Jeremiah 11

The Words of This Covenant

The Lord sends Jeremiah to remind Judah of the covenant made at the Exodus, tells him not to pray for a people who have broken it, and then shows him that the men of his own hometown are plotting to kill him.

No date is given in the chapter. The Bible Dictionary places chapters 7–20 among the prophecies under Jehoiakim (608–597 B.C.) Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

Background

Chapter 11 begins a new message (“The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD”) with no date and no setting.

Chapter 11 begins a new message (“The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD”) with no date and no setting. The Bible Dictionary groups chapters 7–20 under Jehoiakim's reign (608–597 B.C.), but this chapter does not name a king, and a date for it would be a guess.

It has two parts. In verses 1–17 the Lord sends Jeremiah to “the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem” with “the words of this covenant”: the covenant made when Israel came out of Egypt. Judah has broken it, as the northern kingdom did before it, and the judgment is certain, so certain that Jeremiah is told not to pray for the people. In verses 18–23 the prophet learns that men are plotting against his life, and they turn out to be his own townsmen at Anathoth, the priests' town he came from (Jer. 1:1).

The Church's chapter heading puts the first part in a sentence: “The people of Judah are cursed for breaking the covenant of obedience—The Lord will not hear their prayers.” The second part begins what the next chapter continues: Jeremiah's own complaint to the Lord, taken up in Jer. 12.

The thread through the chapter

The chapter runs on one word: covenant. Verses 2–8 say what Judah agreed to at the Exodus and how often the Lord warned them, “rising early and protesting.”

The chapter runs on one word: covenant. Verses 2–8 say what Judah agreed to at the Exodus and how often the Lord warned them, “rising early and protesting.” Verses 9–13 say how it was broken, by going after other gods. Verses 14–17 say what follows: a judgment that prayer cannot turn aside, pictured as a fruitful olive tree set on fire. Verses 18–23 then show the word being refused in person, when Jeremiah's own townsmen plot to kill the prophet who brings it.

The chapter also sets two prayers side by side. In verse 14 Jeremiah is forbidden to pray for Judah, because the Lord “will not hear them.” In verse 20 Jeremiah himself prays, and says, “unto thee have I revealed my cause.” The chapter does not explain the difference. It does place the people who have broken the covenant beside the prophet who said “So be it” to it in verse 5.

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–8

The words of the covenant

In plain words

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Listen to the words of this covenant, and tell them to the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem. Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant, which I gave your fathers the day I brought them out of Egypt, the iron furnace. I said, ‘Obey my voice and do all I command you, and you will be my people and I will be your God,’ so that I could keep the oath I swore to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today.” Jeremiah answered, “Amen, Lord.” The Lord said, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Hear the words of this covenant and do them.’ From the day I brought your fathers out of Egypt until today I have warned them again and again, but they would not listen. Each followed the stubbornness of an evil heart, so I brought on them all the words of the covenant they would not keep.”

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

2 Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

Context #

Which covenant?

“This covenant” is the one made when the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, as verse 4 says in so many words.

“This covenant” is the one made when the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, as verse 4 says in so many words. Jeremiah 11:1–14 “refers to the covenant the Lord made with the house of Israel at the time of the Exodus,” and its terms are those given in Exodus: “I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God” (Ex. 6:7).

The covenant was put in a book and read aloud. After the Lord spoke at Sinai, Moses “took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient” (Ex. 24:7). Judah had heard the same phrase more recently: when Josiah gathered the people to the temple, “he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord” (2 Kgs. 23:2). The chapter does not say that Jeremiah's message was given at that time, and its date is not given. It says that the people are being asked to hear what they already agreed to.

The Church edition's footnote on “covenant” sends the reader to Ex. 20:20 and its chapter, where the commandments are given.

Sources: Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003). The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

3 And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant,

Related Scriptures #

A curse the covenant itself named

The curse in verse 3 is not Jeremiah's own. It closely echoes a curse in the law that the people were told to answer with “Amen”: “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words…

The curse in verse 3 is not Jeremiah's own. It closely echoes a curse in the law that the people were told to answer with “Amen”: “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen” (Deut. 27:26). Jeremiah is told to speak a sentence that Israel once agreed to say back.

So when verse 8 says the Lord will “bring upon them all the words of this covenant,” He is bringing what the covenant itself already named.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

4 Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God:

5 That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD.

Language #

Jeremiah says Amen

Jeremiah's reply, “So be it,” is the Hebrew word amen, which the Hebrew text has here as a single word before “LORD.”

