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Selected Verse: Jeremiah 7:21 - Strong Concordance
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Jer 7:21 |
Strong Concordance |
Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635], the God [0430] of Israel [03478]; Put [05595] your burnt offerings [05930] unto your sacrifices [02077], and eat [0398] flesh [01320]. |
|
King James |
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Put . . . burnt offerings unto . . . sacrifices . . . eat flesh--Add the former (which the law required to be wholly burnt) to the latter (which were burnt only in part), and "eat flesh" even off the holocausts or burnt offerings. As far as I am concerned, saith Jehovah, you may do with one and the other alike. I will have neither (Isa 1:11; Hos 8:13; Amo 5:21-22). |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
The meaning is, Increase your sacrifices as you will. Acid burnt-offering to peace-offerings. All is in vain as long as you neglect the indispensable requirements of obedience and moral purity. Eat flesh is equivalent to sacrifice. The flesh of animals offered in sacrifice was usually eaten by the offerers, and this meal was regarded as a symbol of reconciliation. God and man partook of the same victim, and so were made friends. This passage Jer 7:21-28 is the Haphtarah (lesson) from the prophets, after the Parashah, Lev. 6-8, or Lesson from the Law. The selection of such a Haphtarah shows that the Jews thoroughly understood that their sacrifices were not the end of the Law, but a means for spiritual instruction. |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
The multiplication of burnt and slain offerings will not avert judgment. Your burnt-offerings add to your slain-offerings. In the case of the זבחים, the greater part of the flesh was eaten at the sacrificial meals by those who brought them. Along with these they might put the burnt-offerings, which were wont to be burnt entire upon the altar, and eat them also. The words express indignation at the sacrifices of those who were so wholly alienated from God. God had so little pleasure in their sacrifices, that they might eat of the very burnt-offerings.
To show the reason of what is here said, Jeremiah adds, in Jer 7:22, that God had not commanded their fathers, when He led them out of Egypt, in the matter of burnt and slain offerings, but this word: "Hearken to my voice, and I will be your God," etc. The Keri הוציאי is a true exegesis, acc. to Jer 11:4; Jer 34:13, but is unnecessary; cf. Gen 24:30; Gen 25:26, etc. This utterance has been erroneously interpreted by the majority of commentators, and has been misused by modern criticism to make good positions as to the late origin of the Pentateuch. To understand it aright, we must carefully take into consideration not merely the particular terms of the present passage, but the context as well. In the two verses as they stand there is the antithesis: Not על דּברי did God speak and give command to the fathers, when He led them out of Egypt, but commanded the word: Hearken to my voice, etc. The last word immediately suggests Exo 19:5 : If ye will hearken to my voice, then shall ye be my peculiar treasure out of all peoples; and it points to the beginning of the law-giving, the decalogue, and the fundamental principles of the law of Israel, in Ex 20-23, made known in order to the conclusion of the covenant in 24, after the arrival at Sinai of the people marching from Egypt. The promise: Then will I be your God, etc., is not given in these precise terms in Exo 19:5.; but it is found in the account of Moses' call to be the leader of the people in their exodus, Exo 6:7; and then repeatedly in the promises of covenant blessings, if Israel keep all the commandments of God, Lev 26:12; Deu 26:18. Hence it is clear that Jeremiah had before his mind the taking of the covenant, but did not bind himself closely to the words of Exo 19:5, adopting his expression from the passages of Leviticus and Deuteronomy which refer to and reaffirm that transaction. If there be still any doubt on this head, it will be removed by the clause: and walk in all the way which I command you this day (והלכתם is a continuation of the imper. שׁמעוּ). The expression: to walk in all the way God has commanded, is so unusual, that it occurs only once besides in the whole Old Testament, viz., Deu 5:30, after the renewed inculcation of the ten commandments. And they then occur with the addition (למען תּחיוּן וטוב, in which we cannot fail to recognise the למען ייטב לכם of our verse. Hence we assume, without fear of contradiction, that Jeremiah was keeping the giving of the law in view, and specially the promulgation of the fundamental law of the book, namely of the decalogue, which was spoken by God from out of the fire on Sinai, as Moses in Deu 5:23 repeats with marked emphasis. In this fundamental law we find