Yeremia 23:3-4

23:3 Then I myself will regather those of my people ¹  who are still alive from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their homeland. ²  They will greatly increase in number. 23:4 I will install rulers ³  over them who will care for them. Then they will no longer need to fear or be terrified. None of them will turn up missing. ⁴  I, the Lord, promise it! ⁵ 

Yeremia 30:10

30:10 So I, the Lord, tell you not to be afraid,

you descendants of Jacob, my servants. ⁶ 

Do not be terrified, people of Israel.

For I will rescue you and your descendants

from a faraway land where you are captives. ⁷ 

The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.

They will be secure and no one will terrify them. ⁸ 

[23:3]  ¹ tn Heb “my sheep.”

[23:3]  ² tn Heb “their fold.”

[23:4]  ³ tn Heb “shepherds.”

[23:4]  ⁴ tn There are various nuances of the word פָּקַד (paqad) represented in vv. 2, 4. See Ps 8:4 (8:5 HT) and Zech 10:3 for “care for/take care of” (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Qal.A.1.a). See Exod 20:5; Amos 3:2; Jer 9:24; 11:22 for “punish” (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Qal.A.3). See 1 Kgs 20:39 and 2 Kgs 10:19 for “be missing” (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Niph.1).

[23:4]  sn There is an extended play on the Hebrew word פָּקַד which is a word with rather broad English equivalents. Here the word refers to the fault of the shepherds/rulers who have not “taken care” of the sheep/people (v. 2), the “punishment” for the evil they have done in not taking care of them (v. 2), and the fact that after the Lord assigns new shepherds/rulers over them they will be cared for in such a way that none of them “will turn up missing” (v. 4).

[23:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[30:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “So do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, oracle of the Lord.” Here and elsewhere in the verse the terms Jacob and Israel are poetic for the people of Israel descended from the patriarch Jacob. The terms have been supplied throughout with plural referents for greater clarity.

[30:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “For I will rescue you from far away, your descendants from the land of their captivity.”

[30:10]  ⁸ sn Compare the ideals of the Mosaic covenant in Lev 26:6, the Davidic covenant in 2 Sam 7:10-11, and the new covenant in Ezek 34:25-31.