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Jeremiah
Hardcover. Hebrew Bible literature.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
About the author
Abraham Cohen
104 books5 followersAbraham Cohen was a Jewish-British scholar. He was the editor of the Soncino Books of the Bible and also participated in the Soncino translation of the Talmud and Midrash. He attended the University of London and Cambridge and was a minister of Birmingham Hebrew Congregation from 1933.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 31, 2022
i really appreciate the layout and commentary in this volume. Each page includes the pointed Hebrew text and an English translation (i think JPS 1917?) side-by-side, and notes below. The notes are drawn from a wealth of Jewish scholarship—Rashi, Daath Mikra, Metsudath David, Kimchi, Talmud, Ibn Ezra, Abarbanel, etc. etc. A thing i deeply appreciate about Jewish commentary is that the Protestant fundamentalist/evangelical need to nail everything firmly to the ground is not relevant here. Different readings and interpretations are given together, sometimes with comment regarding the strength of each argument, but often with no attempt to reconcile them, because each has something to say and absolute certainty is not the goal—deep engagement in community is. i found a number of comments which i will be looking up to investigate further and which i hope will help me in my thesis. Frequent acknowledgement of Messianism and the Messianic age are also here, with no polemic regarding Christian interpretation of this, which is also refreshing. No doubt the scholars herein may at times argue vigorously amongst themselves, but there is no hint of partisanship or rancor or rivalry. It is just faithful rabbinic scholarship.
March 10, 2026
Dr. A. Cohen, general editor of the “Soncino Books of the Bible” series, has in this volume on Jeremiah assembled a panoply of scholars from both Christian and Jewish backgrounds whose verse-by-verse commentary will give any student of the book a comprehensive understanding of its place in the Biblical canon. Jewish sources cited include Josephus; David Kimchi; Maimonides; and Rashi, among others; Christian writers include Jerome; Milman; Peake; and W.M. Thomson (author of the 19th-century travelogue “The Land and the Book”). Secular writers mentioned are, among others, Thomas Carlyle, the archaeologist Flinders Petrie, and H.B. Tristram.
Since all the commentaries in this series are intended primarily for a Jewish audience, Christians looking for additional support for the Messianic interpretation of various passages, that are found in Christian commentaries, will not find them here. Instead they should regard the perusal of these volumes as an opportunity to broaden their own thinking to the point where they are willing to grant that both viewpoints have merit. Any interfaith dialogue will hopefully begin from this starting point and result in a greater degree of mutual respect and understanding rather than an insistence that a particular interpretation is the “only correct one”, a stance that often results in recrimination and alienation and an unwillingness to even consider other viewpoints before discussion begins. God is undoubtedly bigger than any one overly dogmatic position or belief perceives Him to be.
Jeremiah’s prophecy (and Lamentations) contain some of the most gripping and dramatic passages in Scripture as the “weeping prophet” confronts the refusal of Judah’s people, especially its leaders, to heed his warnings about their heresy, idolatry and other often unspeakable practices which by the 6th Century BCE had infiltrated Jewish culture to such a degree that, to quote the writer of 2nd Chronicles, “there was no remedy”. Jeremiah witnessed God’s consequent judgment: the end of the southern kingdom; the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple; the carrying away of the majority of the people into a 70-year captivity in Babylon. His heart bleeds for his people even as he is mocked and threatened with death. He is thought to have ended his days as an exile himself, in Egypt; and his prophecy shows that, while it is never too late to repent from sin of any sort, continuing refusal to do so and to heed divine warnings (whether from spiritual advisers, concerned family or friends, Scripture, the inner conviction of the Holy Spirit, or the testimony of one’s own conscience (assuming it has not been “seared with a hot iron”, that is!) will eventually result in judgment. “Be sure your sin will find you out” –Numbers 32:23 “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” –Galatians 6:7
***** review by Chuck Graham *****
Since all the commentaries in this series are intended primarily for a Jewish audience, Christians looking for additional support for the Messianic interpretation of various passages, that are found in Christian commentaries, will not find them here. Instead they should regard the perusal of these volumes as an opportunity to broaden their own thinking to the point where they are willing to grant that both viewpoints have merit. Any interfaith dialogue will hopefully begin from this starting point and result in a greater degree of mutual respect and understanding rather than an insistence that a particular interpretation is the “only correct one”, a stance that often results in recrimination and alienation and an unwillingness to even consider other viewpoints before discussion begins. God is undoubtedly bigger than any one overly dogmatic position or belief perceives Him to be.
Jeremiah’s prophecy (and Lamentations) contain some of the most gripping and dramatic passages in Scripture as the “weeping prophet” confronts the refusal of Judah’s people, especially its leaders, to heed his warnings about their heresy, idolatry and other often unspeakable practices which by the 6th Century BCE had infiltrated Jewish culture to such a degree that, to quote the writer of 2nd Chronicles, “there was no remedy”. Jeremiah witnessed God’s consequent judgment: the end of the southern kingdom; the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple; the carrying away of the majority of the people into a 70-year captivity in Babylon. His heart bleeds for his people even as he is mocked and threatened with death. He is thought to have ended his days as an exile himself, in Egypt; and his prophecy shows that, while it is never too late to repent from sin of any sort, continuing refusal to do so and to heed divine warnings (whether from spiritual advisers, concerned family or friends, Scripture, the inner conviction of the Holy Spirit, or the testimony of one’s own conscience (assuming it has not been “seared with a hot iron”, that is!) will eventually result in judgment. “Be sure your sin will find you out” –Numbers 32:23 “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” –Galatians 6:7
***** review by Chuck Graham *****
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews