Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo

Jeremiah 30

YHWH promises to restore Israel and Judah through judgment, healing their wounds and renewing their life as his people.

YHWH tells Jeremiah to write his words in a book, preserving a promise that Israel and Judah will return from captivity to their ancestral land. He describes terror, foreign bondage, and wounds brought by the people’s sins. He also promises to break their bonds, heal Zion, and rebuild its city under a ruler from among its own people. The chapter closes with God’s wrath against the wicked and the assurance that his purposes will be accomplished.

fear for the futureinjustice and angersermon or Bible study notes
Read
2“The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book.
3For, behold, the days come,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will reverse the captivity of my people Israel and Judah,’ says the LORD. ‘I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.’”
5For the LORD says: “We have heard a voice of trembling; a voice of fear, and not of peace.
6Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned pale?
7Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it! It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he will be saved out of it.
8It will come to pass in that day, says the LORD of Armies, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds. Strangers will no more make them their bondservants;
9but they will serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them.
10Therefore don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says the LORD. Don’t be dismayed, Israel. For, behold, I will save you from afar, and save your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return, and will be quiet and at ease. No one will make him afraid.
11For I am with you, says the LORD, to save you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.”
12For the LORD says, “Your hurt is incurable. Your wound is grievous.
13There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up. You have no healing medicines.
14All your lovers have forgotten you. They don’t seek you. For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased.
15Why do you cry over your injury? Your pain is incurable. For the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you.
16Therefore all those who devour you will be devoured. All your adversaries, everyone of them, will go into captivity. Those who plunder you will be plunder. I will make all who prey on you become prey.
17For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds,” says the LORD, “because they have called you an outcast, saying, ‘It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.’”
18The LORD says: “Behold, I will reverse the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places. The city will be built on its own hill, and the palace will be inhabited in its own place.
19Thanksgiving will proceed out of them with the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they will not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small.
20Their children also will be as before, and their congregation will be established before me. I will punish all who oppress them.
21Their prince will be one of them, and their ruler will proceed from among them. I will cause him to draw near, and he will approach me; for who is he who has had boldness to approach me?” says the LORD.
22“You shall be my people, and I will be your God.
23Behold, the LORD’s storm, his wrath, has gone out, a sweeping storm; it will burst on the head of the wicked.
24The fierce anger of the LORD will not return until he has accomplished, and until he has performed the intentions of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Jeremiah 30:3The promise of return includes both Israel and Judah and anchors their future in God’s gift of the land.
Jeremiah 30:18God’s compassion takes concrete shape in restored homes, a rebuilt city, and an inhabited palace.
Jeremiah 30:16The judgment turns upon Israel’s oppressors, whose plunder and violence will return upon their own heads.
Where this chapter reaches

Isaiah shares the images of Zion’s wounds healed and her ruined places restored, while Ezekiel shares the promise of a restored people under a Davidic ruler. Hosea also links Israel’s return to seeking YHWH and David their king, joining restoration with renewed allegiance.

Jeremiah 30's chapter linksAll strongest linksHover or tap a book
Notice

After reading the whole chapter

How does the promise to heal Zion change your reading of the wounds described as incurable?

Write on this

What does the rebuilt community in verses 18–22 help you notice about the scope of God’s restoration?

Write on this

Questions people ask about Jeremiah 30

What is the time of Jacob’s trouble in Jeremiah 30?

Jacob names the people of Israel here. Verse 7 describes an unmatched day of distress, pictured through trembling and labor pains, from which God will save them. The surrounding verses concern captivity, foreign rule, and restoration. The chapter gives no date; Christians differ over how this distress relates to future events.

Who is David their king in Jeremiah 30:9?

The promise names David as the king God will raise up for the restored people. It looks toward renewed Davidic kingship; the chapter does not explain how the name relates to the historical David. Christians understand this royal hope as fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the promised king from David’s line.

Why does God call Israel’s wound incurable and then promise healing?

Verses 12–15 describe Israel’s helpless condition under judgment for its sins: no advocate, medicine, or former ally can bring relief. Verse 17 then promises healing from YHWH himself. The contrast establishes that the restoration depends on God’s action. The wound imagery concerns the people’s devastated condition, rather than a medical diagnosis.

Read it. Now write it.

Start an entry on Jeremiah 30. Your words go beside the text, and you get one next step for the week.

Jeremiah · 52 chapters
12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152
What the Bible says about fear →What the Bible says about anger →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).