Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 29:12
Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
12. The MT. is awkward, as it stands. The LXX have merely “and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I will not only give you a temporal salvation and deliverance, and bring you into your own land, but you shall go thither with new hearts; you shall worship idols no more, but you shall worship me, and be serious and diligent in your addresses and applications to me, and I will listen to you in those applications.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. Fulfilled (Da9:3, &c.). When God designs mercy, He puts it into the heartsof His people to pray for the mercy designed. When such a spirit ofprayer is poured out, it is a sure sign of coming mercy.
goto the temple andother places of prayer: contrasted with their previous sloth as togoing to seek God.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then shall ye call upon me,…. When the expected end is about to be given; when God intends and is about to bestow a mercy, he gives his people a spirit of prayer to ask for it; and even the promise of it is a considerable argument to encourage and engage more to pray for it:
and ye shall go and pray unto me: walk in my ways; so Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech; or rather ye shall go into your private closets, or into those public places where prayer was wont to be made, and there put up your petitions; or it may be the meaning is, that they should continue praying unto him; should pray without ceasing, until they enjoyed the blessing, and had the expected end given them:
and I will hearken unto you: God is a God hearing prayer; he listens to the requests of his people, and answers them in his own time and way; which is no small encouragement to pray unto him.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Jeremiah pursues the same subject, even that the Jews, after having undergone the punishment allotted to them by God, would at length return to their own country and find God merciful, and hence learn that their chastisement in exile would prove useful to them. He had indeed in the last verse explained this with sufficient clearness, but he now expresses the manner; and that would be by calling on God. he uses two words, Ye shall call on me, he says, and pray. The verb put between these two הלכתם, elcatem, is regarded almost by all as referring to a right course of life, as though the Prophet had said, that those who before wandered after their own lusts would now walk in the way of God, that is, in his Law; but this seems to me to be too forced an explanation. I doubt not then, but that the Prophet here indirectly reproves the indifference of the people in not immediately acknowledging that they were chastised by God’s hand, that they ought in due time to repent. To go then or to walk is the same thing, in my judgment, as though he had said, “After having suffered the exile, not of one year, but of seventy years, ye shall then begin to be wise.”
It was not only sloth but stupidity, that they were not subdued by God’s scourges so as to call on him; but as they were of a disposition so rude and refractory the Prophet here briefly reminds them that many years had been necessary to subdue them, as twenty or thirty years were not sufficient. We now then understand the design of the word הלק, elek, to walk. (216) The meaning then is, that after having profited under the scourges of God, they would become humble so as to deprecate his wrath.
But there is added a promise, that God would hear them. It may however appear, that God promised conversion even in the first clause; and, no doubt, prayer is the fruit of repentance, for it proceeds from faith; and repentance is the gift of God. And further, we cannot call on God rightly and sincerely except by the guidance and teaching of the Holy Spirit; for he it is who not only dictates our words, but also creates groanings in our hearts. And thus Augustin, writing against the Pelagians, understands the passage, and proves that it is not in the power of man either to convert himself or to pray; “for God,” he says, “would in vain promise what is in the power of man to do; and this is the promise, ye shall pray; it then follows, that we do not pray through the impulse of our own flesh, but when the Holy Spirit directs our hearts, and in a manner prays in us.” I do not, however, know whether the Prophet intended to speak in so refined a manner. From other passages of Scripture it is easy to prove, that we cannot pray to God, except he anticipates us by his own Spirit. But as to this passage, I prefer to take a simpler meaning, that God would hear, when they began to pray; but yet he shews that it would not be after a short space of time, because they were almost untameable, and would not repent until after many years. It follows, —
(216) The two first verbs are wanting in the Sept. and the Targ., and the second in the Syr. The Vulg. is according to our version, which is literally the Hebrew: and there are no various readings. It is difficult to understand the meaning here of the second verb, go, or proceed. Some give this meaning, “And ye shall call upon me and shall go to your country; and ye shall pray to me, and I will hearken to you.” But the sense most suitable appears to be the following, — “And ye shall call on me, and ye shall go on and intercede with me, and I will hearken to you.” The verb הלך is used in the sense of advancing or of going on in a course that is begun. See Gen 26:13; Exo 19:19. To “intercede for themselves and others, was more than to call upon God. From calling they would go on to intercede, earnestly to plead for themselves and others, and then the promise is that God would hear them. — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12, 13) Then shall ye call upon me . . .The words need no comment, but they cannot be passed over without dwelling on the infinite tenderness which they manifest in the prophets soul, the reflex of a like tenderness in the mind of God, from whom he gives the message. It is the anticipation of the like message from the lips of Christ, He that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened (Mat. 7:8). As they stand, the words are an echo of Deu. 4:29-30, as Jer. 29:14 is of Deu. 30:3-5.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Go and pray The simple and obvious meaning is the true one. Go to the place of prayer, suggesting an organized religious life. Devout souls will be sure to find places of holy convocation. See Deu 4:29-30; Deu 30:1-5.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 29:12. Ye shall go and pray unto me Ye shall pray unto me more and more.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Ver. 12. Then shall ye call upon me. ] With mind and mouth, with spirit and speech, as Daniel did, Dan 9:3 and as but few others did, during the captivity, as is confessed. Dan 9:13
And go and pray unto me.
And I will hearken unto you.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 31:9, Jer 33:3, Neh 2:4-20, Psa 10:17, Psa 50:15, Psa 102:16, Psa 102:17, Isa 30:19, Isa 65:24, Eze 36:37, Dan 9:3-19, Zec 13:9, Mat 7:7, Mat 7:8
Reciprocal: Gen 13:4 – called Lev 26:39 – shall pine Deu 4:29 – But if Jdg 3:15 – cried unto 1Ki 8:48 – And so return 2Ch 6:38 – return 2Ch 14:7 – we have sought 2Ch 15:2 – if ye seek him 2Ch 15:12 – seek 2Ch 30:9 – so that they shall 2Ch 33:13 – he was entreated Ezr 8:23 – besought Psa 3:4 – I cried Psa 27:8 – Thy Psa 65:2 – thou Psa 91:15 – He shall Psa 107:6 – Then Psa 145:18 – call upon Isa 55:6 – Seek Isa 58:9 – shalt thou Jer 24:7 – for they Jer 50:4 – seek the Jer 51:50 – remember Hos 5:15 – till Hos 10:12 – time Joe 2:12 – turn Amo 5:4 – Seek Zep 2:3 – Seek ye Zec 1:3 – and Mat 6:5 – when Luk 11:9 – seek Luk 18:1 – that Luk 18:39 – but Act 9:11 – for Rom 8:27 – according Rom 12:12 – continuing Jam 1:5 – let Jam 5:16 – The effectual 1Jo 3:22 – whatsoever 1Jo 5:14 – if
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 29:12. Then is an adverb of time and applies to the date when the captivity was to be terminated. It would then be according to Gods will to pray for deliverance from captivity, hence such a prayer would he answered.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
At the end of the Exile, God’s people would call out to Him in prayer (cf. Daniel 9; Ezra 9; Nehemiah 9). Yahweh promised to listen to them. They would find Him when they sought Him wholeheartedly.