In this message we will continue to consider Jehovah's further commission to Jeremiah and His further statement of Judah's sins.
This further statement of Judah's (as Israel's) sins is in 16:10—17:27.
In 16:10-18 we have a record of Israel's inquiry concerning their sins that caused Jehovah's visitation in the great evil against them, and Jehovah's answer to them. The people would ask why Jehovah has pronounced great evil against them, and they would ask what was their iniquity and what was their sin against Jehovah. When they inquired in this way, Jeremiah was to tell them that their fathers forsook Him and went after other gods and that they have done more evil than their fathers. Therefore, Jehovah would cast them far away from this land into a land which they have not known (vv. 10-13).
In answering the inquiry of the people, Jehovah also made a promise to them regarding their restoration. "Therefore behold, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when it will no longer be said, As Jehovah lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but, As Jehovah lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of the north and from every land where He had driven them; for I will bring them back to their own land, which I gave to their fathers" (vv. 14-15). Jehovah would do this after He had recompensed double for their iniquity and their sin, because they had profaned His land and their abominations had filled His inheritance (v. 18).
The conversation in these verses is very human. The people inquired of God in a human way, and He responded also in a human way. In His response, He explained the reason for the great evil, the calamities, that had come upon them, and He promised to bring them back to the land. He would even send "fishermen" to catch them and "hunters" to hunt for them in order to gather them and restore them.