c Gk: Heb and he shall not see
29.1–32 This prose narrative describes how the exiles in Babylon were incited to consider rebellion by false prophets who predicted an early return from exile. The time frame is apparently the same as that for chs. 27–28 (594/3 BCE). Jeremiah wrote letters to oppose these false hopes for an early return. Singled out for condemnation in the first letter were two prophets, Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah. In the second letter, Shemaiah of Nehelam, who had attempted without success to silence Jeremiah, received the judgment of the prophet (see note on 26.1–29.32). The chapter consists of a general letter to the exiles (vv. 1–23) and a letter concerning Shemaiah (vv. 24–32).
29.2 Jeconiah, another spelling of Jehoiachin (see 22.24–30).
29.3 Elasah, probably the brother of Ahikam son of Shaphan (see note on 26.24). Gemariah, perhaps the son of Hilkiah the high priest, who was involved in the discovery of the book of the law during the reign of Josiah (see 2 Kings 22–23). If so, Jeremiah was supported by two very powerful families in Judah who had been involved in Josiah’s reform.
29.4–7 The exiles are to build their lives in Babylon and not expect immediate restoration. Indeed, they are to seek the welfare of Babylon.
29.10–14 Seventy years, see note on 25.11.
29.16–20 See ch. 24. These verses are absent in the Septuagint.
29.24–32 The letter against Shemaiah condemns him for attempting to have Jeremiah imprisoned. Shemaiah is also condemned as a false prophet whose descendants shall not live to experience the restoration.
29.25 Zephaniah. See 21.1; 37.3;52.24–27.
JEREMIAH 30
Restoration Promised for Israel and Judah
1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. 3For the days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors and they shall take possession of it.
4These are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah:
5Thus says the LORD:
We have heard a cry of panic,
of terror, and no peace.
6Ask now, and see,
can a man bear a child?
Why then do I see every man
with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor?
Why has every face turned pale?
7Alas! that day is so great
there is none like it;
it is a time of distress for Jacob;
yet he shall be rescued from it.
8On that day, says the LORD of hosts, I will break the yoke from off hisa neck, and I will burst hisb bonds, and strangers shall no more make a servant of him. 9But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
10But as for you, have no fear, my servant Jacob, says the LORD,
and do not be dismayed, O Israel;
for I am going to save you from far away,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
and no one shall make him afraid.
11For I am with you, says the LORD, to save you;
I will make an end of all the nations
among which I scattered you,
but of you I will not make an end.
I will chastise you in just measure,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
12For thus says the LORD:
Your hurt is incurable,
your wound is grievous.
13There is no one to uphold your cause,
no medicine for your wound,
no healing for you.
14All your lovers have forgotten you;
they care nothing for you;
for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy,
the punishment of a merciless foe,
because your guilt is great,
because your sins are so numerous.
15Why do you cry out over your hurt?
Your pain is incurable.
Because your guilt is great,
because your sins are so numerous,
I have done these things to you.
16Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured,
and all your foes, every one of them, shall go into captivity;
those who plunder you shall be plundered,
and all who prey on you I will make a prey.
17For I will restore health to you,
and your wounds I will heal,
says the LORD
, because they have called you an outcast:
“It is Zion; no one cares for her!”
18Thus says the LORD:
I am going to restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob,
and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city shall be rebuilt upon its mound,
and the citadel set on its rightful site.
19Out of them shall come thanksgiving,
and the sound of merrymakers.
I will make them many, and they shall not be few;
I will make them honored, and they shall not be disdained.
20Their children shall be as of old,
their congregation shall be established before me;
and I will punish all who oppress them.
21Their prince shall be one of their own,
their ruler shall come from their midst;
I will bring him near, and he shall approach me,
for who would otherwise dare to approach me?
says the LORD.
22And you shall be my people,
and I will be your God.
23Look, the storm of the LORD!
Wrath has gone forth,
a whirlingc tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
24The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back
until he has executed and accomplished
the intents of his mind.
In the latter days you will understand this.
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a Cn: Heb your
b Cn: Heb your
c One Ms: Meaning of MT uncertain
30.1–31.40 The Book of Consolation. The poetic and prose oracles in this collection speak of the future restoration of Israel and Judah. There is considerable debate as to which of these oracles may derive from Jeremiah. The best cases may be made for Jeremian authorship of 30.5–7, 12–15; 31.2–6; 31.15–22. Two dates are often assigned to the oracles uttered by Jeremiah: the early part of his ministry and after the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. Some of the salvation oracles directed to the Northern Kingdom may be in the former category and may be the counterpart of judgment oracles directed against the North earlier in the book. Many scholars, however, date the majority of the salvation oracles to a later period, during the governorship of Gedaliah, who was appointed by the Babylonians to administer the provincial district into which Judah was incorporated (40.7–41.18; 2 Kings 25.22–26). The other oracles derive from the exilic and postexilic periods. The form that predominates in this collection is the “prophecy of salvation.” It contains the following parts: the appeal for attention and/or the introductory messenger formula (e.g., “Thus says the LORD”), the description of the present situation, the prediction of salvation, a final characterization of either God or the message, and the concluding messenger formula (“says the LORD”).
30.1–4 A general editorial introduction to the oracles of salvation in chs. 30–31. The oracles pertain to both Israel and Judah.
