Jeremiah 30:5-22 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Reader Related Verse
Bible Comments

Description of the people's terror (Jeremiah 30:5 mg.) at the Day of Yahweh (Amos 5:18); but this Day shall bring deliverance from the (heathen) yoke (Jeremiah 30:8), and Israel shall have (religious) freedom under the future Davidic king. The gathered people shall be delivered from fear (like a protected flock, Isaiah 17:2); the heathen nations shall be destroyed, Israel escaping with proper chastisement only (Jeremiah 10:24). At present, Zion is sorely wounded (Jeremiah 30:13 as mg. 1), and forsaken of her old allies (lovers, Jeremiah 30:14; cf. Jeremiah 4:30; Jeremiah 22:20). Her condition is deserved, yet because she is so helpless (therefore, Jeremiah 30:16) her foes shall be overthrown, and she shall be healed; the city shall be rebuilt upon its mound, and the palace inhabited as usual (Jeremiah 30:18 mg.). There shall be joy (Psalms 126:1 f.) at the restoration of her numbers, and her former glory; for she will be in the care of Yahweh (before me, Jeremiah 30:20; cf. Psalms 102:28), and under a native ruler (Deuteronomy 17:15), with priestly rights of access to Yahweh (Ezekiel 44:13; Numbers 16:5), such as none would presumptuously claim. Jeremiah 30:23 f. is an eschatological fragment (found elsewhere as in mg.) which describes the destruction of the wicked within the Jewish nation.

Jeremiah 30:5 ff. The Day of Yahweh is a frequent idea of prophecy to denote the dramatic intervention of Yahweh in human history, cf. Isaiah 13:6 ff., where there is the same figure as here of men overcome in travail-like anguish.

Jeremiah 30:8. Cf. Isaiah 10:27; thy in both cases should be his; cf. LXX.

Jeremiah 30:9. A return of the original David is not meant, but the coming of an idealised descendant; cf. Hosea 3:5.

Jeremiah 30:10 f. (LXX omits) as Jeremiah 46:27 f.; see Isaiah 41:8 f. for thought and phrasing.

Jeremiah 30:20. The term for congregation is characteristic of the post-exilic period, when Israel had become a Church instead of a State.

Jeremiah 30:21. It is difficult for us to realise, in view of the Christian sense of direct fellowship with God in Christ, the old idea of the peril of any approach to deity.

Related Commentaries of Jeremiah 30:5

Jeremiah 30:5-22

5 For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear,a and not of peace.

6 Ask ye now, and see whether a manb doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?

7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

8 For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:

9 But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.

10 Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.

11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.

12 For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.

13 There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.

14 All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.

15 Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.

16 Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.

17 For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.

18 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap,c and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.

19 And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.

20 Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them.

21 And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the LORD.

22 And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.