to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Say
תֹּאמַ֖רto.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
child
נַ֣עַרNa.'ar
H5288
(concretely) a boy (as active) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
go
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
send
אֶֽשְׁלָחֲךָ֙'esh.la.cha.Kha
H7971
to send away · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
command
אֲצַוְּךָ֖'a.tza.ve.Kha
H6680
(intensively) to constitute · verb, piel imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
speak
תְּדַבֵּֽרte.da.Ber
H1696
perhaps properly · verb, piel imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 3:27 But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; He that heareth, let him hear; and…
Mark 16:15-16 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Numbers 22:20 And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them; but yet the word which I shal…
Ezekiel 3:17-21 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
Numbers 22:38 And Balaam said unto Balak, Lo, I am come unto thee: have I now any power at all to say any thing? the word that God putteth in my mouth, th…
2 Chronicles 18:13 And Micaiah said, As the LORD liveth, even what my God saith, that will I speak.
Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Jeremiah 1:17-18 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound th…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 1:4-10
Here is, I. Jeremiah's early designation to the work and office of a prophet, which God gives him notice of as a reason for his early application to that business (Jer 1:4, Jer 1:5): The word of the Lord came to him, with a satisfying assurance to himself that it was the word of the Lord and not a delusion; and God told him, 1. That he had ordained him a prophet to the nations, or against the nations, the nation of the Jews in the first place, who are now reckoned among the nations because they had learned their works and mingled with them in their idolatries, for otherwise they would not have been numbered with them, Num 23:9. Yet he was given to be a prophet, not to the Jews only, but to t…
to all that--to all "to whom" [ROSENMULLER]. Rather, "to all against whom"; in a hostile sense (compare Jer 1:8, Jer 1:17-19) [MAURER]. Such was the perversity of the rulers and people of Judea at that time, that whoever would desire to be a faithful prophet needed to arm himself with an intrepid mind; Jeremiah was naturally timid and sensitive; yet the Spirit moulded him to the necessary degree of courage without taking away his peculiar individuality.
John Gill on Jeremiah 1:7
But the Lord said unto me, say not, I am a child,.... This excuse will not be admitted:
for thou shall go to all that I shall send thee; either to "every place", as the Targum paraphrases; or "to all persons to whom" he should be sent, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions render the words; or "to all things for which" he should send him, as the Syriac and Vulgate Latin versions. The sense is, that he should go everywhere, and to every person, and on every errand and message he should be sent unto and with:
and whatsoever I command thee, thou shall speak; out and openly, and keep back nothing through the fear of men; as follows:
John Calvin on Jeremiah 1:6-7
Jeremiah 1:6-7
6. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
6. Et dixi, Ahah, Domine Jehova, ecce non novi loqui, quia puer ego.
7. But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
7. Et dixit Jehova ad me, Ne dicas, Puer ego (id est, sum puer,) quia ad quaecunque to misero, ibis, et quaeunque tibi praecepero, loqueris.
After having spoken of his call, the Prophet adds, that he at first refused his office, and he states this for two reasons; first, that he might clear himself from every suspicion of rashness, for we know how much ambition prevails among men, accor…
The Church Fathers
You should not consider the matter of age, he said, for you have learned through another prophet's words that "a man's gray hair is his wisdom." May you only be willing to continue, for you will have me as a companion by whose assistance you will accomplish everything: "Open your mouth, and I will fill it." Neither should you consider the number of those against whom you are about to speak, but consider me only, who is with you to deliver you, says the Lord. The Lord delivers, however, not so that the prophet will be free of persecutions and difficulties, for we read that he was severely afflicted. Instead, the Lord liberates one who suffers everything to overcome these tribulations rather than yielding to them.
(Vers. 7, 8.) And the Lord said to me: Do not say, I am a boy, for you shall go to all whom I shall send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces: for I am with you to deliver you, saith the Lord. Do not consider your age, says he; for by another prophet speaking, you have learned: The wisdom of a man is in his gray hairs (Wis. 4:9): Let it be only your will that you continue; you will have me as a companion, by whose assistance you will accomplish all things: open your mouth and I will fill it (Psalm 81:10). And do not consider the multitude of those to whom and against whom you are about to speak, but me, who am with you, so that I may rescue you, says the Lord. But the Lord does not deliver in order that the Prophet may be free from persecutions and hardships, for we read of him enduring many things; but rather that he may endure everything with patience and not be overcome by distress.
But our present question may, perhaps, be solved in this way, that as every man is a man of God, simply because God created him, but not every man is called a man of God, but only he who has devoted himself to God, such as Elijah and those who are called men of God in the Scriptures, thus every man might be said in ordinary language to be sent from God, but in the absolute sense no one is to be spoken of in this way who has not entered this life for a divine ministry and in the service of the salvation of mankind. We do not find it said of any one but the saints that he is sent by God. It is said of Isaiah as we showed before; it is also said of Jeremiah, "To whomsoever I shall send thee thou shalt go"; and it is said of Ezekiel, "I send thee to nations that are rebellious and have not believed in Me." The examples, however, do not expressly speak of a mission from the region outside life into life, and as it is a mission into life that we are enquiring about, they may seem to have little bearing on our subject. But there is nothing absurd in our transferring the argument derived from them to our question. They tell us that it is only the saints, and we were speaking of them, whom God is said to send, and in this sense they may be applied to the case of those who are sent into this life.
Dictionary and topics
Children · . — .
Excuses · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Jeremiah · . — .
Missionary Work By Ministers · God strengthens for — God strengthens for
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
This excuse God holds of no account. As prophet to the nations, Jeremiah was not to make known his own thoughts or human wisdom, but the will and counsel of God which were to be revealed to him. This is signified by the clauses: for to all to whom I send thee, etc. The על belonging to תלך stands for אל, and does not indicate a hostile advance against any one. כל after על is not neuter, but refers to persons, or rather peoples; since to the relative אשׁר in this connection, עליהם is quite a natural completion; cf. Isa 8:12, and Ew. 331, c. Only to those men or peoples is he to go to whom God sends him; and to them he is to declare only what God commands him. And so he needs be in no anxiety o…
God urged Jeremiah to look beyond himself to the importance of the task he was called to fulfill. He had to meet God’s requirements for a royal messenger, which included willingness to travel and the faithful delivery of the Lord’s messages.
Rashi on Jeremiah 1:7
wherever I send you to the heathens.
and whatever I command you to Israel, you shall speak.
