Jeremiah 25:4 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 25:4
And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
to send away · conjunction + verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
servants
עֲבָדָ֧יו'a.va.Dav
H5650
a servant · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
prophets
הַנְּבִאִ֛יםha.ne.vi.'Im
H5030
a prophet or (generally) inspired man · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
early
הַשְׁכֵּ֥םhash.Kem
H7925
literally · verb, hiphil infinitive absolute
sending
וְשָׁלֹ֖חַve.sha.Lo.ach
H7971
to send away · conjunction + verb, qal infinitive absolute
hearkened
שְׁמַעְתֶּ֑םshe.ma'.Tem
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
inclined
הִטִּיתֶ֥םhi.ti.Tem
H5186
to stretch or spread out · verb, hiphil perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
ear
אָזְנְכֶ֖ם'a.ze.ne.Khem
H241
broadness. i.e. (concrete) the ear (from its form in ma… · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
hear
לִשְׁמֹֽעַlish.Mo.a'
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
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 25:3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the…
Jeremiah 26:5 To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened…
2 Chronicles 36:15-16 And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, a…
Jeremiah 7:24-26 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, an…
Jeremiah 11:7-10 For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and…
Jeremiah 13:10-11 This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and…
Jeremiah 16:12 And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken…
Jeremiah 17:23 But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 25:1-7
We have here a message from God concerning all the people of Judah (Jer 25:1), which Jeremiah delivered, in his name, unto all the people of Judah, Jer 25:2. Note, That which is of universal concern ought to be of universal cognizance. It is fit that the word which concerns all the people, as the word of God does, the word of the gospel particularly, should be divulged to all in general, and, as far as may be, addressed to each in particular. Jeremiah had been sent to the house of the king (Jer 22:1), and he took courage to deliver his message to them, probably when they had all come up to Jerusalem to worship at one of the solemn feasts; then he had them together, and it was to be hoped the…
rising early--(See on Jer 7:13). "The prophets" refer to Urijah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, &c. It aggravates their sin, that God sent not merely one but many messengers, and those messengers, prophets; and, that during all those years specified, Jeremiah and his fellow prophets spared no effort, late and early.
John Gill on Jeremiah 25:4
And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets,.... Not only him, but many others, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, and others:
rising early and sending them; not only the prophet, but the Lord himself is said to rise early, and send his prophets to them; which denotes his great care and concern for this people for their good; see Jeremiah 7:25;
but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear; which is an aggravation of their sin; that whereas they had one prophet after another sent to them, and sent by the Lord himself; he rising early, and sending them; and they rising early, being sent to do their message; and yet were not hearkened and attended to.
John Calvin on Jeremiah 25:3-5
Jeremiah 25:3-5
3. From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.
3. A tertio decimo anno Josiae filii Ammon regis Jehudah ad hunc diem, hic tertius et vicesimus annus est, loquutus est Jehova ad me, et loquutus sum ad vos, surgens mane; et non audistis:
4. And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
4. Et misit Jehova ad vos omnes suos servos Prophetas, mane surgens et mittens; et non…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 4, 5.) You did not incline your ears to listen when I said (Vulgate: said): Return to me, each one of you, from your evil ways and from your wicked thoughts. And you will dwell in the land that the Lord gave to you and your fathers from eternity to eternity. The hardness of the people was so great that they would not even assume the habit of listening and incline their ear, particularly when the Lord was warning them to turn each one from their evil ways and from their wicked thoughts. And, O infinite mercy, not to inflict punishment for crime, but to provoke to repentance, both for evil deeds, which the wicked way signifies, and for the worst thoughts, which are considered sin even without action. And He promises a reward, if they do what is commanded, that they may dwell in the land which was given to the fathers, and for the sins of their children to be removed. And He says: From age to age, or, from eternity to eternity, He shows the eternal gifts of God, if those to whom they are given are worthy.
When the Jews often resisted wholesome precepts and departed from the divine law, going astray to the impious worship of false gods, then God filled just and chosen men with the Holy Spirit, appointing them as prophets in the midst of the people, by whom he might rebuke with threatening words the sins of the ungrateful people and nevertheless exhort them to repent of their wickedness. Unless they did this and, laying aside their vanities, returned to their God, it would come to pass that he would change his covenant, that is, bestow the inheritance of eternal life on foreign nations and collect to himself a more faithful people out of those who were aliens by birth. But they, when rebuked by the prophets, not only rejected their words but, being offended because they were scolded for their sins, killed the prophets with calculated tortures. All these things are sealed up and preserved in the sacred writings. For the prophet Jeremiah says, "I have sent to you my servants, the prophets. I sent them before light, and you hearkened not to me nor inclined your ears to hear when I said to you, 'Return, you, every one from this evil way and from your wicked devices, and you shall dwell in that land that I have given to you and to your ancestors forever and ever. Do not go after strange gods to serve them, and do not provoke me to wrath by the works of your hands for afflicting you.' "
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
Captivity — (1.) Of Israel. The kingdom of the ten tribes was successively invaded by several Assyrian kings. Pul (q.v.) imposed a tribute on Menahem of a thousand talents of silver (2 Kings 15:19, 20; 1 Chr.…
Captivity · Of — Of
Impenitence · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Prophets · Were sent to: Reprove the wicked and exhort to repentance — Were sent to: Reprove the wicked and exhort to repentance
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 seventy years' Chaldean bondage of Judah and the peoples. - Jer 25:3. "From the thirteenth year of Josiah, son of Amon king of Judah, unto this day, these three and twenty years, came the word of Jahveh to me, and I spake to you, from early morn onwards speaking, but ye hearkened not. Jer 25:4. And Jahveh sent to you all His servants, the prophets, from early morning on sending them, but ye hearkened not, and inclined not your ear to hear. Jer 25:5. They said: Turn ye now each from his evil way and from the evil of your doings, so shall ye abide in the land which Jahveh hath given to your fathers from everlasting to everlasting. Jer 25:6. And go not after other gods, to serve them and to…
For many generations, God had sent prophets to the people, but they had not paid attention to the Lord’s warnings.
Rashi on Jeremiah 25:3
twenty-three years Josiah reigned thirty-one years (II Kings 22:1). Subtract twelve years from them (Jer. 1:2). This leaves nineteen, and four of his son amount to twenty-three.
arising early This is a present tense. I would arise early and speak constantly.