no prescriptions as to burnt or slain offerings. On this fact many commentators, following Jerome, have laid stress, and suppose the prophet to be speaking of the first act of the law-giving, arguing that the Torah of offering in the Pentateuch was called for first by the worship of the golden calf, after which time God held it to be necessary to give express precepts as to the presenting of offerings, so as to prevent idolatry. But this view does not at all agree with the historical fact. For the worship of the calf was subsequent to the law on the building of the altar on which Israel was to offer burnt and slain offerings, Exo 20:24; to the institution of the daily morning and evening sacrifice, Exo 29:38.; and to the regulation as to the place of worship and the consecration of the priests, Ex 25-31. But besides, any difficulty in our verses is not solved by distinguishing between a first and a second law-giving, since no hint of any such contrast is found in our verse, but is even entirely foreign to the precise terms of it. The antithesis is a different one. The stress in Jer 7:23 lies on: hearken to the voice of the Lord, and on walking in all the way which God commanded to the people at Sinai. "To walk in all the way God commanded" is in substance the same as "not to depart from all the words which I command you this day," as Moses expands his former exhortation in Deu 28:14, when he is showing the blessings of keeping the covenant. Hearkening to God's voice, and walking in all His commandments, are the conditions under which Jahveh will be a God to the Israelites, and Israel a people to Him, i.e., His peculiar people from out of all the peoples of the earth. This word of God is not only the centre of the act of taking the covenant, but of the whole Sinaitic law-giving; and it is so both with regard to the moral law and to the ceremonial precepts, of which the law of sacrifice constituted the chief part. If yet the words demanding the observance of the whole law be set in opposition to the commandments as to sacrifices, and if it be said that on this latter head God commanded nothing when He led Israel out of Egypt, then it may be replied that the meaning of the words cannot be: God has given no law of sacrifice, and desires no offerings. The sense can only be: When the covenant was entered into, God did not speak על דּברי, i.e., as to the matters of burnt and slain offerings. על דּברי is not identical with דּברי עולה .על־דּבר are words or things that concern burnt and slain offerings; that is, practically, detailed prescriptions regarding sacrifice.
The purport of the two verses is accordingly as follows: When the Lord entered into covenant with Israel at Sinai, He insisted on their hearkening to His voice and walking in all His commandments, as the condition necessary for bringing about the covenant relationship, in which He was to be God to Israel, and Israel a people to Him; but He did not at that time give all the various commandments as to the presenting of sacrifices. Such an intimation neither denies the divine origin of the Torah of sacrifice in Leviticus, nor discredits its character as a part of the Sinaitic legislation.
(Note: After Vatke's example, Hitz. and Graf find in our verses a testimony against the Mosaic origin of the legislation of the Pentateuch as a whole, and they conclude "that at the time of Jeremiah nothing was known of a legislation on sacrifice given by God on Sinai." Here, besides interpreting our verses erroneously, they cannot have taken into account the fact that Jeremiah himself insists on the law of the Sabbath, Jer 17:20.; that amongst the blessings in which Israel will delight in Messianic times yet to come, he accounts the presenting of burnt, slain, and meat offerings, Jer 17:26; Jer 31:14; Jer 33:11, Jer 33:18. It is consequently impossible that, without contradicting himself, Jeremiah could have disallowed the sacrificial worship. The assertion that he did so is wholly incompatible with the fact recorded in 2 Kings 22, the discovery of the book of the law of Moses in the temple, in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign; and that, too, whether, justly interpreting the passage, we hold the book of the law to be the Pentateuch, or whether, following the view maintained by the majority of modern critics, we take it to be the book of Deuteronomy, which was then for the first time composed and given to the king as Moses' work. For in Deuteronomy also the laws on sacrifice are set forth as a divine institution. Is it credible or conceivable, that in a discourse delivered, as most recent commentators believe, in the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign, Jeremiah should have spoken of the laws on sacrifice as not commanded by God? For in so doing he would have undermined the authority of the book of the law, on which his entire prophetic labours were based.)
All it implies is, that the giving of sacrifices is not the thing of primary importance in the law, is not the central point of the covenant laws, and that so long as the cardinal precepts of the decalogue are freely transgressed, sacrifices neither are desired by God, nor secure covenant blessings for those who present them. That this is what is meant is shown by the connection in which our verse stands. The words: that God did not give command as to sacrifice, refer to the sacrifices brought by a people that recklessly broke all the commandments of the decalogue (Jer 7:9.), in the thought that by means of these sacrifices they were proving themselves to be the covenant people, and that to them as such God was bound to bestow the blessings of His covenant. It is therefore with justice that Oehler, in Herzog's Realencykl. xii. S. 228, says: "In the sense that the righteousness of the people and the continuance of its covenant relationship were maintained by sacrifice as such - in this sense Jahveh did not ordain sacrifices in the Torah." Such a soulless service of sacrifice is repudiated by Samuel in Sa1 15:22, when he says to Saul: Hath Jahveh delight in burnt and slain offerings, as in hearkening to the voice of Jahveh? Behold, to hearken is better than sacrifice, etc. So in Psa 40:7; Psa 50:8., Jer 51:18, and Isa 1:11., Jer 6:20; Amo 5:22. What is here said differs from these passages only in this: Jeremiah does not simply say that God has no pleasure in such sacrifices, but adds the inference that the Lord does not desire the sacrifices of a people that have fallen away from Him. This Jeremiah gathers from the history of the giving of the law, and from the fact that, when God adopted Israel as His people, He demanded not sacrifices, but their obedience to His word and their walking in His ways. The design of Jeremiah's addition was the more thoroughly to crush all such vain confidence in sacrifices. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
Put - Ironical words, take those that are peculiar, and to be all burnt to me, and do what you will with them, I will have none of them. To your sacrifices - That part of your sacrifices, which you are allowed to eat, they are but as profane food. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Put your burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh - I will receive neither sacrifice nor oblation from you; therefore you may take the beasts intended for sacrifice, and slay and eat them for your common nourishment. See on Jer 7:29 (note). |
21 I hate [08130], I despise [03988] your feast days [02282], and I will not smell [07306] in your solemn assemblies [06116].
22 Though ye offer [05927] me burnt offerings [05930] and your meat offerings [04503], I will not accept [07521] them: neither will I regard [05027] the peace offerings [08002] of your fat beasts [04806].
13 They sacrifice [02076] flesh [01320] for the sacrifices [02077] of mine offerings [01890], and eat [0398] it; but the LORD [03068] accepteth [07521] them not; now will he remember [02142] their iniquity [05771], and visit [06485] their sins [02403]: they shall return [07725] to Egypt [04714].
11 To what [04100] purpose is the multitude [07230] of your sacrifices [02077] unto me? saith [0559] the LORD [03068]: I am full [07646] of the burnt offerings [05930] of rams [0352], and the fat [02459] of fed beasts [04806]; and I delight [02654] not in the blood [01818] of bullocks [06499], or of lambs [03532], or of he goats [06260].
21 Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635], the God [0430] of Israel [03478]; Put [05595] your burnt offerings [05930] unto your sacrifices [02077], and eat [0398] flesh [01320].
22 For I spake [01696] not unto your fathers [01], nor commanded [06680] them in the day [03117] that I brought them out [03318] of the land [0776] of Egypt [04714], concerning [01697] burnt offerings [05930] or sacrifices [02077]:
23 But this thing [01697] commanded [06680] I them, saying [0559], Obey [08085] my voice [06963], and I will be your God [0430], and ye shall be my people [05971]: and walk [01980] ye in all the ways [01870] that I have commanded [06680] you, that it may be well [03190] unto you.
24 But they hearkened [08085] not, nor inclined [05186] their ear [0241], but walked [03212] in the counsels [04156] and in the imagination [08307] of their evil [07451] heart [03820], and went backward [0268], and not forward [06440].
25 Since the day [03117] that your fathers [01] came forth out [03318] of the land [0776] of Egypt [04714] unto this day [03117] I have even sent [07971] unto you all my servants [05650] the prophets [05030], daily [03117] rising up early [07925] and sending [07971] them:
26 Yet they hearkened [08085] not unto me, nor inclined [05186] their ear [0241], but hardened [07185] their neck [06203]: they did worse [07489] than their fathers [01].
