JEREMIAH 30 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Restoration of Israel
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the
Lord:
BARNES, "In Jer. 30–39, not all written at the same time, are gathered together
whatsoever God had revealed to Jeremiah of happier import for the Jewish people. This
subject is “the New covenant.” In contrast then with the rolls of Jehoiakim and
Zedekiah, we here have one containing the nation’s hope. A considerable portion was
written in the 10th year of Zedekiah, when famine and pestilence were busy in the city,
its capture daily more imminent, and the prophet himself in prison. Yet in this sad
pressure of earthly troubles Jeremiah could bid his countrymen look courageously
onward to the fulfillment of those hopes, which had so constantly in his darkest hours
comforted the heart and nerved the arm of the Jew. The scroll consists of three portions:
(1) “a triumphal hymn of Israel’s salvation,” Jer. 30–31;
(2) Jer. 32; and
(3) Jer. 33.
CLARKE, "The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord - This prophecy
was delivered about a year after the taking of Jerusalem; so Dahler. Dr. Blayney
supposes it and the following chapter to refer to the future restoration of both Jews and
Israelites in the times of the Gospel; though also touching at the restoration from the
Babylonish captivity, at the end of seventy years. Supposing these two chapters to be
penned after the taking of Jerusalem, which appears the most natural, they will refer to
the same events, one captivity shadowing forth another, and one restoration being the
type or pledge of the second.
GILL, "The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord,.... The word of
prophecy, us the Targum. Some make this to be the "thirteenth" sermon of the
prophet's; it is a consolatory one, as Kimchi observes:
saying; as follows:
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HENRY 1-3, "Here, I. Jeremiah is directed to write what God had spoken to him,
which perhaps refers to all the foregoing prophecies. He must write them and publish
them, in hopes that those who had not profited by what he said upon once hearing it
might take more notice of it when in reading it they had leisure for a more considerate
review. Or, rather, it refers to the promises of their enlargement, which had been often
mixed with his other discourses. He must collect them and put them together, and God
will now add unto them many like words. He must write them for the generations to
come, who should see them accomplished, and thereby have their faith in the prophecy
confirmed. He must write them not in a letter, as that in the chapter before to the
captives, but in a book, to be carefully preserved in the archives, or among the public
rolls or registers of the state. Daniel understood by these books when the captivity was
about coming to an end, Dan_9:2. He must write them in a book, not in loose papers:
“For the days come, and are yet at a great distance, when I will bring again the captivity
of Israel and Judah, great numbers of the ten tribes, with those of the two,” Jer_30:3.
And this prophecy must be written, that it may be read then also, that so it may appear
how exactly the accomplishment answers the prediction, which is one end of the writing
of prophecies. It is intimated that they shall be beloved for their fathers' sake (Rom_
11:28); for therefore God will bring them again to Canaan, because it was the land that
he gave to their fathers, which therefore they shall possess.
JAMISON, "Jer_30:1-24. Restoration of the Jews from Babylon after its capture,
and raising up of Messiah.
K&D 1-3, "Introduction, and Statement of the Subject - Jer_30:1. "The word which
came to Jeremiah from Jahveh, saying: Jer_30:2. Thus hath Jahveh the God of Israel
said: Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book; Jer_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."
Jer_30:1 contains the heading not merely of Jer_30:2 and Jer_30:3, as Hitzig
erroneously maintains, but of the whole prophecy, in Jer 30 and 31. Jer_30:2 and Jer_
30:3 form the introduction. Jeremiah is to write the following word of God in a book,
because it refers to times still future, - regards the deliverance of Israel and Judah from
exile, which will not take place till afterwards. In assigning the reason for the command
to write down the word of God that had been received, there is at the same time given
the subject of the prophecy which follows. From this it is further evident that the
expression "all the words which I have spoken to thee" cannot, like Jer_36:2, be
referred, with J. D. Michaelis, to the whole of the prophecies which Jeremiah had up till
that time received; it merely refers to the following prophecy of deliverance. The perfect
‫י‬ ִ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫בּ‬ ִ‫דּ‬ is thus not a preterite, but only expresses that the address of God to the prophet
precedes the writing down of the words he received. As to the expression ‫שׁוּב‬ ‫בוּת‬ ְ‫,שׁ‬ see
on Jer_29:14.
CALVIN, "This and the next chapter contain, as we shall see, a most profitable
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truth; and that the people might be the more attentive, God introduced these
prophecies by a preface. Jeremiah spoke many things which afterwards, as it has
elsewhere appeared, had been collected and inserted in one volume by the priests
and Levites; but God reminds us in these words, that the prophecies which are to
follow respecting the liberation of the people, were especially to be remembered.
There is, however, another circumstance to be noticed. We have seen that such was
the stubbornness of the people, that Jeremiah spent his labor among them in vain,
for he addressed the deaf, or rather stocks and stones, for they were so possessed by
stupor that they understood nothing, for God had even blinded them, a judgment
which they fully deserved. Such was the condition of the people. We must further
bear in mind the comparison between the doctrine of Jeremiah and the fables of
those who fed the miserable people with flatteries, by giving them the hope of a
return after two years. God knew what would be the event; but the people ceased
not to entertain hope and to boast of a return at the end of two years. Thus they
despised God’s favor, for seventy years was a long period: “What! God indeed
promises a return, but after seventy years who of us will be alive? Hardly one of us
will be found then remaining, therefore so cold a promise is nothing to us.” They, at
the same time, as I have said, were filled with a false confidence, as with wind, and
behaved insolently towards God and his prophets, as though they were to return
sound and safe in a short time.
But profane men always run to extremes; at one time they are inflated with pride,
that is, when things go on prosperously, or when a hope of prosperity appears, and
they carry themselves proudly against God, as though nothing adverse could
happen to them; then when hope and false conceit disappoint them, they are wholly
disheartened, so that they will receive no comfort, but plunge into the abyss of
despair. God saw that this would be the case with the people, except he came to their
aid. Hence he proposes here the best and the fittest remedy — that the Prophet, as
he had effected nothing by speaking, should write and convert as it were into deeds
or acts what he had spoken, (1) so that after the lapse of two years they might gather
courage, and afterwards acknowledge that they had been deceived by unprincipled
men, and thus justly suffered for their levity, so that they might at length begin to
look to God and embrace the promised liberation, and not wholly despond. This,
then, is the reason why the Prophet was commanded to write the words which he
had before declared with his mouth.
Now, as we understand the design of God, let us learn that when it happens that we
go astray and wander after false imaginations, we are not on that account to cast
away the hope of salvation; for we see that God here stretches forth his hand to
those who had erred, and who had even wilfully cast themselves into ruin, for they
had been more than enough admonished and warned by true and faithful prophets;
their ears they had stopped; their hearts they had hardened; and yet when they had
sought as it were designedly to ruin themselves, we see how God still recalled them
to himself.
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COFFMAN, "Verse 1
JEREMIAH 30
ALL ISRAEL RESTORED UNDER MESSIAH
This and the following three chapters are called by some "The Book of
Consolation"; but for our study, it is just as well to consider the chapters
independently as they appear in the text. While true enough that there is indeed a
concentration in these four chapters of many glorious prophecies for Israel, these
glorious prophecies are by no means limited to these chapters. Jeremiah 29:10-14 (of
the previous chapter) is but one example.
Cheyne mentioned that passages akin to these four chapters also "occur in earlier
chapters of Jeremiah 3:14-19; 16:14,15, and Jeremiah 23:3-8."[1]
There are three dates which are seriously proposed for these four chapters, the
majority of current scholars seeming to prefer the tenth year of Zedekiah, near the
end of the final siege of Jerusalem, circa 587 B.C., just before the collapse of the
city.[2] Still others find a date late in the exile and, "Suppose that they were written
by someone other than Jeremiah; but such theories lean heavily upon critical
reconstructions of Isaiah which are based entirely upon unwarranted and unproved
conclusions."[3] That type of "dating" Biblical books we reject as totally
untrustworthy. A third date was proposed by Naegelsbach who dates the first two
chapters here (Jeremiah 30 and Jeremiah 31), "as the oldest part of the whole Book
of Jeremiah, along with Jeremiah 3-6."[4] We suggest that no one knows for sure
exactly when various chapters in this prophecy were written, unless the text
indicates it; and again, we raise the question, "What difference does it make
anyway?"
Our own preference of a date is that which places these chapters shortly before the
final capture of Jerusalem. It seems very appropriate that, "When the siege was
drawing to an end, famine and pestilence were ravaging the city, its capture more
and more evident every day, with all hope of rescue past, and Jeremiah himself in
prison - that in this sad pressure of earthly troubles, Jeremiah bade his countrymen
look courageously to the fulfillment of the high hopes expressed in these
chapters,"[5]
These chapters speak of the perpetuity of Israel, the calling of the Gentiles, the
amalgamation of Jew and Gentile alike under one New Covenant, the coming of
Messiah, the Branch, the Son of David, the Mediator between God and man,
Jehovah Our Righteousness, who as both Priest and King would bring a new age of
prosperity to Israel. A comprehensive title for all four of these chapters, according
to Smith, is "`The New Covenant,' the very name by which the Gospel is known in
most languages, though we call it the New Testament."[6]
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Jeremiah 30:1-3
"The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, Thus speaketh Jehovah,
the God of Israel, saying Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a
book. For, lo, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will turn again the captivity of my
people Israel and Judah, saith Jehovah; and I will cause them to return to the land
that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it."
"Write all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book ..." (Jeremiah 30:2). We
can find no grounds whatever for agreement with the usual scholarly proposition
that this commandment regarding the placing of Jeremiah's prophecies in a book
applied only to this chapter and perhaps two or three other chapters additionally.
Do those chapters include "all the words that God spoke to Jeremiah?" No matter
what men say, the answer to that is negative.
What we have here is exactly the same commandment found again in Jeremiah 36:2,
where God said to Jeremiah:
"In the fourth year of Jehoiachim ... the word came from Jehovah to Jeremiah,
saying, Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken
unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the
day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day."
This passage, along with what is written here, indicates that all of Jeremiah's
prophecies were carefully written down and preserved by him in a book. How else,
do the scholars suppose we now possess his book, after so many centuries have fled
away? The very existence of the book of Jeremiah in the sacred Hebrew Canon is
the only proof needed that Jeremiah did what God commanded him to do. Of
course, this glimpse of the truth plays havoc with all the speculative editors,
redactors, and interpolators used in the imaginative guesses of Bible critics.
Keil mentioned a Dr. J. D. Michaelis who took the same view of these passages as the
one taken here; and although Keil disagreed with him, he gave no reason whatever
for doing so.[7]
"The days are coming ..." (Jeremiah 30:3). "These words look toward eschatological
times. Jeremiah is contemplating the distant, not the near, future of the nation; and
these words strike the keynote for the entire group of four chapters beginning
here."[8]
Yes, there is a definite promise here of the return of Israel to "the land" which God
gave to their fathers; but the real fulfillment of this came, not in the return of a few
Jews to Jerusalem, but in the ingathering of Jews and Gentiles alike into the
kingdom of heaven under the preaching of the Gospel of Christ.
"I will turn again the captivity of my people ..." (Jeremiah 30:3). "This expression
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in the Bible is sometimes used where no captivity of any kind is in view (Job 42:10;
Ezekiel 16:53)."[9] In many passages, therefore, where this expression occurs, the
meaning is, "I will reverse or restore the fortunes."[10] It was the "captivity" of
Israel in their sins that was the principal concern of the Lord, as indicated by Jesus'
use of similar words in Luke 4:18.
"My people Israel and Judah ..." (Jeremiah 30:3). Thompson was impressed with
the use of both these designations here and thought that, "It indicates that both the
southern and northern kingdoms of Israel were included in God's plans for the
future."[11] However, the unification of "all Israel" in this passage has no reference
whatever to the two "kingdoms." It is the New Israel which will accomplish the
fulfillment of God's will in the future; and that Israel will not only include all of
racial Israel, including both the northern tribes and the southern kingdom, but also
the Gentiles as well.
COKE, "Introduction
God sheweth Jeremiah the return of the Jews. After their trouble they shall have
deliverance: he comforteth Jacob. Their return shall be gracious. Wrath shall fall on
the wicked.
Before Christ 606.
THERE are many prophesies in various parts of the Old Testament, which
announce the future restoration of Israel to their own land, and the complete re-
establishment of both their civil and religious constitution in the latter days,
meaning the times of the Gospel dispensation. These two chapters contain a
prophesy of this kind, which must necessarily be referred to those times, because it
points out circumstances which certainly were not fulfilled at the return of the Jews
from the Babylonish captivity, nor have hitherto had their completion. For the
people who returned from Babylon were chiefly, if not entirely, the people of Judah
and Benjamin only, who had been carried away captive by Nebuchadnezzar; but
here it is foretold, that not the captivity of Judah only should be restored, but the
captivity of Israel also, meaning those ten tribes that were carried away before by
Shalmaneser king of Assyria, and who still remain in their several dispersions,
having never returned, in a national capacity at least, to their own land, whatever
some few individuals have done. But the terms of the prophesy entitle us to expect,
not an obscure and partial, but a complete and universal restoration, when God will
manifest himself, as formerly, the God and patron of all the families of Israel, and
not of a few only. Again, it is promised, that after this restoration they should no
more fall under the dominion of foreigners, but be governed by princes and
magistrates of their own nation, independent of any but God and David their king.
But this was not the case with the Jews who returned from Babylon. They then
indeed had a leader, Zerubbabel, one of their own nation, and also of the family of
David. But both the nation and their leader continued still in a state of vassalage
and the most servile dependence upon the Persian monarchy. And when the Grecian
6

monarchy succeeded, they changed their masters only, not their condition; till at
length, under the Asmonaean princes, they had for a while an independent
government of their own, but without any title to the name of David. At last they fell
under the Roman yoke, since which time their situation has been such, as not to
afford the least ground to pretend, that the promised restoration has yet taken
place. It remains therefore to be brought about in future, under the reign of the
Messiah, emphatically distinguished by the name of David; when every particular
circumstance predicted concerning it will, no doubt, be verified by a distinct and
unequivocal accomplishment.
There is no particular date annexed to this prophesy, whereby to ascertain the
precise time of its delivery. But it may not unreasonably be presumed to have
followed immediately after the preceding one, in which the restoration of the people
from their Babylonish captivity is in direct terms foretold. Hence the transition is
natural and easy to the more glorious and general restoration, which was to take
place in a more distant period, and was designed for the ultimate object of the
national hopes and expectations. Both events are frequently thus connected together
in the prophetic writings, and perhaps with this design, that when that which was
nearest at hand should be accomplished, it might afford the strongest and most
satisfactory kind of evidence, that the latter, how remote soever its period, would in
like manner be brought about by the interposition of Jehovah in its due season.
But though this prophesy relates wholly to one single subject, it seems naturally to
divide itself into three distinct parts. The first part, after a short preface, in which
the prophet is required to commit to writing the matters revealed to him,
commences with representing, in a style of awe and energy, the consternation and
distress which in some future day of visitation should fall upon all nations,
preparatory to the scene of Jacob's deliverance, Jeremiah 29:5-9. Israel is
encouraged to confide in the divine assurances of restoration and protection,
Jeremiah 29:10-11. He is prepared previously to expect a severe chastisement for the
multitude of his sins, but consoled with the prospect of a happy termination,
Jeremiah 29:12-17. This is followed by an enumeration at large of the blessings and
privileges to which the Jews should be restored upon their re-admission into God's
favour, Jeremiah 29:18-22. Again however it is declared, that the anger of
JEHOVAH would not subside, till his purposed vengeance against the wicked
should have been fully executed, and then, but not till then, an entire reconciliation
would take place between him and all the families of Israel, Jeremiah 29:23 to
Jeremiah 31:1.
The second part of this prophesy begins chap. Jeremiah 31:2 and is marked by a
sudden transition to a distant period of time, represented in a vision, and
embellished with a variety of beautiful scenes and images. God announces the
renewal of his ancient love for Israel, and promises them in consequence thereof a
speedy restoration of their former privileges and happiness, Jeremiah 31:2-5.
Already the heralds have proclaimed on mount Ephraim the arrival of the joyful
day; they summon the people to re-assemble once more in Zion; and promulge by
7

special command the glad tidings of salvation which God had accomplished for
them. God himself declares his readiness to conduct home the remnant of Israel
from all parts of their dispersion, to compassionate and relieve their infirmities, and
to provide them with all necessary accommodations by the way, Jeremiah 31:6-9.
The news is carried into distant lands, and the nations are summoned to attend to
the display of God's power and goodness, in rescuing his people from their stronger
enemies, and in supplying them after their return with all manner of good things, to
the full extent of their wants and desires, Jeremiah 31:10-14.
Here the scene changes, and two new personages are successively introduced, in
order to diversify the same subject, and to impress it more strongly. Rachel first;
who is represented as just risen from her grave, and bitterly bewailing the loss of
her children, for whom she looks about her in vain, for none are to be seen. Her
tears are dried up, and she is consoled with the assurance that they are not lost for
ever, but shall in time be brought back to their ancient borders, Jeremiah 31:15-17.
Ephraim comes next. He laments his past undutifulness with great contrition and
penitence, and professes an earnest desire of amendment. These symptoms of
returning duty are no sooner discerned in him, than God acknowledges him once
more as a darling child, and resolves with mercy to receive him, Jeremiah 31:18-20.
The virgin of Israel is then earnestly exhorted to hasten the preparations for her
return, and encouraged with the prospect of having a signal miracle wrought in her
favour, Jeremiah 31:21-22. And the vision closes at last with a promise, that the
divine blessing should again rest upon the land of Judah, and that the men of Judah
should once more dwell there, cultivating it according to the simplicity of ancient
institutions, and fully discharged from every want, Jeremiah 31:23-26.
In the third part, by way of appendix to the Vision, the following gracious promises
are specifically annexed: That God would in time to come supply all the deficiencies
of Israel and Judah; and would be as diligent to restore, as he had ever been to
destroy them; and would not any more visit the offences of the fathers upon the
children, Jeremiah 31:27-30. That he would make with them a better covenant than
he had made with their forefathers, Jeremiah 31:31-32. That they should continue a
nation by an ordinance as firm and lasting as that of the heavens, that is to say, they
should never be dispersed again, Jeremiah 31:35-37 and that Jerusalem should
again be built, enlarged in its extent, and secure from future desolation, Jeremiah
31:30-32.
Verse 1-2
Jeremiah 30:2. Write thee all the words, &c.— See ch. Jeremiah 36:1-2.
TRAPP, " The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Ver. 1. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.] This chapter and the next
are Jeremiah’s thirteenth sermon, as some reckon them, and it is wholly
8

consolatory. The author of it he showeth to be the "God of all consolation"; and this
the prophet inculcateth six different times in the five first verses, pro maiori
efficacia, that it may take the better.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMMENTARY, "Verses 1-24
CHAPTER XXXIV
RESTORATION V
REVIEW
Jeremiah 30:1-24; Jeremiah 31:1-40; Jeremiah 32:1-44; Jeremiah 33:1-26
IN reviewing these chapters we must be careful not to suppose that Jeremiah knew
all that would ultimately result from his teaching. When he declared that the
conditions of the New Covenant would be written, not in a few parchments, but on
every heart, he laid down a principle which involved the most characteristic
teaching of the New Testament and the Reformers, and which might seem to justify
extreme mysticism. When we read these prophecies in the light of history, they seem
to lead by a short and direct path to the Pauline doctrines of Faith and Grace.
Constraining grace is described in the words: "I will put My fear in their hearts,
that they shall not depart from Me." [Jeremiah 32:40] Justification by faith instead
of works substitutes the response of the soul to the Spirit of God for conformity to a
set of external regulations-the writing on the heart for the carving of ordinances on
stone. Yet, as Newton’s discovery of the law of gravitation did not make him aware
of all that later astronomers have discovered, so Jeremiah did not anticipate Paul
and Augustine, Luther and Calvin: he was only their forerunner. Still less did he
intend to affirm all that has been taught by the Brothers of the Common Life or the
Society of Friends. We have followed the Epistle to the Hebrews in interpreting his
prophecy of the New Covenant as abrogating the Mosaic code and inaugurating a
new departure upon entirely different lines. This view is supported by his attitude
towards the Temple, and especially the Ark. At the same time we must not suppose
that Jeremiah contemplated the summary and entire abolition of the previous
dispensation. He simply delivers his latest message from Jehovah, without bringing
its contents into relation with earlier truth, without indeed waiting to ascertain for
himself how the old and the new were to be combined. But we may be sure that the
Divine writing on the heart would have included much that was already written in
Deuteronomy, and that both books and teachers would have had their place in
helping men to recognise and interpret the inner leadings of the Spirit.
In rising from the perusal of these chapters the reader is tempted to use the
prophet’s words with a somewhat different meaning: "I awaked and looked about
me, and felt that I had had a pleasant dream." [Jeremiah 31:26] Renan, with cynical
frankness, heads a chapter on such prophecies with the title "Pious Dreams." While
Jeremiah’s glowing utterances rivet our attention, the gracious words fall like balm
9

