Jeremiah

Jeremiah 30

24 verses · Major Prophets · Old Testament

1The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2“Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book. 3For, behold, the days come,’ says Yahweh, ‘that I will reverse the captivity of my people Israel and Judah,’ says Yahweh. ‘I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.’ ”

4These are the words that Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. 5For Yahweh says:

“We have heard a voice of trembling; a voice of fear, and not of peace. 6Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned pale? 7Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he will be saved out of it. 8It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds. Strangers will no more make them their bondservants; 9but they will serve Yahweh their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them. 10Therefore don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says Yahweh. Don’t be dismayed, Israel. For, behold, I will save you from afar, and save your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return, and will be quiet and at ease. No one will make him afraid. 11For I am with you, says Yahweh, to save you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.”

12For Yahweh says,

“Your hurt is incurable. Your wound is grievous. 13There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up. You have no healing medicines. 14All your lovers have forgotten you. They don’t seek you. For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased. 15Why do you cry over your injury? Your pain is incurable. For the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you. 16Therefore all those who devour you will be devoured. All your adversaries, everyone of them, will go into captivity. Those who plunder you will be plunder. I will make all who prey on you become prey. 17For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds,” says Yahweh; “because they have called you an outcast, saying, ‘It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.’ ”

18Yahweh says:

“Behold, I will reverse the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places. The city will be built on its own hill, and the palace will be inhabited in its own place. 19Thanksgiving will proceed out of them with the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they will not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small. 20Their children also will be as before, and their congregation will be established before me. I will punish all who oppress them. 21Their prince will be one of them, and their ruler will proceed from among them. I will cause him to draw near, and he will approach me; for who is he who has had boldness to approach me?” says Yahweh. 22“You shall be my people, and I will be your God. 23Behold, Yahweh’s storm, his wrath, has gone out, a sweeping storm: it will burst on the head of the wicked. 24The fierce anger of Yahweh will not return until he has accomplished, and until he has performed the intentions of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it.”

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What others are saying

4 commentators · 52 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17143

Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.

Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.

v. 1–9

Here, I. Jeremiah is directed to write what God had spoken to him, which perhaps refers to all the foregoing prophecies. He must write them and publish them, in hopes that those who had not profited by what he said upon once hearing it might take more notice…

v. 10–17

In these verses, as in those foregoing, the deplorable case of the Jews in captivity is set forth, but many precious promises are given them that in due time they should be relieved and a glorious salvation wrought for them. I. God himself appeared against…

v. 18–24

We have here further intimations of the favour God had in reserve for them after the days of their calamity were over. It is promised, I. That the city and temple should be rebuilt, Jer 30:18. Jacob's tents, and his dwelling places, felt the effects of the…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176324

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord,.... The word of prophecy, us the Targum. Some make this to be the "thirteenth" sermon of the prophet's; it is a consolatory one, as Kimchi observes: saying; as follows:

v. 2

Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel,.... Who is their covenant God; has not forgotten them; still has a regard for them; and speaks after the following comfortable manner concerning them: saying, write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a…

v. 3

For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord,.... And they are yet to come; the prophecy is not yet fulfilled. Kimchi says this belongs to the days of the Messiah; but not to his first coming, or to his coming in the flesh, which the Jews vainly expect; but to his…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–18755

The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.

Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.

v. 1–3

Introduction, and Statement of the Subject - Jer 30:1. "The word which came to Jeremiah from Jahveh, saying: Jer 30:2. Thus hath Jahveh the God of Israel said: Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book; Jer 30:3. For, behold, days come…

v. 4–11

The judgment on the nations for the deliverance of Israel. - Jer 30:4. "And these are the words which Jahveh spake concerning Israel and Judah: Jer 30:5. For thus saith Jahveh: We have heard a cry of terror, fear, and no peace. Jer 30:6. Ask now, and see…

v. 12–17

Because Israel has been severely chastised for his sins, the Lord will now punish his enemies, and heal Israel. - Jer 30:12. "For thus saith Jahveh: It is ill with thy bruise, thy wound is painful. Jer 30:13. There is none to judge thy cause; for a sore…

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownScottish Presbyterian / Reformed · 187120

The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.

Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.

v. 3–4

bring again . . . captivity of . . . Israel and Judah--the restoration not merely of the Jews (treated of in this thirtieth chapter), but also of the ten tribes ("Israel"; treated in the thirty-first chapter), together forming the whole nation (Jer 30:18; Jer…

v. 5

We have heard . . . trembling--God introduces the Jews speaking that which they will be reduced to at last in spite of their stubbornness. Threat and promise are combined: the former briefly; namely, the misery of the Jews in the Babylonian captivity down to…

v. 6

Ask--Consult all the authorities, men or books, you can, you will not find an instance. Yet in that coming day men will be seen with their hands pressed on their loins, as women do to repress their pangs. God will drive men through pain to gestures more…

World English Bible — Public domain