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their pofterity back, and fix them in a state of prosperity. 7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I [am] the LORD and they fhall be my people, and I will be their God: for they fhall return unto me with their whole heart; they shall know God practically, renounce their idolatry, return to their duty, and live in the fear of God, and in obedience to his commands.

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And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are fo evil; furely thus faith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the refidue of Jerufalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt, that went to fettle 9 in Egypt for fecurity: And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for [their]: hurt, [to be] a reproach and a proverb, a taunt, and a curfe, in all places whither I fhall drive them; they Shall be fignal inftances of God's difpleafure, and become for contemptible and miferable, that the common form of curfing 10 fball be, God make you like them. And I will fend the fword, the famine, and the peftilence, among them,. till they be confumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers;. I will send one calamity after another upon them, fo that neither they nor their pofterity fhall ever return to their own land.

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REFLECTION S.

HIS fhort chapter is exceeding ufeful, as it gives us a key to fome of the most myfterious difpenfations of providence. We learn,

1. That one event in this respect happens to all. The good and the bad alike are carried captive; there is no knowing good or evil by any thing that happens under the fun. Therefore we must not cenfure or judge our brethren, when they meet with great calamities, nor reckon their fufferings to be divine judgments.

2. We

• Their former calamities had no fuch effect, but feemed rather to harden them; this therefore could not be a conjecture of Jeremiah's, for it was a moft unlikely thing; but the fpirit of prophecy plainly appears in it.

2. We fee how differently the fame afflictions work upon the good and bad. These first captives feemed to be in very deplorable circumstances; they were driven from their country; loft their eftates, their fubftance, and liberty; and were carried into a heathen land, among strangers, enemies, and oppreffors; far from their friends, and the house and ordinances of God. Yet this was all for their good; to cure them of idolatry, and bring them to know and ferve the God of Ifrael: while their countrymen, tho' fpared for a time, were at length carried away for their hurt and ruin. Thus afflictions are ftill different in their effects on the righteous and on the wicked. God's intentions to his people are moft kind when his judgments seem moft severe but to his enemies they are not the correction of a father, but the fword of an executioner.

3. We are here taught the defign of afflictions, v. 7. viz. to bring us to know God, to return to him with our whole heart, and fo become his people. Tho' afflictions are adapted to answer this end, yet they will not do it without divine agency; therefore God promises, I will give them anheart to know me, that I am the Lord. This therefore fhould be the fubject of our prayers, especially in feafons of diftrefs, that God would give us fuch an heart and then will he fulfil that glorious promife, that all things fall work together for our good.

CHA P. XXV.

This chapter contains a prophecy of the deftruction of Judea and the neighbouring countries by Nebuchadnezzar.

HE word that came to Jeremiah concerning all

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the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoi akim the fon of Jofiah king of Judah, when he reigned with his father, that [was] the firft year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and then the feventy years of cap2 tivity began; The which Jeremiah the prophet fpake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants 3 of Jerufalem, faying, From the thirteenth year of

Jofiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this. day, that [is] the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rifing early and fpeaking; but ye have not 4 hearkened. And the LORD hath fent unto you all his servants the prophets, rifing early and fending [them ;] but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to 5 hear. They faid, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you 6 and to your fathers for ever and ever: And go not after other gods to ferve them; and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your 7 hands; and I will do you no hurt. Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, faith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

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Therefore thus faith the LORD of hofts; Because ye 9 have not heard my words, Behold, I will fend and take all the families of the north, faith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my fervant, whom I will make use of as a fcourge upon the nations, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly deftroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hiffing, and perpetual defola10 tions. Moreover 1 will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the found of the milftones, and the light of the candle; they fhall I have neither trade nor pleasure. And this whole land fhall be a defolation, [and] an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 And it fhall come to pass, when feventy years are accomplished, [that] I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, faith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual 13 defolations. And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, [even] all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath pro

phefied

L4 phefied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings fhall ferve themselves of them alfo ; or, for of them, even of thefe, fhall many nations and great kings exact fervice; that is, Cyrus and Darius, the Medes and Perfians, and their allies: and I will recompenfe them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

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For thus faith the LORD God of Ifrael unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I fend thee, to drink it, that 16 is, prophefy against them. And they fhall drink, and be moved, and be mad, they shall be intoxicated, lofe their understanding, and act like madmen, becaufe of the 17 fword that I will fend among them. Then took I the cup at the LORD's hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom the LORD had fent me; an allufion to the custom of drinking round in company; and the prophets 18 are faid to do that which they foretold God would do: [To wit,] Jerufalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a defolation, an astonishment, an hiffing, and a curfe; as [it is] this day; the judgment is already begun in Judea, 19, and fome are carried captive; Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his fervants, and his princes, and all his people; 20 And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philiftines, and Afhkelon, and Azzah, or Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, a mingled people near the Red fea, governors of little ftates, and heads of 21 clans, Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon, 22 And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of

Zidon, and the kings of the ifles which [are] beyond the fea, or, regions by the fea fide, which lay on the mid23 land fea, what we call the Levant, Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all [that are] in the utmost corners, that have their coaft infulated, or their hair polled, that is, the 24 Arabian clans, And all the kings of Arabia, and all

the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the 25 defert, And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings 26 of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, And all the

kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which [are] upon the face of the earth; the whole empire of Nebuchadnezzar, who had conquered almost all the earth: and the king of Shefhach, that is, Babylon, fhall drink after them. 27 Therefore thou fhalt fay unto them, Thus faith the LORD of hosts, the God of Ifrael; Drink ye, and be drunken, and fpew, and fall, and rife no more, because of the fword which I will fend among you; that is, ye fhall do fo, and be fo confounded, that ye shall not be 28 able to do any thing, either by skill or force. And it shall be, if they refufe to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou fay unto them, Thus faith the 29 LORD of hosts, Ye fhall certainly drink. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and fhould ye be utterly unpunished? Ye fhall not be unpunished: for I will call for a fword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, faith the LORD of hosts, for learning your idolatry, and therefore certainly upon you 30 who taught them. Therefore prophefy thou against them all these words, and fay unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he fhall give a fhout, as they that tread [the grapes,] against all the inhabitants of the earth; that is, he shall make himself known by denouncing and executing dreadful 31 judgments. A noife fhall come [even] to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controverfy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will judge them and fet himself against them; he will give them [that are] 32 wicked to the fword, faith the LORD. Thus faith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind fhall be raised up. 33 from the coafts of the earth. And the flain of the LORD fhall be at that day from [one] end of the earth even unto the [other] end of the earth: they fhall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they fhall be dung upon the ground.

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Howl, ye fhepherds, ye princes and magiftrates, and cry; and wallow yourselves [in the ashes,] ye principal

of