Jeremiah's reply, “So be it,” is the Hebrew word amen, which the Hebrew text has here as a single word before “LORD.” It is the word the people were to say to the curse in Deut. 27:26, so Jeremiah makes the response Israel was told to make. He says it before the Lord has said anything about how the message will be received; the plot against him comes at the end of the chapter.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

6 Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.

7 For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.

8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not.

Verses 9–14

A conspiracy of idolatry

In plain words

The Lord said, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem. They have gone back to the sins of their ancestors, who would not listen to me, and have followed other gods. Israel and Judah have both broken the covenant I made with their fathers. So I am bringing disaster on them that they cannot escape. When they cry to me, I will not listen. Then the cities of Judah and Jerusalem will cry to the gods they burn incense to, but those gods cannot save them when trouble comes. You have as many gods, Judah, as you have towns, and as many altars to Shame, to burn incense to Baal, as there are streets in Jerusalem. So do not pray for this people or plead for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in their trouble.”

9 And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Language #

Apostasy as a conspiracy

The Lord calls Judah's turning to other gods a conspiracy, a word for a shared plot, though the verse describes no meeting or plan.

The Lord calls Judah's turning to other gods a conspiracy, a word for a shared plot, though the verse describes no meeting or plan. It is found “among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem,” and on one reading it is called a conspiracy because the defection “had become as universal as if it had been initiated by a formal preconcertment.”

Verse 10 says what the conspiracy was: they “are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them.” The forefathers are those of verses 4 and 7, and the sin is the same one.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.

10 They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.

Context #

Both houses have broken it

The verse names both houses of Israel as covenant-breakers: “Even as the Jews' forefathers broke the covenant, so had their children in Judah.”

The verse names both houses of Israel as covenant-breakers: “Even as the Jews' forefathers broke the covenant, so had their children in Judah.” Israel, the northern kingdom, had already paid for it. Of the northern tribes, scripture says “they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers,” and “the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only” (2 Kgs. 17:15; 2 Kgs. 17:18). Now Judah has broken the same covenant.

The charge is repeated in the book's best-known passage on the covenant. In Jer. 31:32 the Lord speaks of the covenant made “in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them.” Chapter 11 is where the break is described; Jer. 31:31–34 is where the Lord promises a new covenant to replace it.

11 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.

12 Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.

13 For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.

Language #

Altars to Shame

“That shameful thing” is a title for Baal. The Hebrew word is bosheth, “shame,” used as a “shameful thing, substituted for” Baal's name in some passages, and here in “altars to…

“That shameful thing” is a title for Baal. The Hebrew word is bosheth, “shame,” used as a “shameful thing, substituted for” Baal's name in some passages, and here in “altars to the shameful thing.” The verse names Baal in its last words; “shameful thing” is a name that says what the Lord thinks of him.

The charge, “according to the number of thy cities were thy gods,” is about how many altars there were: one for each town and each street of Jerusalem. Baal's altars were not new in Judah: a generation or two earlier, King Manasseh “reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel” (2 Kgs. 21:3).

14 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.

Related Scriptures #

Why Jeremiah must not pray

The Lord tells His prophet not to pray for Judah, and the reason is in the surrounding verses: the judgment cannot be escaped (verse 11), the people's gods will not save them…

The Lord tells His prophet not to pray for Judah, and the reason is in the surrounding verses: the judgment cannot be escaped (verse 11), the people's gods will not save them (verse 12), and the Lord “will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.” So “none would escape the punishment decreed, nor would the prayers of Jeremiah or those of the people help.”

The same command comes twice more, and the Church edition links to both: “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee” (Jer. 7:16; see also Jer. 14:11). Later the Lord adds, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people” (Jer. 15:1).

Other scripture shows the same relation between hearing and being heard. Of Limhi's people in bondage, “the Lord was slow to hear their cry because of their iniquities; nevertheless the Lord did hear their cries” (Mosiah 21:15), and of the Saints in Missouri, “They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; therefore, the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble” (D&C 101:7). The Church edition links verse 11 to both.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).

Verses 15–17

The olive tree that was set on fire

In plain words

“What is my beloved doing in my house, when she has done so much wickedness? The holy flesh of sacrifice no longer avails you. When you do evil, you rejoice. The Lord once named you a green olive tree, beautiful, with good fruit. Now with the roar of a great tumult he sets it on fire, and its branches are broken. The Lord of hosts who planted you has decreed disaster against you, because of the evil Israel and Judah have done, provoking me by burning incense to Baal.”

