Acts 15:15-18 to Jeremiah 12:15

OT Source(s):

Jeremiah 12:15 ("After I have uprooted them, I will again have compassion on them and bring each man back to his inheritance")

Source: Beale & Carson (eds.), Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (2007); Theoretical

Reference Type: Allusion

Connection Method(s): Redemptive-Historical Progression + Promise-Fulfillment

Significance: The composite quotation James cites in Acts 15:16-18 — primarily from Amos 9:11-12 — appears in a form that incorporates additional OT echoes, one of which is Jer 12:15's "I will return and have compassion on them" (shub we-rihamtim). The LXX of Jer 12:15 reads epistrepsō kai eleēsō autous, and the Acts 15:16 phrase meta tauta anastrepsō ("After this I will return") reflects this verbal pattern. Jeremiah 12:14-17 is a prophecy of judgment on Israel's neighbors followed by restoration — "I will again have compassion on them and bring each one back to his inheritance and each to his land," including foreigners who learn the ways of Israel. The Jeremiah passage thus contributes to the theological argument of Acts 15: the Gentile inclusion at the Jerusalem council is not an innovation but the fulfillment of multiple OT restoration promises, of which Jer 12:15 is one strand.