12 Then Yahweh said to me, "You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it."
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Hasten - Rather, I watch over "my word to perform it."
I will hasten my word - Here is a paronomasia. What dost thou see? I see שקד shaked, "an almond," the hastening tree: that which first awakes. Thou hast well seen, for (שקד shoked) I will hasten my word. I will awake, or watch over my word for the first opportunity to inflict the judgments which I threaten. The judgment shall come speedily; it shall soon flourish, and come to maturity.
Then said the Lord unto me, thou hast well seen,.... The thing seen is a very proper emblem of what I am about to do, and the quick dispatch that will be made therein:
for l will hasten my word to perform it; the words , "shoked ani", "I will hasten", or "I am hastening", are in allusion to "shoked", the name of the almond tree in Hebrew; which is so called because it is quick and early, and, as it were, hastens to bring forth its flowers, leaves, and fruit; in like manner the Lord says he would hasten to perform what he had said or should say by him concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, and the captivity of the people, and every thing else he should give him in commission to say. Jarchi and Abendana make mention of an ancient Midrash, or exposition, to this sense; that from the time of the almond tree's putting forth, until its fruit is ripe, are one and twenty days, according to the number of days which were between the seventeenth of Tammuz, in which the city was broken up, and the ninth of Ab, in which the temple was burnt; but though the almond tree is the first of trees, and is very early in putting forth, yet there is a greater time than this between its putting forth and its fruit being ripe; for Pliny (s) says, that the almond tree first of all flowers in January, and its fruit is ripe in March.
(s) Nat. Hist. l. 16. c. 25.
hasten--rather, "I will be wakeful as to My word," &c.; alluding to Jeremiah 1:11, "the wakeful tree" [MAURER].
Well seen - Or thou hast seen and judged right. Hasten - Word for word, I will almond - tree it, that is, I will be upon them speedily, in a short time. My word - My threatening against Judah and its inhabitants.
*More commentary available at chapter level.