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30. Restoration of Israel

¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ² “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you. ³ The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity Or will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah and restore them to the land I gave their ancestors to possess,’ says the LORD.”

⁴ These are the words the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah: ⁵ “This is what the LORD says:

   “‘Cries of fear are heard—
   terror, not peace.
⁶ Ask and see:
   Can a man bear children?
Then why do I see every strong man
   with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor,
   every face turned deathly pale?
⁷ How awful that day will be!
   No other will be like it.
It will be a time of trouble for Jacob,
   but he will be saved out of it.

    ⁸ “‘In that day,’ declares the LORD Almighty,
   ‘I will break the yoke off their necks
and will tear off their bonds;
   no longer will foreigners enslave them.
⁹ Instead, they will serve the LORD their God
   and David their king,
   whom I will raise up for them.

    ¹⁰ “‘So do not be afraid, Jacob my servant;
   do not be dismayed, Israel,’ declares the LORD.
‘I will surely save you out of a distant place,
   your descendants from the land of their exile.
Jacob will again have peace and security,
   and no one will make him afraid.
¹¹ I am with you and will save you,’
   declares the LORD.
‘Though I completely destroy all the nations
   among which I scatter you,
   I will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you but only in due measure;
   I will not let you go entirely unpunished.’

¹² “This is what the LORD says:

   “‘Your wound is incurable,
   your injury beyond healing.
¹³ There is no one to plead your cause,
   no remedy for your sore,
   no healing for you.
¹⁴ All your allies have forgotten you;
   they care nothing for you.
I have struck you as an enemy would
   and punished you as would the cruel,
because your guilt is so great
   and your sins so many.
¹⁵ Why do you cry out over your wound,
   your pain that has no cure?
Because of your great guilt and many sins
   I have done these things to you.

    ¹⁶ “‘But all who devour you will be devoured;
   all your enemies will go into exile.
Those who plunder you will be plundered;
   all who make spoil of you I will despoil.
¹⁷ But I will restore you to health
   and heal your wounds,’ declares the LORD,
‘because you are called an outcast,
   Zion for whom no one cares.’

¹⁸ “This is what the LORD says:

   “‘I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents
   and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city will be rebuilt on her ruins,
   and the palace will stand in its proper place.
¹⁹ From them will come songs of thanksgiving
   and the sound of rejoicing.
I will add to their numbers,
   and they will not be decreased;
I will bring them honor,
   and they will not be disdained.
²⁰ Their children will be as in days of old,
   and their community will be established before me;
   I will punish all who oppress them.
²¹ Their leader will be one of their own;
   their ruler will arise from among them.
I will bring him near and he will come close to me—
   for who is he who will devote himself
   to be close to me?’ declares the LORD.
²² “‘So you will be my people,
   and I will be your God.’”

    ²³ See, the storm of the LORD
   will burst out in wrath,
a driving wind swirling down
   on the heads of the wicked.
²⁴ The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back
   until he fully accomplishes
   the purposes of his heart.
In days to come
   you will understand this.

Jeremiah proceeds with what he touched upon in the last verse, even that the Lord, after having chastised his people, would at length shew mercy to them, so as to receive them into favor. He says, in short, that their captivity would not be perpetual. But we must remember what we have before stated, that is, that deliverance is only promised to the faithful, who would patiently and resignedly submit to God and not disregard his paternal correction. If, then, we desire God to be propitious to us, we must suffer ourselves to be paternally chastised by him; for if we resist when goaded, no pardon can by any means be expected, for we then, as it were, wilfully provoke God by our hardness.

He therefore says, in that day, that is, when the appointed time was completed. The false prophets inflamed the people with false expectation, as though their deliverance was to take place after two years. God bade the faithful to wait, and not to be thus in a hurry; he had assigned a day for them, and that was, as we have seen, the seventieth year. He then mentions the yoke, that is, of the king of Babylon, and taking another view, the chains The yoke was what Nebuchadnezzar laid on the Jews; and the chains of the people were those by which Nebuchadnezzar had bound them. At last he adds, And rule over them shall no more strangers The verb עבד, obed, is to be taken here in a causative sense; even the form of the sentence shews this, and they who render the words, “and strangers shall not serve them,” wrest the meaning; for it could not be a promise; and this is inconsistent with the context, and requires no confutation, as it is evidently unsuitable. If the verb be taken in the sense of serving, then “strangers” must be in the dative case. We have seen before a similar phrase in Jeremiah 25:14, where the Prophet says that neither kings nor strong nations would any longer rule over the Jews. The same verb is used, and the same form of expression. Strangers, then, shall make them serve no more; that is, they shall not rule over them so as slavishly to oppress them. ⁴⁴
   I render the verse as follows, —
   8. And it shall be in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, That I shall break his yoke from thy neck, And thy chains will I burst: And make him to serve shall strangers no more: 9. But serve shall they Jehovah, etc..
   The transition from the second to the third person, “thy” and “him,” and from the singular to the plural, “him” and “they,” is very common in the Prophets. On the last line in the 8th verse (Jeremiah 30:8). — Ed.

We now perceive the design of the Prophet; he exhorts the Jews to patience, and shews that though their exile would be long, yet their deliverance was certain. It follows, —