THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
This passage serves to challenge the Jewish belief that God has promised them blessings, as their refusal to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ has resulted in their own misfortunes.
Jeremiah 18:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers
And I will suddenly speak of a nation and of a kingdom, to build up and plant it.
וְרֶ֣גַע אֲדַבֵּ֔ר עַל־גּ֖וֹי וְעַל־מַמְלָכָ֑ה לִבְנֹ֖ת וְלִנְטֹֽעַ׃
The Church Fathers on this verse
2 Church Fathers comment on this verse
John Cassian
If anyone argues that God, who foresaw their transformation, threatened them with the city's destruction to prompt a life-saving change of heart, it follows that the leaders of the community can, without the stain of deception, warn those requiring correction with a threat more severe than their true intentions, if the situation demands it. However, if one claims that God has altered His stern decree for their sake, this aligns with what He expresses through the prophet Ezekiel: ‘But when I say to the lawless one, ‘You shall die by death, and he shall turn from his sins and do justice and righteousness, .... - he shall live, he shall not die’ (Ezekiel 33:14-15).
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These instances teach us that we ought not to remain obstinate in our judgments, but rather temper the stern warning, given out of necessity, with gracious mercy. Furthermore, to counter any notion that the Lord spoke only to the Ninevites, He affirms through the prophet Jeremiah that His intentions are universal, promising to amend His pronouncement immediately based on our actions: ‘Sometimes I will say of a nation or kingdom that I will root it out, crush it, and destroy it; but if that nation, to which I have spoken, turn from its evil deeds, I will put off the evil which I have thought to do to it. And sometimes I will say of a nation and kingdom that I will establish and build it; but if it does evil before My eyes, and disobeys My voice, I will undo the good which I intended to bestow upon it’ (Jeremiah 18:7-10). To Ezekiel, He commands, ‘Say ... do not mince a word. Perhaps they will listen and turn every one from his evil way, and then I will cancel the calamity which I think to do to them because of their evil deeds’ (Jer. 26:2-3). It is clear from these declarations that we ought not to be inflexible in our resolutions but should adjust them according to wisdom and discernment, consistently choosing what is best and promptly acting in ways that yield the greatest benefit.
Cross references
Passages read together with this verse.
- Jer 31:28And as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to throw down, and to scatter, and destroy, and afflict: so will I watch over them, to build up, and to plant them, saith the Lord.
- Jer 1:10Lo, I have set thee this day over the nations, and over kingdoms, to root up, and to pull down, and to waste, and to destroy, and to build, and to plant.
- Amos 9:11In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, that is fallen: and I will close up the breaches of the walls thereof, and repair what was fallen: and I will rebuild it as in the days of old.
- Amos 9:15And I will plant them upon their own land: and I will no more pluck them out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.
- Jer 11:17And the Lord of hosts that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee: for the evils of the house of Israel, and of the house of Juda, which they have done to themselves, to provoke me, offering sacrifice to Baalim.
- Eccl 3:2A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.
- Jer 31:4And I will build thee again, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy timbrels, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
- Jer 31:38Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hanameel even to the gate of the corner.