King James Version
Jeremiah 30
24 verses with commentary
Restoration of Israel
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD</strong> (הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר־הָיָה אֶל־יִרְמְיָהוּ מֵאֵת יְהוָה)—Chapter 30 begins the 'Book of Consolation' (chs. 30-33), pivoting from judgment to promise. The prophetic formula <em>hayah el</em> (came to) emphasizes divine origin—not Jeremiah's speculation but God's self-revelation.<br><br>After 29 chapters of relentless judgment, this transitio...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. spread out ... hands--**inviting them earnestly (Pr 1:24).
**all ... day--**continually, late and early (Jr 7:13).
**rebellious people--**Israel, whose rebellion was the occasion of God's turning to the Gentiles (Ro 11:11, 12, 15).
**way ... not good--**that is, the very reverse of good, very bad (Eze 36:31).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 30
The Jews reproved for seeking aid from Egypt. (Is. 30:1-7) Judgements in consequence of their contempt of God's word. (Is. 30:8-18) God's mercies to his church. (Is. 30:19-26) The ruin of the Assyrian army, and of all God's enemies. (Is. 30:27-33)
**Verses 1-7** It was often the fault and folly of the Jews, that when troubled by their neighbours on one side, they sought for succou...
Read full commentary →Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book</strong> (כְּתָב־לְךָ אֵת כָּל־הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר־דִּבַּרְתִּי אֵלֶיךָ אֶל־סֵפֶר)—God commands permanent recording (<em>katav</em>, write; <em>sefer</em>, scroll/book) of restoration promises. Unlike much of Jeremiah's preaching, which was oral, these specific promises required written preservation for exiled generations who w...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
XXX.
(2) **Write thee all the words . . .**—The opening words emphasise the fact that what follows was not spoken at first, like Jeremiah 27, 28, in the presence of the people, but was from the first committed to writing. There is no definite point at which we may be certain that the section ends, and there is room for many conjectures as to interpolations here and there, but the opening of Jeremi...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. continually--**answering to "all the day" (Is 65:2). God was continually inviting them, and they continually offending Him (De 32:21).
**to my face--**They made no attempt to hide their sin (Is 3:9). Compare "before Me" (Ex 20:3).
**in gardens--**(See on Is 1:29; Is 66:17; Le 17:5).
**altars of brick--**Hebrew, "bricks." God had commanded His altars to be of unhewn stone (Ex 20:25). Thi...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 30
The Jews reproved for seeking aid from Egypt. (Is. 30:1-7) Judgements in consequence of their contempt of God's word. (Is. 30:8-18) God's mercies to his church. (Is. 30:19-26) The ruin of the Assyrian army, and of all God's enemies. (Is. 30:27-33)
**Verses 1-7** It was often the fault and folly of the Jews, that when troubled by their neighbours on one side, they sought for succou...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
The phrase 'I will bring again the captivity' uses the Hebrew 'shub shebut' - a wordplay on returning/restoring. This promise transcends the Babylonian exile, pointing to ultimate restoration when Israel recognizes her Messiah (Rom 11:25-26). God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob remains unbreakable despite Israel's unfaithfulness. The land promise finds ultimate fulfillment in the new hea...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah . . .**—The oracle of Jeremiah 29:10-14 becomes, as it were, the text of a new utterance, and that with a wider range more distinctly including the ten tribes of Israel as well as the two of Judah and Benjamin. There is no narrow provincialism in the prophet’s heart. He yearns for the exiles who are far off on the Euphrates; he y...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. remain among ... graves--**namely, for purposes of necromancy, as if to hold converse with the dead (Is 8:19, 20; compare Mr 5:3); or, for the sake of purifications, usually performed at night among sepulchres, to appease the manes [Maurer].
**monuments--**Hebrew, "pass the night in hidden recesses," either the idol's inmost shrines ("consecrated precincts") [Horsley], where they used to sl...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 30
The Jews reproved for seeking aid from Egypt. (Is. 30:1-7) Judgements in consequence of their contempt of God's word. (Is. 30:8-18) God's mercies to his church. (Is. 30:19-26) The ruin of the Assyrian army, and of all God's enemies. (Is. 30:27-33)
**Verses 1-7** It was often the fault and folly of the Jews, that when troubled by their neighbours on one side, they sought for succou...
Read full commentary →And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Concerning Israel and concerning Judah</strong> (אֶל־יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאֶל־יְהוּדָה)—God's restoration promises encompass both divided kingdoms. <em>Israel</em> (northern ten tribes, exiled by Assyria 722 BC) and <em>Judah</em> (southern kingdom, facing Babylonian exile) will experience reunification under Messianic covenant.<br><br>This dual address is theologically profound: though Israel had...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
5. (Mt 9:11; Lu 5:30; 18:11; Jude 19). Applicable to the hypocritical self-justifiers of our Lord's time.
**smoke--**alluding to the smoke of their self-righteous sacrifices; the fire of God's wrath was kindled at the sight, and exhibited itself in the smoke that breathed forth from His nostrils; in Hebrew the nose is the seat of anger; and the nostrils distended in wrath, as it were, breathe fo...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 30
The Jews reproved for seeking aid from Egypt. (Is. 30:1-7) Judgements in consequence of their contempt of God's word. (Is. 30:8-18) God's mercies to his church. (Is. 30:19-26) The ruin of the Assyrian army, and of all God's enemies. (Is. 30:27-33)
**Verses 1-7** It was often the fault and folly of the Jews, that when troubled by their neighbours on one side, they sought for succou...
Read full commentary →For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. of fear: or, there is fear, and not peace
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace</strong> (קוֹל חֲרָדָה שָׁמָעְנוּ פַּחַד וְאֵין שָׁלוֹם)—God quotes Israel's terrified cry during 'Jacob's trouble' (v. 7). The Hebrew <em>charadah</em> (trembling, terror) and <em>pachad</em> (dread, fear) intensify the portrait of national panic. The absence of <em>shalom</em> (peace, wholeness) marks judgment's severity.<br><...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5, 6) **Thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling . . .**—There is a strange mingling of the divine and human elements in these words. The prophet speaks with the sense that the words are not his own, and yet what he utters is, at first, the expression of his own horror and astonishment at the vision of woe that is opening before his eyes. He sees, as it were, the famine-stricken pe...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. written before me--**"it is decreed by Me," namely, what follows (Job 13:26), [Maurer]; or, their guilt is recorded before Me (compare Da 7:10; Re 20:12; Mal 3:16).
**into ... bosom--**(Psa 79:12; Jr 32:18; Lu 6:38). The Orientals used the loose fold of the garment falling on "the bosom" or lap, as a receptacle for carrying things. The sense thus is: I will repay their sin so abundantly tha...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 30
The Jews reproved for seeking aid from Egypt. (Is. 30:1-7) Judgements in consequence of their contempt of God's word. (Is. 30:8-18) God's mercies to his church. (Is. 30:19-26) The ruin of the Assyrian army, and of all God's enemies. (Is. 30:27-33)
**Verses 1-7** It was often the fault and folly of the Jews, that when troubled by their neighbours on one side, they sought for succou...
Read full commentary →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? a man: Heb. a male
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Whether a man doth travail with child?</strong> (הֲיֹלֵד זָכָר)—This shocking rhetorical question uses impossible imagery to describe unprecedented anguish. Men (<em>zakar</em>, male) experiencing childbirth (<em>yalad</em>, to bear) violates nature, emphasizing the unnaturalness of 'Jacob's trouble.' Warriors, trained for battle, reduced to birth-labor posture—hands on loins, faces pale—d...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
7. Their sin had been accumulating from age to age until God at last repaid it in full.
**mountains--**(Is 57:7; Eze 18:6; 20:27, 28; Ho 4:13).
**their--**"Your" had preceded. From speaking to, He speaks of them; this implies growing alienation from them and greater distance.
**work--**the full recompense of their work (so Is 49:4).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 30
The Jews reproved for seeking aid from Egypt. (Is. 30:1-7) Judgements in consequence of their contempt of God's word. (Is. 30:8-18) God's mercies to his church. (Is. 30:19-26) The ruin of the Assyrian army, and of all God's enemies. (Is. 30:27-33)
**Verses 1-7** It was often the fault and folly of the Jews, that when troubled by their neighbours on one side, they sought for succou...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
'Jacob's trouble' refers to the unprecedented suffering during the Babylonian exile and ultimately the Great Tribulation. The phrase 'there is none like it' parallels Jesus' description of end-times distress (Matt 24:21). Yet the promise is salvation 'out of it' - not exemption from tribulation but deliverance through it. God's people are refined through suffering, not spared from it.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. new wine--**as if some grapes having good wine-producing juice in them, be found in a cluster which the vinedresser was about to throw away as bad, and one saith, &c.
**blessing--**that is, good wine-producing juice (compare Jud 9:13; Joe 2:14).
**so--**God will spare the godly "remnant," while the ungodly mass of the nation shall be destroyed (Is 1:9; 6:13; 10:21; 11:11, 12-16).
**...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 30
The Jews reproved for seeking aid from Egypt. (Is. 30:1-7) Judgements in consequence of their contempt of God's word. (Is. 30:8-18) God's mercies to his church. (Is. 30:19-26) The ruin of the Assyrian army, and of all God's enemies. (Is. 30:27-33)
**Verses 1-7** It was often the fault and folly of the Jews, that when troubled by their neighbours on one side, they sought for succou...
Read full commentary →For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I will break his yoke from off thy neck</strong> (אֶשְׁבֹּר עֻלּוֹ מֵעַל צַוָּארֶךָ)—After describing terror (vv. 5-7), God promises liberation. The <em>ol</em> (yoke) represents foreign domination—Babylon primarily, but ultimately all Gentile oppression. Breaking the yoke reverses Judah's subjugation, which Jeremiah earlier symbolized by wearing a yoke (ch. 27-28).<br><br><strong>Stranger...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **For it shall come to pass in that day . . .**—Better, *And it shall come. *Here there comes in the ground of the hope uttered in the words “he shall be saved out of it,” which keeps the prophet from sinking under the burden of his sorrow. The second and third person are strangely mingled. Jehovah speaks to Israel, “thy bonds,” “thy yoke,” and “his yoke” is that of the oppressor, *i.e., *of t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. seed--**"the holy seed" (Is 6:13), a posterity from Jacob, designed to repossess the Holy Land, forfeited by the sin of the former Jews.
**my mountains--**Jerusalem and the rest of Judea, peculiarly God's (compare Is 2:2; 11:9; 14:32).
**it--**the Holy Land.
**elect--**(Is 65:15, 22).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** The Jews were the only professing people God then had in the world, yet many among them were rebellious. They had the light, but they loved darkness rather. The prophets checked them in their sinful pursuits, so that they could not proceed without fear; this they took amiss. But faithful ministers will not be driven from seeking to awaken sinners. God is the Holy One of Israel, and...
Read full commentary →But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.
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KJV Study Commentary
God promises Israel will serve 'the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.' This cannot refer to the historical David (long dead) but to his greater Son, the Messiah. This is Davidic covenant language pointing to Christ's reign (Luke 1:32-33). True restoration includes not just return to land but submission to God's anointed King.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **David their king . . .**—The name of the old hero-king appears as that of the new representative of the house who is to restore the kingdom. There is to be a second David for Israel, a true king answering to the ideal which he imperfectly represented. Zerubbabel, in whom some interpreters have seen the fulfilment of Jeremiah’s words, was, in his measure, another partial representative of suc...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. Sharon--**(See on Is 33:9; Is 35:2).
