3 For, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will turn again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, says Yahweh; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The days come - First, After the conclusion of the seventy years. Secondly, Under the Messiah.
That I will bring again the captivity of Israel - The ten tribes, led captive by the king of Assyria, and dispersed among the nations.
And Judah - The people carried into Babylon at two different times; first, under Jeconiah, and, secondly, under Zedekiah, by Nebuchadnezzar.
For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord,.... And they are yet to come; the prophecy is not yet fulfilled. Kimchi says this belongs to the days of the Messiah; but not to his first coming, or to his coming in the flesh, which the Jews vainly expect; but to his spiritual coming in the latter day:
that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah,
saith the Lord; which cannot be understood of their return from the Babylonish captivity; for, as Kimchi rightly observes, only Judah and Benjamin returned from thence; and though there were some few of the other tribes that came with them, especially of the tribe of Levi, yet not sufficient to answer to so great a prophecy as this, which refers to the same time as that in Hosea 3:5; as appears by comparing that with Jeremiah 30:9; and when, as the Apostle Paul says, "all Israel shall be saved", Romans 11:25;
and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it; the land of Canaan, given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and which shall be again by the Jews their posterity; for, without that the Jews upon their call and conversion shall return to their own land, in a literal sense, I see not how we can understand this, and many other prophecies.
bring again . . . captivity of . . . Israel and Judah--the restoration not merely of the Jews (treated of in this thirtieth chapter), but also of the ten tribes ("Israel"; treated in the thirty-first chapter), together forming the whole nation (Jeremiah 30:18; Jeremiah 32:44; Ezekiel 39:25; Amos 9:14-15). "Israel" is mentioned first because its exile was longer than that of Judah. Some captives of the Israelite ten tribes returned with those of Judah (Luke 2:36; "Aser" is mentioned). But these are only a pledge of the full restoration hereafter (Romans 11:26, "All Israel"). Compare Jeremiah 16:15. This third verse is a brief statement of the subject before the prophecy itself is given.
*More commentary available at chapter level.