12For Yahweh says, “Your hurt is incurable. Your wound is grievous.
13There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up. You have no healing medicines.
14All your lovers have forgotten you. They don’t seek you. For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased.
15Why do you cry over your injury? Your pain is incurable. For the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you.
12 For Yahweh says, “Your hurt is incurable. Your wound is grievous.
13 There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up. You have no healing medicines.
14 All your lovers have forgotten you. They don’t seek you. For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased.
15 Why do you cry over your injury? Your pain is incurable. For the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you.
KJVKing James Version
12 For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.
13 There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.
14 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.
15 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.
Show all 3 translations
JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
12 For thus saith the LORD: Thy hurt is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.
13 None deemeth of thy wound that it may be bound up; thou hast no healing medicines.
14 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 greatness of thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased.
15 Why criest thou for thy hurt, that thy pain is incurable? For the greatness of thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.
Jeremiah 46:11(vv13, 15)Go up into Gilead, and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt. You use many medicines in vain. There is no healing for you.
Jeremiah 15:18(vv12, 15)Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, like waters…
Job 30:21(v14)You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me.
Jeremiah 5:6(v14)Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them. A wolf of the evenings will destroy them. A leopard will watch against their cities.…
Lamentations 1:2(v14)She weeps bitterly in the night. Her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her. All her friends have…
Show all 86 cross-references
Jeremiah 30:15(vv12, 14)Why do you cry over your injury? Your pain is incurable. For the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins have increased, I have done…
Jeremiah 8:22(v13)Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
Jeremiah 22:20(v14)“Go up to Lebanon, and cry. Lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim; for all your lovers have been destroyed.
Jeremiah 30:14(v15)All your lovers have forgotten you. They don’t seek you. For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a…
Jeremiah 30:17(vv13, 15)For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds,” says Yahweh; “because they have called you an outcast, saying, ‘It…
2 Chronicles 36:16(v12)but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people,…
Job 19:11(v14)He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.
Jeremiah 2:36(v14)Why do you go about so much to change your ways? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria.
Jeremiah 4:30(v14)You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck yourself with ornaments of…
Jeremiah 14:17(v12)“You shall say this word to them: “ ‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my…
Jeremiah 22:22(v14)The wind will feed all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Surely then you will be ashamed and confounded for all your…
Jeremiah 30:12(v15)For Yahweh says, “Your hurt is incurable. Your wound is grievous.
Jeremiah 33:6(v13)‘Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them; and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth.
Job 34:29(vv13, 15)When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? When he hides his face, who then can see him? He is over a nation or a man alike,
Exodus 15:26(v13)He said, “If you will diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to…
Deuteronomy 32:39(v13)“See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of…
Joshua 9:10-11(v15)and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan, who was…
2 Chronicles 36:14-17(v15)Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they…
Ezra 9:6-7(v15)and I said, “My God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God; for our iniquities have increased over our head, and our…
Ezra 9:13(v15)“After all that has come on us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, since you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities…
Nehemiah 9:26-36(v15)“Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, cast your law behind their back, killed your prophets that testified against…
Job 5:18(v13)For he wounds and binds up. He injures and his hands make whole.
Job 13:24-28(v14)Why do you hide your face, and consider me your enemy? Will you harass a driven leaf? Will you pursue the dry stubble? For you write bitter…
Job 16:9(v14)He has torn me in his wrath and persecuted me. He has gnashed on me with his teeth. My adversary sharpens his eyes on me.
Job 34:6(v15)Notwithstanding my right I am considered a liar. My wound is incurable, though I am without disobedience.’
Psalms 106:23(v13)Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had Moses, his chosen, not stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, so that he…
Psalms 142:4(v13)Look on my right, and see; for there is no one who is concerned for me. Refuge has fled from me. No one cares for my soul.
Isaiah 1:4-5(v15)Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh. They have…
Isaiah 1:5-6(v12)Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot…
Isaiah 1:6(v13)From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it: wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven’t been closed, bandaged,…
Isaiah 1:21-24(v15)How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in her, but now there are murderers. Your…
Isaiah 5:2(v15)He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in the middle of it, and also cut out a wine press…
Isaiah 30:13-14(v15)therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an…
Isaiah 59:1-4(v15)Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened, that it can’t save; nor his ear dull, that it can’t hear. But your iniquities have separated you…
Isaiah 59:12-15(v15)For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our…
Isaiah 59:16(v13)He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought salvation to him; and his…
Jeremiah 2:19(v15)“Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing,…
Jeremiah 2:28-30(v15)“But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for you have…
Jeremiah 5:6-9(v15)Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them. A wolf of the evenings will destroy them. A leopard will watch against their cities.…
Jeremiah 5:25-31(v15)“Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you. For wicked men are found among my people. They…
Jeremiah 6:6-7(v15)For Yahweh of Armies said, “Cut down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited. She is wholly oppression…
Jeremiah 6:13(v15)“For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals…
Jeremiah 6:23(v14)They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set…
Jeremiah 7:8-11(v15)Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk…
Jeremiah 9:1-9(v15)Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh…
Jeremiah 11:13(v15)For according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have you set up…
Jeremiah 32:30-35(v15)“For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only that which was evil in my sight from their youth; for the children of…
Jeremiah 38:22(v14)‘Behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah’s house will be brought out to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women will…
Lamentations 1:5(v15)Her adversaries have become the head. Her enemies prosper; for Yahweh has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. Her young…
Lamentations 1:19(v14)“I called for my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders gave up the spirit in the city, while they sought food for…
Lamentations 2:4-5(v14)He has bent his bow like an enemy. He has stood with his right hand as an adversary. Has killed all that were pleasant to the eye. In the…
Lamentations 3:39(v15)Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
Lamentations 4:13(v15)It is because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, That have shed the blood of the just in the middle of her.
Lamentations 5:16-17(v15)The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! For this our heart is faint. For these things our eyes are dim.
Ezekiel 9:8-10(v14)While they were killing, and I was left, I fell on my face, and cried, and said, “Ah Lord Yahweh! Will you destroy all the residue of…
Ezekiel 16:1-63(v15)Again Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations; and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says to Jerusalem:…
Ezekiel 20:1-49(v15)In the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of Yahweh, and sat before…
Ezekiel 22:1-23(v15)Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “You, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her…
Ezekiel 22:30(v13)“I sought for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I would not destroy it; but I…
Ezekiel 23:9(v14)“Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, on whom she doted.
Ezekiel 23:22(v14)“Therefore, Oholibah, the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will…
Ezekiel 37:11(v12)Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is…
Hosea 2:5(v14)For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give…
Hosea 2:10-16(v14)Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand. I will also cause all her…
Hosea 5:12-13(v15)Therefore I am to Ephraim like a moth, and to the house of Judah like rottenness. “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, Then…
Hosea 5:14(v14)For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I myself will tear in pieces and go away. I will carry…
Hosea 6:1(v13)“Come! Let’s return to Yahweh; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.
Hosea 14:4(v13)“I will heal their waywardness. I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him.
Micah 1:9(v15)For her wounds are incurable; for it has come even to Judah. It reaches to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.
Micah 7:9(v15)I will bear the indignation of Yahweh, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my case, and executes judgment for me. He will…
Nahum 3:19(v13)There is no healing your wound, for your injury is fatal. All who hear the report of you clap their hands over you; for who hasn’t felt…
Zephaniah 3:1-5(v15)Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city! She didn’t obey the voice. She didn’t receive correction. She didn’t trust…
Malachi 4:1-2(v15)“For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes…
Luke 10:30-34(v13)Jesus answered, “A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and…
1 Timothy 2:5-6(v13)For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony in…
1 Peter 2:24(v13)He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds.
1 John 2:1(v13)My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ,…
Revelation 17:12-18(v14)The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one…
Psalms 90:7-8(v14)For we are consumed in your anger. We are troubled in your wrath. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of…
Jeremiah 14:19(v13)Have you utterly rejected Judah? Has your soul loathed Zion? Why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace,…
Jeremiah 17:14(v13)Heal me, O Yahweh, and I will be healed. Save me, and I will be saved; for you are my praise.
86 distinct cross-references across this passage (91 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv12–15The design of the Prophet is first to be…
The design of the Prophet is first to be noticed: he was fighting with those impostors who gave hope of a return in a short time to the people, while seventy years, as it has been said, were to be expected. The Prophet then wished to shew to the people how foolishly they hoped for an end to their evils in so short a time. And this is what ought to be carefully observed, for it was not without reason that the Prophet dwelt much on this point; for nothing is more difficult than to lead men to a serious acknowledgment of God’s judgment. When any thing adverse happens, they are tender and sensitive as to the evils they endure; but at the same time they look not to God, and comfort themselves with vain imaginations. It was therefore necessary for the Prophet to dwell on his doctrine at large; for he saw that the Israelites promised to themselves a return after two years, though they had been warned by the Prophets that they were to bear the scourge of God for seventy years.
This is the reason why the Prophet speaks here of the grievousness of evils, not because the Israelites were insensible, but because they had been credulous, and were still hoping for a return, so that they deceived themselves with false comfort. He therefore says, that the breaking was grievous; some give this rendering, “Unhealable, or hopeless, is thy bruising.” But אנוש, anush, is here a substantive, for it is followed by the preposition ל, lamed; nor can what the Prophet says be rendered otherwise than in this manner, “Grievousness is to thy bruising,” or breaking. He afterwards adds that the wound was grievous, that is, difficult to be healed; for so I understand the passage. But the end was to be hoped for; yet the people were not to think it near at hand; they were, on the contrary, to prepare themselves for patient waiting until the end prescribed by God had come. It follows, —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv12–15Jer 30:12 For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise…
Jer 30:12 For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise [is] incurable, [and] thy wound [is] grievous.
