Jeremiah 30:8

Jer 30:8 For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, [that] I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:

Ver. 8. I will break his yoke from off thy neck.] The forementioned misery did but make way for this mercy, that it might be the more magnified. Let the saints but see from what, to what, and by what Jesus Christ hath delivered them, and they cannot but be thankful.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jer 30:8-9. It shall come to pass in that day — In the day when Jacob shall be saved out of all his troubles, Jer 30:7. The phrase that day often denotes an extraordinary or remarkable time for some signal events of Providence: see Isa 4:2. That I will break his yoke from off thy neck — This promise was in part fulfilled when Cyrus set the Jews free from the Babylonish yoke, and gave them liberty to return to their own country. And strangers shall no more serve themselves of him — In this latter part of the sentence the Jewish state, or rather that of Israel and Judah, is spoken of in the third person, him; in the foregoing part in the second person, thy neck. But they shall serve the Lord their God — They shall live in subjection and obedience to the one living and true God, and to David their king — That is, the Messiah, who is often called by the name of David in the prophets, as the person in whom all the promises made to David were to be fulfilled. See the margin. Here it is promised that, after this restoration, the Jews and Israelites “should no more fall under the dominion of foreigners, but be governed by princes and magistrates of their own nation, independent of any but God and David their king. But this was not the case with the Jews that returned from Babylon. They then indeed had a leader, Zerubbabel, one of their own nation, and also of the family of David. But both the nation and their leader continued still in a state of vassalage and the most servile dependance upon the Persian monarchy. And when the Grecian monarchy succeeded, they changed their masters only, but not their condition; till, at length, under the Asmonæan princes, they had, for a while, an independent government of their own, but without any title to the name of David. At last they fell under the Roman yoke, since which time their situation has been such as not to afford the least ground to pretend that the promised restoration has yet taken place. It remains, therefore, to be brought about, in future, under the reign of the Messiah, emphatically distinguished by the name of David; when every particular circumstance predicted concerning it will, no doubt, be verified by a distinct and unequivocal accomplishment.” — Blaney. Whom I will raise up unto them — An expression elsewhere used by the holy writers when they speak of the coming of Christ. See the margin. Hence this prophecy must be considered as implying the conversion of the Jews to the Christian faith, God, according to his promises, having constituted Christ the Prince and the Saviour to whom every knee must bow, and whom every tongue must confess.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ISRAEL’S DELIVERANCE, Jer_30:8-11.

8. His yoke — Israel’s yoke, see on 1Ki_12:4; Isa_9:3.

Strangers… no more serve themselves — Their captivity shall come to a perpetual end.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30:8 Although the return of the exiles began in 538 BC, foreigners were still their masters for most of Israel’s history from the Exile through the Roman period. However, Israel experienced a measure of freedom during that time.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To wit, of Jacob.

Of the King of Babylon.

When I shall visit Babylon.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

his yoke . . . thy neck--his, that is, Jacob's (Jer 30:7), the yoke imposed on him. The transition to the second person is frequent, God speaking of Jacob or Israel, at the same time addressing him directly. So "him" rightly follows; "foreigners shall no more make him their servant" (Jer 25:14). After the deliverance by Cyrus, Persia, Alexander, Antiochus, and Rome made Judah their servant. The full of deliverance meant must, therefore, be still future.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 8. I will break his yoke] That is, the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar.

Of him.] Of Jacob, (Jer 30:7,) viz., the then captive Jews.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Jeremiah proceeds with what he touched upon in the last verse, even that the Lord, after having chastised his people, would at length shew mercy to them, so as to receive them into favor. He says, in short, that their captivity would not be perpetual. But we must remember what we have before stated, that is, that deliverance is only promised to the faithful, who would patiently and resignedly submit to God and not disregard his paternal correction. If, then, we desire God to be propitious to us, we must suffer ourselves to be paternally chastised by him; for if we resist when goaded, no pardon can by any means be expected, for we then, as it were, wilfully provoke God by our hardness.

