Read & explore together
The Excellence of the Restored Nation
Jeremiah 33:1–13 speaks while Jeremiah is confined and the city is damaged. Yahweh names the guilt and destruction plainly, then promises healing, pardon, joy, public honour and the return of ordinary life.
Understanding the passage
The setting of this message
This message comes to Jeremiah a second time while he is locked in the court of the guard. Yahweh first describes broken houses, battle, death and his hidden face because of wickedness. Then he promises health, peace, cleansing, restored fortunes, joyful worship and shepherds with flocks across Judah.
Jeremiah 33:1–13Main takeaway
This passage teaches that Yahweh addresses real judgement and guilt, yet he also promises healing, pardon, restored peace and renewed life for his people.
Explore the message
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01A word in confinementThe passage begins with Jeremiah still locked up, so this promise is spoken in a troubled moment.
Explanation
The passage begins with Jeremiah still locked up, so this promise is spoken in a troubled moment. Yahweh presents himself as the one who does, forms and establishes. He then invites Jeremiah to call to him, promising an answer and “great and difficult things” that Jeremiah does not know.
02The city’s damage and guiltYahweh speaks about broken houses and fighting against the Chaldeans. The city is marked by death, and Yahweh says this is bound up with his anger and wrath.
Explanation
Yahweh speaks about broken houses and fighting against the Chaldeans. The city is marked by death, and Yahweh says this is bound up with his anger and wrath. He also says he has hidden his face from the city because of its wickedness. The passage treats judgement and moral failure seriously.
03Healing, peace and pardonThe message turns from ruin to restoration. Yahweh promises health and healing and says he will reveal abundance of peace and truth.
Explanation
The message turns from ruin to restoration. Yahweh promises health and healing and says he will reveal abundance of peace and truth. He will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel. He will also cleanse and pardon the people from the iniquities and transgressions they committed against him.
04A city known for joy before the nationsYahweh says the city itself will become to him “a name of joy, for praise, and for glory” before all nations.
Explanation
Yahweh says the city itself will become to him “a name of joy, for praise, and for glory” before all nations. The nations will hear of all the good he does and of the peace he provides. They will “fear and tremble”, showing the restoration will be publicly known and weighty.
05Sound, worship and flocks returnWhat people call waste and empty will hear joyful voices again, including wedding voices and thanksgiving in Yahweh’s house.
Explanation
What people call waste and empty will hear joyful voices again, including wedding voices and thanksgiving in Yahweh’s house. Yahweh says the land’s captivity will be reversed as at the first. Waste places will again hold shepherds and resting flocks, and counted sheep will pass through many towns of Judah.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What does Yahweh promise to show Jeremiah if he calls to him?
Read the exact words about Yahweh answering and showing “great and difficult things” Jeremiah does not know.
02How does the passage connect the city’s suffering with its sin?
Notice Yahweh’s words about wickedness and his hidden face, then compare them with his promise to cleanse and pardon.
03According to the passage, how will other nations respond to what Yahweh does for the city?
Look at the phrases about the city becoming a name of joy, praise and glory, and how the nations react to the good and peace Yahweh provides.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Jeremiah 33:1–13
1Moreover Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still locked up in the court of the guard, saying,
2“Yahweh who does it, Yahweh who forms it to establish it—Yahweh is his name, says:
3‘Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and difficult things, which you don’t know.’
4For Yahweh, the God of Israel, says concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to make a defense against the mounds and against the sword:
5‘While men come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have killed in my anger and in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hidden my face from this city,
6behold, I will bring it health and healing, and I will cure them; and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth.
7I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel, and will build them as at the first.
8I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me. I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against me and by which they have transgressed against me.
9This city will be to me for a name of joy, for praise, and for glory, before all the nations of the earth, which will hear all the good that I do to them, and will fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I provide to it.’ ”
10Yahweh says: “Yet again there will be heard in this place, about which you say, ‘It is waste, without man and without animal, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without animal,’
11the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, ‘Give thanks to Yahweh of Armies, for Yahweh is good, for his loving kindness endures forever;’ who bring thanksgiving into Yahweh’s house. For I will cause the captivity of the land to be reversed as at the first,” says Yahweh.
12Yahweh of Armies says: “Yet again there will be in this place, which is waste, without man and without animal, and in all its cities, a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.
13In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of him who counts them,” says Yahweh.