Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them poisonous water to drink.
He at length concludes that God would take vengeance, but speaks in a figurativle language, I will feed them with bitterness The word לענה lone, is rendered “wormwood;” but as this is a wholesome herb, I prefer to render it “bitterness.” But the reason why this herb is mentioned is its bitterness, — and not its wholesome effects. It was hence chosen to designate what is afflictive and distressing.
Two things the prophet designs, in these verses, with reference to the approaching destruction of Judah and Jerusalem: - 1. To convince people of the justice of God in it, that they had by sin brought it upon themselves and that therefore they had no reason to quarrel with God, who did them no wrong at all, but a great deal of reason to fall...
Commenting on Jeremiah 9:12-22
Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,.... He calls himself "the Lord God of hosts", of armies above and below, in heaven and in earth, in opposition to Baalim, the idols of the Gentiles; which word signifies "lords"; which, though there be many who are called so, there is but one God, and one Lord, who is God over all...