John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 30:7

"Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob`s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it." — Jeremiah 30:7 (ASV)

The Prophet continues in this verse to describe the severity of that punishment for which the people felt no concern, because they disregarded all threats, as I have already said. They had for many years hardened themselves to such an extent that they considered so many dreadful things as nothing. This, then, was the reason why he emphasized this denunciation so much and exclaimed, Alas! great is that day: The word “great” is to be taken as dreadful, and he adds, so that there is none like it.

It was a dreadful spectacle to see the city destroyed, and the Temple partly pulled down and partly consumed by fire. The king, with all the nobility, was driven into exile, his eyes were put out, and his children were slain. He was afterwards led away in a manner so degraded that to die a hundred times would have been more desirable than to endure such indignity.

Therefore, the Prophet does not say without reason that that day would be great, so that none would be like it; and he said this to shake off the lethargy of the people, for they thought that the holy city, which God had chosen for His dwelling place, could not fall, nor the Temple perish. He further says that it would be a time of distress for the people. But at the end of the verse, he gives them a hope of God’s mercy—even deliverance from this distress. We now see, then, the Prophet’s design in these verses.

There will be no lecture tomorrow on account of the Consistory.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as we do not cease in various ways perversely to provoke Your wrath against us, O grant that we may at last be turned to obedience by Your kind admonitions, and at the same time submit also to Your just severity, and know that whenever You severely chastise us, we are dealt with as we deserve. May we still never despair, but flee to Your mercy, not doubting that You, in the midst of wrath, remember Your paternal love, provided we rely on that favor which You have promised to us through Your only-begotten Son. — Amen.