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Jeremiah 33

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A Call to Prayer and Promise of Restoration 1–13

1
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, ​
2
Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name; ​
3
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. ​
4
For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword;
5
They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city. ​
6
Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. ​
7
And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first. ​
8
And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me. ​
9
And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it. ​
10
Thus saith the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,
11
The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD. ​
12
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.
13
In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth them, saith the LORD.

The Promise of the Righteous Branch 14–16

14
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. ​
15
In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. ​
16
In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness. ​

The Eternal Covenants of Kingship and Priesthood 17–22

17
For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; ​
18
Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. ​
19
And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying,
20
Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; ​
21
Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.
22
As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. ​

God Reaffirms the Covenant with Israel 23–26

23
Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
24
Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. ​
25
Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; ​
26
Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Jeremiah 33

Verse 1

the second time — The first word given in the court of the prison is ch.32, when ‘the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem’ and Zedekiah had shut Jeremiah up (32:2–3). He ‘abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken’ (38:28). Paul wrote of his own chains in the same way: ‘the word of God is not bound’ (2 Tim 2:9).

Verse 2

the LORD the maker thereof — Three verbs stand over the promise: asah, to make, yatsar, to form as a potter does (the ‘potter’ of 18:2 is the participle of this verb), and kun, to establish. Isa 45:18 uses the same three of the earth: ‘God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it’. ‘The LORD is his name’ ends the verse.

Verse 3

Call unto me, and I will answer thee — The invitation comes to a man shut up in prison, and echoes 29:12, ‘Then shall ye call upon me… and I will hearken unto you’, and Ps 91:15, ‘He shall call upon me, and I will answer him’. ‘Mighty’ is from batsar, to make inaccessible, the word for the ‘walled’ cities of Deut 1:28: things out of reach until the LORD shows them.

Verse 5

to fill them with the dead bodies of men — The siege of 21:4, where the LORD says he will ‘turn back the weapons of war’ and gather the Chaldeans ‘into the midst of this city’. Those who go out to fight fill the houses of v.4, which are ‘thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword’, with the dead. ‘Hid my face’ is the language of Isa 8:17 and Mic 3:4.

Verse 6

health and cure — Arukah, new growth of flesh over a wound, with marpe, a remedy: the words of 8:22, ‘why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?’, and of 30:17. ‘Abundance’ (atereth) is found only here. ‘Reveal’ is galah, to uncover, the same verb as ‘carried away captive’ in 24:1.

Verse 7

build them, as at the first — ‘Build’ is the verb of 24:6, ‘I will build them, and not pull them down’, and of 31:4, ‘Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel’. ‘As at the first’ is the phrase of Isa 1:26, ‘I will restore thy judges as at the first’. Amos 9:14 gives the other half: they ‘shall build the waste cities’.

Verse 8

cleanse… pardon — Three words for wrong, avon, chata and pasha, are the roots of ‘iniquity’, ‘sin’ and ‘transgression’ in Exod 34:7, where the LORD is the one ‘forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin’. ‘Pardon’ is salach, the verb of 31:34, ‘I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more’. Ezek 36:25 gives the cleansing as water.

Verse 9

a name of joy, a praise and an honour — The words of 13:11, where the LORD says he caused Israel to cleave to him ‘for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear’. Here the purpose is carried out before the nations. Zeph 3:20 says the same: ‘I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth’.

Verse 11

the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride — The voices that were to ‘cease’ in 7:34, 16:9 and 25:10 return. ‘For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever’ is the song sung when the temple was filled with the cloud (2 Chr 5:13). ‘The sacrifice of praise’ is todah, the thank offering (Lev 7:12, ‘the sacrifice of thanksgiving’).

Verse 14

that good thing — The ‘good word’ of 29:10, ‘I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you’. ‘Perform’ is qum, to raise up and establish, the verb used of David in 23:5 and 30:9. The promise is made ‘unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah’ and v.15 names what it contains. ‘All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen’ (2 Cor 1:20).

Verse 15

the Branch of righteousness — Tsemach tsedaqah. ‘Grow up’ (tsamach) is the verb of the noun, so the LORD causes a branch to branch. In 23:5 he is ‘a righteous Branch’, and he ‘shall execute judgment and justice’; the Hebrew for ‘justice’ there and ‘righteousness’ here is one word. Zech 3:8 and 6:12 give ‘the BRANCH’ as a name.

Verse 16

The LORD our righteousness — The name given to the King in 23:6 is given here to Jerusalem: ‘she shall be called’. In both verses Judah is saved and the people ‘dwell safely’. Paul says Christ ‘is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness’ (1 Cor 1:30), and ‘that we might be made the righteousness of God in him’ (2 Cor 5:21).

Verse 17

David shall never want a man — Karath, to cut off: a man of David’s line is never to be cut off from the throne. The word restates what Solomon was told, ‘there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel’ (1 Kgs 2:4), and Ps 89:29, ‘His seed also will I make to endure for ever’. Gabriel says the Lord God ‘shall give unto him the throne of his father David’ (Luke 1:32).

Verse 18

the priests the Levites — The title is that of Deut 18:1, ‘The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi’. The offerings are the burnt offering (olah), the ‘meat offering’ (minchah, the grain offering, Lev 2:1) and the sacrifice (zebach). Isa 66:21 says the LORD will ‘take of them for priests and for Levites’.

Verse 20

my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night — The promise after the flood: ‘While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease’ (Gen 8:22). ‘Break’ is parar, to frustrate, the verb of ‘he hath broken my covenant’ (Gen 17:14). Ps 89:37 sets David’s throne beside the moon.

Verse 22

as the host of heaven cannot be numbered — The figure is that of the promise to Abraham: ‘I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore’ (Gen 22:17). Here it is given to ‘the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me’, a multiplying for each line. ‘David my servant’ is the title of Ezek 37:24.

Verse 24

The two families — Mishpachah, a kindred. The speakers say the LORD ‘hath even cast them off’, so that his people are ‘no more a nation before them’, which is the wish of Ps 83:4, ‘let us cut them off from being a nation’. The two families are read as the lines of David and Levi (vv.21–22) or as Israel and Judah (v.7). Vv.25–26 answer the saying.

Verse 25

the ordinances of heaven and earth — Chuqqah, a thing decreed, the word of ‘the ordinances of the moon and of the stars’ (31:35). Job 38:33 asks ‘Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?’ The saying that the LORD has cast off Israel is set against these fixed orders, as in 31:36: if they depart, ‘then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever’.

Verse 26

have mercy on them — The verse completes the argument: as day and night continue, the LORD will not ‘cast away the seed of Jacob’. 31:37 had put it the other way, ‘If heaven above can be measured… I will also cast off all the seed of Israel’. ‘Have mercy’ is racham, as in 30:18, and in Ezek 39:25, ‘bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel’.