John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 17:4

"And thou, even of thyself, shalt discontinue from thy heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger which shall burn for ever." — Jeremiah 17:4 (ASV)

Here, as it is a concise way of speaking, there seems to be some obscurity. However, regarding the subject at hand, the Prophet's meaning is evident: that they would be dismissed from their inheritance and, as it were, from their own innermost parts. Therefore, he says, You shall be dismissed from your inheritance. That is, though you think yourselves to be beyond the reach of danger because the city still remains safe and you continue in it, yet you shall perish, as they say, while living and seeing.

There shall then be a dismissal from the inheritance even for you. That is, “Though the Lord should delay the time and allow you to remain, yet you shall be like the dead, for God will destroy you, though He may leave you a languishing life.” It seems an emphatic expression when the Prophet says that there would eventually be a dismissal even for her. He implies that though some of the people would remain alive, they would yet be given up to exile and dispersion. And it was a condition worse than death for the Jews to have their lives continued and to be scattered among their enemies.

And He says, From the inheritance which I gave to you. He says this so that they might not protest to Him that what was theirs was taken from them. “How has the land,” He says, “become your inheritance? It is because you have obtained it through My bounty. And now, since you are so ungrateful, why should I be blamed for taking away what I had given you? Or what wrong is done to you? And what can you object to Me? For it has always been My heritage, though for a time I granted it to you. Had you been thankful to Me, it would have been yours perpetually; but now when I deprive you of it, this you must ascribe to your own fault.”

For the same purpose he adds, I will make you serve your enemies. This was much more grievous than to serve their neighbors, by whom they were not hated. But he shows here how dreadful their calamity would be, as they would be constrained to serve their enemies. He adds, In a land which you do not know. This is a repetition of what has been said before and requires no further remark. In the last place, he confirms what he had said of their wickedness: Burn, he says, shall fire in My nostril. But aph may be taken for God’s countenance, though it often means anger. However, as he says, You have kindled a fire, it seems better to render it here, In My face. Furthermore, by the word I never, he implies that God would be implacable towards the Jews, because they had so deserved it.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as You kindly invite us every day to repentance and show Yourself ready to be reconciled—O grant that we may not through our perverseness reject so inestimable a favor, but submit ourselves to You, and become so displeased with our vices as to be touched with a true and sincere concern for religion, and to strive throughout the whole course of our life for nothing else but to make ourselves and our duties approved by You, and thus to glorify Your name, so that we may at last become partakers of that celestial and eternal glory which Your only-begotten Son has attained for us.—Amen.