“It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
My Notes
What Does Jeremiah 36:3 Mean?
"It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin." God instructs Jeremiah to write his prophecies on a scroll — and reveals the purpose: it may be that they'll listen. The phrase "it may be" (ulay) carries hope and uncertainty simultaneously. God knows the likely outcome (they won't listen). But the possibility of repentance is genuine enough to justify the effort. The scroll is written on the chance — however slim — that hearing the accumulated weight of judgment warnings will produce the turning God has been asking for.
The purpose chain: hear → return → forgiveness. God's goal isn't punishment. It's forgiveness. The warnings exist to produce the repentance that enables the forgiveness God wants to give.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What 'scroll' (warning, consequence, wake-up call) might God be writing in your life right now on a 'maybe'?
- 2.How does knowing God's goal is forgiveness (not punishment) change how you receive prophetic warnings?
- 3.Where is the 'return' God is waiting for that would release the forgiveness he's already prepared?
- 4.What does God's 'it may be' hope teach about his posture toward people who seem unlikely to repent?
Devotional
It may be. God says it with the tentative hope of someone who knows the odds but writes the letter anyway. It may be that they'll hear. It may be that they'll turn. It may be that I'll get to forgive them.
The scroll of Jeremiah's prophecies — the accumulated warnings, judgments, and oracles of twenty-three years of ministry — is committed to writing with a "maybe" attached. God doesn't guarantee the scroll will produce repentance. He hopes it will. The all-knowing God expresses hope about an outcome he almost certainly knows won't happen. And the hope is genuine enough that he commands the scroll written.
That they may return every man from his evil way. The return is what God wants. Not the judgment. The return. The judgment is the consequence of non-return. But the preferred outcome — God's first choice, his actual desire — is repentance. He writes the scroll so they might turn. The warnings aren't the goal. The turning is.
That I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. The forgiveness is waiting. Ready. Pre-approved. The only thing between Judah and forgiveness is a turn. One direction change. One evil-way-departure. And the forgiveness — already prepared, already desired, already yearning to be released — flows.
God wants to forgive. That's the revelation of this verse. The prophet who thunders judgment, the scroll that catalogs doom, the entire apparatus of prophetic warning — all of it exists because God would rather forgive than punish. The warnings are the last-ditch effort of a God who's running out of options but hasn't run out of hope.
It may be. The most hopeful two words in Jeremiah 36. God writes a whole scroll on a maybe. Because the forgiveness is worth it even if the chance is slim.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them,.... Not that there was any…
In the beginning of Ezekiel's prophecy we meet with a roll written in vision, for discovery of the things therein…
It may be that the house of Judah, etc.] Cp. ch. Jer 26:3.
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture