“For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.”
My Notes
What Does Jeremiah 49:12 Mean?
"For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it." God's argument is from greater to lesser: if INNOCENT people (those whose judgment was NOT to drink) have been forced to drink the cup of suffering, how can the GUILTY expect to escape? The people who didn't deserve the cup drank it. You — who deserve it — will certainly drink it too.
The phrase "they whose judgment was not to drink" (asher ein mishpatam lishtot — those for whom it was not the judgment to drink) identifies people who suffered UNDESERVEDLY: they shouldn't have had to drink the cup of judgment, but they did. The innocent suffered. The undeserving drank. If the cup reached THEM — people who shouldn't have been touched — it will certainly reach those who earned it.
The rhetorical question — "art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished?" (ve'attah hu naqqeh tinnaqeh — and you, will you be completely acquitted?) — is answered immediately: NO. You will NOT go unpunished. You WILL drink. The question is rhetorical because the answer is obvious: if the innocent weren't spared, the guilty certainly won't be.
Reflection Questions
- 1.If innocent people suffered, what makes you think you'll be exempt from earned consequences?
- 2.What does God acknowledging innocent suffering teach about His honesty regarding the human condition?
- 3.How does the argument from lesser (innocent suffered) to greater (guilty will certainly suffer) work?
- 4.What cup are you hoping to avoid that's already found people less deserving of it than you?
Devotional
If people who didn't deserve the cup had to drink it — do you think YOU'LL be excused? The argument is devastating: the innocent suffered. The undeserving drank the cup of judgment. And you — the guilty, the deserving, the ones the cup was actually made for — you think you'll escape? You won't.
The 'whose judgment was not to drink' acknowledges innocent suffering: God doesn't pretend that only the guilty suffer. He acknowledges that some who drank the cup shouldn't have had to. The suffering of the innocent is a PREMISE, not a surprise. God uses it as the foundation of the argument: since even the INNOCENT weren't spared, the guilty have zero chance of exemption.
The 'thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink' is the certainty that eliminates every escape plan: the emphatic doubling (surely drink) means the drinking is guaranteed. The 'not go unpunished' and 'surely drink' say the same thing twice from different angles: you're NOT exempt AND you WILL drink. The double statement blocks every exit.
The argument from innocent-to-guilty is the most effective case for divine justice: if God's cup reached people who didn't deserve it, how could it POSSIBLY skip people who do? The innocent drank involuntarily. The guilty will drink deservedly. The cup that found the undeserving will certainly find the deserving. The cup doesn't skip the guilty after visiting the innocent.
If the innocent weren't spared, what makes you think you'll be exempt from the consequences you've earned?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For thus saith the Lord,.... This that follows shows that what goes before is not said by way of promise and comfort,…
Edom stretched along the south of Judah from the border of Moab on the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean and the Arabian…
The Edomites come next to receive their doom from God, by the mouth of Jeremiah: they also were old enemies to the…
they to whom it pertained not for the metaphor See on Jer 13:12; Jer 25:15.
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture