Jeremiah 30:16

16 "'Everyone who hurt you will be hurt; your enemies will end up as slaves. Your plunderers will be plundered; your looters will become loot.

Jeremiah 30:16 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 30:16

Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured
Thus rendering the words, they are to be connected with ( Jeremiah 30:10 Jeremiah 30:11 ) ; and all between to be put into a parenthesis: but rather, in connection with the preceding words, they should be rendered "nevertheless", or "notwithstanding" F25; though they had sinned at so great a rate, and were so much afflicted and chastened by the Lord, yet their enemies should not go unpunished, and mercy in the issue would be showed to them. Jarchi calls it an oath, that so it should be; the Romans that devoured them, and ate up their substance, were devoured by the Goths and Vandals; for this may be carried further than to the destruction of the Babylonish empire by the Persians; and all thine adversaries, everyone of them shall, fro into captivity;
or be conquered and subdued, as were the Assyrians, Egyptians, Chaldeans, Grecians, Romans; and not only Rome Pagan has been destroyed, but Rome Papal also will go into captivity; see ( Revelation 13:10 ) ; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee
will I give for a prey:
they shall be used according to the law of retaliation; the same measure they have measured shall be measured to them again.


FOOTNOTES:

F25 (Nkl) "verumtamen, [vel] nihilominus", Gataker. So Kimchi and Abarbinel.

Jeremiah 30:16 In-Context

14 All your fair-weather friends have skipped town without giving you a second thought. But I delivered the knockout blow, a punishment you will never forget, Because of the enormity of your guilt, the endless list of your sins.
15 So why all this self-pity, licking your wounds? You deserve all this, and more. Because of the enormity of your guilt, the endless list of your sins, I've done all this to you.
16 "'Everyone who hurt you will be hurt; your enemies will end up as slaves. Your plunderers will be plundered; your looters will become loot.
17 As for you, I'll come with healing, curing the incurable, Because they all gave up on you and dismissed you as hopeless - that good-for-nothing Zion.'
18 "Again, God's Message: "'I'll turn things around for Jacob. I'll compassionately come in and rebuild homes. The town will be rebuilt on its old foundations; the mansions will be splendid again.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.