Jeremiah 7:9

Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) Will ye steal.—The English obscures the emphasis of the Hebrew idiom which gives the verbs as a series of infinitives, What! to steal, to murder, to burn incense to Baal . . . and then have ye come before me . . .!

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:1-16 No observances, professions, or supposed revelations, will profit, if men do not amend their ways and their doings. None can claim an interest in free salvation, who allow themselves in the practice of known sin, or live in the neglect of known duty. They thought that the temple they profaned would be their protection. But all who continue in sin because grace has abounded, or that grace may abound, make Christ the minister of sin; and the cross of Christ, rightly understood, forms the most effectual remedy to such poisonous sentiments. The Son of God gave himself for our transgressions, to show the excellence of the Divine law, and the evil of sin. Never let us think we may do wickedness without suffering for it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Why then do not the Jews still possess a land thus eternally given them? Because God never bestows anything unconditionally. The land was bestowed upon them by virtue of a covenant Genesis 17:7; the Jews had broken the conditions of this covenant Jeremiah 7:5-6, and the gift reverted to the original donor.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9, 10. "Will ye steal … and then come and stand before Me?"

whom ye know not—Ye have no grounds of "knowing" that they are gods; but I have manifested My Godhead by My law, by benefits conferred, and by miracles. This aggravates their crime [Calvin] (Jud 5:8).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Here the prophet mentions divers of those sins in which they were notorious, they were thieves, murderers, adulterers, perjured idolaters, &c, :q.d. Can you think that this can be grateful unto me, or any whit advantageous to yourselves, to frequent my house, and yet retain these odious sins, as if I were a companion for thieves, murderers, &c.?

Gods whom ye know not; such as they had set up new, and never had any experience of, and therefore could have no reason to serve them; therefore called new gods, Deu 32:17 Judges 5:8: but of his power and goodness they had had ample proof, in their deliverance from Egypt, and the wonderful miracles and signs that God had shown them in the wilderness, and his victorious arm for them in Canaan; of which things these Jews could not be ignorant, and therefore the more inexcusable. Four of these sins respect the second table, these two last the first. The name of

Baal is here put for all idols.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely,.... At the same time they offered sacrifices, and trusted in them, they did those things, which would not be grateful to the Lord, nor profitable to them; or, "ye do steal", &c.; so the Septuagint, and all the Oriental versions; and likewise the Targum; as charging them with them; these are sins against the second table of the law, as what follow are against the first:

and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; for they not only burnt incense to Baal, which was an act of idolatrous worship; but served other strange gods they had not known before; whose names they had never heard of, and of whose help and assistance they now had no experience, nor received any benefit from, as they had on the one and only true God; and therefore it was great folly and ingratitude in them to forsake the Lord, and walk after these.

Geneva Study Bible

Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9. Will ye steal] What! steal, etc. The Hebrew verb is in a form used when the object is to present the action itself in the strongest light. Cp. Jeremiah 32:33; Isaiah 21:5. The wording shews that the Decalogue is in the prophet’s mind.

burn incense] See on Jeremiah 1:16. The Hebrew word has no connexion with that for frankincense (Jeremiah 6:20), but denotes something producing a sweet smoke, whether sacrifices (as in Psalm 66:15) or incense (as Exodus 30:7 f.).

Baal] the Baal. See on Jeremiah 2:8.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - Will ye steal, etc.? rather, What I stealing, murdering, etc.? The construction is formed by a series of infinitives, preceded by an interrogative expressing extreme surprise, equivalent to "Is this your way of life - a course of theft, and so forth?" Jeremiah 7:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The query before the infin. absoll. is the expression of wonder and indignation; and the infinitives are used with special emphasis for the verb. fin.: How? to steal, kill, etc., is your practice, and then ye come....