Jeremiah 33 commentary

JEREMIAH 33 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Promise of Restoration
1 While Jeremiah was still confined in the
courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord
came to him a second time:
CLARKE, "Moreover the word of the Lord - This was in the eleventh year of the
reign of Zedekiah, Jeremiah being still shut up in prison: but he was now in the court of
the prison, where the elders and the king’s officers, etc., might consult him with the
greater ease; for they continued to inquire, foolishly thinking, that if he would but
prophesy good things, that these must come, or that he had sufficient power with God to
induce him to alter his mind, - destroy the Chaldeans, and deliver the city.
GILL, "Moreover the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second
time,.... Not that this was precisely the second time that the word of the Lord came to
the prophet, for it had come to him many more times than those; but this was the second
time on the same occasion and subject; for the subject of this chapter is the same with
that of the former, concerning the Messiah, and the happiness of the church in his times:
(while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison): though the prophet could
not go out from hence, and publish his prophecies, yet the Lord visits him again and
again; and his presence made the prison a palace to him; and though his afflictions,
abounded for the sake of him, his comforts abounded through him; and though he was
bound, the word of the Lord was not; it had a free course, and ran, and was glorified; it
found its way into the prison, and also out of it:
saying: as follows:
HENRY, "Observe here, I. The date of this comfortable prophecy which God
entrusted Jeremiah with. It is not exact in the time, only that it was after that in the
foregoing chapter, when things were still growing worse and worse; it was the second
time. God speaketh once, yea, twice, for the encouragement of his people. We are not
1

only so disobedient that we have need of precept upon precept to bring us to our duty,
but so distrustful that we have need of promise upon promise to bring us to our comfort.
This word, as the former, came to Jeremiah when he was in prison. Note, No
confinement can deprive God's people of his presence; no locks nor bars can shut out his
gracious visits; nay, oftentimes as their afflictions abound their consolations much more
abound, and they have the most reviving communications of his favour when the world
frowns upon them. Paul's sweetest epistles were those that bore date out of a prison.
JAMISON, "Jer_33:1-26. Prophecy of the restoration from Babylon, and of Messiah
as King and Priest.
shut up — (Jer_32:2, Jer_32:3; 2Ti_2:9). Though Jeremiah was shut up in bondage,
the word of God was “not bound.”
K&D, "While Jeremiah was still in confinement in the court of the prison belonging
to the palace (see Jer_32:2), the word of the Lord came to him the second time. This
word of God is attached by ‫ית‬ִ‫נ‬ֵ‫שׁ‬ to the promise of Jer 32. It followed, too, not long,
perhaps, after the other, which it further serves to confirm. - After the command to call
on Him, that He might make known to him great and hidden things (Jer_33:2, Jer_
33:3), the Lord announces that, although Jerusalem shall be destroyed by the
Chaldeans, He shall yet restore it, bring back the captives of Judah and Israel, purify the
city from its iniquities, and make it the glory and praise of all the people of the earth
(Jer_33:4-9), so that in it and in the whole land joy will again prevail (Jer_33:10-13).
Then the Lord promises the restoration of the kingdom through the righteous sprout of
David - of the priesthood, too, and sacrificial worship (Jer_33:14-18); He promises also
the everlasting duration of these two ordinances of grace (Jer_33:19-22), because His
covenant with the seed of Jacob and David shall be as enduring as the natural ordinance
of day and night, and the laws of heaven and earth (Jer_33:23-26). - The promises thus
fall into two parts. First, there is proclaimed the restoration of the people and kingdom
to a new and glorious state of prosperity (Jer_33:4-13); then the re-establishment of the
monarchy and the priesthood to a new and permanent condition (Jer_33:14-26). In the
first part, the promise given in Jer_32:36-44 is further carried out; in the second, the
future form of the kingdom is more plainly depicted.
CALVIN, "This prophecy refers to the same subject; nor was it to be wondered at,
that God spoke so much of the same thing, for it was necessary to render the Jews
inexcusable, as they always pretended ignorance, except God made frequent
repetitions. And this was also the reason why Paul said, that by the mouth of two or
three witnesses everything should be established, when he said that he would come
the second and the third time to Corinth. (2 Corinthians 13:1) He intimated that his
coming would not be useless, for except they repented they could not have escaped
by pretending ignorance, as hypocrites are wont to do. It was, then, God’s purpose
to confirm by many prophecies what he had once testified respecting the restoration
of the people; but he had an especial care for the faithful, that they might not grow
faint and succumb under those many trials which remained for so long a time; for
2

as some died in exile, they might have forgotten the covenant of God, and thus the
soul might have perished with the body. And those who were to return to their own
country had need of no common support, so that they might continue firm for
seventy years, and rely with confidence on God’s mercy. We now, then, understand
why God repeated the doctrine as to the return of the people.
It is said that the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah while he was yet in prison
Then the Prophet was bidden to consult the benefit of his enemies, and to promote
their welfare, however unworthy they were through their ingratitude; for though
they had not all demanded his death, yet the greater part of them had clamorously
condemned him, and he had been with difficulty delivered, and was now lying in
prison. It was a great cruelty that the people, while he was faithfully discharging his
prophetic office, should thus furiously rage against him. He is, however, bidden still
to proceed in the duties of his office, to comfort them, to ease their grief, and to
afford them some alleviation in their evils and miseries.
There is also no doubt but that it was profitable to Jeremiah himself; for it was a
most iniquitous reward, that he should, while serving God faithfully and
conscientiously, be cast ignominiously into prison, and be there kept a captive so
long. It was, then, some mitigation of his grief, that God appeared to him in that
very prison; it was an evidence that God esteemed him higher than all the Jews. God
did not then speak in the Temple, nor throughout the whole city. The prison then
was God’s sanctuary, and there he gave responses to his Prophet, though he was
wont to do this before from the mercy-seat, from the ark of the covenant. We hence
see how great was the honor that God was pleased at that time to bestow in a
manner on a prison, when he had forsaken his own Temple.
Now follows the prophecy, the substance of which is, that though the city was to be
given up into the hand of the king of Babylon, yet that calamity was not to be
perpetual, for God at length, after the completion of seventy years, would restore it.
But why this promise was given has been stated already: it was given that the
faithful might submit patiently to God, and suffer themselves with calm minds to be
chastised, and also recumb on the hope the promise gave them, and thus feel
assured, that as they were smitten by God’s hand, their punishment would prove
their medicine and an aid to their salvation. Now, then, we perceive what this
prophecy is, and also for what purpose it was delivered.
COFFMAN, "Verse 1
JEREMIAH 33
THE RIGHTEOUS BRANCH; THE MESSIAH
Much of this chapter is challenged by the critics who point out that Jeremiah
33:14-26 are missing from the LXX, and that the apparent prophecies of the endless
succession of a Davidic line of kings and a restoration and perpetual continuity of
3

the Levitical priesthood with its countless sacrifices are totally contrary to other
prophecies given through Jeremiah.
Jeremiah did indeed prophesy the final end of the Davidic line of kings in Jeremiah
22:30, where Coniah was designated as the very last of the Davidic succession; and
he also prophesied the termination of the whole Levitical system in Jeremiah 3:16.
Furthermore, the New Testament emphatically teaches that, "No king of the family
of David shall reign, except the Messiah, and that the seat of his government is not
an earthly, but a heavenly throne (Luke 1:23,33; Psalms 89:37 KJV)."[1]
Likewise, regarding any such literal priesthood as that of the Levites, the New
Testament is equally emphatic. "The Levitical services have been forever abrogated
by the unchanging and unceasing priesthood of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 7:12-28)."[2]
The problem, then, is what to do with the apparent contradiction of such undeniable
and eternal truth by the seeming affirmation in this chapter of a new line of Davidic
monarchs on the throne in Jerusalem, and a permanent reestablishing of the
Levitical priesthood after the return from the captivity.
There are two ways to solve the problem: (1) deny the authenticity of the chapter
and credit it as a commentary not written by Jeremiah, but by someone else
afterward, or (2) take the passage as a type of Messianic blessings, written in
terminology that would have encouraged the returnees from Babylon. To this writer
(2) is by far the preferable solution. The following exposition by Payne Smith, which
is given in full under Jeremiah 33:17-18, below, follows this path of explanation,
which we believe to be correct. The fact of the whole chapter's being absolutely
Messianic supports this view.
The chapter falls into these divisions: the siege of Jerusalem actually in progress
(Jeremiah 33:1-5); the destruction of the city and the ensuing captivity will not
nullify God's ultimate forgiveness and blessing (Jeremiah 33:6-9); future blessings
enumerated (Jeremiah 33:10,11); more blessings recounted (Jeremiah 33:12,13); the
promise of the Messiah, the Righteous Branch, and apparently, the restoration of a
Davidic monarch upon the earthly throne, and the perpetual restoration of the
Levitical priesthood (Jeremiah 33:14-18); the infinite multiplication of the seed of
David and of the Levitical priests (Jeremiah 33:19-22); the perpetual nature of the
promise to David and to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Jeremiah
33:23-24).
Jeremiah 33:1-5
THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM IN PROGRESS
"Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was
yet shut up in the court of the guard, saying, Thus saith Jehovah that doeth it, that
4

formeth it to establish it; Jehovah is his name: Call unto me, and I will answer thee,
and will show thee great things, and difficult, which thou knowest not. For thus
saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning
the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to make a defense against
the mounds and against the sword; while men come to fight with the Chaldeans, and
to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my
wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hidden my face from in this city:"
"Jehovah that doeth it ..." (Jeremiah 33:2). Some have supposed this to be a
reference to the Creation; but it appears more logical to see it as a reference to the
destruction of Jerusalem then in progress.
"Houses which are broken down ..." (Jeremiah 33:4). Due to difficulties in the text,
some have supposed the destruction here to be connected with the demolition of
houses by the army of the invaders; but our translation indicates that the houses
were destroyed to provide materials for the erection of mantelets (Nahum 2:5) or
mounds with which to oppose the invading Babylonians. We do not see the
difference as a problem, because houses were in all probability destroyed by both
the defenders and the invaders. Thus the text is true no matter which translation is
used; it is true both ways.
"To fill them with the dead bodies of men ..." (Jeremiah 33:5). This was due to the
fact of there being no time to bury the dead. All of the houses emptied of their
residents due to military operations, whether of the defenders or the invaders, were
used to stack the dead. The passage, due to textual uncertainties, "remains
enigmatical."[3]
WHEDON, "Verse 1
1. While he — Jeremiah.
Was yet shut up — Implying the close connexion of this chapter with the preceding.
Verses 1-7
THE MESSAGE TO ZEDEKIAH ANNOUNCING THE FUTILITY OF
RESISTANCE, 1-7.
The time when this prophecy was spoken must have been near the beginning of the
siege; for —
a. Jeremiah was not in confinement. “Go and speak,” Jeremiah 33:2.
b. Lachish and Azekah were not captured, Jeremiah 33:7.
It would seem then that the first seven verses of this chapter cannot be simply a
repetition in a more extended form of Jeremiah 33:3-5 of chap. 32, but should
5

