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John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 8:8

Verse 8 Interpreters think that the Prophet here directs his words to the priests, and the false prophets, and the other chiefs of the people, because they proudly arrogated to themselves the knowledge of the law: but what is said may be no less extended to the whole people; for, as we shall presently see, all of them, from the least to the greatest, no doubt boasted that they were sufficiently wise. I hence think that the Prophet here inveighs against the whole body of the people; for all,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 8:9

Verse 9 He says now that the wise were ashamed, and astonished, and ensnared By which words he means, that the Jews gained nothing by their craftiness, while they arrogated to themselves wisdom, and under this pretense rejected all admonitions, and sought to be spared. “This wisdom, “he says, “avails you nothing, for God, as it is said in another place, will take you unawares.” (Isaiah 29:14; 1 Corinthians 1:19.) Ashamed, then, he says, are they; not that they were then ashamed; for be said... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 8:10

Verse 10 GOD here threatens punishment, because he found that he effected nothing, and that he had to do with an obstinate people, having before tried whether they were reclaimable. Having seen that exhortations were of no avail, he now comes to extreme severity, I will give, he says, their wives to strangers. He sets forth, by a particular instance, the evils which usually accompany wars: and nothing is more distressing than when the wife is snatched away from her husband; for if husbands had... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 8:11

Verse 11 THE Prophet repeats what we have noticed in the sixth chapter: but it was necessary to reiterate often, to the deaf and the slothful, what had already been forgotten, or what had not touched their hearts. As these things have been already explained, I shall now only refer briefly to the main points. He no doubt condemns here the priests and the prophets. He spoke before generally of the whole people, “from the least,” he said, “to the greatest.” But as for the sake of amplifying, he... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 8:12

Verse 12 The Prophet in these words shews still more clearly that they were wholly irreclaimable; for they had divested themselves of every shame. It is no doubt a proof of a wickedness past all remedy, when no shame remains. This verse has been also explained in the sixth chapter; it forms the fifteenth verse. But we must bear in mind the design of the Prophet. It is then briefly this, — to shew that the wickedness of the people was unhealable, and for this reason, because they had an iron... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 8:13

Verse 13 He confirms, as I have said, what he had declared in the last verse, tie had said, that there would be the ruin of the whole people: for the same purpose he now adds, Destroying I will destroy them The verb אסף, asaph, properly means “to collect, “but metaphorically, “to destroy;” as we say in our language, Trousser; Je les trousserai tous ensemble. And hence it more fully appears, that the Prophet explains what he had said, that destruction was nigh them all, so that none would... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:4

Moreover thou shalt say , etc.; literally, and thou shalt say . The section is introduced by a formula which connects it with Jeremiah 7:2 , Jeremiah 7:28 . Shall they fall , etc.? rather, Do men fall … doth a man turn away? One of those appeals to common sense in which the prophets delight. Who ever sees a fallen man stay quietly on the ground without attempting to rise? or a man who has wandered out of the path persist in going in the wrong direction? read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:4-6

Persistent depravity. I. PERSISTENT DEPRAVITY MUST BE DISTINGUISHED FROM A CASUAL LAPSE INTO SIN . 1. This is marked by a constant habit of sin, a falling without rising again. The best man is often guilty of mistakes, but he soon seeks to recover himself ( Psalms 37:24 ). His habit is upright, the direction he follows on the whole, though now and then he may lose ground for a short time, is right. But the man who is persistently depraved makes the wrong way... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:4-7

Apostasy an anomalous and incalculable thing. I. THE ANALOGIES Or COMMON SENSE AND INSTINCT ARE FALSIFIED . ( Jeremiah 8:4-6 .) If a man fall, he will rise again to his feet; if he has made a mistake or gone in a wrong direction, and discovers it, he will turn again, unless he be absolutely bereft of his senses. One might expect similar behavior in spiritual matters. But in the wickedness and defection of Israel it was not so; their apostasy seemed perpetual. The... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 8:4-7

The unnatural conduct of Jerusalem. Still more humiliation for the proud, self-satisfied city. The prophet comes with a heavenly light, revealing the very foundations of her glory, and showing how unsubstantial they are, how easily exposed as contradicting truth and the highest propriety. What is aimed at here is to set before man, by the force of contrast, what he ought to be, in the sum of all his faculties made one by a will which acts according to the commandment of God. And so we see—... read more

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