Jeremiah 30:1-12

Introduction to the Book of Consolation

30:1 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah. ¹  30:2 “The Lord God of Israel says, ²  ‘Write everything that I am about to tell you in a scroll. ³  30:3 For I, the Lord, affirm ⁴  that the time will come when I will reverse the plight ⁵  of my people, Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors ⁶  and they will take possession of it once again.’” ⁷ 

Israel and Judah Will Be Delivered after a Time of Deep Distress

30:4 So here is what the Lord has to say about Israel and Judah. ⁸ 

30:5 Yes, ⁹  here is what he says:

“You hear cries of panic and of terror;

there is no peace in sight. ¹⁰ 

30:6 Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully: ¹¹ 

Have you ever seen a man give birth to a baby?

Why then do I see all these strong men

grabbing their stomachs in pain like ¹²  a woman giving birth?

And why do their faces

turn so deathly pale?

30:7 Alas, what a terrible time of trouble it is! ¹³ 

There has never been any like it.

It is a time of trouble for the descendants of Jacob,

but some of them will be rescued out of it. ¹⁴ 

30:8 When the time for them to be rescued comes,” ¹⁵ 

says the Lord who rules over all, ¹⁶ 

“I will rescue you from foreign subjugation. ¹⁷ 

I will deliver you from captivity. ¹⁸ 

Foreigners will then no longer subjugate them.

30:9 But they will be subject ¹⁹  to the Lord their God

and to the Davidic ruler whom I will raise up as king over them. ²⁰ 

30:10 So I, the Lord, tell you not to be afraid,

you descendants of Jacob, my servants. ²¹ 

Do not be terrified, people of Israel.

For I will rescue you and your descendants

from a faraway land where you are captives. ²² 

The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.

They will be secure and no one will terrify them. ²³ 

30:11 For I, the Lord, affirm ²⁴  that

I will be with you and will rescue you.

I will completely destroy all the nations where I scattered you.

But I will not completely destroy you.

I will indeed discipline you, but only in due measure.

I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished.” ²⁵ 

The Lord Will Heal the Wounds of Judah

30:12 Moreover, ²⁶  the Lord says to the people of Zion, ²⁷ 

“Your injuries are incurable;

your wounds are severe. ²⁸ 

[30:1]  ¹ tn Compare the headings at 7:1; 11:1; 18:1; 21:1 and the translator’s note at those places.

[30:2]  ² tn Heb “Thus says Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel, saying….” For significance of the title “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel” see the note at 2:19.

[30:2]  ³ tn Heb “Write all the words which I speak to you in a scroll.” The verb “which I speak” is the instantaneous use of the perfect tense (cf. GKC 311-12 §106.i or IBHS 488-89 §30.5.1d). The words that the Lord is about to speak follow in chs. 30–31.

[30:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[30:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “restore the fortune.” For the translation and meaning of this idiom see the note at 29:14.

[30:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “fathers.”

[30:3]  ⁷ sn As the nations of Israel and Judah were united in their sin and suffered the same fate – that of exile and dispersion – (cf. Jer 3:8; 5:11; 11:10, 17) so they will ultimately be regathered from the nations and rejoined under one king, a descendant of David, and regain possession of their ancestral lands. The prophets of both the eighth and seventh century looked forward to this ideal (see, e.g., Hos 1:11 (2:2 HT); Isa 11:11-13; Jer 23:5-6; 30:3; 33:7; Ezek 37:15-22). This has already been anticipated in Jer 3:18.

[30:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “And these are the words/things that the Lord speaks concerning Israel and Judah.”

[30:5]  ⁹ tn The particle כִּי (ki) is functioning here as loosely causal or epexegetical of the preceding introduction. For this usage cf. BDB 473-74 s.v. כִּי 3.c. This nuance borders on that of the intensive use of כִּי. See the discussion in BDB 472 s.v. כִּי note and כִּי 1.e.

[30:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “We have heard the sound of panic and of fear, and there is no peace.” It is generally agreed that the person of the verb presupposes that this is an unintroduced quote of the people.

[30:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Ask and see/consider.”

[30:6]  ¹² tn Heb “with their hands on their loins.” The word rendered “loins” refers to the area between the ribs and the thighs.

[30:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “Alas [or Woe] for that day will be great.” For the use of the particle “Alas” to signal a time of terrible trouble, even to sound the death knell for someone, see the translator’s note on 22:13.

[30:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “It is a time of trouble for Jacob but he will be saved out of it.”

[30:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “And it shall happen in that day.”

[30:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of Yahweh of armies.” See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of the title for God.

[30:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I will break his yoke from upon your neck.” For the explanation of the figure see the study note on 27:2. The shift from third person at the end of v. 7 to second person in v. 8c, d and back to third person in v. 8e is typical of Hebrew poetry in the book of Psalms and in the prophetic books (cf., GKC 351 §114.p and compare usage in Deut 32:15; Isa 5:8 listed there). The present translation, like several other modern ones, has typically leveled them to the same person to avoid confusion for modern readers who are not accustomed to this poetic tradition.

[30:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I will tear off their bands.” The “bands” are the leather straps which held the yoke bars in place (cf. 27:2). The metaphor of the “yoke on the neck” is continued. The translation reflects the sense of the metaphor but not the specific referent.

[30:9]  ¹⁹ tn The word “subject” in this verse and “subjugate” are from the same root word in Hebrew. A deliberate contrast is drawn between the two powers that they will serve.

[30:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and to David their king whom I will raise up for them.”

[30:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “So do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, oracle of the Lord.” Here and elsewhere in the verse the terms Jacob and Israel are poetic for the people of Israel descended from the patriarch Jacob. The terms have been supplied throughout with plural referents for greater clarity.

[30:10]  ²² tn Heb “For I will rescue you from far away, your descendants from the land of their captivity.”

[30:10]  ²³ sn Compare the ideals of the Mosaic covenant in Lev 26:6, the Davidic covenant in 2 Sam 7:10-11, and the new covenant in Ezek 34:25-31.

[30:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[30:11]  ²⁵ tn The translation “entirely unpunished” is intended to reflect the emphatic construction of the infinitive absolute before the finite verb.

[30:12]  ²⁶ tn The particle כִּי (ki) here is parallel to the one in v. 5 that introduces the first oracle. See the discussion in the translator’s note there.

[30:12]  ²⁷ tn The pronouns in vv. 10-17 are second feminine singular referring to a personified entity. That entity is identified in v. 17 as Zion, which here stands for the people of Zion.

[30:12]  ²⁸ sn The wounds to the body politic are those of the incursions from the enemy from the north referred to in Jer 4:6; 6:1 over which Jeremiah and even God himself have lamented (Jer 8:21; 10:19; 14:17). The enemy from the north has been identified as Babylon and has been identified as the agent of God’s punishment of his disobedient people (Jer 1:15; 4:6; 25:9).