Jeremiah 24:7

7 And I will give to them a heart to know me, that I [am] Yahweh, and {they will be my people}, and {I will be their God}, for they will return to me with the whole of their heart.

Jeremiah 24:7 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 24:7

And I will give them an heart to know me, that I [am] the
Lord
God, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in goodness and truth, pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin; the unchangeable Jehovah; the everlasting I AM; a covenant keeping God; faithful and true to his promises; able and willing to perform them; and does all things well and wisely; and was their Lord and God. This knowledge designs not the first knowledge of the Lord, but an increase of it; and not head knowledge, but heart knowledge; a knowledge of God, joined with love and affection to him, high esteem, and approbation of him; and including communion with him, and an open profession and acknowledgment of him: and it is an appropriating knowledge also; a knowing him for themselves, and as their own; and such a knowledge or heart to know the Lord is a pure gift of his, and without which none can have it: and it may be observed, that in captivity it was given them; afflictions were the means of it; and happy it is when hereby men come to have a knowledge of God, and to be better acquainted with him, ( Psalms 92:12 ) ; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God;
that is, it shall appear that they are so, by the above blessings of grace and goodness bestowed upon them; the Lord hereby owning them for his people, and they hereby coming to know that he is their God: for,
or "when" ^F5 they shall return unto me with their whole heart;
affectionately, sincerely, and unfeignedly. It supposes that they had backslidden from God, his ways and worship; but now should return by sincere repentance to him, and to his worship, and obedience to his commands; so the Targum,

``for they shall return to my worship with their whole heart;''

all this will have an entire accomplishment in the latter day, when the Jews will be converted and turn to the Lord, and fear him and his goodness.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 (yla wbvy yk) "quum reversi fuerint ad me", Junius & Tremellius.

Jeremiah 24:7 In-Context

5 "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles of Judah whom I have sent away from this place [to the] land of [the] Chaldeans.

6 For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. And I will build them and not annihilate [them], and I will plant them and not uproot [them].

7 And I will give to them a heart to know me, that I [am] Yahweh, and {they will be my people}, and {I will be their God}, for they will return to me with the whole of their heart.

8 But like the bad figs that cannot be eaten because of [their] bad quality--for thus says Yahweh--so I will treat Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt.

9 And I will make them as a terror, an evil to all the kingdoms of the earth, as a disgrace and a proverb, as a taunt and a curse, in all the places where I will drive them.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "they shall be for me as a people"
• [b] Literally "I will be for them as God"