rather be classed with chap. 21, and were intended as a warning to King Zedekiah
of the fruitlessness of all attempts to drive away the Chaldeans. The very full and
formal introduction in Jeremiah 33:1, and the character of the contents, alike
favour this view.
COKE, "Introduction
CHAP. XXXIII.
God promiseth to the captivity a gracious return, a joyful state, a settled
government, Christ, the branch of righteousness, a continuance of kingdom and
priesthood, and a stability of a blessed seed.
Before Christ 589.
THIS chapter contains a prophesy, which, though applicable in some parts to the
restoration of the Jews from Babylon, cannot however be so understood upon the
whole, for reasons already touched upon in the introductory note to chap. 30: and
which hold equally good in the present instance. God reveals his gracious purpose of
healing the wounds of Jerusalem, restoring the captivity both of Israel and Judah,
forgiving their sins, and distinguishing them with such blessings, as to strike the
astonished nations with fear and trembling, Jeremiah 32:1-9. He foretels, that the
land, whose desolation they deplored, should again flourish with multitudes both of
men and cattle; Jeremiah 32:10-13. He confirms his former promise of establishing
a kingdom of righteousness in a branch of the house of David, and rendering it
perpetual, together with the priesthood of the sons of Levi; Jeremiah 32:14-18. He
declares his covenant in this respect with David and the Levites to be as sure as the
covenant of night and day; Jeremiah 32:19-22. And to remove the reproach of
having cast off those families, whom he had once distinguished by his choice, he
renews his protestations of restoring the seed of Jacob, and of appointing the seed of
David to rule over them for ever; Jeremiah 32:23—to the end.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 33:1 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,
Ver. 1. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time.] To the
same purpose with the former, [Jeremiah 32:1] which is reckoned his fourteenth
sermon, as this his fifteenth; by both we see that "the word of God is not bound,"
though the preacher may; [2 Timothy 2:9] "It runs and is glorified," is free and not
fettered. [2 Thessalonians 3:1]
While he was yet shut up.] God forsaketh not his prisoners, but giveth them oft
extraordinary comforts. Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, being a long time held prisoner
by Charles V for the defence of the gospel, was demanded what upheld him all that
time? he answered, Divinas martyrum consolationes se sensisse, that he felt in his
soul the divine consolations of martyrs, in whom as the afflictions of Christ do
6

abound, so do comforts by Christ abound much more. [2 Corinthians 1:5]
ELLICOTT, " (1-3) The second time, while he was yet shut up.—The discourse that
follows belongs to the same period as the preceding chapter, and presents the same
general characteristics. Its connexion with the operations of the siege to which
Jerusalem was exposed will be traced in Jeremiah 33:4. As with other prophecies, its
starting-point is found in the thought of the majesty of the attributes of God.
Great and mighty things.—The two adjectives occur in the same combination in
Deuteronomy 1:28; Deuteronomy 9:1, and this fact is in favour of the rendering
“mighty” rather than “hidden,” as in the margin of the A.V.
PARKER, " The Method of Divine Procedure
Jeremiah 33:1-8
Where was the prophet when the word of the Lord came unto him? He was in a
good hearing place. He was "shut up in the court of the prison." He was shut up
unjustly, and therefore it was no prison to him, but a sanctuary, with God"s altar
visibly in it, and God himself irradiating the altar with a light above the brightness
of the sun. How hardly shall they that have riches hear the gospel! Their ears are
already filled; their attention is already occupied; their hearts are fat to grossness.
What keen ears poverty has! What eyes the blind man has!—inner eyes, eyes of
expectation. How the man with those inner eyes looks for the Healer, the Son of
David! His poor blind bodily eyes are rolling without seeing the sun, or any of the
sun"s creations of beauty, but his inward eyes are keeping steadfast watch, for he
says within himself, At any moment the Opener of the eyes of the blind may draw
nigh. We should have had no world worth living in but for the prison, the darkness,
the trouble, the blindness, the sorrow, which have constituted such precious
elements in our lot. There would have been no poetry written if there had been no
sorrow. The poetry of what we call joy is flippant, frivolous, a jingle of words,
without soul, without agony, without that shadow of melancholy which makes even
joy itself a higher gladness. No man who comes into God"s house with a sense of
prosperity and comfort and self-sufficiency can hear any gospel. It was not made for
him; he is a blind man going to a place that is constituted into a sanctuary of colour
and beauty. The wonder is why he went to the place; some motive must have
operated within him that was unworthy of the occasion. God never spread a feast
for the rich; whenever a rich man came near him he frowned at him; he said he
could not enter with his bags of gold in his hands, he must lay them down and then
come in. Jeremiah heard more in the prison than he ever heard in the palace. God
knows where his children are.
There are a thousand prisons in life. We must riot narrow words into their lowest
meanings, but enlarge them into their broadest significance. He is in prison who is
in trouble, who is in fear, who is in conscious penitence without having received the
complete assurance of pardon; he is in prison who has sold his liberty, is lying under
7

condemnation, secret or open; and he is in prison who has lost his first love, his
early enthusiasm that was loaded with dew like a flower in the morning. Whatever
our prison Isaiah , God knows it, can find us, can send a word of his own directly to
us, and can make us forget outward circumstances in inward content and peace and
joy. Jeremiah was in prison a second time. Fools never learn wisdom; for the people
who had shut up Jeremiah before had found that you cannot really imprison a good
man. His influence increases by the opposition which is hurled against him;
goodness turns hostility into nutrition. Who can put a prophet of the Lord into such
a prison as Jeremiah was thought to be occupying? You can put his body there, but
his soul is swinging around the horizon, and his heart is already among the singing
angels, and the all-blessing, all-condescending God. Why live in the body? Why
subject ourselves to any possibility of slavery? Why lay such clutching hands upon
anything that it would be a sorrow to part with it? A great Prayer of Manasseh ,
having lost all that he had in the world, said: "The money is gone, but the treasure
abides." Jeremiah might say: "The liberty of the body is gone for a moment, but I
can pierce my way through all doors and bars and walls, though they be as rocks,
and I can be enjoying communion with God on the top of the mountains." You
cannot imprison the soul. But a man may lose the liberty of his spirit; he may sell
himself to the enemy; when he gives up the keys of his soul he is already in
perdition. Let no man say that he cannot hear God"s word because he is in prison,
in darkness, in trouble, because he is in great fear. The word of the Lord to you
Isaiah , Fear God, and have no other fear; look up, and hope steadfastly in God. The
gaoler thinks he has laid you under his lock and key: poor fool! his lock and key are
straw, and smoke, and spider"s web. If that soul be with God, no matter where the
body is.
Who is it that permits his servants to go to prison? By what name does he call
himself? What is the descriptive clause in this great trust-deed of the Church?
"Thus saith the Lord the Maker thereof, the Lord that formed it, to establish it; The
Lord is his name" ( Jeremiah 33:2).
How often do we say, Why does God permit this and that to occur, when it is so
painful, humiliating, and distressful altogether? We had better not ask the question,
for we could not understand the answer. Life is not a measurable quantity. No man
can tell when life began; none can calculate when life will end; and all through it is a
mystery of pulsation, of joy and agony, of trouble that falls towards despair, and
gladness that aspires towards the celestial rest. It is all for our good; we do not know
it, and we cannot see it, and we are not yet prepared to believe it; all history,
however, is on one side, and that is on the side of the vindication of divine
providence. Man after man rises from the boiling flood, saying: It was good for me
that I was afflicted; I never understood human life until I was plunged into this
sorrow; I lived a poor, little, narrow, selfish life, because I lived within the area of
my own pharisaic respectability, and never knew what it was to be almost scorched
to death at the very mouth of the pit of hell. Commend me to a man who has made
mistakes, fallen seven times a day, and hurt himself in every muscle and in every
8

pulsation, and who, out of it all, has come a chastened and sanctified man: how soft
his speech, how kind his look, how like a touch of almightiness the out-putting of his
hand! We need such men in society. We can do without the Pharisee: we cannot do
without the publican"s prayer.
Who distresses us? God. Who comes in the night-time and takes away from us
everything we have in the house? God. Who turns our purposes upside down, and
blows them away like smoke in a high wind? God. It is the Lord; let him do what
seemeth good in his sight. But "take not thy Holy Spirit from us." That is the only
withdrawment that can make a man for ever poor. If we imagine that this world is a
complete little place in itself, having four corners of its own, and that within those
four corners the game or trick of life begins, continues, and ends, then it will be
impossible for us to be other than downcast, moping, melancholy; but if we believe
that this little earth is part of a great household of worlds, that there are filaments
connecting all the spaces with one centre, ligaments of light and most sensitive,
though invisible life, binding into one unity the whole scheme and purpose of God,
then we shall have a sky over our earth, a sky with a sovereign sun all day, and stars
struggling to tell us their secret music by night. What is the kind of world we live in?
Is it a world of God"s forming or a world of our own imagining? Are the stars held
by a hand equal to the occasion, or may they at any moment fall down and crush the
under worlds? Let us live in a universe that is centralised by the throne of the living
God, and then whatever happens will be to our profit, not immediately and visibly
always, but in the end invariably and constantly. Let all history start up from its
grave and declare this with thunder voice, if it fall back again into its sleep. Such a
testimony will awaken the world and cheer the Church. Let it be known then, now
and evermore, that it is the Lord that allows his prophets to go to prison, that sits
and looks at gaolers locking them up, and that comes down at the right moment to
liberate them and give their word boundless enlargement.
On what conditions does the Lord grant fuller revelations of himself? The answer is
in the third verse:—
"Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things,
which thou knowest not." ( Jeremiah 33:3)
He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. The condition
Isaiah , "Call unto me": recognise my existence, rely upon me, lift up thy voice in
prayer, pray without ceasing; do not pray to thyself, for thou art an empty fountain,
but pray to me, for it is in answer to prayer that I enlarge and brighten my
revelations to mankind. What is this calling unto God? Is it a verbal exercise? Is it a
mere act of exclamation? Nothing can be further from the meaning. It is a call that
issues from the heart; it is the call of need, it is the cry of pain, it is the agony of
desire, it is enclosure with God in profound and loving communion. If we have
received no answers, it is because we have offered no prayers. "Ye have not because
ye ask not, or because ye ask amiss,"—you have been praying obliquely instead of
directly; you have been vexing yourselves with circumlocution when your words
9

