Jeremiah 12:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 12:13
They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
to sow · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
wheat
חִטִּים֙chi.Tim
H2406
wheat · noun, common masculine plural absolute
reap
קָצָ֔רוּka.Tza.ru
H7114
to dock off · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
thorns
וְקֹצִ֣יםve.ko.Tzim
H6975
a thorn · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural absolute
pain
נֶחְל֖וּnech.Lu
H2470
properly · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person common plural
profit
יוֹעִ֑לוּyo.'I.lu
H3276
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
ashamed
וּבֹ֙שׁוּ֙u.Vo.shu
H954
properly · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
revenues
מִתְּבוּאֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔םmi.te.vu.'O.tei.Khem
H8393
income · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
fierce
מֵחֲר֖וֹןme.cha.Ron
H2740
a burning of anger · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
anger
אַף'af-
H639
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָֽהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
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
Deuteronomy 28:38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.
Micah 6:15 Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not…
Haggai 1:6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there…
Leviticus 26:16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause…
Isaiah 55:2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat…
Jeremiah 4:26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his…
Jeremiah 25:37-38 And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
Habakkuk 2:13 Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 12:7-13
The people of the Jews are here marked for ruin.
I. God is here brought in falling out with them and leaving them desolate; and they could never have been undone if they had not provoked God to desert them. It is a terrible word that God here says (Jer 12:7): I have forsaken my house - the temple, which had been his palace; they had polluted it, and so forced him out of it: I have left my heritage, and will look after it no more. His people that he has taken such delight in, and care of, are now thrown out of his protection. They had been the dearly beloved of his soul, precious in his sight and honorable above any people, which is mentioned to aggravate their sin in returning him hatred for…
Description in detail of the devastation of the land (Mic 6:15).
they shall be ashamed of your--The change of persons, in passing from indirect to direct address, is frequent in the prophets. Equivalent to, "Ye shall be put to the shame of disappointment at the smallness of your produce."
John Gill on Jeremiah 12:13
They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns,.... Which may be understood literally, the land of Judea being cursed for their sins, and become barren and unfruitful, as the earth originally was for the sin of the first man, Genesis 3:19, or rather figuratively, which some interpret of the prophets as Kimchi, sowing the good seed of the word among the Jews; but it did not take place in them, and bring forth fruit; instead thereof thorns sprung up, or evil works were done by them, comparable thereunto; but it seems better to understand it of the people; not, as Jarchi, of their prayers, which were not accepted, because unattended with repentance and good works; but of their schemes, which they…
Jeremiah 12:13
13. They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
13. Seminarunt triticum et spinas messuerunt; haereditatem adepti sunt (vel, fatigati sunt) nec profecerunt; et confusi sunt a proventibus vestris, a furore (vel, excandescentia, potius) irae Jehovae.
Most interpreters understand this of the prophets, that they had been disappointed, after having faithfully cultivated the field of God and sown good seed, that thorns only had sprung up, and briars only had grown: but this is a strained exposition. The Prophet, I doubt not, sets forth the c…
The Church Fathers
I beg you, therefore, and admonish you again and again: do not look to your military experience for a standard of clerical obligation. Under Christ's banner, do not seek worldly gain, lest having more than when you first became a clergyman, you hear people say, to your shame, "Their portion shall not profit them." Welcome poor people and strangers to your homely table, that with them Christ may be your guest.
Dearly beloved, it is fitting that we should not abuse our rank as clergy, so as to make it an occasion of pride, but diligently keep and observe God's commandments, to be in reality what in name we profess to be. For if the Holy Scriptures say, "Their lots shall not profit them," what pride in our clerical position will be able to help us who sin not only in thought and feeling but also in speech?
(Verse 13) They sowed wheat and harvested thorns: they received an inheritance, but it will not benefit them. LXX: You have sown wheat and harvested thorns: their clergy will not benefit them. They expected better things, but the worst came: they hoped for success, but endured adversity: they received an abundance of all things from the Lord, which will not benefit them. According to the Septuagint, all heretics sow wheat and harvest thorns, while the Lord waits for them to bear fruit, but they do not bring forth judgment, only outcry. But it is said also of Ecclesiastics who scatter the words of the Lord and his doctrine by evil conduct. Concerning them it is inferred: Their clergy shall not profit them. For what can bishops' name and presbyters, or the rest of the Ecclesiastical order, do to help them, when they are burdened more by their own dignities and suffer powerful torments severely, and when more has been entrusted to them, more is required of them (Wisdom 6).
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
Thorn — (1.) Heb. hedek (Prov. 15:19), rendered “brier” in Micah 7:4. Some thorny plant, of the Solanum family, suitable for hedges. This is probably the so-called “apple of Sodom,” which grows very…
Agriculture · Fruits blasted be — Fruits blasted be
Agriculture Or Husbandry · Produce of, often blasted because of sin — Produce of, often blasted because of sin
Deserts · Illustrative of: Desolation by armies — Illustrative of: Desolation by armies
Herbs, & C · Mentioned in scripture: Wheat — Mentioned in scripture: Wheat
Reaping · Often unprofitable on account of sin — Often unprofitable on account of sin
Seed · The Jews punished by: Its being choked by thorns — The Jews punished by: Its being choked by thorns
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).
The execution of the judgment on Judah and its enemies. - As to this passage, which falls into two strophes, Jer 12:7-13 and Jer 12:14-17, Hitz., Graf, and others pronounce that it stands in no kind of connection with what immediately precedes. The connection of the two strophes with one another is, however, allowed by these commentators; while Eichh. and Dahler hold Jer 12:14-17 to be a distinct oracle, belonging to the time of Zedekiah, or to the seventh or eighth year of Jehoiakim. These views are bound up with an incorrect conception of the contents of the passage-to which in the first place we must accordingly direct our attention.
Jer 12:7
"I have forsaken mine house, cast out mine her…
The Lord found no joy in seeing his people’s crops eaten by invaders, who left only thorns. However, the apostasy of the people of Judah merited the fierce anger of the Lord (cp. Ezek 16:36-39), resulting in shame.
Rashi on Jeremiah 12:13
They sowed wheat, but they reaped thorns They prayed, but their prayer was not accepted. Why? Because they did not plow for themselves a furrow of repentance and good deeds. Therefore, they sowed seeds resulting in thorns. A book in which זרעו is vowelized with a ‘chirik’ under the ‘zayin,’ is erroneous.
they have become ill Heb. נחלו, an expression of illness. They have become ill with their pain and their cry before Me, but they did not avail.
of your increase Of your deeds.