Ver. 12. Thy bruise is incurable,] i.e., Inevitable, by God’s irrevocable decree. Or, It is incurable in itself; but not to me, who am an almighty Physician or surgeon. See Eze 37:11. They seemed "free among the dead," free of that company.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv12–15Interpreters generally understand by bruise or wound here the…
Interpreters generally understand by bruise or wound here the state that the Jews should be in the captivity of Babylon, which would be miserable, and so miserable that it would be incurable from any hand, except the hand of God. But I do not understand why it may not as well be interpreted of their sinful state, with reference to God’s purpose, and interpreted by 2Ch 36:16, where it is said, The wrath of God arose against them till there was no remedy. They had sinned to that degree that God had resolved into captivity they should go, and there should abide till the determination of seventy years.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv12–15For thus saith the Lord, thy bruise is incurable,....…
For thus saith the Lord, thy bruise is incurable,.... By themselves or others, in all human appearance; there was no help for them from men; their case seemed desperate; there was no likelihood of their recovery to their former state and glory, as at this day the case of the Jews appears to be; there seems to be no probability of their conversion and restoration; and whenever it is, it will be as life from the dead, Rom 11:15; like quickening Ezekiel's dry bones, or raising persons from the dead, which none but the hand of omnipotence can effect:
and thy wound is grievous; an expression signifying the same as before: the metaphor is taken from a body wounded and bruised in such a manner, as to be past the skill of the most able surgeon to cure it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv12–14For - They had sinned to that degree that…
For - They had sinned to that degree that God had resolved they should go into captivity.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv12, 13, 15Verse 12. Thy bruise is incurable] אנוש anush, desperate,…
Verse 12. Thy bruise is incurable] אנוש anush, desperate, not incurable; for the cure is promised in Jer 30:17, I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn v12Jer 30:12-15. Thy bruise is incurable — In all…
Jer 30:12-15. Thy bruise is incurable — In all human appearance. The state that the Jews should be in would be so miserable that it would be incurable from any hand except that of God. There is none to plead thy cause — There is none that, by the reformation of their lives, or their intercessions with God, endeavour to avert his displeasure. Or, as the words may be rendered, There is none to judge thy cause, none that knows the true nature of thy malady, or what medicines are proper to be applied to it. Their calamitous state is compared to a distempered body; (see Jer 30:17, and Jer 8:22; Isa 1:5-6;) and the false prophets, instead of applying proper remedies, have healed thy wound slightly. Or the words may mean, There is none to intercede for thee with thy victors and oppressors. All thy lovers have forgotten thee — All the nations whose alliance they had solicited, and whose idolatries they had imitated, and who had professed much friendship for them, had neglected and forgotten them, and desired no farther connection with them. They seek thee not — Seek not thy welfare, but abandon thee to ruin. For I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, &c. — Thy iniquities have provoked me to punish thee with that severity which appears like cruelty, and as if I had declared myself an utter enemy to thee. Why criest thou for thine affliction? —
Why shouldest thou expostulate with me, as if I had dealt unjustly with thee, whereas, if thy condition seem desperate, it is owing to thine own iniquities, which have still been increased with new aggravations of guilt.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv12–15Incurable - Mortal, fatal.
Incurable - Mortal, fatal.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv13–14Up. There is none to judge thy cause, or…
Up. There is none to judge thy cause, or to be thy physician. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures1864 · Public DomainOn v1212 For thus saith Jehovah, thy wound is incurable,8
2. THE TURN OF AFFAIRS: THE LORD FOR THE CHASTISED AND AGAINST THE CHASTISER
Jer_30:12-17
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12 For thus saith Jehovah, thy wound is incurable,8
Mortal thy stroke.
13 There is no one who undertaketh thy case,
For thy wound thou hast no remedies of bandages.9
14 All thy lovers have forgotten thee;
They ask not after thee;
For I have smitten them with the stroke of an enemy,
With cruel chastisement for the greatness of thy guilt;
Because thy sins are innumerable.10
15 Why criest thou over thy wound,
That thy sorrow is incurable?11
Because of the greatness of thy guilt,
Because thy sins are innumerable, I have done this.
16 Therefore all who devour thee shall be devoured,
And all thy oppressors shall go away together into captivity.
And they that spoil thee12 shall be a spoil,
And all thy plunderers will I give up to plunder.
17 For I will restore health unto thee,
And I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith Jehovah;
For they call thee “Outcast,”
“Zion, which no man asketh after.”
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
This whole strophe is most closely connected with Jer_30:11, and explains the three thoughts expressed in this verse: that Zion is chastised according to its deserts, but is not to be destroyed, while destruction shall be the lot of its enemies. Thus Jer_30:12-15 are a commentary on the words “chastise thee according to justice” in Jer_30:11. For it is here set forth that Israel is given over to severe sickness without a protector and physician (Jer_30:12-13), that all friends have forsaken the people so severely chastised by God, (Jer_30:14), which people moreover have no right to complain of such treatment, for the Lord has done this on account of their sins (Jer_30:15). The sentence therefore, etc. (Jer_30:16), refers back to the declaration in the 11th verse that the Lord will make an utter end of the nations, among whom He scattered Israel. The right of retribution is to be exercised on them in the fullest measure. Jer_30:17 finally is connected with the third point in Jer_30:11, viz., that Israel is to be healed of his wounds after he has been apparently outcast and forgotten.
Jer_30:12-15. For thus saith Jehovah … I hare done this.—For introduces the proof that Israel will not really be left unpunished, but will be severely chastised, so that he will only not be utterly destroyed.—Mortal thy stroke. Comp. Jer_10:19; Jer_14:17. Jer_30:13. There is no one, etc. Comp. Jer_5:28; Jer_22:16.—Thy lovers. Comp. Jer_22:20; Jer_22:22.—For … stroke of an enemy. When a man is forsaken by God his fellow-men also forsake him.—For the greatness, etc. In these and the following words to the end of Jer_30:15 lies the confirmation of according to justice, Jer_30:11 to Jer_5:6; Jer_13:22.—Why criest thou? Israel has no right to complain of severe treatment. The Lord deals with him, “according to justice,” Jer_30:11.
Jer_30:16. Therefore all … give up to plunder.—Therefore has no sense if we refer it to what immediately precedes. For it cannot be said that the .enemies are to be destroyed, because the Lord has punished His people according to the greatness of their guilt. For if only strict justice prevailed, Israel deserved the same punishment as, or even severer punishment than the heathen. Comp. Jer_2:10 sqq. I therefore refer Therefore to Jer_30:11, to which this whole passage is only a corollary, and particularly to the words Though I make a full end of all the nations, etc. Israel’s guilt is in the past, and cause of the present calamity, hence for in Jer_30:12. The destruction of the heathen is future, and the effect of the judgment pronounced by God in Jer_30:11, hence therefore, Jer_30:16.—All who devour thee. Comp. rems. on Jer_2:3; Jer_10:25.—Go away together, etc. Comp. Jer_22:22.—Shall be a spoil. Comp. Zep_1:13; 2Ki_21:14.—To plunder. Comp. Jer_2:14.
Jer_30:17. For I will restore … asketh after. This sentence also refers to Jer_30:11, and to the words Will not make an end of thee. The Lord will not utterly destroy Israel, for He has in mind to heal the people of the blows to which they have been exposed.—I will restore, etc. Comp. rems. on Jer_8:22.—For they call. The statement of the reason refers here to the thought that Israel needed healing.—Outcast. Comp. Isa_14:3-4; Mic_4:6; Zep_3:19.—Zion, etc., a sentence of the object, dependent on a verbum dicendi contained in call.—Which no man asketh after=ea, quam nemo curat.
[Jer_30:12-15. “So desperate were the circumstances of the Jews in Babylon while enduring the punishment God had inflicted upon them for their crimes, that no human interposition which they would naturally expect, could avail for their deliverance. Egypt, Syria, Tyre, etc., which had formerly been their confederates, were all laid prostrate by the same haughty conqueror whose chains they themselves wore. They are accordingly represented under the metaphor of a body full of wounds, left entirely destitute of medical aid.” Henderson.—S. R. A.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Joh. Conr. Schaller, pastor at Cautendorf, says in his Gospel Sermons, (Hof. 1742, S. 628), “These chapters are like a sky in which sparkle many brilliant stars of strong and consolatory declarations, a paradise and pleasure-garden in which a believing soul is refreshed with delightsome flowers of instruction, and solaced with sweetly flavored apples of gracious promise.”
2. On Jer_30:1-3. The people of Israel were not then capable of bearing such a prophecy, brimming over with happiness and glory. They would have misused it, hearing to the end what was promised them, and then only the more certainly postponing what was the only thing then necessary—sincere repentance. Hence they are not yet to hear this gloriously consolatory address. It is to be written, that it may in due time be perceived that the Lord, even at the time when He was obliged to threaten most severely, had thoughts of peace concerning the people, and that thus the period of prosperity has not come by chance, nor in consequence of a change of mind, but in consequence of a plan conceived from the beginning and executed accordingly.
3. On Jer_30:7. The great and terrible day of the Lord (Joe_3:4) has not the dimensions of a human day. It has long sent out its heralds in advance. Yea, it has itself already dawned. For since by the total destruction of the external theocracy judgment is begun at the house of God (1Pe_4:17), we stand in the midst of the day of God in the midst of the judgment of the world. Then the time of trouble for Jacob has begun (Jer_30:7), from which he is to be delivered, when the fulness of the Gentiles is come in (Romans 11.)
4. On Jer_30:9. Christ is David in his highest potency, and He is also still more. For if we represent all the typical points in David’s life as a circle, and draw a line from each of these points, the great circle thus formed would comprise only a part of the πλήρωμα given in Christ. Nevertheless Christ is the true David, who was not chosen like Saul for his bodily stature, but only for his inward relation to God (comp. Psa_2:7), whose kingdom also does not cease after a short period of glory, but endures forever; who will not like Saul succumb to his enemies, but will conquer them all, and will give to his kingdom the widest extent promised; all this however not without, like David, having gone through the bitterest trials.
5. On Jer_30:11. “Modus paternæ castigationis accommodatus et quasi appensus ad stateram judicii Dei adeoque non immensus sed dimensus.” “Christus ecclesiam crucis suæ hæredem constituit. Gregor. M.” Förster.
