John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 25:13

"And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations." — Jeremiah 25:13 (ASV)

He confirms what He had said before when He says that He would bring all His words on the Chaldeans; that is, that He would give effect to all the prophecies, so that it would be evident that Jeremiah had foretold nothing rashly, and that God had not threatened them in vain through His servant.

Such is the meaning, and thus we see what the Prophet intimates when he says that God would bring all His words, for He had then spoken.

But since the ungodly regard whatever is brought forward in God’s name as a matter of sport and mockery, and boldly deride all threats, to bring words means the same as proving by events that God does not terrify people without accomplishing His words. In short, to bring words is to prove their authority.

And, as I have said, the expression refers to the insensitivity of people who give no credit to God’s words until they are convinced by their fulfillment. For they think that only the air is beaten, and so they are not moved by any fear. But God proves the power of His word when He executes what He has predicted.

We then see that the Prophet, in this verse, intends only to confirm what he had previously said. He also speaks of Chaldea, saying, upon that land.

We must also notice another way of speaking. For God says that He had pronounced these words; He afterwards says that Jeremiah was His minister and, as it were, His herald; and He also calls him a scribe or a writer.

God then declares here that He was the author of all that Jeremiah had brought forward. Yet He entrusts His own office to His minister, for it is necessary to secure authority for the prophets.

Otherwise, unless God visibly descended from heaven, people would either indiscriminately accept whatever might be said, receiving falsehood and truth without judgment, or they would become completely hardened, giving no credit to prophetic instruction.

He says, whatsoever is written in this book. The Prophet, no doubt, wrote down a summary of what he had delivered. For as we have said elsewhere, it was usual for the prophets, after they had spoken at length to the people and preached extensively, to post a short summary on the doors of the Temple.

This volume, then, is what Jeremiah calls the book, which was composed from his public addresses. In common language, it might be called a summary.

Then he adds, in what, or, “what he prophesied,” to show that he meant what he had said before. And so it might be rendered, that is, what he prophesied. But the other interpretation is not unsuitable: in which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.