Jeremiah 11:19 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 11:19
But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
a ram (just old enough to butt) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
ox
אַלּ֖וּף'a.Luf
H441
familiar · adjective, masculine singular absolute
brought
יוּבַ֣לyu.Val
H2986
properly · verb, hophal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
slaughter
לִטְב֑וֹחַlit.Vo.ach
H2873
to slaughter (animals or men) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
knew
יָדַ֜עְתִּיya.Da'.ti
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
devised
חָשְׁב֣וּcha.she.Vu
H2803
properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
devices
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
Isaiah 53:7-8 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her she…
Jeremiah 20:10 For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, sayi…
Psalms 83:4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
Jeremiah 18:18 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, n…
Job 28:13 Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
Psalms 31:13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life…
Psalms 27:13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 11:18–end
The prophet Jeremiah has much in his writings concerning himself, much more than Isaiah had, the times he lived in being very troublesome. Here we have (as it should seem) the beginning of his sorrows, which arose from the people of his own city, Anathoth, a priest's city, and yet a malignant one. Observe here,
I. Their plot against him, Jer 11:19. They devised devices against him, laid their heads together to contrive how they might be in the most plausible and effectual manner the death of him. Malice is ingenious in its devices, as well as industrious in its prosecutions. They said concerning Jeremiah, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof - a proverbial expression, meaning, "Let…
lamb--literally, a "pet lamb," such as the Jews often had in their houses, for their children to play with; and the Arabs still have (Sa2 12:3). His own familiar friends had plotted against the prophet. The language is exactly the same as that applied to Messiah (Isa 53:7). Each prophet and patriarch exemplified in his own person some one feature or more in the manifold attributes and sufferings of the Messiah to come; just as the saints have done since His coming (Gal 2:20; Phi 3:10; Col 1:24). This adapted both the more experimentally to testify of Christ.
devices-- (Jer 18:18).
tree with . . . fruit--literally, "in its fruit" or "food," that is, when it is in fruit. Proverbial, to exp…
But I was like a lamb, or an ox,.... The word "alluph", rendered an ox, is by many considered as an adjective to the word lamb (n); since the disjunctive particle or is not in the next; and is differently translated; by the Vulgate Latin version, "as a meek or tame lamb"; by the Septuagint and Arabic versions, "as an harmless lamb": and by the Syriac version, "as a pure" or "clean lamb"; and by the Targum,
"as a choice lamb;''
and so R. Menachem in Jarchi, a large or principal one; but the words respect not the excellency, the meekness, patience, innocence, and harmlessness of the prophet; but his security and insensibility of danger, like one or both of these creatures:
that is brought t…
The Church Fathers
If we examine the declaration about Jesus who is pointed out by John in the words, "This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," from the standpoint of the dispensation itself of the bodily sojourn of the Son of God in the life of people, we will assume that the lamb is none other than his humanity. For he was "led as a sheep to the slaughter and was dumb as a lamb before its shearer," saying, "I was as an innocent lamb being led to be sacrificed."
(Verse 19) I, like a gentle lamb being led to the sacrifice, did not know that they were plotting against me. Let us cast wood into his bread, and let us wipe him from the land of the living, so that his name may be remembered no more. He himself, like a lamb led to the slaughter, has not opened his mouth and has not known, sin being implied; according to what is said by the apostle: He who knew no sin, was made sin for us: and they have said: Let us place wood in his bread, namely the cross in the body of the Savior. For it is he who says: I am the bread that came down from heaven; and we will uproot or crush him from the land of the living (John 6:51). For they have conceived this wickedness in their hearts, that they may erase his name forever.