6. On Jer_30:14. “Cum virlutem patientiæ nostræ flagella transeunt, valde metuendum est, ne peccatis nostris exigentibus non jam quasi filii a patre, sed quasi hostes a Domino feriamur. Gregor. M. Moral. XIV. 20, on Job_19:11.” Ghisler.
7. On Jer_30:17. “Providentia Dei mortalibus salutifera, antequam percutiat, pharmaca medendi gratiâ componit, et gladium iræ suæ φιλανθρωπίᾳ acuit. Evagr. Hist. Ecc_4:6.”—“Quando incidis in tentationem, crede, quod nisi cognovisset te posse illam evadere, non permisisset te in illam incidere. Theophyl. in cap. 18 Joh.” Förster.—“Feriam prius et sanabo melius. Theophyl. in Hosea 11.” Ghisler.
8. On Jer_30:21. “This church of God will own a, Prince from its midst—Jesus, of our flesh and blood through the virgin Mary, and He approaches God, as no other can, for He is God’s image, God’s Son, and at the same time the perfect, holy in all His sufferings, only obedient son of man. This king is mediator and reconciler with God; He is also high-priest and fulfilled all righteousness, as was necessary for our propitiation. What glory to have such a king, who brings us nigh unto God, and this is our glory!” Diedrich.
9. On Jer_31:1. “There is no greater promise than this: I will be thy God. For if He is our God we are His creatures, His redeemed, His sanctified, according to all the three articles of the Christian faith.” Cramer.
10. On Jer_31:2. “The rough heap had to be sifted by the sword, but those who survived, though afflicted in the desert of this life, found favor with God, and these, the true Israel, God leads into His rest.” Diedrich.
11. On Jer_31:3. “The love of God towards us comes from love and has no other cause above or beside itself, but, is in God and remains in God, so that Christ who is in God is its centre. For herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us (1Jn_4:10).” Cramer. “Totum gratiæ imputatur, non nostris meritis. Augustine in Psalms 31.” Förster. “Before I had done anything good Thou hadst already moved towards me. Let these words be written on your hearts with the pen of the living God, that they may light you like flames of fire on the day of the marriage. It is your certificate of birth, your testimonial. Let me never lose sight of how much it has cost Thee to redeem me.” Zinzendorf. “God says: My chastisement even was pure love, though then you did not understand it; you shall learn it afterwards.” Diedrich. [“I incline to the construction given in the English version, both because the suffix to the verb is more naturally, ‘I have drawn thee,’ than ‘I have drawn out toward thee,’ and because there seems to be a tacit allusion to Hos_11:4, ‘With loving kindness have I drawn thee.’—-A great moral truth lies in this passage so construed, viz., that the main power which humbles man’s pride, softens his hard heart and makes him recoil in shame and sorrow from sinning, comes through his apprehension of God’s love as manifested in Christ and His cross. It is love that, draws the fearful or stubborn soul to the feet of divine mercy.” Cowles.—S. R. A.]
12. On Jer_31:6. “It is well: the watchmen on Mount Ephraim had to go to Zion. They received however another visit from the Jewish priests, which they could not have expected at the great reformation, introduced by John, and which had its seat among other places on Mount Ephraim. The Samaritans were not far distant, and Mount Ephraim had even this honor that when the Lord came to His temple He took His Seat as a teacher there.” Zinzendorf. [“God’s grace loves to triumph over the most inveterate prejudices… No words could represent a greater and more benign change in national feeling than these: Samaria saying through her spiritual watchmen, ‘Let us go up to Zion to worship, for our God is there.’ ” Cowles. “ ‘Ascendamus in Sion, hoc est in Ecclesiam’ says S. Jerome. According to this view, the watchmen here mentioned are the Preachers of the Gospel.” Wordsworth.—S. R. A.]
13. On Jer_31:9. “I will lead them. It is an old sighing couplet, but full of wisdom and solid truth:—
‘Lord Jesus, while I live on earth, O guide me,
Let me not, self-led, wander from beside Thee.’ ”
—Zinzendorf.
14. On Jer_31:10. “He who has scattered Israel will also collect it. Why? lie is the Shepherd. It is no wolf-scattering. He interposes His hand, then they go asunder, and directly come together again more orderly.” Zinzendorf.
15. On Jer_31:12-14. “Gaudebunt electi, quando videbunt supra se, intra se, juxta se, infra se. Augustine.”—“Præmia cœlestia erunt tam magna, ut non possint mensurari, tam multa, ut non possint numerari, tam copiosa, ut non possint terminari, tam pretiosa, ut non possint æstimari. Bernhard.” Förster.
16. On Jer_31:15. “Because at all times there is a similar state of things in the church of God, the lament of Rachel is a common one. For as this lament is over the carrying away captive and oppressions of Babylon, so is it also a lament over the tyranny of Herod in slaughtering the innocent children (Mat_2:1-7.)”Cramer. “Premuntur justi in ecclesia ut clament, clamantes exaudiuntur, exauditi glorificent Deum. Augustin.” Förster.—With respect to this, that Rachel’s lament may be regarded as a type of maternal lamentation over lost children, Förster quotes this sentence of Cyprian: non amisimus, sed præmisimus (2Sa_12:23). [On the application of this verse to the murder of the innocents consult W. L. Alexander, Connexion of the Old and New. Testament, p. 54, and W. H. Mill in Wordsworth’s Note in loc.—S. R. A.]
17. On Jer_31:18. The conversion of man must always be a product of two factors. A conversion which man alone should bring about, without God, would be an empty pretence of conversion; a conversion, which God should produce, without man, would be a compulsory, manufactured affair, without any moral value. The merit and the praise is, however, always on God’s side. He gives the will and the execution. Did He not discipline us, we should never learn discipline. Did He not lead back our thoughts to our Father’s house which we have left (Luke 15) we should never think of returning.
18. On Jer_31:19. “The children of God are ashamed their life long, they cannot raise their heads for humiliation. For their sins always seem great to them, and the grace of God always remains something incomprehensible to them.”Zinzendorf. The farther the Christian advances in his consciousness of sonship and in sanctification, the more brilliantly rises the light of grace, the more distinctly does he perceive in this light, how black is the night of his sins from which God has delivered him. [“It is the ripest and fullest ears of grain which hang their heads the lowest.”—S. R. A.]
19. On Jer_31:19. “The use of the dear cross is to make us blush (Dan_9:8) and not regard ourselves as innocent (Jer_30:11). And as it pleases a father when a child soon blushes, so also is this tincture a flower of virtue well-pleasing to God.” Cramer. “Deus oleum miserationis suæ non nisi in vas contritum et contribulatum infundit. Bernhard.”Förster.
20. On Jer_31:19. The reproach of my youth. “The sins of youth are not easily to be forgotten (Psa_25:7; Job_31:18). Therefore we ought to be careful so to act in our youth as not to have to chew the cud of bitter reflection in our old age. It is a comfort that past sins of youth will not injure the truly penitent. Non nocent peccata præterita, cum non placent præsentia. Augustine. To transgress no more is the best sign of repentance.” Cramer.
21. On Jer_31:20. “Comforting and weighty words, which each one should lay to heart. God loves and caresses us as a mother her good child. He remembers His promise. His heart yearns and breaks, and it is His pleasure to do us good.” Cramer. “lpsius proprium est, misereri semper et parcere.” Augustine.—“Major est Dei misericordia quam omnium hominum miseria.” Idem.
22. On Jer_31:23. The Lord bless thee, thou dwelling-place of righteousness, thou holy mountain. “Certainly no greater honor was ever done to the Jewish mountains than that the woman’s seed prayed and wept on them, was transfigured, killed and ascended above all heaven.” Zinzendorf. “ It cannot be denied that a church sanctifies a whole place …. Members of Jesus are real guardian angels, who do not exist in the imagination, but are founded on God’s promise (Mat_25:40).” Idem.
23. On Jer_31:29-30. “The so-called family curse has no influence on the servants of God; one may sleep calmly nevertheless. This does not mean that we should continue in the track of our predecessors, ex. gr., when our ancestors have gained much wealth by sinful trade, that we should continue this trade with this wealth with the hope of the divine blessing…. If this or that property, house, right, condition be afflicted with a curse, the children of God may soon by prudent separation deliver themselves from these unsafe circumstances. For nothing attaches to their persons, when they have been baptized with the blood of Jesus and are blessed by Him.” Zinzendorf.
24. On Jer_31:29-30. “In testamento novo per sarguinem mediatoris deleto paterno chirographo incipit homo paternis debitis non esse obnoxius renascendo, quibus nascendo fuerat obligatus, ipso Mediatore di cente: Ne vobis patrem dicüis in terra (Mat_23:9). Secundum hoc utique, quod alios natales, quibus non patri succederemus, sed cum patre semper viveremus, invenimus.” Augustine, contra Julian, VI. 12, in Ghisler.
25. On Jer_31:31. “In veteribus libris aut nusquam aut difficile præter hunc propheticum locum legitur facta commemoratio testamenti novi, ut omnino ipso nomine appellaretur. Nam multis locis hoc significalur et prænuntiatur futurum, sed non ita ut etiam nomen lega’ ur expressum.” Augustine, de Spir. et Lit. ad Marcellin, Cap. 19 (where to Cap. 29 there is a detailed discussion of this passage) in Ghisler.—“In the whole of the Old Testament there is no passage, in which the view is so clearly and distinctly expressed as here that the law is only παιδαγαγός. And though some commentators have supposed that the passage contains only a censure of the Israelites and not of the Old Covenant, they only show thus that they have not understood the simple meaning of the words.” Ebrard. Comm. zum Hebräerbr. S. 275.
26. On Jer_31:31, sqq. “Propter veteris hominis noxam, quæ per literam jubentem et minantem minime sanabatur, dicitur illud testamentum vetus; hoc antem novum propter novitatem spiritus, quæ hominem novum sanat a vitio vetustatis.” Augustine, c. Lit. Cap. 19.
