Jeremiah 32:19 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 32:19
Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:
an eye (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
open
פְקֻח֗וֹתfe.ku.Chot
H6491
to open (the senses · verb, qal passive participle, feminine plural absolute
ways
דַּרְכֵי֙dar.Khei
H1870
a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders plural construct
sons
בְּנֵ֣יbe.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
men
אָדָ֔ם'a.Dam
H120
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · noun, common masculine singular absolute
give
לָתֵ֤תla.Tet
H5414
to give · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
one
לְאִישׁ֙le.'Ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
ways
כִּדְרָכָ֔יוkid.ra.Khav
H1870
a road (as trodden) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
fruit
וְכִפְרִ֖יve.khif.Ri
H6529
fruit (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
doings
מַעֲלָלָֽיוma.'a.la.Lav
H4611
an act (good or bad) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
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 17:10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Matthew 16:27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
Psalms 62:12 Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.
Isaiah 28:29 This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.
Job 34:21 For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.
Jeremiah 16:17 For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
Revelation 2:23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give…
Revelation 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 32:16-25
We have here Jeremiah's prayer to God upon occasion of the discoveries God had made to him of his purposes concerning this nation, to pull it down, and in process of time to build it up again, which puzzled the prophet himself, who, though he delivered his messages faithfully, yet, in reflecting upon them, was greatly at a loss within himself how to reconcile them; in that perplexity he poured out his soul before God in prayer, and so gave himself ease. That which disturbed him was not the bad bargain he seemed to have made for himself in purchasing a field that he was likely to have no good of, but the case of his people, for whom he was still a kind and faithful intercessor, and he was wil…
counsel . . . work--devising . . . executing (Isa 28:29).
eyes . . . open upon all-- (Job 34:21; Pro 5:21).
to give . . . according to . . . ways-- (Jer 17:10).
John Gill on Jeremiah 32:19
Great in counsel, and mighty in word,.... Counsel belongs to him, and he does all things after the counsel of his will, all things in nature, providence, and grace; and such a display of his wisdom is there in all, that show him to be excellent in counsel; to excel all others; not only to be great, but to be the greatest in counsel; and who regularly and perfectly performs all that he has wisely contrived; his wisdom and his power are equal to each other; he forms the scheme of all that he does with the greatest wisdom, and accomplishes by his power all that he has purposed in his eternal mind; see Isaiah 28:29;
for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men; all their thought…
Jeremiah 32:19
19. Great in counsel, and mighty in work: (for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:)
19. Magnus consilio, excellens opere; cujus oculi (quandoquidem oculi) tui aperti sunt super vias filiorum hominum ad reddendum cuique secundum vias ejus, et secundum fructum operum ejus.
He goes on with the same subject, for he expresses his wonder and admiration as to God's judgments. he first declares that God is great in counsel and great in work By counsel, he understands the wisdom of God, which not only surpasses all our thoughts, but also absorbs them. And then he mentions the exe…
The Church Fathers
You, as a person, know any other person from the way he appears outside. You think the way you see. And you see as far only as your eyes do. But the Scripture says, "The eyes of the Lord are lofty," "People look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart," "The Lord sees and knows his own," and "the plant that my heavenly Father has not planted, he roots up," and "the first shall," as he shows, "be last," and he carries "his fan in his hand to purge his threshing floor." Let the chaff of a fickle faith fly off as much as it will at every blast of temptation; all the purer will be that heap of corn that shall be laid up in the garner of the Lord.
(Verse 19) Great in counsel and incomprehensible in thought. Whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of Adam (or humans), to render to each according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his inventions. Great in counsel. And anyone who presumes to insert themselves secretly into the Lord's affairs and judge his judgments. And incomprehensible in thought. The mind that cannot comprehend him, how can speech comprehend him? Whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of Adam. Therefore, in vain does man think he can hide himself from God's knowledge. And this leads to the fact that in order to render to each according to their ways, and according to the fruit of their inventions, this indicates that sometimes, due to excessive patience, his judgments may seem unjust. This place the Apostle further explains to the Romans: Do you not know that the kindness of God is leading you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Rom. II, 4, 5). Therefore, the later the punishment of sinners, the more just it is: in the likeness of Pharaoh, who, after being warned by ten plagues, was not punished, and persisting in his hardness, was finally overwhelmed by the waves of the Red Sea (Exodus 14).
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
Counsels And Purposes Of God, The · Are great — Are great
Judgment · ACCORDING TO OPPORTUNITY AND WORKS — ACCORDING TO OPPORTUNITY AND WORKS
Justice Of God, The · Declared to be: Impartial — Declared to be: Impartial
Praise · Is due to God on account of: His counsel — Is due to God on account of: His counsel
Wisdom Of God, The · Exhibited in: His counsels — Exhibited in: His counsels
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).
God shows His greatness and might in the wisdom with which He regards the doings of men, and in the power with which He executes His decrees, so as to recompense to every one according to his deeds. On 19a cf. Isa 28:29; Psa 66:5. "To give to every one," etc., is repeated, word for word, from Jer 17:10.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Jeremiah 32:19
The Lord knows what each person does, and he holds each one accountable as he judges their sins fairly.
Rashi on Jeremiah 32:18
and requites the iniquity of the fathers in the bosom Of this generation who follow their ancestors in their evil way.
Great and Mighty But he did not say, “and awesome.” He said. Heathens are dancing in His Temple. Where then are His awesome deeds? In Tractate Yoma (69b).