27 Therefore thou shalt speak [01696] all these words [01697] unto them; but they will not hearken [08085] to thee: thou shalt also call [07121] unto them; but they will not answer [06030] thee.
28 But thou shalt say [0559] unto them, This is a nation [01471] that obeyeth [08085] not the voice [06963] of the LORD [03068] their God [0430], nor receiveth [03947] correction [04148]: truth [0530] is perished [06], and is cut off [03772] from their mouth [06310].
22 Though ye offer [05927] me burnt offerings [05930] and your meat offerings [04503], I will not accept [07521] them: neither will I regard [05027] the peace offerings [08002] of your fat beasts [04806].
20 To what purpose cometh [0935] there to me incense [03828] from Sheba [07614], and the sweet [02896] cane [07070] from a far [04801] country [0776]? your burnt offerings [05930] are not acceptable [07522], nor your sacrifices [02077] sweet [06149] unto me.
11 To what [04100] purpose is the multitude [07230] of your sacrifices [02077] unto me? saith [0559] the LORD [03068]: I am full [07646] of the burnt offerings [05930] of rams [0352], and the fat [02459] of fed beasts [04806]; and I delight [02654] not in the blood [01818] of bullocks [06499], or of lambs [03532], or of he goats [06260].
18 They are vanity [01892], the work [04639] of errors [08595]: in the time [06256] of their visitation [06486] they shall perish [06].
8 I will not reprove [03198] thee for thy sacrifices [02077] or thy burnt offerings [05930], to have been continually [08548] before me.
7 Then said [0559] I, Lo, I come [0935]: in the volume [04039] of the book [05612] it is written [03789] of me,
22 And Samuel [08050] said [0559], Hath the LORD [03068] as great delight [02656] in burnt offerings [05930] and sacrifices [02077], as in obeying [08085] the voice [06963] of the LORD [03068]? Behold, to obey [08085] is better [02896] than sacrifice [02077], and to hearken [07181] than the fat [02459] of rams [0352].
9 Will ye steal [01589], murder [07523], and commit adultery [05003], and swear [07650] falsely [08267], and burn incense [06999] unto Baal [01168], and walk [01980] after [0310] other [0312] gods [0430] whom ye know [03045] not;
18 Neither shall the priests [03548] the Levites [03881] want [03772] a man [0376] before [06440] me to offer [05927] burnt offerings [05930], and to kindle [06999] meat offerings [04503], and to do [06213] sacrifice [02077] continually [03117].
11 The voice [06963] of joy [08342], and the voice [06963] of gladness [08057], the voice [06963] of the bridegroom [02860], and the voice [06963] of the bride [03618], the voice [06963] of them that shall say [0559], Praise [03034] the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635]: for the LORD [03068] is good [02896]; for his mercy [02617] endureth for ever [05769]: and of them that shall bring [0935] the sacrifice of praise [08426] into the house [01004] of the LORD [03068]. For I will cause to return [07725] the captivity [07622] of the land [0776], as at the first [07223], saith [0559] the LORD [03068].
14 And I will satiate [07301] the soul [05315] of the priests [03548] with fatness [01880], and my people [05971] shall be satisfied [07646] with my goodness [02898], saith [05002] the LORD [03068].
26 And they shall come [0935] from the cities [05892] of Judah [03063], and from the places about [05439] Jerusalem [03389], and from the land [0776] of Benjamin [01144], and from the plain [08219], and from the mountains [02022], and from the south [05045], bringing [0935] burnt offerings [05930], and sacrifices [02077], and meat offerings [04503], and incense [03828], and bringing [0935] sacrifices of praise [08426], unto the house [01004] of the LORD [03068].
20 And say [0559] unto them, Hear [08085] ye the word [01697] of the LORD [03068], ye kings [04428] of Judah [03063], and all Judah [03063], and all the inhabitants [03427] of Jerusalem [03389], that enter in [0935] by these gates [08179]:
14 And thou shalt not go aside [05493] from any of the words [01697] which I command [06680] thee this day [03117], to the right hand [03225], or to the left [08040], to go [03212] after [0310] other [0312] gods [0430] to serve [05647] them.
