Jeremiah 33

The LORD's message came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the courtyard of the guard.

1Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying,

NoteJeremiah was under arrest in the courtyard of the guard, an open detention area attached to the royal palace in Jerusalem. He had been confined there by King Zedekiah while Babylonian forces besieged the city, around 588–587 BC. "A second time" links this message to the one in the previous chapter, given in the same place.

2This is what the LORD says, the one who made it, the LORD who formed it and set it firmly in place; the LORD is his name:

2Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name;

NoteWhere the King James prints LORD in capital letters, the Hebrew has the personal name of Israel's God, four consonants usually written YHWH and often pronounced "Yahweh." Jewish readers said "Lord" aloud in its place, and English Bibles follow that custom. The line "the LORD is his name" is pointing at that name specifically.

3Call to me, and I will answer you. I will tell you great and hidden things that you do not know.

3Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "hidden" comes from the vocabulary of fortification: things walled off, out of reach, not able to be got at by ordinary means. The sense is not merely "secret" but "inaccessible without being told."

4For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah, which have been torn down because of the siege ramps and swords:

4For 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;

NoteSiege ramps were huge embankments of earth and rubble piled against a city wall so that attackers could climb to the top or bring up battering rams. The defenders of Jerusalem were pulling down their own houses and palaces, either to use the stone and timber to build the wall higher against the ramps, or because the ramps and fighting had wrecked the buildings nearest the wall. The Hebrew is compressed and both readings are defensible.

5The Babylonians are coming to fight, and these places will be filled with the dead bodies of the men I strike down in my anger and my fury. I have turned my face away from this city because of all its wickedness.

5They 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.

Note"The Babylonians" translates "the Chaldeans," the people of southern Mesopotamia who ruled the Babylonian empire; Jeremiah uses the two terms interchangeably. "I have turned my face away" is a standard Hebrew idiom for withdrawing protection and favor, the opposite of the blessing in which God's face shines on someone.

6Even so, I will bring this city health and healing. I will heal its people, and I will show them abundant peace and truth.

6Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.

7I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity, and I will build them up again, the way they were at the start.

7And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.

NoteThe Hebrew phrase translated "bring back from captivity" is idiomatic and can mean either "bring back the captives" or, more broadly, "restore the fortunes." Both senses are live in this chapter, and translators have long split over which to use.

8I will wash them clean of all the wrong they have done against me, and I will forgive every sin they committed when they turned against me.

8And 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.

9Then this city will bring me a name that means joy, praise, and honor in front of every nation on earth, when they hear about all the good I do for it. They will be filled with fear and trembling at all the goodness and well-being I give it.

9And 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.

Note"A name" here means a reputation: what other nations will say about Jerusalem. The "fear and trembling" at the end is awe at something overwhelming, not terror at a threat, the nations are shaken by how good the city's reversal of fortune is.

10This is what the LORD says: You say this place is a wasteland, with no people and no animals in it. But in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are now deserted, with no people, no one living there, and no animals, there will be heard again

10Thus 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,

11the sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, and the voices of people saying, "Give thanks to the LORD of Hosts, for the LORD is good; his faithful love lasts forever." They will bring thank offerings into the house of the LORD. For I will bring the land back from captivity, the way it was at the start, says the LORD.

11The 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.

Note"LORD of Hosts" is a military title: the LORD who commands armies, whether Israel's forces or the heavenly ones. The sentence "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his faithful love lasts forever" was a fixed liturgical refrain, sung at the temple and quoted repeatedly in the Psalms. A thank offering was an animal sacrifice made specifically to acknowledge a rescue or a kindness received; most of the meat was eaten by the worshiper and their guests as a shared meal. "The house of the LORD" is the temple in Jerusalem.

12This is what the LORD of Hosts says: In this place that is empty of people and animals, and in all its towns, there will again be pastures where shepherds let their flocks lie down.

12Thus 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.