ought to have been direct appeals, sharp, short, urgent appeals to Heaven: to such
appeals God sends down richness of dew, wealth of blessing, morning brighter than
noonday. God will show his people "great and mighty things." For "mighty" the
margin reads "hidden": the change is not for the better. "Great and mighty
things": when does God show his children little and impotent visions? The words
great and mighty, noble and glorious, belong to the administration of God. There is
nothing little. The bird in the heavens upon its trembling wing is only little to us, it
is not little to God. He counts the drops of dew, he puts our tears into his bottle, he
numbers our sighs, and as for our groans, he distinguishes one from the other; these
are not little things to him, they are only little to our ignorance, and folly, and
superficiality. We have betaken ourselves to the foolish exercise of measuring things,
and setting them down in inches and in feet, in furlongs and in acres, in leagues and
in miles; but God looks at souls, faces, lives, destinies, and the least child in the
world he rocks to sleep, and wakes in the morning, as if he had not else to do; it is
the stoop of Fatherhood, it is the mystery of the Cross. As to these continual
Revelation , they ought to be possible. God is infinite and eternal, man is finite and
transient in all his earthly relationships; it would be strange if God had told man
everything he has to tell him, it would be the miracle of miracles that God had
exhausted himself in one effort, it would be incredible that the eternal God had
crushed into the moment which we call time every thought that makes him God.
Greater things than these shall ye do; when Hebrews , the Paraclete, is come, he will
guide you into all truth; grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ; add to your faith, until you scaffold yourselves up into brotherly love and
charity, for from that pinnacle the next step is right into heaven.
There is a sense in which revelation is final, and there is also a sense in which
revelation is progressive. The root is final, viewed from one point, and yet it is ever
increasing, viewed from another. What flowers there are by intermixture and inter-
blending; what colours yet lie to be discovered by the eyes of art; what mysteries
there are even in occasions and instances which we think are exhausted. There is an
originality of combination, as well as an originality of creation. He who can readapt
Isaiah , in a sense, a creator. That is what is left for human genius under divine
direction to do—not to write a new Bible, not to build a new Golgotha, but to search
into hidden meanings and seize the vaster aspects and larger implications of facts,
that they may become helpers to a truer conception of the majesty and love of God.
Enlarging Revelation , in this sense, is essential to the continued vitality and power
of the Church. When the Church becomes a mechanical repeater of its own dogmas
it ceases to have power. There is a genius of absorption, there is an inspiration
which belongs to the appropriation of commonplaces, and a turning of these
commonplaces into the very bread and water of life. Herein the Bible stands apart
from all other books. It can be read many times, and at the close of the last perusal
it asks the guests to come again, for the feast has but begun. There are men to whom
no revelation can be granted; there are rooms in our dwelling-places the sun cannot
get at. The sun is larger than any house we can build, yet the smallest building we
can put up may shut out the sun. An eyelid can exclude the noontide. The question
Isaiah , Are we in need of further revelation? Do we call for it? We may call for it
10

speculatively, and no answer will be given; we may ask for it for the sake of mere
intellectual delectation, and the heavens will be dumb and frowning: but if we try to
outgrow God, then we shall know what God is in reality; he challenges the sacred
rivalry, he appeals to our emulation to follow him and study him, and try to
comprehend him; and then how like a horizon he Isaiah , for we think we can touch
him in yonder top, but having climbed the steep the horizon is still beyond. To
cleverness God has nothing to say; to vanity he is scornfully inhospitable; but to the
broken heart, to the contrite spirit and the willing mind, to filial, tender, devout
obedience, he will give himself in infinite and continual donation: "To this man will
I look, for I see my own image in him, my own purpose is vitalised in his
experience—the man who is of a humble and contrite heart, and who trembleth at
my word, not in servility, but in rapture and wonder at its grandeur and
tenderness."
Why does God hide his face? Will he tell us the explanation of the cloud in which his
countenance is enveloped? Even this condescension shall not be larger than the love
of God. In this very paragraph God tells the reason why he hides his face. It is the
unchangeable reason. This moral action that proceeds through the Bible never
changes. Men can wrestle with the history of the Bible, and prove their futile
cleverness in the rearrangement of things which need not be Revelation -arranged;
but they find everywhere that the knife of criticism comes upon the nerve of
immoral purpose; and there, if criticism be reverent, it begins to pray. What is the
Lord"s account of his having retired from his people, and from the city of his
choice?
"For all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city" ( Jeremiah 33:5).
Nothing but wickedness can drive him away. He never left any man"s house, saying,
This place is too poor for me; he never gave up any blind Prayer of Manasseh ,
saying, I only enjoy the companionship of those who can behold and admire the
wonders of nature; he never dropped a little child because it was too heavy a burden
for him to carry; he never abandoned the sick-chamber because he loved sunnier
places, where flowers bloomed and birds sang. He would never partake of the meal
of wickedness, he would never sup with the devil. Here comes the greatest cloud of
mystery that ever settled upon human life. Here it would be easy to be indignant,
reproachful, and disastrously critical upon one another; but let the strongest man
forbear, let the mightiest brother amongst us prove his brotherhood by his
forbearance; let those who are little and mean use their critical hatchets—presently,
blessed be God, they will lop off their own hands. Every man must enter into this
cloud, and find his own confession-chamber within its darkness. Have I been
wicked? After what manner has my wickedness run? Have I been unjust,
oppressive, untrue, selfish? Have I turned away from God secretly whilst yet
spreading still more broadly to the public gaze the banner of a nominal profession?
Have I kept back the wages from the hireling? Am I carrying money to which I have
no right in honesty? Have I been indolent, unfaithful, dishonourable? Have I kept
the word of promise to the ear, and broken it to the heart? Why this darkness? Why
11

this cloud that will not lift? Why these eyes that cannot see? Why this hell-pool that
bubbles at my feet? God be merciful to me a sinner!
Do not let us reproach one another. You can see where I might have been wise:
perhaps, in some moment of more or less unconscious vanity, I may imagine I can
see where you might have been wise. We need no such criticism. It is the play of bad
men; it is the trick of wicked spirits. Every man knows his own heart, and is
carrying a burden of sin, and has to put up with a spectre that looks at him through
the darkness of night. Let him that is without sin cast the first stone; let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. We have seen many such fall, and no
man has pitied the critic when he fell. But will God be overthrown by wickedness?
Never! "Where sin aboundeth, grace doth much more abound." Grammar cannot
explain that text; you cannot parse it into its true significance; the heart must feel it
by a sudden inspiration. God"s "much more" is a line that angels cannot measure.
We must forecast the future as God sees it. There are prophecies in the New
Testament as well as in the Old, and all these prophecies set Christ upon the
uppermost seat. The outlook of the New Testament is an outlook of brightness for
the nations. They shall come from the east and from the west, from the north and
from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God; all nations shall call the
Redeemer blessed; he shall reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet; the last
enemy that shall be destroyed is Death. None rose in the old dispensation to struggle
with that monster; he was accepted as a necessity, his action had been reduced to a
law of nature: but the Lion of the tribe of Judah will wrestle with Death and
overthrow him. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death; he shall be dashed
to pieces like a potter"s vessel. So wickedness shall not overbear and destroy the
goodness of God. The Lord Jesus Christ has undertaken to deal with sin. He fights
sin with a Cross, he fights death with death, but with death that involves
resurrection. Viewed in one aspect, the history of the world is the history of a
tragedy; the catastrophe of it is a pit and a second death: but viewed from the Cross
of Christ, life leads to life, and the higher life to life higher still, and the highest life
dies into immortality. Take great views of God"s government; do not be puzzled
and persecuted by changing details, but get such a grasp of life as will enable you to
command details into life, each occupying its own point in an infinite series; and
through that process you will find rest, dawning heaven, assured immortality.
Will God undertake to pass from wickedness to goodness? Can he work any
miracles here? Why, it is within the darkness of wickedness that God works his
greatest miracles.
"Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto
them the abundance of peace and truth" ( Jeremiah 33:6).
There are no greater words in all human language than "health," "cure," "peace,"
"truth." There is nothing here about gem and gold and stones hiding the shadows of
night within the glories of midday; but here is health, here is cure, here is peace,
here is truth, and these are the gifts of God. "I will bring it." He is as a man who has
12

gone to bring something for the comfort of his household. There is no figure
suggestive of humility that God does not adopt to represent the action of his
omniscience, the condescension of his pity. This is a sovereign Acts , this is the
mystery of grace, this is the kingdom of God, that the King himself should serve,
should go on an errand to bring health, and cure, and peace, and truth. This is the
voice of the Son of God: I go to prepare a place for you; I go to prepare, to make
ready against the time of your coming: and, see, if there be aught wrong in the
house, the blame will be mine; if there be aught wanting in the palace, blame me: I
go to prepare a place for you; if the roof be not tempest-proof, blame me for the
destroying flood; if there be not light enough in the palace, blame me for not making
sufficient arrangements for the flooding of the house with glory; if the pillow of your
rest has a thorn in it, charge the existence of that thorn upon my cruelty: I go to
prepare a place for you, and if I go away I will come again and receive you unto
myself; that where I Amos , there may ye be also. God will "bring," Christ will
"prepare," the Holy Spirit will "lead," and thus the whole Trinity may be said to be
engaged in the service of man.
A grand evangelical declaration succeeds and closes this preliminary statement:—
"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" ( Jeremiah 33:8).
PETT, "Verses 1-3
To A Doubting And Troubled Jeremiah YHWH Promises To Reveal The Glorious
But Seemingly Impossible Future, Which Will Be Brought About By His Creative
Power Following The Current Storm (Jeremiah 33:1-3).
Jeremiah 33:1
‘Moreover the word of YHWH came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet
shut up in the court of the guard, saying,’
The need for a ‘second word’ suggests that YHWH is aware of Jeremiah’s confusion
as the siege gets even more severe. Situated as he was he had had plenty of time to
puzzle over what appeared to be an impossible situation. Who had ever heard of a
nation being destroyed and exiled from its land, only to be restored in all its former
grandeur?
PETT, "Verses 1-26
Sub-Part B. YHWH Promises The Restoration Of The Davidic Monarchy And The
Levitical Priesthood (Jeremiah 33:1-26).
The passage commences with, ‘Moreover the word of YHWH came to Jeremiah the
13

