17:12 Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these [things mean]? tell [them], Behold, the king of Babylon hath come to Jerusalem, and hath taken {k} its king, and its princes, and led them with him to Babylon;
(k) That is, Jeconiah, 2Ki 24:15.
17:11-21 The parable is explained, and the particulars of the history of the Jewish nation at that time may be traced. Zedekiah had been ungrateful to his benefactor, which is a sin against God. In every solemn oath, God is appealed to as a witness of the sincerity of him that swears. Truth is a debt owing to all men. If the professors of the true religion deal treacherously with those of a false religion, their profession makes their sin the worse; and God will the more surely and severely punish it. The Lord will not hold those guiltless who take his name in vain; and no man shall escape the righteous judgment of God who dies under unrepented guilt.