upon our aching hearts, and we seem, like the Apostle, caught up into Paradise. But
as soon as we try to connect our visions with any realities, past, present, or in
prospect, there comes a rude awakening. The restored community attained to no
New Covenant, but was only found worthy of a fresh edition of the written code.
Instead of being committed to the guidance of the ever-present Spirit of Jehovah,
they were placed under a rigid and elaborate system of externals-"carnal
ordinances, concerned with meats and drinks and divers washings, imposed until a
time of reformation." [Hebrews 9:10] They still remained under the covenant "from
Mount Sinai, bearing children unto bondage, which is Hagar. Now this Hagar is
Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to the Jerusalem that now is: for she is in
bondage with her children." [Galatians 4:24-25]
For these bondservants of the letter, there arose no David, no glorious Scion of the
ancient stock. For a moment the hopes of Zechariah rested on Zerubbabel, but this
Branch quickly withered away and was forgotten. We need not underrate the merits
and services of Ezra and Nehemiah, of Simon the Just and Judas Maccabaeus; and
yet we cannot find any one of them who answers to the Priestly King of Jeremiah’s
visions. The new growth of Jewish royalty came to an ignominious end in
Aristobulus, Hyrcanus, and the Herods, Antichrists rather than Messiahs.
The Reunion of long-divided Israel is for the most part a misnomer; there was no
healing of the wound, and the offending member was cut off.
Even now, when the leaven of the Kingdom has been working in the lump of
humanity for nearly two thousand years, any suggestion that these chapters are
realised in Modern Christianity would seem cruel irony. Renan accuses Christianity
of having quickly forgotten the programme which its Founder borrowed from the
prophets, and of having become a religion like other religions, a religion of priests
and sacrifices, of external observances and superstitions. It is sometimes asserted
that "Protestants lack faith and courage to trust to any law written on the heart,
and cling to a printed book, as if there were no Holy Spirit-as if the Branch of David
had borne fruit once for all, and Christ were dead. The movement for Christian
Reunion seems thus far chiefly to emphasise the feuds that make the Church a
kingdom divided against itself."
But we must not allow the obvious shortcomings of Christendom to blind us to
brighter aspects of truth. Both in the Jews of the Restoration and in the Church of
Christ we have a real fulfilment of Jeremiah’s prophecies. The fulfilment is no less
real because it is utterly inadequate. Prophecy is a guide post and not a milestone; it
shows the way to be trodden, not the duration of the journey. Jews and Christians
have fulfilled Jeremiah’s prophecies because they have advanced by the road along
which he pointed towards the spiritual city of his vision. The "pious dreams" of a
little group of enthusiasts have become the ideals and hopes of humanity. Even
Renan ranks himself among the disciples of Jeremiah: "The seed sown in religious
tradition by inspired Israelites will not perish; all of us who seek a God without
priests, a revelation without prophets, a covenant written in the heart are in many
10

respects the disciples of these ancient fanatics" (ces vieux egares).
The Judaism of the Return, with all its faults and shortcomings, was still an advance
in the direction Jeremiah had indicated. However ritualistic the Pentateuch may
seem to us, it was far removed from exclusive trust in ritual. Where the ancient
Israelite had relied upon correct observance of the forms of his sanctuary, the Torah
of Ezra introduced a large moral and spiritual element, which served to bring the
soul into direct fellowship with Jehovah. "Pity and humanity are pushed to their
utmost limits, always of course in the bosom of the family of Israel." The Torah
moreover included the great commands to love God and man, which once for all
placed the religion of Israel on a spiritual basis. If the Jews often attached more
importance to the letter and form of Revelation than to its substance, and were more
careful for ritual and external observances than for inner righteousness, we have no
right to cast a stone at them.
It is a curious phenomenon that after the time of Ezra the further developments of
the Torah were written no longer on parchment, but, in a certain sense on the heart.
The decisions of the rabbis interpreting the Pentateuch, "the fence which they made
round the law," were not committed to writing, but learnt by heart and handed
down by oral tradition. Possibly this custom was partly due to Jeremiah’s prophecy.
It is a strange illustration of the way in which theology sometimes wrests the
Scriptures to its own destruction, that the very prophecy of the triumph of the spirit
over the letter was made of none effect by a literal interpretation.
Nevertheless, though Judaism moved only a very little way towards Jeremiah’s
ideal, yet it did move, its religion was distinctly more spiritual than that of ancient
Israel. Although Judaism claimed finality and did its best to secure that no future
generation should make further progress, yet in spite of, nay, even by means of,
Pharisee and Sadducee, the Jews were prepared to receive and transmit that great
resurrection of prophetic teaching which came through Christ.
If even Judaism did not altogether fail to conform itself to Jeremiah’s picture of the
New Israel, clearly Christianity must have shaped itself still more fully according to
his pattern. In the Old Testament both the idea and the name of a "New Covenant,"
superseding that of Moses, are peculiar to Jeremiah, and the New Testament
consistently represents the Christian dispensation as a fulfilment of Jeremiah’s
prophecy. Besides the express and detailed application in the Epistle to the
Hebrews, Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper as the Sacrament of His New
Covenant-"This cup is the New Covenant in My Blood"; and St. Paul speaks of
himself as "a minister of the New Covenant." [2 Corinthians 3:6] Christianity has
not been unworthy of the claim made on its behalf by its Founder, but has realised,
at any rate in some measure, the visible peace, prosperity, and unity of Jeremiah’s
New Israel, as well as the spirituality of his New Covenant. Christendom has its
hideous blots of misery and sin, but, on the whole, the standard of material comfort
and intellectual culture has been raised to a high average throughout the bulk of a
vast population. Internal order and international concord have made enormous
11

strides since the time of Jeremiah. If an ancient Israelite could witness the happy
security, of a large proportion of English workmen and French peasants, he would
think that many of the predictions of his prophets had been fulfilled. But the
advance of large classes to a prosperity once beyond the dreams of the most
sanguine only brings out in darker relief the wretchedness of their less fortunate
brethren. In view of the growing knowledge and enormous resources of modern
society, any toleration of its cruel wrongs is an unpardonable sin. Social problems
are doubtless urgent because a large minority are miserable, but they are rendered
still more urgent by the luxury of many and the comfort of most. The high average
of prosperity shows that we fail to right our social evils, not for want of power, but
for want of devotion. Our civilisation is a Dives, at whose gate Lazarus often finds
no crumbs.
Again Christ’s Kingdom of the New Covenant has brought about a larger unity. We
have said enough elsewhere on the divisions of the Church. Doubtless we are still far
from realising the ideals of chapter 31, but, at any rate, they have been recognised as
supreme, and have worked for harmony and fellowship in the world. Ephraim and
Judah are forgotten, but the New Covenant has united into brotherhood a
worldwide array of races and nations. There are still divisions in the Church, and a
common religion will not always do away with national enmities; but in spite of all,
the influence of our common Christianity has done much to knit the nations
together and promote mutual amity and goodwill. The vanguard of the modern
world has accepted Christ as its standard and ideal, and has thus attained an
essential unity, which is not destroyed by minor differences and external divisions.
And, finally, the promise that the New Covenant should be written on the heart is
far on the way towards fulfilment. If Roman and Greek orthodoxy interposes the
Church between the soul and Christ, yet the inspiration claimed for the Church
today is, at any rate in some measure, that of the living Spirit of Christ speaking to
the souls of living men. On the other hand, a predilection for Rabbinical methods of
exegesis sometimes interferes with the influence and authority of the Bible. Yet in
reality there is no serious attempt to take away the key of knowledge or to forbid the
individual soul to receive the direct teaching of the Holy Ghost. The Reformers
established the right of private judgment in the interpretation of the Scriptures; and
the interpretation of the Library of Sacred Literature, the spiritual harvest of a
thousand years, affords ample scope for reverent development of our knowledge of
God.
One group of Jeremiah’s prophecies has indeed been entirely fulfilled. In Christ
God has raised up a Branch of Righteousness unto David, and through Him
judgment and righteousness are wrought in the earth. [Jeremiah 33:15]
PETT, "Verses 1-3
Because Of The Certainty Of Future Restoration Jeremiah Is To Record All His
Words In A Book (Jeremiah 30:1-3)
12

The importance of the words spoken here for recognising the true authorship of the
bulk of Jeremiah can hardly be overstated, although we do know that he was
assisted in his work by Baruch. For, unless Jeremiah was totally disobedient, we
learn here that he added to the ‘book’ (scroll) that he had previously authored
(Jeremiah 36:31; Jeremiah 45:1), subsequent prophecies, at least up to the date of
the siege of Jerusalem (at least part of the account below appears to be given at a
time when there was no reigning Davidic monarch). He would certainly have had
plenty of time for writing while he was in the royal guard room, and assuming that
he had disciples in Judah, would surely have communicated his prophecies to them.
He could then have completed it in Egypt, from where it would be sent to exiles in
all parts. Thus apart from minor editing we may see from this that most of the book
came directly from Jeremiah. And it is YHWH Who here stresses the necessity for
this precisely because of the coming anticipated restoration to the land of both Israel
and Judah. Jeremiah’s prophecies were therefore to be an essential part of the
restoration, for along with the older prophets, they explained why Judah and Israel
had had to go through their sufferings, and yet could still be offered hope.
Jeremiah 30:1
‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH, saying,’
This is the usual formula with which Jeremiah opens a subsection of his work. and
emphasises that what he is writing here consists of a new word of YHWH.
PETT, "Verses 1-26
SECTION 2 (Jeremiah 26:1 to Jeremiah 45:5). (continued).
As we have seen this Section of Jeremiah from Jeremiah 26:1 to Jeremiah 45:5
divides up into four main subsections, which are as follows:
1. Commencing With A Speech In The Temple Jeremiah Warns Of What Is Coming
And Repudiates The Promises Of The False Prophets (Jeremiah 26:1 to Jeremiah
29:32).
2. Following The Anguish To Come Promises Are Given Of Eventual Restoration,
Central To Which is A New Covenant Written In The Heart (Jeremiah 30:1 to
Jeremiah 33:26).
3. YHWH’s Continuing Word of Judgment Is Given Through Jeremiah, And Its
Repercussions Leading Up To The Fall Of Jerusalem Are Revealed (Jeremiah 34:1
to Jeremiah 39:18).
4. Events Subsequent To The Fall Of Jerusalem Are Described (Jeremiah 40:1 to
Jeremiah 45:5).
13

