Jeremiah 4:2 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 4:2
And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
a foreign nation · noun, common masculine plural absolute
bless
וְהִתְבָּ֥רְכוּve.hit.Ba.re.khu
H1288
to kneel · conjunction + verb, hithpael sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
glory
יִתְהַלָּֽלוּyit.ha.La.lu
H1984
to be clear (orig. of sound · verb, hithpael imperfect, 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
Isaiah 65:16 That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God…
Genesis 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Jeremiah 9:24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, a…
Deuteronomy 10:20 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.
1 Corinthians 1:31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
Psalms 72:17 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him…
Isaiah 45:25 In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 4:1-2
When God called to backsliding Israel to return (Jer 3:22) they immediately answered, Lord, we return; now God here takes notice of their answer, and, by way of reply to it,
I. He directs them how to pursue their good resolutions: "Dost thou say, I will return?" 1. "Then thou must return unto me; make a thorough work of it. Do not only turn from thy idolatries, but return to the instituted worship of the God of Israel." Or, "Thou must return speedily and not delay (as Isa 21:12, If you will enquire, enquire you); if you will return unto me, return you: do not talk of it, but do it." 2. "Thou must utterly abandon all sin, and not retain any of the relics of idolatry: Put away thy abominations…
And thou--rather, "And if (carried on from Jer 4:1) thou shalt swear, 'Jehovah liveth,' in truth, &c.", that is, if thou shalt worship Him (for we swear by the God whom we worship; compare Deu 6:13; Deu 10:20; Isa 19:18; Amo 8:14) in sincerity, &c.
and the nations--Rather, this is apodosis to the "if"; then shall the nations bless themselves in (by) Him" (Isa 65:16). The conversion of the nations will be the consequence of Israel's conversion (Psa 102:13, Psa 102:15; Rom 11:12, Rom 11:15).
John Gill on Jeremiah 4:2
And thou shalt swear, the Lord liveth,.... Or by the living Lord, by him and him only; not by the creatures, but by the God of truth. This is sometimes put for the whole worship and service of God, Deuteronomy 6:13 and for a confession of Christ, and profession of faith in him, Isaiah 45:23, compared with Romans 14:11 and which ought to be done,
in truth, in righteousness, and in judgment; in sincerity, integrity, and uprightness of soul; in spirit and in, truth; in righteousness and true holiness:
and the nations shall bless themselves in him, not in Israel, as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret it; but in the Lord, even in the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom all the nation…
But if the old law had belonged to the devil, it would not have led people away from idolatry, but rather would have drawn them on and cast them into it; for this did the devil desire. But now we see the opposite effect produced by the old law. And indeed this very thing, the oath, was ordained of old for this cause, that they might not swear by the idols. For "ye shall swear," saith He, "by the true God." They were then no small advantages which the law effected, but rather very great. For that they came unto the "strong meat," was the work of its care.
"If you swear, 'The Lord lives,' in truth, in justice and in righteousness." In the sacred Gospels, by contrast, he made more perfect prescriptions than these: "It was said to the ancients, You shall not swear falsely: you shall discharge your oaths to the Lord. But I tell you, do not swear at all." He bids Jews, being weak as they are, to swear by him so that through the habit of swearing they may learn to adore him alone. He also promises that if this is done, "nations will be blessed through him and through him will praise God in Jerusalem." In other words, when they practiced true worship of God, many of the neighboring peoples would learn about godliness.
(Verse 2.) And you shall swear, 'As the Lord lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless him, and they themselves shall praise him.' And how does the Gospel forbid us to swear? But here (Matt. 5), to swear is said for confession, and for the condemnation of idols, by which Israel used to swear. Finally, stumbling blocks are removed, and one swears by the Lord. And what is said, 'As the Lord lives,' in the Old Testament it is an oath for the condemnation of the dead, by whom every idol worshiper swears. At the same time, it must be noted that an oath has these companions: truth, judgment, and justice. If these are lacking, the oath will by no means be valid, but rather perjury. And when, he says, Israel does this, and through the Apostles becomes the teacher of the nations, then all nations will bless or be blessed in him, and they will praise him because salvation has come forth from Israel.
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
Fast — The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called “the fast” (Acts 27:9). The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old…
Oath — A solemn appeal to God, permitted on fitting occasions (Deut. 6:13; Jer. 4:2), in various forms (Gen. 16:5; 2 Sam. 12:5; Ruth 1:17; Hos. 4:15; Rom. 1:9), and taken in different ways (Gen. 14:22;…
Condescension Of God · Expostulates with backsliding Israel — Expostulates with backsliding Israel
Gentiles · PROPHECIES OF THE CONVERSION OF — PROPHECIES OF THE CONVERSION OF
Oaths · The Jews: To take, in truth, judgment, &c — The Jews: To take, in truth, judgment, &c
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).
on Jeremiah 4:2
Jeremiah 4:2
2 And thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
2. Et jurabis, vivit Jehova, in veritate, in judicio et in justitia; et benedicent se in eo gentes et in eo gloriabuntur.
Here the Prophet goes on with the same subject; for he denudes these flatteries, by which they thought that God could be pacified: for when they had his name in their mouth, they thought it sufficient for their defense, -- "What! do we not call upon God? do we not ascribe to him his due honor, when we swear by his name?" There is in the Prophet's words a part given for the whole; for swearing is t…
As surely as the Lord lives: The correct attitude when offering a prayer of confession and making oaths reflects truth, justice, and righteousness. Truth means that the inner attitudes and thoughts of those praying match the words they utter. Justice means living by the laws of the Lord, who will judge the earth. Righteousness means that people relate to others in accordance with the Lord’s Spirit and the moral standards he has established. This kind of prayer requires a radical transformation of people’s inner lives and outer lifestyle (Gen 22:18; Deut 10:20; Ps 72:18; Isa 48:1; 1 Cor 1:31). If the Israelites returned to the Lord in this way, the people would be blessed, and their influence…
And you will swear, “As the Lord lives,” in truth When you swear by My name, you will swear in truth, not as now, that it is written concerning you, “And if they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ surely they swear falsely” (5:2).
nations will bless themselves with him If you do so, then nations will bless themselves with Israel. Every non-Jew will say to his son, “You shall be like So-and-so the Jew.”
boast Heb. יתהללו, they will recite your praise. Another explanation of is יתהללו: Whoever is able to cleave to Israel will boast about the matter (porvanter in French).
