Jeremiah 10:13
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When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
We may conjecture that the prophecy of this chapter was delivered after the first captivity, in the time of Jeconiah or Jehoiachin, when many were carried away to Babylon; for it has a double reference: - I. To those that were carried away into the land of the Chaldeans, a country notorious above any other for idolatry and superstition; and they are here cautioned against the infection of the place, not to learn the way of the heathen (Jer 10:1, Jer 10:2), for their astrology and idolatry are both foolish things (Jer 10:3-5), and the worshippers of idols brutish (Jer 10:8, Jer 10:9). So it will appear in the day of their visitation (Jer 10:14, Jer 10:15). They are likewise exhorted to adhere firmly to the God of Israel, for there is none like him (Jer 10:6, Jer 10:7). He is the true God, lives for ever, and has the government of the world (Jer 10:10-13), and his people are happy in him (Jer 10:16). II. To those that yet remained in their own land. They are cautioned against security, and told to expect distress (Jer 10:17, Jer 10:18) and that by a foreign enemy, which God would bring upon them for their sin (Jer 10:20-22). This calamity the prophet laments (Jer 10:19) and prays for the mitigation of it (Jer 10:23-25).
Open source ↗10:13 This affirmation struck at the essence of Baal, the Canaanite god of storm and fertility. The Canaanites believed that Baal actually was the thunder and the rain, but the Lord claimed them as his creations (Ps 135:5-7) through which he can speak and even roar (Job 37:2-5).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
Have you entered the storehouses of snow or observed the storehouses of hail,
The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded— hailstones and coals of fire.
So Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning struck the earth. So the LORD rained down hail upon the land of Egypt.
And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.”
they have ears, but cannot hear; nor is there breath in their mouths.
to Him who rides upon the highest heavens of old; behold, His mighty voice resounds.
who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the hills.
Ask the LORD for rain in springtime;the LORD makes the storm clouds,and He will give everyone showers of rainand crops in the field.