second time --’, as it had the first (Jeremiah 32:1). Despite the fact of the devastation
that is shortly to come on besieged Jerusalem, YHWH promises to Jeremiah that
one day He will restore His people, settle them securely in the land, and will restore
the Davidic kingship and the Levitical priesthood in accordance with His covenants
made with them (Jeremiah 33:1-26).
The initial promise to show these things to Jeremiah suggests that in his prison in
the court of the guard, with news coming to him of the city’s sufferings under the
siege, he was struggling in his soul concerning the situation, and trying to come to
terms with what was involved in all that YHWH had said. YHWH thus comes to
give certainty to His loyal servant, the certainty that he seeks.
The passage is divided up by divisional markers:
· The first part is divided up by ‘Thus says YHWH --.’ Jeremiah 33:2; Jeremiah
33:10; Jeremiah 33:12.
· The second part commences with ‘Behold the days are coming --’ (Jeremiah 33:14,
compare Jeremiah 31:27; Jeremiah 31:31; Jeremiah 31:38), and is then divided up
by ‘in those days’ (Jeremiah 33:15-16), ‘and thus says YHWH’ (Jeremiah 33:16),
‘and the word of YHWH c
ame to Jeremiah saying, -- thus says YHWH’ (Jeremiah 33:19-20 a; 23, 25a).
BI 11-9, "While Jeremiah was still in confinement in the court of the prison belonging
to the palace (see Jer_32:2), the word of the Lord came to him the second time. This
word of God is attached by ‫ית‬ִ‫נ‬ֵ‫שׁ‬ to the promise of Jer 32. It followed, too, not long,
perhaps, after the other, which it further serves to confirm. - After the command to call
on Him, that He might make known to him great and hidden things (Jer_33:2, Jer_
33:3), the Lord announces that, although Jerusalem shall be destroyed by the
Chaldeans, He shall yet restore it, bring back the captives of Judah and Israel, purify the
city from its iniquities, and make it the glory and praise of all the people of the earth
(Jer_33:4-9), so that in it and in the whole land joy will again prevail (Jer_33:10-13).
Then the Lord promises the restoration of the kingdom through the righteous sprout of
David - of the priesthood, too, and sacrificial worship (Jer_33:14-18); He promises also
the everlasting duration of these two ordinances of grace (Jer_33:19-22), because His
covenant with the seed of Jacob and David shall be as enduring as the natural ordinance
of day and night, and the laws of heaven and earth (Jer_33:23-26). - The promises thus
fall into two parts. First, there is proclaimed the restoration of the people and kingdom
to a new and glorious state of prosperity (Jer_33:4-13); then the re-establishment of the
monarchy and the priesthood to a new and permanent condition (Jer_33:14-26). In the
first part, the promise given in Jer_32:36-44 is further carried out; in the second, the
future form of the kingdom is more plainly depicted.
14

2 “This is what the Lord says, he who made the
earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—
the Lord is his name:
BARNES, "Or, Thus saith Yahweh the doer of it, Yahweh who formeth it, that He
may establish it, Yahweh is His name. The word “it” means whatsoever Yahweh wills.
CLARKE, "Thus saith the Lord the Maker thereof - ‫עשה‬ osah, the doer of it.
That is, he who is to perform that which he is now about to promise.
Thus translated by Dahler. -
Voici ce que dit l’Eternel, qui fait ce qu’il a dit. -
“Thus saith the Lord, who doth that which he hath said.”
The word Jehovah, not Lord, should be used in all such places as this.
GILL, "Thus saith the Lord, the Maker thereof,.... The Syriac version is, "that
made thee"; the prophet. The Septuagint and Arabic versions are, "the Maker of the
earth"; see Jer_32:17. Kimchi interprets it of Jerusalem; rather it is to be understood of
the New Jerusalem, or church of God in Gospel times. Jarchi seems to understand it of
this prophecy or promise, and so others; the promise of restoring and rebuilding
Jerusalem; which, if taken of the church of God, may be admitted;
the Lord that formed it, to establish it; who drew the scheme and model of this
spiritual building, his church, in his eternal mind, and resolved upon its stability and
glory; who forms it, and everyone in it, for himself, and for his praise, in order to
establish it in the world; as it will be more especially in the latter day: we often read of
the Lord's establishing his church and people in the world, Psa_48:8;
the Lord is his name; Jehovah, the self-existing Being, the Being of beings; who is
able to perform whatever he undertakes, and so is equal to this work, of settling and
establishing his interest.
HENRY, "II. The prophecy itself. A great deal of comfort is wrapped up in it for the
relief of the captives, to keep them from sinking into despair. Observe,
15

1. Who it is that secures this comfort to them (Jer_33:2): It is the Lord, the maker
thereof, the Lord that framed it, He is the maker and former of heaven and earth, and
therefore has all power in his hands; so it refers to Jeremiah's prayer, Jer_32:17. He is
the maker and former of Jerusalem, of Zion, built them at first, and therefore can
rebuild them - built them for his own praise, and therefore will. He formed it, to
establish it, and therefore it shall be established till those things be introduced which
cannot be shaken, but shall remain for ever. He is the maker and former of this promise;
he has laid the scheme for Jerusalem's restoration, and he that has formed it will
establish it, he that has made the promise will make it good; for Jehovah is his name, a
God giving being to his promises by the performance of them, and when he does this he
is known by that name (Exo_6:3), a perfecting God. When the heavens and the earth
were finished, then, and not till then, the creator is called Jehovah, Gen_2:4.
JAMISON, "maker thereof — rather, “the doer of it,” namely, that which Jeremiah
is about to prophesy, the restoration of Israel, an act which is thought now impossible,
but which the Almighty will effect.
formed it — namely, Jerusalem (Jer_32:44) [Calvin]. Rather, “that formed,” that is,
moulds His purpose into due shape for execution (Isa_37:26).
Lord ... his name — (Exo_3:14, Exo_3:15).
K&D, "Introduction. - Jer_33:2. "Thus saith Jahveh who makes it, Jahveh who
forms it in order to establish it, Jahveh is His name: Jer_33:3. Call on me and I will
answer thee, and tell thee great and hidden things which thou knowest not." The
reference of the suffixes in ‫הּ‬ָ‫שׂ‬ֹ‫,ע‬ ‫הּ‬ ָ‫ת‬ ‫,א‬ and ‫ָהּ‬‫נ‬‫י‬ ִ‫כ‬ֲ‫ה‬ is evident from the contents of the
propositions: the Lord does what He says, and forms what He wants to make, in order to
accomplish it, i.e., He completes what He has spoken and determined on. ‫ר‬ַ‫ָצ‬‫י‬, to frame,
namely, in the mind, as if to think out, just as in Jer_18:11 : the expression is parallel
with ‫ב‬ַ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫;ח‬ in this sense also we find Isa_46:11. ‫ין‬ ִ‫כ‬ ֵ‫,ה‬ to establish, realize what has been
determined on, prepare, is also found in Isa_9:6; Isa_40:20, but more frequently in
Jeremiah (Jer_10:12; Jer_51:12, Jer_51:15), and pretty often in the Old Testament
generally. On the phrase "Jahveh is His name," cf. Jer_31:35. The idea contained in Jer_
33:2 reminds us of similar expressions of Isaiah, as in Isa_22:11; Isa_37:26; Isa_46:11,
etc.; but this similarity offers no foundation for the doubts of Movers and Hitzig
regarding the genuineness of this verse. The same holds as regards Jer_33:3. The first
proposition occurs frequently in the Psalms, e.g., Jer_4:4; Jer_28:1; Jer_30:9, also in
Jer_7:27; Jer_11:14; but ‫א‬ ָ‫ת‬ ָ‫ק‬ with ‫ל‬ ֶ‫א‬ is unusual in Isaiah. The words ‫ת‬ ‫ר‬ֻ‫צ‬ ְ‫בּ‬ ‫ֹא‬‫ל‬ are
certainly an imitation of ‫ת‬ ‫ר‬ֻ‫צ‬ְ‫נ‬ ‫ֹא‬‫ל‬ ְ‫ו‬ ‫ם‬ ָ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ע‬ ַ‫ד‬ְ‫,י‬ Isa_48:6; but they are modified, in the
manner peculiar to Jeremiah, by the change of ‫נצרות‬ into ‫.בצרות‬ The combination
‫ת‬ ‫ֹל‬‫ד‬ְ‫גּ‬ ‫ת‬ ‫ר‬ֻ‫צ‬ ְ‫וּב‬ noit is elsewhere used only of the strong cities of the Canaanites, Deu_
1:28; Deu_9:1; Jos_14:12, cf. Num_13:28; here ‫ת‬ ‫ר‬ֻ‫צ‬ ְ‫בּ‬ is transferred to things which lie
beyond the limits of human power to discover, and become known to men only through
divine revelation. There is no good reason for Ewald's change of ‫בצרות‬ in accordance
with Isa_48:6. - On the contents of these verses Hengstenberg remarks: "It may seem
strange that, though in the opening part the prophet is promised a revelation of greater,
unknown things, for which he is to call on God, yet the succeeding announcement
16

contains scarcely anything remarkable or peculiar." Graf also adds the remark of Hitzig,
that the command to pray, addressed to Jeremiah, cannot have the effect of keeping us
from the conclusion that the verses are an addition by a later hand. Nägelsbach replies
that the mode of expression presents nothing specially unlike Jeremiah, and that what is
most calculated to give the impression of being unlike Jeremiah's, namely, this
introduction in itself, and especially the peculiar turn of Jer_33:3, "Call unto me," etc., is
occasioned by the prayer of the prophet, Jer_32:16-25. To this prayer the prophet had
received an answer, Jer_32:36-44; but he is here admonished to approach the Lord
more frequently with such a request. The God who has the power to execute as well as
make decrees is quite prepared to give him an insight into His great thoughts regarding
the future; and of this a proof is at once given. Thus, Jer_33:1-3 must be viewed as the
connecting link between Jer 32; 33.
Yet these remarks are not sufficient to silence the objections set forth against the
genuineness of Jer_33:2, Jer_33:3; for the specializing title of our chapter, in Jer_33:1,
is opposed to the close connection which Nägelsbach maintains between Jer 32; 33. The
fact that, in Jer 32, Jeremiah addresses the Lord in prayer for further revelation
regarding the purchase of the field, as commanded, and that he receives the information
he desired regarding it, gives no occasion for warning to the prophet, to betake himself
more frequently to God for disclosures regarding His purposes of salvation. And
Nägelsbach has quite evaded the objection that Jeremiah does not obey the injunction.
Moreover, the succeeding revelation made in vv. 4-26 is not of the nature of a "proof,"
for it does not contain a single great leading feature in God's purposes as regards the
future. - Hengstenberg also points out the difficulty, "that the Scripture everywhere
refuses to recognise a dead knowledge as true knowledge, and that the hope of
restoration has an obstacle in the natural man, who strives to obscure and to extinguish
it; that, consequently, the promise of restoration is always new, and the word of God
always great and grand;" but what he adduces for the solution of the difficulty contained
in the command, "Call on me, and I will show thee great and unknown things," is
insufficient for his purpose. The objection which expositors have taken to these verses
has arisen from an improper application of them; the words ‫א‬ ָ‫ר‬ ְ‫ק‬ ‫י‬ַ‫ל‬ ֵ‫א‬ have been
understood as referring to the request that God should give some revelation regarding
the future, or His purposes of deliverance, and ‫ָה‬‫נ‬ָ‫ע‬ as referring to the communication of
His purposes for increasing our knowledge of them. But "to call on God" rather signifies
to pray to God, i.e., to beseech Him for protection, or help, or deliverance in time of
need, cf. Psa_3:5; Psa_28:1; Psa_30:9; Psa_55:17, etc.; and to "answer" is the reply of
God made when He actually vouchsafes the aid sought for; cf. e.g., Psa_55:17, "I call on
God, and Jahveh answers me (saves me);" Psa_4:2, Psa_4:4; Psa_18:7; Psa_27:7, etc.
Consequently, also, "to make known" (‫יד‬ִ‫גּ‬ ִ‫)ה‬ is no mere communication of knowledge
regarding great and unknown things, no mere letting them be known, but a making
known by deeds. The words ‫הּ‬ָ‫שׂ‬ֹ‫ע‬ and ‫ר‬ֵ‫צ‬ ‫י‬ ‫הּ‬ ָ‫ת‬ ‫,א‬ ascribed to the Lord, suggest and
require that the words should be thus understood. With the incorrect reference of these
words to knowing and making known there is connected the further error, that the
command, "Call unto me," is directed to the person of the prophet, and gives an
admonition for his behaviour towards God, for which the text affords on foundation
whatever; for it does not run: "Thus saith Jahveh to me" (‫י‬ַ‫ל‬ ֵ‫,)א‬ and the insertion of this
‫י‬ַ‫ל‬ ֵ‫א‬ is unwarranted, and inconsistent with the use of ‫י‬ ִ‫כּ‬ which introduces the
announcement. Hitzig, Graf, and others have passed by this ‫י‬ ִ‫כּ‬ without remark; and
17

