(KJV) Jeremiah 351

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⥃The Obedience of the Rechabites

[1] The word2 which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord in the3 days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,4 [2] Go unto the house5 of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one6 of the chambers, and give them wine to drink. [3] Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites; [4] And I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber7 of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man8 of God, which [was] by the chamber of the princes9, which [was] above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper10 of the door11: [5] And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them, Drink12 ye wine. [6] But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab13 the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall14 drink no wine, [neither] ye, nor your sons for ever: [7] Neither shall15 ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have [any]: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye [be] strangers. [8] Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he hath charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters;16 [9] Nor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed:17 [10] But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.18 [11] But it came to pass, when19 Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come20, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem.

⥃Judah Rebuked

[12] Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying, [13] Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will21 ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith the Lord. [14] The words22 of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father’s commandment: notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising23 early and speaking; but ye24 hearkened not unto me. [15] I have25 sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending [them], saying, Return26 ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell27 in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have28 not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me. [16] Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people hath not hearkened unto me:29 [17] Therefore30 thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold31, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because32 I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered.

[18] [¶]And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Because33 ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you: [19] Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab34 the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand35 before me for ever.

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  1. Jer 35:1, By the obedience of the Rechabites, Jer 35:12. Jeremiah condemns the disobedience of the Jews; Jer 35:18, God blesses the Rechabites for their obedience. ↩

  2. This discourse was probably delivered in the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign, when the king of Babylon made war against him. ↩

  3. Jer 1:3, Jer 22:13-19, Jer 25:1, Jer 26:1, Jer 36:1, Jer 36:9, Jer 36:29, Jer 46:2; 2Kgs 23:35, 2Kgs 24:1-6; 2Chr 36:5-8; Dan 1:1 ↩

  4. am 3397, bc 607 ↩

  5. Jer 35:8; 2Kgs 10:15-16; 1Chr 2:55 ↩

  6. Jer 35:4; 1Kgs 6:5-6, 1Kgs 6:10; 1Chr 9:26, 1Chr 23:28; 2Chr 3:9, 2Chr 31:11; Ezra 8:29; Neh 13:5, Neh 13:8-9; Ezek 40:7-13, Ezek 40:16, Ezek 41:5-11, Ezek 42:4-13 ↩

  7. Jer 36:10-12 ↩

  8. Deut 33:1; Josh 14:6; 1Sam 2:27, 1Sam 9:6-8; 1Kgs 12:22, 1Kgs 13:1, 1Kgs 13:26, 1Kgs 17:18, 1Kgs 17:24; 1Kgs 20:28; 2Kgs 1:9, 2Kgs 1:11-13, 2Kgs 5:14, 2Kgs 5:20, 2Kgs 6:10, 2Kgs 7:2, 2Kgs 7:17, 2Kgs 8:2-8, 2Kgs 23:16-17; 2Chr 8:14, 2Chr 25:7-9; 1Tim 6:11; 2Tim 3:17 ↩

