evil (as destructive) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
smitten
הִכֵּ֣יתִיhi.Kei.ti
H5221
to strike (lightly or severely · verb, hiphil perfect, 1st person common singular
children
בְּנֵיכֶ֔םbe.nei.Khem
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
received
לָקָ֑חוּla.Ka.chu
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
correction
מוּסָ֖רmu.Sar
H4148
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
sword
חַרְבְּכֶ֛םchar.be.Khem
H2719
drought · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
devoured
אָכְלָ֧ה'a.khe.Lah
H398
to eat (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
prophets
נְבִֽיאֵיכֶ֖םne.vi.'ei.Khem
H5030
a prophet or (generally) inspired man · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
destroying
מַשְׁחִֽיתmash.Chit
H7843
to decay · verb, hiphil active participle, masculine singular absolute
lion
כְּאַרְיֵ֥הke.'ar.Yeh
H738
a lion · preposition + noun, common masculine singular 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
Nehemiah 9:26 Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified ag…
Acts 7:52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom…
1 Thessalonians 2:15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
Isaiah 1:5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
Jeremiah 5:3 O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refuse…
Jeremiah 26:20-24 And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim, who prophesied against this…
Isaiah 9:13 For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.
Jeremiah 7:28 But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 2:29–end
The prophet here goes on in the same strain, aiming to bring a sinful people to repentance, that their destruction might be prevented.
I. He avers the truth of the charge. It was evident beyond contradiction; it was the greatest absurdity imaginable in them to think of denying it (Jer 2:29): "Wherefore will you plead with me, and put me upon the proof of it, or wherefore will you go about to plead any thing in excuse of the crime or to obtain a mitigation of the sentence? Your plea will certainly be overruled, and judgment given against you: you know you have all transgressed, one as well as another; why then to you quarrel with me for contending with you?"
II. He heightens it from the consi…
(Jer 5:3; Jer 6:29; Isa 1:5; Isa 9:13).
your children--that is, your people, you.
your . . . sword . . . devoured . . . prophets-- (Ch2 36:16; Neh 9:26; Mat 23:29, Mat 23:31).
John Gill on Jeremiah 2:30
In vain have I smitten your children,.... Or, "for vanity" (g); for vain speaking, for making vain oaths and vows; so it is explained in the Talmud (h); but the sense is, that the rod of chastisement was used in vain; the afflictions that came upon them had no effect on them to amend and reform them; they were never the better for them:
they received no correction; or instruction by them; see Jeremiah 5:3,
your own sword hath devoured your prophets; as Isaiah, Zechariah, and Uriah, who were sent to them to reprove and correct them, but they were so far from receiving their correction, that they put them to death; though Kimchi mentions it as the sense of his father, and which he approves o…
Jeremiah 2:30
30. In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
30. Frustra (vel, in vanum) castigavi filios tuos, correctionem non receperunt; voravit gladius vester prophetas vestros quasi leo vastator.
Some expound the beginning of this verse as though the meaning were, -- that God chastised the Jews on account of their folly, because they habituated themselves to falsehoods: but the latter clause does not correspond. There is therefore no doubt but that God here expostulates with the Jews, because he had tried to bring them to the right way and found them wholly irreclaimable. A similar expostulat…
The Church Fathers
"Some of those measures do not succeed," you say. Is a remedy, then, to be discontinued because the illness of some patients is incurable? You are looking at those who are so hardened that they are not affected by such correction. Concerning these it has been written: "In vain have I struck your children. They have not received correction."
Behold, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree. This refers to the three captivities in which the Israelites were taken away as captives, so that they might be chastened, but they were not chastened. In vain have I smitten your children, but they have not taken correction. To show that even after these things he was still patient, he said to the vinedresser, Cut it down. The vinedresser replied to him, Leave it, Lord, for another year. He agreed to be patient with the Israelites.
(Verse 30) Without cause, I struck your sons: they did not receive discipline. For this reason, you did not receive the 70. And the sense in Hebrew is: Those who were struck did not want to receive discipline. But in the Septuagint: Therefore, I struck your sons so that you may be taught by their death. And lest you say: You did not want to correct sinners, learn from the blows inflicted upon your sons, because I desired to heal you with a more severe remedy. Your sword devoured your prophets. Not mine, but yours: not my sword, but yours, devoured, which you endured for your sins. Moreover, the 70 do not have yours: but they have simply interpreted 'your sword devoured your prophets' to show either an enemy sword or my sword, through which your sins were stabbed. As a destructive lion is your generation. LXX: As a destructive lion, and you did not fear. The sword, he says, which devoured your prophets; undoubtedly this signifies Baal and the soothsayers of idols, like a lion he ravaged everything: and yet your generation, which should have improved through the punishment of a few, continued in all wickedness. But in the Septuagint the sense is this: The sword of the Lord, which showed the sword of the adversaries, devoured and tore apart your false prophets, like a lion, which fiercely tears apart the prey it finds, and yet you were not able to be converted to better things through the punishment of your prophets.
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
Manasseh — Who makes to forget. “God hath made me forget” (Heb. nashshani), Gen. 41:51. (1.) The elder of the two sons of Joseph. He and his brother Ephraim were afterwards adopted by Jacob as his own sons…
Afflictions Of The Wicked, The · Are ineffectual of themselves, for their conversion — Are ineffectual of themselves, for their conversion
Chastisement · FROM GOD — FROM GOD
Persecution · OF THE RIGHTEOUS — OF THE RIGHTEOUS
Prophets · Martyrs — Martyrs
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).
Judah has refused to let itself be turned from idolatry either by judgments or by the warnings of the prophets; nevertheless it holds itself guiltless, and believes itself able to turn aside judgment by means of its intrigues with Egypt. Jer 2:29. "Wherefore contend ye against me? ye are all fallen away from me, saith Jahveh. Jer 2:30. In vain have I smitten your sons; correction have they not taken: your sword hath devoured your prophets, like a devouring lion. Jer 2:31. O race that ye are, mark the word of Jahveh. Was I a wilderness to Israel, or a land of dread darkness? Why saith my people, We wander about, come no more to thee? Jer 2:32. Does a maiden forget her ornaments, a bride her g…
In vain have I smitten For no purpose, for it did not avail that they should receive correction.
Your sword devoured your prophets, Zechariah and Isaiah.
