Jeremiah Chapter 26 verse 17 Holy Bible
Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying,
read chapter 26 in ASV
Then some of the responsible men of the land got up and said to all the meeting of the people,
read chapter 26 in BBE
And there rose up certain of the elders of the land and spoke to all the congregation of the people, saying,
read chapter 26 in DARBY
Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying,
read chapter 26 in KJV
read chapter 26 in WBT
Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,
read chapter 26 in WEB
And certain of the elders of the land rise up, and speak unto all the assembly of the people, saying,
read chapter 26 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 17. - The elders of the land add their voice in favor of Jeremiah, not, however, without first of all consulting the people whose representatives they are. The whole verse is thoroughly technical in its phraseology. The word (qahal) rendered "assembly" is the traditional legal term for the "congregation of Israel" (Deuteronomy 31:30); comp. ver. 9, where the verb is the corresponding one to qahal. Thus, with all the faults of the government of Judah, which Jeremiah himself reveals to us, it was very far removed from the Oriental despotisms of our day. The "elders" are still an important element in the social system, and form a link with that earlier period in which the family was the leading power in the social organization. Originally the term denoted, strictly and in the full sense, heads of families; they have their analogue in the councils of the Aryan village communities. "References to their parliamentary status (if the phrase may be used) occur in Exodus 3:16; 2 Samuel 19:11; 1 Kings 8:1; 1 Kings 20:7. The institution lingered on during and after the Babylonian Exile (Jeremiah 29:1; Ezekiel 14:1; Ezekiel 20:1; Ezra 5:5; Ezra 6:7; Ezra 10:14; Matthew 26:3, 47; Mark 14:43; Acts 4:5, etc.)." We find another reference to their quasi-judicial authority in Deuteronomy 21:2.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(17) Certain of the elders of the land.--The word is probably to be taken rather in the literal than in an official sense--or, if officially, then as including the literal meaning also. The elders speaking in the time of Jehoiakim (cir. B.C. 608) remembered the tradition of what had passed, a century or so before, in the reign of Hezekiah (B.C. 726-698), and could appeal to it as a precedent in favour of the prophet. The word for "assembly" (elsewhere rendered "congregation") corresponds to the Ecclesia of a Greek city.