O that I had in the wilderness - In the eastern countries there are no such inns or houses of entertainment as those in Europe. There are in different places public buildings called caravanserais, where travelers may lodge: but they are without furniture of any kind, and without food. Indeed they are often without a root being mere walls for a protection against the wild beasts of the desert. I wish to hide myself any where, in the most uncomfortable circumstances, that I may not be obliged any longer to witness the abominations of this people who are shortly to be visited with the most grievous punishments. Several interpreters suppose this to be the speech of God. I cannot receive this. I believe this verse to be spoken by the prophet, and that God proceeds with the next verse, and so on to the ninth inclusive.

that I had.

Psalm 55:6-8 And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest...

Psalm 120:5-7 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!...

Micah 7:1-7 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat...

for.

Jeremiah 5:7,8 How shall I pardon you for this? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full...

Jeremiah 23:10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourns; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up...

Ezekiel 22:10,11 In you have they discovered their fathers' nakedness: in you have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution...

Hosea 4:2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood touches blood.

Hosea 7:4 They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceases from raising after he has kneaded the dough, until it be leavened.

James 4:4 You adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?...

an assembly.

Jeremiah 12:1,6 Righteous are you, O LORD, when I plead with you: yet let me talk with you of your judgments: Why does the way of the wicked prosper...

Hosea 5:7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children...

Hosea 6:7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

Micah 7:2-5 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood...

Zephaniah 3:4 Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.

Malachi 2:11 Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem...

Steadfast unto the End
[This chapter is based on the Second Epistle of Peter.] In the second letter addressed by peter to those who had obtained "like precious faith" with himself, the apostle sets forth the divine plan for the development of Christian character. He writes: "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory …
Ellen Gould White—The Acts of the Apostles

Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament