When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:
When I shall bring again their captivity. Here follows a promise of restoration. Even the sore chastizements coming on Judah would fail to reform its people; God's returning goodness alone would effect this, to show how entirely of grace was to be their restoration. The restoration of her erring sisters is mentioned before hers, even as their punishment preceded her punishment; so all self-boasting is excluded (Fairbairn). 'Ye shall, indeed, at some time or other return, but Moab and Ammon shall return with you, and some of the ten tribes' (Grotius.)
Bring again the captivity - i:e., change their affliction into prosperity (so Job 42:10). Sodom itself was not so restored (Jeremiah 20:16, "The cities which the Lord overthrew, and repented not"); but Ammon and Moab (her representatives, as sprung from Lot, who dwelt in Sodom) were (Jeremiah 48:47; Jeremiah 49:6). Probably most of the ten tribes, and the adjoining nations, Ammon and Moab, etc., were in part restored under Cyrus; but the full realization of the restoration is yet future; the pagan nations to be brought to Christ being typified by "Sodom," whose sins they now reproduce (Deuteronomy 32:32).
The captivity of thy captives - lit, 'the captivity of thy captivities.' However, the gracious promise rather begins with the "nevertheless" (Ezekiel 16:60), not here; because Ezekiel 16:59 is a threat, not a promise. The sense here thus is, Thou shalt be restored when Sodom and Samaria are, but not until then (Ezekiel 16:55) -
i.e., never. This applies to the guilty, who should be utterly destroyed (Ezekiel 16:41-42); but it does not contradict the subsequent promise of restoration to their posterity (Numbers 14:29-33), and to the elect remnant of grace (Calvin).