GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
unless you have completely rejected us and are very angry with us."

King James Bible
But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But thou hast utterly rejected us, thou art exceedingly angry against us.

Darby Bible Translation
Or is it that thou hast utterly rejected us? Wouldest thou be exceeding wroth against us?

English Revised Version
But thou hast utterly rejected us, thou art very wroth against us.

Webster's Bible Translation
But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.

World English Bible
But you have utterly rejected us; You are very angry against us.

Young's Literal Translation
For hast Thou utterly rejected us? Thou hast been wroth against us -- exceedingly?

Cross References

Psalm 53:5 There they were in great fear where no fear had been; For God scattered the bones of him who encamped against you; You put them to shame, because God had rejected them.

Psalm 60:1 For the choir director; according to Shushan Eduth. A Mikhtam of David, to teach; when he struggled with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and Joab returned, and smote twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt. O God, You have rejected us. You have broken us; You have been angry; O, restore us.

Psalm 60:2 You have made the land quake, You have split it open; Heal its breaches, for it totters.

Isaiah 64:9 Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD, Nor remember iniquity forever; Behold, look now, all of us are Your people.

Jeremiah 7:29 Cut off your hair and cast it away, And take up a lamentation on the bare heights; For the LORD has rejected and forsaken The generation of His wrath.'

Jeremiah 14:19 Have You completely rejected Judah? Or have You loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We waited for peace, but nothing good came; And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Verses 17-22

Here, I. The people of God express the deep concern they had for the ruins of the temple, more than for any other of their calamities; the interests of God's house lay nearer their hearts than those of their own (v. 17, 18): For this our heart is faint, and sinks under the load of its own heaviness; for these things our eyes are dim, and our sight is gone, as is usual in a deliquium, or fainting fit. "It is because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the holy mountain, and the temple built upon that mountain. For other desolations our hearts grieve and our eyes weep; but for this our hearts faint and our eyes are dim." Note, Nothing lies so heavily upon the spirits of good people as that which threatens the ruin of religion or weakens its interests; and it is a comfort if we can appeal to God that that afflicts us more than any temporal affliction to ourselves. "The people have polluted the mountain of Zion with their sins, and therefore God has justly made it desolate, to such a degree that the foxes walk upon it as freely and commonly as they do in the woods." It is sad indeed when the mountain of Zion has become a portion for foxes (Ps. 63:10); but sin had first made it so, Eze. 13:4.

II. They comfort themselves with the doctrine of God's eternity, and the perpetuity of his government (v. 19): But thou, O Lord! remainest for ever. This they are taught to do by that psalm which is entitled, A prayer of the afflicted, Ps. 102:27, 28. When all our creature-comforts are removed from us, and our hearts fail us, we may then encourage ourselves with the belief, 1. Of God's eternity: Thou remainest for ever. What shakes the world gives no disturbance to him who made it; whatever revolutions there are on earth there is no change in the Eternal Mind; God is still the same, and remains for ever infinitely wise and holy, just and good; with him there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. 2. Of the never-failing continuance of his dominion: Thy throne is from generation to generation; the throne of glory, the throne of grace, and the throne of government, are all unchangeable, immovable; and this is matter of comfort to us when the crown has fallen from our head. When the thrones of princes, that should be our protectors, are brought to the dust, and buried in it, God's throne continues still; he still rules the world, and rules it for the good of the church. The Lord reigns, reigns for ever, even thy God, O Zion!

