11 For I am with you, says the Lord, to be your saviour: for I will put an end to all the nations where I have sent you wandering, but I will not put an end to you completely: though with wise purpose I will put right your errors, and will not let you go quite without punishment.
O Lord, put me right, but with wise purpose; not in your wrath, or you will make me small.
For this is what the Lord has said: All the land will become a waste; I will make destruction complete.
Go up against her vines and make waste; let the destruction be complete: take away her branches, for they are not the Lord's.
They will be fighting against you, but they will not overcome you: for I am with you, says the Lord, to give you salvation.
Let your designs be formed, and they will come to nothing; give your orders, and they will not be effected: for God is with us.
<To the chief music-maker on corded instruments, on the Sheminith. A Psalm. Of David.> O Lord, do not be bitter with me in your wrath; do not send punishment on me in the heat of your passion.
In the same way, there are at this present time some who are marked out by the selection of grace. But if it is of grace, then it is no longer of works: or grace would not be grace. What then? That which Israel was searching for he did not get, but those of the selection got it and the rest were made hard.
But the Lord was by my side and gave me strength; so that through me the news might be given out in full measure, and all the Gentiles might give ear: and I was taken out of the mouth of the lion. The Lord will keep me safe from every evil work and will give me salvation in his kingdom in heaven: to whom be glory for ever and ever. So be it.
Is his punishment like the punishment of those who overcame him? or are his dead as great in number as those he put to the sword? Your anger against her has been made clear by driving her away; he has taken her away with his storm-wind in the day of his east wind.
And Isaiah says about Israel, Even if the number of the children of Israel is as the sand of the sea, only a small part will get salvation: For the Lord will give effect to his word on the earth, putting an end to it and cutting it short. And, as Isaiah had said before, If the Lord of armies had not given us a seed, we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah.
For I am with you, and no one will make an attack on you to do you damage: for I have a number of people in this town.
See, the virgin will be with child, and will give birth to a son, and they will give him the name Immanuel, that is, God with us.
See, the eyes of the Lord are on the evil kingdom, and I will put an end to it in all the earth; but I will not send complete destruction on Jacob, says the Lord. For see, I will give orders, and I will have Israel moved about among all the nations, as grain is moved about by the shaking of the tray, but not the smallest seed will be dropped on the earth.
For this reason say, This is what the Lord has said: Though I have had them moved far off among the nations, and though I have sent them wandering among the countries, still I have been a safe place for them for a little time in the countries where they have come. Then say, This is what the Lord has said: I will get you together from the peoples, and make you come out of the countries where you have been sent in flight, and I will give you the land of Israel.
Now while I was saying these things, death came to Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah. Then falling down on my face and crying out with a loud voice, I said, Ah, Lord! will you put an end to all the rest of Israel?
But have no fear, O Jacob, my servant, and do not be troubled, O Israel: for see, I will make you come back from far away, and your seed from the land where they are prisoners; and Jacob will come back, and will be quiet and in peace, and no one will give him cause for fear. Have no fear, O Jacob, my servant, says the Lord; for I am with you: for I will put an end to all the nations where I have sent you, but I will not put an end to you completely: though with wise purpose I will put right your errors, and will not let you go quite without punishment.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 30
Commentary on Jeremiah 30 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
B. The Announcement of Deliverance for All Israel - Jeremiah 30-33
In view of the impending fall of the kingdom of Judah, Jeremiah seeks to present the godly with a strong anchor of hope in the realization of God's gracious promises, which were to be fulfilled after the appointed season of punishment had passed. For this purpose, after predicting the ills of exile times, the prophet gives a comprehensive statement concerning the deliverance which the Lord will vouchsafe to His people in the future, and gathers together the repeated briefer promises regarding the restoration and glorious condition of Israel and Judah, so as to give a full description of the deliverance intended for all the covenant people under the sceptre of the future David. This detailed announcement of the deliverance consists of a pretty long prophetic address (which Hengstenberg very properly designates "the triumphal hymn of Israel's salvation," Jer 30 and 31), and two pieces confirmatory of this address, viz.: (1) one recording a symbolical act performed by the prophet at God's command - the sale of a piece of hereditary property in land during the last siege of Jerusalem, shortly before the breaking up of the kingdom, which commenced with the taking of the city - together with a message from God explaining this act, Jer 32; and (2) another passage giving, in prophetic language, a renewed promise that Jerusalem and Judah would be restored with the blissful arrangements