Jeremiah chapter 31
The LORD will restore their nation.
THE LORD WILL RESTORE THEIR NATION
VERSE 1. “At that time,” says the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”
all the families of Israel. All of them.
Not just some of them.
VERSE 2. The LORD says, “The people who survive the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.”
people who survive the sword. This probably means those who survived Assyria’s destruction of Israel.
found favor in the wilderness. They experienced the favoring of the LORD God.
VERSE 3. The LORD appeared of old to me, saying, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.
everlasting love. The Hebrew word is ahavah. It will be freely bestowed on all of God’s people.
loving kindness. The Hebrew word is khesed.
VERSE 4. I will build you again, and you will be built, O virgin of Israel. You will again be adorned with your tambourines, and will go out in the dances of those who make merry.
NAB translation. Again I will restore you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin Israel; carrying your festive tambourines, you shall go forth dancing with the merrymakers.
restore … rebuilt. In the fullness of time, the Supreme God of all graciousness will fully restore us. Read more »
the merrymakers. The LORD God calls us to be “merrymakers.”
We are called to make merry!
VERSE 5. Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. The planters will plant, and will enjoy its fruit.
VERSE 6. For there will be a day that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim cry, ‘Arise! Let’s go up to Zion to the LORD our God.’ ”
watchmen. In ancient times, a watchman stood on a high tower and scanned the horizon for developments, especially developments in the enemy camp, or signs of danger.
The king formulated his plans based on input from the watchman.
VERSE 7. For the LORD says, “Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations. Publish, praise, and say, ‘The LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel!’
the remnant of Israel. The Bible describes a uniquely faithful group of believers called “the remnant.” Are they Jewish or Christians? Now or in the future? Who are they really? Read more »
VERSE 8. Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together. They will return as a great company.
VERSE 9. They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won’t stumble; for I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn.
The Message translation. They’ll come leaping for joy as I take their hands and lead them, lead them to fresh flowing brooks, lead them along smooth, uncluttered paths.
[India; 1991] I was doing volunteer work at a hospital. One day I found an elderly couple laying on the pavement. They were dying. The woman’s death was immanent. Read more »
VERSE 10. “Hear the LORD’s word, you nations, and declare it in the distant islands. Say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.’
VERSE 11. For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.
VERSE 12. They will come and sing in the height of Zion, and will flow to the goodness of the LORD, to the grain, to the new wine, to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd. Their soul will be as a watered garden. They will not sorrow any more at all.
VERSE 13. Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance; the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
VERSE 14. I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,” says the LORD.
VERSE 15. The LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
Matthew 2:17. Then that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,
VERSE 16. The LORD says: “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work will be rewarded,” says the LORD. “They will come again from the land of the enemy.
Refrain your voice from weeping. Rachel had been mourning the loss of her children.
But now the LORD God tells her to cease her mourning. Her sorrow will be consoled. Her children will return.
In our day, some people mourn the loss of their own childhood. It was stolen from them by sexual abuse, a narcissistic parent, alcoholism or any number of other issues. It is as if an enemy had snuck in and abducted their childhood.
But by the grace of God, a lost childhood can be grieved. And with help, people can learn to cope with the loss.
VERSE 17. There is hope for your latter end,” says the LORD. “Your children will come again to their own territory.
There is hope for your latter end. The LORD God says there is hope for our future! God promises hope.
The word “hope” is also a euphemism for Jesus Christ. Our hope is in him.
VERSE 18. “I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned; for you are the LORD my God.
VERSE 19. Surely after that I was turned. I repented. After that I was instructed. I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’
VERSE 20. Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him,” says the LORD.
my heart yearns for him. The LORD God yearns for us.
I will surely have mercy on him. That is, “I must show him mercy.”
VERSE 21. “Set up road signs. Make guideposts. Set your heart toward the highway, even the way by which you went. Turn again, virgin of Israel. Turn again to these your cities.
VERSE 22. How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth: a woman will encompass a man.”
encompass. The Hebrew word is is סָבַב (“sabab”). It literally means, “bring.” Some translate it as “will go about seeking.”
The new gift of the LORD God is that the woman will win over the heart of the man.
Our paraphrase. The LORD will create a new thing on earth — a woman will romanticize a man.
Here are the words used in other Bible translations:
- court — JPS Tanakh 1917
- encircles — ESV
- encompass — AKJV, ASV, DBT, DRB, ERV, JUB, KJV, NAS, NASB, NHEB, WBT, WEB, WMB, YLT
- protect — GWT, ISV, KJ 2000, NET
- return — NIV
- shelter — HCSB
VERSE 23. The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Yet again they will use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I reverse their captivity: ‘The LORD bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness.’
VERSE 24. Judah and all its cities will dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks.
VERSE 25. For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”
VERSE 26. On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.
my sleep was sweet to me. This verse is special for people who suffer from insomnia.
VERSE 27. “Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of animal.
VERSE 28. It will happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” says the LORD.
VERSE 29. “In those days they will say no more, “ ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
In the days of Ezekiel, people thought they were being punished for the sins of their parents.
They quoted this verse from Jeremiah as if to prove their point:
Ezekiel 18:2. “What do you mean, that you use this proverb concerning Eretz-Israel, saying, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?
VERSE 30. But everyone will die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.
VERSE 31. “Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
This verse is quoted in Hebrews chapter 8:
Hebrews 8:8. For finding fault with them, he said, “Behold, the days come”, says the Lord, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;
VERSE 32. not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says the LORD.
This verse is quoted in Hebrews chapter 8:
Hebrews 8:9. not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they didn’t continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them,” says the Lord.
VERSE 33. “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the LORD: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
The LORD God promises to write his Law on the tablet of our hearts. This is beautiful! May it be true in our own lives! Read more »
VERSE 34. They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest,” says the LORD: “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Know the LORD. Eternal life is knowing God the Father and Jesus Christ. Do you know them? Do you have a love-relationship with them? Here are the Bible verses about this »
This verse is quoted in Hebrews chapter 8:
Hebrews 8:11. They will not teach every man his fellow citizen, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from their least to their greatest.
VERSE 35. The LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar; the LORD of Hosts is his name, says:
VERSE 36. “If these ordinances depart from before me,” says the LORD, “then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever.”
VERSE 37. The LORD says: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,” says the LORD.
VERSE 38. “Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that the city will be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner.
VERSE 39. The measuring line will go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and will turn toward Goah.
VERSE 40. The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, will be holy to the LORD. It will not be plucked up or thrown down any more forever.”
This prophecy of the valley of bones and ash is much like the vision in Ezekiel chapter 37.
JEREMIAH
CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52
RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.