Jeremiah 29:17

17 The Lord All-Powerful says: "I will soon send war, hunger, and terrible diseases against those still in Jerusalem. I will make them like bad figs that are too rotten to eat.

Jeremiah 29:17 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 29:17

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold, I will send upon them
the sword
The sword of the Chaldeans, by which many of them should fall, as they did. The Targum is,

``I will send upon them those that kill with the sword:''

who, though they were prompted to come against the Jews, through a natural and ambitious desire of conquering and plundering, yet were sent of God; nor would they have come, had he not willed and suffered it: the famine and the pestilence;
to destroy others that escaped the sword; both these raged while Jerusalem was besieged by the Chaldeans: and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so
evil;
to which they are compared, ( Jeremiah 24:8 ) . The sense is, that as they had made themselves wicked and corrupt, like naughty and rotten figs, so the Lord would deal with them as men do with such, cast them away, as good for nothing. The word ^F26 for "vile" signifies something horrible; and designs such figs so bad, that they even strike the eater of them with horror.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 (Myrevh Mynatk) "tanquam ficus horrendas", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Stockius, p. 1129.

Jeremiah 29:17 In-Context

15 You might say, "The Lord has given us prophets here in Babylon."

16 But the Lord says this about the king who is sitting on David's throne now and all the other people still in Jerusalem, your relatives who did not go as captives to Babylon with you.

17 The Lord All-Powerful says: "I will soon send war, hunger, and terrible diseases against those still in Jerusalem. I will make them like bad figs that are too rotten to eat.

18 I will chase them with war, hunger, and terrible diseases. I will make them hated by all the kingdoms of the earth. People will curse them and be shocked and will use them as a shameful example wherever I make them go.

19 This is because they have not listened to my message," says the Lord. "I sent my message to them again and again through my servants, the prophets, but they did not listen," says the Lord.