14 For many nations and great kings shall make bondservants of them, even of them; and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The beginning of the verse is obscure. When the verb vd, obed, is followed by v, beth, they think that it is to be taken actively, and rendered, to force or drive to bondage. It means properly, to serve; but they think that found as here it is a transitive verb. Some render it, "they employed them;" but this is frigid and ambiguous; for friends may be said to employ one another, when the work is mutual; hence the meaning is not sufficiently expressed. But the meaning may be given by a paraphrase, that they "forced them into bondage." Still the meaning of the Prophet is not yet sufficiently clear; for vdv, obedu, may be taken either in the past or future tense. It is, indeed, in the past tense; but the past may be taken for the future: thus the meaning may be different. If it be taken in the past tense, then it cannot be applied except to the Babylonians; for they were those who had treated the Israelites as slaves, or had forced them into bondage; and vm, bem, "them," might be understood of the Israelites; for we know that pronouns are often thus used, when the Church, or God's elect people, is the subject. Then the Prophet's words may be thus rendered, "for they have tyrannically ruled over them," even the Israelites, "and they themselves," that is, the Israelites, shall in their turn rule, the latter words being understood. But the meaning, as it seems to me, would be more simple, were we to read the whole together in this way, "For they also themselves shall rule over them, even over strong and valiant nations and great kings, and I will recompense them," etc. The reason which has constrained me to give this interpretation is this: It is said in the last verse that Jeremiah prophesied against all nations; then follows an explanation, and the Prophet briefly shews, or reminds us, what would be the issue of these prophecies, even that they also would themselves rule over these nations. Then vm, bem, as I think, refers to the Babylonians and other heathen nations; and it is a common thing with the prophets, when they speak of the restoration of the ancient Church, and of Christ's coming, to promise power to God's children to hold the whole world under their feet. The sentence also will flow better, when we give this version, "They shall rule." There is, indeed, a change as to time, but this is a common thing in Hebrew. It is then; For they shall rule over them, that is, the nations. Jeremiah had spoken of all heathen nations; mention had been made of all that he had prophesied against all nations; and he says now what seemed incredible, and hence the particle gm, gam, is introduced, "even these very Israelites," as though he had said, "Though this shall happen beyond hope, so as to appear strange and fabulous, yet God by the issue will shew that he has not in vain communicated this to me; for they, even the Israelites, shall have their turn to exercise dominion; and they shall constrain all nations to obey them." And what follows confirms my view; for he adds, over strong nations, gvym rvym, guim rebim, (for the v, beth, may be repeated here;) or we may render the words "many nations;" for the word rvym, rebim, means both; but as it follows "and great kings," I am disposed to render the words, "strong nations." Then he says, "For they shall rule over strong nations and great kings." [1] He then subjoins, I will recompense them, that is, both kings and nations, according to their doing, and according to the work of their hands, because they had exercised every kind of cruelty towards the miserable Israelites. Hence the Prophet pursues the same subject, -- that God would at length really shew, that though he had been angry with his Church, yet all hope of mercy was not lost, for he was mindful of his covenant. He thus mitigates the severity of what he had previously said; he promises them something far better than what the wretched Jews could have expected in their extreme calamities. We may again learn from the words of the Prophet, that God so employed Nebuchadnezzar and others, that they performed no service deserving of praise; for had they been without fault, God must doubtless have unjustly punished them. This passage then teaches us, that though the devil and the reprobate execute God's judgments, they yet deserve no praise for their obedience, for they have no such purpose in view. It now follows, --
1 - A reference to Jeremiah 27:7, will enable us to understand this passage. The words are alike. "Many nations and great kings" in that verse mean the conquerors of the king of Babylon; and so they mean the same here, no doubt. "All the nations" in the preceding verse were "all the families of the north," mentioned in Jeremiah 25:9, who were subject to the king of Babylon; and "them" at the beginning of this verse are these nations, which are here spoken of as being subjected to bondage or to servitude, while in Jeremiah 27:7, the king of Babylon himself is mentioned. The verb vr, when followed by v, means invariably to enslave, to reduce to bondage, to bring into subjection, or to subdue. Then the verse should be thus rendered, -- For make them, even these, to serve, Shall many nations and great kings; And I will render to them according to their work, According to the doing of their own hands. This is the meaning given by the Targ.; the Vulg. and the Syr. render the verb incorrectly, though in both the pronoun them is made to refer to the nations in the preceding verse. -- Ed.