He therefore says, in that day, that is, when the appointed time was completed. The false prophets inflamed the people with false expectation, as though their deliverance was to take place after two years. God bade the faithful to wait, and not to be thus in a hurry; he had assigned a day for them, and that was, as we have seen, the seventieth year. He then mentions the yoke, that is, of the king of Babylon, and taking another view, the chains The yoke was what Nebuchadnezzar laid on the Jews; and the chains of the people were those by which Nebuchadnezzar had bound them. At last he adds, And rule over them shall no more strangers The verb עבד, obed, is to be taken here in a causative sense; even the form of the sentence shews this, and they who render the words, “and strangers shall not serve them,” wrest the meaning; for it could not be a promise; and this is inconsistent with the context, and requires no confutation, as it is evidently unsuitable. If the verb be taken in the sense of serving, then “strangers” must be in the dative case. We have seen before a similar phrase in Jeremiah 25:14, where the Prophet says that neither kings nor strong nations would any longer rule over the Jews. The same verb is used, and the same form of expression. Strangers, then, shall make them serve no more; that is, they shall not rule over them so as slavishly to oppress them.

We now perceive the design of the Prophet; he exhorts the Jews to patience, and shews that though their exile would be long, yet their deliverance was certain. It follows, —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(8) For it shall come to pass in that day . . .—Better, And it shall come. Here there comes in the ground of the hope uttered in the words “he shall be saved out of it,” which keeps the prophet from sinking under the burden of his sorrow. The second and third person are strangely mingled. Jehovah speaks to Israel, “thy bonds,” “thy yoke,” and “his yoke” is that of the oppressor, i.e., of the Babylonian ruler, and then, the person changing, “strangers shall no more get service done for them by him” i.e., by Israel. The prophet echoes the words of Isa_10:27.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. thy neck … thy bands] rather (with LXX) the 3rd person in both cases. It is a description of Israel’s future deliverance, not an address to him. Dr. suggests that the scribe who substituted “thy” may have had Isa_10:27 in his mind.

bands] The Heb. is the word so rendered in the text of Jer_27:2, where see note.

serve themselves of him] For the phrase cp. Jer_25:14, Jer_27:7.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts,.... When the time is come for Jacob to be saved out of his trouble:

that I will break his yoke from off thy neck; not the yoke of the king of Babylon, but of antichrist, and of all the antichristian states, by whom the people of God have been oppressed; so the Targum,

"I will break the yoke of the peoples (the antichristian nations) from off your necks.''

Jarchi interprets it of the yoke of the nations of the world from off Israel; and Kimchi of the yoke of Gog and Magog, or of every nation:

and will burst thy bonds; by which they were kept in bondage, both with respect to civil and religious things; but now he that led into captivity shall go into captivity himself, Rev 13:10;

and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him; this shows that this prophecy cannot be understood of deliverance from the Babylonish captivity; because, after this, strangers did serve themselves of the Jews, and they were servants unto them; as to the Persians, and Grecians, and especially the Romans, by whom they were entirely subdued and ruined; and to this day all nations almost serve themselves of them; but when they shall be called and converted, as they shall be free from the yoke of sin and Satan, and from the yoke of the ceremonial law, and the traditions of their elders, in a religious sense; so from the yoke of the nations of the world, in a civil sense.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Bonds - See Jer 27:2 note.

Shall no more serve themselves - i. e., shall no more exact forced labor of him Jer 22:13.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Strangers. Idols. The people were not so prone to worship them. Yet the Jews were almost constantly subject to foreigners (Calmet) despectissima pars servientium, Macedonibus invalidis....sibi ipsis reges imposuere. (Tacitus, Hist. 5.) --- Christ granted a more perfect liberty to the faithful, John viii. 33. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

In that day; not in that great day before mentioned, but in the day when God should deliver the seed of Jacob out of trouble. God threatens to break the yoke of the king of Babylon, that is, to break that power of his which for seventy years he should exercise in keeping the Jews under; and he would break the bonds in which they should be kept, and foreign nations should no more serve themselves upon the Jews.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

His yoke. Not that imposed by the enemy, (as Isa_10:22 and Isa_14:25 might suggest) but that suffered by Jacob. This is clear from the last clause of the verse.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In that day - In the day when God should deliver the seed of Jacob out of trouble. His yoke - The yoke of the king of Babylon, that power of his, which for seventy years he exercised over the Jews. Of him - Of the Jews.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Yahweh continues to speak to the Israelites.

I will break the yoke off your neck, and I will shatter your chains

Being a slave is spoken of as wearing a yoke like an animal and wearing chains like a prisoner. (See: Metaphor)

they will worship Yahweh their God ... their king ... over them

Yahweh continues speaking about the descendants of Jacob. AT: "you will worship Yahweh your God ... your king ... over you" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

David their king

This is a metonym for one of David's descendants. AT: "a man descended from their King David" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

Yahweh of hosts

yoke

alien

enslave

worship

servant

David

king

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

I will break his yoke The yoke of the heathens will be removed from Israel.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.