13In the towns of the hill country, the towns of the western foothills, the towns of the dry south, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hand of the man who counts them, says the LORD.

13In 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.

NoteThese are the standard regions of Judah, named as a set: the central hill country around Jerusalem and Hebron; the Shephelah, the belt of low foothills sloping west toward the coastal plain; and the Negev, the dry grazing country to the south. Together with Benjamin, the small tribal territory just north of Jerusalem, they amount to "the whole land, everywhere."

14Look, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will carry out the good promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

14Behold, 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.

Note"House of Israel" and "house of Judah" mean the nation or family line, not a building. Israel here is the northern kingdom, destroyed by Assyria over a century before Jeremiah; Judah is the southern kingdom, with Jerusalem as its capital.

15In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch grow up for David, and he will do what is just and right in the land.

15In 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.

Note"Branch" translates a Hebrew word for a green shoot sprouting from a stump or root, the image is of a royal family cut down to a stump and putting out new growth. It had become a near-technical term for a future king in David's line. "Grow up for David" means "descended from David," the dynasty's founder, dead some four centuries by Jeremiah's time.

16In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name she will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.

16In 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.

NoteThe Hebrew name is Yahweh Tsidkenu. In an earlier version of this promise (chapter 23) the name is given to the coming king; here the grammar is feminine and attaches it to Jerusalem, which in Hebrew is spoken of as a woman. The name also plays on Zedekiah, the name of the king then reigning, which means roughly "the LORD is my righteousness."

17For this is what the LORD says: David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel.

17For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;

Note"Never lack a man to sit on the throne" is a Hebrew idiom, literally "a man shall not be cut off for David sitting on the throne", the promise of an unbroken succession of descendants.

18And the priests, who are Levites, will never lack a man to stand before me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to present sacrifices, day after day.

18Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.

NoteThe Levites were the tribe assigned to religious duties; the priests were drawn from within it, and the phrase "the priests, the Levites" is the standard way of naming them. A burnt offering was an animal burned whole on the altar, none of it eaten. A grain offering was flour, oil and incense, of which a token handful was burned and the rest went to the priests. "To stand before me" is the ordinary Hebrew expression for serving in an official position.

19The LORD's message came to Jeremiah:

19And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying,

20This is what the LORD says: If you could break my agreement with the day and my agreement with the night, so that day and night no longer came at their set times,

20Thus 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;

NoteThe word rendered "agreement" is covenant, a formal, binding pact of the kind made between a king and his subjects or between two states, sealed with oaths and obligations on both sides. Applying it to the day and the night casts the regular alternation of daylight and darkness as an unbreakable treaty God has made with creation.

21then my agreement with David my servant could also be broken, so that he would have no son to rule on his throne. And my agreement with the Levites, the priests who serve me, could be broken too.

21Then 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.

22The stars in the sky cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured. In the same way I will multiply the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who serve me.

22As 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.

23The LORD's message came to Jeremiah again:

23Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

24Have you not noticed what these people are saying? They say, "The LORD chose two families, and now he has thrown them away." So they look down on my people and no longer treat them as a nation.

24Considerest 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.

NoteWhich "two families" are meant is disputed and the Hebrew does not say. It may be Israel and Judah, the two kingdoms of the previous verses; it may be the family of David and the family of Levi, the two lines just promised permanence. "Thrown them away" is the language of a rejected contract.

25This is what the LORD says: If I have not made my agreement with day and night, and if I did not set the fixed order of the heavens and the earth,

25Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;

Note"The fixed order" translates a word meaning decrees or statutes, the same word used for laws given to people. The heavens and earth are pictured as running under legislation.

26then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and of David my servant, and I would not take one of his descendants to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But I will bring them back from captivity, and I will have mercy on them.

26Then 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.

NoteJacob, grandson of Abraham and son of Isaac, was renamed Israel; "the descendants of Jacob" and "the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" both mean the nation as a whole, traced back to its founding family.