Jeremiah - 19:13



13 and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the army of the sky, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.

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Explanation and meaning of Jeremiah 19:13.

Differing Translations

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And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.
And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of Juda shall be unclean as the place of Topheth: all the houses upon whose roots they have sacrificed to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings to strange gods.
And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be as the place of Topheth, defiled, all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of the heavens, and have poured out drink-offerings unto other gods.
and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, have been, as the place of Tophet, defiled, even all the houses on whose roofs they have made perfume to all the host of the heavens, so as to pour out oblations to other gods.'
And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which they have made unclean, will be like the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs perfumes have been burned to all the army of heaven, and drink offerings drained out to other gods.
and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses upon whose roofs they have offered unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink-offerings unto other gods.
And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be unclean, just like the place of Topheth: all the houses on whose roofs they sacrificed to all the armies of heaven and poured out libations to strange gods."
Et erunt domus Hierusalem et domus regum Jehudah, sicut locus Thopheth immundae; ad omnes domos in quibus suffitum fecerunt super tecta eorum universae militiae coelorum, et libarunt libamen diis alienis.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

He describes, as I have said, more at large what he had briefly expressed, for he had spoken of the city; but as the belief of that was difficult, he now enumerates particulars, as though he had said, that Jerusalem was a wide city and splendidly built, for there were there many large and elegant houses, and the royal palaces, yet he says, that all these things would not prevent God to demolish the whole city. And this deserves particular notice, for we know that Satan dazzles our eyes whenever he suggests anything that gives a hope of defense, but what God threatens we think is vain, and as it were fabulous, or at least produces no effect on us. Since then so gross an hypocrisy prevailed in the hearts of the people, the Prophet rightly tried to shake off from them whatever might deceive them. Hence he says, The houses of Jerusalem, etc. -- these were many and splendid -- and the houses of the kings of Judah, their palaces either within or without the city shall be as the place of Tophet; that is, no house shall be exempt from slaughter, and no palace shall protect its inhabitants. They shall be unclean, he says, that is, on account of dead bodies, for men slain would be found everywhere; and this is, as it is well known, often mentioned in Scripture as a pollution or defilement. With regard to all the houses; some read, "On account of all the houses," and l lamed, is often a causal preposition. But it seems rather to be taken here as explanation; and hence I render the words, With regard to all the houses, so that the Prophet speaks of all the houses in, which they made incense. [1] As then there was no house free from sacrilege, he says that God's vengeance would penetrate into all houses without any exception. He says also, On the roofs, with the view of condemning them for their effrontery; for they raised their baseness as a standard, that it might be seen at a distance. They indeed thought that God was delighted with such a service; but how came they to entertain such a foolish persuasion, except through their neglect and contempt of the law, and also through a mad presumption in giving more credit to their own fictions than to certain truth. The Prophet then justly condemns them, for they had cast off all shame, and went up to the roofs of their houses, that their doings might be more open. Then he mentions the whole host of heaven; and says further, that they had poured a libation to foreign gods. We see that many kinds of superstitions prevailed among the people; for he spoke of Baal in the singular number, he mentioned also Baalim, patrons, and he now adds, the whole host of heaven; that is, the sun, the moon, and all the stars. We hence see that the Jews kept no limits as to their sacrileges, which is usually the case with all the ungodly; for as soon as men begin to turn aside from the pure and genuine worship of God, they sink into the lowest depths. It is then this wantonness that the Prophet now refers to, when he intimates that their various forms of worship were so increased, that they had devised as many gods as there are stars in heaven; which is similar to what is said elsewhere, "According to the number of thy cities, O Judah, are thy gods," (Jeremiah 2:28; Jeremiah 11:13.)

Footnotes

1 - On account of all the houses," is the Septuagint and the Targum; "all the houses," is the Vulgate and the Syriac, being put in apposition with "the houses of Jerusalem," etc. The words which follow are literally, -- "which they have burned incense on their roofs," which we properly render in our language, "on whose roofs they have burned incense;" but the Welsh is literally the Hebrew, Y rhai yr arogldarthasant ar eu pennau, -- "which they incensed on their roofs;" but "incensed" in this sense is not used. -- Ed.

Because of all - literally, "with reference to all," limiting the denunciation to those houses whose roofs had been defiled with altars.
Upon whose roofs they have burned incense - See 2-Kings 23:12, note.

And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the (f) houses upon whose (g) roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.
(f) He notes the great rage of the idolaters who left no place free from their abominations, in that they polluted their own houses with it, as we see yet among the papists.
(g) Read (Deuteronomy 22:8).

And the houses of Jerusalem,.... Where the common people dwelt:
and the houses of the kings of Judah; the palaces of the king, princes, and nobles of Judah, one as well as another:
shall be defiled os Tophet; as that was defiled with the bodies and bones of the slain, and with the faith of the city brought unto it; so the houses of great and small, high and low, should be defiled with the carcasses of the slain that should lie unburied there; their houses should be their graves, and they buried in the ruins of them: or, "the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled" (s), with the idolatries after mentioned, shall be as Tophet, places of slaughter:
because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burnt incense to all the host of heaven; the roofs of houses with the Jews were built flat; and, as they sometimes used them for prayer to the God of heaven, as Peter did, Acts 10:9; idolaters used them to burn incense on to the sun, moon, and stars; to which they were nearer, and of which they could have a clearer view upon the house tops, and therefore chose them for this purpose; and so common was this sort of idolatry, that it was practised upon most, if not all, the houses in Jerusalem; see Zephaniah 1:5;
and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods; besides the God of Israel; to Baal, and other Heathen deities.
(s) "quae pollutae sunt", Gataker.

shall be defiled--with dead bodies (Jeremiah 19:12; 2-Kings 23:10).
because of all the houses--Rather, (explanatory of the previous "the houses . . . and . . . houses"), "even all the houses," &c. [CALVIN].
roofs--being flat, they were used as high places for sacrifices to the sun and planets (Jeremiah 32:29; 2-Kings 23:11-12; Zephaniah 1:5). The Nabateans, south and east of the Dead Sea, a nation most friendly to the Jews, according to STRABO, had the same usage.

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