III. They humbly expostulate with God concerning the low condition they were now in, and the frowns of heaven they were now under (v. 20): "Wherefore dost thou forsake us so long time, as if we were quite deprived of the tokens of thy presence? Wherefore dost thou defer our deliverance, as if thou hadst utterly abandoned us? Thou art the same, and, though the throne of thy sanctuary is demolished, thy throne in heaven is unshaken. But wilt thou not be the same to us?" Not as if they thought God had forgotten and forsaken them, much less feared his forgetting and forsaking them for ever; but thus they express the value they had for his favour and presence, which they thought it long that they were deprived of the evidence and comfort of. The last verse may be read as such an expostulation, and so the margin reads it: "For wilt thou utterly reject us? Wilt thou be perpetually wroth with us, not only not smile upon us and remember us in mercy, but frown upon us and lay us under the tokens of thy wrath, not only not draw nigh to us, but cast us out of thy presence and forbid us to draw nigh unto thee? How ill this be reconciled with thy goodness and faithfulness, and the stability of thy covenant?" We read it, "But thou hast rejected us; thou hast given us cause to fear that thou hast. Lord, how long shall we be in this temptation?" Note, Thou we may not quarrel with God, yet we may plead with him; and, though we may not conclude that he has cast off, yet we may (with the prophet, Jer. 12:1) humbly reason with him concerning his judgments, especially the continuance of the desolations of his sanctuary.

IV. They earnestly pray to God for mercy and grace: "Lord, do not reject us for ever, but turn thou us unto thee; renew our days," v. 21. Though these words are not put last, yet the Rabbin, because they would not have the book to conclude with those melancholy words (v. 22), repeat this prayer again, that the sun may not set under a cloud, and so make these the last words both in writing and reading this chapter. They here pray, 1. For converting grace to prepare and qualify them for mercy: Turn us to thee, O Lord! They had complained that God had forsaken and forgotten them, and then their prayer is not, Turn thou to us, but, Turn us to thee, which implies an acknowledgment that the cause of the distance was in themselves. God never leaves any till they first leave him, nor stands afar off from any longer than while they stand afar off from him; if therefore he turn them to him in a way of duty, no doubt but he will quickly return to them in a way of mercy. This agrees with that repeated prayer (Ps. 80:3, 7, 19), Turn us again, and then cause thy face to shine. Turn us from our idols to thyself, by a sincere repentance and reformation, and then we shall be turned. This implies a further acknowledgment of their own weakness and inability to turn themselves. There is in our nature a proneness to backslide from God, but no disposition to return to him till his grace works in us both to will and to do. So necessary is that grace that we may truly say, Turn us or we shall not be turned, but shall wander endlessly; and so powerful and effectual is that grace that we may as truly say, Turn us, and we shall be turned; for it is a day of power, almighty power, in which God's people are made a willing people, Ps. 110:3. 2. For restoring mercy: Turn us to thee, and then renew our days as of old, put us into the same happy state that our ancestors were in long ago and that they continued long in; let it be with us as it was at the first, and at the beginning, Isa. 1:26. Note, If God by his grace renew our hearts, he will be his favour renew our days, so that we shall renew our youth as the eagle, Ps. 103:5. Those that repent, and do their first works, shall rejoice, and recover their first comforts. God's mercies to his people have been ever of old (Ps. 25:6); and therefore they may hope, even then when he seems to have forsaken and forgotten them, that the mercy which was from everlasting will be to everlasting.

Calvin's Commentary

22. But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.

22. Nisi (vel, sed, vel, quod si) rejiciendo rejecisti nos excanduisti contra nos valde.

The two words ky 'm, ki am, are differently explained: some render them, "but if," or "certainly if," and thus separate the verse into two parts, "Surely if thou hast rejected us, thou art very angry;" but this is a forced meaning, not intended, as I think, by the Prophet. And these seem to have been compelled by necessity to pervert the Prophet's words; because it appears hard simply to declare that the people had been wholly rejected by God. As, then, this harshness offended them, they contrived this comment, "If thou hast rejected us, thou art very angry." But as I have said, this exposition I do not approve of, because it is a very forced one; and the greater part of interpreters follow what I stated in the first place, for they take ky 'm, ki am, adversatively. The two particles are often connected together, and rendered, "though" or although, -- "Though thou hast rejected us:" and hence the last verse has been repeated.

For the Jews labor under this superstition, that when a book ends with a hard and severe sentence, or one containing a dreadful threatening, grating to the ears, in order to avoid the sad omen, they repeat the last verse but one. So they do at the end of Isaiah, and at the end of Malachi. As Isaiah says, "It shall be a horror (or abomination) to all flesh;" they therefore repeat the previous verse. So in Malachi; as he says, "Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse -- chrm, cherem," they think that as he pronounces there an anathema, it is a sort of charm that may absorb this curse, to have the previous verse repeated after it. There is, then, no doubt but that they took this passage in the same sense, "Though thou hast rejected us," etc.

