Jeremiah 26:3 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 26:3
If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
turn
וְיָשֻׁ֕בוּve.ya.Shu.vu
H7725
to turn back (hence · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person masculine plural
man
אִ֖ישׁ'ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
evil
הָרָעָ֑הha.ra.'Ah
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · definite article + adjective, feminine singular absolute
way
מִדַּרְכּ֣וֹmi.dar.Ko
H1870
a road (as trodden) · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
repent
וְנִחַמְתִּ֣יve.ni.cham.Ti
H5162
properly · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
evil
הָרָעָ֗הha.ra.'Ah
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
purpose
חֹשֵׁב֙cho.Shev
H2803
properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
do
לַעֲשׂ֣וֹתla.'a.Sot
H6213
to do or make · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
because
מִפְּנֵ֖יmi.pe.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
evil
רֹ֥עַRo.a'
H7455
badness (as marring) · noun, common masculine singular construct
doings
מַעַלְלֵיהֶֽםma.'a.lei.Hem
H4611
an act (good or bad) · noun, common masculine 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
Jeremiah 36:3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way;…
Isaiah 1:16-19 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
Jeremiah 18:7-10 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
Jonah 4:2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before un…
Jeremiah 36:7 It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the…
Ezekiel 18:27-30 Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save…
Jonah 3:8-10 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the vio…
1 Kings 21:27 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackclo…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 26:1-6
We have here the sermon that Jeremiah preached, which gave such offence that he was in danger of losing his life for it. It is here left upon record, as it were, by way of appeal to the judgment of impartial men in all ages, whether Jeremiah was worthy to die for delivering such a message as this from God, and whether his persecutors were not very wicked and unreasonable men.
I. God directed him where to preach this sermon, and when, and to what auditory, v. 2. Let not any censure Jeremiah as indiscreet in the choice of place and time, nor say that he might have delivered his message more privately, in a corner, among his friends that he could confide in, and that he deserved to smart for no…
if so be--expressed according to human conceptions; not as if God did not foreknow all contingencies, but to mark the obstinacy of the people and the difficulty of healing them; and to show His own goodness in making the offer which left them without excuse [CALVIN].
John Gill on Jeremiah 26:3
If so be they will hearken,.... And obey; which is expressive not of ignorance and conjecture in God, but of his patience and long suffering, granting space and time for repentance, and the means of it; which disregarded, leave without excuse:
and turn every man from his evil way; his series and course of life, which was evil, and was the case of everyone; so that as their sin was general, the reformation ought to be so too:
that I may repent me of the evil which I purpose to do unto them; or "am thinking", or "devising (d) to do unto them"; which repentance must be understood not of a change of mind, but of the course of his providence towards them, which, by his threatenings, and some st…
Jeremiah 26:3
3. If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.
3. Si forte audiant et convertantur quisque a via sua mala, et poeniteat me mali quod ego cogitans ad faciendum (id est, cogito facere) ipsis propter (a facie, ad verbum) malitiam actionurn ipsorum.
In this verse God briefly shows for what end he sent his Prophet. For it would not have been sufficient for him to announce what he taught, except it was known to have been the will of God. Here then God asserts that he would not be propitious to the people, except they complied with what he required, that is,…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 3) lest they listen and each one turn away from their evil way. And I may repent of the evil (or remain silent about the evil) that I intend to do to them because of the wickedness of their deeds. Perhaps, he says, they may hear and be converted. An ambiguous word, perhaps, cannot befit the majesty of the Lord, but it speaks to our affection: that man's free will be preserved, so that he is not compelled to do or not to do anything by its foreknowledge, as if by necessity. For it is not because God knows something will happen that it will therefore happen, but because it will happen, God knows it, as if he were prescient of future events. And yet it is to be understood, according to this same Jeremiah: if the Lord predicts evil and the people repent, he will also repent of the punishment he threatened to carry out. And if he has promised prosperity and the people act negligently, God may change his judgement and bring misfortunes instead of blessings. Such a thing is also mentioned in the Gospel: 'I will send my son, perhaps they will respect him' (Luke 20:13). This is indeed spoken from the perspective of almighty God. In fact, he also says this in the present: 'Perhaps they will listen and turn from their evil ways, so that when they have repented and I have relented of the disaster I had planned to bring on them, I will not carry out my plan.' But I think to do [it] because of the wickedness of their studies, which if they are changed, my opinion will be changed. Let us read the story of Jonah and Nineveh.
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
Indictments · . — .
Repentance · 2:18; — 2:18;
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).
Accusation and Acquittal of Jeremiah. - Jer 26:1-7. His prophecy that temple and city would be destroyed gave occasion to the accusation of the prophet. - Jer 26:1. "In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah king of Judah, came this word from Jahveh, saying: Jer 26:2. Thus said Jahveh: Stand in the court of the house of Jahveh, and speak to all the cities of Judah which come to worship in Jahveh's house, all the words that I have commanded thee to speak to them; take not a word therefrom. Jer 26:3. Perchance they will hearken and turn each from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil which I purpose to do unto them for the evil of their doings. Jer 26:4. And say un…
The Lord gave the people a choice about what would happen to them in the future. If they would turn from their evil ways, the Lord would change his mind. The standard of judgment was his covenant with Israel (see Deut 5:1-21; 27:1–28:68). When Israel obeyed the terms of the covenant, the Lord blessed the people. When Israel persistently and stubbornly disobeyed, the Lord eventually punished them.
Rashi on Jeremiah 26:1
In the beginning of the reign This chapter below preceded the above chapter by four years.
