Jeremiah 25:15

For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) For thus saith the Lord God.—In the LXX. this is preceded by Jeremiah 46-51, which are in their turn in a different order from that of the Hebrew.

The wine cup of this fury.—Literally, the cup of wine, even this fury, or, better, this wrath.

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 25:15-16. Thus saith the Lord, Take the wine-cup of this fury, &c. — “Those circumstances which constitute the good and evil of human life are often represented in Scripture as the ingredients of a cup, which God, as master of a feast, mixes up, and distributes to the several guests as he thinks fit. Hence, when our Saviour asks James and John, whether they were able to drink of the cup which he was to drink of, he means, whether they had resolution and patience to undergo the like sufferings as his Father had allotted for him. And in the like sense he prays, If it be possible let this cup pass from me. Accordingly, by this image of the wine-cup of God’s wrath, we are to understand those dreadful judgments which an incensed God was about to inflict on the objects of his displeasure. And Jeremiah the prophet, who announced them, is considered as acting the part of a cup-bearer, carrying the cup round to those who were appointed to drink of it; the effects of which were to appear in the intoxication, that is, the terror and astonishment, the confusion and desolation, that should prevail among them.” — Blaney. See notes on Psalm 11:6; Psalm 75:8; Isaiah 51:21.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

25:15-29 The evil and the good events of life are often represented in Scripture as cups. Under this figure is represented the desolation then coming upon that part of the world, of which Nebuchadnezzar, who had just began to reign and act, was to be the instrument; but this destroying sword would come from the hand of God. The desolations the sword should make in all these kingdoms, are represented by the consequences of excessive drinking. This may make us loathe the sin of drunkenness, that the consequences of it are used to set forth such a woful condition. Drunkenness deprives men of the use of their reason, makes men as mad. It takes from them the valuable blessing, health; and is a sin which is its own punishment. This may also make us dread the judgments of war. It soon fills a nation with confusion. They will refuse to take the cup at thy hand. They will not believe Jeremiah; but he must tell them it is the word of the Lord of hosts, and it is in vain for them to struggle against Almighty power. And if God's judgments begin with backsliding professors, let not the wicked expect to escape.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Saith - Or, hath said. This prophecy - placed by the Septuagint after those against the nations - forms an impressive statement of the manner in which the new kingdom of Babylon was to execute Yahweh's wrath upon the nations far and near.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15. wine cup—Compare Jer 13:12, 13, as to this image, to express stupefying judgments; also Jer 49:12; 51:7. Jeremiah often embodies the imagery of Isaiah in his prophecies (La 4:21; Isa 51:17-22; Re 16:19; 18:6). The wine cup was not literally given by Jeremiah to the representatives of the different nations; but only in symbolical vision.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

God’s judgments are often in Scripture expressed under the notion of a cup of hot and intoxicating drink, and their suffering is set out under the notion of drinking such a cup, as Psalm 75:8 Job 21:20 Isaiah 51:17 Psalm 11:6 60:3 Lamentations 4:21 Ezekiel 23:32,34. God made Jeremiah to see the appearance of such a cup in a vision, and bade him to carry it to the nations to whom he sent him, to signify to them that his wrath should be poured out on them, and they should drink of it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me,.... The prophet:

take the wine cup of this fury at my hand; in a vision the Lord appeared to Jeremiah with a cup of wine in his hand, which he bid him take of him. It is usual in Scripture for the judgments of God on men to be signified by a cup of hot and intoxicating liquor, Isaiah 51:17; particularly in Psalm 75:8; to which reference may be had; as John seems to refer to the passage here in Revelation 14:10; called a cup, because they are in measure, and but small in comparison of what will be inflicted in the world to come; and a cup of "fury", because they proceed from the wrath of God, stirred up by the sins of men. Jarchi interprets this cup of the prophecy of vengeance, which the Lord delivered to Jeremiah; and not amiss:

and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it; prophesy unto them what wrath and ruin shall come upon them.

Geneva Study Bible

For thus saith the LORD God of Israel to me; {m} Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.

(m) Signifying the extreme affliction that God had appointed for everyone, Ps 75:8, Isa 51:17 and this cup which the wicked drink, is more bitter than that which he gives to his children, for he measures the one by mercy, and the other by justice.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15–29. The wine-cup of the Lord’s fury to be drunk by all the nations.

For confusion and dismay, expressed under the figure of intoxication, see below. Overthrow at the hands of the Chaldaeans is to be the fate of the nations.