23 But this thing [01697] commanded [06680] I them, saying [0559], Obey [08085] my voice [06963], and I will be your God [0430], and ye shall be my people [05971]: and walk [01980] ye in all the ways [01870] that I have commanded [06680] you, that it may be well [03190] unto you.
38 Now this is that which thou shalt offer [06213] upon the altar [04196]; two [08147] lambs [03532] of the first [01121] year [08141] day [03117] by day [03117] continually [08548].
24 An altar [04196] of earth [0127] thou shalt make [06213] unto me, and shalt sacrifice [02076] thereon thy burnt offerings [05930], and thy peace offerings [08002], thy sheep [06629], and thine oxen [01241]: in all places [04725] where I record [02142] my name [08034] I will come [0935] unto thee, and I will bless [01288] thee.
23 And it came to pass, when ye heard [08085] the voice [06963] out of the midst [08432] of the darkness [02822], (for the mountain [02022] did burn [01197] with fire [0784],) that ye came near [07126] unto me, even all the heads [07218] of your tribes [07626], and your elders [02205];
30 Go [03212] say [0559] to them, Get [07725] you into your tents [0168] again [07725].
5 Now therefore, if ye will obey [08085] my voice [06963] indeed [08085], and keep [08104] my covenant [01285], then ye shall be a peculiar treasure [05459] unto me above all people [05971]: for all the earth [0776] is mine:
18 And the LORD [03068] hath avouched [0559] thee this day [03117] to be his peculiar [05459] people [05971], as he hath promised [01696] thee, and that thou shouldest keep [08104] all his commandments [04687];
12 And I will walk [01980] among [08432] you, and will be [01961] your God [0430], and ye shall be [01961] my people [05971].
7 And I will take [03947] you to me for a people [05971], and I will be to you a God [0430]: and ye shall know [03045] that I am the LORD [03068] your God [0430], which bringeth [03318] you out from under the burdens [05450] of the Egyptians [04714].
5 Now therefore, if ye will obey [08085] my voice [06963] indeed [08085], and keep [08104] my covenant [01285], then ye shall be a peculiar treasure [05459] unto me above all people [05971]: for all the earth [0776] is mine:
5 Now therefore, if ye will obey [08085] my voice [06963] indeed [08085], and keep [08104] my covenant [01285], then ye shall be a peculiar treasure [05459] unto me above all people [05971]: for all the earth [0776] is mine:
26 And after [0310] that came [03318] his brother [0251] out [03318], and his hand [03027] took hold [0270] on Esau's [06215] heel [06119]; and his name [08034] was called [07121] Jacob [03290]: and Isaac [03327] was threescore [08346] years [08141] old [01121] when she bare [03205] them.
30 And it came to pass, when he saw [07200] the earring [05141] and bracelets [06781] upon his sister's [0269] hands [03027], and when he heard [08085] the words [01697] of Rebekah [07259] his sister [0269], saying [0559], Thus [03541] spake [01696] the man [0376] unto me; that he came [0935] unto the man [0376]; and, behold, he stood [05975] by [05921] the camels [01581] at the well [05869].
13 Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068], the God [0430] of Israel [03478]; I made [03772] a covenant [01285] with your fathers [01] in the day [03117] that I brought them forth [03318] out of the land [0776] of Egypt [04714], out of the house [01004] of bondmen [05650], saying [0559],
4 Which I commanded [06680] your fathers [01] in the day [03117] that I brought them forth [03318] out of the land [0776] of Egypt [04714], from the iron [01270] furnace [03564], saying [0559], Obey [08085] my voice [06963], and do [06213] them, according to all which I command [06680] you: so shall ye be my people [05971], and I will be your God [0430]:
22 For I spake [01696] not unto your fathers [01], nor commanded [06680] them in the day [03117] that I brought them out [03318] of the land [0776] of Egypt [04714], concerning [01697] burnt offerings [05930] or sacrifices [02077]:
29 Cut off [01494] thine hair [05145], O Jerusalem, and cast it away [07993], and take up [05375] a lamentation [07015] on high places [08205]; for the LORD [03068] hath rejected [03988] and forsaken [05203] the generation [01755] of his wrath [05678].