what Nägelsbach says about it is connected with his view, already refuted, as to the
essential unity of Jer 32; 33. Lastly, Ewald has enclosed Jer_33:3 within parentheses,
and considers that the introductory formula of Jer_33:2 is resumed in Jer_33:4 : "Yea,
thus saith Jahveh." This is a conclusion hastily formed by one who is in difficulty, for
Jer_33:3 has not the nature of a parenthesis. If we allow the arbitrary addition "to me"
after the words, "Thus saith the Lord," Jer_33:2, and if we take the words in their
simplest sense - the invocation of the Lord as a call to God for help in need - then Jer_
33:2, Jer_33:3 do not contain a mere prelude to the revelation which follows, but an
exhortation to the people to betake themselves to the Lord their God in their calamity,
when He will make known to them things unattainable by human discernment; for (‫י‬ ִ‫,כּ‬
Jer_33:4) He announces, in reference to the ruined houses of the city, that He will repair
their injuries.
CALVIN, "But before God promised anything respecting the return of the people,
he strengthened the mind of the Prophet by a preface, and also encouraged and
animated the godly to entertain good hope. The preface is, that God created and
formed Jerusalem There was, then, no doubt but he would at length rescue it from
the hands of enemies; nay, that he would raise it up even from hell itself. To prove
this, he says that he is Jehovah We hence see why the Prophet, before he recited the
promise, honored God with magnificent titles. But it is doubtful whether the past or
the present time is to be understood, when it is said, Jehovah the maker of it,
Jehovah the former of it; for either would be suitable, — that is, that God at the
beginning built Jerusalem and was its founder, or that he had purposed again to
create and form it anew. If the past time be taken, then the meaning is, that the city,
which had been built by God, could not possibly perish, because his will was that it
should remain perpetually. And the same sentiment often occurs in the Prophets,
and also in the Psalms. For it was God’s design to be regarded as the founder of
Jerusalem, in order that he might distinguish it from all other cities of the world.
We know that there is nothing under the sun perpetual, for the whole world is
subject to various changes; nay,
“the fashion of this world,” as Paul says, “passeth away.”
(1 Corinthians 7:31)
As, then, changes so various take place in all cities, God, by a singular privilege,
exempted Jerusalem from this common lot; and hence the Prophet truly and wisely
concludes, that the ruin of the city would not be perpetual, because God had formed
it. And hence its future restitution is sufficiently proved.
But if any one prefers the present time, then the meaning would be, that he who had
resolved to create and form Jerusalem is Jehovah, the God of hosts: no one then can
hinder his work. As this sense is not unsuitable, I do not reject it, though I follow the
former. We must, at the same time, bear in mind this principle, — that restoration is
promised to the Jews, because Jerusalem had been, as it were, chosen by God, so
that he took it under his care and protection, so as to preserve it perpetually.
18

Whether then we take the words to be in the past or present time, that God is the
creator and former of Jerusalem, we see that the promise of deliverance is founded
on the mercy of God, even because he had cliosen Jerusalem for his own habitation,
according to what is in the Psalms,
“His foundations are on the holy mountains.” (Psalms 87:1)
And there, also, the pronoun is used instead of God’s name, as here instead of the
city’s name, Thus saith Jehovah, who has created it, who has formed it, that he
might establish it Here Jerusalem is not named; but the narrative is much more
emphatical than if it was expressed, as also in the place we have just quoted, the
word God is not given, nor the word Church, if I mistake not, in the 37th chapter of
Isaiah (Isaiah 37:0). When the Prophet says,
“His foundations are on the holy mountains,”
there is no doubt but that the word God is to be understood, though not expressed.
So here, when speaking of the city, he says that Jehovah formed it, or will form it.
(86)
He adds, Jehovah is his name Here he exalts the power of God, that the Jews might
not set up against him what otherwise might have terrified them, and, as it were,
reduced them to a lifeless state, and caused them wholly to faint away. He, therefore,
sets before their eyes the power of God, as though he had said, that there would be
no obstacle which could delay God’s work, for he had resolved to form and create
anew his own city after its demolition; it is, in a word, the same as though he had
bidden the people to turn their eyes and all their thoughts to God, to consider his
immeasurable power, and so to entertain hope, and thus to look down, as it were,
from on high on all the impediments which might have otherwise wholly weakened
their confidence.
Thus saith Jehovah, — Made it hath Jehovah, Having formed it in order to establish
it; Jehovah is his name.
That the city is meant cannot be disputed, as the word itself is introduced in the 4th
verse (Jeremiah 33:4), and at the end of the 5th verse. In the Sept. it is land, “who
makes the land,” and in the Syr., “who made thee:” both which are no doubt
wrong. — Ed.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 33:2 Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that
formed it, to establish it; the LORD [is] his name;
Ver. 2. Thus saith the Lord the maker thereof.] i.e., Of the promise of restoration.
[Jeremiah 32:41-44] Or of Jerusalem, which he is said to make in the sense that he
"made Moses and Aaron," that is, "advanced" them. {1 Samuel 12:6, marg.}
19

The Lord is his name.] Jehovah the essentiator, who giveth being to all things, and
particularly to his word.
PETT, "Jeremiah 33:2
“Thus says YHWH who does it, YHWH who forms it to establish it; YHWH is his
name,”
YHWH, however, assures him that He is easily able to produce something out of
what appears to be nothing, for He is the one who ‘does things’, and then ‘fashions
them’ (as He had at creation), with a view to finally establishing them. And this is so
because His Name is ‘YHWH’, the One Who ‘will be whatever He wants to be’, and
‘causes to be whatever He wants to cause to be’. (Depending on the pointing both
meanings are contained within the Name YHWH).
3 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you
great and unsearchable things you do not know.’
BARNES, "Mighty things - Or, as in the margin. The words are probably a
quotation from Isa_48:6.
CLARKE, "Call unto eve, and I will answer thee - To me alone it belongs to
reveal what is future; and the stupendous things which are now coming are known only
to myself. These idolaters go to their gods to get information relative to the issue of the
present commotions; but there is no light in them. Ask thou, O Jeremiah, and I will tell
thee the great and mighty things which even thou knowest not.
GILL, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee,.... This is spoken not to Jerusalem,
and the inhabitants of it; but to the prophet, encouraging him to seek the Lord by
prayer, promising an answer to him. So the Targum,
"pray before me, and I will receive thy prayer:''
and show thee great and mighty things; or, "fortified ones" (p); which are like
fortified cities, that cannot easily be come at, unless the gates are opened to enter into;
and designs such as are difficult of understanding, which exceed human belief, and
which reason cannot comprehend and take in; and such are the great things of the
Gospel. Some copies read it, "things reserved" (q); as the Targum; and so Jarchi, who
20

interprets it of things future, of things reserved in the heart of God, and which he
purposed to do; and very rightly:
which thou knowest not; until revealed; and from hence it appears, that by these
great and hidden things are not meant the destruction of Jerusalem, and the seventy
years' captivity, and return from that, things which Jeremiah had been made acquainted
with time after time, and had prophesied of them; but spiritual blessings hereafter
mentioned, some of which the deliverance from Babylon were typical of Ben Melech
interprets these of comforts great and strong.
HENRY, " How this comfort must be obtained and fetched in - by prayer (Jer_33:3):
Call upon me, and I will answer them. The prophet, having received some intimations
of this kind, must be humbly earnest with God for further discoveries of his kind
intentions. He had prayed (Jer_32:16), but he must pray again. Note, Those that expect
to receive comforts from God must continue instant in prayer. We must call upon him,
and then he will answer us. Christ himself must ask, and it shall be given him, Psa_2:8.
I will show thee great and mighty things (give thee a clear and full prospect of them),
hidden things, which, though in part discovered already, yet thou knowest not, thou
canst not understand or give credit to. Or this may refer not only to the prediction of
these things which Jeremiah, if he desire it, shall be favoured with, but to the
performance of the things themselves which the people of God, encouraged by this
prediction, must pray for. Note, Promises are given, not to supersede, but to quicken and
encourage prayer. See Eze_36:37.
JAMISON, "Call ... I will answer — (Jer_29:12; Psa_91:15). Jeremiah, as the
representative of the people of God, is urged by God to pray for that which God has
determined to grant; namely, the restoration. God’s promises are not to slacken, but to
quicken the prayers of His people (Psa_132:13, Psa_132:17; Isa_62:6, Isa_62:7).
mighty things — Hebrew, “inaccessible things,” that is, incredible, hard to man’s
understanding [Maurer], namely, the restoration of the Jews, an event despaired of.
“Hidden,” or “recondite” [Piscator].
thou knowest not — Yet God had revealed those things to Jeremiah, but the
unbelief of the people in rejecting the grace of God had caused him to forget God’s
promise, as though the case of the people admitted of no remedy.
SBC, "I. Jehovah, our God, has access to us everywhere.
II. Jehovah, our God, can speak to us whenever He pleases, and He does speak to us.
III. God wills to be prayed unto; to be asked to give that which we desire and need.
IV. God pledges Himself to answer prayer.
V. God promises to exceed all we can ask or think.
S. Martin, Comfort in Trouble, p. 161.
CALVIN, "He afterwards adds, Cry to me, and I will answer thee, and I will
21