The genuineness of the passage as a whole has been challenged by Schwally and Du., but on insufficient grounds, although it has probably received a certain editorial expansion. Co. considers the whole ch. to have a genuine Jeremianic basis, and Gi. agrees as to Jeremiah 25:15-19, but brackets Jeremiah 25:20-31 as later insertions, adducing among other reasons the placing of Judah and her neighbours on a level of comparison, contrary to the spirit of the genuine portions of Jeremiah, and the vagueness of the expressions, “all the kings of Tyre,” “of Zidon,” etc. (Jeremiah 25:22).

the cup of the wine of this fury] The likening of disaster to a bitter and intoxicating draught is frequent in the Bible. See chs. Jeremiah 13:12 f., Jeremiah 49:12, Jeremiah 51:7; Job 21:20; Psalm 60:3; Psalm 75:8; Isaiah 51:17; Isaiah 51:22; Ezekiel 23:31; Habakkuk 2:15; Revelation 14:8; Revelation 17:4; Revelation 18:3.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - For thus saith, etc. Out of this verse and the following, to the end of the chapter, the Septuagint makes the thirty-second chapter, Jeremiah 25. being completed by the prophecy against Elam (Jeremiah 49:34-39). The symbolic act which the prophet is directed to perform is mentioned in order to explain the word of threatening just uttered. So, at least, we must understand it, if we accept the arrangement of the Hebrew text. But the connection is certainly improved if we follow Graf, and omit vers. 11b-14; ver. 15 thus becomes an explanation of the threat against Judah and the other nations in vers. 9-11a. The wine, up of this fury; or, this wine-cup of fury. The wine with which the cup is filled is the wrath of God. The figure is not an infrequent one with the prophets and the psalmists (comp. Jeremiah 49:12; Jeremiah 51:7; Isaiah 51:17, 22; Ezekiel 23:31-34; Habakkuk 1:16; Psalm 60:3; Psalm 75:8). Jeremiah 25:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The cup of God's fury. - Jeremiah 25:15. "For thus hath Jahveh, the God of Israel, said to me: Take this cup of the wine of fury at my hand, and give it to drink to all the peoples to whom I send thee, Jeremiah 25:16. That they may drink, and reel, and be mad, because of the sword that I send amongst them. Jeremiah 25:17. And I took the cup at the hand of Jahveh, and made all the peoples drink it to whom Jahveh had sent me: Jeremiah 25:18. Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, and her kings, her princes, to make them a desolation and an astonishment, an hissing and a curse, as it is this day; Jeremiah 25:19. Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; Jeremiah 25:20. And all the mixed races and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; Jeremiah 25:21. Edom, and Moab, and the sons of Ammon; Jeremiah 25:22. All the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the islands beyond the sea; Jeremiah 25:23. Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all with the corners of their hair polled; Jeremiah 25:24. And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed races that dwell in the wilderness; Jeremiah 25:25. All the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media; Jeremiah 25:26. And all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth; and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. Jeremiah 25:27. And say to them: Thus hath Jahveh, the God of Israel, said: Drink and be drunken, and spue, and fall and rise not up again, because of the sword which I send among you. Jeremiah 25:28. And if it be that they refuse to take the cup out of thine hand to drink, then say to them: Thus hath Jahveh of hosts said: Drink ye shall. Jeremiah 25:29. For, behold, on the city upon which my name is named I begin to bring evil, and ye think to go unpunished? Ye shall not go unpunished; for I call the sword against all inhabitants of the earth, saith Jahveh of hosts."

To illustrate more fully the threatening against Judah and all peoples, Jeremiah 25:9., the judgment the Lord is about to execute on all the world is set forth under the similitude of a flagon filled with wrath, which the prophet is to hand to all the kings and peoples, one after another, and which he does give them to drink. The symbolical action imposed upon the prophet and, acc. to Jeremiah 25:17, performed by him, serves to give emphasis to the threatening, and is therefore introduced by כּי; of which Graf erroneously affirms that it conveys a meaning only when Jeremiah 25:11-14 are omitted. Giving the peoples to drink of the cup of wrath is a figure not uncommon with the prophets for divine chastisements to be inflicted; cf. Jeremiah 49:12; Jeremiah 51:7; Isaiah 51:17, Isaiah 51:22; Ezekiel 23:31., Habakkuk 2:15; Psalm 60:5; Psalm 75:9, etc. The cup of wine which is wrath (fury). החמּה is an explanatory apposition to "wine." The wine with which the cup is filled is the wrath of God. הזּאת belongs to כּוּס, which is fem., cf. Ezekiel 23:32, Ezekiel 23:34; Lamentations 4:21, whereas אותו belongs to the wine which is wrath. In Jeremiah 25:16, where the purpose with which the cup of wrath is to be presented is given, figure is exchanged for fact: they shall reel and become mad because of the sword which the Lord sends amidst them. To reel, sway to and fro, like drunken men. התהלל, demean oneself insanely, be mad. The sword as a weapon of war stands often for war, and the thought is: war with its horrors will stupefy the peoples, so that they perish helpless and powerless.