Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations Volume 2 John Calvin (continued)
JOHN CALVIN
and has not spoken hiddenly, neither doubtfully nor obscurely; for there is nothing more clear than his teaching, provided men do not become wilfully blind. He then adds, ---
Jeremiah 23:17-18
17. They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
17. Dicentes dicendo iis qui me contemnunt, Loquutus est Jehova, Pax erit vobis, et omnibus qui ambulant (cunctis ambulantibus; est quidem singularis numerus, ad verbum, cuique ambulanti) in pravitate cordis sui, dicunt, Non veniet super vos malum.
18. For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?
18. Nam quis stetit in consilio Jehovae? et vidit et audivit sermonem ejus? Quis attendit ad sermonem ejus et audivit?
Jeremiah introduces another mark by which the false prophets might be known as different from the true prophets, --- they flattered the ungodly and wicked despisers of God. He thus repeats what he had before said, that they strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that they became hardened in their impiety, and threw aside every care for repentance. Though he uses different words, yet the meaning is the same, that they promised peace, or prosperity, to the despisers of God, for the word {,}שלום shalum, means to live well or happily.
They say, then, to those who despise or reject me; for {,}נאףnats, means both.
The doubling of the word for ``saying,'' is also emphatical, {,}אמרים{ }אמורamrim amur: 96 for we know with how much haughtiness and confidence the false prophets dared to announce their dreams; for they were led by the spirit of pride, as they were the children of Satan. Hence then was their confidence, so that they made their declarations as though they had come down from heaven. They say, then, by saying; that is, they promise, and that with great effrontery, that peace would be to all the despisers of God; and not only so, but they pretended God's name, Spoken, has Jehovah 97 They wished to be deemed the instruments or agents of the Holy Spirit, while they were vainly announcing, as it has been said, their own imaginations. And hence Jeremiah applied to them, though improperly, the word vision, They speak the vision of their own heart By using this word he makes a concession; for he might have said only, that they adduced nothing but trifles, even the falsehoods which 96Some, as Venema and Blayney, think that {{אמריםbelongs to the preceding verse; but this would not consist with the Hebrew idiom, where a participle often precedes a verb in the future tense, but never follows it; nor is this countenanced by any of the Versions or the Targ. The words as they stand are indeed unusual; the probability is that {}אמור should be ,{}אמרוand all the Versions give it as such, ``they say.'' Then it would be, ``Saying they say;'' which imports the boldness and the confidence of the false prophets; that is, ``They boldly say.'' --- Ed
97There is a difference in the early versions as to this clause; it is connected in the Sept. and Arab. with the preceding, "They say to those who reject the word of the Lord," etc., and Blayney has followed this arrangement. The Vulg., the Syr., and the Targ., take it as a separate clause, and render it as here. The Hebrew no doubt admits of either constructions, but the Lord appears to be the speaker, and therefore the latter construction ought to have the preference, — 17. They boldly say to those who despise me, Spoken hath Jehovah, "Peace shall be to you;" And to every one who walks in the resolutions of his own heart, They say, "Not come upon you shall evil." This rendering also corresponds more with what is said in Jeremiah 23:25, that the prophets prophesied lies in God's name. — Ed.