announce to thee things magnificent and recondite, which thou hast not known It
was not so much for the sake of the Prophet as of others that this was said. For the
Prophet, no doubt, had earnestly prayed, and his prison must have inflamed his
ardor, so as to intercede constantly with God. God then does not here reprove his
torpor or his sloth by saying, Cry to me; but as I have said, the word is so directed
to the Prophet, that God excites all the godly to pray. There is indeed here an
implied reproof, as though he had said that it was their fault that God did not cheer
their minds with a joyful and happy message, for they had closed the door against
themselves, so as to prevent God from offering them that comfort which they yet
especially wished; but men, while they expect God to be propitious to them, do not
yet give entrance to his grace, because they bolt up, as it were, their hearts with
unbelief. We hence see why it was said, Cry to me, and I will answer thee
But this passage ought especially to be noticed; for we may hence conclude, that
whenever we pine away in sorrow, or are worn out by affliction, it is our own fault,
because we are tardy and slow to pray: for every one who cries acknowledges that
God is always nigh, as he promises in the Psalms, to those who truly call on him.
That we are then sometimes worn out with long grief, and no comfort given to us,
this happens, let us know, through our neglect and sloth, because we cry not to God,
who is ever ready to answer us, as he here promises.
And he says, I will declare to thee great things, and of hidden things thou knowest
not So are the words literally; but they cannot be thus suitably rendered: then we
may read, “and things hidden which thou knowest not,” or, “I will make thee
acquainted with hidden things which are unknown to thee.” It may, however, be
asked, why God called those things hidden, of which Jeremiah had already
prophesied? The answer is obvious, — that they had, as it were, made void all the
promises of God, and the holy man might, have been even confounded, when he saw
that God’s favor was thus rejected; for it was reasonable to conclude, that as the
people obstinately rejected the hope of deliverance, it was all over with them, and
that their condition was, as it were, hopeless. We hence see that those things are
often hidden to us which God has again and again made known to us; for either they
do not immediately penetrate into our minds, or the memory of them is
extinguished, or faith is not so vigorous in us as it ought to be, or we are disturbed
and confounded by obstacles thrown in our way.
COKE, "Jeremiah 33:3. Call unto me— The spirit of prophesy commonly came
upon the prophets in such a manner that they could not resist its impressions. At
other times they prayed for, they earnestly requested, the influence of the Spirit:
Daniel intreated the Lord to give him the explanation of his visions. See Daniel
9:2-4; Daniel 10:3-11. Houbigant reads it, Inquire of me, and I will answer thee.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great
and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
Ver. 3. Call unto me, and I will answer thee.] Thou hast a promise, and I will
22

perform it; but so as that thou Jeremiah, and such as thou art, Daniel, Ezekiel,
Nehemiah, &c., pray over the promise. The angel told Daniel he came for his
prayer’s sake. [Jeremiah 10:12]
And show thee great and mighty things.] Or, Abstruse and reserved things. God’s
praying people get to know much of his mind above others; like as John, by
weeping, got the book opened; and Daniel, by prayer, had the king’s secret revealed
unto him in a night vision. [Daniel 2:18-19] Bene orasse, est bene studuisse, said
Luther; who, because he had much communion with God by prayer, so holy truths
were daily more and more made known unto him, he knew not how nor which way,
as himself said.
SIMEON, "THE IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER
Jeremiah 33:3. Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and
mighty things, which thou knowest not.
IT is curious to observe in what different estimation the same persons are held by
their fellow-creatures and by God. We may certainly be allowed to say, that there
was not, at the time referred to in our text, a more holy person upon earth than
Jeremiah; yet by his countrymen was he held in such abhorrence, as to be deemed
worthy only of imprisonment and death. God, on the contrary, honoured him with
the highest tokens of his regard. As a friend (so to speak), he repeatedly visited him
in prison; he encouraged him to inquire into his most secret counsels, and confided
to him the most stupendous mysteries both of his providence and grace.
We need not however confine our attention to Jeremiah: for the words, though
primarily addressed to him, may well be applied to all who suffer for righteousness’
sake, and to all who are truly devoted to their God. In this view, they accord with
many other passages of Scripture; and contain a most important truth, namely, that
prayer is the necessary and effectual moans of obtaining divine knowledge.
I. It is necessary—
God is always represented as the fountain of light and truth—
[He is “the Father of lights:” and whatever light there is in the whole creation, it is
all derived from him. There are indeed amongst us stars of greater and smaller
magnitude; but all in themselves are opaque, and destitute of any native lustre: they
shine only by a borrowed light, and are glorious only in proportion as they reflect a
greater or less portion of Jehovah’s beams. Even whore their knowledge is only in
arts and sciences, it must be traced to God as its author; much more must it be so,
when it pertains to things which the natural man is not able to receive. “In the
hearts of all that are wise-hearted, I have put wisdom [Note: Exodus 31:3; Exodus
31:6.].”]
23

Those who would obtain knowledge from him must seek it by prayer—
[This is God’s command. He needs not indeed to be prevailed upon by our
solicitations, as though he were of himself averse to grant us his blessings; but still it
is our duty to pray unto him; and he teaches us to expect his blessings only in the
discharge of this duty: “Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find:” “If any man
luck wisdom, let him ask of God; and it shall be given him.” We are far from saying
that prayer is the only mean of obtaining knowledge; for we must read, and
meditate, and search after truth, as much as if all depended on our own unaided
exertions: but we say, that our exertions without prayer will be of no avail: we must
“search for knowledge, as for hid treasures;” but we must also “cry after it, and lift
up our voice for understanding:” when we combine the two, “then shall we find the
knowledge of God: for the Lord giveth wisdom; out of his mouth cometh knowledge
and understanding [Note: Proverbs 2:1-6.].”]
Nor is this an arbitrary, but a wise and gracious appointment—
[By this means our hearts are prepared for the reception of divine knowledge. If we
could obtain it purely by our own study, we should pride ourselves in it, as having
made ourselves to differ from those around us: but when we have been made
sensible that it is God alone who “openeth the eyes of the understanding,” we learn
to acknowledge him in our gifts, and to humble ourselves in proportion to the
benefits we have received at his hands. We are stirred up also to improve our
knowledge as a talent committed to us, and to diffuse, for the benefit of others, the
light with which God has irradiated us.]
As all are invited to ask, so every prayer shall be heard and answered.
II. It shall be effectual—
The things which God shewed to Jeremiah, related, not merely to the return of the
Jews from Babylon, but to Christ and his spiritual kingdom [Note: ver. 14–16.]:
and, respecting Christ, “he will shew great and mighty things unto all that ask him.”
1. To the ignorant—
[Little do the world imagine what great and glorious things are known to those
whom they despise; things “which prophets and kings in vain desired to see” and
“which angles themselves desire to look into.” It is possible enough that the truths
themselves, as a system, may be known to the ungodly: but, in their use, their
excellence, their importance, they are known to those only who are taught of God.
To these God has revealed the source and depth of their own depravity; the
suitableness and sufficiency of Christ’s atonement; the fulness of grace that is
treasured up in him; and the blessedness of all those who experience his salvation.
These things, “great and mighty” as they are, are brought to their minds “with
power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance:” and, by the revelation of
24

them to their souls, they are “made wise unto salvation.”]
2. To the enlightened—
[It is not at first only that “God brings us into marvellous light:” there is, in the
spiritual, as well as the natural world, a progress from the glimmering of the early
dawn to the splendour of the noon-day sun. Job had known much of God by the
hearing of the ear; but far more when he could say, “Now mine eye seeth thee.” And
Moses had bright discoveries of Jehovah on various occasions; but brighter far,
when God was pleased to “proclaim to him his name,” and “make all his glory pass
before his eyes.” Thus, however advanced the believer may be in knowledge and in
grace, there are in God, and in the wonders of his redeeming love, heights and
depths and lengths and breadths, of which he has yet no adequate conception. Not
that any fresh truths shall be revealed to him, much less any which are not
contained in the Holy Scriptures: but the same truths shall be applied to his soul
with a clearness and energy vastly surpassing any thing he has before experienced,
provided he give himself unto prayer, and wait upon God for the teachings of his
Spirit: “The light of the moon shall be to him as the light of the sun; and the light of
the sun seven-fold, as the light of seven days [Note: Isaiah 30:26.].”]
We shall conclude this subject with a word,
1. Of reproof—
[Scarcely any subject is so reprobated by ungodly men, as this. They consider the
influences of the Holy Spirit as chimerical; and all expectation of answers to prayer,
as enthusiastic and absurd. They have never experienced these things themselves;
and therefore they suppose that no one else can. But they have never used the
means; how then should they attain the end? Suppose a person to affirm, that, with
the help of glasses, he could see things invisible to the naked eye: would not any one,
refusing to make the experiment, be justly deemed unreasonable, if he denied the
possibility of such a thing, and imputed the affirmations of the other to vanity and
folly? Every one knows, that objects dimly seen, may be made clearly visible by the
use of glasses: and why may not the acquisition of an humble contrite frame be
equally useful to the eye of our minds? There is not any one so ignorant, as not to
know, how passion and interest distort the objects that are seen through them; and
that they who are under their influence, view things very differently from what they
appear to an impartial judge. Thus then it is in spiritual things: “whilst the eye is
evil, the whole mind is dark; but when it is single, the whole is full of light:” and
when God, by removing our earthly and carnal dispositions, presents heavenly
objects to the soul in their true character, they shine with a lustre inconceivable to
the blind ungodly world. Would any then ascertain whether God will teach his
people? let him pray: but let him pray with sincerity, with fervour, and with faith i
these are the requisites of effectual prayer [Note: See Psalms 145:18-19. Jeremiah
29:12. James 1:5-7.] — — — and prayer thus offered, shall never go forth in vain.]
25

