Jeremiah 30:7
in Jeremiah 30How awful that day will be! None will be like it! It is the time of Jacob’s distress, but he will be saved out of it.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
KJV
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
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This verse in Jeremiah 30
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
That day - i. e., the day of the capture of Babylon. It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble - Rather, and it is a time of trouble to Jacob, i. e., of anxiety to the Jews, for the usages of war were so brutal that they would be in danger when the enemy made their assault.
This site's exposition
Yes, this is what the LORD
on Jeremiah 30:5-7
The nation's fear is described in raw terms, “a cry of terror, not of peace,” with “every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor and every face turned pale.” Verse 7 holds judgment and rescue in one breath: “It is the time of Jacob’s distress, but he will be saved out of it.” Later Jewish and Christian readers alike took the phrase as a name for the nation's final ordeal before deliverance.
This site's exposition
It is the time of Jacob’s distress
The day is awful beyond compare, yet Jacob will be saved out of it. Rescue comes inside the distress. Barnes takes the day as the fall of Babylon, a time of danger for the Jews living there, as armies of that age were brutal in an assault.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 7) Alas, for that great day, there is no other like it, and it is a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved from it. It predicts a time of misery, so that it may bring a time of joy.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): Alas! for that day is great, a day of judgment, which is called the great day, the great and terrible day of the Lord ( Joel ii. 31, Jude 6 ), great, so that there has been none like it. The last destruction of Jerusalem is thus spoken of by our Saviour as unparalleled, Matt. xxiv.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Alas! for that day is great,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2645: “'The Time of Jacob's Trouble'” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
GOD here calls the Jews by the name of Jacob. These were His people in a very special sense, for He had chosen them from among all the nations of the earth and had brought them near Him that they might be His own portion, His inheritance. Yet upon these people He laid many stripes and visited them with sore chastisements. It is true that they were a sinful people, though they were, in many respects, better than other nations who were, for a long while, allowed to go unpunished.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2645: “'The Time of Jacob's Trouble'” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
GOD here calls the Jews by the name of Jacob. These were His people in a very special sense, for He had chosen them from among all the nations of the earth and had brought them near Him that they might be His own portion, His inheritance. Yet upon these people He laid many stripes and visited them with sore chastisements. It is true that they were a sinful people, though they were, in many respects, better than other nations who were, for a long while, allowed to go unpunished. Year after year, the heathen prospered in war and had success in other ways—but as for God's own people, waters of a full cup were wrung out to them. As soon as the Lord had a people, they began to suffer. We learn this very early in their history, for, after Isaac, the child of promise, was born, it was not very long before Ishmael—"he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit."
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Alas! for that day is great - When the Medes and Persians with all their forces shall come on the Chaldeans, it will be the day of Jacob’s trouble - trial, dismay, and uncertainty; but he shall be delivered out of it - the Chaldean empire shall fall, but the Jews shall be delivered by Cyrus. Jerusalem shall be destroyed by the Romans, but the Israel of God shall be delivered from its ruin. Not one that had embraced Christianity perished in the sackage of that city.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ה֗וֹי | ho | woe! | H1945 → | 51 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| גָד֛וֹל | gadol | [will be] great | H1419 → | 526 times |
| הַיּ֥וֹם | haiyom | the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַה֖וּא | hahu' | <the> that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| מֵאַ֣יִן | meayin | from not | H369 → | 789 times |
| כָּמֹ֑הוּ | kamohu | [is] like it | H3644 → | 143 times |
| וְעֵֽת־ | veet | and [will be] a time of | H6256 → | 296 times |
| צָרָ֥ה | tzarah | distress | H6869 → | 73 times |
| הִיא֙ | hi' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| לְיַֽעֲקֹ֔ב | leyaako | for Jacob | H3290 → | 350 times |
| וּמִמֶּ֖נָּה | umimenah | and from it | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| יִוָּשֵֽׁעַ׃ | yivashea' | he will be saved | H3467 → | 206 times |
ה֗וֹיwoe!
hoH1945 →51 times
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
גָד֛וֹל[will be] great
gadolH1419 →526 times
הַיּ֥וֹםthe day
haiyomH3117 →2304 times
הַה֖וּא<the> that
hahu'H1931 →1879 times
מֵאַ֣יִןfrom not
meayinH369 →789 times
כָּמֹ֑הוּ[is] like it
kamohuH3644 →143 times
וְעֵֽת־and [will be] a time of
veetH6256 →296 times
צָרָ֥הdistress
tzarahH6869 →73 times
הִיא֙it
hi'H1931 →1879 times
לְיַֽעֲקֹ֔בfor Jacob
leyaakoH3290 →350 times
וּמִמֶּ֖נָּהand from it
umimenahH4480 →1188 times
יִוָּשֵֽׁעַ׃he will be saved
yivashea'H3467 →206 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Malachi 4:1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of…
it leads to
- Malachi 3:2
But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8
in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
- 2 Peter 3:7
And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
- Isaiah 47:14
Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside.
- Malachi 3:2
Through
Daniel 12:1“At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress, the likes of which will not have occurred from the beginning…
it leads to
- Matthew 24:21
For at that time there will be great tribulation, unmatched from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be seen again.
- Mark 13:19
For those will be days of tribulation unmatched from the beginning of God’s creation until now, and never to be seen again.
- Revelation 16:17–21
Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came from the throne in the temple, saying, “It is done!”
- Luke 21:23–24
How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers! For there will be great distress upon the land and wrath against this people.
- Matthew 24:21
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2645: “'The Time of Jacob's Trouble'” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.