We have already commented on Subsection 1). in Jeremiah 4. We must now
therefore consider subsection 2). This subsection, with its emphatic promises of hope
for the future, is the most positive subsection from a long term view in his prophecy.
Subsection 2 (Jeremiah 30:1 to Jeremiah 33:26). Following The Anguish To Come
Promises Are Given Of Eventual Restoration, Central To Which Is A New Covenant
Written By YHWH In The Hearts Of His People, Together With The Establishment
Of The New Jerusalem As The Eternal City (Jeremiah 30:1 to Jeremiah 33:26).
This Subsection places a great emphasis, not only on the coming anguish, but even
more on the glorious restoration that will follow. It presents a final picture of a
wholly restored nation which has been spiritually transformed.
It may be seen as divided up into two parts on the basis of the phrase ‘The word
that came to Jeremiah from YHWH --’ (Jeremiah 30:1; Jeremiah 32:1). (Jeremiah
33:1; Jeremiah 33:19, on the other hand, open with ‘and’ (waw), signifying
continuation rather than a new part). The first part deals with promises of glorious
restoration and spiritual renewal ending up with the establishment of a new
Jerusalem as the eternal city (compare Revelation 21:1 to Revelation 22:5). The
second part contains an acted out prophecy in which Jeremiah purchases a piece of
hereditary land in order to demonstrate his confidence in the final future of Judah,
and gives further assurances of restoration.
Part 1). ‘The word that came to Jeremiah from YHWH --’ (Jeremiah 30:1). Out of
the anguish of Israel/Judah is to come restoration, when YHWH will bring His
people from all the places of exile to which He has scattered them, and will replant
them and build them up in the land, establishing with them a new covenant, written
not on stone but in their hearts. All will know Him and all will be made holy, and
God’s holy city will be established for ever (Jeremiah 30:1 to Jeremiah 31:40).
We will now consider this part in detail.
PULPIT, "Verses 1-24
EXPOSITION
This and the three next chapters form a kind of book in themselves, which contrasts
admirably with Jermiah 27-29. In the latter Jeremiah aimed at casting down the
delusive hope that the time of trial would soon be over and the captives restored;
here he assumes that all are aware of the sad reality, and concentrates himself on
the happier topics of comfort and encouragement. Jeremiah 30:1-24; Jeremiah
31:1-40. shine out among all Jeremiah's prophecies; there is a combination of
softness and vigour which, even from a purely literary point of view, is most
attractive. Strictly speaking, they ought to form but one chapter; they represent (as
verse 4 states) the revelation from Jehovah "concerning Israel and concerning
14

Judah." It is, indeed, most touching, this yearning of the inspired prophet for the
reunion of the two branches of the nation (comp. Je 3:1-4:2). A "union in spirit"
was not enough for him; there must be a visible drawing together, to prove to all
men that, as God is one, so his people is one. God's love is imperishable, and, his
election of Israel cannot be reversed. The very extent of Israel's misery is a pledge
that her God will not leave her to herself too long. And how is the restoration of
Israel to be conceived? Surely nothing less than a new covenant will satisfy the
conditions of the problem—a new covenant written in the heart. Something akin to
this encouraging prophecy may be traced here and there in earlier chapters (see
Jeremiah 3:14-19; Jeremiah 16:14, Jeremiah 16:15; Jeremiah 23:3-8; but here the
prophet is entirely absorbed in that glorious future which could alone save him from
utter despondency.
2 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
‘Write in a book all the words I have spoken to
you.
BARNES, "Write ... in a book - To be read and meditated upon by them in private.
This makes it exceedingly probable that the date of these two chapters was also the 10th
year of Zedekiah, immediately after the purchase of the field from Hanameel.
All the words - i. e., the scroll was to be a summary of whatever of hope and mercy
had been contained in previous predictions.
CLARKE, "Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a
book - The book here recommended I believe to be the thirtieth and thirty-first
chapters; for among the Hebrews any portion of writing, in which the subject was
finished, however small, was termed ‫ספר‬ sepher, a Book, a treatise or discourse.
GILL, "Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel,.... Who is their covenant God; has
not forgotten them; still has a regard for them; and speaks after the following
comfortable manner concerning them:
saying, write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book; being
things of consequence, that they might remain to after ages; and be read to the use,
comfort, and edification of the Lord's people, in times to come; and be a support to their
faith and hope, as well as be a testimony of the truth and faithfulness of God. Some think
15

this charge refers to all the prophecies that go before, as well as follow after, to put them
all together in a book or roll, that they might be preserved; though others think it refers
only to the present prophecy; and so Kimchi interprets it, write all the words "that I am
now speaking unto thee" (o) in a book; which should come to pass in the latter day. So
John is bid to write in a book what he saw; the things that are, and shall be hereafter,
Rev_1:11.
JAMISON, "Write ... in a book — After the destruction of Jerusalem Jeremiah is
not ordered as heretofore to speak, but to write the succeeding prophecy (Jer_30:4,
etc.), so as thereby it might be read by his countrymen wheresoever they might be in
their dispersion.
CALVIN, "He says that God had commanded him to write in a book all the words
which he had heard; and the reason follows, For, behold, come shall the days, saith
Jehovah, in which I will restore the captivity of my people Israel and Judah (2)
There is to be understood a contrast between the restoration mentioned here and
that of which the false prophets had prattled when they animated the people with
the hope of a return in a short time; for, as I have said, that false expectation, when
the Jews sought unseasonably to return to their own country, was a sort of mental
inebriety. But when they found that they had been deceived, despair only remained
for them. Hence the Prophet recalls them here to a quietness of mind, even that they
might know that God would prove faithful after they found out that they had rashly
embraced what impostors had of themselves proclaimed We then see that there is
here an implied comparison between the sure and certain deliverance which God
had promised, and the false and stolid hope with which the people had been
inebriated: come, then, shall the days Now it appears that two years had taken away
every expectation; for they believed the false prophets who said that God would
restore them in two years; after the end of that time all the hope of the people failed.
Therefore the Prophet here removes that erroneous impression which had been
made on their minds, and he says that the days would come in which God would
redeem his people; and thus he indirectly derides the folly of the people, and
condemns the impiety of those who had dared to promise so quick a return.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 30:2 Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee
all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.
Ver. 2. Write thee all the words that I have spoken to thee in a book.] For the use of
posterity, {as Habakkuk 2:2} and that the consolations may not be forgotten. {as
Hebrews 12:5}
“ Vox audita perit: littera scripta manet. ”
PETT, "Jeremiah 30:2
‘Thus speaks YHWH, the God of Israel, saying, “Write you all the words that I have
spoken to you in a book.”
16

With YHWH’s most imposing title being applied, Jeremiah is now called on to write
down all the words that YHWH has spoken to him, in a book or scroll. This need for
Jeremiah to write down his prophecies has in fact constantly been emphasised
(Jeremiah 36:2; Jeremiah 36:28; Jeremiah 45:1), and suggests that he felt under a
divine urge to record his prophecies.
PULPIT, Jeremiah 30:2
Write thee all the words … in a book. The form of expression leaves it doubtful
whether a summary of all Jeremiah's previous discourses is intended, or merely of
the promises concerning Israel and Judah which he had just received. There are, no
doubt, numerous allusions to preceding chapters, but verse 5 seems rather to favour
the latter view. The word rendered "book" will equally suit a short discourse like
the present (comp. Jeremiah 51:60) and a large collection of prophecies as in
Jeremiah 36:2. Observe, the discourse was to be written down at once, without
having been delivered orally; it was to be laid up as a pledge that God would
interpose for his people (comp. Isaiah 30:8; Habakkuk 2:2, Habakkuk 2:3).
3 The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when
I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from
captivity[a] and restore them to the land I gave
their ancestors to possess,’ says the Lord.”
CLARKE, "The days come - First, After the conclusion of the seventy years.
Secondly, Under the Messiah.
That I will bring again the captivity of Israel - The ten tribes, led captive by the
king of Assyria, and dispersed among the nations.
And Judah - The people carried into Babylon at two different times; first, under
Jeconiah, and, secondly, under Zedekiah, by Nebuchadnezzar.
GILL, "For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord,.... And they are yet to come; the
prophecy is not yet fulfilled. Kimchi says this belongs to the days of the Messiah; but not
to his first coming, or to his coming in the flesh, which the Jews vainly expect; but to his
spiritual coming in the latter day:
17

that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah,
saith the Lord; which cannot be understood of their return from the Babylonish
captivity; for, as Kimchi rightly observes, only Judah and Benjamin returned from
thence; and though there were some few of the other tribes that came with them,
especially of the tribe of Levi, yet not sufficient to answer to so great a prophecy as this,
which refers to the same time as that in Hos_3:5; as appears by comparing that with
Jer_30:9; and when, as the Apostle Paul says, "all Israel shall be saved", Rom_11:25;
and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and
they shall possess it; the land of Canaan, given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and
which shall be again by the Jews their posterity; for, without that the Jews upon their
call and conversion shall return to their own land, in a literal sense, I see not how we can
understand this, and many other prophecies.
JAMISON, "For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord,.... And they are yet to come;
the prophecy is not yet fulfilled. Kimchi says this belongs to the days of the Messiah; but
not to his first coming, or to his coming in the flesh, which the Jews vainly expect; but to
his spiritual coming in the latter day:
that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah,
saith the Lord; which cannot be understood of their return from the Babylonish
captivity; for, as Kimchi rightly observes, only Judah and Benjamin returned from
thence; and though there were some few of the other tribes that came with them,
especially of the tribe of Levi, yet not sufficient to answer to so great a prophecy as this,
which refers to the same time as that in Hos_3:5; as appears by comparing that with
Jer_30:9; and when, as the Apostle Paul says, "all Israel shall be saved", Rom_11:25;
and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and
they shall possess it; the land of Canaan, given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and
which shall be again by the Jews their posterity; for, without that the Jews upon their
call and conversion shall return to their own land, in a literal sense, I see not how we can
understand this, and many other prophecies.
CALVIN, "We now, then, see why he says, come shall the days; for every hope after
two years would have been extinguished, had not God interposed. Come, then, shall
the days in which I wll restore the captivity of Israel and Judah The ten tribes, we
know, had been already led into exile; the tribe of Judah and the half tribe of
Benjamin only remained. Hence the ten tribes, the whole kingdom of Israel, are
mentioned first. The exile of Israel was much longer than that of Judah. It
afterwards follows, —
COKE, "Jeremiah 30:3. For, lo, the days come— Though the prophesy in this
chapter contains many circumstances which refer to the return of the Jews from
Babylon, yet there are many others, which so suit the Lord Jesus Christ and the
establishment of his church, particularly in the last days, that there is no giving
18

them literally any other sense; and even the clearest and most express prophesies for
the deliverance from Babylon, are very naturally to be explained of Jesus Christ and
his faithful followers, and the final return of the Jews.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 30:3 For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring
again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause
them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
Ver. 3. I will bring again the captivity (a) of Israel and Judah.] This promise,
Oecolampadius thinketh, was written in the book in greater letters than the rest; it
was fulfilled according to the letter in carnal Israel sent back by Cyrus (upon
Daniel’s prayer, who understood by that book here mentioned that the time of
deliverance, yea, the set time was come, Daniel 9:2), but more fully in those "Jews
inwardly," [Romans 2:29] those "Israelites indeed" who are set at liberty by Christ,
[John 8:36] and shall be much more at the last day.
PETT, "Jeremiah 30:3
“For, lo, the days come, the word of YHWH, that I will turn again the captivity of
my people Israel and Judah, the word of YHWH, and I will cause them to return to
the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.”
And the reason for writing down his words is in readiness for the fact that
‘according to the assured word of YHWH’ (twice stressed) the days were coming
when YHWH would ‘turn again’ the captivity of His people, both Israel and Judah,
and cause them to return to the land of their fathers and possess it. It would be at
that stage that they would need Jeremiah’s prophecies of hope. This ‘turning again’
would begin with the return of exiles from Babylon (Ezra 1:1 ff.), but it would
continue on through the undocumented period following Malachi to such an extent
that, by the time of Jesus Christ, Palestine (Galilee and Judaea) was well populated
with people connected with the ‘twelve tribes’ in one way or another (see e.g. Luke
2:36).
4 These are the words the Lord spoke concerning
Israel and Judah:
19

GILL, "And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel,
and concerning Judah. Which follow in this chapter and the next; first concerning
Israel, the ten tribes; and then concerning the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, even
concerning all Israel; whereas, if this prophecy only respects the return from the
captivity in Babylon, there is very little in it which concerns the ten tribes, or but a very
few of them. The words may be rendered, "unto Israel, and unto Judah"; as being the
persons to whom they were directed, as well as were the subjects of them.
HENRY 4-9, "He is directed what to write. The very words are such as the Holy
Ghost teaches, Jer_30:4. These are the words which God ordered to be written; and
those promises which are written by his order are as truly his word as the ten
commandments which were written with his finger. 1. He must write a description of the
fright and consternation which the people were now in, and were likely to be still in upon
every attack that the Chaldeans made upon them, which will much magnify both the
wonder and the welcomeness of their deliverance (Jer_30:5): We have heard a voice of
trembling - the shrieks of terror echoing to the alarms of danger. The false prophets told
them that they should have peace, but there is fear and not peace, so the margin reads
it. No marvel that when without are fightings within are fears. The men, even the men
of war, shall be quite overwhelmed with the calamities of their nation, shall sink under
them, and yield to them, and shall look like women in labour, whose pains come upon
them in great extremity and they know that they cannot escape them, Jer_30:6. You
never heard of a man travailing with child, and yet here you find not here and there a
timorous man, but every man with his hands on his loins, in the utmost anguish and
agony, as women in travail, when they see their cities burnt and their countries laid
waste. But this pain is compared to that of a woman in travail, not to that of a death-bed,
because it shall end in joy at last, and the pain, like that of a travailing woman, shall be
forgotten. All faces shall be turned into paleness. The word signifies not only such
paleness as arises from a sudden fright, but that which is the effect of a bad habit of
body, the jaundice, or the green sickness. The prophet laments the calamity upon the
foresight of it (Jer_30:7): Alas! for that day is great, a day of judgment, which is called
the great day, the great and terrible day of the Lord (Joe_2:31, Jud_1:6), great, so that
there has been none like it. The last destruction of Jerusalem is thus spoken of by our
Saviour as unparalleled, Mat_24:21. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble, a sad time,
when God's professing people shall be in distress above other people. The whole time of
the captivity was a time of Jacob's trouble; and such times ought to be greatly lamented
by all that are concerned for the welfare of Jacob and the honour of the God of Jacob. 2.
He must write the assurances which God had given that a happy end should at length be
put to these calamities. (1.) Jacob's troubles shall cease: He shall be saved out of them.
Though the afflictions of the church may last long, they shall not last always. Salvation
belongs to the Lord, and shall be wrought for his church. (2.) Jacob's troublers shall be
disabled from doing him any further mischief, and shall be reckoned with for the
mischief they have done him, Jer_30:8. The Lord of hosts, who has all power in his
hand, undertakes to do it: “I will break his yoke from off thy neck, which has long lain so
heavy, and has so sorely galled thee. I will burst thy bonds and restore thee to liberty
and ease, and thou shalt no more be at the beck and command of strangers, shalt no
more serve them, nor shall they any more serve themselves of thee; they shall no more
20

enrich themselves either by thy possessions or by thy labours.” And, (3.) That which
crowns and completes the mercy is that they shall be restored to the free exercise of their
religion again, Jer_30:9. They shall be delivered from serving their enemies, not that
they may live at large and do what they please, but that they may serve the Lord their
God and David their king, that they may come again into order, under the established
government both in church and state. Therefore they were brought into trouble and
made to serve their enemies because they had not served the Lord their God as they
ought to have done, with joyfulness and gladness of heart, Deu_28:47. But, when the
time shall come that they should be saved out of their trouble, God will prepare and
qualify them for it by giving them a heart to serve him, and will make it doubly
comfortable by giving them opportunity to serve him. Therefore we are delivered out of
the hands of our enemies, that we may serve God, Luk_1:74, Luk_1:75. And then
deliverances out of temporal calamities are mercies indeed to us when by them we find
ourselves engaged to and enlarged in the service of God. They shall serve their own God,
and neither be inclined, as they had been of old in the day of their apostasy, nor
compelled, as they had been of late in the day of their captivity, to serve other gods. They
shall serve David their king, such governors as God should from time to time set over
them, of the line of David (as Zerubbabel), or at least sitting on the thrones of judgment,
the thrones of the house of David, as Nehemiah. But certainly this has a further
meaning. The Chaldee paraphrase reads it, They shall obey (or hearken to) the Messiah
(or Christ), the Son of David, their king. To him the Jewish interpreters apply it. That
dispensation which commenced at their return out of captivity brought them to the
Messiah. He is called David their King because he was the Son of David (Mat_22:42)
and he answered to the name, Mat_20:31, Mat_20:32. David was an illustrious type of
him both in his humiliation and in his exaltation. The covenant of royalty made with
David had principal reference to him, and in him the promises of that covenant had their
full accomplishment. God gave him the throne of his father David; he raised him up
unto them, set him upon the holy hill of Zion. God is often in the New Testament said to
have raised up Jesus, raised him up as a King, Act_3:26; Act_13:23, Act_13:33.
Observe, [1.] Those that serve the Lord as their God must also serve David their King,
must give up themselves to Jesus Christ, to be ruled by him. For all men must honour
the Son as they honour the Father, and come into the service and worship of God by him
as Mediator. [2.] Those that are delivered out of spiritual bondage must make it appear
that they are so by giving up themselves to the service of Christ. Those to whom he gives
rest must take his yoke upon them.
K&D 4-9, "The judgment on the nations for the deliverance of Israel. - Jer_30:4.
"And these are the words which Jahveh spake concerning Israel and Judah: Jer_30:5.
For thus saith Jahveh: We have heard a cry of terror, fear, and no peace. Jer_30:6. Ask
now, and see whether a male bears a child? Why do I see every man with his hands on
his loins like a woman in childbirth, and every face turned to paleness? Jer_30:7. Alas!
for that day is great, with none like it, and it is a time of distress for Jacob, but he will
be saved out of it. Jer_30:8. And it shall come to pass on that day, saith Jahveh of
hosts, that I will break his yoke from upon thy neck, and I will burst thy bonds, and
strangers shall no more put servitude on him; Jer_30:9. But they shall serve Jahveh
their God, and David their king, whom I shall raise up to them. Jer_30:10. But fear
thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith Jahveh, neither be confounded, O Israel; for,
behold, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and
21

