Jeremiah 30:1-3
1The Lord spoke to Jeremiah. ▼ 2“The Lord God of Israel says, ▼ ‘Write everything that I am about to tell you in a scroll. ▼ ▼▼ Reference is made here to the so-called “Book of Consolation” which is the most extended treatment of the theme of hope or deliverance in the book. Jeremiah was called to be a prophet both of judgment (of tearing down and destroying) and of deliverance (of replanting and rebuilding; see Jer 1:10). Jeremiah lamented that he had to predominantly pronounce judgment but he has periodically woven in prophecies of hope after judgment in 3:14–18; 16:14–15; 23:3–8; 24:4–7; 29:10–14, 32. The oracles of hope contained in these chapters are undated but reference is made in them to the restoration of both Israel which had gone into exile in Assyria in 722 b.c. and Judah which began to be exiled in 605 and 597 b.c. Jeremiah had already written as early as the reign of Zedekiah about the exiles who were the good figs who were to experience the “good” of restoration (24:4–7; 29:10–14) and had spoken of the further exile of those who remained in Judah. So it is possible that these oracles fit in roughly the same time frame as chapters 27–29.
3For I, the Lord, affirm ▼▼ Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”
that the time will come when I will reverse the plight ▼ of my people, Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors ▼▼ Heb “fathers.”
and they will take possession of it once again.’” ▼▼ 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.
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