Jeremiah 31
31
God’s Relationship with His People
1“At that time” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, # Jr 30:22 and they will be My people.”
2This is what the Lord says:
They found favor in the wilderness # Ex 33:12-17 —
the people who survived the sword.
When Israel went to find rest, # Jos 23:1; 2Sm 7:11; 1Kg 8:56; 1Ch 23:25
3the Lord appeared to him # LXX; MT reads me from far away.
I have loved you with an everlasting love; # Is 54:8
therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you. # Ps 36:10; 109:12
4Again I will build you so that you will be rebuilt,
Virgin Israel. # Jr 18:13; 31:21; Am 5:2
You will take up your tambourines again # Ex 15:20; Jdg 11:34; 1Sm 18:6
and go out in joyful dancing.
5You will plant vineyards again # Am 5:11
on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters will plant and will enjoy the fruit. # Lv 19:23,25; Dt 20:6; 28:30
6For there will be a day when watchmen will call out
in the hill country of Ephraim,
“Get up, let’s go up to Zion, # Is 2:3
to Yahweh our God! ”
God’s People Brought Home
7For this is what the Lord says:
Sing with joy for Jacob;
shout for the chief of the nations!
Proclaim, praise, and say,
“Lord, save Your people, # Ps 28:9; Hab 3:13; Zch 8:7
the remnant of Israel! ” # Is 10:20; Jr 6:9; Ezk 11:13; Mc 2:12; Zph 3:13
8Watch! I am going to bring them from the northern land.
I will gather them from remote regions of the earth # Neh 1:9; Is 43:6; Jr 32:37; Ezk 34:13; 37:21; 39:27; Zch 10:8,10 —
the blind and the lame will be with them, # Lv 21:18; Mt 11:5; Lk 14:13
along with those who are pregnant and those about to give birth.
They will return here as a great assembly! # Ezk 38:15
9They will come weeping,
but I will bring them back with consolation. # LXX; MT reads supplications # Jb 15:11
I will lead them to wadis filled with water
by a smooth way where they will not stumble, # Pr 4:12; Is 63:13; Ezk 36:15
for I am Israel’s Father,
and Ephraim is My firstborn. # Ex 4:22-23; Dt 32:19; Is 63:16; 64:8; Hs 11:1; Mal 2:10; Jn 8:41
10Nations, hear the word of the Lord,
and tell it among the far off coastlands! # Is 40:15; Jr 25:22; 47:4
Say: The One who scattered Israel will gather him. # Dt 30:3; Is 11:12; Ezk 11:17; 20:34,41; 28:25; Mc 4:6; Zph 3:19
He will watch over him as a shepherd guards his flock,
11for the Lord has ransomed Jacob
and redeemed him from the power of one stronger than he. # Is 41:14; 43:1; 44:23; 48:20; 60:16
12They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; # Ps 71:23; 92:4; Is 49:13; Zch 2:10
they will be radiant with joy # Ps 34:5; Is 60:5
because of the Lord’s goodness,
because of the grain, the new wine, the fresh oil, # Nm 18:12; Dt 7:13; Hg 1:11
and because of the young of the flocks and herds.
Their life will be like an irrigated garden,
and they will no longer grow weak from hunger.
13Then the young woman will rejoice with dancing,
while young and old men rejoice together.
I will turn their mourning into joy, # Ps 105:43; Is 35:10; 51:3,11; Lm 5:15
give them consolation,
and bring happiness out of grief.
14I will refresh the priests with an abundance, # Lit fatness # Dt 31:20; Ps 36:8; Is 30:23
and My people will be satisfied with My goodness.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Lament Turned to Joy
15This is what the Lord says:
A voice was heard in Ramah, # Jos 18:25; Jdg 4:5; 1Sm 1:19; 19:18; Jr 40:1
a lament with bitter weeping —
Rachel weeping for her children,
refusing to be comforted for her children
because they are no more. # Mt 2:18
16This is what the Lord says:
Keep your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears,
for the reward for your work will come —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
and your children will return from the enemy’s land.
17There is hope for your future # Jr 5:31; 23:20; 29:11 —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
and your children will return to their own territory.
