Jeremiah 4:1

1 Israel, if thou turnest again, saith the Lord, turn thou (again) to me; if thou takest away thine offendings from my face, thou shalt not be moved. (Israel, if thou shalt return to me, saith the Lord, then return thou to me; if thou takest away thy offences from before my face, then thou shalt not be shaken out.)

Jeremiah 4:1 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 4:1

If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord
To which they had been encouraged, and as they had promised they would, and said they did, ( Jeremiah 3:14 Jeremiah 3:22 ) : return unto me;
with thy whole heart, and not feignedly and hypocritically, as Judah did, ( Jeremiah 3:10 ) . Some render the words (and the accents require they should be rendered so) "if thou wilt return to me, O Israel, saith the Lord, thou shalt return" ^F12; that is, to thine own land, being now in captivity; or, "thou shalt rest" ^F13; or "have rest"; so Kimchi interprets the last word; see ( Jeremiah 30:10 ) , and these words may very well be considered as the words of Christ, and as spoken by him, when he entered upon his ministry, who began it with calling the people of the Jews to repentance, and promising to give them rest; and all such who return to God by repentance, and come to Christ by faith, find spiritual rest for their souls now, and shall have an eternal rest hereafter, ( Matthew 4:17 ) ( Matthew 11:28 Matthew 11:29 ) : and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight;
not only their sins, but their self-righteousness, and dependence upon it; the rites and ceremonies of the old law abolished by Christ, together with the traditions of the elders, by which they made void the commandments of God; all which were abominations in the sight of the Lord, ( Isaiah 1:13 ) ( 29:13 ) ( 65:5 ) ( 66:3 ) , then shalt thou not remove;
from thine own land again when restored, or further off, into more distant countries, for they were now in captivity; or rather the words may be rendered, not as a promise, but as a continuation of what is before said, and not move to and fro
^F14; or be unstable and wavering, tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, and precept of men; but be established in the faith of the Gospel, and steadfast and immovable in every good work. The Targum is: ``if thou wilt return, O Israel, to my worship, saith the Lord, thy return shall be received before thy decree is sealed; and if thou wilt take away thine abominations from before me, thou shalt not be moved;'' or wander about.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 (bwvt yla hwhy Man larvy bwvt Ma) "si reverteris ad me, O Israel, dicit Jehovah, reverteris", Gataker,
F13 (bwvt) "quiescas", Vatablus; "quiesce apud me", Calvin.
F14 (dwnt alw) "et non vagaberis", Gatatker; "et non instabilis fueris", Cocceius,

Jeremiah 4:1 In-Context

1 Israel, if thou turnest again, saith the Lord, turn thou (again) to me; if thou takest away thine offendings from my face, thou shalt not be moved. (Israel, if thou shalt return to me, saith the Lord, then return thou to me; if thou takest away thy offences from before my face, then thou shalt not be shaken out.)

2 And thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth, in truth, and in doom, and in rightfulness; and all folks shall bless him, and shall praise him. (And if thou shalt swear, As the Lord liveth, in truth, and in judgement, and in righteousness/in truth, and in justice, and in uprightness; then all the nations shall ask me to bless them like you, and they shall praise me.)

3 For the Lord God saith these things to a man of Judah, and to a dweller of Jerusalem (and to an inhabitant of Jerusalem), Make ye new to you a land tilled of new, either a fallow (land), and do not ye sow on thorns.

4 Men of Judah, and dwellers of Jerusalem, be ye circumcised to the Lord, and do ye away the prepuces, either filths, of your hearts; lest peradventure mine indignation go out as fire, and be kindled, and none there be that quench, for the malice of your thoughts. (People of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, be ye circumcised to the service of the Lord, and do ye away the prepuces, or the filths, of your hearts; lest perhaps my indignation go out like fire, and be kindled, and there be no one who can quench it, for the malice of your thoughts.)

5 Tell ye in Judah, and make ye heard in Jerusalem; speak ye, and sing ye with a trump in the land; cry ye strongly, and say ye, Be ye gathered together, and enter we into [the] strong cities.