And hearken unto the prophet who also proclaimed our Lord with his simple teaching, and who likened Him unto a lamb and a sheep, the most innocent of all animals: "Like a lamb was He led to the slaughter, and like a sheep before the shearer He was silent." The lion and the wolf and bear are crafty, together with the other wild beasts, because craftiness was mingled with their evil nature when they were made; but sheep and lambs and ewes are simple and innocent in their ways and movements, and to them was our Lord likened, and by their name are believers called. Our Lord did not liken Himself unto a lion, which bringeth suffering and death, and He did not call His flocks by the names of wild animals, which by the nature in which they were created are cunning in respect of evil things, but He was called "lamb" and "sheep", and being meek like unto them He was led to suffering and to death, for "like a sheep before his shearer He was silent", and thus He in His humility opened not His mouth.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Conspiracy · .Against Jesus — .Against Jesus
Ox, The · Illustrative: (Led to slaughter,) of saints under persecution — Illustrative: (Led to slaughter,) of saints under persecution
Persecution · OF THE RIGHTEOUS — OF THE RIGHTEOUS
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).
מַחֲשָׁב֗וֹתma.cha.sha.Vot
H4284
a contrivance · noun, common feminine plural absolute
destroy
נַשְׁחִ֨יתָהnash.Chi.tah
H7843
to decay · verb, hiphil infinitive construct, 1st person common plural
tree
עֵ֤ץ'etz
H6086
a tree (from its firmness) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
fruit
בְּלַחְמוֹ֙be.lach.Mo
H3899
food (for man or beast) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
off
וְנִכְרְתֶ֙נּוּ֙ve.nikh.re.Te.nu
H3772
to cut (off · conjunction + verb, qal, 1st person common plural + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
land
מֵאֶ֣רֶץme.'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
living
חַיִּ֔יםchai.Yim
H2416
alive · adjective, masculine plural absolute
name
וּשְׁמ֖וֹu.she.Mo
H8034
an appellation · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
remembered
יִזָּכֵ֥רyi.za.Kher
H2142
properly · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Jeremiah 11:19
19. But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
19. Ego autem quasi agnus, bos ductus ad immolandum (ad mactandum) et non cognovi quod contra me cogitarent cogitationes (hoc est, inirent consilia, nempe) corrumpamus ligno panera ejus (ad verbum est, corrumpamus lignum in pane; sed dicemus post de sensu verborum) et excidamus eum e terra vivorum, et nomen ejus non memoretur amplius.
The Prophet adds here, as I think, that he did not retaliate private w…
Evidence that Judah is Unreclaimable, and that the Sore Judgments Threatened cannot be Averted. - As a practical proof of the people's determination not to reform, we have in Jer 11:18-23 an account of the designs of the inhabitants of Anathoth against the prophet's life, inasmuch as it was their ill-will towards his prophecies that led them to this crime. They are determined not to hear the word of God, chiding and punishing them for their sins, and so to put the preacher of this word out of the way. - Jer 11:18. "And Jahveh gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it; then showedst Thou me their doings. Jer 11:19. And I was as a tame lamb that is led to the slaughter, and knew not that they plo…
The Lord warned Jeremiah of the plots against him. Jeremiah prayed, and the Lord promised to rescue him.
11:18-19 The Lord had warned Jeremiah at the time of his commissioning (1:19) that opposition would threaten his life. Jeremiah saw himself as a lamb being led to the slaughter, with no power to resist. This opposition occurred before Jeremiah’s trial in the Temple courtyard, early in the reign of Jehoiakim (between 608 and 605 BC; see ch 26). Some scholars believe that this verse prefigures the death of Christ, as does the suffering servant of Isa 53:7.
Rashi on Jeremiah 11:19
And I was like a lamb [and] a bull that will be brought to the slaughter.
brought Since I let them know of the evil, they plan to kill me.
like a lamb [and] a bull Heb. ככבש אלוף. Dunash and Judah son of Kudish (Karish) interpreted it as a lamb and a bull, brought to the slaughter. And אלוף is like (Deut. 28:4) “the offspring of your cattle (אלפיך).” Although it was not stated ואלוף, we find similar cases, e.g., (Habukkuk 3:11) “The sun [and] the moon (ירח) stood on high”; (Isaiah 38:14) “Like a crane [and] a swallow (עגור) so I chirp.” And Menahem interpreted ככבש אלוף, a large lamb (see Psalms 58:9, Rashi ad loc.), and Jonathan supports him, since he renders like a choice lamb.
Let us d…