18I have heard Ephraim moaning,
“You disciplined me, and I have been disciplined
like an untrained calf. # Hs 4:16; 10:11
Restore me, and I will return,
for you, Lord, are my God. # Ps 40:5; Jr 3:22
19After I returned, I repented;
After I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. # Ezk 21:12
I was ashamed and humiliated # Ps 35:4; Ezr 9:6; Is 41:11; Jr 8:12; 14:3; 22:22; Ezk 36:32
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.”
20Isn’t Ephraim a precious son to Me,
a delightful child? # Is 5:7; Hs 11:1
Whenever I speak against him,
I certainly still think about him.
Therefore, My inner being yearns for him;
I will truly have compassion on him. # Jr 12:15; 30:18; 33:26; 42:12; Hs 11:4,8-9
This is the Lord’s declaration.
Repentance and Restoration
21Set up road markers # 2Kg 23:17; Ezk 39:15 for yourself;
establish signposts!
Keep the highway in mind,
the way you have traveled.
Return, Virgin Israel!
Return to these cities of yours.
22How long will you turn here and there,
faithless daughter? # Jr 3:14,22; 49:4
For the Lord creates something new in the land # Or new on earth —
a female # Or woman will shelter # Or female surrounds, or female courts ; Hb obscure a man.
23This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “When I restore their fortunes, # Or I end their captivity they will once again speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, ‘May the Lord bless you, righteous settlement, # Jb 8:6; Jr 50:7 holy mountain.’ # Ps 2:6; 3:4; 48:1; 99:9 24Judah and all its cities will live in it together — also farmers and those who move # Tg, Vg, Aq, Sym; MT reads and they will move with the flocks — 25for I satisfy the thirsty person and feed all those who are weak.” # Ps 107:9; Is 55:1; Jn 4:14; 6:35; 7:35; Rv 21:6; 22:17
26At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been most pleasant to me.
27“The days are coming” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “when I will sow the house of Israel # Ezk 36:9,11; Hs 2:23 and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. 28Just as I watched over them to uproot and to tear them down, to demolish and to destroy, and to cause disaster, # Jr 21:10; 39:16; 44:27; Am 9:4 so will I be attentive to build and to plant them,” # Jr 1:10; 18:7-10; 44:27 says the Lord. 29“In those days, it will never again be said:
The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge. # Ezk 18:2
30Rather, each will die for his own wrongdoing. # Dt 24:6; Ezk 18:20 Anyone who eats sour grapes — his own teeth will be set on edge.
The New Covenant
31“Look, the days are coming” # Heb 8:8-12; 10:16-17 — this is the Lord’s declaration — “when I will make a new covenant # Ezk 37:26; Hs 2:18; Lk 22:20; 1Co 11:25; 2Co 3:6; Heb 9:15; 12:24 with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt — a covenant they broke even though I had married them” # Is 54:4; 62:4; Mal 2:11 — the Lord’s declaration. 33“Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days” — the Lord’s declaration. “I will put My teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. 34No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ # Jdg 2:10; 1Sm 3:7; Hs 2:20 for they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them” # Est 1:20; Jr 6:13; 8:10; 42:1,8; 44:12 — this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their wrongdoing # Nm 14:19; Ps 103:3; Jr 36:3 and never again remember their sin.
35This is what the Lord says:
The One who gives the sun for light by day,
the fixed order of moon and stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea and makes its waves roar # Ps 46:3; Is 51:15; Jr 5:22 —
Yahweh of Hosts is His name:
36If this fixed order departs from My presence —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
then also Israel’s descendants will cease
to be a nation before Me forever. # Jr 33:18; 35:19
37This is what the Lord says:
If the heavens above can be measured
and the foundations of the earth below explored,
I will reject all of Israel’s descendants
because of all they have done —
this is the Lord’s declaration.
38“Look, the days are coming” — the Lord’s declaration — “when the city # = Jerusalem from the Tower of Hananel # Neh 3:1; 12:39 to the Corner Gate # 2Kg 14:13; 2Ch 26:9; Zch 14:10 will be rebuilt for the Lord. 39A measuring line will once again stretch out straight to the hill of Gareb # Zch 2:1 and then turn toward Goah. 40The whole valley — the corpses, the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Kidron Valley # 2Kg 23:4 to the corner of the Horse Gate # Neh 3:28 to the east — will be holy to the Lord. It will never be uprooted or demolished again.”
