Jeremiah 1

Jeremiah 2

Jeremiah 3

Jeremiah 4

Jeremiah 5

Jeremiah 6

Jeremiah 7

Jeremiah 8

Jeremiah 9

Jeremiah 10

Jeremiah 11

Jeremiah 12

Jeremiah 13

Jeremiah 14

Jeremiah 15

Jeremiah 16

Jeremiah 17

Jeremiah 18

^**Caveats Regarding Clarke's Commentary on Jeremiah

Adam Clarke has many excellent comments but unfortunately occasionally misinterprets prophetic passages as illustrated below. Clarke was an Arminian, (e.g., he "suggested that although God can know all future events, He chooses not to know some events beforehand" Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, page 808), did not always interpret Scripture literally and thus not surprisingly was amillennial (did not believe Messiah would reign 1000 years in His earthly Kingdom - he interpreted Revelation as a Historicist) which led him to misinterpret the church as fulfilling many Old Testament promises given to Israel. He was influential in the development of the doctrine of entire sanctification. Although Clarke affirmed the authority and sufficiency of Scripture, thus holding to a belief of "plenary dynamic inspiration" (idea of every thought inspired), he fell short of a belief in the "plenary verbal inspiration" (every single word inspired) (Bibliotheca Sacra: Volume 125, p 163, 1968). In summary, Adam Clarke can be a useful commentary but in view of some of his beliefs you are advised to "Be a Berean" when utilizing his material, lest you become confused by his comments on prophetic passages.

C H Spurgeon writes that "If you have a copy of Adam Clarke, and exercise discretion in reading it, you will derive immense advantage from it, for frequently by a sort of side light he brings out the meaning of the text in an astonishingly novel manner. I do not wonder that Adam Clarke still stands, notwithstanding his peculiarities, a prince among commentators." (in Commenting and Commentaries). As an aside considerable discretion is advised in consulting older commentaries (Calvin, Gill, Henry, etc) on Jeremiah (and other prophetic books of the OT) because they all tend to see the church in OT passages where the literal interpretation leaves no room for such a conclusion.

Below is an example to illustrate how Clarke at times misinterprets (in my opinion as a Literalist) prophetic passages...

Jeremiah 23:6 "in His days (In context referring to Messiah at the time of the Millennium) Judah shall be saved and Israel will dwell securely.

Clarke correctly comments on this passage that

The real Jew is not one who has his circumcision in the flesh, but in the spirit. (See notes Romans 2:28; 2:29)

Clarke who is an amillennialist goes on to state that

The real Israel are true believers in Christ Jesus; and the genuine Jerusalem is the Church of the first-born.

Clarke incorrectly equates "the real Israel" with all believers, Jew and Gentile, but that is not what the text says (see also discussion of NT phrase Israel of God). Jeremiah makes no mention of the church in this text and in fact Paul makes it clear that it was a mystery (hidden in the OT but revealed to him in the NT - see ) The literal interpretation, which makes the most sense, is that Jerusalem is the literal city (not a symbolic representation of "the church") and at the return of the Messiah ("the Righteous Branch") to rule and reign, the Jews who are saved by placing their faith in their Messiah (the phrase "shall be saved" parallels several other passages:

[1] Jeremiah 30:7 Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob's distress, But he will be saved from it.

"That day" and "the time of Jacob's distress" refers to the time of Jacob's distress or the last 3.5 years of Daniel's Seventieth Week which Jesus designated as the "Great Tribulation" in Matthew 24:21,

[2] Zechariah 13:8, 9 "And it will come about in all the land," Declares the LORD, "That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be left in it.9 "And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, 'They are My people,' And they will say, 'The LORD is my God.'"

Zechariah refers to "one-third" that Jehovah brings through the fire which equates with "all Israel" who will be saved as explained by Paul.

[3] Romans 11:26-27 and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB (refers to Israel). AND THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS. (see commentary notes)