**Achor--**meaning "trouble"; a valley near Jericho, so called from the trouble caused to Israel by Achan's sin (Jos 7:24). "The valley of Achor," proverbial for whatever caused calamity, shall become proverbial for joy and prosperity (Ho 2:15).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** The Jews were the only professing people God then had in the world, yet many among them were rebellious. They had the light, but they loved darkness rather. The prophets checked them in their sinful pursuits, so that they could not proceed without fear; this they took amiss. But faithful ministers will not be driven from seeking to awaken sinners. God is the Holy One of Israel, and...
Read full commentary →Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Fear thou not, O my servant Jacob</strong> (וְאַתָּה אַל־תִּירָא עַבְדִּי יַעֲקֹב)—God addresses Israel with covenant intimacy: <em>avdi</em> (my servant) evokes Abraham (Genesis 26:24), Moses (Numbers 12:7), and David (2 Samuel 7:5). The name <em>Ya'akov</em> (Jacob) recalls patriarchal promises, grounding future hope in ancient covenant.<br><br><strong>I will save thee from afar</strong>...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **Therefore fear thou not.**—The higher strain of language into which the prophecy has here risen is indicated by the parallelism of the two clauses in each member of the sentence. The whole verse is poetic in its form. The words have in them something of the ring of Isaiah 41:10.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. holy mountain--**Moriah, on which the temple was.
**troop--**rather "Gad," the Babylonian god of fortune, the planet Jupiter, answering to Baal or Bel; the Arabs called it "the Greater Good Fortune"; and the planet Venus answering to Meni, "the Lesser Good Fortune" [Gesenius, Kimchi, &c.]. Tables were laid out for their idols with all kinds of viands, and a cup containing a mixture of ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** The Jews were the only professing people God then had in the world, yet many among them were rebellious. They had the light, but they loved darkness rather. The prophets checked them in their sinful pursuits, so that they could not proceed without fear; this they took amiss. But faithful ministers will not be driven from seeking to awaken sinners. God is the Holy One of Israel, and...
Read full commentary →For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
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KJV Study Commentary
God promises to save Israel though He makes 'a full end of all nations' where they were scattered. The election of Israel serves God's global purposes, but the nations themselves will pass away while Israel endures. Yet God will 'correct thee in measure' - discipline is medicinal, not vindictive. He won't leave them 'altogether unpunished' - grace doesn't eliminate consequences.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **Though I make a full end of all nations.—**On the phrase, see Notes on Jeremiah 4:27; Jeremiah 5:10; Jeremiah 5:18. It is eminently characteristic of the prophets of Jeremiah’s time (Ezekiel 11:13; Ezekiel 20:17; Nahum 1:8-9). Here the thought, implied elsewhere, and reproduced in Jeremiah 46:28, is expressed more fully than before, that while the destruction of the national life of the hea...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. number--**"doom" you. Alluding to the "number," as Meni (Is 65:11) means. Retribution in kind, the punishment answering to the sin (compare 2Ch 36:14-17).
**I called, ye ... not answer--**"I called," though "none had called" upon Me (Is 64:7); yet even then none "answered" (Pr 1:24). Contrast with this God and His people's mutual fellowship in prayer (Is 65:24).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** The Jews were the only professing people God then had in the world, yet many among them were rebellious. They had the light, but they loved darkness rather. The prophets checked them in their sinful pursuits, so that they could not proceed without fear; this they took amiss. But faithful ministers will not be driven from seeking to awaken sinners. God is the Holy One of Israel, and...
Read full commentary →For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous</strong> (אָנוּשׁ שִׁבְרֵךְ נַחְלָה מַכָּתֵךְ)—God diagnoses Israel's condition with medical imagery. <em>Anush</em> (incurable, desperate) and <em>nachlah</em> (grievous, sick) describe terminal illness. The <em>sheber</em> (fracture, breaking) and <em>makkah</em> (wound, blow) aren't mere injuries but mortal damage.<br><br>Yet this dire ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **Thy bruise is incurable . . .**—The mind of the prophet dwells on the seeming hopelessness, in words which sound like an echo from his Lamentations (Jeremiah 2:13), in order to enhance the blessedness of the reverent utterance of hope which appears in Jeremiah 30:17.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**13. eat--**enjoy all blessings from me (So 5:1).
