The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
Chapter 30 opens with God speaking and Jeremiah receiving. After chapters of warning and ruin, this word turns to promise — and Jeremiah is told to write it in a book, so why did it have to last?
Read against what comes before, this opening marks a shift in the book's whole direction.
Jeremiah 25 begins the judgment of the nations, or rather the judgment which extends over all the earth. He gives the cup to drink to all nations (v. 15). From Jeremiah 30 there are promises of restoration, and warning that sets out their sin.
The command to write comes before anything else in the chapter. One writer asks why these words had to be kept on record.
You can tell how important the coming message is from the opening words: "Thus speaks the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book." (v. 2.) Why did they have to be put on permanent record? "For, behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it." (v. 3.)
The same command also answers a question about who wrote the book.
Jeremiah is commanded to write in a book all the words the LORD had spoken. That is enough evidence that Jeremiah is the author, and that this book is not a patchwork put together by various later contributors, editors and compilers.
Jeremiah was told to write more than once, and each command names the same material — the words God had spoken to him.
No other prophet was so frequently commanded to write as Jeremiah was. "Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book" (30:2). "Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you" (36:2).
The next verse names who the message is about. One writer sees that naming as a guard against turning the names into symbols.
Some explain such prophecies away by spiritualizing them, trying to apply them to the Church and to Christianity. As if to guard against that, we are told, "These are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah." They are not words about something else pictured under the names of Israel and Judah. They are words the Lord spoke (a solemn thought!) about Israel and about Judah.
Has this promise already come true? One writer tests it against Israel's history.
No one can say that this promised restoration of both Israel and Judah has already happened. This time of suffering is like no other. It will be the worst sorrow Israel has ever known, and yet out of that very time they will be saved. "It is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it" (v. 7). Trouble like this, with deliverance out of it for Israel and Jacob, has never happened from Jeremiah's day to this.
The book Jeremiah writes is not one short message. One writer groups chapters 30 to 33 together and finds their reach going beyond Israel.
Chapters 30-33 are linked together. They contain truths of outstanding excellence — new things of such unmatched importance that they affect more than the nation of Israel, whose glorious restoration and revival in Christ is directly in view here. They also affect those who belong to the assembly, the church, today. It is in Jeremiah 31 that the "New Thing" is spoken of, and likewise the "New Covenant."
- Word. The chapter starts with God, not with the prophet. Jeremiah passes on what the LORD spoke to him.
- Written. God tells him to put it in a book. The command itself shows how much weight the message carries.
- Why. Verse 3 gives the reason. Days are coming when God will bring His people back to the land He gave their fathers, so the promise had to outlive the people who first heard it.
- Whom. The words are about Israel and Judah by name. One writer warns against turning those names into symbols for something else.
- When. The full restoration of Israel and Judah has not happened yet. The chapters that follow carry the promise on to the New Covenant.
Thus speaketh Jehovah the God of Israel, saying, Write thee in a book all the words that I have spoken unto thee.
Jeremiah is told to take up a pen and fix in a book the words he has been speaking. What follows that command reaches far past his own lifetime — so why record these words, and who are they for?
The chapter opens with the command to write. One writer takes those opening words as the measure of how much weight the message carries.
You can judge the importance of what is coming from the opening words, "Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you." (v. 2.) Why did these words have to be recorded for good? "For behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it." (v. 3.)
The timing matters. God orders this record just as the nation is collapsing, and one writer explains why He works that way.
It is God's way to give prophecy in a time of ruin. Those who sin get a last warning. Those who believe find support in the hope of "some better thing" in His grace, which is greater than all the powers of evil. It went that way with His people Israel. They mocked Him in His messengers and despised His words, though He kept sending them again and again, because He had compassion on the Jews and on His dwelling-place — until there was no remedy. His anger then rose and fell on them. That was the very time when the prophets wrote: no longer content to speak their predictions, they set them down more fully and more formally.
Verse 4 names who the written words are about. One writer sees that line as a guard put there on purpose.
There is a way of reading prophecy that explains such promises away by applying them to the Church and to Christianity. As if to guard against that, we are told, "These are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah." They are not words about something else pictured under the names of Israel and Judah. They are words the Lord spoke about Israel and about Judah — a solemn thought.
The promise in verse 3 covers Israel and Judah together, not just one of them. One writer applies that to our own day:
Does the modern state of Israel match this? No, it is a Jewish state only — the ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel are missing. But God does not fall short when He fulfils His promises, so we can be sure they will be included.
The words Jeremiah writes down carry judgment first, and then rescue.
In Jeremiah 30 God commands Jeremiah to write in a book all the words of the judgment which he had heard, for God would restore the people. Now this deliverance found Israel at the height of the distress. This is the first thing presented to the prophet. No day could be compared to this day of Jacob's trouble. It is the day spoken of in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. But in this extremity God comes to the help of His people, and they will be delivered. God has now carried out His judgment and acted according to His own counsels in grace. So this deliverance will be full and complete.