2. Of encouragement—
[Many are discouraged because they have not those manifestations of God to their
souls, which they have heard, and read of, in the experience of others. But have they
mortified their in-dwelling lusts as much as others; and been as constant and
importunate in prayer? But be it so: “God gives to every one severally as he will:”
yet none shall ever say, that they have sought his face in vain. Our talent may be
small; our capacity narrow and contracted: yet have we no cause to despond: for
God has said, that “he will reveal to babes and sucklings the things which he has hid
from the wise and prudent: and if only we were more conscientious in looking to
God for his blessing on the ordinances; if, before we come to them, while we are
under them, and after we have returned from them, we were earnest in prayer for
the influences of his Spirit; we should not so often return from them empty and
unedified. God would hear us, and “would answer us, and would shew us great and
mighty things, which we know not.” Our private meditations also on his blessed
word would be attended with “an unction which should teach us all things [Note: 1
John 2:20; 1 John 2:27.].” He would “open our understandings to understand the
Scriptures.” “At the very beginning of our supplication” would he send his Holy
Spirit to instruct us [Note: Daniel 9:20-23.]; yea, “before we called, God would
answer: and while we were yet speaking, he would, hear [Note: Isaiah 65:24.].”]
PETT, "Jeremiah 33:3
“Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great things, and hard to
bring about (difficult, impregnable), which you do not know.”
All therefore that Jeremiah has to do is call on Him, and He then promises him that
He will answer him, and will show him things which are both ‘great and hard to
bring about’ (compare the same description in Deuteronomy 1:28; Deuteronomy
9:1), things about which at present he has had no past knowledge of. In other words
He will show him ‘a new thing’ outside of his experience.
Alternately the singular verbs may apply to the people in general, with the point
being that if, when in exile, they truly call on Him, He will reveal His hand in an
amazing deliverance.
4 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says
about the houses in this city and the royal palaces
of Judah that have been torn down to be used
26

against the siege ramps and the sword
BARNES, "By ... by - Rather, against ... against. As the works of the enemy
approached the walls, houses were pulled down to build inner fortifications. Swords are
mentioned in Eze_26:9 (translated, axes), as used for breaking down the towers in the
walls. See Jer_5:17, note.
CLARKE, "Thus saith the Lord - This is a new confirmation of what has already
been said, viz., The city shall fall, a number of the inhabitants shall perish, the rest shall
be carried into captivity; but the nation shall be preserved, and the people return from
their captivity.
GILL, "For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel,.... The destruction of
Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, which was now fulfilling, is here mentioned as a pledge of
the accomplishment of spiritual blessings after spoken of; and to assure the prophet,
that as he would with his own eyes see the fulfilment of the prophecies he had delivered
out in the name of the Lord concerning that, so likewise as certainly would the other be
brought to pass:
concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of
Judah, which were thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword; by "the
mounts", which the Chaldeans raised without the city; or by the engines they placed
there, by which they cast out stones into the city, to the demolishing of the houses in it;
not in common only, but particularly the houses of the king and nobles, which they
especially directed their shot at; and by "the sword", hammers, axes, and mattocks, for
which sometimes this word is used, when they entered into the city. Though some
render the words, "which are thrown down for mounts, and for the sword" (r); that
mounts might be made of them within, on which the Jews might fight and defend
themselves against the Chaldeans. So the Targum,
"which they pulled down, and threw up mounts to strengthen the wall, against those that
kill with the sword;''
and so Jarchi interprets it.
HENRY, " How deplorable the condition of Jerusalem was which made it necessary
that such comforts as these should be provided for it, and notwithstanding which its
restoration should be brought about in due time (Jer_33:4, Jer_33:5): The houses of
this city, not excepting those of the kings of Judah, are thrown down by the mounts, or
engines of battery, and by the sword, or axes, or hammers. It is the same word that is
used Eze_26:9, With his axes he shall break down thy towers. The strongest stateliest
27

houses, and those that were best furnished, were levelled with the ground. The fifth
verse comes in in a parenthesis, giving a further instance of the present calamitous state
of Jerusalem. Those that came to fight with the Chaldeans, to beat them off from the
siege, did more hurt than good, provoked the enemy to be more fierce and furious in
their assaults, so that the houses in Jerusalem were filled with the dead bodies of men,
who died of the wounds they received in sallying out upon the besiegers. God says that
they were such as he had slain in his anger, for the enemies' sword was his sword and
their anger his anger. But, it seems, the men that were slain were generally such as had
distinguished themselves by their wickedness, for they were the very men for whose
wickedness God did now hide himself from this city, so that he was just in all he brought
upon them.
JAMISON, "houses ... thrown down by the mounts — namely, by the missiles
cast from the besiegers’ mounds (Jer_32:24); “and by the sword” follows properly, as,
after missiles had prepared the way, the foe next advanced to close quarters “with the
sword.”
K&D 4-6, "Repair of the injuries and renewal of the prosperity of Jerusalem and
Judah. - Jer_33:4. "For thus saith Jahveh, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of
this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down
because of the besiegers' mounds and because of the sword, Jer_33:5. While they come
to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the corpses of men, whom I have slain
in my wrath and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hidden my face from
this city: Jer_33:6. Behold, I will apply a bandage to it and a remedy, and will heal
them, and will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth. Jer_33:7. And I will turn
again the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel, and will build them up as at the
first. Jer_33:8. And I will purify them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned
against me, and will pardon all their iniquities, by which they have sinned and have
transgressed against me. Jer_33:9. And it (the city) shall become to me a name of joy,
a praise, and an honour among all the people of the earth that shall hear all the good
which I do them, and shall tremble and quake because of all the good and because of all
the prosperity that I show to it. Jer_33:10. Thus saith Jahveh: Again shall there be
heard in this place-of which ye say, 'It is desolate, without man and without beast,'-in
the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, which are laid waste, without men,
and without inhabitants, and without beasts, Jer_33:11. The voice of gladness and the
voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those
who say, 'Praise Jahveh of hosts, for Jahveh is good, for His mercy is for ever,' who
bring thank-offerings into the house of Jahveh. For I will turn again the captivity of the
land, as in the beginning, saith Jahveh. Jer_33:12. Thus saith Jahveh of hosts: In this
place, which is laid waste, without man and beast, and in all its cities, there will yet be
pasture-ground for shepherds making their flocks lie down in. Jer_33:13. In the cities
of the hill-country, in the cities of the plain, and in the cities of the south, in the land of
Benjamin, and in the environs of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flock shall
yet pass under the hand of one who counts them, saith Jahveh."
With Jer_33:4 begins the statement concerning the great and incomprehensible
things which the Lord will make known to His people; it is introduced by ‫י‬ ִ‫,כּ‬ which
marks the ground or reason - so far as the mere statement of these things gives reason
28

for the promise of them. The word of the Lord does not follow till Jer_33:6 and
onwards. In Jer_33:4 and Jer_33:5 are mentioned those whom the word concerns - the
houses of Jerusalem (Jer_33:4), and the people that defend the city (Jer_33:5).
Corresponding to this order, there comes first the promise to the city (Jer_33:6), and
then to the people. Along with the houses of the city are specially named also the houses
of the kings of Judah; not, perhaps, as Hitzig thinks, because these, being built of stone,
afforded a more suitable material for the declared object - for that these alone were built
of stone is an unfounded supposition - but in order to show that no house or palace is
spared to defend the city. "Which are broken down" refers to the houses, not only of the
kings, but also of the city. They are broken, pulled down, according to Isa_22:10, in
order to fortify the walls of the city against the attacks of the enemy, partly to strengthen
them, partly to repair the damage caused by the battering-rams directed against them.
This gives the following meaning to the expression ‫ת‬ ‫ל‬ ְ‫ֹל‬‫סּ‬ ַ‫ל־ה‬ ֶ‫א‬ ‫ב‬ ֶ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ח‬ ַ‫ל־ה‬ ֶ‫א‬ ְ‫:ו‬ in order to
work against the mounds, i.e., the earthworks erected by the enemy, and against the
sword. The sword is named as being the chief weapon, instead of all the instruments of
war which the enemy employs for reducing the city; cf. Eze_26:9. It is against the laws of
grammar to understand ‫ים‬ ִ‫שׁ‬ ֻ‫ת‬ְ‫נ‬ as referring to the destruction of the enemy by the siege
material; for, on such a supposition, ‫ל־‬ ֶ‫א‬ would require to designate the efficient cause,
i.e., to stand for ‫ֵי‬‫נ‬ ְ‫פּ‬ ִ‫מ‬ (cf. Jer_4:26), but neither ‫ל־‬ ֶ‫א‬ nor ‫ל‬ַ‫ע‬ can mean this. - The first
half of Jer_33:5 is difficult, especially ‫ים‬ ִ‫א‬ ָ‫,בּ‬ which the lxx have omitted, and which
Movers and Hitzig would expunge, with the absurd remark, that it has come here from
Jer_31:38; this is an easy and frivolous method of setting aside difficulties. All other
ancient translations have read ‫ים‬ ִ‫א‬ ָ‫,בּ‬ and have attempted to point out how its
genuineness is ascertained on critical grounds.
(Note: The different attempts to solve the difficulty by conjectures are of such a
nature as scarcely to deserve mention. Ewald would change ‫ב‬ ֶ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ח‬ ַ‫ה‬ ‫ים‬ ִ‫א‬ ָ‫בּ‬ into ‫ים‬ ִ‫ב‬ ָ‫חֲר‬ ַ‫ה‬
otni , "that are broken down opposite the earthworks and the cannons." But the
plural of ‫ב‬ ֶ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ח‬ is ‫ת‬ ‫ב‬ ָ‫ר‬ֲ‫,ח‬ Eze_26:21, and cannot possibly mean cannons. E. Meier
would read ‫יב‬ ִ‫ר‬ֲ‫ח‬ ַ‫ה‬ ‫ים‬ ִ‫א‬ ָ‫,בּ‬ "and for the destruction of those who are pressing in." Then
‫ים‬ ִ‫א‬ ָ‫בּ‬ must be the enemy who are pressing in; but how does this agree with what
follows, "in order to fight with the Chaldeans"? Lastly, Nägelsbach would change ‫ת־‬ ֶ‫א‬
‫ים‬ ִ‫דּ‬ ְ‫שׂ‬ַ‫כּ‬ ַ‫ה‬into ‫ים‬ַ‫ל‬ָ‫רוּשׁ‬ְ‫ל־י‬ַ‫,ע‬ to obtain the idea that the earthworks and the sword come
for the purpose of contending against Jerusalem (!).)
To connect ‫ים‬ ִ‫א‬ ָ‫בּ‬ closely with what precedes is impossible; and to understand it as
referring to the houses, quae dirutae adhibentur ad dimicandum cum Chaldaeis (C. B.
Michaelis), is incompatible with the idea contained in ‫א‬ ‫.בּ‬ Still more inadmissible is the
view of L. de Dieu, Venema, Schnurrer, Dahler, and Rosenmüller: venientibus ad
oppugnandum cum Chaldaeis; according to this view, ‫ים‬ ִ‫דּ‬ ְ‫שׂ‬ַ‫ַת־כּ‬ ֶ‫אּ‬ must be the
nominative or subject to ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ח‬ָ‫לּ‬ ִ‫ה‬ ְ‫ל‬ ‫ים‬ ִ‫דּ‬ ְ‫שׂ‬ַ‫כּ‬ ַ‫ת־ה‬ ֶ‫א‬ ‫ים‬ ִ‫א‬ ָ‫בּ‬ can only signify, "to contend with the
Chaldeans" (against them); cf. Jer_32:5. According to this view, only the Jews can be the
subject of ‫ים‬ ִ‫א‬ ָ‫.בּ‬ "They come to make war with the Chaldeans, and to fill them (the
houses) with the dead bodies of men, whom I (the Lord) slay in my wrath." The subject
is not named, since it is evident from the whole scope of the sentence what is meant. We
take the verse as a predication regarding the issues of the conflict - but without a copula;
29

