Jeremiah 30:18

18 Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I turn back [to] the captivity of the tents of Jacob, And his dwelling places I pity, And the city hath been built on its heap, And the palace according to its ordinance remaineth.

Jeremiah 30:18 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 30:18

Thus saith the Lord, I will bring again the captivity of
Jacob's tents
That is, the captives of Israel, the inhabitants of them; alluding to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, dwelling in tents, and to the Israelites in the wilderness; and fitly expresses the present unsettled state of the Jews: and have mercy on his dwelling places;
by restoring Israel, or Jacob's posterity, to their dwelling places in Jerusalem, and other places rebuilt by them and for them. The Targum is,

``I will have mercy on his cities;''

and the city shall be builded upon her own heap;
the city of Jerusalem, as the Targum expresses it, as it was in the times of Zerubbabel; it was built in its place, as the same Targum; upon the very spot of ground where it before stood, which was become by its desolation a heap of rubbish: or, "upon its hill" ^F1; Mount Moriah, on which some part of the city was built; so likewise in the latter day: though Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, and is now in a desolate condition, yet it shall be rebuilt, as it seems by this prophecy, upon the very spot where it formerly stood; and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof;
which the Targum interprets of the house of the sanctuary, the temple; so Jarchi; and it was true of it in Zerubbabel's time: but as this prophecy has a further view to future times, something else seems intended. Kimchi says it is either the king's palace or the temple. The singular may be put for the plural, and design "palaces", noble and stately buildings; signifying that the city shall be rebuilt in a very grand manner: and so "shall remain after the manner of it"; or, "according to its right" or "judgment" ^F2; it shall be continued and established by or upon that justice and judgment that shall be done in it; for it shall be called a city of righteousness, and a faithful city, ( Isaiah 1:26 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F1 (hlt le) "colle suo", Vatablus.
F2 (wjpvm le) "secundum jus suum", Vatablus; "ut oportet habitabitur", Cocceius.

Jeremiah 30:18 In-Context

16 Therefore all consuming thee are consumed, And all thine adversaries -- all of them -- Into captivity do go, And thy spoilers have been for a spoil, And all thy plunderers I give up to plunder.

17 For I increase health to thee, And from thy strokes I do heal thee, An affirmation of Jehovah, For `Outcast' they have called to thee, `Zion it [is], there is none seeking for her.'

18 Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I turn back [to] the captivity of the tents of Jacob, And his dwelling places I pity, And the city hath been built on its heap, And the palace according to its ordinance remaineth.

19 And gone forth from them hath thanksgiving, And the voice of playful ones, And I have multiplied them and they are not few, And made them honourable, and they are not small.

20 And his sons have been as aforetime, And his company before Me is established, And I have seen after all his oppressors.