The command to write comes back again and again in this book. One commentator counts the times and draws a conclusion about the author.
No other prophet was so often commanded to write as Jeremiah was. "Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you" (30:2). "Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken" (36:2). Then Baruch, his secretary, testified that he wrote in a book all these words that came from Jeremiah's lips (36:18). After that scroll was burned, the Lord said, "Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll" (36:28). "So Jeremiah wrote in a book" (51:60). Who are the men who try to make us believe that Jeremiah did not write these words?
- Written — the command to write comes first, and it marks the weight of all that follows.
- Written in ruin — God gives prophecy while judgment falls. It warns those who sin and holds up those who believe.
- Written about whom — verse 4 names Israel and Judah, so no one can quietly hand the promise to someone else.
- Written for later — today's state of Israel does not match the promise. The ten tribes are still missing, and God does not fall short of His own words.
- Written to be trusted — no prophet received the order to write as often as Jeremiah, and what he wrote ends in full and complete rescue out of the worst trouble.
For behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, when I will turn the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith Jehovah; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
God tells Jeremiah to write a promise down while his nation is falling apart: He will bring His people back and settle them again in the land He gave their fathers. The question is when. Did the return from Babylon fulfil this, or is it still ahead?
Verse 3 comes attached to a command in verse 2: write it in a book. That command marks Jeremiah out among the prophets.
No other prophet was told to write as often as Jeremiah was. "Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book" (30:2). "Take a scroll of a book and write in it all the words that I have spoken" (36:2).
A spoken word can die with those who hear it. One writer weighs the way this chapter opens.
You can judge the importance of what comes next from the opening words… Why did these words have to be recorded permanently?
The verse names two peoples, and the next line names them again: Israel and Judah. One writer sees that repeat as a guard against reading the names as symbols for the church.
It is as though God were guarding against the spiritualizing way of reading, which would explain such prophecies away by trying to apply them to the Church and to Christianity. So we are told, "And these are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah." These are not words about something else pictured under the names of Israel and Judah. They are words the Lord spoke — a solemn thought! — about Israel and about Judah.
A small group of exiles did come home from Babylon. One writer reads that homecoming as far too small to match this promise.
The partial return, under Ezra and Nehemiah, clearly does not fulfil this prophecy. It looks on to days still future.
The chapter ties this restoration to a time of deep anguish. What stands out is how it ends.
No one can say that this promised restoration of both Israel and Judah has already happened. This time of suffering is like no other. Here is what makes it so: it will be the worst sorrow Israel has ever known, and yet out of that very time they will be saved. "It is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it" (verse 7). Trouble like this, with deliverance out of it, has never come to Israel and Jacob from Jeremiah's day to this.
Another writer points to the man behind the name. He holds the land promise and the coming anguish together.
God had given the land to their fathers, and they will yet possess it, just as God's Word says. But right away we are reminded of a moment of great anguish that must come just before this is fully accomplished… It was so with Jacob himself, and it will be so with his descendants. One particular night stands out in Jacob's history. In the same way, one particular time of tribulation — great tribulation — will stand out in Israel's history.
The verse rests the future on something already done in the past. God does not say He will give them a land; He says He gave it to their fathers. One writer measures the land's actual history against what was promised.
These promises have never really been fulfilled. Israel has never lived in the whole extent of the land described here. True, it was all paying tribute in the days of Solomon, but that was not a good enough answer to the promise of God. His purpose was that they should inherit the land themselves and enjoy it with no stranger present. And it is plain to everyone that they have not yet had any of it as an everlasting possession. What they did take, they lost after a while because of sin, and they were scattered among the nations. Let no one think that, because this happened, they have no future glory. They have been unfaithful to God, but He will not be unfaithful to them. He will make good all His word.
The promise is not cold administration. One writer sets this verse beside a later line in Jeremiah to show the warmth in it.
The word of the Lord shall stand fast forever: the mere theories of men shall come to nothing… And again, "I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul" (Jer. 32:41). Then, surely, shall the banner of God's unchanging love wave over them. What must be the blessing of that people whom God shall assuredly bless with His whole heart and His whole soul!
Andrew Miller (older translations read "assuredly… with my whole heart, and with my whole soul")
- Written — God had the promise put in a book, so it would outlive the people who first heard it. No other prophet was told to write so often.
- Whole — Israel and Judah are named, and named twice. One writer reads that as a guard against turning the names into symbols for something else.
- Unfulfilled — the return under Ezra and Nehemiah was only partial. Commentators judge it far too small to answer this promise.
- Through trouble — the rescue comes at Israel's worst hour, not before it. They are saved out of the time of Jacob's trouble, just as Jacob came through his own night.
- Guaranteed — God gave the land to their fathers long ago. So the promise rests on His faithfulness, not on theirs. They failed Him, but He will not fail them.