or, as a statement added parenthetically, so that the participle may be rendered, "while
they come," or, "get ready, to fight." ‫א‬ ‫,בּ‬ used of the approach of an enemy (cf. Dan_1:1),
is here employed with regard to the advance of the Jews to battle against the besiegers of
the city. The second infinitival clause, "to fill them," represents the issue of the struggle
as contemplated by the Jews, in order to express most strongly its utter fruitlessness;
while the relative clauses, "whom I have slain," etc., bring out the reasons for the evil
consequences. Substantially, the statement in Jer_33:5 is parallel to that in Jer_33:4, so
that we might supply the preposition ‫ל‬ַ‫ע‬ (‫ל‬ַ‫ע‬ ְ‫:)ו‬ "and concerning those who come to
fight," etc. Through the attachment of this second predication to the first by means of
the participle, the expression has become obscured. In the last clause, ‫ר‬ֶ‫ֲשׁ‬‫א‬ is to be
connected with ‫ם‬ ָ‫ת‬ָ‫ע‬ ָ‫ל־ר‬ַ‫.ע‬
In view of the destruction of Jerusalem now beginning, the Lord promises, Jer_33:6,
"I will apply to it (the city) a bandage (see Jer_30:17) and a remedy," i.e., a bandage
which brings healing, "and heal them" (the inhabitants); for, although the suffix in
‫ים‬ ִ‫את‬ָ‫פ‬ ְ‫ר‬ might be referred to the houses, yet the following clause shows that it points to
the inhabitants. Hitzig takes ‫י‬ ִ‫ית‬ֵ‫לּ‬ִ‫גּ‬ in the meaning of ‫ל‬ַ‫ָל‬‫גּ‬, "I roll to them like a stream,"
and appeals to Amo_5:24; Isa_48:18; Isa_66:12, where the fulness of prosperity is
compared to a stream, and the waves of the sea; but this use of ‫ה‬ָ‫ָל‬‫גּ‬ is as uncertain here
as in Jer_11:20. We keep, then, to the well-established sense of revealing, making known
(cf. Psa_98:2, where it is parallel with ַ‫יע‬ ִ‫ד‬ ‫,)ה‬ without any reference to the figure of
sealed treasure-chambers (Deu_28:12), but with the accessory notion of the unfolding of
the prosperity before all nations (Jer_33:9), as in Psa_98:2. ‫ת‬ ֶ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ֲת‬‫ע‬ is here to be taken as
a noun, "fulness, wealth," from ‫ר‬ ַ‫ת‬ָ‫,ע‬ an Aramaizing form for ‫ר‬ַ‫שׁ‬ָ‫,ע‬ to be rich (Eze_
35:13). ‫ם‬ ‫ל‬ָ‫שׁ‬ ‫ת‬ ֶ‫ֱמ‬‫א‬ֶ‫ו‬ does not mean "prosperity and stability," but "peace and truth;" but
this is not to be toned down to "true peace," i.e., real, enduring happiness (Nägelsbach).
‫ת‬ ֶ‫ֱמ‬‫א‬ is the truth of God, i.e., His faithfulness in His promises and covenants, as in Psa_
85:11-12, where mercy and truth, righteousness and peace, are specified as the gracious
benefits with which the Lord blesses His people.
CALVIN, "He now expresses what these hidden things were, As to the houses, he
says, (so it is literally) thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, as to the houses of this
city, and as to the houses of the kings of Judah The proposition; ‫,על‬ upon, often
means with regard to, concerning. He names the houses of the kings, for the kings of
Judah were not satisfied, as it is well known, with one palace, but had many houses
without the city. As to the houses, he says, which had been thrown down This is
variously explained; the houses, say some, had been pulled down for the warlike
engines, that is, that these engines might be made from the materials, and for the
sword. The sense, however, would appear more obvious were we to take this view,
that the houses had been thrown down by the warlike engines, and also by the
sword, that is, by the violence of the enemies. The word, ‫סללת‬ sallut, as it has been
already stated, is rendered by some fortifications; but when the storming of cities is
spoken of, it means no doubt warlike machines, such as the engines to throw darts,
or battering-rams: but we know not in what form they were made by the Jews and
30

the Chaldeans.
COKE, "Jeremiah 33:4. Which are thrown down by the mounts— Which are
thrown down for the raising of mounts; Jeremiah 33:5 and to give space for those
who are about to come to fight with the Chaldeans; and to fill up the number of the
dead bodies of men, &c. Houbigant. Others read—Mounts, and by the sword of the
Chaldeans, coming to fight, and to kill them.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 33:4 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;
Ver. 4. Which are thrown down by the mounts.] Or, Catapults, or engines of
demolition, used to batter with. See Jeremiah 32:24.
And by the sword.] Or, Mattocks - scil., After that the enemy had entered the city,
and cried, as Psalms 137:3,
“ Destruite, ex imis subvertite fundamentis: ”
Down with it, down with it, even to the ground.
ELLICOTT, "(4) Concerning the houses of this city . . .—The words point to the
incident which was the occasion of the prophecy. The houses referred to had either
been destroyed by the invaders, or, more probably, by the besieged, in order to erect
a counter-work against the “mounts” which the Chaldæans had set against it. The
“swords” (the word is translated by “axes” in Ezekiel 26:9) include tools used for
breaking down walls.
PETT, "Verse 4-5
The Conditions Of The Siege Which Have Caused Jeremiah To Despair (Jeremiah
33:4-5).
YHWH recognises that Jeremiah might be confused at what he is experiencing as
the siege approaches its final intensity, and describes the scenes with vivid reality,
before adding His assurance that this causes Him no problems.
Jeremiah 33:4-5
“For thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and
concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to make a
defence against the mounds and against the sword, while they come to fight with the
Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in my
anger and in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this
city,”
31

In a vivid, but abbreviated description, Jeremiah depicts under YHWH’s guidance
the awful cost of defending the walls against the besieging army, and he draws
attention to the fact that it all arises as a result of the wickedness of those very
people (its citizens) who were now dying or facing death, for it was their wickedness
that had drawn down on the city the anger and fury of YHWH. It is clear that he
was well aware as he sat in his prison, of the ferment in the city as houses were being
torn down in order to strengthen the fortifications that were the main target of the
besiegers, and he would have been especially so as it directly affected the palace
complex where the most substantial stones would be found which were suitable for
the purpose. As the siege progressed, the battering rams, dragged by the besiegers
up the mounds which enabled the rams to reach the weaker parts of the walls,
gradually did their work of weakening the defences. The consequence was that the
walls, once thought to be sufficiently substantial, were now crumbling before them,
and in such circumstances it was common practise to strengthen such walls from the
inside by adding layers of stones and other building materials, which would be
obtained by breaking down suitable buildings. It was all a part of the cost of the
defence of the city in the face of the daily activity of the Chaldeans (Babylonians)
against the walls. And on the other side the enemy would be tearing down houses
outside the walls in order to build their siege mounds, adding to the overall final
cost. War was not cheap.
‘Against the sword (instrument of war).’ The noun used signifies siege axes as well
as swords, and indeed all instruments used by the attackers in order to achieve a
breach in the walls, and which the defenders had to constantly face in defending
those walls. During a fierce siege nothing stood still, and all kinds of weapons and
instruments were used.
The account is necessarily very much abbreviated and telescoped, but it vividly
brings out the mayhem and devastating effects of the continual fighting. We can
visualise the siege engines being dragged up the mounds to attack the walls,
accompanied by other instruments of war as men fought from siege towers, with the
defendants fighting back gallantly, and their dead being dragged away to be laid in
heaps in the remnants of the destroyed buildings near the wall. This is the
explanation of the ‘dead bodies of men’ who were probably those slain defending
the walls, and who would be dragged away when there was a lull in the fighting, in
order to be laid in the ruins of the houses. This was so that they would be out of the
way, and would also have the purpose of treating them with a rough kind of respect.
War was a cruel thing, but even in the midst of hostilities, men still respected their
fallen comrades as best they could. They did not leave them just lying around. The
numerous bodies that lay there, piled up in the broken down ruins of the buildings,
would be a constant reminder of the cost of the siege.
But they were also a reminder, as YHWH Himself points out, of YHWH’s anger
against Jerusalem, and of His punishment of men whose wickedness had
contributed to the demise of the city, a wickedness which had caused Him to hide
32

His face from them rather than defending them. It was because of this wickedness
that He had handed them over to the slaughter.
Vividly aware as he would have been of such conditions we can understand why
Jeremiah was finding it difficult to reconcile them with YHWH’s promises of future
deliverance. He would be gaining the impression that once the fighting was over,
there would be little left to restore. He would not, of course, have been the only one
afflicted with a sense of deep gloom, nevertheless, having no part to play in the
fighting, he would have time to think of it more than most. And it was into such
gloomy prognostications that the assurance of YHWH came.
5 in the fight with the Babylonians[a]: ‘They will
be filled with the dead bodies of the people I will
slay in my anger and wrath. I will hide my face
from this city because of all its wickedness.
BARNES, "Render, They, i. e., the Jews come to fight with the Chaldaeans, and to fill
them, i. e., the houses, with the dead bodies etc.
GILL, "They come to fight with the Chaldeans,.... Either the Jews out of the
country, or their auxiliaries, their neighbours, to oblige them to break up the siege; but
all to no purpose: or rather the Jews within; who, from the mounts erected, fight with
the Chaldeans; or by sallying out upon them:
but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men; the mounts, made of their
houses, or their houses themselves; it is only to make them graves, and fill them with
these carcasses:
whom I have slain in mine anger, and in my fury; that is, suffered to be slain,
being wroth and angry with them, for their sins, as follows:
and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from the city; had no pity for
it, showed no mercy to it, gave it no help and assistance, or protection, having
withdrawn his presence from it. So the Targum,
33

Jeremiah 33 commentary

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (18)

Similar to Jeremiah 33 commentary

Similar to Jeremiah 33 commentary (20)

More from GLENN PEASE

More from GLENN PEASE (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Jeremiah 33 commentary