Jer 30:10-17 | NETfull | STEP | So I, the Lord , tell you not to be afraid, you descendants of Jacob, my servants. Do not be terrified, people of Israel. For I will rescue you and your descendants from a faraway land where you are captives. The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace. They will be secure and no one will terrify them.

Jeremiah 30:10-17

10 So I, the Lord, tell you not to be afraid,
you descendants of Jacob, my servants. ^{▼▼ 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.}
Do not be terrified, people of Israel.
For I will rescue you and your descendants
from a faraway land where you are captives. ^{▼▼ Heb “For I will rescue you from far away, your descendants from the land of their captivity.”}
The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.
They will be secure and no one will terrify them. ^{▼▼ 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.}
11 For I, the Lord, affirm ^{▼▼ Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”} 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.” ^{▼▼ The translation “entirely unpunished” is intended to reflect the emphatic construction of the infinitive absolute before the finite verb.}

The Lord Will Heal the Wounds of Judah

12 Moreover, ^{▼▼ 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.} the Lord says to the people of Zion, ^{▼▼ 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.}

“Your injuries are incurable;
your wounds are severe. ^{▼▼ 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).}
13 There is no one to plead your cause.
There are no remedies for your wounds. ^{▼▼ The translation of these first two lines follows the redivision of the lines suggested in NIV and NRSV rather than that of the Masoretes who read, “There is no one who pleads your cause with reference to [your] wound.”} ^{▼▼ This verse exhibits a mixed metaphor of an advocate pleading someone’s case (cf., Jer 5:28; 22:18) and of a physician applying medicine to wounds and sores resulting from them (see, e.g., Jer 8:18 for the latter metaphor). Zion’s sins are beyond defense and the wounds inflicted upon her beyond healing. However, God, himself, in his own time will forgive her sins (Jer 31:34; 33:8) and heal her wounds (Jer 30:17).}
There is no healing for you.
14 All your allies have abandoned you. ^{▼▼ Heb “forgotten you.”}
They no longer have any concern for you.
For I have attacked you like an enemy would.
I have chastened you cruelly.
For your wickedness is so great
and your sin is so much. ^{▼▼ Heb “attacked you like…with the chastening of a cruel one because of the greatness of your iniquity [and because] your sins are many.” The sentence has been broken down to conform to contemporary English style and better poetic scansion.}
15 Why do you complain about your injuries,
that your pain is incurable?
I have done all this to you
because your wickedness is so great
and your sin is so much.
16 But ^{▼▼ For the translation of this particle, which is normally translated “therefore” and often introduces an announcement of judgment, compare the usage at Jer 16:14 and the translator’s note there. Here as there it introduces a contrast, a rather unexpected announcement of salvation. For a similar use see also Hos 2:14 (2:16 HT). Recognition of this usage makes the proposed emendation of BHS of לָכֵן כָּל (lakhen kol) to וְכָל (v^ekhol) unnecessary.} all who destroyed you will be destroyed.
All your enemies will go into exile.
Those who plundered you will be plundered.
I will cause those who pillaged you to be pillaged. ^{▼▼ With the exception of the second line there is a definite attempt at wordplay in each line to underline the principle of lex talionis on a national and political level. This principle has already been appealed to in the case of the end of Babylonian sovereignty in 25:14; 27:7.}
17 Yes, ^{▼▼ Again the particle כִּי (ki) appears to be intensive rather than causal. Compare the translator’s note on v. 12. It is possible that it has an adversative sense as an implicit contrast with v. 13 which expresses these concepts in the negative (cf. BDB 474 s.v. כִּי 3.e for this use in statements which are contextually closer to one another).} I will restore you to health.
I will heal your wounds.
I, the Lord, affirm it! ^{▼▼ Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”}
For you have been called an outcast,
Zion, whom no one cares for.”