**hungry--**(Am 4:6; 8:11). This may refer to the siege of Jerusalem under Titus, when 1,100,000 are said to have perished by famine; thus Is 65:15 will refer to God's people without distinction of Jew and Gentile receiving "another name," namely, that of Christians [Houbigant]. A further fulfilment may still remain, just before the creation of ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** The Jews were the only professing people God then had in the world, yet many among them were rebellious. They had the light, but they loved darkness rather. The prophets checked them in their sinful pursuits, so that they could not proceed without fear; this they took amiss. But faithful ministers will not be driven from seeking to awaken sinners. God is the Holy One of Israel, and...
Read full commentary →There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines. that: Heb. for binding up, or, pressing
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>There is none to plead thy cause</strong> (אֵין דָּן דִּינֵךְ, 'ein dan dinekh')—Israel stands utterly alone in her distress, with no advocate (דָּן, 'dan', legal defender) to plead her case. The metaphor shifts to medical hopelessness: <strong>no healing medicines</strong> (רְפֻאוֹת תְּעָלָה, 'refu'ot te'alah', literally 'remedies for new flesh'). This depicts the exile as both judicial c...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **There is none to plead thy cause . . .**—The words bring before us two images of extremest misery—the criminal who, standing before the dread judgment-seat, has no advocate, the plague-stricken sufferer who has no physician. The word is that used of Josiah in Jeremiah 22:16. There, and commonly elsewhere, it is translated “judge.” The second part of the sentence is better rendered, with a d...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14. howl--**(Is 15:2; Mt 8:12).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** The Jews were the only professing people God then had in the world, yet many among them were rebellious. They had the light, but they loved darkness rather. The prophets checked them in their sinful pursuits, so that they could not proceed without fear; this they took amiss. But faithful ministers will not be driven from seeking to awaken sinners. God is the Holy One of Israel, and...
Read full commentary →All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>All thy lovers have forgotten thee</strong> (כָּל מְאַהֲבַיִךְ שְׁכֵחוּךְ, 'kol me'ahavayikh shekhechuakh')—the 'lovers' (מְאַהֲבִים, 'me'ahavim') refers to political allies and false gods Israel pursued. The covenant metaphor intensifies: <strong>I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy</strong> (מַכַּת אוֹיֵב הִכִּיתִיךְ, 'makat oyev hikitikh').<br><br>The shocking theology: God Hi...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **All thy lovers have forgotten thee . . .**—The lovers of a nation are, of course, as in Jeremiah 22:20, its allies and tributaries. Moab, Ammon, Edom, Tyre, had at one time courted the favour of Judah (Jeremiah 27:3). They looked on her now as “smitten of God and afflicted.” He had smitten her as an enemy smites. His chastisement had seemed to imply that she was given over to a deserved des...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**15. curse--**The name of "Jew" has been for long a formula of execration (compare Jr 29:22); if one wishes to curse another, he can utter nothing worse than this, "God make thee what the Jew is!" Contrast the formula (Ge 48:20) [Maurer].
**my chosen--**the elect Church, gathered from Jews and Gentiles, called by "another name," Christians (Ac 11:26). However (see on Is 65:13), as "My chosen," ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** The Jews were the only professing people God then had in the world, yet many among them were rebellious. They had the light, but they loved darkness rather. The prophets checked them in their sinful pursuits, so that they could not proceed without fear; this they took amiss. But faithful ministers will not be driven from seeking to awaken sinners. God is the Holy One of Israel, and...
Read full commentary →Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Why criest thou for thine affliction?</strong> (מַה תִּזְעַק עַל שִׁבְרֵךְ, 'mah tiz'ak al shivrech')—God's rhetorical question confronts Israel's self-pity. The answer is devastating: <strong>thy sorrow is incurable</strong> (אָנוּשׁ מַכְאֹבֵךְ, 'anush makh'ovech', literally 'your pain is desperate/mortal').<br><br>The phrase <strong>I have done these things unto thee</strong> affirms div...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **Why criest thou . . .?**—The personification of the previous verse is continued. The prophet looks on Judah—as in Lamentations 1:1-2—as on some forlorn and desperate castaway smitten with pestilence, crying in the agony of her hopelessness; and he reminds her that she is but bearing the righteous punishment of her iniquities. In accepting the law of retribution, as seen in her own suffering...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**16. That he--**rather, "he who," &c.