Jacob shall return, and be at rest, and be secure, and there shall be none making him
afraid. Jer_30:11. For I am with thee, saith Jahveh, to save thee; for I will make an end
of all the nations whither I have scattered thee, yet of thee will I not make an end, but I
will chastise thee properly and will not let thee go quite unpunished."
With Jer_30:4 is introduced the description of Israel's restoration announced in Jer_
30:3. This introduction is not absolutely necessary, but neither is it for that reason
spurious and to be expunged, as Hitzig seeks to do; it rather corresponds to the breadth
of Jeremiah's representation. The ‫י‬ ִ‫כּ‬ in Jer_30:5 is explicative: "Thus, namely, hath
Jahveh spoken." With the lively dramatic power of a poet, the prophet at once transports
the hearers or readers of his prophecy, in thought, into the great day to come, which is to
bring deliverance to all Israel. As a day of judgment, it brings terror and anguish on all
those who live to see it. ‫ל‬ ‫ק‬ ‫ה‬ ָ‫ד‬ ָ‫ֲר‬‫ח‬, "A voice (sound) of trembling (or terror) we hear,"
viz., the people, of whom the prophet is one. ‫ד‬ ַ‫ח‬ַ‫פּ‬ does not depend on ‫נוּ‬ ְ‫ע‬ ַ‫מ‬ָ‫,שׁ‬ but forms
with ‫ין‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫ו‬ ‫ם‬ ‫ל‬ָ‫שׁ‬ an independent clause: "There is fear and not peace" (or safety). Jer_
30:6. What is the cause of this great horror, which makes all men, from convulsive pains,
hold their hands on their loins, so as to support their bowels, in which they feel the
pangs, and which makes every countenance pale? In Jer_30:7 the cause of this horror is
declared. It is the great day of judgment that is coming. "That (not hits) day" points to
the future, and thus, even apart from other reasons, excludes the supposition that it is
the day of the destruction of Jerusalem that is meant. The words "that day is great" refer
to Joe_2:11, and "there is none like it" is an imitation of Joe_2:2; in the latter passage
the prophet makes use of a judgment which he had seen passed on Judah - its
devastation by locusts - and for the first time presents, as the main element in his
prophecy, the idea of the great day of judgment to come on all nations, and by which the
Lord will perfect His kingdom on this earth. This day is for Jacob also, i.e., for all Israel,
a time of distress; for the judgment falls not merely on the heathen nations, but also on
the godless members of the covenant people, that they may be destroyed from among
the congregation of the Lord. The judgment is therefore for Israel as well as for other
nations a critical juncture, from which the Israel of God, the community of the faithful,
will be delivered. This deliverance is described more in detail in Jer_30:8. The Lord will
break the yoke imposed on Israel, free His people from all bondage to strangers, i.e., the
heathen, so that they may serve only Him, the Lord, and David, His king, whom He will
raise up. The suffix in ‫לּ‬ֻ‫ע‬ is referred by several expositors (Hitzig, Nägelsbach) to the
king of Babylon, "as having been most clearly before the minds of Jeremiah and his
contemporaries;" in support of this view we are pointed to Isa_10:27, as a passage which
may have been before the eyes of Jeremiah. But neither this parallel passage nor ֶ‫ָאר‬‫וּ‬ַ‫צ‬
(with the suffix of the second person), which immediately follows, sufficiently justifies
this view. For, in the second half also of the verse, the second person is interchanged
with the third, and ‫י‬ ֶ‫ת‬ ‫ר‬ ְ‫ס‬ ‫,מ‬ which is parallel with ‫לּ‬ֻ‫,ע‬ requires us to refer the suffix in
the latter word to Jacob, so that "his yoke" means "the yoke laid on him," as in 1Ki_12:4;
Isa_9:3. It is also to be borne in mind that, throughout the whole prophecy, neither
Babylon nor the king of Babylon is once mentioned; and that the judgment described in
these verses cannot possibly be restricted to the downfall of the Babylonian monarchy,
but is the judgment that is to fall upon all nations (Jer_30:11). And although this
judgment begins with the fall of the Babylonian supremacy, it will bring deliverance to
the people of God, not merely from the yoke of Babylon, but from every yoke which
strangers have laid or will lay on them.
22

Jer_30:9
Then Israel will no longer serve strangers, i.e., foreign rulers who are heathens, but
their God Jahveh, and David the king who will be raised up to them, i.e., the Messiah,
the righteous sprout that Jahveh will raise up to David; cf. Jer_23:5. The designation of
this sprout as "David their king," i.e., the king of the Israelites, points us back to Hos_
3:5.
CALVIN, "Both Jews and Christians pervert this passage, for they apply it to the
time of the Messiah; and when they hardly agree as to any other part of Scripture,
they are wonderfully united here; but, as I have said, they depart very far from the
real meaning of the Prophet.
They all consider this as a prophecy referring to the time of the Messiah; but were
any one wisely to view the whole context, he would readily agree with me that the
Prophet includes here the sum of the doctrine which the people had previously
heard from his mouth. In the first clause he shews that he had spoken of God’s
vengeance, which rested on the people. But it is briefly that this clause touches on
that point, because the object was chiefly to alleviate the sorrow of the afflicted
people; for the reason ought ever to be borne in mind why the Prophet had been
ordered to commit to writing the substance of what he had taught, which was, to
supply with some comfort the exiles, when they had found out by experience that
they had been extremely perverse, having for so long a time never changed nor
turned to repentance. The Prophet had before spoken at large of the vices of the
people, and many times condemned their obstinacy, and also pointed out the
grievous and dreadful punishment that awaited them. The Prophet then had in
many a discourse reproved the people, and had been commanded daily to repeat the
same thing, though not for his own sake, nor mainly for the sake of those of his own
age, or of the old. But after God had destroyed the Temple and the city, his object
was to sustain their distressed minds, which must have otherwise been overwhelmed
with despair. This, then, is the reason why the Prophet here touches but slightly on
the vengeance which awaited the people. There is, however, as we shall see, great
force in this brevity; but he is much fuller as to the second part, and for this end,
that the people might not succumb under their calamities, but hope in the midst of
death, and even begin to hope while suffering the punishment which they deserved.
COFFMAN, ""And these are the words that Jehovah spake concerning Israel and
concerning Judah. For thus saith Jehovah: We have heard a voice of trembling, of
fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man 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? 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."
"Alas for that day ..." (Jeremiah 30:7). Payne Smith, and others have understood
this day to be the day when the armies of the Medo-Persians approached Babylon to
destroy it;[12] but we cannot believe that was "the day of Jacob's trouble." That
23

was evidently the day of Babylon's trouble!
"That day is great ... there is none like it ..." (Jeremiah 30:7) The unique day in view
here, it appears to us, must be understood as the Judgment of the Great Day. See
Amos 5:18f and the first two chapters of Zephaniah. The great day mentioned here
is not the day of the destruction of Jerusalem, nor the day of the destruction of
Babylon. "It is the Day of the Lord, a significant eschatological theme."[13] Keil
agreed with this, pointing out that the passage is an imitation of Joel 2:2. where that
prophet, for the first time presents the idea of the great day of Judgment to come on
all nations."[14]RAPP, "Jeremiah 30:4 And these [are] the words that the LORD
spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah.
Ver. 4. And these are the words.] These are the contents of this precious book; every
leaf, nay, line, nay, letter whereof, droppeth myrrh and mercy.
That the Lord spake.] See on Jeremiah 30:1.
PETT 4-7, "Verses 4-7
The Dark Days About To Come On Judah, And Already being Experienced by
Many From Both Judah and Israel In Exile, Are Vividly Portrayed (Jeremiah
30:4-7).
Jeremiah 30:4
‘And these are the words that YHWH spoke concerning Israel and concerning
Judah.’
At the time when Jeremiah was speaking Judah was populated, not only by men of
Judah and Benjamin, but also by large numbers of refugees and ‘immigrants’ from
northern Israel, who for one reason or another, some for religious reasons, and
others for political reasons, had taken up their abode in Judah. It thus represented
what officially remained of both Israel and Judah in Palestine itself. These words,
however, would appear to encompass not only those in Palestine, but also the exiles
from both Israel and Judah scattered abroad around the world (Isaiah 11:11).
5 “This is what the Lord says:
“‘Cries of fear are heard—
24

terror, not peace.
BARNES, "Better, as in the margin. The prophet places his hearers in the center of
Babylon, and describes it as convulsed with terror as the armies of Cyrus draw near. The
voice of trembling is the war-cry of the advancing host: while fear and no peace implies
that even among the exiles there is only alarm at the prospect of the city, where they had
so long dwelt, being destroyed.
CLARKE, "We have heard a voice of trembling - This may refer to the state
and feelings of the people during the war which Cyrus carried on against the
Babylonians. Trembling and terror would no doubt affect them, and put an end to peace
and all prosperity; as they could not tell what would be the issue of the struggle, and
whether their state would be better or worse should their present masters fall in the
conflict. This is well described in the next verse, where men are represented as being,
through pain and anguish, like women in travail. See the same comparison Isa_13:6-8.
GILL, "For thus saith the Lord,.... Yet what follows are the words of others;
wherefore some supply it, "for thus saith the Lord, the nations shall say" (p); so Kimchi
and Ben Melech interpret it as what the Gentiles will say in the times of the Messiah; but
it might be better supplied, "ye shall say"; that is, Israel and Judah; to whom the words
of the Lord are spoken in Jer_30:3; or else the Lord here represents his people, saying:
we have heard a voice of trembling, ear, and not of peace; which is to be
understood, of the fear and dread injected into them by the Babylonians when they
besieged their city, and burned that, and their temple; nor of the fear and dread which
came upon the Babylonians at the taking of their city by Cyrus, upon which followed the
deliverance of the Jews. Kimchi interprets this of something yet future, the war of Gog
and Magog, which he supposes wilt be when their Messiah comes; and Jarchi sans it is
so understood in their Midrash Agadah. This distress, I think, refers to the slaying of the
witnesses, and to that hour of temptation which shall come upon all the earth to try the
inhabitants of it; and which will be followed with the destruction of antichrist; and that
will make way for the call and conversion of the Jews.
JAMISON, "We have heard ... trembling — God introduces the Jews speaking
that which they will be reduced to at last in spite of their stubbornness. Threat and
promise are combined: the former briefly; namely, the misery of the Jews in the
Babylonian captivity down to their “trembling” and “fear” arising from the approach of
the Medo-Persian army of Cyrus against Babylon; the promise is more fully dwelt on;
namely, their “trembling” will issue in a deliverance as speedy as is the transition from a
woman’s labor pangs to her joy at giving birth to a child (Jer_30:6).
CALVIN, "Now he says, Thus saith Jehovah, A cry, or, the voice of trembling, or of
25

fear, have we heard. The word ‫,חרדה‬ cherede, is thought to mean properly that
dread which makes the whole body to tremble, and is therefore rendered trembling.
God speaks, and yet in the person of the people. Why? In order to expose their
insensibility; for as they were obstinate in their wickedness, so they were not
terrified by threatenings, however many and dreadful. God dictated words for
them, for they were altogether void of feeling. We now see why God assumed the
person of those who were secure, though Jeremiah daily represented to them God’s
vengeance as near at hand. The meaning is, that though the people were
asleep in their sins, and thought themselves beyond the reach of danger, even
when God was displeased with them, yet the threatenings by which God
sought to lead them to repentance would not be in vain. Hence God says, We
have heard the voice of fear; that is, “Deride and scoff as you please, or
remain insensible in your delusions, so as to disregard as the drunken what is
said, being destitute of feeling, reason, and memory, yet God will extort from
you this confession, this voice of trembling and fear.”
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 30:5 For thus saith the LORD We have heard a voice of
trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
Ver. 5. We have heard a voice of trembling.] We were at first in a pitiful
plight, scil., when the city was taken and the temple burnt (and this is
elegantly here set forth, and in the two next verses); but better times are at
hand:
“ Flebile principium melior fortuna sequetur. ”
PETT, "Jeremiah 30:5
‘For thus says YHWH,
“We have heard a voice of trembling,
Of fear, and not of peace.”
YHWH declares that all is not well for Israel and Judah, either at home or
abroad. From among both peoples comes a voice, not of wellbeing and peace,
but of trembling and fear (compare Leviticus 26:36-39). Judah is
26