30.5–7 The day of God’s judgment upon Israel. Dominated by rhetorical questions, this poem is a lament over the great and terrible day of God’s judgment against Jacob. For the “day of the LORD,” see Isa 2.12–21; Am 5.18–20; Zeph 1.14–18. Laments dominate Jer 11.18–20.18. The last line of v. 7 is added to form a
transition to vv. 8–9.
30.8–9 This prose oracle of salvation by a later hand promises the removal of the yoke (see chs. 27–28) and the restoration of the Davidic monarchy (23.5–6; 33.14–26; Ezek 34.24; Hos 3.5). Jeremiah himself placed little importance on the restoration of the monarchy (see 21.11–23.8).
30.10–11 The salvation of Jacob, i.e., Israel, the Lord’s servant. 46.27–28 almost duplicates this oracle of salvation. The language and content resonates with Second Isaiah (an anonymous poet of the exile whose oracles are collected in Isa 40–55; see Isa 41.8–14; 43.1–5). Israel as the servant of the Lord is a common expression in Second Isaiah (see Isa 44.1, 2, 21).
30.12–17 Though Jerusalem is incurably wounded (see 15.18), nevertheless the divine healer will restore Zion to health and will make an end of her enemies. For a similar description of Zion’s distress and lamentation, see 4.31; 8.18–21;9.17–19.
30.14 Zion’s lovers (probably allies) have abandoned her. Jeremiah may be speaking of the Egyptians, who withdrew before the Babylonian advance (37.5). Other states that joined in the rebellion beginning in 589 BCE included at least Tyre and Ammon.
30.18–22 This oracle of salvation speaks of the restoration of Jacob (Israel), the Israelites thanksgiving over their return, their increase in population, and their own prince who shall approach the Lord. The ruler shall be an Israelite, not a foreigner (see Deut 17.15).
30.21 To approach God was normally a priestly prerogative (see Ex 29.4, 8; 40.12, 14; Lev 7.35). Cf. Ezekiel’s prince in Ezek 46.1–18.
30.22 A repetition of the covenant formula (see note on 24.7).
30.23–24 The storm of the Lord. This poem occurs also in (see note on) 23.19–20.
JEREMIAH 31
The Joyful Return of the Exiles
1At that time, says the LORD, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
2Thus says the LORD:
The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for rest,
3the LORD appeared to hima from far away.b
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
4Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
O virgin Israel!
Again you shall takec your tambourines,
and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
5Again you shall plant vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant,
and shall enjoy the fruit.
6For there shall be a day when sentinels will call
in the hill country of Ephraim:
“Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the LORD our God.”
7For thus says the LORD:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
“Save, O LORD, your people,
the remnant of Israel.”
8See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north,
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
those with child and those in labor, together;
a great company, they shall return here.
9With weeping they shall come,
and with consolationsd I will lead them back,
I will let them walk by brooks of water,
in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;
for I have become a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn.
10Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep him as a shepherd a flock.”
11For the LORD has ransomed Jacob,
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
12They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall become like a watered garden,
and they shall never languish again.
13Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
14I will give the priests their fill of fatness,
and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty,
says the LORD.
15Thus says the LORD:
A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.
16Thus says the LORD:
Keep your voice from weeping,
and your eyes from tears;
for there is a reward for your work,
says the LORD:
they shall come back from the land of the enemy;
17there is hope for your future,
says the LORD:
your children shall come back to their own country.
18Indeed I heard Ephraim pleading:
“You disciplined me, and I took the discipline;
I was like a calf untrained.
Bring me back, let me come back,
for you are the LORD my God.
19For after I had turned away I repented;
and after I was discovered, I struck my thigh;
I was ashamed, and I was dismayed
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.”
20Is Ephraim my dear son?
Is he the child I delight in?
As often as I speak against him,
I still remember him.
Therefore I am deeply moved for him;
I will surely have mercy on him,
says the LORD.
21Set up road markers for yourself,
make yourself signposts;
consider well the highway,
the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
return to these your cities.
22How long will you waver,
O faithless daughter?
For the LORD has created a new thing on the earth:
a woman encompassese a man.
23Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its towns when I restore their fortunes:
“The LORD bless you, O abode of righteousness,
O holy hill!”
24And Judah and all its towns shall live there together, and the farmers and those who wanderf with their flocks.
25I will satisfy the weary,
and all who are faint I will replenish.
26Thereupon I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.
Individual Retribution
27The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. 28And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD. 29In those days they shall no longer say:
“The parents have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”
30But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.
A New Covenant
31The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them ou
t of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband,g says the LORD. 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
35Thus says the LORD,
who gives the sun for light by day
and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
the LORD of hosts is his name:
36If this fixed order were ever to cease
from my presence, says the LORD,
then also the offspring of Israel would cease
to be a nation before me forever.
37Thus says the LORD:
If the heavens above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
then I will reject all the offspring of Israel
because of all they have done,
says the LORD.
Jerusalem to Be Enlarged
38The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when the city shall be rebuilt for the LORD from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. 40The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Wadi Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the LORD. It shall never again be uprooted or overthrown.
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a Gk: Heb me
b Or to him long ago
c Or adorn yourself with
d Gk Compare Vg Tg: Heb supplications
e Meaning of Heb uncertain
f Cn Compare Syr Vg Tg: Heb and they shall wander
g Or master
31.1 A covenant formula. See note on 24.7.
31.2–6 This oracle of salvation grounds Israel’s future redemption in the everlasting love of God. The poem addresses the Northern Kingdom (Israel, mountains of Samaria, and hill country of Ephraim).
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