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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.

The Prophet goes on in this verse to describe the grievousness of that punishment for which the people felt no concern, for they disregarded all threatenings, as I have already said, and had now for many years hardened themselves so as to deem as nothing so many dreadful things. This, then, was the reason why he dwelt so much on this denunciation, and exclaimed, Alas! great is that day: “great” is to be taken for dreadful; and he adds, so that there is none like it It was a dreadful spectacle to see the city destroyed, and the Temple partly pulled down and partly consumed by fire: the king, with all the nobility, was driven into exile, his eyes were put out, and his children were slain; and he was afterwards led away in a manner so degraded, that to die a hundred times would have been more desirable than to endure such indignity. Hence the Prophet does not say without reason, that that day would be great, so that none would be like it: and he said this, to shake away the torpidity of the people, for they thought that the holy city, which God had chosen for his habitation, could not fall, nor the Temple perish, he further says, that it would be a time of distress to the people. But at the end of the verse he gives them a hope of God’s mercy, even deliverance from this distress. We now, then, see the design of the Prophet in these verses. ³³     “That day” in this verse, and “that day” in the following verse, seem to be the same. Then הוי must not be rendered “Alas,” but “Ho!” or “Hark!” according to its most common meaning. The passage from verse the 4th (Jeremiah 30:4,) to the end of this, including the beginning of the 8^th (Jeremiah 30:8), may be thus rendered, —
   4. Even these are the words which Jehovah hath said respecting Israel and respecting Judah:
   5. Verily thus hath Jehovah said — (The voice of trembling have we heard, Of fear and not of peace:
   6. Ask ye now and see, Does a man travail with child? How is it? I see every man With his hands on his loins like a woman in travail, And turned are all faces to paleness:)
   7. Hark! for great shall be that day, none like it; Though a time of distress shall be to Jacob, Yet from it shall he be saved:
   8. And it shall be in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, That I shall break, etc.. etc..
   The parenthesis accounts for what is said at the end of the 7th verse (Jeremiah 30:7) and is intended as a contrast with the great day of deliverance that is promised. — Ed. — There will be no Lecture tomorrow on account of the Consistory.