Jeremiah 1:16 - Exposition

I will utter my judgments ; or, I will hold a court of justice upon them ; literally, I will speak judgments with them . The expression is peculiar to Jeremiah (comp. Jeremiah 4:12 ; Jeremiah 12:1 ; Jeremiah 39:6 ; Jeremiah 52:9 ), and includes both the examination of the accused, and the judicial sentence (see Jeremiah 39:5 ; Jeremiah 52:9 ). All their wickedness , etc. Their "wickedness," i . e . their infidelity to Jehovah, showed itself in burning incense to "other gods," and bowing down to their images. "Burned incense" is, however, too narrow a sense. The root-meaning of the verb is to be fragrant, and the causative conjugations will strictly mean only "to make a sweet odor," whether by the offering of incense or by burnt offerings (comp. Jeremiah 11:12 ; 2 Kings 23:8 , where a causative conjugation is used in the same wide sense here postulated; also Psalms 66:15 and Isaiah 1:13 , where the word usually rendered "incense" seems rather to mean "a sweet smoke"). The prophet says, "of other gods" (not "of false gods"), out of consideration for the ignorance of his hearers, to whom Baal and Moloch really were as gods; in fact, that expressive word (cf.) which Isaiah uses ten times to express the unreality of the other so-called gods, occurs only once, and then not in quite the same sense (see Jeremiah 14:14 ) in Jeremiah. But the prophet's own strict monotheism is proved by such passages as Jeremiah 2:27 ; Jeremiah 8:19 ; Jeremiah 16:20 .