27. On Jer_31:33. “Quid sunt ergo leges Dei ab ipso Deo scriptæ in cordibus, nisi ipsa præsentia Spiritus sancti, qui est digitus Dei, quo præsente diffunditur charitas in cordibus nostrio, quæ plenitudo legis est et præcepti finis?” Augustine, l. c. Cap. 20.
28. On Jer_31:34. “Quomodo tempus est novi testamenti, de quo propheta dixit: et non docebit unusquisque civem suum, etc. nisi quia rjusdem testamenti novi æternam mercedem, id est ipsius Dei beatissimam contemplationem promittendo conjunxit?” Augustine, l. c. Cap. 24.
29. On Jer_31:33-34. “This is the blessed difference between law and Gospel, between form and substance. Therefore are the great and small alike, and the youths like the elders, the pupils more learned than their teachers, and the young wiser than the ancients (1Jn_2:20 sqq.). Here is the cause:—For I will forgive their iniquities. This is the occasion of the above; no one can effect this without it. Forgiveness of sins makes the scales fall from people’s eyes, and gives them a cheerful temper, clear conceptions, a clear head.”Zinzendorf.
30. On Jer_31:35-37. “Etsi particulares ecclesiæ intotum deficere possunt, ecclesia tamen catholica nunquam defecit aut deficiet. Obstant enim Dei amplissimæ promissiones, inter quas non ultimum locum sibi vindicut quæ hic habetur Jer_31:37.” Förster.
31. On Jer_31:38-40. “Jerusalem will one day be much greater than it has ever been. This is not to be understood literally but spiritually. Jerusalem will be wherever there are believing souls, its circle will be without end and comprise all that has been hitherto impure and lost. This it is of which the prophet is teaching, and which he presents in figures, which were intelligible to the people in his time. The hill Gareb, probably the residence of the lepers, the emblem of the sinner unmasked and smitten by God, and the cursed valley of Ben-Hinnom will be taken up into the holy city. God’s grace will one day effect all this, and Israel will thus be manifested as much more glorious than ever before.” Diedrich.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer_30:5-9. Sermon on one of the last Sundays after Trinity or the second in Advent. The day of the judgment of the world a great day. For it is, (1) a day of anxiety and terror for all the world; (2) a day of deliverance from all distress for the church of the Lord; (3) a day of realization of all the happiness set in prospect before it.
2. On Jer_30:10-12. Consolation of the church in great trial. 1. It has well deserved the trial (Jer_30:12); 2. it is therefore chastised, but with moderation; 3. it will not perish but again enjoy peace.
3. On Jer_30:17. [“The Restorer of mankind. 1. Faith in the Christian Sacrament and its attendant revelation of divine character alone answer the demand of the heart and reason of man for a higher state of moral perfection. 2. Christianity offers to maintain a communication between this world and that eternal world of holiness and truth. 3. It commends itself to our wants in the confirmation and direction of that principle of hope, which even in our daily and worldly life, we are perpetually forced to substitute for happiness, and 4. By the adorable object, which it presents to our affections.” Archer Butler—S. R. A.]
4. On Jer_31:1-2. Gesetz and Zeugniss (Law and Testimony) 1864, Heft. 1. Funeral sermon of Ahlfeld.
5. On Jer_31:2-4. lb. 1865. Heft 1. Funeral sermon of Besser, S. 32 ff.
6. On Jer_31:3. C. Fr. Hartmann (Wedding, School, Catechism and Birth-day sermons, ed. C. Chr. Eberh. Ehemann. Tüb. 1865). Wedding sermon. 1. A grateful revival in the love of God already received. 2. Earnest endeavor after a daily enjoyment of this love. 3. Daily nourishment of hope.
7. On Jer_31:3. Florey. Comfort and warning at graves. I. Bändchen, S. 253. On the attractions of God’s love towards His own children. They are, 1. innumerable and yet so frequently overlooked; 2. powerful and yet so frequently resisted; 3. rich in blessing and yet so frequently; unemployed. [For practical remarks on this text see also Tholuck, Stunden der Andacht, No. 11.—S. R. A.]
8. On Jer_31:9. Confessional sermon by Dekan V. Biarowsky in Erlangen (in Palmer’s Evang. Casual-Reden, 2 te Folge, 1 Band. Stuttgart, 1850.) Every partaking of the Lord’s supper is a return to the Lord in the promised land, and every one who is a guest at the supper rises and comes. 1. How are we to come? (weeping and praying). 2. What shall we find? (Salvation and blessing, power and life, grace and help).
9. On Jer_31:18-20. Comparison of conversion with the course of the earth and the sun. 1. The man who has fallen away is like the planet in its distance from the sun; he flees from God as far as he Song of Solomon 2. Love however does not release him: a. he is chastened (winter, cold, long nights, short days); b. he accepts the chastening and returns to proximity to the sun (summer, warmth, light, life). Comp. Brandt, Altes und Neues in i extemporirbaren Entwürfen. Nüremberg, 1829, II. 5. [The stubborn sinner submitting himself to God. I. A description of the feelings and conduct of an obstinate, impenitent sinner, while smarting under the rod of affliction: He is rebellious—till subdued. II. The new views and feelings produced by affliction through divine grace: (a) convinced of guilt and sinfulness; (b) praying; (c) reflecting on the effects of divine grace in his conversion. III. A correcting but compassionate God, watching the result, etc., (a) as a tender father mindful of his penitent child; (b) listening to his complaints, confessions and petitions; (c) declaring His determination to pardon. Payson.—S. R. A.]
10. On Jer_31:31-34. Sermon on 1 Sunday in Advent by Pastor Diechert in Gröningen, S. Stern aus Jakob. I. Stuttg. 1867.
11. On Jer_31:33-34. Do we belong to the people of God? 1. Have we holiness? 2. Have we knowledge? 3. Have we the peace promised to this people? (Caspari in Predigtbuch von Dittmar, Erlangen, 1845).
12. On Jer_31:33-34. By the new covenant in the bath of holy baptism all becomes new. 1. What was dead becomes alive 2. What was obscure becomes clear. 3. What was cold becomes warm. 4. What was bound becomes free (Florey, 1862).
Footnotes:
[8]Jer_30:12.—The construction of אָנוּשׁ with לְ is found here only. Perhaps Nah_3:19 was in the prophet’s mind. The thought lying at the basis of this construction is: insanabile vulneri tuo, or more exactly: incurable is the predicate which belongs to your wound.
[9]Jer_30:13.—As מָזוֹר does not agree with דִּינֵךְ, I refer it, with Graf, to what follows, in the sense of vulnus (that which is wrapped in bandages, as in Hos_5:13, רפאוֹת תעוה=medicamenta ligaminis, dressings. Comp. Jer_46:11; Eze_30:21. [A. V.: There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up. Others render: for thy cure thou hast, etc. Henderson: “I take רפאות to be a nominative absolute: as for medicines.”—S. R. A.]
[10]Jer_30:14.—Here as afterwards in Jer_30:15, a whole sentence is twice dependent on עַל. (Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 112, 9).
[11]Jer_30:15.—[A. V.: Why criest thou for thine affliction? Thy sorrow is incurable. Wordsworth after Ewald, Umbreit, Graf: Why criest thou for thine affliction, that thy sorrow is incurable.—S. R. A.]
[12]Jer_30:16.—שׁאסיך. The Chethibh is to be punctuated שֹׁאֲסַיִךְ. Since the root שָׁאַם does not occur in Hebrew, this form is to be explained as an Aramaism for שֹׁסְסַיִךְ, Keri שֹׁסַיִךְ (Jer_50:11; Isa_17:14).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv12–15The desperate circumstances of the Jews are here represented…
The desperate circumstances of the Jews are here represented as an incurable wound. Their sin is so grievous that their hope of the punishment (their exile) soon coming to an end is vain (Jer 8:22; Jer 15:18; Ch2 36:16).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv12, 14, 15ISRAEL’S DIRE NECESSITY AND JEHOVAH’S MERCY, Jer_30:12-17.
ISRAEL’S DIRE NECESSITY AND JEHOVAH’S MERCY, Jer_30:12-17.
12. Incurable — That is, to human thought. But the things that seemed impossible to man were yet possible with God.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv12–1412. Thy hurt is incurable] lit. It is ill…
12. Thy hurt is incurable] lit. It is ill with thy hurt. Similar words are applied by the prophet to himself in Jer_15:18.
The pronouns in the v. are fem. as referring to the nation, as in Jer_22:20 and often elsewhere. For the whole v. cp. Lam_2:13.
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12–15. These vv. are either Jeremiah’s own (so Du.) or a close imitation of his style.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv12–15(12) Thy bruise is incurable . . .—The mind…
(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 (Jer_2:13), in order to enhance the blessedness of the reverent utterance of hope which appears in Jer_30:17.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv12, 14Vers. 12-17. Miserable indeed is the condition of Israel!…
Vers. 12-17. Miserable indeed is the condition of Israel! No wonder; for its sins were great. And yet, just because it is so forlorn, Jehovah will interpose for its relief.
For thus saith, etc. If the two preceding verses are a later insertion, we must render, But surely (more strictly, surely, but particles of asseveration easily acquire an adversative force from the context). Bright, indeed, is the prospect for Judah, "but surely" his present condition is very much the reverse; comp. Isa_9:1 (Authorized Version," nevertheless"). Thy bruise is incurable, etc. One of Jeremiah"s characteristic repetitions. (see Jer_10:19 Jer_14:17 Jer_15:18) That thou mayest be bound up. This rendering follows the accents. But the mixture of figures is very incongruous. It is much better to connect the words a little differently and to render, for thy sore thou hast no medicines (nor any) plaster.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v12The Turn of Affairs and the Consummation of Salvation
The Turn of Affairs and the Consummation of Salvation
v. 12. For thus saith the Lord, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous, the stroke delivered to the Jews as a nation is mortal, the hopes which they entertained of having their exile end soon were vain.