**blesseth, &c.--**(Psa 72:17; Jr 4:2).
**God of truth--**very God, as opposed to false gods; Hebrew, Amen: the very name of Messiah (2Co 1:20; Re 3:14), faithful to His promises (Joh 1:17; 6:32). Real, substantial, spiritual, eternal, as opposed to the shadowy types of the law.
**sweareth, &c.--**God alone shall be appealed to as God (Is 19...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** The Jews were the only professing people God then had in the world, yet many among them were rebellious. They had the light, but they loved darkness rather. The prophets checked them in their sinful pursuits, so that they could not proceed without fear; this they took amiss. But faithful ministers will not be driven from seeking to awaken sinners. God is the Holy One of Israel, and...
Read full commentary →Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured</strong>—divine reversal begins with this 'therefore' (לָכֵן, 'lakhen'). The Hebrew uses poetic justice: devourers devoured (אָכַל/אָכַל, 'akhal'/'akhal'), spoilers spoiled (שָׁסָה/שָׁסָה, 'shasah'/'shasah'). This lex talionis (law of retaliation) demonstrates God's justice for His covenant people.<br><br>While Israel suffered for her s...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
17. As Caleb inherited the same land which his feet trod on (De 1:36; Jos 14:9), so Messiah and His saints shall inherit the renovated earth which once they trod while defiled by the enemy (Is 34:4; 51:16; 66:22; Eze 21:27; Psa 2:8; 37:11; 2Pe 3:13; He 12:26-28 Re 21:1).
**not be remembered--**See on Is 65:16, note on "troubles"; the words here answer to "the former ... forgotten," &c. The f...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** The Jews were the only professing people God then had in the world, yet many among them were rebellious. They had the light, but they loved darkness rather. The prophets checked them in their sinful pursuits, so that they could not proceed without fear; this they took amiss. But faithful ministers will not be driven from seeking to awaken sinners. God is the Holy One of Israel, and...
Read full commentary →For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.
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KJV Study Commentary
God promises to heal those considered incurable and to restore those society has rejected ('an Outcast'). The term 'Zion' represents God's chosen people; their abandonment by others doesn't change God's commitment. This reflects the gospel's reversal of values - those rejected by the world are precious to God (1 Pet 2:10). God specializes in healing what others consider hopeless.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **I will restore health unto thee . . .**—Literally, *I will place a healing plaster on thee. *The image of the plague-stricken sufferer is resumed from Jeremiah 30:13. Men had scorned her. The contemptuous term of outcast had been flung at her. She was like Tyre, as a “harlot that had been forgotten” (Isaiah 23:16). There were none who sought her company. No nation courted her alliance. It w...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**18. rejoice for ever ... Jerusalem--**(Is 51:11). "Everlasting joy ... Zion." Spiritually (1Th 5:16).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** The Jews were the only professing people God then had in the world, yet many among them were rebellious. They had the light, but they loved darkness rather. The prophets checked them in their sinful pursuits, so that they could not proceed without fear; this they took amiss. But faithful ministers will not be driven from seeking to awaken sinners. God is the Holy One of Israel, and...
Read full commentary →Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof. heap: or, little hill
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I will bring again the captivity</strong> (שָׁבְתִּי שְׁבוּת, 'shavti shevut')—this 'restoration of fortunes' wordplay signals covenant renewal. <strong>Jacob's tents</strong> (אָהֳלֵי יַעֲקֹב, 'oholei ya'akov') evokes patriarchal promises, while <strong>have mercy on his dwellingplaces</strong> uses רָחַם ('racham', womb-love/compassion) for God's tender restoration.<br><br><strong>The ci...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents . . .**—The promise of restoration takes naturally a material form. The prophet sees the tents of those who still kept up the old nomadic life, pitched once more in the land of Israel (comp. 1Kings 12:16; Jeremiah 35:10), while for those who dwell in towns, city (the Hebrew has no article) and palace shall rise again from their ruins upon th...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
19. (Is 62:5).
