11:1–5 The chapter opens with the second of the book’s many instances of the word-event formula “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord” (11:1; cf. 7:1; 18:1; 21:1; 25:1). As with other instances of this formula, the content of the divine word is the covenant relationship Yahweh established but his people failed to keep. Jeremiah is taking on the Mosaic task (cf. Deuteronomy 28–30) of reiterating the Israelite covenant originally given at Sinai (Exodus 19–24) to a new generation in danger of forgetting the past.

To his amnesiac audience, Jeremiah must review Israel’s history for the people of Yahweh in the southern kingdom, particularly those in Jerusalem (Jer. 11:2). Their obligation is to remember both the stipulations and the promises of Sinai (vv. 3–5). Disobedience is repeatedly portrayed as a failure to “hear” (Hb. shamaʿ; vv. 2, 3), that is, in the Deuteronomic terms of “listening to [shamaʿ]” the word of Yahweh (e.g., Deut. 4:1; 5:1; 6:4). Failed hearing/listening will bring the curses Deuteronomy threatens for disobedience (Jer. 11:3), while the obedient life of faithful hearing/listening will bring the twin blessings of covenant relationship with Yahweh (v. 4) and life in an abundant land (v. 5). The prophet cannot help but affirm Yahweh’s retrospective look at history with “So be it, Lord” (or “Amen, O Yahweh”).

11:6–10 Nonetheless, the next word from Yahweh that Jeremiah receives is tougher to swallow. The prophet must proclaim the earlier injunction to “hear the words of this covenant” (v. 6; cf. v. 2), but with two solemn additions. First, Judah must “do them” (v. 6), in contrast to previous generations, who received the same words (v. 7) but failed to do them (v. 8). Second, it was infidelity to the “words of this covenant” (i.e., the Israelite covenant at Sinai) that brought about the curses stipulated in that same covenant (v. 8), as detailed in the catalogs of curses in Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28.

Incredibly, the apostate generation listening to Jeremiah’s preaching still refuses to learn the lessons of history. The sins of the prophet’s audience continue in the line of the “iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words” (Jer. 11:10). The kind of intentional apostasy condemned here evokes both Israel’s past idolatries with bovine images (e.g., Exodus 32; 1 Kings 12) as well as the numerous pagan practices King Josiah had abolished more recently (2 Kings 23). The untimely death of Josiah in 609 BC quickly made that reformation a distant memory, even though Jeremiah began his preaching ministry in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim, only four years after Josiah’s death (Jer. 7:1; 25:1).

11:11–17 By now Judah has so decisively rejected Yahweh that he responds by vowing twice, “I will not listen” (vv. 11, 14). The first instance of the vow comes in Yahweh’s description of how punishment will cause his people to cry out to him, not sincerely in repentance but insincerely due to the pain wrought by exile. The proof of their insincerity comes in Judah’s turning away from Yahweh to call upon any and all other gods in the futile hope that they can deliver Judah instead (v. 12). With not a little sarcasm, Yahweh observes that Judah remains in danger despite multiplying gods, rituals, and altars beyond number (v. 13). This insight into Judah’s pragmatic motives in prayer—whatever works, to whichever deity might be listening—explains why Yahweh can no longer answer the prayers of his people for deliverance. Doing so would reinforce the superstitions of a people who seek their God/gods only when help is needed.

Yahweh goes further in verses 14–17 by shutting off the prayers of even a pious servant like Jeremiah. The second instance of the vow “I will not listen” arises in a prohibition of Jeremiah’s intercession (v. 14). From the book’s other two passages that enjoin Jeremiah to stop praying (7:16; 14:11), it is clear that his prayers for Yahweh’s protection on the city are all that stand between an unresponsive people and their punishment. The stoppage of prayer is thus analogous to refusing to enable an addict who feels deserving of special treatment or another (quickly squandered) chance.

It is apostasy’s peculiar sense of entitlement that Yahweh seeks to overturn with his piercing rhetorical questions: “What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done many vile deeds?” (11:15). Turning to confront his smug people directly for their misconception that offerings can be used as bribes (as they try to do toward other gods), Yahweh demands, “Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult?” The answer to all three rhetorical questions in verse 15 must be an emphatic no. Finally, Yahweh introduces a word-picture from creation to support his assertion that Jeremiah may no longer pray. There is massive incongruity between the grace he has given and the ingratitude his people have shown. Therefore, although Yahweh once planted Israel/Judah as a lovely and fertile tree, it will be consumed by his fiery judgment (v. 16), which is itself ignited by Israel/Judah’s provoking him to anger (v. 17). This causal link between sin and judgment is underscored in verse 17 by a Hebrew wordplay on raʿah (“evil, harm, disaster”) that is difficult to reproduce in English. The fairness of divine justice is evident in that “disaster” (raʿah) from Yahweh comes as a result of the “evil” (raʿah) his people have done.

11:18–23 Following the preceding discourse on justice, the prophet prays to Yahweh regarding the same topic due to an assassination conspiracy against him. Yahweh has given insight to Jeremiah (v. 18) regarding a plot that seems to involve the use of coded language to trap an oblivious victim (v. 19). In contrast to what Jeremiah now knows (v. 18), he previously “did not know” (v. 19) the meaning of the enigmatic statements made by his enemies:

    Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,

    let us cut him [or “it,” since “tree” in Hb. is masculine] off from the land of the living,

    that his [or “its”] name be remembered no more.

These statements could refer credibly to a “tree,” so that “name” would denote the tree’s “reputation” (another connotation of Hb. shem) instead of a person’s “name.” Yahweh has revealed to the prophet that this allusive language refers to the work of murderers instead of arborists.

Jeremiah’s prayer concludes (v. 20) by drawing attention to the gap remaining between the divine knowledge he has received concerning his opponents and the divine intervention he still requires in order to survive their plot. He thus directs his petition to the “Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind.” Because Jeremiah expects justice against the conspirators (v. 20a) but has already experienced insight about their conspiracy (v. 20b), he casts himself fully upon his God: “Let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.”

Yahweh responds with a “therefore” (laken; v. 21) that affirms the faith of the prophet. Yahweh not only names the opponents for the first time as Jeremiah’s relatives from Anathoth but also decodes their language (cf. v. 19) as a stark threat for Jeremiah to stop prophesying or else face death (v. 21). Yet for them to oppose Yahweh’s prophet is to oppose Yahweh himself. This leads to another “therefore” (v. 22), here introducing a vow to turn Jeremiah’s opponents into an example of the judgment already mentioned. As described in verse 22–23, the men of Anathoth will suffer a death by sword and famine characteristic of exile as a national “disaster” (raʿah; cf. v. 17).

Subsequent chapters will record the prophet’s continued struggle in his prayers with the distance between Yahweh’s promises and their fulfillment. Jeremiah 12 opens with another request for help from the God whom he knows to be “righteous” (12:1; cf. 11:20) but who seems to delay in punishing the wicked. Building on Jeremiah 11:18–23, this will be a continuation of the first of the famous “Confessions” (cf. 11:18–12:6; 15:10–18; 17:14–18; 18:19–23; 20:7–18) in which Jeremiah questions why he must face such undeserved suffering.