And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.
First I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double. Horsley translates, 'I will recompense, etc., once and again;' literally, the first time repeated: alluding to the two captives-the Babylonian and the Roman. Maurer, 'I will recompense their former iniquities (those long ago committed by their fathers) and their (own) repeated sins' (Jeremiah 16:11-12). The English version gives a good sense, 'First (before 'I bring them again into their land'), I will doubly (i:e., fully and amply, Jeremiah 17:18; Isaiah 40:2) recompense,' etc.
They have filled mine inheritance with the carcasses - not sweet-smelling sacrifices, acceptable to God, but "carcasses" offered to idols, an offensive odour to God; human victims (Jeremiah 19:5; Ezekiel 16:20), and unclean animals, swine's flesh, etc. (Isaiah 65:4; Isaiah 66:17). Maurer explains it, 'the carcasses' of the idols; their images void of sense and life (cf. Jeremiah 16:19-20). Leviticus 26:30, "I will cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols," favours this.