Jeremiah 17:4

And thou, even thyself,.... Or, "thou, and in thee" (l); that is, thou and those that are in thee, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea; or, "thou even through thyself" (m); through thine own fault, by reason of thy sins and iniquities: shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; be removed from it, and no longer enjoy it: or, "shalt intermit from thine heritage" (n); shall not till the land, plough and sow, and reap, and gather the fruits of it: this was enjoined on every seventh year, when the land was to have its rest, or sabbath, Exo 23:10, but this law they did not observe; and now, therefore, whether they would or not, the land should be intermitted, and not tilled and enjoyed by them. The Targum takes in the whole of the sense, "and I will bring an enemy upon your land; and it shall be desolate as in the year of intermission: and I will take vengeance of judgment upon you, until I remove you from your inheritance which I have given unto you;'' the land of Canaan, which was given them for an inheritance: I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not; the Babylonians in Chaldea; or, as Jerom thinks; the Romans. Of the different reading of these words; see Gill on Jer 15:13, for ye have I kindled a fire in mine anger; or by their sins had caused the anger of the Lord to burn like fire: which shall burn for ever; as it will in hell, and therefore called everlasting fire: here it only means until these people and their country were consumed by the enemy; perhaps some reference is had to the burning of the city and temple by the Babylonians, or Romans, or both. These first four verses are left out by the Septuagint interpreters, Jerom thinks, to spare their own people. (l) "qui sunt apud te", Junius & Tremellius. (m) "Per…

In this chapter, I. God convicts the Jews of the sin of idolatry by the notorious evidence of the fact, and condemns them to captivity for it (Jer 17:1-4). II. He shows them the folly of all their carnal confidences, which should stand them in no stead when God's time came to contend with them, and that this was one of the sins upon which his controversy with them was grounded (Jer 17:5-11). III. The prophet makes his appeal and address to God upon occasion of the malice of his enemies against him, committing himself to the divine protection, and begging of God to appear for him (Jer 17:12-18). IV. God, by the prophet, warns the people to keep holy the sabbath day, assuring them that, if they did, it should be the lengthening out of their tranquility, but that, if not, God would by some desolating judgment assert the honour of his sabbaths (Jer 17:19-27).

17:4 The wonderful possession, the Promised Land, would slip from Judah’s hands when the people were taken as captives to Babylon.