15 What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest.

Language #

A hard verse about sacrifice

Verse 15 is the hardest in the chapter, and the Hebrew text is difficult: it is “very obscure; and from the Masoretic text it is hardly possible to obtain a suitable sense.”

Verse 15 is the hardest in the chapter, and the Hebrew text is difficult: it is “very obscure; and from the Masoretic text it is hardly possible to obtain a suitable sense.” “My house” is most likely the temple, the “beloved” Judah, and “holy flesh” the meat of sacrifices offered there. The Church edition's footnote on “the” gives the sense: “acceptable sacrifice has ceased.” The Lord asks what Judah is doing in His house, since the offerings that were supposed to make the worshipper acceptable no longer do so.

On one reading the point is hypocrisy: worshippers cloaking their idolatry with offerings in the temple. The KJV's wording is one attempt, and a reader should not rest much on a single phrase of it. The surer meaning is the one in the surrounding verses: the temple and its sacrifices are no defense for a people serving Baal.

16 The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.

Imagery #

The olive tree and the fire

The Lord once called Judah “a green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit,” a tree He planted (verse 17), and now it is set on fire and its branches are broken.

The Lord once called Judah “a green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit,” a tree He planted (verse 17), and now it is set on fire and its branches are broken. The Church edition's footnote on “green” sends the reader to Ps. 52:8, where the psalmist says, “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God”; its cross-reference on “olive tree” is to the Topical Guide's “Vineyard of the Lord.”

The Book of Mormon uses the same picture for Israel at length. Jacob asks his people whether they remember “the words of the prophet Zenos,” and Zenos begins: “I will liken thee, O house of Israel, like unto a tame olive tree, which a man took and nourished in his vineyard; and it grew, and waxed old, and began to decay” (Jacob 5:1, Jacob 5:3). The fire in Jeremiah's verse comes by war, “the noise of a great tumult,” which on one reading is the enemy armies that had already destroyed the northern kingdom and were about to destroy Judah.

17 For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.

Verses 18–23

The plot at Anathoth

In plain words

“The Lord showed me what they were doing,” Jeremiah says. “I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know they were making plots against me: ‘Let us destroy the tree and its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name is remembered no more.’ But you, Lord of hosts, judge fairly and test the heart and mind. Let me see your vengeance on them, for I have laid my cause before you.” The Lord says about the men of Anathoth who are seeking Jeremiah's life and saying, “Do not prophesy in the Lord's name, or you will die by our hands”: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine. None of them will be left, for I will bring disaster on the men of Anathoth in the year they are punished.”

18 And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings.

Context #

Where the plot against Jeremiah comes from

The Lord tells Jeremiah of a plot he knew nothing about, and the plotters are named later in the chapter: his own townsmen at Anathoth.

The Lord tells Jeremiah of a plot he knew nothing about, and the plotters are named later in the chapter: his own townsmen at Anathoth. The Bible Dictionary names “his townsmen at Anathoth (11:19)” among those from whom Jeremiah “had to face continuous opposition and insult.”

Jeremiah says himself that he “knew not that they had devised devices against me” (verse 19). At his call the Lord had said, “they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee” (Jer. 1:19).

Sources: “Jeremiah”, Bible Dictionary. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

19 But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.

Witness of Christ #

A gentle lamb led to slaughter

Jeremiah compares himself to a lamb that does not know what is planned for it.

Jeremiah compares himself to a lamb that does not know what is planned for it. The Hebrew phrase behind “a lamb or an ox” is kebes alluph, and the second word is best read as an adjective, “tame, docile”: “a docile (gentle) lamb Jeremiah 11:19.” The KJV's “or an ox” takes alluph in another sense the word can have, cattle (as in Ps. 144:14). Read as “gentle,” the picture fits the rest of the verse: the lamb trusts the people leading it, as Jeremiah “knew not that they had devised devices against me.”

The Church edition links this image to a line about Christ: “he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isa. 53:7). Abinadi quotes it in Mosiah 14:7. It also links to D&C 135:4, where Joseph Smith, on his way to Carthage, says: “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer's morning.” Jeremiah is not the Lamb of God, and the verse does not say he is. It shows a prophet of the Lord facing death at the hands of those who should have heard him, in a picture the scriptures also use of Christ and of His later servants.

