Jeremiah 16:14-21

How does promised restoration stand beside the warning that no hiding place conceals guilt?

Berean Standard Bible

14 Yet behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of Egypt.’ 15 Instead they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and all the other lands to which He had banished them.’ For I will return them to their land that I gave to their forefathers. 16 But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks. 17 For My eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from My face, and their guilt is not concealed from My eyes. 18 And I will first repay them double their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and they have filled My inheritance with their abominations.” 19 O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of distress, the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our fathers inherited nothing but lies, worthless idols of no benefit at all. 20 Can man make gods for himself? Such are not gods!” 21 “Therefore behold, I will inform them, and this time I will make them know My power and My might; then they will know that My name is the LORD.

What is the context?

The speech turns to a future remembrance of deliverance: return from the north and the scattered lands will be spoken of alongside the earlier rescue from Egypt.

The fishermen and hunters then warn that the present guilty people will be found even in concealed places. The Lord sees their ways and first repays the defilement of His land.

The prayer calls the Lord strength, fortress, and refuge and imagines nations coming to confess that inherited idols were lies. The final response promises that they will know His power and name.

Restoration does not make wrongdoing invisible, and judgment does not make the nations’ coming impossible. The images must be read in their order rather than treating every fisherman as a friendly rescuer.

How is this passage commonly understood?

Wesley reads the fishermen and hunters as enemies used in judgment, set between restoration’s promise and the explanation of guilt. He understands double as abundant recompense rather than a mathematical declaration that God punishes beyond what is just. The nations’ confession then distinguishes the living Lord from manufactured gods.

What is our position?

We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.

Where can I study this further?

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