See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
Set thee over - literally, appointed thee to the oversight. He was to have his eye upon the nations, and to predict their destruction or restoration, according as their conduct was bad or good. Prophets are said to do that which they foretell shall be done; for their word is God's word: and His word is His instrument whereby He doeth all things (Genesis 1:3; Psalms 33:6; Psalms 33:9). Word and deed are one thing with Him. What His prophet saith is as certain as if it were done. The prophet's own consciousness was absorbed into that of God: so closely united to God did he feel himself that Yahweh's words and deeds are described as his. In Jeremiah 31:28 God is said to do what Jeremiah here is represented as doing, "I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to destroy; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord" (cf. Jeremiah 18:7; 1 Kings 19:17,-namely, by the word of the Lord in his mouth, the efficacious instrument of destroying the guilty; Ezekiel 43:3). Root out - (Matthew 15:13, "Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up").
Pull down - change of metaphor to architecture (2 Corinthians 10:4, "The weapons of our warfare are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds"). There is a play on the similar sounds, lintowsh (H5428), lintowts, in the Hebrew for "root out ... pull down."
Build ... plant - restore upon their repenting. His predictions were to be chiefly, and in the first instance, denunciatory; therefore the destruction of the nations is put first, and with a greater variety of terms than their restoration.