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v. 13. There is none to plead thy cause, intercession could no longer be expected by them, that thou mayest be bound up, the wounds of their body politic being bandaged; thou hast no healing medicines, no remedies of bandages and plasters. Cf. Jer 8:22.
v. 14. All thy lovers, the former allied nations that had professed friendship for Judah, have forgotten thee, they seek thee not, not being at all concerned about Judah’s welfare; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with a sharp smiting, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity, or with cruel chastisement for the greatness of thy guilt," Cf. Jer 5:6; Jer 13:22, because thy sins were increased. Although the Lord in Himself is incapable of enmity and cruelty, yet the grievous sins of the Jews challenged His avenging justice, so that He was obliged to act as though He were indeed cruel.
v. 15. Why criest thou for thine affliction? Thy sorrow is incurable, or, "that thy pain is malignant?" For the multitude of thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee. Whatever evil was descending upon Judah, its people had no one but themselves to blame; their punishment was strictly according to justice. But just when Israel was submerged in the evils descending upon it, the mercy of the Lord turned to His people, to vindicate His honor over against all the enemies.
v. 16. Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured, and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity, the fate of the oppressed Jews striking them in full measure; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey, so that they would be plundered in turn. The enemies were, indeed, the instruments for carrying out the punishment of God upon His people, but at the same time they were guilty before Him and were bound to suffer accordingly.
v. 17. For I will restore health unto thee, by means of healing plasters, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an outcast, a wife put away by her husband, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after, because the Lord had, for the purposes of His mercy, forsaken His people for the time being.
v. 18. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, so that the time of oppression and exile would be a thing of the past, and have mercy on his dwelling-places, on the places where His holy congregation was wont to assemble; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, to arise anew from its heap of’ ruins, to be established on the hill of the Lord, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof, to be inhabited as of old.
v. 19. And out of them, the palaces, the congregations of the Lord, shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry, their voices raised in psalms of rejoicing; and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few, the number of God’s children being increased under His blessing; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small, they will be honored and not despised in His sight.
v. 20. Their children also shall be as aforetime, at the time when the Lord’s Church was in its most nourishing condition, and their congregation shall be established before Me, founded upon the Rock of Ages, and I will punish all that oppress them.
v. 21. And their nobles shall be of themselves, their most Glorious One being a member of their own nation, and their Governor shall proceed from the midst of them, namely, in the person of the Messiah, under whom the kingdom of David was restored in the best sense of the term; and I will cause Him to draw near, and He shall approach unto Me, consecrated to the Lord’s service, as the great High Priest, entering in once into the most holy place of heaven, Heb 9:12; for who is this that engaged His heart to approach unto Me? saith the Lord. No mere man could take his life into his hands in approaching the holy God in the capacity of Redeemer and Mediator, because all ordinary men, being sinful creatures, would be destroyed by His holiness. Only in and through the Messiah is this approach possible.
v. 22. And ye shall be My people, in and through the Messiah, and I will be your God. Cf 2Co 6:18.
v. 23. Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord, a tempest of Jehovah, goeth forth with fury, or, "fury goes forth," a continuing whirlwind, a rolling and swishing tornado; it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked, bowling them over like leaves driven before a strong wind.
v. 24. The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, not be abated or withdrawn, until He have done it, and until He have performed the intents of His heart, so that all His plans are executed, down to the smallest detail; in the latter days ye shall consider it, for then they would realize the object of the lesson which the Lord wanted them to learn, at the time when the Messianic period would reach its culmination, the supreme test coming with the Last Judgment.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv12, 14General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues speaking to the people of Israel.
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Your injury is incurable; your wound is infected ... no remedy for your wound
This means that Yahweh has punished them so severely that there is no one who can help them. (See: Metaphor)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv12, 1530:12-14 The exiles suffered injury—a terrible wound—because of their…
30:12-14 The exiles suffered injury—a terrible wound—because of their many sins. • lovers . . . allies: The Lord used these terms to refer to nations, especially Egypt, that had been Judah’s trusted friends (see 4:30; Ezek 16:15-63).
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv12–15 The design of the Prophet is first to be…
The design of the Prophet is first to be noticed: he was fighting with those impostors who gave hope of a return in a short time to the people, while seventy years, as it has been said, were to be expected. The Prophet then wished to shew to the people how foolishly they hoped for an end to their evils in so short a time. And this is what ought to be carefully observed, for it was not without reason that the Prophet dwelt much on this point; for nothing is more difficult than to lead men to a serious acknowledgment of God’s judgment. When any thing adverse happens, they are tender and sensitive as to the evils they endure; but at the same time they look not to God, and comfort themselves with vain imaginations. It was therefore necessary for the Prophet to dwell on his doctrine at large; for he saw that the Israelites promised to themselves a return after two years, though they had been warned by the Prophets that they were to bear the scourge of God for seventy years.
This is the reason why the Prophet speaks here of the grievousness of evils, not because the Israelites were insensible, but because they had been credulous, and were still hoping for a return, so that they deceived themselves with false comfort. He therefore says, that the breaking was grievous; some give this rendering, “Unhealable, or hopeless, is thy bruising.” But אנוש, anush, is here a substantive, for it is followed by the preposition ל, lamed; nor can what the Prophet says be rendered otherwise than in this manner, “Grievousness is to thy bruising,” or breaking. He afterwards adds that the wound was grievous, that is, difficult to be healed; for so I understand the passage. But the end was to be hoped for; yet the people were not to think it near at hand; they were, on the contrary, to prepare themselves for patient waiting until the end prescribed by God had come. It follows, —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–15 Jer 30:12 For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise…
Jer 30:12 For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise [is] incurable, [and] thy wound [is] grievous.
Ver. 12. Thy bruise is incurable,] i.e., Inevitable, by God’s irrevocable decree. Or, It is incurable in itself; but not to me, who am an almighty Physician or surgeon. See Eze 37:11. They seemed "free among the dead," free of that company.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12–15 Interpreters generally understand by bruise or wound here the…
Interpreters generally understand by bruise or wound here the state that the Jews should be in the captivity of Babylon, which would be miserable, and so miserable that it would be incurable from any hand, except the hand of God. But I do not understand why it may not as well be interpreted of their sinful state, with reference to God’s purpose, and interpreted by 2Ch 36:16, where it is said, The wrath of God arose against them till there was no remedy. They had sinned to that degree that God had resolved into captivity they should go, and there should abide till the determination of seventy years.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–15 For thus saith the Lord, thy bruise is incurable,....…
For thus saith the Lord, thy bruise is incurable,.... By themselves or others, in all human appearance; there was no help for them from men; their case seemed desperate; there was no likelihood of their recovery to their former state and glory, as at this day the case of the Jews appears to be; there seems to be no probability of their conversion and restoration; and whenever it is, it will be as life from the dead, Rom 11:15; like quickening Ezekiel's dry bones, or raising persons from the dead, which none but the hand of omnipotence can effect:
and thy wound is grievous; an expression signifying the same as before: the metaphor is taken from a body wounded and bruised in such a manner, as to be past the skill of the most able surgeon to cure it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12–14 For - They had sinned to that degree that…
For - They had sinned to that degree that God had resolved they should go into captivity.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 15 Verse 12. Thy bruise is incurable] אנוש anush, desperate,…
Verse 12. Thy bruise is incurable] אנוש anush, desperate, not incurable; for the cure is promised in Jer 30:17, I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v12 Jer 30:12-15. Thy bruise is incurable — In all…
Jer 30:12-15. Thy bruise is incurable — In all human appearance. The state that the Jews should be in would be so miserable that it would be incurable from any hand except that of God. There is none to plead thy cause — There is none that, by the reformation of their lives, or their intercessions with God, endeavour to avert his displeasure. Or, as the words may be rendered, There is none to judge thy cause, none that knows the true nature of thy malady, or what medicines are proper to be applied to it. Their calamitous state is compared to a distempered body; (see Jer 30:17, and Jer 8:22; Isa 1:5-6;) and the false prophets, instead of applying proper remedies, have healed thy wound slightly. Or the words may mean, There is none to intercede for thee with thy victors and oppressors. All thy lovers have forgotten thee — All the nations whose alliance they had solicited, and whose idolatries they had imitated, and who had professed much friendship for them, had neglected and forgotten them, and desired no farther connection with them. They seek thee not — Seek not thy welfare, but abandon thee to ruin. For I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, &c. — Thy iniquities have provoked me to punish thee with that severity which appears like cruelty, and as if I had declared myself an utter enemy to thee. Why criest thou for thine affliction? —
Why shouldest thou expostulate with me, as if I had dealt unjustly with thee, whereas, if thy condition seem desperate, it is owing to thine own iniquities, which have still been increased with new aggravations of guilt.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv12–15 Incurable - Mortal, fatal.
Incurable - Mortal, fatal.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv13–14 Up. There is none to judge thy cause, or…
Up. There is none to judge thy cause, or to be thy physician. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v12 12 For thus saith Jehovah, thy wound is incurable,8
2. THE TURN OF AFFAIRS: THE LORD FOR THE CHASTISED AND AGAINST THE CHASTISER
Jer_30:12-17
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12 For thus saith Jehovah, thy wound is incurable,8
Mortal thy stroke.
13 There is no one who undertaketh thy case,
For thy wound thou hast no remedies of bandages.9
14 All thy lovers have forgotten thee;
They ask not after thee;
For I have smitten them with the stroke of an enemy,
With cruel chastisement for the greatness of thy guilt;
Because thy sins are innumerable.10
15 Why criest thou over thy wound,
That thy sorrow is incurable?11
Because of the greatness of thy guilt,
Because thy sins are innumerable, I have done this.
16 Therefore all who devour thee shall be devoured,
And all thy oppressors shall go away together into captivity.
And they that spoil thee12 shall be a spoil,
And all thy plunderers will I give up to plunder.
17 For I will restore health unto thee,
And I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith Jehovah;
For they call thee “Outcast,”
“Zion, which no man asketh after.”
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
This whole strophe is most closely connected with Jer_30:11, and explains the three thoughts expressed in this verse: that Zion is chastised according to its deserts, but is not to be destroyed, while destruction shall be the lot of its enemies. Thus Jer_30:12-15 are a commentary on the words “chastise thee according to justice” in Jer_30:11. For it is here set forth that Israel is given over to severe sickness without a protector and physician (Jer_30:12-13), that all friends have forsaken the people so severely chastised by God, (Jer_30:14), which people moreover have no right to complain of such treatment, for the Lord has done this on account of their sins (Jer_30:15). The sentence therefore, etc. (Jer_30:16), refers back to the declaration in the 11th verse that the Lord will make an utter end of the nations, among whom He scattered Israel. The right of retribution is to be exercised on them in the fullest measure. Jer_30:17 finally is connected with the third point in Jer_30:11, viz., that Israel is to be healed of his wounds after he has been apparently outcast and forgotten.
Jer_30:12-15. For thus saith Jehovah … I hare done this.—For introduces the proof that Israel will not really be left unpunished, but will be severely chastised, so that he will only not be utterly destroyed.—Mortal thy stroke. Comp. Jer_10:19; Jer_14:17. Jer_30:13. There is no one, etc. Comp. Jer_5:28; Jer_22:16.—Thy lovers. Comp. Jer_22:20; Jer_22:22.—For … stroke of an enemy. When a man is forsaken by God his fellow-men also forsake him.—For the greatness, etc. In these and the following words to the end of Jer_30:15 lies the confirmation of according to justice, Jer_30:11 to Jer_5:6; Jer_13:22.—Why criest thou? Israel has no right to complain of severe treatment. The Lord deals with him, “according to justice,” Jer_30:11.
Jer_30:16. Therefore all … give up to plunder.—Therefore has no sense if we refer it to what immediately precedes. For it cannot be said that the .enemies are to be destroyed, because the Lord has punished His people according to the greatness of their guilt. For if only strict justice prevailed, Israel deserved the same punishment as, or even severer punishment than the heathen. Comp. Jer_2:10 sqq. I therefore refer Therefore to Jer_30:11, to which this whole passage is only a corollary, and particularly to the words Though I make a full end of all the nations, etc. Israel’s guilt is in the past, and cause of the present calamity, hence for in Jer_30:12. The destruction of the heathen is future, and the effect of the judgment pronounced by God in Jer_30:11, hence therefore, Jer_30:16.—All who devour thee. Comp. rems. on Jer_2:3; Jer_10:25.—Go away together, etc. Comp. Jer_22:22.—Shall be a spoil. Comp. Zep_1:13; 2Ki_21:14.—To plunder. Comp. Jer_2:14.
Jer_30:17. For I will restore … asketh after. This sentence also refers to Jer_30:11, and to the words Will not make an end of thee. The Lord will not utterly destroy Israel, for He has in mind to heal the people of the blows to which they have been exposed.—I will restore, etc. Comp. rems. on Jer_8:22.—For they call. The statement of the reason refers here to the thought that Israel needed healing.—Outcast. Comp. Isa_14:3-4; Mic_4:6; Zep_3:19.—Zion, etc., a sentence of the object, dependent on a verbum dicendi contained in call.—Which no man asketh after=ea, quam nemo curat.
[Jer_30:12-15. “So desperate were the circumstances of the Jews in Babylon while enduring the punishment God had inflicted upon them for their crimes, that no human interposition which they would naturally expect, could avail for their deliverance. Egypt, Syria, Tyre, etc., which had formerly been their confederates, were all laid prostrate by the same haughty conqueror whose chains they themselves wore. They are accordingly represented under the metaphor of a body full of wounds, left entirely destitute of medical aid.” Henderson.—S. R. A.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Joh. Conr. Schaller, pastor at Cautendorf, says in his Gospel Sermons, (Hof. 1742, S. 628), “These chapters are like a sky in which sparkle many brilliant stars of strong and consolatory declarations, a paradise and pleasure-garden in which a believing soul is refreshed with delightsome flowers of instruction, and solaced with sweetly flavored apples of gracious promise.”
2. On Jer_30:1-3. The people of Israel were not then capable of bearing such a prophecy, brimming over with happiness and glory. They would have misused it, hearing to the end what was promised them, and then only the more certainly postponing what was the only thing then necessary—sincere repentance. Hence they are not yet to hear this gloriously consolatory address. It is to be written, that it may in due time be perceived that the Lord, even at the time when He was obliged to threaten most severely, had thoughts of peace concerning the people, and that thus the period of prosperity has not come by chance, nor in consequence of a change of mind, but in consequence of a plan conceived from the beginning and executed accordingly.
3. On Jer_30:7. The great and terrible day of the Lord (Joe_3:4) has not the dimensions of a human day. It has long sent out its heralds in advance. Yea, it has itself already dawned. For since by the total destruction of the external theocracy judgment is begun at the house of God (1Pe_4:17), we stand in the midst of the day of God in the midst of the judgment of the world. Then the time of trouble for Jacob has begun (Jer_30:7), from which he is to be delivered, when the fulness of the Gentiles is come in (Romans 11.)
4. On Jer_30:9. Christ is David in his highest potency, and He is also still more. For if we represent all the typical points in David’s life as a circle, and draw a line from each of these points, the great circle thus formed would comprise only a part of the πλήρωμα given in Christ. Nevertheless Christ is the true David, who was not chosen like Saul for his bodily stature, but only for his inward relation to God (comp. Psa_2:7), whose kingdom also does not cease after a short period of glory, but endures forever; who will not like Saul succumb to his enemies, but will conquer them all, and will give to his kingdom the widest extent promised; all this however not without, like David, having gone through the bitterest trials.
5. On Jer_30:11. “Modus paternæ castigationis accommodatus et quasi appensus ad stateram judicii Dei adeoque non immensus sed dimensus.” “Christus ecclesiam crucis suæ hæredem constituit. Gregor. M.” Förster.
6. On Jer_30:14. “Cum virlutem patientiæ nostræ flagella transeunt, valde metuendum est, ne peccatis nostris exigentibus non jam quasi filii a patre, sed quasi hostes a Domino feriamur. Gregor. M. Moral. XIV. 20, on Job_19:11.” Ghisler.
7. On Jer_30:17. “Providentia Dei mortalibus salutifera, antequam percutiat, pharmaca medendi gratiâ componit, et gladium iræ suæ φιλανθρωπίᾳ acuit. Evagr. Hist. Ecc_4:6.”—“Quando incidis in tentationem, crede, quod nisi cognovisset te posse illam evadere, non permisisset te in illam incidere. Theophyl. in cap. 18 Joh.” Förster.—“Feriam prius et sanabo melius. Theophyl. in Hosea 11.” Ghisler.
8. On Jer_30:21. “This church of God will own a, Prince from its midst—Jesus, of our flesh and blood through the virgin Mary, and He approaches God, as no other can, for He is God’s image, God’s Son, and at the same time the perfect, holy in all His sufferings, only obedient son of man. This king is mediator and reconciler with God; He is also high-priest and fulfilled all righteousness, as was necessary for our propitiation. What glory to have such a king, who brings us nigh unto God, and this is our glory!” Diedrich.
9. On Jer_31:1. “There is no greater promise than this: I will be thy God. For if He is our God we are His creatures, His redeemed, His sanctified, according to all the three articles of the Christian faith.” Cramer.
10. On Jer_31:2. “The rough heap had to be sifted by the sword, but those who survived, though afflicted in the desert of this life, found favor with God, and these, the true Israel, God leads into His rest.” Diedrich.
11. On Jer_31:3. “The love of God towards us comes from love and has no other cause above or beside itself, but, is in God and remains in God, so that Christ who is in God is its centre. For herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us (1Jn_4:10).” Cramer. “Totum gratiæ imputatur, non nostris meritis. Augustine in Psalms 31.” Förster. “Before I had done anything good Thou hadst already moved towards me. Let these words be written on your hearts with the pen of the living God, that they may light you like flames of fire on the day of the marriage. It is your certificate of birth, your testimonial. Let me never lose sight of how much it has cost Thee to redeem me.” Zinzendorf. “God says: My chastisement even was pure love, though then you did not understand it; you shall learn it afterwards.” Diedrich. [“I incline to the construction given in the English version, both because the suffix to the verb is more naturally, ‘I have drawn thee,’ than ‘I have drawn out toward thee,’ and because there seems to be a tacit allusion to Hos_11:4, ‘With loving kindness have I drawn thee.’—-A great moral truth lies in this passage so construed, viz., that the main power which humbles man’s pride, softens his hard heart and makes him recoil in shame and sorrow from sinning, comes through his apprehension of God’s love as manifested in Christ and His cross. It is love that, draws the fearful or stubborn soul to the feet of divine mercy.” Cowles.—S. R. A.]
12. On Jer_31:6. “It is well: the watchmen on Mount Ephraim had to go to Zion. They received however another visit from the Jewish priests, which they could not have expected at the great reformation, introduced by John, and which had its seat among other places on Mount Ephraim. The Samaritans were not far distant, and Mount Ephraim had even this honor that when the Lord came to His temple He took His Seat as a teacher there.” Zinzendorf. [“God’s grace loves to triumph over the most inveterate prejudices… No words could represent a greater and more benign change in national feeling than these: Samaria saying through her spiritual watchmen, ‘Let us go up to Zion to worship, for our God is there.’ ” Cowles. “ ‘Ascendamus in Sion, hoc est in Ecclesiam’ says S. Jerome. According to this view, the watchmen here mentioned are the Preachers of the Gospel.” Wordsworth.—S. R. A.]
13. On Jer_31:9. “I will lead them. It is an old sighing couplet, but full of wisdom and solid truth:—
‘Lord Jesus, while I live on earth, O guide me,
Let me not, self-led, wander from beside Thee.’ ”
—Zinzendorf.
14. On Jer_31:10. “He who has scattered Israel will also collect it. Why? lie is the Shepherd. It is no wolf-scattering. He interposes His hand, then they go asunder, and directly come together again more orderly.” Zinzendorf.
15. On Jer_31:12-14. “Gaudebunt electi, quando videbunt supra se, intra se, juxta se, infra se. Augustine.”—“Præmia cœlestia erunt tam magna, ut non possint mensurari, tam multa, ut non possint numerari, tam copiosa, ut non possint terminari, tam pretiosa, ut non possint æstimari. Bernhard.” Förster.
16. On Jer_31:15. “Because at all times there is a similar state of things in the church of God, the lament of Rachel is a common one. For as this lament is over the carrying away captive and oppressions of Babylon, so is it also a lament over the tyranny of Herod in slaughtering the innocent children (Mat_2:1-7.)”Cramer. “Premuntur justi in ecclesia ut clament, clamantes exaudiuntur, exauditi glorificent Deum. Augustin.” Förster.—With respect to this, that Rachel’s lament may be regarded as a type of maternal lamentation over lost children, Förster quotes this sentence of Cyprian: non amisimus, sed præmisimus (2Sa_12:23). [On the application of this verse to the murder of the innocents consult W. L. Alexander, Connexion of the Old and New. Testament, p. 54, and W. H. Mill in Wordsworth’s Note in loc.—S. R. A.]
17. On Jer_31:18. The conversion of man must always be a product of two factors. A conversion which man alone should bring about, without God, would be an empty pretence of conversion; a conversion, which God should produce, without man, would be a compulsory, manufactured affair, without any moral value. The merit and the praise is, however, always on God’s side. He gives the will and the execution. Did He not discipline us, we should never learn discipline. Did He not lead back our thoughts to our Father’s house which we have left (Luke 15) we should never think of returning.
18. On Jer_31:19. “The children of God are ashamed their life long, they cannot raise their heads for humiliation. For their sins always seem great to them, and the grace of God always remains something incomprehensible to them.”Zinzendorf. The farther the Christian advances in his consciousness of sonship and in sanctification, the more brilliantly rises the light of grace, the more distinctly does he perceive in this light, how black is the night of his sins from which God has delivered him. [“It is the ripest and fullest ears of grain which hang their heads the lowest.”—S. R. A.]
19. On Jer_31:19. “The use of the dear cross is to make us blush (Dan_9:8) and not regard ourselves as innocent (Jer_30:11). And as it pleases a father when a child soon blushes, so also is this tincture a flower of virtue well-pleasing to God.” Cramer. “Deus oleum miserationis suæ non nisi in vas contritum et contribulatum infundit. Bernhard.”Förster.
20. On Jer_31:19. The reproach of my youth. “The sins of youth are not easily to be forgotten (Psa_25:7; Job_31:18). Therefore we ought to be careful so to act in our youth as not to have to chew the cud of bitter reflection in our old age. It is a comfort that past sins of youth will not injure the truly penitent. Non nocent peccata præterita, cum non placent præsentia. Augustine. To transgress no more is the best sign of repentance.” Cramer.
21. On Jer_31:20. “Comforting and weighty words, which each one should lay to heart. God loves and caresses us as a mother her good child. He remembers His promise. His heart yearns and breaks, and it is His pleasure to do us good.” Cramer. “lpsius proprium est, misereri semper et parcere.” Augustine.—“Major est Dei misericordia quam omnium hominum miseria.” Idem.
22. On Jer_31:23. The Lord bless thee, thou dwelling-place of righteousness, thou holy mountain. “Certainly no greater honor was ever done to the Jewish mountains than that the woman’s seed prayed and wept on them, was transfigured, killed and ascended above all heaven.” Zinzendorf. “ It cannot be denied that a church sanctifies a whole place …. Members of Jesus are real guardian angels, who do not exist in the imagination, but are founded on God’s promise (Mat_25:40).” Idem.
23. On Jer_31:29-30. “The so-called family curse has no influence on the servants of God; one may sleep calmly nevertheless. This does not mean that we should continue in the track of our predecessors, ex. gr., when our ancestors have gained much wealth by sinful trade, that we should continue this trade with this wealth with the hope of the divine blessing…. If this or that property, house, right, condition be afflicted with a curse, the children of God may soon by prudent separation deliver themselves from these unsafe circumstances. For nothing attaches to their persons, when they have been baptized with the blood of Jesus and are blessed by Him.” Zinzendorf.
24. On Jer_31:29-30. “In testamento novo per sarguinem mediatoris deleto paterno chirographo incipit homo paternis debitis non esse obnoxius renascendo, quibus nascendo fuerat obligatus, ipso Mediatore di cente: Ne vobis patrem dicüis in terra (Mat_23:9). Secundum hoc utique, quod alios natales, quibus non patri succederemus, sed cum patre semper viveremus, invenimus.” Augustine, contra Julian, VI. 12, in Ghisler.
25. On Jer_31:31. “In veteribus libris aut nusquam aut difficile præter hunc propheticum locum legitur facta commemoratio testamenti novi, ut omnino ipso nomine appellaretur. Nam multis locis hoc significalur et prænuntiatur futurum, sed non ita ut etiam nomen lega’ ur expressum.” Augustine, de Spir. et Lit. ad Marcellin, Cap. 19 (where to Cap. 29 there is a detailed discussion of this passage) in Ghisler.—“In the whole of the Old Testament there is no passage, in which the view is so clearly and distinctly expressed as here that the law is only παιδαγαγός. And though some commentators have supposed that the passage contains only a censure of the Israelites and not of the Old Covenant, they only show thus that they have not understood the simple meaning of the words.” Ebrard. Comm. zum Hebräerbr. S. 275.
26. On Jer_31:31, sqq. “Propter veteris hominis noxam, quæ per literam jubentem et minantem minime sanabatur, dicitur illud testamentum vetus; hoc antem novum propter novitatem spiritus, quæ hominem novum sanat a vitio vetustatis.” Augustine, c. Lit. Cap. 19.
27. On Jer_31:33. “Quid sunt ergo leges Dei ab ipso Deo scriptæ in cordibus, nisi ipsa præsentia Spiritus sancti, qui est digitus Dei, quo præsente diffunditur charitas in cordibus nostrio, quæ plenitudo legis est et præcepti finis?” Augustine, l. c. Cap. 20.
28. On Jer_31:34. “Quomodo tempus est novi testamenti, de quo propheta dixit: et non docebit unusquisque civem suum, etc. nisi quia rjusdem testamenti novi æternam mercedem, id est ipsius Dei beatissimam contemplationem promittendo conjunxit?” Augustine, l. c. Cap. 24.
29. On Jer_31:33-34. “This is the blessed difference between law and Gospel, between form and substance. Therefore are the great and small alike, and the youths like the elders, the pupils more learned than their teachers, and the young wiser than the ancients (1Jn_2:20 sqq.). Here is the cause:—For I will forgive their iniquities. This is the occasion of the above; no one can effect this without it. Forgiveness of sins makes the scales fall from people’s eyes, and gives them a cheerful temper, clear conceptions, a clear head.”Zinzendorf.
30. On Jer_31:35-37. “Etsi particulares ecclesiæ intotum deficere possunt, ecclesia tamen catholica nunquam defecit aut deficiet. Obstant enim Dei amplissimæ promissiones, inter quas non ultimum locum sibi vindicut quæ hic habetur Jer_31:37.” Förster.
31. On Jer_31:38-40. “Jerusalem will one day be much greater than it has ever been. This is not to be understood literally but spiritually. Jerusalem will be wherever there are believing souls, its circle will be without end and comprise all that has been hitherto impure and lost. This it is of which the prophet is teaching, and which he presents in figures, which were intelligible to the people in his time. The hill Gareb, probably the residence of the lepers, the emblem of the sinner unmasked and smitten by God, and the cursed valley of Ben-Hinnom will be taken up into the holy city. God’s grace will one day effect all this, and Israel will thus be manifested as much more glorious than ever before.” Diedrich.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer_30:5-9. Sermon on one of the last Sundays after Trinity or the second in Advent. The day of the judgment of the world a great day. For it is, (1) a day of anxiety and terror for all the world; (2) a day of deliverance from all distress for the church of the Lord; (3) a day of realization of all the happiness set in prospect before it.
2. On Jer_30:10-12. Consolation of the church in great trial. 1. It has well deserved the trial (Jer_30:12); 2. it is therefore chastised, but with moderation; 3. it will not perish but again enjoy peace.
3. On Jer_30:17. [“The Restorer of mankind. 1. Faith in the Christian Sacrament and its attendant revelation of divine character alone answer the demand of the heart and reason of man for a higher state of moral perfection. 2. Christianity offers to maintain a communication between this world and that eternal world of holiness and truth. 3. It commends itself to our wants in the confirmation and direction of that principle of hope, which even in our daily and worldly life, we are perpetually forced to substitute for happiness, and 4. By the adorable object, which it presents to our affections.” Archer Butler—S. R. A.]
4. On Jer_31:1-2. Gesetz and Zeugniss (Law and Testimony) 1864, Heft. 1. Funeral sermon of Ahlfeld.
5. On Jer_31:2-4. lb. 1865. Heft 1. Funeral sermon of Besser, S. 32 ff.
6. On Jer_31:3. C. Fr. Hartmann (Wedding, School, Catechism and Birth-day sermons, ed. C. Chr. Eberh. Ehemann. Tüb. 1865). Wedding sermon. 1. A grateful revival in the love of God already received. 2. Earnest endeavor after a daily enjoyment of this love. 3. Daily nourishment of hope.
7. On Jer_31:3. Florey. Comfort and warning at graves. I. Bändchen, S. 253. On the attractions of God’s love towards His own children. They are, 1. innumerable and yet so frequently overlooked; 2. powerful and yet so frequently resisted; 3. rich in blessing and yet so frequently; unemployed. [For practical remarks on this text see also Tholuck, Stunden der Andacht, No. 11.—S. R. A.]
