Jeremiah 19:4 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 19:4
Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
incense
וַיְקַטְּרוּvay.ka.te.ru-
H6999
to smoke · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
other
אֲחֵרִ֔ים'a.che.Rim
H312
properly · adjective, masculine plural absolute
gods
לֵאלֹהִ֣יםle.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
fathers
וַאֲבֽוֹתֵיהֶ֖םva.'a.vo.tei.Hem
H1
father · conjunction + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
known
יְדָע֛וּםye.da.'Um
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
kings
וּמַלְכֵ֣יu.mal.Khei
H4428
a king · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct
Judah
יְהוּדָ֑הye.hu.Dah
H3063
Jehudah (or Judah) · proper noun, a place name
filled
וּמָֽלְא֛וּu.mal.'U
H4390
to fill or (intransitively) be full of · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
place
הַמָּק֥וֹםha.ma.Kom
H4725
properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
blood
דַּ֥םdam
H1818
blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or… · noun, common masculine singular construct
innocents
נְקִיִּֽםne.ki.Yim
H5355
innocent · adjective, masculine plural absolute
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
Jeremiah 2:34 Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.
Deuteronomy 28:20 The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, an…
2 Kings 21:16 Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Juda…
Isaiah 65:11 But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offerin…
Jeremiah 7:9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
Deuteronomy 32:15-23 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made…
2 Kings 21:4-7 And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.
2 Kings 24:4 And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 19:1-9
The corruption of man having made it necessary that precept should be upon precept, and line upon line (so unapt are we to receive, and so very apt to let slip, the things of God), the grace of God has provided that there shall be, accordingly, precept upon precept, and line upon line, that those who are irreclaimable may be inexcusable. For this reason the prophet is here sent with a message to the same purport with what he had often delivered, but with some circumstances that might make it the more taken notice of, a thing which ministers should study, for a little circumstance may sometimes be a great advantage, and those that would win souls must be wise.
I. He must take of the elders an…
(Isa 65:11).
estranged this place--devoted it to the worship of strange gods: alienating a portion of the sacred city from God, the rightful Lord of the temple, city, and whole land.
nor their fathers--namely, the godly among them; their ungodly fathers God makes no account of.
blood of innocents--slain in honor of Molech (Jer 7:31; Psa 106:37).
John Gill on Jeremiah 19:4
Because they have forsaken me,.... My worship, as the Targum; they had apostatized from God, relinquished his service, neglected and despised his word and ordinances, and left the religion they had been brought up in, and was agreeable to the will of God. This, with what follows, contain reasons of the Lord's threatening them to bring evil upon them, as before:
and have estranged this place; or made a strange place of it, so that it could scarcely be known to be the same, nor would the Lord own it as his; meaning either the city of Jerusalem, to which the prophet was near, and could point to it; or the temple, which was in sight, and which they had strangely abused, by offering strange sacr…
Jeremiah 19:4-5
4. Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burnt incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
4. Propterea quod reliquerunt me et alienarunt locum hunc, et suffitum fecerunt in eo diis extraneis, quos non noverunt ipsi neque patres ipsorum, neque reges Jehudah; et implerunt locum hunc sanguine innocentium;
5. They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
5. Et extruxerunt excelsa (aedificarunt excelsa) ip…
The Church Fathers
(Verses 4-6.) Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring calamity (or evil) upon this place, such that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle, because they have forsaken me and have made this place a foreign land, and have burned incense in it to foreign gods, whom they and their fathers and the kings of Judah did not know. And they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent, and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, something that I did not command (or think), nor did it come into my mind. And certain individuals foolishly refer this place to the heavenly Jerusalem. Lest we always remind, it suffices to have said this only: that this kind of explanation is to be avoided, indeed it is heresy, which clearly subverts and attempts to introduce certain deceits to the Churches of Christ. But there is no doubt that they placed the idol Baal in the Temple of God, whether in the shrine that was in the valley of the son of Hinnom, where the grove of Baal and his altar were located, on which they sacrificed and burned their children. What the Lord neither thought nor spoke, nor did they ascend into his heart. Not that God does not know the future, but because he says that he chooses not to know unworthy things, according to the words of the Gospel: Depart from me, workers of iniquity, I do not know you (Luke 13:27). For the Lord knows those who are his (2 Timothy). And, Whoever is ignorant, let him be ignorant (1 Corinthians 14:38). Or certainly in a human way, and these things must be understood about God, as well as others. But every heretic forsakes God and makes room for the dwelling of God, whom he has defiled by his deceit and offers sacrifices to foreign gods, whom neither he nor his fathers knew, namely the Apostles and apostolic men; but the kings of Judah, that is, the patriarchs of heretics, fill the place of God once with the blood of deceivers and the innocent. For unless he is foolish and simple, he is not quickly overthrown. And they build high places for Baal, while claiming to debate lofty matters. And they burn their sons as an offering to idols, whom they have begotten in their heresy. The Lord says that he is unaware of all these things and that they have never entered his mind.
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
Bottle — A vessel made of skins for holding wine (Josh. 9:4. 13; 1 Sam. 16:20; Matt. 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37, 38), or milk (Judg. 4:19), or water (Gen. 21:14, 15, 19), or strong drink (Hab. 2:15).…
Gehenna — (originally Ge bene Hinnom; i.e., “the valley of the sons of Hinnom”), a deep, narrow glen to the south of Jerusalem, where the idolatrous Jews offered their children in sacrifice to Molech (2 Chr.…
Homicide · 24:22; — 24:22;
Idolatry · .Human sacrifices — .Human sacrifices
Instruction · Potter’s vessel — Potter’s vessel
Murder · Punishment of — Punishment of
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 Broken Pitcher. - Jer 19:1. "Thus said Jahveh: Go and buy a potter's vessel, and take of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests, Jer 19:2. And go forth into the valley of Benhinnom, which is before the gate Harsuth, and proclaim there the words which I shall speak unto thee, Jer 19:3. And say: Hear the word of Jahveh, ye kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus hath said Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth his ears shall tingle. Jer 19:4. Because they have forsaken me, and disowned this place, and burnt incense in it to other gods whom they knew not, they, and their fathers, and the kings of Jud…
The people burn incense: According to the Sinai covenant, offering incense while worshiping the Lord was to be an act of the priests (Exod 30:8). Offering incense to idols was a terrible affront to the Lord. • the blood of innocent children: Child sacrifice was practiced in Baal worship, and sometimes by the kings of Judah (2 Kgs 17:17; Ps 106:37-38).
Rashi on Jeremiah 19:4
and they estranged They made it strange before Me.
