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Jeremiah 19 Introduction
英文原文
The present prophecy Jeremiah 19-20 is to be taken in close connection with the preceding. Jeremiah chooses a vessel baked in the fire, and therefore incapable of being re-shaped (compare Jeremiah 18:1, note; Jeremiah 18:6, note). It is the symbol of the obdurate, of those who have taken their final form Revelation 22:11. In solemn procession he must bear the vessel out to the place of doom, the valley of Gehenna. There he was to break the vessel; and just as all the art of the potter would be of no avail to restore the broken fragments, so did God proclaim the final destruction of Jerusalem such as it then was, and of that generation which inhabited it.
1
Jeremiah 19:1
「去買（即購買）窯匠的瓦瓶」——這「瓶」是一種長頸的細口瓶，其名得自液體倒出時所發出的聲響。
「長老」——這些「長老」是百姓正式設立的代表（見Jeremiah 29:1；Numbers 11:16），這一組織一直延續到我們救主的時代（Matthew 26:47）。同樣，祭司也有他們的代表（2 Kings 19:2）。先知就這樣由教會與國家的代表陪同，拿著瓦瓶——那象徵他們出身卑微、存在脆弱的記號——出到耶路撒冷城牆之外。
英文原文
Get (i. e., purchase) a potter's earthen bottle - The "bottle" was a flask with a long neck, and took its name from the noise made by liquids in running out.
The ancients - These "elders" were the regularly constituted representatives of the people (see Jeremiah 29:1; Numbers 11:16), and the organization lasted down to our Saviour's time Matthew 26:47. Similarly the priests had also their representatives 2 Kings 19:2. Accompanied thus by the representatives of Church and State, the prophet was to carry the earthen bottle, the symbol of their mean origin and frail existence, outside the walls of Jerusalem.
2
Jeremiah 19:2
「欣嫩子谷」——見 Jeremiah 7:31 註釋。
「哈珥西的門口」——另有譯法作「瓦門」。有兩道門可通入欣嫩子谷：一是東南角的泉門，一是錫安西南面的糞廠門；有些人認為這道「東門」兩者皆非，而是一道小門或便門，供傾倒垃圾之用，因為自約西亞玷污這谷以來（2 Kings 23:10），它就一直被派作這等卑賤的用途。於是，這個驕傲民族的可鄙表徵，便經由一道後門被抬出去，在早已傾倒在那裡的垃圾堆上摔碎。
英文原文
The valley ... - See Jeremiah 7:31 note.
The east gate - Others render "the pottery gate." Two gates led into the valley of Hinnom, the Fountain-gate at the southeast corner, and the Dung-gate on the southwest side of Zion; some think that "the east gate" was neither of these, but a small or postern gate, used for throwing out rubbish, the valley having been put to this degrading use from the time that Josiah defiled it 2 Kings 23:10. And thus the mean symbol of a proud nation was carried out through a back door to be broken upon the heaps of refuse already cast there.
3
Jeremiah 19:3
「君王們」——用複數，因為這信息（Jeremiah 19:3-9）不是特別針對在位之王，而是針對整個王室。
英文原文
Kings - Plural because the message Jeremiah 19:3-9, related not especially to the reigning king, but to the whole royal house.
4
Jeremiah 19:4
「將這地方看為平常」——他們不認這地方的神聖，反倒向素不認識的別神燒香，把它當作陌生之地看待。
「無辜人」——即無罪之人。
英文原文
Have estranged this place - They have not recognized the sanctity of this place, but have treated it as a strange place, by worshipping in it strange gods.
Innocents - i. e., guiltless persons.
7
Jeremiah 19:7
「使……落空」——這裏所用的動詞，正是「瓶」（Jeremiah 19:1）一詞賴以衍生的那個動詞；它摹擬水流出時的聲響，故譯作「倒出」更佳。耶利米大概把盛滿水的瓶子帶到陀斐特——水在東方是生命的象徵（Isaiah 35:6; Isaiah 41:18）——並在說這話的同時，在聚集的長老面前將水倒空。
英文原文
Make void - The verb used here is that from which "bottle" Jeremiah 19:1 is derived, and as it represents the sound made by the water running out, it would be better translated, "pour out." Jeremiah perhaps carried the bottle to Tophet full of water, the symbol in the East of life Isaiah 35:6; Isaiah 41:18, and at these words emptied it before the assembled elders.
11
Jeremiah 19:11
「再完好如初」——直譯為「得醫治」。此象徵與 Jeremiah 18:4 的象徵之別正在於此。可塑的泥土可以塑造又再塑造，直到窰匠用它做成他預定的器皿；打破的瓶子卻再無用處，其碎片被永遠丟棄在陀斐特堆積的垃圾之上。
英文原文
Made whole again - literally, "healed." In this lies the distinction between this symbol and that of Jeremiah 18:4. The plastic clay can be shaped and re-shaped until the potter forms with it the vessel he had predetermined: the broken bottle is of no further use, but its fragments are cast away forever upon the heaps of rubbish deposited in Tophet.
13
Jeremiah 19:13
「因這一切」——按字面是「關於這一切」。這話將審判的宣告限於那些屋頂曾被祭壇玷污的房屋。
「在其屋頂上燒香的」——見 2 Kings 23:12 的註釋。
英文原文
Because of all - literally, "with reference to all," limiting the denunciation to those houses whose roofs had been defiled with altars.
Upon whose roofs they have burned incense - See 2 Kings 23:12, note.
14
Jeremiah 19:14
由於正是在聖殿裏重述這預言，才使巴施戶如此大為激怒，這兩節應當與下一章相連。
英文原文
Since it was this repetition of the prophecy in the temple which so greatly irritated Pashur, these two verses ought to be joined to the next chapter.
現在這段預言（Jeremiah 19-20）必須與前一段緊密連起來看。耶利米選了一件曾在火中燒過、因而無法重新塑造的器皿（參 Jeremiah 18:1, note; Jeremiah 18:6, note）。它是頑梗之人的記號——那些已經定型、無法改變的人（Revelation 22:11）。他必須在莊嚴的行列中把這器皿帶到那遭毀滅之地——欣嫩子谷。他要在那裏打碎那器皿；正如窯匠的一切手藝也無法修復那些碎片，神也照樣宣告：耶路撒冷當時的樣子、以及居住其中的那一代人，必遭最終的毀滅。