◄ Jeremiah 10:18 ►
For this is what the LORD says: "Behold, at this time I will sling out the inhabitants of the land and bring distress upon them so that they may be captured."
Study Bible
For this is what the LORD says
This phrase underscores the authority and divine origin of the message. The Hebrew word for "LORD" is "Yahweh," the covenant name of God, emphasizing His eternal and unchanging nature. This introduction serves as a reminder that the words to follow are not merely Jeremiah's but are divinely inspired, carrying the weight and certainty of God's sovereign will.

Behold
The Hebrew word "hinneh" is used here, which is often translated as "behold" or "look." It serves as a call to attention, urging the listener to focus on the significance of what is about to be declared. It is a divine alert, indicating that something of great importance is being revealed, demanding the audience's full attention and contemplation.

I will sling out the inhabitants of the land
The imagery of "slinging out" is vivid and forceful, suggesting a sudden and violent action. The Hebrew root "talah" conveys the idea of hurling or casting away, much like a stone from a sling. This metaphor indicates God's decisive judgment against the people of Judah, reflecting the severity of their disobedience and the inevitability of their exile. Historically, this points to the Babylonian captivity, a pivotal event in Israel's history where the inhabitants were forcibly removed from their land.

at this time
This phrase emphasizes the immediacy and urgency of the impending judgment. The Hebrew word "et" denotes a specific time, underscoring that the prophesied events are not distant or abstract but are imminent. It serves as a warning that the time for repentance is running out, and God's patience has reached its limit.

and will bring distress on them
The Hebrew word for "distress" is "tsarah," which conveys a sense of anguish, trouble, or adversity. This term is often associated with times of great suffering and calamity. The distress mentioned here is both a consequence of the people's sin and a tool used by God to bring about repentance and spiritual awakening. It reflects the principle that divine discipline, though painful, is ultimately redemptive in purpose.

so that they may be captured
The phrase indicates the intended outcome of the distress: captivity. The Hebrew root "lakad" means to capture or seize, often used in the context of warfare. This captures the reality of the Babylonian conquest, where the people of Judah were taken into exile. Spiritually, it serves as a sobering reminder of the consequences of turning away from God, yet it also holds a glimmer of hope, as captivity would eventually lead to a renewed relationship with God and a return to the land.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant God of Israel, who is speaking through the prophet Jeremiah. He is the one executing judgment.

2. Jeremiah
The prophet through whom God delivers His message. Jeremiah is known for his prophecies concerning the impending judgment on Judah.

3. Inhabitants of the Land
Refers to the people of Judah who are living in disobedience to God’s commands and are subject to His judgment.

4. The Land
Specifically, the land of Judah, which is facing divine judgment due to the people's idolatry and rebellion.

5. Distress and Captivity
The consequences that God is bringing upon the people as a result of their sin, symbolizing the Babylonian exile.
Teaching Points
God's Sovereignty in Judgment
God is sovereign and just in His judgments. He uses nations and events to accomplish His purposes, even when it involves discipline for His people.

The Consequences of Disobedience
Disobedience to God’s commands leads to severe consequences. The people of Judah faced exile because they turned away from God.

The Call to Repentance
Even in judgment, God’s desire is for His people to turn back to Him. Distress is often a tool used by God to bring about repentance.

Trust in God’s Plan
In times of distress, believers are called to trust in God’s ultimate plan and purpose, knowing that He works all things for good for those who love Him.

Hope Beyond Judgment
While judgment is severe, God’s promises of restoration and hope remain. Believers can find comfort in God’s faithfulness to His covenant.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding God’s sovereignty help us respond to difficult circumstances in our lives?

2. In what ways can we identify and turn away from modern forms of idolatry that might lead us away from God?

3. How can the account of Judah’s exile serve as a warning and a lesson for contemporary believers?

4. What are some practical steps we can take to ensure we are living in obedience to God’s commands?

5. How can we find hope and assurance in God’s promises, even when facing the consequences of our actions?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Deuteronomy 28
This chapter outlines the blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, providing a backdrop for understanding the consequences faced by Judah.

2 Kings 24-25
These chapters describe the historical fulfillment of the prophecy, detailing the Babylonian conquest and exile of Judah.

Isaiah 5:13
This verse speaks of the people going into exile due to lack of knowledge, paralleling the theme of judgment for disobedience.

Lamentations 1
Written by Jeremiah, this book laments the destruction of Jerusalem and the suffering of the people, reflecting the fulfillment of the prophecy.
Sermons
Wherefore God Doth Judge the WorldS. Conway Jeremiah 10:17, 18
People
Jacob, Jeremiah, Tarshish
Places
Tarshish, Uphaz, Zion
Topics
Adversary, Behold, Bring, Captured, Cause, Conscious, Distress, Feel, Flight, Hurl, Inhabitants, Says, Sling, Slinging, Stone, Thus, Troubling
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Jeremiah 10:18

     5538   sling

Jeremiah 10:17-18

     7259   promised land, later history

Library
May 16. "It is not in Man that Walketh to Direct his Steps" (Jer. x. 23).
"It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" (Jer. x. 23). United to Jesus Christ as your Redeemer, you are accepted in the Beloved. He does not merely take my place as a man and settle my debts. He does that and more. He comes to give a perfect ideal of what a man should be. He is the model man, not for us to copy, for that would only bring discouragement and utter failure; but He will come and copy Himself in us. If Christ lives in me, I am another Christ. I am not like Him, but I have the …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Possessing and Possessed
'The portion of Jacob is not like them--for He is the former of all things: and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance. The Lord of Hosts is His name.'--JER. x. 16, R.V. Here we have set forth a reciprocal possession. We possess God, He possesses us. We are His inheritance, He is our portion. I am His; He is mine. This mutual ownership is the very living centre of all religion. Without it there is no relation of any depth between God and us. How much profounder such a conception is than the shallow …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