approaching its final death throes, whilst many of the exiles are experiencing
hard times (compare Deuteronomy 28:65-67). ‘We’ probably has in mind
YHWH and the heavenly council, although it may simply be an anonymous
and impersonal ‘we’.
PULPIT, "Jeremiah 30:5-11
The great judgment of Israel's deliverance. It is nothing less than the "day of
Jehovah" which the prophet sees in spirit—a day which is "great" (Jeremiah
30:7; comp. Joel 2:11; Zephaniah 1:14) and terrible (Jeremiah 30:5,
Jeremiah 30:6; comp. Amos 5:18, Amos 5:20; Isaiah 13:6; Joel 2:1, Joel 2:11)
for Israel, a day of "trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7), but for his enemies of
destruction.
Jeremiah 30:5
A voice of trembling; rather, a sound of trembling, a sound causing men to tremble;
doubtless it is "the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war" (Jeremiah 4:19). Of
fear, and not of peace; rather, there is fear, and no peace. "Peace," as usual, means
the harmony of a well ordered, secure, and peaceful community. Literally, it is
wholeness; its opposite is "breaking," i.e. outward ruin and inward anguish.
6 Ask and see:
Can a man bear children?
Then why do I see every strong man
with his hands on his stomach like a
woman in labor,
every face turned deathly pale?
27

GILL, "Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child?.... Look into
the histories of former times, inquire of those most versed in them, whether ever there
was such a thing in the world as that a man should travail with child; ask one and,
another you see in distress, whether that is their case or not, which looks so much like it;
and since there never was such an instance, nor is it possible that there should:
wherefore do I see every man with his hands his loins, as a woman in
travail; the usual posture of women in such a condition, trying hereby to abate their
pain, and ease themselves. This metaphor is made use of, both to express the sharpness
and shortness of this distress; as the pains of a woman in travail are very sharp, yet
short, and, when over, quickly forgotten; and so it wilt be at this time; it will be a sharp
trial of the church and people of God; but it will last but for a short time; and the joy and
happy times that will follow will soon cause it to be forgotten:
and all faces are turned into paleness? at the departure of the blood, through fear
and trembling. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it "the yellow
jaundice"; their faces were of the colour of such persons that have that disease upon
them; or, as others, the green sickness. Some render it, "the king's evil" (q).
JAMISON, "Ask — Consult all the authorities, men or books, you can, you will not
find an instance. Yet in that coming day men will be seen with their hands pressed on
their loins, as women do to repress their pangs. God will drive men through pain to
gestures more fitting a woman than a man (Jer_4:31; Jer_6:24). The metaphor is often
used to express the previous pain followed by the sudden deliverance of Israel, as in the
case of a woman in childbirth (Isa_66:7-9).
paleness — properly the color of herbs blasted and fading: the green paleness of one
in jaundice: the sickly paleness of terror.
CALVIN, "He then adds, and not of peace This is emphatically subjoined, that
the Prophet might shake off from the people those foolish delusions with
which they were imbued by the false prophets. He then says, that they in
vain hoped for peace, for they could not flee from terror and fear. He
enhances this fear by saying, Inquire and see whether a man is in labor?
Some one renders this absurdly, “Whether a man begets?” by which mistake
he has betrayed a defect of judgment as well as ignorance; he was indeed
learned in Hebrew, but ignorant of Latin, and also void of judgment. For the
Prophet here speaks of something monstrous; but it is natural for a man to
beget. he asks here ironically, “Can a man be in labor?” because God would
put all men in such pains and agonies, as though they were women travailing
with child. As, then, women exert every nerve and writhe in anguish when
28

bringing forth draws nigh, so also men, all the men, would have their hands
laid on their loins, on account of their terror and dread. Then he says, and all
faces are turned into paleness; that is, God would terrify them all.
We now understand the meaning of the Prophet; for as the Jews did not
believe God’s judgment, it was necessary, as the Prophet does here, to storm
their hardness. If he had used a common mode of speaking, they would not
have been moved. Hence he had respect to their perverseness; and it was on
this account that he was so vehement. Inquire, then, he says, and see whether
a man is in labor? God would bring all the men to a condition not manly,
such as that of a woman in labor, when in her last effort to bring forth, when
her pain is the greatest and the most bitter. Men would then be driven into a
state the most unbecoming, strange, and monstrous. It follows: —
COKE, "Jeremiah 30:6. Ask ye now, &c.— "Is it usual for men to be with
child, and to suffer the pangs of travail? Whence then do I see you,
Chaldeans and Babylonians, in a similar posture?" The prophet uses this
figure, to represent the fear of the Babylonians, and their extreme surprise,
when the forces of the Medes and Persians should come upon them. The next
verse refers to the same. But though it was a time of trouble to the
Babylonians, and to the Jews, as connected with them; yet were the latter
saved out of it. Cyrus, in the first year of his reign over Babylon, gave them
liberty to return to their own country.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 30:6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man 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?
Ver. 6. Ask ye now, and see, &c.] Was it ever heard of in this world that a
male did bear? The poets indeed fable that Minerva was born of Jupiter ’s
brain:
“ Pictoribus atque poetis,
Quidlibet audendi fas est. ”
29

Wherefore do I see every man.] Heb., Every strong or mighty man.
With their hands on their loins.] And not on their weapons.
And all faces turned into paleness.] Through extreme fear, the blood running
to the heart, and the heart fallen into the heels. The Septuagint, for
"paleness," have the yellow jaundice; the Vulgate, gold yellowness; Piscator,
morbus regius; the royal sickness, the Hebrew properly implieth the colour of
blasted corn. [Deuteronomy 28:22] It importeth that the most stout-hearted
warriors should be enervati et exangues, more parturientium, bloodless and
spiritless, as travailing women.
PETT, "Jeremiah 30:6
“Ask you now, and see whether a man travails with child.
Why do I see every man with his hands on his abdomen,
Like a woman in labour pains,
And all faces are turned pale?”
Indeed things are so bad that it is as though even the males in Israel and
Judah are in labour pains for they are holding their abdomens in their
distress, and their faces have gone deathly white. They are like women
undergoing labour pains as a result of the distress in which they find
themselves, to such an extent that it makes onlookers ask, ‘are the men also
in labour?’.
This depth of suffering suggests either a period near the end of Zedekiah ’s
reign when the great judgment was looming over them, or the period
following when Jerusalem had been destroyed and the land was in darkness
and despair.
30

PULPIT, "Jeremiah 30:6
Whether a man doth travail with child. Great, indeed, must be the terror
when no adequate figure suggests itself but that of a woman in her pangs
(comp. Jeremiah 6:24; Jeremiah 13:21; Jeremiah 22:23; Isaiah 13:8). All
faces are turned into paleness. So Joel (Joel 2:6) and Nahum (Nahum 2:10),
"All faces withdraw their colour." For "paleness" the Septuagint has
"jaundice"—a possible meaning of the Hebrew; comp. ‫קכשס‬ ‫ן‬‫ע‬ , "pale, bilious
looking'' in medical writings, but properly "greenish-yellow," like the Hebrew
noun.
7 How awful that day will be!
No other will be like it.
It will be a time of trouble for Jacob,
but he will be saved out of it.
BARNES, "That day - i. e., the day of the capture of Babylon.
It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble - Rather, and it is a time of trouble to
Jacob, i. e., of anxiety to the Jews, for the usages of war were so brutal that they would
be in danger when the enemy made their assault.
CLARKE, "Alas! for that day is great - When the Medes and Persians with all their
forces shall come on the Chaldeans, it will be the day of Jacob’s trouble - trial, dismay,
and uncertainty; but he shall be delivered out of it - the Chaldean empire shall fall, but
the Jews shall be delivered by Cyrus. Jerusalem shall be destroyed by the Romans, but
the Israel of God shall be delivered from its ruin. Not one that had embraced Christianity
31

perished in the sackage of that city.
GILL, "Alas! for that day is great,.... For sorrow and distress:
so that none is like it; such were the times of Jerusalem's siege and destruction by the
Romans; and which was an emblem of those times of trouble from antichrist in the latter
day; see Mat_24:21;
it is even the time of Jacob's trouble: of the church and people of God, the true
Israel of God; when Popery will be the prevailing religion in Christendom; when the
outward court shall be given to the Gentiles; the witnesses shall be slain; antichrist will
be "in statu quo"; and the whore of Rome in all her glory; though it shall not last long:
but he shall be saved out of it; shall come out of those great tribulations into a very
happy and comfortable estate; the spirit of life shall enter into the witnesses, and they
shall live and ascend to heaven; the vials of God's wrath will be poured upon the
antichristian states; the kings of the earth will hate the whore, and burn her with fire;
the Gospel will be preached everywhere; the Jews will be converted, and the fulness of
the Gentiles be brought in; and an end be put to all trouble; of which there will be no
more, nor any occasion of it: or, "therefore he shall be saved out of it" (r); as the effect of
the divine compassion to him in such great trouble.
JAMISON, "great — marked by great calamities (Joe_2:11, Joe_2:31; Amo_5:18;
Zep_1:14).
none like it ... but he shall be saved — (Dan_12:1). The partial deliverance at
Babylon’s downfall prefigures the final, complete deliverance of Israel, literal and
spiritual, at the downfall of the mystical Babylon (Revelation 18:1-19:21).
CALVIN, "The Prophet goes on in this verse to describe the grievousness of
that punishment for which the people felt no concern, for they disregarded
all threatenings, as I have already said, and had now for many years
hardened themselves so as to deem as nothing so many dreadful things. This,
then, was the reason why he dwelt so much on this denunciation, and
exclaimed, Alas! great is that day: “great” is to be taken for dreadful; and he
adds, so that there is none like it It was a dreadful spectacle to see the city
destroyed, and the Temple partly pulled down and partly consumed by fire:
the king, with all the nobility, was driven into exile, his eyes were put out,
and his children were slain; and he was afterwards led away in a manner so
degraded, that to die a hundred times would have been more desirable than
to endure such indignity. Hence the Prophet does not say without reason,
that that day would be great, so that none would be like it: and he said this,
32