Context #

The plan to cut him off

The plotters speak in a proverb, “destroy the tree with the fruit thereof,” and their next words give its plain sense: “let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his…

The plotters speak in a proverb, “destroy the tree with the fruit thereof,” and their next words give its plain sense: “let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.” The tree is the prophet. On one reading, the “fruit” is the edible produce of the tree, here the prophet's word, “a food which they abhorred.”

Nephi records the same reaction to Lehi. When he told Jerusalem its destruction was coming, “the Jews... were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had cast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also sought his life, that they might take it away” (1 Ne. 1:20). The Church edition links the words “cut him off” to this verse, and to Ps. 83:4, where enemies of Israel say, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.”

Sources: Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

20 But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.

Language #

The Lord who tests the kidneys and the heart

“Reins” translates the Hebrew kilyah (used only in the plural), “kidneys,” and figuratively the “seat of emotion and affection.”

“Reins” translates the Hebrew kilyah (used only in the plural), “kidneys,” and figuratively the “seat of emotion and affection.” Paired with “heart,” as here, they are “the object of God's examination.” Jeremiah appeals to the one who examines the hidden self, and the verse says that this is the Lord who “judgest righteously.”

The Church edition's footnote on “heart” reads: “the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind” (D&C 64:34). The Lord says it of Himself in Jer. 17:10: “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins.” Jeremiah repeats the appeal almost word for word in Jer. 20:12.

On “let me see thy vengeance on them,” Jeremiah leaves the matter with the Lord: “unto thee have I revealed my cause.” On one reading the verb expresses his certainty that God will act, not a demand.

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.

21 Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand:

Context #

His own town, and his own family

Anathoth was Jeremiah's hometown, “a town of the priests that lay a few miles northeast of Jerusalem,” and the men seeking his life were his neighbors.

Anathoth was Jeremiah's hometown, “a town of the priests that lay a few miles northeast of Jerusalem,” and the men seeking his life were his neighbors. The next chapter says how near it came: “even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee” (Jer. 12:6).

Their demand is “Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand.” A priest's son who speaks for the Lord is told by his own people to stop or be killed.

22 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine:

23 And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.

Context #

No remnant at Anathoth

The sentence on Anathoth is that its young men “shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine,” in “the year of their visitation”: war for the young…

The sentence on Anathoth is that its young men “shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine,” in “the year of their visitation”: war for the young men and famine for their children.

The sentence is not the last word about the town. The list of those who came back from Babylon includes “The men of Anathoth, an hundred twenty and eight” (Ezra 2:23). The text does not reconcile the two, and the chapter does not say how the “no remnant” of verse 23 relates to this list.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Seeing Christ in Jeremiah 11

The chapter shows the Lord reminding His people of the day He brought them out of Egypt and of His promise, “ye shall be my people, and I will be your God,” and warning them “rising early” (Jer. 11:4; Jer. 11:7). The prophet who brings the word is the one who suffers for it. Jeremiah's comparison of himself to a gentle lamb led to slaughter is linked by the Church edition to Isa. 53:7, where the Lord's servant “is brought as a lamb to the slaughter... so he openeth not his mouth.” The covenant this chapter says was broken is the one that Jer. 31:31–34 says the Lord will replace.

Worth exploring next

The covenant at Sinai and its curses: Ex. 24:3–8 and Deut. 27:9–26.
Jeremiah's own complaint to the Lord and the Lord's answer in Jer. 12, and his later accounts of persecution in Jer. 20:1–2 and Jer. 26:8–9.
The olive tree of Israel in Jacob 5, told by Zenos.
The new covenant that answers this broken one: Jer. 31:31–34.

This chapter elsewhere in scripture

1 Ne. 1:20 — Lehi in Jerusalem is met with the same reaction as Jeremiah at Anathoth: the Jews “sought his life, that they might take it away.”
Mosiah 14:7 — Abinadi quotes Isaiah's lamb led to the slaughter, the verse the Church edition links to Jeremiah's “lamb or an ox.”
Jacob 5:3 — Zenos likens the house of Israel to a tame olive tree, the same figure as Jeremiah's green olive tree.

Sources & further reading

“Jeremiah”, Bible Dictionary.
Chapter 23: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap (Jeremiah 1–19), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).
Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Trans. David Patrick and James Kennedy. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874–1880; in Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.
The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.
Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb.

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