Jeremiah 42:10

Jer 42:10 If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull [you] down, and I will plant you, and not pluck [you] up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you.

Ver. 10. Then will I build you.] Promittitur felicitatio; parabola ab architectura et agricultura desumpta. God promiseth to bless and settle them by a twofold similitude, used also by the apostle, {1Co 3:9} "Ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building." See Jer 24:6.

For I repent me of the evil.] A term taken from men, {Gen 6:6} though repentance in men is a change of the will; but repentance in God is only the willing of a change, mutatio rei, non Dei. See Jer 18:8.

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.

42:10-12 The Lord replied that he wanted the people to stay in Judea and settle down, and he would plant them in the land (see 1:10). Judea’s time of judgment was over. • For I am with you and will save you: The Lord was calling the remnant of Judea to trust him for protection against the king of Babylon.

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

Read Jer. 18:8.

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

If ye . . . abide--namely, under the Babylonian authority, to which God hath appointed that all should be subject (Dan 2:37-38). To resist was to resist God.

build . . . plant--metaphor for, I will firmly establish you (Jer 24:6).

I repent . . . of the evil-- (Jer 18:8; Deu 32:36). I am satisfied with the punishment I have inflicted on you, if only you add not a new offense [GROTIUS]. God is said to "repent," when He alters His outward ways of dealing.

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 10. For I repent me of the evil] The meaning is, As I have punished you only because you continued to be rebellious, I will arrest this punishment as soon as you become obedient to my word. You need not fear the king of Babylon if you have me for your helper; and I will so show mercy to you that he shall see it, and cease from afflicting you, as he shall see that I am on your side.

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

He now adds, If remaining ye will remain in this land, I will build you up and plant you, I will not pull you down nor root you up Here the Prophet testifies that the counsel he gave them in God’s name would be for their good; and what is good or useful is deemed by men, when they theorize, as they say, to be of great value. The simple authority of God ought, indeed, to be sufficient; and had God only commanded them in one word to remain, they ought to have acquiesced. But God here accommodated himself to their infirmity, and was pleased, in a manner, to let himself down in order to promote their well being, and did not require obedience according to his authority and sovereign power, as he might have justly done. We hence see how kindly God dealt with this people, as he did not demand what he might, but gave his counsel, and testified that it would be good and useful to them.

Now when orators adduce what is useful in order to persuade, they have recourse to conjectures, they state human reasons; but the Prophet here promised in God’s name, that that if they remained it would be for their good. God’s promise, then, is brought forward here instead of conjectures and reasons. Therefore the obstinacy of the people was without excuse, when they rejected the authority of God; and then despised his counsel, and also disbelieved his promise. Then to the contempt of God was added unbelief: and we know that no greater reproach can be offered to God than when men do not believe him.

The metaphors here used occur often in Scripture. God is said to build up men when he confirms them in a settled state; and in the same sense he is said to plant them. This we have already seen, and it is especially evident from Psalm 44:2, where God is said to have “planted” in the land of Canaan the people he had brought out of Egypt. He then promised that the condition of the people would be secure, and safe, and perpetual, if only they did not change their place. When he adds, I will not pull down nor pluck up, he: follows what is done commonly in Hebrew. Neither the Latins nor the Greeks speak in this manner; but negatives of this kind in Hebrew are confirmations, as though the Prophet had said, “God will so plant you that your root will remain. There will then be no danger of being plucked up when you have been planted by God’s hand; nor will he suffer you to be subverted or pulled down when he has built you up by his own hand.” What then they ought to have especially sought, God freely promised them, even to be safe and secure in the land; for this especially was what the Prophet meant.

It afterwards follows, For I repent of the evil which I have brought on you. The verb נחם, nuchem, sometimes means to repent, and often to comfort; but the former sense comports better with this passage, that God repented of the evil. If, however, we prefer this rendering, “For I have received comfort,” then the meaning would be, “I am satisfied with the punishment with which I have visited your sins;” for they to whom satisfaction is given are said to receive comfort. As then God was content with the punishment he had inflicted on the Jews, the words may be rendered thus, “For I have received satisfaction from the evil,” or, “I am satisfied with the evil,” etc. The other meaning, however, is more generally taken, that God repented of the evil. But this mode of speaking is, indeed, somewhat harsh, yet it contains nothing contrary to the truth; for we know that God often transfers to himself what peculiarly belongs to man. Then repentance in God is nothing else than that having been pacified, he does not pursue men to an extremity, so as to demand the punishment which they justly deserve. Thus, then, God repented of the evil which he had brought on the people, after having sufficiently chastised their sins, according to what we read in Isaiah, when God says, that he had exacted double for their sins. (Isaiah 40:2.) He called the punishment he had inflicted double, not that it exceeded a just measure, but he spoke according to his paternal feeling, that he had treated his people in a harder way than he wished, as a father, who is even displeased with himself when he has been very severe towards his children.

