Jeremias 38:3

3 The Lord appeared to him from afar, , I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore have I drawn thee in compassion.

Jeremias 38:3 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 38:3

Thus saith the Lord, this city shall surely be given into the
hand of the king of Babylon's army
When those found in it should be put to the sword, or carried captive: this the prophet declares with the greatest certainty; and what he had often affirmed for twenty years past, and now stands to it, having had fresh assurances from the Lord that so it would be; and which he faithfully published; though he had received some favours from the court, had his liberty enlarged, and was now eating the king's bread, he was not to be bribed by these things to hold his peace; but the nearer the ruin of the city was, the more confident was he of its destruction: which shall take it;
or, "that it may take it" ^F15; being delivered into its hands by the Lord, without whose permission the Chaldean army could never have taken it: or "and he shall take it" ^F16; that is, the king of Babylon.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 (hdklw) "ut capiat eam", Schmidt.
F16 "Et capiet illam", Cocceius; "et capiet eam", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus.

Jeremias 38:3 In-Context

1 At that time, saith the Lord, I will be a God to the family of Israel, and they shall be to me a people.

2 Thus saith the Lord, I found him warm in the wilderness with them that were slain with the sword: go ye and destroy not Israel.

3 The Lord appeared to him from afar, , I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore have I drawn thee in compassion.

4 For I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt yet take thy timbrel, and go forth with the party of them that make merry.

5 For ye have planted vineyards on the mountains of Samaria: plant ye, and praise.