An Instructive Truth
"O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps."--Jeremiah 10:23. This declaration follows after Jeremiah's lamentation over the Lord's ancient people, who were about to be carried captive into Babylon. The prophet speaks of a fact that was well known to him. It is always well, brethren, to know the truth, and to know it so certainly that you are able to remember it just when you most need it. There are some people, who are very much like …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 50: 1904

Dwight -- the Sovereignty of God
Timothy Dwight was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1752. He graduated from Yale in 1769, served as chaplain in the army during the Revolutionary War and was chosen president of his university in 1795. He died, after holding that office for twelve years, in 1817. Lyman Beecher, who attributed his conversion to him, says: "He was of noble form, with a noble head and body, and had one of the sweetest smiles that ever you saw. When I heard him preach on 'the harvest is passed, the summer is ended, …
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 3

Of the Exercises of a Religious Man
The life of a Christian ought to be adorned with all virtues, that he may be inwardly what he outwardly appeareth unto men. And verily it should be yet better within than without, for God is a discerner of our heart, Whom we must reverence with all our hearts wheresoever we are, and walk pure in His presence as do the angels. We ought daily to renew our vows, and to kindle our hearts to zeal, as if each day were the first day of our conversion, and to say, "Help me, O God, in my good resolutions, …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Of Hiding Our Grace under the Guard of Humility
"My Son, it is better and safer for thee to hide the grace of devotion, and not to lift thyself up on high, nor to speak much thereof, nor to value it greatly; but rather to despise thyself, and to fear as though this grace were given to one unworthy thereof. Nor must thou depend too much upon this feeling, for it can very quickly be turned into its opposite. Think when thou art in a state of grace how miserable and poor thou art wont to be without grace. Nor is there advance in spiritual life …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

A Wise Desire
I remember once going to a chapel where this happened to be the text, and the good man who occupied the pulpit was more than a little of an Arminian. Therefore, when he commenced, he said, "This passage refers entirely to our temporal inheritance. It has nothing whatever to do with our everlasting destiny: for," said he, "We do not want Christ to choose for us in the matter of heaven or hell. It is so plain and easy that every man who has a grain of common sense will choose heaven; and any person …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

"And Hereby we do Know that we Know Him, if we Keep his Commandments. "
1 John ii. 3.--"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." This age pretends to much knowledge beyond former ages, knowledge, I say, not only in other natural arts and sciences, but especially in religion. Whether there be any great advancement in other knowledge, and improvement of that which was, to a further extent and clearness, I cannot judge, but I believe there is not much of it in this nation, nor do we so much pretend to it. But, we talk of the enlargements of …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"Hear the Word of the Lord, Ye Rulers of Sodom, Give Ear unto the Law of Our God, Ye People of Gomorrah,"
Isaiah i. 10, 11, &c.--"Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah," &c. It is strange to think what mercy is mixed with the most wrath like strokes and threatenings. There is no prophet whose office and commission is only for judgment, nay, to speak the truth, it is mercy that premises threatenings. The entering of the law, both in the commands and curses, is to make sin abound, that grace may superabound, so that both rods and threatenings …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

How Christ is the Way in General, "I am the Way. "
We come now to speak more particularly to the words; and, first, Of his being a way. Our design being to point at the way of use-making of Christ in all our necessities, straits, and difficulties which are in our way to heaven; and particularly to point out the way how believers should make use of Christ in all their particular exigencies; and so live by faith in him, walk in him, grow up in him, advance and march forward toward glory in him. It will not be amiss to speak of this fulness of Christ …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Meditations for Household Piety.
1. If thou be called to the government of a family, thou must not hold it sufficient to serve God and live uprightly in thy own person, unless thou cause all under thy charge to do the same with thee. For the performance of this duty God was so well pleased with Abraham, that he would not hide from him his counsel: "For," saith God, "I know him that he will command his sons and his household after him that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

"For if Ye Live after the Flesh, Ye Shall Die; but if Ye through the Spirit do Mortify the Deeds of the Body, Ye Shall Live.
Rom. viii. s 13, 14.--"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." The life and being of many things consists in union,--separate them, and they remain not the same, or they lose their virtue. It is much more thus in Christianity, the power and life of it consists in the union of these things that God hath conjoined, so that if any man pretend to …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Creation
Q-7: WHAT ARE THE DECREES OF GOD? A: The decrees of God are his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he has foreordained whatsoever shall come to pass. I have already spoken something concerning the decrees of God under the attribute of his immutability. God is unchangeable in his essence, and he-is unchangeable in his decrees; his counsel shall stand. He decrees the issue of all things, and carries them on to their accomplishment by his providence; I …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

God's Sovereignty and Prayer
"If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us" (1 John 5:14). Throughout this book it has been our chief aim to exalt the Creator and abase the creature. The well-nigh universal tendency now, is to magnify man and dishonour and degrade God. On every hand it will be found that, when spiritual things are under discussion, the human side and element is pressed and stressed, and the Divine side, if not altogether ignored, is relegated to the background. This holds true of very much of the …
Arthur W. Pink—The Sovereignty of God

Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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