Jeremiah 32:36, commentary and pictures

The verse concerns Jerusalem, repeating the people's saying that it shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence. It was spoken under Zedekiah during the siege of the city while Jeremiah was imprisoned. It falls within the account of the two years before Jerusalem's fall. Its chapter is not arranged in chronological order in the book; in chronological sequence chapter 32 follows chapters 37 and 34 and precedes chapter 33.

Behind it lies Nebuchadnezzar's repeated comings against Jerusalem: Jehoiakim served him three years and rebelled, Jehoiachin was made king and then rebelled and was carried to Babylon with his court and 10,000 of the people while the gold and treasures of the temple were taken, leaving only the poorest sort of the land, and Zedekiah was made king and served eight years and rebelled in his ninth year. Nebuchadnezzar then besieged Jerusalem for a year and a half until it was taken, the temple and great houses were burned, the walls were broken down round about, and Zedekiah and many people were carried to Babylon. Gedaliah was made governor over the few poor left, Ishmael with ten men murdered Gedaliah, and all the people small and great with the captains arose and went to Egypt for fear of the Chaldees.

The city's imminent destruction is the setting for the promise that God will gather the people back and let them live there safely, making Jeremiah's purchase of the field an act of obedience to God's word. The chapter belongs to the prophecies about the restoration from Babylon and the more glorious restoration under Christ. Verses 36-44 point to the same events as Ezekiel's promises of Israel's gathering and deliverance and return to the land at the time God gives his people a new spirit. These events take place at the beginning of the day of the Lord before the resurrection of the just.