Shall serve themselves of them also - i. e., shall impose forced labor upon the Chaldaeans, and reduce them also to servitude.
Many nations and great kings - The Medes and the Persians, under Cyrus; and several princes, his vassals or allies.
For many nations and great kings shall be (l) served by them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.
(l) That is of the Babylonians as in (Jeremiah 27:7).
For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also,.... Take their cities, seize upon the kingdoms, spoil them of their wealth and riches, and bring them into servitude to them: these "many nations", which should and did do all this, were the Medes and Persians, and those that were subject to them, or were their allies and auxiliaries in this expedition; and the "great kings" were Cyrus and Darius, and those that were confederate with them:
and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands; as they have done to others, it shall be done to them; as they have served themselves of other nations, other nations shall serve themselves of them; as they have cruelly used others, they shall be used with cruelty themselves; and as they have made other countries desolate, their land shall become desolate also; not only their tyranny and cruelty, but all their other sins, shall receive a just recompence of reward.
serve themselves-- (Jeremiah 27:7; Jeremiah 30:8; Jeremiah 34:10). Avail themselves of their services as slaves.
them also--the Chaldees, who heretofore have made other nations their slaves, shall themselves also in their turn be slaves to them. MAURER translates, "shall impose servitude on them, even them."
recompense them--namely, the Chaldees and other nations against whom Jeremiah had prophesied (Jeremiah 25:13), as having oppressed the Jews.
their deeds--rather, "deed," namely, their bad treatment of the Jews (Jeremiah 50:29; Jeremiah 51:6, Jeremiah 51:24; compare 2-Chronicles 36:17).
The perfect עבדוּ is to be regarded as a prophetic present. עבד בּ, impose labour, servitude on one, cf. Jeremiah 22:13, i.e., reduce one to servitude. גּם המּה is an emphatic repetition of the pronoun בּם, cf. Gesen. 121, 3. Upon them, too (the Chaldeans), shall many peoples and great kings impose service, i.e., they shall make the Chaldeans bondsmen, reduce them to subjection. With "I will requite them," cf. Jeremiah 50:29; Jeremiah 51:24, where this idea is repeatedly expressed.
(Note: Jeremiah 25:11-14 are pronounced by Hitz., Ew., Graf to be spurious and interpolated; but Hitz. excepts the second half of Jeremiah 25:14, and proposes to set it immediately after the first half of Jeremiah 25:11. Their main argument is the dogmatic prejudice, that in the fourth year of Jehoiakim Jeremiah could not have foretold the fall of Babylon after seventy years' domination. The years foretold, says Hitz., "would coincide by all but two years, or, if Darius the Mede be a historical person, perhaps quite entirely. Such correspondence between history and prophecy would be a surprising accident, or else Jeremiah must have known beforehand the number of years during which the subjection to Babylon would last." Now the seventy years of Babylon's sovereignty are mentioned against in Jeremiah 29:10, where Jeremiah promises the exiles that after seventy years they shall return to their native land, and no doubt is thrown by the above-mentioned critics on this statement; but there the seventy years are said to be a so-called round number, because that prophecy was composed nine years later than the present one. But on the other hand, almost all comm. have remarked that the utterance of Jeremiah 29:10 : "when as for Babylon seventy years are accomplished, will I visit you," points directly back to the prophecy before us (25), and so gives a testimony to the genuineness of our 11th verse. And thus at the same time the assertion is disposed of, that in Jeremiah 29:10 the years given are a round number; for it is not there said that seventy years will be accomplished from the time of that letter addressed by the prophet to those in Babylon, but the terminus a quo of the seventy years is assumed as known already from the present