If this explanation be approved, we must hold that the Prophet here exceeded due limits, as also the faithful, in their prayers, do not always so restrain themselves, but that some heat bubbles up; for we see how David, in the Psalms, too often shewed this kind of feeling; and it is hence evident, that his mind was not always sufficiently calm. We must then say, that the Prophet was impelled by a turbulent feeling when he uttered these words.

But ky 'm, ki am, may also be rendered, "Unless," or except' and it is singular that no one has perceived this, though it be not an unsuitable meaning, "Except it may be thou rejecting hast rejected us, and hast become very angry with us," or above measure angry; for d m'd, od mad in Hebrew, means the same as above measure (supra modum) in Latin. Though the Prophet seems to speak doubtingly, by laying down t, his condition, there is vet no doubt but that he struggled against all unbelief, when he said, Except it may be; for he reasons from what is impossible, "Turn thou us to thee and we shall be turned, renew our days as formerly; except it may be thou hast rejected us:" but this was impossible. Then, as I have said, the Prophet here strengthens himself by setting up a shield against all the assaults of temptations when he says, Except it may be thou hast rejected us [240]

But it cannot be that God will reject his people, and be so angry with them, as never to be reconciled. We hence see that the Prophet does not simply set down the condition, as though he said, "O God, if thou art to be perpetually angry with us, and wilt never be reconciled, it is there all over with our salvation; but if thou wilt be reconciled to us, we shall then entertain good hope." No, the Prophet did not thus keep his own mind and the minds of others in suspense, but had a sure confidence as to God's favor; for it cannot be that God will ever forsake those whom he has chosen, as Paul also shews in the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.

As it has so seemed good to the brethren, I will begin tomorrow the explanation of Ezekiel.

Footnotes:

[240] The particles, ky 'm, seem to have the meaning of "except," as in Genesis 32:26, "except thou bless me." But the exposition is too refined. The usual meaning of the particles is, but in truth, for surely, when indeed. See 1 Samuel 21:5; Proverbs 23:18; Exodus 22:23. They are rendered here, "for," by the Sept., Syr., and Arab; "but," by the Vulg., and "although," by the Targ. The version of Blayney and Henderson is, "For surely." The Prophet assigns a reason for his petition in the preceding verse; as though he had said, "I ask for restoration to thy favor and to our land, because thou hast clearly manifested thy rejection of us, and thy displeasure towards us." For surely rejecting thou hast rejected us, Thou hast been wroth with us exceedingly, or, more literally, Thou hast foamed against us exceedingly. The first line here corresponds with the latter part of the previous verse, "Restore us to our land, and renew the ancient days," -- "Thou hast wholly rejected us." He speaks of things as they were then. Then the last line in this verse bears a relation to the first part of the preceding verse, "Restore us to thy favor," -- "Thou hast been exceedingly displeased with us." Thus, for displeasure he asked favor, and for repudiation, a restoration. -- Ed. PRAYER

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou didst formerly execute judgments so severe on thy people, -- O grant, that these chastisements may at this day teach us to fear thy name, and also keep us in watchfulness and humility, and that we may so strive to pursue the course of our calling, that we may find that thou art always our leader, that thy hand is stretched forth to us, that thy aid is ever ready for us, until, being at length gathered into thy celestial kingdom, we shall enjoy that eternal life, which thine only-begotten Son has obtained for us by his own blood. -- Amen.

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Alphabetical: and angry are beyond exceedingly have measure rejected unless us utterly with you

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Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man, since the fall, is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but does daily break them, in thought, word, and deed. In many things we offend all.' James 3: 2. Man in his primitive state of innocence, was endowed with ability to keep the whole moral law. He had rectitude of mind, sanctity of will, and perfection of power. He had the copy of God's law written on his heart; no sooner did God command but he obeyed. …
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