translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JER

label: NET study note

text: The introductory statement here ties this incident in with the preceding chapter which was the first time that the Lord spoke to him about the matters discussed here. There is no indication of how much time passed between the two incidents though it appears that the situation has worsened somewhat (cf. v. 4 ).


text: This refers to the tearing down of buildings within the city to strengthen the wall or to fill gaps in it which had been broken down by the Babylonian battering rams. For a parallel to this during the siege of Sennacherib in the time of Hezekiah see Isa 22:10 ; 2 Chr 32:5 . These torn-down buildings were also used as burial mounds for those who died in the fighting or through starvation and disease during the siege. The siege prohibited them from taking the bodies outside the city for burial and leaving them in their houses or in the streets would have defiled them.


text: Compare Jer 30:17 . Jerusalem is again being personified and her political and spiritual well-being are again in view.


text: Compare Jer 31:34 ; Ezek 36:25, 33 .


text: What is predicted here is a reversal of the decimation caused by the Babylonian conquest that had been threatened in 7:34; 16:9; 25:10 .


text: This is a common hymnic introduction to both individual songs of thanksgiving (e.g., Ps 118:1 ) and communal songs of thanksgiving (e.g., where it is a liturgical refrain accompanying a recital of Israel’s early history and of the Lord ’s continuing providence).


text: Heb “Sheep will again pass under the hands of the counter.” This appears to be a reference to counting the sheep to make sure that none was missing as they returned to the fold. See the same idiom in Lev 27:52 and in the metaphor in Ezek 20:37 .


text: Compare Jer 32:44 .


text: This refers at the very least to the promises of Jer 23:5-6, 7-8; 30:3; 31:27, 31 where the same formula “The time will certainly come ( Heb “Behold the days are coming”)” occurs. Reference may also be to the promises through the earlier prophets of what is alluded to here, i.e., the restoration of Israel and Judah under a Davidic ruler and the revival of the offerings (cf. Hos 1:10-11; 3:4-5 ; Amos 9:11-12 ; Isa 11:1-5, 10-16 ; Jer 30:9, 21 for the former and Jer 31:14; 33:11 for the latter).


text: It should be noted once again that the reference is to all Israel, not just to Judah (cf. Jer 23:5-6; 30:9 ).