  9. Jer 26:10 ↩

  10. Jer 52:24; 2Kgs 12:9, 2Kgs 25:18; 1Chr 9:18-19, 1Chr 9:27; 2Chr 8:14; Ps 84:10 ↩

  11. Heb. threshold, or vessel, Ezek 43:8 ↩

  12. Jer 35:2; Eccl 9:7; Amos 2:12; 2Cor 2:9 ↩

  13. 2Kgs 10:15; 1Chr 2:55 ↩

  14. Jonadab, a man of fervent zeal for the pure worship of God, and who lived about three hundred years before this time (2Kgs 10:15-16, etc.) had probably practised these rules himself; and having trained up his children to habits of abstemiousness, he enjoined them and their posterity to adhere to them. In these regulations he seems to have had no religious, but merely a prudential view, as is intimated in the reason annexed to them "that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers." And this would be the natural consequence of observing these rules; for their temperate mode of living would very much contribute to preserve health and prolong life; and they would avoid giving umbrage, or exciting the jealousy or envy of the Jews, who might have been provoked, by their engaging and succeeding in the principal business in which they themselves were engaged, agriculture and vine-dressing to expel them their country; by which they would have been deprived of the religious advantages they enjoyed. In 1Chr 2:55, they are termed scribes, which intimates that they were engaged in some kind of literary employments. Lev 10:9; Num 6:2-5; Judg 13:7, Judg 13:14; Luke 1:15; 1Cor 7:26-31, all, Jer 35:10; Gen 25:27; Lev 23:42-43; Neh 8:14-16; Heb 11:9-13; 1Pet 2:11, that ye, Gen 36:7; Exod 20:12; 1Chr 16:19; Ps 105:12; Eph 6:2-3 ↩

  15. Jer 35:10; Gen 25:27; Lev 23:42-43; Neh 8:14-16; Eph 5:18; Heb 11:9-13; 1Pet 2:11 ↩

  16. Prov 1:8-9, Prov 4:1-2, Prov 4:10, Prov 6:20, Prov 13:1; Col 3:20 ↩

  17. Jer 35:7; Num 16:14; 2Kgs 5:26; Ps 37:16; 1Tim 6:6 ↩

  18. Jer 35:8 ↩

  19. 2Kgs 24:2; Dan 1:1-2 ↩

  20. Jer 4:5-7, Jer 8:14; Mark 13:14; Luke 21:20-21 ↩

  21. Jer 5:3, Jer 6:8-10, Jer 9:12, Jer 32:33; Ps 32:8-9; Prov 8:10, Prov 19:20; Isa 28:9-12; Isa 42:23; Heb 12:25 ↩

  22. Jer 35:6-10 ↩

  23. Jer 7:13, Jer 7:25, Jer 11:7, Jer 25:3-4, Jer 26:5, Jer 29:19, Jer 32:33; 2Chr 36:15-16; Prov 1:20-33 ↩

  24. Jer 7:24, Jer 7:26; Neh 9:26, Neh 9:30; Isa 30:9, Isa 50:2 ↩

  25. Luke 10:16; 1Thess 4:8 ↩

  26. Jer 3:14, Jer 4:14, Jer 7:3-5, Jer 17:20-23, Jer 18:11, Jer 25:5, Jer 26:13, Jer 44:4-5; Isa 1:16-19; Ezek 18:30-32; Hos 14:1-4; Zech 1:3-4; Acts 26:20 ↩

  27. Jer 7:5-7, Jer 17:24-25, Jer 22:4, Jer 25:5-6; Deut 30:20 ↩

  28. Luke 13:34-35 ↩

  29. Jer 35:14; Isa 1:3; Mal 1:6; Matt 11:28-30; Luke 15:11-13, Luke 15:28-30 ↩

  30. God having, by the conduct of the Rechabites, convicted the Jews of ingratitude and rebellion, He now proceeds to pass sentence against them. ↩

  31. Jer 11:8, Jer 15:3-4, Jer 19:7-13, Jer 21:4-10; Gen 6:17; Lev 26:14-46; Deut 28:15-68; Deut 29:19-28, Deut 31:20-21, Deut 32:16-42; Josh 23:15-16; Mic 3:12 ↩

  32. Jer 7:13, Jer 7:26-27, Jer 26:5, Jer 32:33; Prov 1:24-31, Prov 13:13, Prov 16:2; Isa 50:2, Isa 65:12; Isa 66:4; Luke 13:34-35; Rom 10:21 ↩

  33. Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16; Eph 6:1-3 ↩

  34. etc. Heb. There shall not a man be cut off from Jonadab the son of Rechab to stand, etc. Jer 33:17; 1Chr 2:55 ↩

  35. Jer 15:19, Jer 33:17-18; Ps 5:5; Luke 21:36; Jude 1:24 ↩