fit for a king to dwell in, &c.

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

Dost thou think to reign ever the more happily and securely, for that thou hast closed up thyself in cedar? Thy father, good king Josiah, lived in much content and happiness, by doing justice and right unto his subjects, and prospered in so doing.

XXII. 18 They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord; or, Ah his glory!

They shall make no public lamentation for him, at his funeral, as they are wont to do for their former princes.

XXII. 19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass.

But his carcase shall be shamefully left unburied; exposed to the fowls of the air, or to ravenous beasts; even as the carcase of an ass, which is left to rot in a ditch.

XXII. 20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed. Go up then, O miserable Judah, go up to the highest mountains, that look towards Assyria or Egypt, and call for the aid of those thine associates, in whom thou hast trusted: thou shalt find small comfort in them: they shall be destroyed together with thee.

XXII. 22 The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity.

All thy great friends and patrons shall vanish into wind, and thy confederates shall go into captivity.

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

O ye citizens of Jerusalem, which dwell in goodly houses made of the cedars of Lebanon, in how woeful a plight shall ye be, when your calamity shall come upon you! Where will then be your pride and delicacy, wherewith ye now please yourselves?

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

As I live saith the Lord, if Jechoniah, the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were as near and as precious to me, as the signet upon the right hand useth to be to him that wears it, yet I would pluck him thence, and cast him away into captivity.

XXII. 28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out? &c. Is this man, Jechoniah, then so vile and base a thing, as thou makest him? Is he a likely man to be cast out, together with his family and seed, into a foreign captivity?

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

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