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Jeremiah 31: HCSB
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Jeremiah 31
31
Good News of the Return
1At that time—oracle of the Lord—
I will be the God of all the families of Israel,
and they shall be my people.#Jer 30:22.
2#Jeremiah describes the exiles of the Northern Kingdom on their way home from the nations where the Assyrians had resettled them (722/721 B.C.). The favor they discover in the wilderness is the appearance of the Lord (v. 3) coming to guide them to Jerusalem. Implicit in these verses is the presentation of the people’s return from captivity as a second exodus, a unifying theme in Second Isaiah (chaps. 40–55). Thus says the Lord:
The people who escaped the sword
find favor in the wilderness.
As Israel comes forward to receive rest,
3from afar the Lord appears:
With age-old love I have loved you;
so I have kept my mercy toward you.#Dt 7:8; 10:15; Is 43:4; 63:9; Hos 11:1, 4.
4Again I will build you, and you shall stay built,
virgin Israel;
Carrying your festive tambourines,
you shall go forth dancing with merrymakers.
5You shall again plant vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria;
those who plant them shall enjoy their fruits.#Dt 28:30; Is 65:21; Am 9:14.
6Yes, a day will come when the watchmen
call out on Mount Ephraim:
“Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord, our God.”#Is 2:3; 27:13; Mi 4:2.
The Road of Return
7For thus says the Lord:
Shout with joy for Jacob,
exult at the head of the nations;
proclaim your praise and say:
The Lord has saved his people,
the remnant of Israel.#Is 12:6.
8Look! I will bring them back
from the land of the north;
I will gather them from the ends of the earth,
the blind and the lame in their midst,
Pregnant women, together with those in labor—
an immense throng—they shall return.#Jer 3:18; 23:3, 8; Is 35:5–6.
9With weeping they shall come,
but with compassion I will guide them;
I will lead them to streams of water,
on a level road, without stumbling.
For I am a father to Israel,
Ephraim is my firstborn.#Ex 4:22.
10Hear the word of the Lord, you nations,
proclaim it on distant coasts, and say:
The One who scattered Israel, now gathers them;
he guards them as a shepherd his flock.
11The Lord shall ransom Jacob,
he shall redeem him from a hand too strong for him.#Is 44:23; 48:20.
12Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,
they shall come streaming to the Lord’s blessings:
The grain, the wine, and the oil,
flocks of sheep and cattle;
They themselves shall be like watered gardens,
never again neglected.#Is 58:11.
13Then young women shall make merry and dance,
young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will show them compassion and have them rejoice after their sorrows.
14I will lavish choice portions on the priests,
and my people shall be filled with my blessings—
oracle of the Lord.
End of Rachel’s Mourning
15Thus says the Lord:
In Ramah#Ramah: a village about five miles north of Jerusalem, where one tradition locates Rachel’s tomb (1 Sm 10:2). The wife of Jacob/Israel, Rachel is the matriarchal ancestor of Ephraim, chief among the northern tribes. She personified Israel as a mother whose grief for her lost children is especially poignant because she had to wait a long time to bear them. Mt 2:18 applies this verse to Herod’s slaughter of the innocents. is heard the sound of sobbing,
bitter weeping!
Rachel mourns for her children,
she refuses to be consoled
for her children—they are no more!#Mt 2:18.
16Thus says the Lord:
Cease your cries of weeping,
hold back your tears!
There is compensation for your labor—
oracle of the Lord—
they shall return from the enemy’s land.
17There is hope for your future—oracle of the Lord—
your children shall return to their own territory.#Jer 29:10–14.
18Indeed, I heard Ephraim rocking in grief:
You chastised me, and I was chastised;
I was like an untamed calf.
Bring me back, let me come back,
for you are the Lord, my God.#Lv 26:40–42.
19For after I turned away, I repented;
after I came to myself, I struck my thigh;#Struck my thigh: a gesture signifying grief and dread (cf. Ez 21:17).
I was ashamed, even humiliated,
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.#Dt 30:1–3.
20Is Ephraim not my favored son,
the child in whom I delight?
Even though I threaten him,
I must still remember him!
My heart stirs for him,
I must show him compassion!—oracle of the Lord.#Hos 11:8.
Summons to Return Home
21Set up road markers,
put up signposts;
Turn your attention to the highway,
the road you walked.
