Jeremiah 33:4, commentary and pictures

God's second word to Jeremiah came while he was still confined in the court of the prison, confirming deliverance and restoration. That confinement was under close surveillance during the third and final Chaldean siege of Jerusalem, when hope had fled every heart and utter ruin was predicted, and his insistence on surrender had caused his imprisonment. The word concerned the houses of Jerusalem, including the houses of the kings of Judah, thrown down and damaged by the siege mounts and by the sword in the Chaldean attack during the city's distress. It was spoken when the city was about to fall and be left desolate without man or beast.

The verse belongs to fresh revelations of Heaven's willingness to forgive and to save. It introduces God's promise to bring health and cure and to reveal abundance of peace and truth, to cause the captivity of Judah and of Israel to return and to build them as at the first. It introduces His promise to cleanse and pardon all their iniquity and to make Israel a name of joy and praise and honor before all nations. It introduces His promise to restore the voice of joy and gladness and of bridegroom and bride and of thanksgiving and sacrifice in Judah and in Jerusalem, to restore shepherds causing flocks to lie down in all the cities, and to perform the good thing promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

It was given then to keep the faithful remnant still in the city from hopeless despair. Those revelations have been an unfailing source of comfort to the church of God from that day to this. The promises to Israel that include this verse apply to institutions established for God's glory today.