Jeremiah 27:16-18 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Also I spake to the priests and to all this people The prophet, being God's true servant, spared none, but gave faithful warning to all sorts of persons, to take heed of being deceived by the false prophets, who undertook to foretel that the vessels of the temple, carried away in the time of Jehoiakim and his son Jeconiah, (of which we read 2Ch 36:7; 2 Chronicles 36:10,) should be brought back again to Jerusalem in a short time: see Jeremiah 28:3. Hearken not unto them Believe them not, but acquiesce in God's providence with respect to you, and be content to be subject to the king of Babylon, that so your lives may be given you for a prey. Wherefore should this city be laid waste? If you do not comply with God's will in this instance, your city will certainly be destroyed, and why should you pull down such a judgment upon your own heads? But if they be prophets, &c. If they be true prophets, and have any power with God, instead of foretelling the bringing back of the vessels carried away, let them apply to him in prayer to prevent the carrying away of the vessels that yet remain, whether in the house of the Lord, or in the king's house, or in Jerusalem, which can be done no other way than by pleading with God to turn away his wrath, and not proceed in inflicting those sore judgments which he is most certainly bringing upon you.