Thomas Aquinas Commentary Jeremiah 6:8-9

"Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from thee; lest I make thee a desolation, a land not inhabited. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn again thy hand as a grape-gatherer into the baskets." — Jeremiah 6:8-9 (ASV)

Here, the prophet shows the coming destruction, concerning which he makes three points.

1. He speaks of the warning to avoid destruction.
2. He speaks of their contempt for this advice, found in the verse, to whom shall I speak, and whom shall I call as a witness (Jeremiah 6:10).
3. He threatens the judgment of destruction, found in the verse, therefore, I am filled with the fury of the LORD (Jeremiah 6:11).

Regarding the first point, there are two further points.

1. First, he speaks of the counsel itself: be instructed, that is, be corrected by the previous punishments. As Isaiah says, Only vexation gives understanding to the hearing (Isaiah 28:19).
2. Second, he speaks of the imminent danger of losing God's love: lest perhaps. This is seen in Ezekiel: My zeal shall be taken away from you when the country is laid waste (Ezekiel 16:42). And in the Psalms: He has turned rivers into a desert, and springs of water into dry ground (Psalms 106:33).

This danger is also expressed in the prophecy about the captivity of the people: thus says the LORD of hosts: they shall glean . . . to the last cluster. This is meant inclusively, because not even the root will be left. Metaphorically, the vineyard represents the Jews, as in Isaiah 5:7: the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel. The “clusters” represent the people, and the “grape-harvest” represents the captivity.

The prophet continues the metaphor, addressing the Chaldean: turn... as a grape-gatherer, who places the collected clusters into a basket to carry them to the winepress. In the same way, the Chaldeans are to shut the Jews up in prison and carry them off to Babylon. This is a total devastation, unlike a normal harvest, as Obadiah asks: If the grape-harvesters had come unto you, would they not have left at least a cluster? (Obadiah 1:5).

Alternatively, the phrase to the last cluster could be understood exclusively, because a remnant of the people—namely, the peasants and the poor—was sent back. The word Turn, in this context, signifies their eventual return to their own land, a theme which is shown immediately after this by the image of the basket.