30: 1-3. Jeremiah is commanded by God to write down his messages of hope. His people will be restored.

30:4-7. The trouble which the people of Judah are experiencing is compared to a hard and painful birth. Jeremiah uses this comparison in other passages of his book. The labour and birth will be very hard to endure but it will be survived. A new people will be born.

30: 8-11. God speaks to his people in exile. He will bring them back from the distant land where they are slaves. Their oppressors will be punished. They will be restored to their own land and will serve God, ruled by a king appointed by God. Under the descendant of David whom God will enthrone as king, the restored people will live in peace and no one will make them afraid. The thought that is in this passage, that God is with his people and because of this they have nothing more to fear, is one of the great thoughts of the Old Testament. Centuries later, Paul reiterated this thought: 'If God is for us, who can be against us?' (Romans 8: 31).

30. 12-17. In this passage, in which God continues speaking to the exiles, they are told to accept that their present desperate state, com-pared to that of a very badly injured person, is a result of their own sin. They have no one to blame but themselves. But their God is now ready to heal them and to make them entirely well again.

30: 18-22. In this prophecy, the ruined state of the land and city after the Babylonian destruction of 587 B.C. is presumed. God will restore the people to their land and cause the city to be rebuilt. The children of those who were exiled will fill the land and city. There will be praise and joy. David's kingdom will be restored and the ruler, who will rule at God's invitation, will be one of God's people. The great promise which occurs a number of times in the book of Jeremiah is proclaimed: 'They will be my people and I will be their God' (Jeremiah 7:23,11 :4,24:7, 31 :33).

30: 23-24 sums up the whole message of Jeremiah. The wicked are destroyed by the tempest and whirlwind of God's anger against sin, but when the evil in his people is obliterated, the plan of God for the blessing of his people will be seen and understood by them.