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Jeremiah 33
1Moreover the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still locked up in the court of the guard, saying,
2“The LORD who does it, the LORD who forms it to establish it—the LORD is his name, says:
3‘Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and difficult things, which you don’t know.’
4For the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the of Judah, which are broken down to make a defense against the mounds and against the sword:
5‘While men come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have killed in my anger and in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hidden my face from this city,
6behold, I will bring it health and healing, and I will cure them; and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth.
7I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel, and will build them as at the first.
8I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me. I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against me and by which they have transgressed against me.
9This city will be to me for a name of joy, for praise, and for glory, before all the nations of the earth, which will hear all the good that I do to them, and will fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I provide to it.’”
10The LORD says: “Yet again there will be heard in this place, about which you say, ‘It is waste, without man and without animal, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without animal,’
11the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, ‘Give thanks to the LORD of Armies, for the LORD is good, for his loving kindness endures forever;’ who bring thanksgiving into the LORD’s house. For I will cause the captivity of the land to be reversed as at the first,” says the LORD.
12The LORD of Armies says: “Yet again there will be in this place, which is waste, without man and without animal, and in all its cities, a habitation of causing their flocks to lie down.
13In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of him who counts them,” says the LORD.
14“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will perform that good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah.
15“In those days and at that time, I will cause a Branch of to grow up to David. He will execute justice and righteousness in the land.
16In those days Judah will be , and Jerusalem will dwell safely. This is the name by which she will be called: The LORD our .”
17For the LORD says: “David will never lack a man to sit on the of the house of Israel.
18The Levitical won’t lack a man before me to offer burnt , to burn meal offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.”
19The LORD’s word came to Jeremiah, saying,
20“The LORD says: ‘If you can break my of the day and my covenant of the night, so that there will not be day and night in their time,
21then my could also be broken with David my servant, that he won’t have a son to on his throne; and with the Levitical , my ministers.
22As the army of the sky can’t be counted, and the sand of the sea can’t be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me.’”
23The LORD’s word came to Jeremiah, saying,
24“Don’t consider what this people has spoken, saying, ‘Has the LORD cast off the two families which he chose?’ Thus they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.”
25The LORD says: “If my of day and night fails, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth,
26then I will also cast away the offspring of Jacob, and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his offspring to be rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I will cause their captivity to be reversed and will have mercy on them.”
Slow reading
Read Jeremiah 33 three times
Guided passes through short verse groups: read it whole, watch the words, then pray it back. Phrases to stop on along the way, with deeper explanation held back until you have read the verses yourself.
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What this chapter is saying
What is Jeremiah 33 about?
Read verses 2 and 3 with the setting in verse 1 still in view: this promise was spoken while the prophet was shut up in prison and the city was under siege.
2“The LORD who does it, the LORD who forms it to establish it—the LORD is his name, says:
3‘Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and difficult things, which you don’t know.’
- Written by
- Jeremiah, while confined in the court of the guard, Jeremiah 33:1
- Written to
- Judah in the final days before Jerusalem fell to Babylon
- Why
- a second word given during the siege, following the promise of chapter 32
The chapter opens by naming the speaker three times as Yahweh, the one who does it and forms it to establish it. The invitation to call and be answered comes from the God who makes and keeps what he says, not from a general encouragement to pray.
Verses 4 and 5 are bleak. The houses of the city are being pulled down for defence, and God says the city will be filled with the dead. The promise in verse 3 is spoken into that, not instead of it.
From verse 6 the promise unfolds: health and cure, abundance of peace and truth, the return of the captivity of Judah and Israel, cleansing from iniquity and pardon, verses 6 to 8. Restoration in this chapter includes forgiveness, not only rebuilding.
Verses 10 and 11 answer the desolation directly. In streets said to be without inhabitant, the voice of joy and of the bridegroom and bride will be heard again, along with thanksgiving, because Yahweh is good and his loving kindness endures forever.
Verses 14 to 26 anchor it all in God's : a Branch from David's line, verses 15 and 16, and promises as fixed as day and night, verses 20 and 25. The hope rests on God's commitment to his own word rather than on Judah's improvement.
What the chapter does not tell us
Verse 3 does not promise that God will answer every prayer with an explanation. The great and difficult things named in this chapter are what God will do for his people, and the chapter never says the siege would be lifted.