twenty-fifth chap. - The other arguments brought forward by Hitz. against the genuineness of the verse have already been pronounced inconclusive by Ng. Nevertheless Ng. himself asserts the spuriousness, not indeed of Jeremiah 25:11 (the seventy years' duration of Judah's Babylonian bondage), but of Jeremiah 25:12-14, and on the following grounds: - 1. Although in Jeremiah 25:11, and below in Jeremiah 25:26, it is indicated that Babylon itself will not be left untouched by the judgment of the Lord, yet (he says) it is incredible that in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the prophet could have spoken of the fall of Babylon in such a full and emphatic manner as is the case in Jeremiah 25:12-14. But no obvious reason can be discovered why this should be incredible. For though in Jeremiah 25:26 Jeremiah makes use of the name Sheshach for Babylon, it does not hence follow that at that moment he desired to speak of it only in a disguised manner. In the statement that the Jews should serve the king of Babylon seventy years, it was surely clearly enough implied that after the seventy years Babylon's sovereignty should come to an end. Still less had Jeremiah occasion to fear that the announcement of the fall of Babylon after seventy years would confirm the Jews in their defiant determination not to be tributary to Babylon. The prophets of the Lord did not suffer themselves to be regulated in their prophesyings by such reasons of human expediency. - 2. Of more weight are his other two arguments. Jeremiah 25:12 and Jeremiah 25:13 presume the existence of the prophecy against Babylon, Jeremiah 50 and 51, which was not composed till the fourth year of Zedekiah; and the second half of Jeremiah 25:13 presumes the existence of the other prophecies against the nations, and that too as a ספר. And although the greater number of these prophecies are older than the time of the battle at Carchemish, yet we may see (says Ng.) from the relation of apposition in which the second half of Jeremiah 25:13 stands to the first, that here that Sepher against the peoples is meant in which the prophecy against Babylon was already contained. But from all this nothing further follows than that the words: "all that is written in this book and that Jeremiah prophesied against the peoples," were not uttered by Jeremiah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, but were first appended at the editing of the prophecies or the writing of them down in the book which has come down to us. The demonstrative הזּה does by no means show that he who wrote it regarded the present passage, namely Jeremiah 25, as belonging to the Sepher against the peoples, or that the prophecies against the peoples must have stood in immediate connection with Jeremiah 25. It only shows that the prophecies against the peoples too were found in the book which contained Jeremiah 25. Again, it is true that the first half of Jeremiah 25:14 occurs again somewhat literally in Jeremiah 27:7; but we do not at all see in this reliable evidence that Jeremiah could not have written Jeremiah 25:14. Ng. founds this conclusion mainly on the allegation that the perf. עבדוּ is wrong, whereas in Jeremiah 27:7 it is joined regularly by ו consec. to the indication of time which precedes. But the perfect is here to be regarded as the prophetic present, marking the future as already accomplished in the divine counsel; just as in Jeremiah 27:6 the categorical נתתּי represents as accomplished that which in reality yet awaited its fulfilment. Accordingly we regard none of these arguments as conclusive. On the other hand, the fact that the Alexandrian translators have rendered Jeremiah 25:12 and Jeremiah 25:13, and have made the last clause of Jeremiah 25:13 the heading to the oracles against the peoples, furnishes an unexceptionable testimony to the genuineness of all three verses. Nor is this testimony weakened by the omission in that translation of Jeremiah 25:14; for this verse could not but be omitted when the last clause of Jeremiah 25:13 had been taken as a heading, since the contents of Jeremiah 25:14 were incompatible with that view.)
*More commentary available at chapter level.