“‘Therefore
I have poured out
My indignation
Upon them.
I have consumed them
With the fire
Of my wrath.
I have returned
Their conduct
Upon their heads.’
Says Yahweh God.”
The result was that Yahweh, their God, poured out his wrath and indignation on their heads. He consumed them with a fire from his anger. There was no appeasing Yahweh.
“Look!
The storm of Yahweh!
Wrath has gone forth!
It is a whirling tempest!
It will burst
Upon the head of the wicked.
The anger of Yahweh
Will not turn back
Until he has executed
The intents of his mind.
It will not turn back
Until he has accomplished
The intents of his mind.
In the latter days,
You will understand it clearly.”
The wrath of Yahweh was going to come forward like a whirling tempest storm. His wrath would burst upon the heads of the wicked. They cannot turn back the anger of Yahweh, their God, who wants to execute and accomplish what he intended to do. In the coming days, people will understand more clearly the powerful anger of God, Yahweh.
“Thus says Yahweh
To the people of Judah,
To the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
‘Break up your fallow ground!
Do not sow among thorns!
Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh!
Remove the foreskin of your hearts!
O people of Judah!
Inhabitants of Jerusalem!
Otherwise my wrath will go forth like fire.
My wrath will burn with no one to quench it,
Because of the evil of your doings.’”
Yahweh, via Jeremiah, has a call to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They were to work their uncultivated lands. They were not to sow seeds among the thorns. They were to circumcise themselves to Yahweh by removing the foreskins on their hearts. The call to Judah and Jerusalem was clear. If they did not listen, the wrath of Yahweh would go forth against them like a roaring unquenchable burning fire, because of their evil deeds.
“I will not continually accuse.
I will not always be angry.
The spirits would grow faint before me,
Even the souls that I have made.
Because of their wicked covetousness,
I was angry!
I struck them!
I hid!
I was angry!
But they kept turning back
To their own ways.
I have seen their ways.
But I will heal them.
I will lead them.
I will repay them with comfort.
I will create
For their mourners
The fruit of their lips.”
Third Isaiah says that the wrath of Yahweh will not exist forever. He is not going to be angry all the time. He will stop accusing them. Otherwise their spirits would grow faint, even his own beloved ones. Their covetousness had made Yahweh angry. He hid from them. He struck them, but they kept turning back to their evil ways. Yahweh was going to heal them. He was going to be their leader and comfort them. He would help the mourners. The wrath of God would subside.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 