We now, then, perceive what is meant by the reason here given, that the Jews were not to fear if they dwelt in the land, because God had sufficiently chastised them, and that he was so pacified that he would not further pursue them with severity. Jeremiah at the same time reminds us, that whatever evils happen to us, they ought to be ascribed to God’s judgment, and not to adverse fortune. We hence see that by these words the people were exhorted to repent; for as they were bidden to entertain good hope, because their safety was in God’s hand, so also the Prophet shews that as to the time past they had suffered nothing by chance, but that they had been punished because they had provoked God’s wrath. 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.

(10) Then will I build you, and not pull you down . . .—We note the characteristic recurrence of the formulæ with which Jeremiah’s work as a prophet had begun (Jer_1:10). The word for “repent” does not imply regret for the past, as men repent of their sin, but, as in Jer_18:8; Jer_26:3, a change of purpose from what had been the mind of judgment to one of mercy. The prophet’s counsel is, as it had been all along, that the people should accept the punishment which God had inflicted on them, that they should stay where they were and as they were, and not in terror or suspicion seek safety in plans of their own devising.

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

10. then will I build you, etc.] Cp. Jer_1:10, Jer_24:6 for these figures.

I repent me] an anthropomorphic figure. I change my conduct towards you, which with men is commonly caused by change of purpose.

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.

Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid,.... Lest he should revenge the death of Gedaliah upon them, which was a groundless fear; see Jer 41:18; or that they should be dealt hardly with by him, and be cruelly oppressed, and not able to live in subjection to him; see Jer 40:9;

be not afraid of him, saith the Lord: who, being omniscient, knew they were; and, being omnipotent, a greater King than the king of Babylon, the King of king?, they had no reason to fear anything from him, since they were under his protection:

for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand; from his avenging and oppressing hand; though they were not to be delivered as yet from subjection to him, or being tributaries to him; which they might be, and yet dwell in peace and safety.

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

I repent me - As punishment had been inflicted, the divine justice was satisfied.

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

Appeased. Hebrew, "comforted." Septuagint, "at rest." I forget (Calmet) or pardon (Haydock) the past.

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).

That is, if you will not go into the land of Egypt, as you are thinking, but abide where you are, or in any part of Judah, under subjection to the king of Babylon, into whose power I have given you, then I will see to your security and prosperity, and make you a happy people. The happiness and prosperity of people is in Scripture often set out under the notion of building and planting, as on the contrary their misery or destruction is expressed under the metaphorical notions of pulling down and plucking up.

For I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you; for I am satisfied with the punishment your nation hath undergone; and as to the remainder, if they do not destroy themselves by new disobedience, I will change the course of my providence.

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

10. If ye will still abide — One chapter of their probation had closed, another now opens. They had proven disobedient and corrupt under Jewish rule, and the catastrophe had come; they were again to be put to trial under Babylonian rule. Though they had proven rebellious, and so had been given over into the power of their enemies, God had by no means deserted them, or become their enemy. And so this message is full of assurances of his continued interest in their behalf: “I repent me,” “I will build you,” “save you,” “deliver you,” “show mercies unto you.”

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

Build you, and not pull you down, etc. Some of Jeremiah"s favourite phrases. (see on Jer_24:6) I repent me. And yet in 1Sa_15:29 we read that "Israel"s Trust... is not a man that he should repent." The key to the discrepancy may be found in Psa_18:25, Psa_18:26, "With the pious thou showest thyself pious... and with the froward thou showest thyself froward." There is no change in the nature or purpose of God, but only in his conduct towards man. The term "repent" is, therefore, only used analogically.

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

I repent - I am satisfied with the punishment your nation hath undergone, and as to the remainder, will change the course of my providence.

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

repent

(See Scofield "Zec 8:14").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.