8. On Jer_31:9. Confessional sermon by Dekan V. Biarowsky in Erlangen (in Palmer’s Evang. Casual-Reden, 2 te Folge, 1 Band. Stuttgart, 1850.) Every partaking of the Lord’s supper is a return to the Lord in the promised land, and every one who is a guest at the supper rises and comes. 1. How are we to come? (weeping and praying). 2. What shall we find? (Salvation and blessing, power and life, grace and help).
9. On Jer_31:18-20. Comparison of conversion with the course of the earth and the sun. 1. The man who has fallen away is like the planet in its distance from the sun; he flees from God as far as he Song of Solomon 2. Love however does not release him: a. he is chastened (winter, cold, long nights, short days); b. he accepts the chastening and returns to proximity to the sun (summer, warmth, light, life). Comp. Brandt, Altes und Neues in i extemporirbaren Entwürfen. Nüremberg, 1829, II. 5. [The stubborn sinner submitting himself to God. I. A description of the feelings and conduct of an obstinate, impenitent sinner, while smarting under the rod of affliction: He is rebellious—till subdued. II. The new views and feelings produced by affliction through divine grace: (a) convinced of guilt and sinfulness; (b) praying; (c) reflecting on the effects of divine grace in his conversion. III. A correcting but compassionate God, watching the result, etc., (a) as a tender father mindful of his penitent child; (b) listening to his complaints, confessions and petitions; (c) declaring His determination to pardon. Payson.—S. R. A.]
10. On Jer_31:31-34. Sermon on 1 Sunday in Advent by Pastor Diechert in Gröningen, S. Stern aus Jakob. I. Stuttg. 1867.
11. On Jer_31:33-34. Do we belong to the people of God? 1. Have we holiness? 2. Have we knowledge? 3. Have we the peace promised to this people? (Caspari in Predigtbuch von Dittmar, Erlangen, 1845).
12. On Jer_31:33-34. By the new covenant in the bath of holy baptism all becomes new. 1. What was dead becomes alive 2. What was obscure becomes clear. 3. What was cold becomes warm. 4. What was bound becomes free (Florey, 1862).
Footnotes:
[8]Jer_30:12.—The construction of אָנוּשׁ with לְ is found here only. Perhaps Nah_3:19 was in the prophet’s mind. The thought lying at the basis of this construction is: insanabile vulneri tuo, or more exactly: incurable is the predicate which belongs to your wound.
[9]Jer_30:13.—As מָזוֹר does not agree with דִּינֵךְ, I refer it, with Graf, to what follows, in the sense of vulnus (that which is wrapped in bandages, as in Hos_5:13, רפאוֹת תעוה=medicamenta ligaminis, dressings. Comp. Jer_46:11; Eze_30:21. [A. V.: There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up. Others render: for thy cure thou hast, etc. Henderson: “I take רפאות to be a nominative absolute: as for medicines.”—S. R. A.]
[10]Jer_30:14.—Here as afterwards in Jer_30:15, a whole sentence is twice dependent on עַל. (Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 112, 9).
[11]Jer_30:15.—[A. V.: Why criest thou for thine affliction? Thy sorrow is incurable. Wordsworth after Ewald, Umbreit, Graf: Why criest thou for thine affliction, that thy sorrow is incurable.—S. R. A.]
[12]Jer_30:16.—שׁאסיך. The Chethibh is to be punctuated שֹׁאֲסַיִךְ. Since the root שָׁאַם does not occur in Hebrew, this form is to be explained as an Aramaism for שֹׁסְסַיִךְ, Keri שֹׁסַיִךְ (Jer_50:11; Isa_17:14).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv12–15 The desperate circumstances of the Jews are here represented…
The desperate circumstances of the Jews are here represented as an incurable wound. Their sin is so grievous that their hope of the punishment (their exile) soon coming to an end is vain (Jer 8:22; Jer 15:18; Ch2 36:16).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15 ISRAEL’S DIRE NECESSITY AND JEHOVAH’S MERCY, Jer_30:12-17.
ISRAEL’S DIRE NECESSITY AND JEHOVAH’S MERCY, Jer_30:12-17.
12. Incurable — That is, to human thought. But the things that seemed impossible to man were yet possible with God.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–14 12. Thy hurt is incurable] lit. It is ill…
12. Thy hurt is incurable] lit. It is ill with thy hurt. Similar words are applied by the prophet to himself in Jer_15:18.
The pronouns in the v. are fem. as referring to the nation, as in Jer_22:20 and often elsewhere. For the whole v. cp. Lam_2:13.
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12–15. These vv. are either Jeremiah’s own (so Du.) or a close imitation of his style.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–15 (12) Thy bruise is incurable . . .—The mind…
(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 (Jer_2:13), in order to enhance the blessedness of the reverent utterance of hope which appears in Jer_30:17.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv12, 14 Vers. 12-17. Miserable indeed is the condition of Israel!…
Vers. 12-17. Miserable indeed is the condition of Israel! No wonder; for its sins were great. And yet, just because it is so forlorn, Jehovah will interpose for its relief.
For thus saith, etc. If the two preceding verses are a later insertion, we must render, But surely (more strictly, surely, but particles of asseveration easily acquire an adversative force from the context). Bright, indeed, is the prospect for Judah, "but surely" his present condition is very much the reverse; comp. Isa_9:1 (Authorized Version," nevertheless"). Thy bruise is incurable, etc. One of Jeremiah"s characteristic repetitions. (see Jer_10:19 Jer_14:17 Jer_15:18) That thou mayest be bound up. This rendering follows the accents. But the mixture of figures is very incongruous. It is much better to connect the words a little differently and to render, for thy sore thou hast no medicines (nor any) plaster.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v12 The Turn of Affairs and the Consummation of Salvation
The Turn of Affairs and the Consummation of Salvation
v. 12. For thus saith the Lord, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous, the stroke delivered to the Jews as a nation is mortal, the hopes which they entertained of having their exile end soon were vain.
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v. 13. There is none to plead thy cause, intercession could no longer be expected by them, that thou mayest be bound up, the wounds of their body politic being bandaged; thou hast no healing medicines, no remedies of bandages and plasters. Cf. Jer 8:22.
v. 14. All thy lovers, the former allied nations that had professed friendship for Judah, have forgotten thee, they seek thee not, not being at all concerned about Judah’s welfare; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with a sharp smiting, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity, or with cruel chastisement for the greatness of thy guilt," Cf. Jer 5:6; Jer 13:22, because thy sins were increased. Although the Lord in Himself is incapable of enmity and cruelty, yet the grievous sins of the Jews challenged His avenging justice, so that He was obliged to act as though He were indeed cruel.
v. 15. Why criest thou for thine affliction? Thy sorrow is incurable, or, "that thy pain is malignant?" For the multitude of thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee. Whatever evil was descending upon Judah, its people had no one but themselves to blame; their punishment was strictly according to justice. But just when Israel was submerged in the evils descending upon it, the mercy of the Lord turned to His people, to vindicate His honor over against all the enemies.
v. 16. Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured, and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity, the fate of the oppressed Jews striking them in full measure; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey, so that they would be plundered in turn. The enemies were, indeed, the instruments for carrying out the punishment of God upon His people, but at the same time they were guilty before Him and were bound to suffer accordingly.
v. 17. For I will restore health unto thee, by means of healing plasters, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an outcast, a wife put away by her husband, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after, because the Lord had, for the purposes of His mercy, forsaken His people for the time being.
v. 18. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, so that the time of oppression and exile would be a thing of the past, and have mercy on his dwelling-places, on the places where His holy congregation was wont to assemble; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, to arise anew from its heap of’ ruins, to be established on the hill of the Lord, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof, to be inhabited as of old.
v. 19. And out of them, the palaces, the congregations of the Lord, shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry, their voices raised in psalms of rejoicing; and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few, the number of God’s children being increased under His blessing; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small, they will be honored and not despised in His sight.
v. 20. Their children also shall be as aforetime, at the time when the Lord’s Church was in its most nourishing condition, and their congregation shall be established before Me, founded upon the Rock of Ages, and I will punish all that oppress them.
v. 21. And their nobles shall be of themselves, their most Glorious One being a member of their own nation, and their Governor shall proceed from the midst of them, namely, in the person of the Messiah, under whom the kingdom of David was restored in the best sense of the term; and I will cause Him to draw near, and He shall approach unto Me, consecrated to the Lord’s service, as the great High Priest, entering in once into the most holy place of heaven, Heb 9:12; for who is this that engaged His heart to approach unto Me? saith the Lord. No mere man could take his life into his hands in approaching the holy God in the capacity of Redeemer and Mediator, because all ordinary men, being sinful creatures, would be destroyed by His holiness. Only in and through the Messiah is this approach possible.
v. 22. And ye shall be My people, in and through the Messiah, and I will be your God. Cf 2Co 6:18.
v. 23. Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord, a tempest of Jehovah, goeth forth with fury, or, "fury goes forth," a continuing whirlwind, a rolling and swishing tornado; it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked, bowling them over like leaves driven before a strong wind.
v. 24. The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, not be abated or withdrawn, until He have done it, and until He have performed the intents of His heart, so that all His plans are executed, down to the smallest detail; in the latter days ye shall consider it, for then they would realize the object of the lesson which the Lord wanted them to learn, at the time when the Messianic period would reach its culmination, the supreme test coming with the Last Judgment.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 14 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues speaking to the people of Israel.
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Your injury is incurable; your wound is infected ... no remedy for your wound
This means that Yahweh has punished them so severely that there is no one who can help them. (See: Metaphor)
There is no one to plead your case
"There is no one who asks me to show you mercy"
translationWords
cure
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 15 30:12-14 The exiles suffered injury—a terrible wound—because of their…
30:12-14 The exiles suffered injury—a terrible wound—because of their many sins. • lovers . . . allies: The Lord used these terms to refer to nations, especially Egypt, that had been Judah’s trusted friends (see 4:30; Ezek 16:15-63).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.