John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 33

Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the second
time
Not that this was precisely the second time that the word of the Lord came to the prophet, for it had come tohim many more times than those; but this was the second time on the same occasion and subject; for thesubject of this chapter is the same with that of the former, concerning the Messiah, and the happiness of thechurch in his times:

(while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison) :
though the prophet could not go out from here, and publish his prophecies, yet the Lord visits him again andagain; and his presence made the prison a palace to him; and though his afflictions, abounded for the sake ofhim, his comforts abounded through him; and though he was bound, the word of the Lord was not; it had a freecourse, and ran, and was glorified; it found its way into the prison, and also out of it:

saying :
as follows:

Thus says the Lord, the Maker thereof The Syriac version is, "that made you"; the prophet. The Septuagint and Arabic versions are, "the Maker of the earth"; see (Jeremiah 32:17) . Kimchi interprets it of Jerusalem; rather it is to be understood of the New Jerusalem, or church of God in Gospel times. Jarchi seems to understand it of this prophecy or promise, and so others; the promise of restoring and rebuilding Jerusalem; which, if taken of the church of God, may be admitted;

the Lord that formed it, to establish it ; who drew the scheme and model of this spiritual building, his church, in his eternal mind, and resolved upon its stability and glory; who forms it, and everyone in it, for himself, and for his praise, in order to establish it in the world; as it will be more especially in the latter day: we often read of the Lord's establishing his church and people in the world, (Psalms 48:8) (87:5) (Isaiah 2:2) ;

the Lord [is] his name ; Jehovah, the self-existing Being, the Being of beings; who is able to perform whatever he undertakes, and so is equal to this work, of settling and establishing his interest.

Call unto me, and I will answer you
This is spoken not to Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of it; but to the prophet, encouraging him to seek the Lord by prayer, promising an answer to him. So the Targum, ``pray before me, and I will receive your prayer:''

and show you great and mighty things ;
or, "fortified ones" ^F16 ; which are like fortified cities, that cannot easily be come at, unless the gates are opened to enter into; and designs such as are difficult of understanding, which exceed human belief, and which reason cannot comprehend and take in; and such are the great things of the Gospel. Some copies read it, "things reserved" ^F17 ; as the Targum; and so Jarchi, who interprets it of things future, of things reserved in the heart of God, and which he purposed to do; and very rightly:

which you know not ;
until revealed; and from hence it appears, that by these great and hidden things are not meant the destruction of Jerusalem, and the seventy years' captivity, and return from that, things which Jeremiah had been made acquainted with time after time, and had prophesied of them; but spiritual blessings hereafter mentioned, some of which the deliverance from Babylon were typical of Ben Melech interprets these of comforts great and strong.

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: (twrub) "munita", Vatablus, Paganinus, Montanus; "fortia", Tigurine version.
• F17: (twrun) "abstrusa", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "recondita", so some in Vatablus.

For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel
The destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, which was now fulfilling, is here mentioned as a pledge of the accomplishment of spiritual blessings after spoken of; and to assure the prophet, that as he would with his own eyes see the fulfilment of the prophecies he had delivered out in the name of the Lord concerning that, so likewise as certainly would the other be brought to pass: concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the
kings of Judah, which were thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword ;
by "the mounts", which the Chaldeans raised without the city; or by the engines they placed there, by which they cast out stones into the city, to the demolishing of the houses in it; not in common only, but particularly the houses of the king and nobles, which they especially directed their shot at; and by "the sword", hammers, axes, and mattocks, for which sometimes this word is used, when they entered into the city.

Though some render the words, "which are thrown down for mounts, and for the sword" ^F18 ; that mounts might be made of them within, on which the Jews might fight and defend themselves against the Chaldeans. So the Targum, ``which they pulled down, and threw up mounts to strengthen the wall, against those that kill with the sword;'' and so Jarchi interprets it.

FOOTNOTES:

• F18: (brxh law twlloh la) "ad aggeres et vastitatem", Tigurine version; "in missilia catapultaria, et in gladium", Junius & Tremellius; "ad catapultas, et ad gladium", so some in Calvin.

They come to fight with the Chaldeans Either the Jews out of the country, or their auxiliaries, their neighbours, to oblige them to break up the siege; but all to no purpose: or rather the Jews within; who, from the mounts erected, fight with the Chaldeans; or by sallying out upon them:

but [it is] to fill them with the dead bodies of men ; the mounts, made of their houses, or their houses themselves; it is only to make them graves, and fill them with these carcasses:

whom I have slain in mine anger, and in my fury ; that is, suffered to be slain, being wroth and angry with them, for their sins, as follows:

and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from the city ; had no pity for it, showed no mercy to it, gave it no help and assistance, or protection, having withdrawn his presence from it.

So the Targum, I have caused my Shechinah to depart from this city, because of their wickedness.