18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
With - To (margin). The prophet has just described the return of the ten tribes Jeremiah 3:14, etc. Israel is represented as the first to repent, and Judah must go to her, in order that they may come together back to the holy land, divided no longer into Jews and Israelites, but merged into one people.
Out of the land of the north - The objection that the Jews were not carried like the Israelites into the northern provinces of Assyria Jeremiah 3:12, but into Babylonia, misinterprets the whole prophecy, the gist of which is that in case of Israel's repentance, Judah must humbly seek her out, and be content henceforward to take the inferior place, as having been the more guilty (see Jeremiah 3:11).
The house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel - That is, in those days in which the Jews shall be brought in with the fullness of the Gentiles.
Out of the land of the north - From Chaldea. This prophecy has two aspects: one refers to the return from the Babylonish captivity; the other, to the glorious days of Christianity. But the words may refer to that gathering together of the Jews, not only from Chaldea, but from the countries of their dispersion over the face of the whole earth, and uniting them in the Christian Church.
In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together from the land of the (s) north to the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers.
(s) Where they are now in captivity.
In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel,.... Which had its accomplishment when some of the ten tribes, scattered among the nations whither the Gospel came, as well as in the land of Judea, being converted under it, joined together in a Gospel church state, and walked together in all the commandments and ordinances of Christ: and it may also denote the agreement of all Christian confessors, as Judah signifies, and of all Israelites indeed, in worship, whether Jews or Gentiles; becoming through Christ members of one body, fellow heirs and partakers of the same grace, promises, and privileges; and which harmony will still be more manifest in the latter day, Isaiah 11:7,
and they shall come together out of the land of the north; out of these northern kingdoms of ours, and other parts of Europe, where they chiefly are; this will be when the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in, and the Jews are converted and joined to Christian churches: the allusion is to the return of the Jews from Babylon, which lay north of Judea:
to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers; for when the Jews are converted they shall return to their own land, which God gave for an inheritance to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their seed after them.
Judah . . . Israel . . . together--Two distinct apostasies, that of Israel and that of Judah, were foretold (Jeremiah 3:8, Jeremiah 3:10). The two have never been united since the Babylonish captivity; therefore their joint restoration must be still future (Isaiah 11:12-13; Ezekiel 37:16-22; Hosea 1:11).
north-- (Jeremiah 3:12).
land . . . given . . . inheritance-- (Amos 9:15).
In those days when Jerusalem is glorified by being made the throne of the Lord, Judah along with Israel will come out of the north into the land which the Lord gave to their fathers. As the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple is foretold implicite in Jeremiah 3:16, so here the expulsion of Judah into exile is assumed as having already taken place, and the return not of Israel, only, but of Judah too is announced, as in Hosea 2:2, and more fully in Ezekiel 27:16. We should note the arrangement, the house of Judah with (על, prop. on) the house of Israel; this is as much as to say that Israel is the first to resolve on a return and to arise, and that Judah joins itself to the house of Israel. Judah is thus subordinated to the house of Israel, because the prophet is here seeking chiefly to announce the return of Israel to the Lord. It can surely not be necessary to say that, as regards the fulfilment, we are not entitled hence to infer that the remnant of the ten tribes will positively be converted to the Lord and redeemed out of exile sooner than the remnant of Judah. For more on this point see on Jeremiah 31:8.
Judah - The two kingdoms shall become one. Shall come - Of their captivity, a promise of their enjoying again their ancient possession at their last conversion.
*More commentary available at chapter level.