to shake away the torpidity of the people, for they thought that the holy city,
which God had chosen for his habitation, could not fall, nor the Temple
perish, he further says, that it would be a time of distress to the people. But
at the end of the verse he gives them a hope of God’s mercy, even
deliverance from this distress. We now, then, see the design of the Prophet in
these verses. (3) — There will be no Lecture tomorrow on account of the
Consistory.
4.Even these are the words which Jehovah hath said respecting Israel and
respecting Judah:
5.Verily thus hath Jehovah said — (The voice of trembling have we heard, Of
fear and not of peace:
6.Ask ye now and see, Does a man travail with child? How is it? I see every man
With his hands on his loins like a woman in travail, And turned are all faces to
paleness:)
7.Hark! for great shall be that day, none like it; Though a time of distress shall be to
Jacob, Yet from it shall he be saved:
8.And it shall be in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, That I shall break, etc.. etc..
The parenthesis accounts for what is said at the end of the 7th verse (Jeremiah 30:7)
and is intended as a contrast with the great day of deliverance that is promised. —
Ed.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 30:7 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.
Ver. 7. Alas! for that day is great,] i.e., Troublesome and terrible, somewhat
like the last day, the day of judgment, which is therefore also called the
"great day," because therein the great God will do great things, &c.
It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble.] Such as never befell him before. Those
very days shall be "affliction," so Mark expresseth the last desolation;
[Jeremiah 13:19] not "afflicted" only, but "affliction" itself. But though it be
the time of Jacob’s troubles, let it be also the time of his trust, for there will
be shortly a day of his triumph.
33

But he shall be saved out of it.] Not from it, but yet out of it; the Lord
knoweth how to deliver his: [2 Peter 2:9] and though Sense say it will not be;
Reason it cannot be; yet Faith gets above and says it shall be; I see the land.
PETT, "Jeremiah 30:7
“Alas! for that day is great,
So that none is like it,
It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble,
But he will be saved out of it.”
This idea then leads on to a vivid picture of the anguish that must follow the
destruction of Jerusalem and precede the restoration, the ‘time of Jacob’s
trouble’, which is the period of suffering prior to restoration, a time of
trembling and fear in full accordance with the warning given in Leviticus
26:32-45. Note in Leviticus the prominent mention of ‘Jacob’ (Leviticus
26:42), and of ‘faintness’ (Leviticus 26:36) and of the restoration of the
covenant (Leviticus 26:42; Lev_26:45), all features of this passage. The
phrase ‘Jacob’s trouble’ is itself drawn from the warning of ‘trouble’ for a
disobedient Israel in Deuteronomy 30:17; and its reference to ‘Jacob’ may be
found in Isaiah 43:28; Hosea 12:2. For the idea of their distress and fear
compare Deuteronomy 28:65-67.
So their anguish will be because of the dreadfulness of what is coming. It is
the time spoken of by Moses and the prophets, the time of ‘Jacob’s trouble’
resulting from their idolatry and the breaking of the covenant (Leviticus
26:32-45; Deuteronomy 28:58-67; Deuteronomy 30:17; Isaiah 43:28; Hosea
12:2). It would result initially in the besieging of Jerusalem with all the
human costs that that involved (Deuteronomy 28:52-55), and continue on in
the misery of the exiles (Leviticus 26:36-39; Deuteronomy 28:58-67),
something never before experienced. The princes of the sanctuary will be
34

profaned and ‘Jacob’ will become a curse (Isaiah 43:28). ‘Jacob’ will be
punished according to his ways, and recompensed according to his doings
(Hosea 12:2).
And this occurred because the people had rejected YHWH in their hearts, and
had gone after other gods and allied themselves with godless nations. Only a
remnant would be delivered out of it. (A similar story would repeat itself
when the nation rejected Jesus Christ. The Idolatrous Desolator
(Abomination of Desolation) would destroy Jerusalem, and the people would
be scattered into exile, facing a tribulation the like of which had not ever
been known before (Matthew 24:15-21; Luke 21:20-24).).
Jacob (the people of Judah and the exiles of Israel and Judah as still not
transformed), would be troubled because of the tumults in the world, as well
as because they were strangers in a foreign land. It was not easy living in
that area at that time. As we read of the movements of armies and of battles
in history we can often tend to overlook the misery and suffering that was
being brought on the people in the parts of the world where they took place.
Every mile of advance of an army was at a tremendous human cost, as
‘innocent’ people were caught up in the terror that had come upon them.
And in mind here are the particularly bad times, probably having in mind the
times when the Babylonian kings had to quell rebellions, often in places
where many of the exiles were to be found, and that even if they had not
themselves been a part of the rebellion. These would most often occur as one
king died and was replaced by another, something which would cause
friction between contenders, and hopes of freedom (even if hopeless) among
tributaries. At such times vengeance could be non-discriminatory. Indeed
from what follows it would appear to have especially in mind the tumults
that would arise as a result of the activities of the Persians and the Medes as,
under Cyrus, they would challenge the mighty Babylonian Empire. It was a
day so great and so awful that none could remember anything like it
(compare a similar idea in Joel 2:2), and it would cause great trouble to
‘Jacob’, that is, to the exiles in Babylonia, Elam and Assyria, the ‘troubles’
forecast by Moses and the prophets (Deuteronomy 30:17). For such
‘troubles’ for God’s nominal people resulting from rampant idolatry compare
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Deuteronomy 31:17; Deuteronomy 31:21, and for its being related directly to
‘Jacob’ see Isaiah 43:28; Hosea 12:2. Thus it is the time anticipated by the
earlier prophets when YHWH would punish His people for their idolatry. But,
unexpectedly, out of it would come deliverance and the opportunity to return
home, thanks humanly speaking to the humaneness of Cyrus ’ policies, a king
whom God had raised up for the purpose. They would be ‘saved out of’ the
great troubles that were coming on them and on the world.
There are no good grounds for referring the words here specifically to what
we call ‘the end times’ (we do love to think that no one mattered but us and
‘our times’, which incidentally may well turn out not to be the end times)
except in so far as Jeremiah probably saw them as the end times followed by
final restoration. He would not be expecting a complicated future. (He was
not to know that it was the first stepping stone in a long history. The words
were intended to apply to the situation in which the people in those days
could expect to find themselves. Prophecy is not to be seen as a kind of
crystal ball looking into the long distant future and irrelevant to the age in
which it was given. Jeremiah was considering what immediately lay ahead.
Of course, troubles arose for God’s people throughout all ages, and they
would often be seen as ‘beyond compare’, although, of course, from the
prophetic perspective their hope each time was that it would then issue in
perfect peace for Israel. Thus they hoped that they would be the ‘end time’
troubles. They did not realise that there would be many such times of
‘Jacob’s trouble’, as Daniel in fact brings out, (and also a number of
desolations of Jerusalem, e.g. by Nebuchadnezzar, by Antiochus Epiphanes,
by Titus) before the end came. They simply knew that before blessing must
come trouble because of the sinfulness of God’s people, and that this would
be so to the end. Nor could they have visualised the new Israel (Matthew
21:43) that would arise out of such troubles in Jesus’ day, an Israel which
would also continue to experience ‘much tribulation’ as the word of God
spread throughout the world in accordance with Isaiah 2:3. All of this was
awaiting the setting up of the everlasting kingdom when there will be no
more trouble.
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BI, "It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
Jacob’s trouble
There is not a malady in human life, but we find its antidote in the Bible; not a wound,
but we find its balm; not a spiritual sickness, but we find its remedy there. If there is no
time of trouble to Jacob, what deliverance could Jacob want? Of what use is a promise of
rest to the weary and heavy laden, unless a man finds himself burdened and oppressed?
A promise of salvation is only of value for those who feel their need of it; and an
assurance of deliverance is only precious to such as are made sensible of their danger.
The language of our text relates primarily and literally to the languishing state of the
Church—to the captivity of Israel’s tribes—to Jacob’s trouble on account of the
desolation of their city, and the destruction of their temple; and it is not only promised
to them that their trouble should be blessed to them, but also that they should be saved
out of it. We notice, first, the time of Jacob’s trouble; secondly, the timely deliverance
promised, “He shall be saved out of it”; and thirdly, the evidence and display of the truth
and faithfulness of God towards Israel and Jacob.
1. Some may inquire why the truth and faithfulness of God should be brought
forward. I do not intend to present you with a catalogue of Jacob’s troubles; they are
too numerous. I will, however, mention a few.
(1) The trouble here spoken of is of a public nature. In its literal sense, it was the
distress, calamity, degeneracy, of the Lord’s people—the scattering and
desolation of His inheritance by captivity. I have but a sorry opinion of that
man’s spirituality who is not troubled for Jacob’s, not grieved for Joseph’s, not
afflicted for Zion’s low, degenerate, sunken, miry condition. It is to my mind,
amid all the enjoyments of my soul in Christ, a source of daily trouble. But this
degeneracy is not the worst feature in Jacob’s trouble. There is such an awful
determination evinced to unite the Church and the world, to amalgamate two
whom God has separated in His Word, purposes, and dispensations, with the
highest and broadest wall of separation.
(2) But Jacob’s trouble is not only of a public character; it is also of a personal
nature. There is spiritual trouble when a man is first awakened—when the Lord
Jesus convinces him of sin, and discovers the spirituality and extent of the Divine
law. This is, indeed, a time of trouble; but here is the mercy—he shall be
delivered out of it. He that melted your heart will form Christ there, the hope of
glory. He that gave you the knowledge of your sins will also give you the
knowledge of His Son. Again, it is a time of trouble when the soul is in legal
bondage. What a time of trouble, of fear, sorrow, anxiety, dread, gloom, and
dismal forebodings do souls in legal bondage pass through, till the Son of God
comes Himself and makes them flee. Again, it is a time of personal trouble when
the soul is led into the field of battle, and foiled by the enemy. Again, it is a time
of personal trouble when we are called to walk in darkness.
(3) Again, there is a time of providential trouble. It was a time of providential
trouble to Joseph when sold by his brethren, falsely accused by his mistress,
thrown into a dungeon by his master. It was a time of providential trouble to
David, when he was hunted by Saul, betrayed by Doeg, threatened to be stoned
by his own people, when Ziklag was burned, when driven into the wilderness as a
fugitive, and expelled from his throne, family, and palace by his wicked son—but
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