Jeremiah 7:18

Jeremiah 7:18

16 “Therefore ^ado not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; ^bfor I will not hear you.

17 Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

18 ^aThe children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they ^bpour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.

19 ^aDo they provoke Me to anger?” says the Lord. “Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?”

20 Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place—on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.”

21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^a“Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat.

22 ^aFor I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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Jeremiah 7:19 >>

children . . . fathers . . . women—Not merely isolated individuals practised idolatry; young and old, men and women, and whole families, contributed their joint efforts to promote it. Oh, that there were the same zeal for the worship of God as there is for error (Jeremiah 44:17, Jeremiah 44:19; Jeremiah 19:13)!

cakes . . . queen of heaven—Cakes were made of honey, fine flour, etc., in a round flat shape to resemble the disc of the moon, to which they were offered. Others read as Margin, "the frame of heaven," that is, the planets generally; so the Septuagint here; but elsewhere the Septuagint translates, "queen of heaven." The Phœnicians called the moon Ashtoreth or Astarte: the wife of Baal or Moloch, the king of heaven. The male and female pair of deities symbolized the generative powers of nature; hence arose the introduction of prostitution in the worship. The Babylonians worshipped Ashtoreth as Mylitta, that is, generative. Our Monday, or Moon-day, indicates the former prevalence of moon worship (see on Isaiah 65:11).

that they may provoke me—implying design: in worshipping strange gods they seemed as if purposely to provoke Jehovah.

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Jeremiah 7:18:**

Jeremiah 17:2
Jeremiah 44:17
Hosea 3:1

<< Jeremiah 7:17

Jeremiah 7:19 >>

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