**weeping ... no more--**(Is 25:7, 8; 35:10; Re 7:17; 21:4), primarily, foretold of Jerusalem; secondarily, of all the redeemed.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 8-18** The Jews were the only professing people God then had in the world, yet many among them were rebellious. They had the light, but they loved darkness rather. The prophets checked them in their sinful pursuits, so that they could not proceed without fear; this they took amiss. But faithful ministers will not be driven from seeking to awaken sinners. God is the Holy One of Israel, and...
Read full commentary →And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving</strong> (וְיָצָא מֵהֶם תּוֹדָה, 've-yatsa mehem todah')—restoration produces worship. <strong>Thanksgiving</strong> (תּוֹדָה, 'todah') is the thank-offering that acknowledges God's deliverance. <strong>The voice of them that make merry</strong> (קוֹל מְשַׂחֲקִים, 'kol mesachakim', sound of laughing/celebrating) contrasts sharply with earlier laments....
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
20. The longevity of men in the first age of the world shall be enjoyed again.
**thence--**from that time forward.
**infant of days--**that is, an infant who shall only complete a few days; short-lived.
**filled ... days--**None shall die without attaining a full old age.
**child ... die ... hundred years--**that is, "he that dieth an hundred years old shall die a mere child" [Lowth].
**...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-26** God's people will soon arrive at the Zion above, and then they will weep no more for ever. Even now they would have more comfort, as well as holiness, if they were more constant in prayer. A famine of bread is not so great a judgment as a famine of the word of God. There are right-hand and left-hand errors; the tempter is busy courting us into by-paths. It is happy if, by the coun...
Read full commentary →Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Their children also shall be as aforetime</strong> (וְהָיוּ בָנָיו כְּקֶדֶם, 've-hayu vanav ke-kedem')—covenant continuity across generations. The phrase 'as aforetime' (כְּקֶדֶם, 'ke-kedem', as in ancient times) looks back to pre-exile faithfulness or even further to patriarchal blessing.<br><br><strong>Their congregation shall be established before me</strong> (עֲדָתוֹ לְפָנַי תִּכּוֹן, ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
21. (See on Is 62:8; Am 9:14).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-26** God's people will soon arrive at the Zion above, and then they will weep no more for ever. Even now they would have more comfort, as well as holiness, if they were more constant in prayer. A famine of bread is not so great a judgment as a famine of the word of God. There are right-hand and left-hand errors; the tempter is busy courting us into by-paths. It is happy if, by the coun...
Read full commentary →And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the LORD.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Their nobles shall be of themselves</strong> (וְהָיָה אַדִּירוֹ מִמֶּנּוּ, 've-hayah adiro mimenu')—the ruler (אַדִּיר, 'adir', mighty one/noble) comes from among the people, not foreign oppressors. <strong>Their governor shall proceed from the midst of them</strong> (וּמֹשְׁלוֹ מִקִּרְבּוֹ יֵצֵא, 'umoshlo mikirbo yetse') echoes Moses' prophecy of the Prophet-King (Deut 18:15, 18).<br><br>...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21) **Their nobles.**—Literally, *His glorious one, *as pointing to some single ruler. The word is the same as the “excellent” of Psalm 8:1.
**Who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me?**—The question points to the ruler of the house of David whom the prophet sees in visions—in other words, to the far-off Messiah. So in Isaiah we have a like introduction of the figure of the conquero...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
22. They shall not experience the curse pronounced (Le 26:16; De 28:30).
**tree--**among the most long-lived of objects in nature. They shall live as long as the trees they "plant" (compare Is 61:3, end of verse; Psa 92:12).
**enjoy--**Hebrew, "consume," "wear out"; they shall live to enjoy the last of it (Is 62:9).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-26** God's people will soon arrive at the Zion above, and then they will weep no more for ever. Even now they would have more comfort, as well as holiness, if they were more constant in prayer. A famine of bread is not so great a judgment as a famine of the word of God. There are right-hand and left-hand errors; the tempter is busy courting us into by-paths. It is happy if, by the coun...
Read full commentary →And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse contains the covenant formula appearing throughout Jeremiah: 'Ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.' It appears in contexts of both judgment (threatened reversal) and restoration (promised renewal). Here it concludes promises of healing and restoration (vv. 12-21), assuring that covenant relationship will be fully restored. This relationship—mutual belonging between God and His...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**23. bring forth for trouble--**literally, "for terror," that is, "They shall not bring forth children for a sudden death" (Le 26:16; Jr 15:8).
**seed ... blessed--**(Is 61:9).
**offspring with them--**(Ho 9:12). "Their offspring shall be with themselves" [Maurer]; not "brought forth" only to be cut off by "sudden death" (see the parallel clause).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-26** God's people will soon arrive at the Zion above, and then they will weep no more for ever. Even now they would have more comfort, as well as holiness, if they were more constant in prayer. A famine of bread is not so great a judgment as a famine of the word of God. There are right-hand and left-hand errors; the tempter is busy courting us into by-paths. It is happy if, by the coun...
Read full commentary →Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked. continuing: Heb. cutting fall: or, remain
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD goeth forth with fury</strong> (סַעֲרַת יְהוָה, sa'arat YHWH)—divine judgment depicted as an unstoppable storm. The Hebrew <em>se'arah</em> denotes a violent tempest, the same word used of the whirlwind that took Elijah (2 Kings 2:1). This is not random natural disaster but the directed <strong>fury</strong> (חֵמָה, chemah) of covenant wrath against treaty...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23, 24) **Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord . . .**—The “wicked” who are thus threatened are the enemies and oppressors of the penitent and rescued people. In the “latter days,” the far-off future (Genesis 49:1; Numbers 24:14; Isaiah 2:2), it should be seen that He was their avenger. (See Notes on Jeremiah 23:19-20.) A right division of chapters would probably connect this with the great promise ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
24. Contrast Is 64:7, "none ... calleth," &c.; and see on Is 65:12, "I called, ye did not answer." Maurer translates, "They shall hardly (literally, "not yet") call, when (literally, "and") I will answer; they shall be still speaking, when I will hear" (Psa 32:5; Da 9:20, 21).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-26** God's people will soon arrive at the Zion above, and then they will weep no more for ever. Even now they would have more comfort, as well as holiness, if they were more constant in prayer. A famine of bread is not so great a judgment as a famine of the word of God. There are right-hand and left-hand errors; the tempter is busy courting us into by-paths. It is happy if, by the coun...
Read full commentary →The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return</strong> (לֹא יָשׁוּב חֲרוֹן אַף־יְהוָה)—God's <em>charon aph</em> (burning anger) continues <strong>until He have done it</strong> (עַד עֲשֹׂתוֹ). Divine wrath is teleological—it accomplishes specific redemptive purposes, not arbitrary punishment. The verb <em>shub</em> (return) plays on the chapter's restoration theme: God's anger won't 'retu...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
25. (See on Is 11:6).
**and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock--**(See on Is 11:7).
**and dust--**rather, "but dust," &c. The curse shall remain on the serpent [Horsley], (Ge 3:14; Mi 7:17). "To lick the dust" is figurative of the utter and perpetual degradation of Satan and his emissaries (Is 49:23; Psa 72:9). Satan fell self-tempted; therefore no atonement was contrived for him, a...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-26** God's people will soon arrive at the Zion above, and then they will weep no more for ever. Even now they would have more comfort, as well as holiness, if they were more constant in prayer. A famine of bread is not so great a judgment as a famine of the word of God. There are right-hand and left-hand errors; the tempter is busy courting us into by-paths. It is happy if, by the coun...
Read full commentary →