Turn back, virgin Israel,
turn back to these your cities.
22How long will you continue to hesitate,
rebellious daughter?
The Lord has created a new thing upon the earth:
woman encompasses man.#No satisfactory explanation has been given for this text. Jerome, for example, saw the image as a reference to the infant Jesus enclosed in Mary’s womb. Since Jeremiah often uses marital imagery in his description of a restored Israel, the phrase may refer to a wedding custom, perhaps women circling the groom in a dance. It may also be a metaphor describing the security of a new Israel, a security so complete that it defies the imagination and must be expressed as hyperbolic role reversal: any danger will be so insignificant that women can protect their men.
23Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: When I restore their fortunes in the land of Judah and in its cities, they shall again use this greeting: “May the Lord bless you, Tent of Justice, Holy Mountain!”#Jer 30:3; Ps 122:8. 24Judah and all its cities, the farmers and those who lead the flock shall dwell there together. 25For I will slake the thirst of the faint; the appetite of all the weary I will satisfy. 26At this I awoke and opened my eyes; my sleep was satisfying.#I awoke…satisfying: an intrusive comment.
27See, days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of human beings and the seed of animals. 28As I once watched over them to uproot and tear down, to demolish, to destroy, and to harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant—oracle of the Lord.#Jer 1:10; 18:7. 29In those days they shall no longer say,
“The parents ate unripe grapes,#Dt 24:16; Ez 18:2.
and the children’s teeth are set on edge,”#“The parents…on edge”: Jeremiah’s opponents use this proverb to complain that they are being punished for sins of their ancestors. Jeremiah, however, insists that the Lord knows the depth of their wickedness and holds them accountable for their actions.
30but all shall die because of their own iniquity: the teeth of anyone who eats unripe grapes shall be set on edge.
The New Covenant.#The new covenant is an occasional prophetic theme, beginning with Hosea. According to Jeremiah, (a) it lasts forever; (b) its law (torah) is written in human hearts; (c) it gives everyone true knowledge of God, making additional instruction (torah) unnecessary. The Dead Sea Scroll community claimed they were partners in a “new covenant.” The New Testament presents the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as inaugurating a new covenant open to anyone who professes faith in Jesus the Christ. Cf. Lk 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25; Heb 8:8–12. Know the Lord: cf. note on 22:15–16. 31See, days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.#Jer 32:40; Heb 9:15. 32It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke my covenant, though I was their master—oracle of the Lord.#Ex 24:7–8; Dt 5:2. 33But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days—oracle of the Lord. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.#Jer 32:40; Ez 37:26; Heb 10:16. 34They will no longer teach their friends and relatives, “Know the Lord!” Everyone, from least to greatest, shall know me—oracle of the Lord—for I will forgive their iniquity and no longer remember their sin.#Is 54:13.
Certainty of God’s Promise
35Thus says the Lord,
Who gives the sun to light the day,
moon and stars to light the night;
Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar,
whose name is Lord of hosts:#Gn 1:14–18.
36If ever this fixed order gives way
before me—oracle of the Lord—
Then would the offspring of Israel cease
as a people before me forever.#Jer 33:20–21.
37Thus says the Lord:
If the heavens on high could be measured,
or the foundations below the earth be explored,
Then would I reject all the offspring of Israel
because of all they have done—oracle of the Lord.
Jerusalem Rebuilt.#The landmarks in these verses outline the borders of Jerusalem during the time of Nehemiah: the Tower of Hananel (Neh 3:1; 12:39) in the northeast and the Corner Gate (2 Kgs 14:13) in the northwest; Goah in the southeast and Gareb Hill in the southwest; the Valley of Ben-hinnom (“the Valley of corpses and ashes”), which met the Wadi Kidron in the southeast, and the Horse Gate in the eastern wall at the southeast corner of the Temple area. 38See, days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when the city shall be rebuilt as the Lord’s,#Neh 12:38; Zec 14:10–11. from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39A measuring line shall be stretched from there straight to the hill Gareb and then turn to Goah. 40The whole valley of corpses and ashes, all the terraced slopes toward the Wadi Kidron, as far as the corner of the Horse Gate at the east, shall be holy to the Lord. Never again shall the city be uprooted or demolished.
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