Promise

I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall by my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
-Jeremiah 24:6-7

It's a promise of being welcomed back with open arms. God says they shall be sent away for 70 years, but those who do return are good. God has good plans from them (He says so in chapter 29). He wants to always be theirs. He wants them to always be His.

He wants us to be His. He wants to be ours. God promises good to us. He wants to build us up. Even when it seems like we are being punished, that God hates us, He is not trying to uproot us, but plant us. Maybe even replant us? So we should cast our whole hearts unto Him.

What gets me about today's selection is that God is promising both destruction and a homecoming. He says how long they will be gone, but then He talks about how they'll be brought back (with the Chaldeans and bad shepherds smushed under their feet). God is promising victory over unrighteousness.

Maybe it's all my experience as a literature teacher (idk 3 months?) that gets me looking for themes...

The major themes of the Bible: