May go no more astray. — Here is given the object of all the previous severity of judgment — that Israel may be brought to a true repentance and be reunited in communion with God.
The prophet is now directed, in a distinct communication, to meet the thought which was evidently in the minds of the people, that Jerusalem would yet be spared for the sake of the righteous dwelling therein, as had been promised to Abraham even in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:23-32). The course of thought is this: If any land should sin as grievously as Israel had done, and God should send a judgment, it would not be spared, though Noah, Daniel and Job were in it. This is repeated in connection with each one of four successively mentioned judgments; and then the climax is reached, that much less can Jerusalem be spared when all these judgments are combined together. In the end, the justice of the Divine dealings shall be acknowledged.
A few years earlier, Jeremiah (Jeremiah 14:15) had uttered a very similar prophecy in connection with the denunciation of false prophets (Jeremiah 14:13; Jeremiah 14:15) in which not only he himself is forbidden to intercede for the people Jeremiah 14:11), but it is said (Jeremiah 15:1) that the presence of Moses and Samuel would be unavailing.