Jeremiah 36:3

3 Perhaps [when] the house of Judah hears all the disasters that I [am] planning to do to them, then they may turn back each one from his evil way, and I will forgive their guilt and their sin."

Jeremiah 36:3 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 36:3

It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which
I purpose to do unto them
Not that there was any uncertainty in God as to the knowledge of future events, any more than a change in his purposes: he had purposed to bring evil upon them, which purpose would not be disannulled; and he knew that the Jews would not hearken to the prediction of it, or be concerned about it, and repent of their sins, and reform; but this method he was pleased to take, as being, humanly speaking, a probable one to awaken their attention, and which would leave them inexcusable: that they may return every man from his evil way;
repent of it, and reform: that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin;
by not inflicting on them the punishment and ruin threatened: where repentance is, remission of sin is likewise, and both are the gifts of divine grace, when spiritual and evangelical.

Jeremiah 36:3 In-Context

1 {And then} in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, {saying},

2 "Take for yourself {a scroll} and you must write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from [the] day [that] I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, and until this day.

3 Perhaps [when] the house of Judah hears all the disasters that I [am] planning to do to them, then they may turn back each one from his evil way, and I will forgive their guilt and their sin."

4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Yahweh that he had spoken to him on {a scroll}.

5 And Jeremiah instructed Baruch, {saying}, "I [am] held back, I am not able to enter the temple of Yahweh.

Footnotes

• [a] Hebrew "disaster"