---
title: "Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations, Volume 4"
author: "John Calvin"
translator: "John Owen"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 49 of 123
url: https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-jeremiah-and-lamentations-volume-4/49/
cite: "John Calvin, tr. John Owen, Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations, Volume 4, section 49. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-jeremiah-and-lamentations-volume-4/49/"
---

# Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations, Volume 4

*John Calvin, tr. John Owen*

Calvin on Jeremiah and Lamentations, volume 4 of 5.

## 49. Jeremiah 33:23-24

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-jeremiah-and-lamentations-volume-4/49/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentary-on-jeremiah-and-lamentations-volume-4/49/#p-N

[¶0] Jeremiah 33:23-24 23. Moreover, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 23. Et fuit sermo Jehovae ad Jeremiam, dicendo, 24. Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. 24. An non vidisti quomodo populus hic loquantur? Duas familias quas elegit Jehova in ipsis, reprobavit eas (sed abundat particula בהם deinde copula etiam supervacua est, nisi vertatur in adverbium temporis, nunc; nunc ergo objecit eas) et populum meum spreverunt, ut non sit amplius gens in conspectu ipsorum (hoc est, ipsorum judicio)

[¶1] He now assigns a reason why he had so largely spoken of the deliverance of the people and of their perpetual preservation, even because the blessing promised by God was regarded as uncertain by the unbelieving. Farther, God not only reminds his Prophet why he bade him to repeat so often the same thing, but speaks also for the sake of the people, in order that they might know that this repetition was not in vain, as it was necessary to contend against their perverse wickedness; for they had so filled their minds and hearts with despair, that they rejected all God’s promises, and gave no place to faith or hope.

[¶2] There are some who explain this passage of the Chaldeans, who regarded the people with great contempt. But this explanation is cold and unmeaning. I have no doubt but that God here expostulates with the Israelites, because they relinquished the hope of a deliverance; for Jeremiah would not have spoken thus of the Chaldeans, Hast thou not seen this people? He expostulates with Jeremiah, because he had not moved from the city. He then shews, according to what I have already observed, that there was a necessity why he should so often confirm what had been said so plainly before of the return of the people, Hast thou not seen, he says, how this people speak? saying, Jehovah now rejects the two families whom he had chosen, even the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah.

[¶3] It was indeed an unhappy event, that the people had been divided into two parts; for they ought to have been one nation. But though it had happened through the defection of the ten tribes that the body of the people had been torn asunder, yet the Prophet, according to the usual way of speaking, says, that the two families had been chosen The election of God was indeed different, even that the seed of Abraham might be one: for as there is but one head, so there ought to be but one body. But God had not wholly cast away the ten tribes, though they had wickedly and impiously revolted from the family of David. He then says, according to the language which prevailed, that the two families had been rejected, that is, the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah. Now the people said, that both were rejected, which was true, but not in the sense they intended; for as it has been before said, they thought that there was no hope remaining, as though the covenant of God had been wholly abolished, while yet the rejection was only for a time.

[¶4] We hence see what God reproved in the common language of the people, even because they entertained no hope of mercy and pardon; for being struck with amazement, they had cast aside every thought of God’s promises, when they saw that they were to go into exile. For as before they had hardened themselves against threatenings, so now despair immediately laid hold on their minds, so that they could not conceive any idea of God’s goodness and mercy. He adds, that the people were contemptible in their eyes, so as not to be a nation any more Thus in the third place he teaches what we have before observed.

### Jeremiah 33:25-26

[¶6] Jeremiah 33:25-26 25. Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinantes of heaven and earth; 25. Sic dicit Jehova, Si non foedus meum diei et noctis, leges coelorum et terrae non posuero (repetendum est אם si, si non posuero leges, vel, statuta, coelorum et terrae:) 26. Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them. 26. Etiam semen Jacob et Davidis servi mei reprobabo, ut non assumam ex semine ejus qui dominetur super semine Abrahae, Isaac et Jacob; quia reducam captivitatem eorum, et miserabor eorum.

[¶7] Here God opposes the constancy of his faithfulness to their perverse murmurings, of which he had complained; and he again adduces the similitude previously brought forward: “lf, then, I have not fixed my covenant, or if there is no covenant as to the day and the night, — if there are no laws as to heaven and earth, then I shall now cast away the seed of Jacob and the seed of David: but if my constancy is ever conspicuous as to the laws of nature, how is it that ye ascribe not to me my due honor? For I am the same God, who created the heaven and the earth, who fixed all the laws of nature which remain unchangeable, and who also have made a covenant with my Church. If my faithfulness as to the laws of nature changes not, wily should it change as to that sacred covenant which I have made with my chosen people?”

[¶8] We now see the reason why God so often confirmed a thing in itself sufficiently clear, even because the contest with the obstinate hopelessness of the people was difficult. For they thought that they were rejected without any hope of deliverance, when God punished them only for a time for their wickedness, as they deemed their exile to be without a return.

[¶9] He mentions the seed of Jacob first, because it had been said to Abraham, For thy seed, and the same promise was repeated to Jacob. (Genesis 26:4; Genesis 28:14) He afterwards adds the seed of David, because an especial promise was afterwards given to David, (2 Samuel 7:12, 13:) Then also the seed of David, he says, will I reject, that I should not take of his seed to rule over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: he now fitly joins together what might have seemed unconnected; for he says, that there would be always some of David’s posterity to rule over all the tribes. God, therefore, thus preserved his Church when he set a king over his Church; or a kingdom, as we have said, is inseparable from the safety of the people.

[¶10] He lastly adds, For I will restore their captivity This obviated the diffidence of the people: for an objection was ready at hand, “What can this mean? for the ten tribes have been already led away into distant regions, and are scattered; a part also of the kingdom of Judah has been cut off; and what remains is not far from entire ruin.” Hence God calls their attention to the hope of deliverance, as though he had said, that they were acting foolishly, because they were thus hasty, for their expectation ought to have remained in suspense until the time prescribed, that is, till the end of the seventy years, according to what we have before seen, when the Prophet spoke against impostors who boasted of a quick return. He therefore tells them that they ought patiently to bear their exile, until the full time of their deliverance came. And he points out the fountain or cause of their deliverance when he says, I will have mercy on them, as though he had said, that the very salvation whieh he promised to the people depended on his gratuitous mercy.

### Prayer Lecture 135

### Prayer

[¶13] Grant, Almighty God, that as thou settest before us daily, both in the heavens and on the earth, an illustrious example, not only of thy power and wisdom, but also of thy goodness and faithfulness, — O grant, that we may learn to raise up our thoughts still higher, even to that hope which is laid up for us in heaven, and that we may so suffer ourselves to be agitated by the various changes of this world, that yet our hope may remain fixed in thee, and that whatever may happen, we may be fully persuaded that thou wilt be in such a way our Father, that we shall at length enjoy that blessed rest, which has been obtained for us by the blood of thine only-begotten Son. — Amen.

### Lecture one hundred and thirty sixth

[¶15] Lecture One Hundred and Thirty-Sixth

[¶16] CHAPTER 34