Jeremiah 16:18 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 16:18
And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.
the earth (at large · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 1st person feminine singular
filled
מָלְא֖וּmal.'U
H4390
to fill or (intransitively) be full of · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
inheritance
נַחֲלָתִֽיna.cha.la.Ti
H5159
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
carcases
בְּנִבְלַ֤תbe.niv.Lat
H5038
a flabby thing · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
detestable
שִׁקּֽוּצֵיהֶם֙shi.ku.tzei.Hem
H8251
disgusting · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
things
וְתוֹעֲב֣וֹתֵיהֶ֔םve.to.'a.Vo.tei.Hem
H8441
properly · conjunction + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
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
Numbers 35:33-34 So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed t…
Isaiah 40:2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received…
Jeremiah 2:7 And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and…
Jeremiah 17:18 Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them th…
Ezekiel 11:21 But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon thei…
Revelation 18:6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Isaiah 61:7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the d…
Jeremiah 3:9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 16:14–end
There is a mixture of mercy and judgment in these verses, and it is hard to know to which to apply some of the passages here - they are so interwoven, and some seem to look as far forward as the times of the gospel.
I. God will certainly execute judgment upon them for their idolatries. Let them expect it, for the decree has gone forth. 1. God sees all their sins, though they commit them ever so secretly and palliate them ever so artfully (Jer 16:17): My eyes are upon all their ways. They have not their eye upon God, have no regard to him, stand in no awe of him; but he has his eye upon them; neither they nor their sins are hidden from his face, from his eyes. Note, None of the sins of sinner…
first . . . double--HORSLEY translates, "I will recompense . . . once and again"; literally, "the first time repeated": alluding to the two captivities--the Babylonian and the Roman. MAURER, "I will recompense their former iniquities (those long ago committed by their fathers) and their (own) repeated sins" (Jer 16:11-12). English Version gives a good sense, "First (before 'I bring them again into their land'), I will doubly (that is, fully and amply, Jer 17:18; Isa 40:2) recompense."
carcasses--not sweet-smelling sacrifices acceptable to God, but "carcasses" offered to idols, an offensive odor to God: human victims (Jer 19:5; Eze 16:20), and unclean animals (Isa 65:4; Isa 66:17). MAURER e…
And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double,.... Or, "but first I will recompense", &c. (f); meaning, before he showed favour to them, and returned their captivity, Jeremiah 16:15, he would punish them according to their sins; not double to what they deserved, but to what: they were used to have, or he was used to inflict upon them, punishing them less than their sins deserved; but now he would reward them to the full, though not beyond the measure of justice, yet largely and abundantly, and with rigour and severity. Some understand this of God's gathering together all their sins and iniquities "from the beginning" (g), as they render the word; the sins of their fathers a…
The Church Fathers
The following words are going to produce a struggle for us. For whether we understand them as consequent, we shall take careful thought concerning the recompense of sins; or whether they seem not to be consequent upon the things previously set forth concerning those fished up and hunted, in that way too they cast us into no ordinary struggle. For he says: "And I will first repay double their iniquities and their sins, whereby they profaned my land with the carcasses of their abominations and with their lawlessnesses, with which they filled my inheritance." Whether some, not understanding it, removed the word "first" from what was written, or whether the Seventy managed to remove it, God would know. We, however, comparing with the remaining editions, found it stands written: "And I will first repay double their iniquities," so that it may be made clear that, even if they should be worthy of blessedness on account of their later works, since they are human beings and have been in sins, they must first receive back their sins. And see whether the word is not true. Who will not receive back his sins except the one who, after believing and receiving forgiveness of sins (so as to hear Jesus saying: "Your sins are forgiven you"), no longer sins? But if after the forgiveness of sins and the dispensation of the washing of regeneration we should sin, as we, the many, who have not been perfected like the apostles, and after sinning and along with sinning we should also do some things duly, what awaits us must be considered. Then, if we depart from life having sins, but having also brave deeds, shall we be saved on account of the brave deeds, but released concerning the things sinned in knowledge? Or shall we be punished on account of the sins, but nowhere receive a reward for the brave deeds? But neither the one — I mean receiving back the worse things but not receiving the better — is in accordance with a just God, nor the other — I mean receiving back the better things but not receiving the worse — is in accordance with a just God, who wishes to purge and cut out wickedness. For suppose that you have built, upon the foundation Christ Jesus which you were taught, not only "gold and silver and precious stone" — if indeed you have gold, and much gold or little; suppose that you have silver, precious stone, and I say not these alone, but suppose that you have also "wood…
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
Judgments · Are sent, as punishment for: Idolatry — Are sent, as punishment for: Idolatry
Punishment Of The Wicked, The · Is the reward of their sins — Is the reward of their sins
Sin · God: Recompenses — God: Recompenses
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).
Jeremiah 16:18
18. And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.
18. Et rependam ab initio duplum iniquitatum eorum et scelerum eorum; quia polluerunt (super polluere ipsos) terram meam in cadaveribus abominationum suarum, et suis inquinamentis replerunt haereditatem meam.
Jeremiah introduces here nothing new, but proceeds with the subject we observed in the last verse, -- that God would not deal with so much severity with the Jews, because extreme rigor was pleasing to him, or because he had forgotten his own nature or the covenant which he…
Further account of the punishment foretold, with the reasons for the same. - Jer 16:16. "Behold, I send for many fishers, saith Jahve, who shall fish them, and after will I send fore many hunters, who shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rock. Jer 16:17. For mine eyes are upon all their ways, they are not hidden from me, neither is their iniquity concealed from mine eyes. Jer 16:18. And first, I requite double their iniquity and their sin, because they defiled my land with the carcases of their detestables, and with their abominations they have filled mine inheritance. Jer 16:19. Jahveh, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of trou…
The punishment was double—slaughter and exile—because the people of Judah had violated the two most important commandments. They did not love God (Deut 6:4-5), and they did not love their neighbors (Lev 19:18; see also Matt 22:37-40).
Rashi on Jeremiah 16:18
the doubling of their iniquity Because they repeated their iniquity to do the iniquities of their fathers. And Jonathan renders in this manner: And I will recompense the second ones like the first ones double.