connected with the Davidic monarchy and the Levitical priesthood, Jer 33. According to the headings given in Jeremiah 32:1 and Jeremiah 33:1, these two latter pieces belong to the tenth year of Zedekiah's reign; the address contained in Jer 30 and 31, on the other hand, belongs to a somewhat earlier period, and was not uttered publicly before the people, but simply composed in writing, and meant to be preserved for future use. As regards the exact time of its composition, the views of modern expositors are very dissimilar. While Hengstenberg, with many others, places it in the same period with the allied chapters 32 and 33, viz., in the time when Jerusalem was being besieged, immediately before the capture and destruction of the city, Nהgelsbach reckons this address among the oldest portions of the whole book, and assigns its composition to the times of King Josiah, to which Jeremiah 3:11-25 belongs. But the arguments adduced in support of this view are quite insufficient to establish it. It does not by any means follow from the substantial agreement of the address with that in Jer 3, so far as it exists, that they were both composed at the same time; and if (as Nהgelsbach thinks) the fact that there is no mention made of the Chaldeans were taken as a criterion of composition before the fourth year of Jehoiakim, then, too, would the address in Jer 33 be put down as having been composed before that year, but in glaring contradiction to the inscription given Jeremiah 33:1. And as little reason is there for inferring, with Hengstenberg, from Jeremiah 30:5-7, that the final catastrophe of Jeremiah's time is represented as still imminent; for these verses do not refer at all to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. That learned writer is, however, quite correct in his remark, that the prophet takes his stand-point within the period of the catastrophe, as if it had already begun, but that this time is an ideal present, so that we must not allow ourselves to be deceived as to the time of composition by the circumstance that, generally, Judah no less than Israel appears to be already in a state of exile, far from the land of the Lord. The time of composition cannot be made out with perfect certainty. Yet there is nothing against the assumption that it is the tenth year of Zedekiah.
Israel's Deliverance and Glorious Condition in the Future - Jeremiah 30-31
A great day of judgment, before which all the world trembles, will bring to Israel deliverance from the yoke imposed on them. The Lord will bring them out of the land of their captivity (Jeremiah 30:4-11). He will bind up and heal the wounds which He inflicted on them because of their sins; will render to those who oppressed and chastised them according to their deeds (Jeremiah 30:12-17); will again build up His kingdom, and render His people glorious, both in temporal and spiritual respects (Jeremiah 30:18-22). The wrath of the Lord will be poured forth upon all evil-doers like a tempest, till He has performed the thoughts of His heart at the end of the days (Jeremiah 30:23, Jeremiah 30:24). At that time the Lord will become the God of all the families of Israel, and show them favour as His own people (Jeremiah 31:1-6); He will also gather the remnant of Israel out of the land of the north, lead them back into their inheritance, and make them glad and prosperous through His blessing (Jeremiah 31:7-14); the sorrow of Ephraim will He change to joy, and He will perform a new thing in the land (Jeremiah 31:15-22). In like manner will He restore Judah, and make want to cease (Jeremiah 31:23-26). Israel and Judah shall be raised to new life (Jeremiah 31:27-30), and a new covenant will be made with them, for the Lord will write His law in their heart and forgive their sins (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Israel shall for ever remain the people of God, and Jerusalem be built anew to the honour of the Lord, and, as a holy city, shall no more be laid waste for ever (Jeremiah 31:35-40).
This address forms a united whole which divides into two halves. In Jer 30:4-22 it is the deliverance of Israel in general that is set forth; while in the passage from Jeremiah 30:23 on to the end of Jer 31 it is deliverance, more especially in reference to Israel and Judah, that is portrayed. As there is no doubt about its unity, so neither is there any well-founded doubt regarding its genuineness and integrity. Hence the assertion of Hitzig, that, as a whole, it exhibits such a want of connection, such constant alternation of view-point, so many repetitions, and such irregularity in the structure of the verses, that there seems good ground for suspecting interpolation - such an assertion only shows the inability of the expositor to put himself into the course of thought in the prophetic word, to grasp its contents properly, and to give a fair and unprejudiced estimate of the whole. Hitzig would reject Jeremiah 31:38-40, and Nהgelsbach Jeremiah 30:20-24, as later additions, but in neither case is this admissible; and Kueper ( Jeremias , p. 170ff.) and Graf, in his Commentary, have already so well shown with what little reason Movers and Hitzig have supposed they had discovered so many "interpolations," that, in our exposition, we merely intend to take up in detail some of the chief passages.
Introduction, and Statement of the Subject - Jeremiah 30:1. "The word which came to Jeremiah from Jahveh, saying: Jeremiah 30:2 . Thus hath Jahveh the God of Israel said: Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book; Jeremiah 30:3 . For, behold, days come, saith Jahveh, when I shall turn the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith Jahve, and I shall bring them back to the land which I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it."