These two verses are considered by some very similar in style to the last 27 chapters of Isaiah. The contrast, however, between the full end made with the pagan, and the certainty that Israel shall never so perish, is one of Jeremiah's most common topics.

Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord,.... Since the Messiah, who is the Lord God, should be raised up to thorn, whom they should serve, and he should save them; and so had nothing to fear from their enemies; and had no reason to doubt of salvation and deliverance, seeing so great a person was engaged for them. The language is very much like the Prophet Isaiah's:

neither be dismayed, O Israel: the same thing in other words; for Jacob and Israel are the same; and to fear and be dismayed are much alike:

for, lo, I will save thee from afar; from a far country; not from Babylon only, but from all distant countries where they are dispersed, east, west, north, or south; distance of place should be no hinderance to their salvation, and so need be no objection in their minds to it:

and thy seed from the land of their captivity; their children should come forth with them: it seems to respect future times; that though this should not be accomplished in the persons of the Israelites then living, yet should be in their posterity:

and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid; which was not fulfilled upon the Jews' return from the Babylonish captivity; for they quickly met with much opposition and disturbance in the rebuilding of their city and temple; and afterwards from Antiochus, in the times of the Maccabees, by whom they were greatly disquieted; and at last by the Romans, by whom their nation was subdued and ruined; wherefore this respects the quiet and peaceable times they shall have when they are converted, and have embraced the Christian religion.

Israel the servant of Jahveh, i.e., the true Israel, faithful and devoted to God, need thus fear nothing, since their God will deliver them from the land of their captivity, and stand by them as their deliverer, so that they shall be able to dwell in peace and undisturbed security in their own land. For Jahveh will make a complete end of all the nations among whom Israel has been scattered; Israel, on the other hand, He shall certainly chastise, but למּשׁפּט (according to what is right, in due measure), that they may be made better by their punishment. As to the expression יסּר למּשׁפּט, see on Jeremiah 10:24; for לא עשׂה כלה, see on Jeremiah 4:27 and Jeremiah 5:18 (אתך for אתּך, Jeremiah 5:18); and lastly, on נקּה לא אנקּך, cf. Exodus 34:47, Numbers 14:18, Nahum 1:3.

Jeremiah 30:10 and Jeremiah 30:11 are repeated in Jeremiah 46:27-28, though with some slight changes.

(Note: The general strain of these verses is the same as that of the second portion of Isaiah; hence Hitzig, following Movers, views them as an interpolation made by the reviser. But this view is most incorrect, as Graf has already pointed out. The only expression which, besides the repetition made in Jeremiah 46:27, occurs nowhere else in Jeremiah, but frequently in the second Isaiah, is, "my servant Jacob;" cf. Isaiah 44:1-2; Isaiah 45:4; Isaiah 48:20 and Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 44:21; Isaiah 49:3. All the rest is not characteristic of Isaiah. "Thus, 'Fear not, I am with thee,' is certainly found in Isaiah 43:5, but also in Genesis 26:24; 'Fear not, neither be afraid,' is found in a like connection in Isaiah 51:7, but also in Jeremiah 23:24; Deuteronomy 1:21; Deuteronomy 31:8; Joshua 8:1; cf. Isaiah 44:2; Jeremiah 1:8, Jeremiah 1:17; Joshua 1:9. יעקוב occurs also in Jeremiah 30:7, Jeremiah 30:10, 25, Lamentations 2:3. For מושׁיעך, cf. Jeremiah 14:8; for מרחק, cf. Jeremiah 23:23; Jeremiah 31:3; Jeremiah 51:50. In the second part of Isaiah, שׁאנן occurs as seldom as ואין; on the other hand, cf. Jeremiah 48:11; Jeremiah 7:33. The expressions found in Jeremiah 30:11 are as rare in the second part of Isaiah as they are frequent in Jeremiah. Thus, 'For I am with thee to save thee" is found in Jeremiah 15:20; Jeremiah 42:11; 'to make a full end' occurs also in Jeremiah 4:27; Jeremiah 5:10, Jeremiah 5:18; 'I shall certainly not let thee go unpunished,' which, like Nahum 1:3, seems to have been taken from Exodus 34:7 or Numbers 14:18, is not found at all in the second part of Isaiah; הפיץ, which is found in Jeremiah 9:15; Jeremiah 13:24; Jeremiah 18:17; Jeremiah 23:1., appears only in Isaiah 41:16; and while יסּר is used in the same meaning in Jeremiah 10:24, יסּר occurs nowhere in the second part of Isaiah, and למּשׁפּט is found in Isaiah 41:1; Isaiah 54:17; Isaiah 59:11, in quite a different connection and meaning." (Graf.))

Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.

10. from afar-Be not afraid as if the distance of the places whither ye are to be dispersed precludes the possibility of return.

seed-Though through the many years of captivity intervening, you yourselves may not see the restoration, the promise shall be fulfilled to your seed, primarily at the return from Babylon, fully at the final restoration.

quiet . none . make . afraid-(Jer 23:6; Zec 14:11).

30:1-11 Jeremiah is to write what God had spoken to him. The very words are such as the Holy Ghost teaches. These are the words God ordered to be written; and promises written by his order, are truly his word. He must write a description of the trouble the people were now in, and were likely to be in. A happy end should be put to these calamities. Though the afflictions of the church may last long, they shall not last always. The Jews shall be restored again. They shall obey, or hearken to the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of David, their King. The deliverance of the Jews from Babylon, is pointed out in the prophecy, but the restoration and happy state of Israel and Judah, when converted to Christ their King, are foretold; also the miseries of the nations before the coming of Christ. All men must honour the Son as they honour the Father, and come into the service and worship of God by him. Our gracious Lord pardons the sins of the believer, and breaks off the yoke of sin and Satan, that he may serve God without fear, in righteousness and true holiness before him all the remainder of his days, as the redeemed subject of Christ our King.