Jeremiah 13:17 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 13:17
But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock is carried away captive.
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
soul
נַפְשִׁ֖יnaf.Shi
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
weep
תִּבְכֶּֽהtiv.keh-
H1058
to weep · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
places
בְּמִסְתָּרִ֥יםbe.mis.ta.Rim
H4565
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
for
מִפְּנֵ֣יmi.pe.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
pride
גֵוָ֑הge.Vah
H1466
exaltation · noun, common feminine singular absolute
eye
עֵינִי֙'ei.Ni
H5869
an eye (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
weep
וְדָמֹ֨עַve.da.Mo.a'
H1830
to weep · conjunction + verb, qal infinitive absolute
sore
תִּדְמַ֜עtid.Ma'
H1830
to weep · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
down
וְתֵרַ֤דve.te.Rad
H3381
to descend (literally · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person feminine singular
tears
דִּמְעָ֔הdim.'Ah
H1832
weeping · noun, common feminine singular absolute
LORD’s
יְהוָֽהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
flock
עֵ֥דֶר'E.der
H5739
an arrangement · noun, common masculine singular construct
captive
נִשְׁבָּ֖הnish.Bah
H7617
to transport into captivity · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd 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
Malachi 2:2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon…
Jeremiah 9:1 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
Jeremiah 14:17 Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daught…
Psalms 80:1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.
Luke 19:41-42 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
Romans 9:2-4 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
1 Samuel 15:35 And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made…
Psalms 119:136 Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 13:12-21
Here is, I. A judgment threatened against this people that would quite intoxicate them. This doom is pronounced against them in a figure, to make it the more taken notice of and the more affecting (Jer 13:12): Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, every bottle shall be filled with wine; that is, those that by their sins have made themselves vessels of wrath fitted to destruction shall be filled with the wrath of God as a bottle is with wine; and, as every vessel of mercy prepared for glory shall be filled with mercy and glory, so they shall be full of the fury of the Lord (Isa 51:20); and they shall be brittle as bottles; and, like old bottles into which new wine is put, they shall burst and be…
hear it--my exhortation.
in secret--as one mourning and humbling himself for their sin, not self-righteously condemning them (Phi 3:18).
pride--(see on Jer 13:15; Job 33:17).
flock-- (Jer 13:20), just as kings and leaders are called pastors.
John Gill on Jeremiah 13:17
But if ye will not hear it,.... The advice and exhortation now given, to repent of sin, be humble before God, and glorify him:
my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; he would no more act in a public character; but, laying aside his office as a prophet and public instructor, would retire to some corner, where he might not be seen or heard, and there lament the sins of the people, particularly their "pride", which had been the cause of their ruin; or mourn on account of their glory and excellency, as the word may be rendered, which would depart from them; their city and temple would be burnt; and their king, princes, and nobles, and the flower of the nation, carried into Babylon;…
Jeremiah 13:17
17 But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the LORD'S flock is carried away captive.
17 Quod si non audieritis hoc, in areanis (hoc est, in secreto) lugebit anima mea a facie superbia (hoc est, propter superbiam) et lachrymando lachrymabitur, et descendet oculus meus in lachrymas (de hac locutione vidimut cap. 9; diffluet ergo oculus meus in lachrymae; ad verbum, et descendet oculus meus lachryma) quoniam abductus est (captus est) grex Jehovae.
The Prophet had indirectly threatened them; but yet there was some hope of pardon, provided the Jews anticipated God's judgment in…
The Church Fathers
"But if you do not hear in secret, your soul shall weep before the face of insolence." Of those who hear, some hear in secret, but others, even if they hear, do not hear in secret. What then is it to hear in secret, other than "but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God foreordained before the ages for our glory"? And again elsewhere it is said that "the greater part of the works of God are in hidden things." If I hear the law, either I hear in secret or I do not hear in secret. The Jew does not hear the law in secret; therefore he is circumcised openly, not knowing that "the Jew is not the one in the open, nor is circumcision that which is in the open in the flesh." But he who hears about circumcision in secret shall be circumcised in what is hidden; he who hears in secret the things enacted by law concerning the Passover eats of the lamb Christ (for "Christ our Passover has been sacrificed"), and knowing what sort of thing the flesh of the Word is, and knowing that "it is true food," he partakes of it; for he heard about the Passover in secret. But this great mass of the Jew, for this reason, killed the Lord Jesus and is even today guilty of the murder of Jesus, since he heard neither the law nor the prophets in secret. If you read about the unleavened bread, it is possible to hear in secret, it is possible to hear the commandment openly. As many of you (for the Passover is near) as keep the unleavened bread, the bodily unleavened bread, do not hear the commandment that says: "If you do not hear in secret, your soul shall weep." And concerning the Sabbath, women who have not heard the prophet do not hear in secret, but hear openly. They do not wash on the day of the Sabbath, they return "to the poor and weak elements," as though Christ had not sojourned among us, the one who perfects us and carries us over from the elements of the law to the perfection of the Gospel. Therefore let us take heed as we read the law and the prophets, lest we ever fall under the prophecy that says: "But if you do not hear in secret, your soul shall weep before the face of insolence." As many of you as observe the Jewish fast, as though not understanding the day of atonement, keep it after the sojourn of Jesus Christ. You did not hear about the atonement in secret, but you heard openly; for to hear about the atonement in secret is to hear how God…
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
Impenitence · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Judgments · Saints: Sympathise with those under — Saints: Sympathise with those under
Pride · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Sins, National · Ministers should: Mourn over — Ministers should: Mourn over
Zeal, Religious · EXEMPLIFIE — EXEMPLIFIE
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).
Knowing their obstinacy, the prophet adds: if ye hear it (what I have declared to you) not, my soul shall weep. In the concealment, quo secedere lugentes amant, ut impensius flere possint (Chr. B. Mich.). For the pride, sc. in which ye persist. With tears mine eye shall run down because the flock of Jahveh, i.e., the people of God (cf. Zac 10:3), is carried away into captivity (perfect. proph).
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Jeremiah 13:17
Jeremiah had learned that if the people did not acknowledge the Lord, they would be led away into exile. The thought of it filled him with grief.
Rashi on Jeremiah 13:17
because of your pride Because of your greatness which will be curtailed. Another explanation: Because of the pride of the kingdom of Heaven that will be given over to the idols of Babylon.
