For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.
Jeremiah 30 belongs to the group from Jeremiah 7 to 30, and to the part after chapter 20 in which separate prophecies are gathered together without being placed in chronological order. In that arrangement material from the reign of Zedekiah is placed before material from the days of Jehoiakim. In approximate chronological order chapter 30 follows chapters 24 and 29 and comes before chapter 31, within the sequence running from chapter 20 to chapter 46.
The verse lies in chapters 29-31 concerning the Babylonian exile. More specifically it lies in 30:7-16, which speaks of the return of the Israelites from captivity as sorrow changed into joy. The chapter prophesies Jacob's trouble and belongs with prophecies of the same time concerning the gathering and deliverance of God's people and the outpouring of His Spirit just before the resurrection of the just.
The incurable bruise and grievous wound describe Judah and Israel's sin and the resulting suffering and punishment. They show its severity and certainty. The wound cannot be cured by human power or by any earthly power.
Although the wound is incurable by human means, the surrounding promise is that God will nevertheless gather and restore His people. That restoration turns sorrow into joy. The helplessness is brought home through affliction so that people will recognize their need and turn to God, who is their strength and health.
The chapter has been appealed to to prove a future earthly Jewish restoration involving the return of the Jews, the reign of Christ, and the inheritance of the saints, but that application is false. God has no special work to do among the literal Jews in the Christian dispensation. At the second coming Christ takes the saints to heaven while the earth is desolated.
Jeremiah 30 belongs to the group from Jeremiah 7 to 30, and to the part after chapter 20 in which separate prophecies are gathered together without being placed in chronological order. In that arrangement material from the reign of Zedekiah is placed before material from the days of Jehoiakim. In approximate chronological order chapter 30 follows chapters 24 and 29 and comes before chapter 31, within the sequence running from chapter 20 to chapter 46.
The verse lies in chapters 29-31 concerning the Babylonian exile. More specifically it lies in 30:7-16, which speaks of the return of the Israelites from captivity as sorrow changed into joy. The chapter prophesies Jacob's trouble and belongs with prophecies of the same time concerning the gathering and deliverance of God's people and the outpouring of His Spirit just before the resurrection of the just.
The incurable bruise and grievous wound describe Judah and Israel's sin and the resulting suffering and punishment. They show its severity and certainty. The wound cannot be cured by human power or by any earthly power.
Although the wound is incurable by human means, the surrounding promise is that God will nevertheless gather and restore His people. That restoration turns sorrow into joy. The helplessness is brought home through affliction so that people will recognize their need and turn to God, who is their strength and health.
The chapter has been appealed to to prove a future earthly Jewish restoration involving the return of the Jews, the reign of Christ, and the inheritance of the saints, but that application is false. God has no special work to do among the literal Jews in the Christian dispensation. At the second coming Christ takes the saints to heaven while the earth is desolated.