The restoration of the northern kingdom
1 This is another word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh:
2 Yahweh, God of Israel says, “Write in a book all that I have communicated to you,
3 for the days are coming when I shall bring my captive people Israel and Judah back to the land I gave to their ancestors as their inheritance.”
4 These are words spoken by Yahweh to Israel:
5 We have heard cries of fear,
terror and not peace!
6 Ask and see:
Does a man bear children?
Then why do I see every strong man
with his hands on his hips like a woman in labor,
every face turned a ghastly color?
7 How terrible that day!
there is none to equal it!
It is a time of distress for Jacob,
but he will be saved.
8 On that day, – declares Yahweh of hosts – I will break the yoke around his neck and burst his bonds, that strangers may no longer enslave them.
9 They will instead serve Yahweh their God and David their king whom I will raise up for them.
10 Yahweh says, “Fear not, Jacob my servant. Be not dismayed, Israel, for I will rescue you and your descendants from that far-off land where you are captive. Jacob shall return and know peace, molested by no one.
11 I am with you to save you. I will utterly destroy the nations where you are scattered. You alone shall not be de stroyed, but I will dis cipline you justly and not let you go unpunished.”
12 Yahweh says,
“Your wound is incurable,
your injury is grievous.
13 There is no one to plead your cause.
There is a remedy for an ulcer
but no healing for you!
14 All your lovers have forgotten you;
they care nothing for you.
For I struck you as an enemy does,
with a cruel punishment,
because of your great guilt
and the wickedness of your sin.
15 Why cry out now that you are hurt?
Is there no cure for your pain?
Because of your great crime and grie vous sin I have done this to you.
16 Yet all who devour you will be de voured. Your oppressors will be taken captive; your plunderers will be plundered and those who despise you will be despised.
17 Because you were called ‘outcast – Zion for whom no one cares,’ I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,” says Yahweh.
18 Yahweh says, “I will restore my peo ple into Jacob’s tents and have pity on his dwellings. The city will be rebuilt over its ruins and the palace restored on its prop er place.
19 From them will come songs of praise and the sound of merrymaking.
I will multiply them and they shall not be few. I will bestow honor on them and they shall not be despised.
20 Their children will be as before and their community will be established before me. I will ask their oppressors to account.
21 Their leader will be one of themselves, their ruler shall emerge from their midst. I will bring him close to me for who would dare to approach me?
22 You shall be my people and I shall be your God.”
23 See the storm of Yahweh bursting forth in fury; like the turmoil of a hurricane it sweeps down on the head of the wicked.
24 The fierce wrath of Yahweh will not turn away until he has done and accomplished the purpose of his heart.
In the latter days you will understand this.
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Comments Jeremiah, Chapter 30
• 30.1 Chapters 30 and 31 bring us back to the happy years of King Josiah. Besides promoting the renewal of faith and the worship of Yahweh, he managed to conquer part of what had been the kingdom of Israel before it became an Assyrian province after the fall of Samaria.
The days are coming when I shall bring back my captive people Israel (3). The Israelites had been expelled from the land and scattered. Now, they are not there to listen to Jeremiah, but he addresses them through time and space. What he is telling them also applies to Judah which, in its turn, is going to be destroyed and dispersed.
This time Yahweh speaks like the Father to the prodigal son. He recalls their sins of the past which forced him to punish them and he promises that he will bring about the return of his dispersed children.
Similar promises fill chapters 40–55 of the Book of Isaiah.