Jeremiah 31

ENGWEBEnglish40 verses

1At that time, says Yahweh, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

2Yahweh says, The people who were left of the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

3Yahweh appeared of old to me, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you.

4Again will I build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: again you shall be adorned with your tambourines, and shall go out in the dances of those who make merry.

5Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy its fruit.

6For there shall be a day, that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim shall cry, Arise, and let us go up to Zion to Yahweh our God.

7For Yahweh says, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations: publish, praise, and say, Yahweh, save your people, the remnant of Israel.

8Behold, 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: a great company shall they return here.

9They shall come with weeping; and with petitions will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

10Hear Yahweh’s word, you nations, and declare it in the islands afar off; and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.

11For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.

12They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow to the goodness of Yahweh, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.

13Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and 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.

14I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says Yahweh.

15Yahweh 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.

16Yahweh says: Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says Yahweh; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.

17There is hope for your latter end, says Yahweh; and your children shall come again to their own border.

18I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf: turn me, and I shall be turned; for you are Yahweh my God.

19Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I struck on my thigh: I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.

20Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a darling child? for as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says Yahweh.

21Set 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.

22How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? for Yahweh has created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall encompass a man.

23Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Yet again shall they use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I shall bring again their captivity: Yahweh bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness.

24Judah and all its cities shall dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks.

25For I have satiated the weary soul, and every sorrowful soul have I replenished.

26On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.

27Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of animal.

28It shall 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 will I watch over them to build and to plant, says Yahweh.

29In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.

30But everyone shall die for his own iniquity: every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

31Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

32not 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 my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Yahweh.

33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:

34and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Yahweh; for they shall all know me, from their least to their greatest, says Yahweh: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.

35Yahweh, 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; Yahweh of Armies is his name, says:

36If these ordinances depart from before me, says Yahweh, then the offspring of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever.

37Yahweh 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 Yahweh.

38Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that the city shall be built to Yahweh from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner.

39The measuring line shall go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and shall turn about to Goah.

40The 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, shall be holy to Yahweh; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more forever.

Commentary

"\nAt the same time, saith the Lord,.... The time of the Messiah, the Gospel dispensation, the latter days; when the Jews shall consider the prophecies of the Old Testament, and observe how they have been fulfilled in Jesus; and shall reflect upon their disbelief and rejection of him; and shall turn unto him, and serve the Lord their God, and David their king; see Jer 30:9;\n\nwill I be the God of all the families of Israel; not of some few persons only, or of one of a city, and two of a family, but of every family; and this will be when "all Israel" shall be converted and saved, and a nation shall be born at once; then will God show himself to them as their covenant God, manifest his love to them, and bestow the blessings of his grace upon them:\n\nand they shall be my people; behave as such to him; own him to be their God, and serve and worship him.\n\n\n\n "

CHAPTER 31Jer 31:1-40. Continuation of the Prophecy in the Thirtieth Chapter.As in that chapter the restoration of Judah, so in this the restoration of Israel's ten tribes is foretold.1. At the same time—"In the latter days" (Jer 30:24).the God of—manifesting My grace to (Ge 17:7; Mt 22:32; Re 21:3).all … Israel—not the exiles of the south kingdom of Judah only, but also the north kingdom of the ten tribes; and not merely Israel in general, but "all the families of Israel." Never yet fulfilled (Ro 11:26).

31:1-9 God assures his people that he will again take them into covenant relation to himself. When brought very low, and difficulties appear, it is good to remember that it has been so with the church formerly. But it is hard under present frowns to take comfort from former smiles; yet it is the happiness of those who, through grace, are interested in the love of God, that it is an everlasting love, from everlasting in the counsels, to everlasting in the continuance. Those whom God loves with this love, he will draw to himself, by the influences of his Spirit upon their souls. When praising God for what he has done, we must call upon him for the favours his church needs and expects. When the Lord calls, we must not plead that we cannot come; for he that calls us, will help us, will strengthen us. The goodness of God shall lead them to repentance. And they shall weep for sin with more bitterness, and more tenderness, when delivered out of their captivity, than when groaning under it. If we take God for our Father, and join the church of the first-born, we shall want nothing that is good for us. These predictions doubtless refer also to a future gathering of the Israelites from all quarters of the globe. And they figuratively describe the conversion of sinners to Christ, and the plain and safe way in which they are led.

2. Upon the grace manifested to Israel "in the wilderness" God grounds His argument for renewing His favors to them now in their exile; because His covenant is "everlasting" (Jer 31:3), and changes not. The same argument occurs in Ho 13:5, 9, 10; 14:4, 5, 8. Babylon is fitly compared to the "wilderness," as in both alike Israel was as a stranger far from his appointed "rest" or home, and Babylon is in Isa 40:3 called a "desert" (compare Jer 50:12).I went to cause him to rest—namely, in the pillar of cloud and fire, the symbol of God's presence, which went before Israel to search a resting-place (Nu 10:33; Isa 63:14) for the people, both a temporary one at each halt in the wilderness, and a permanent one in Canaan (Ex 33:14; De 3:20; Jos 21:44; Ps 95:11; Heb 3:11).

"\nThus saith the Lord, the people [which were] left of the sword,.... Which were not consumed by the sword of Pharaoh, who perished not through his cruel edicts, and by his sword, when drawn at the Red sea; nor by the sword of the Amalekites and Amorites; or of their own brethren, who sometimes, for their sins, were ordered to slay many, as on account of the molten calf, and joining to Baalpeor: but there was a remnant that escaped, who\n\nfound grace in the wilderness; in the sight of God, who went before them, protected and defended them from their enemies; gave them his holy law, his statutes, and his judgments; fed them with manna and quails; clave the rocks, and gave them water to drink; and supplied them with everything necessary for them, Ps 78:5;\n\n[even] Israel, when I went to cause him to rest; went before him in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night; and in the ark, the symbol of his presence; and not only to search out a resting place for them for a few days, but to bring them to Canaan, the land of rest, which he had promised them, Ex 13:21; now this past instance of divine goodness is mentioned, to encourage faith in the fulfilment of the above promise. The whole is paraphrased by the Targum thus,\n\n"these things saith the Lord, who gave mercies to the people that came out of Egypt; he supplied their necessities in the wilderness, when they fled from before those who slay with the sword; he led them by his word, to cause Israel to dwell in a place of rest.''\n\nSome render the words in the future, "shall find grace", c. "shall go to his rest", c. and so apply it to the Jews that escaped the sword of the Chaldeans, and found favour in the wilderness of the people into which they were brought, and as they returned into their own land from the captivity. And it, nay be also applied to the Jews that were left of the sword of the Romans in their last destruction, who have found much favour among the nations as they do in ours, and others, now and who in time will return to their own land, and be in rest, Jer 30:10. Yea, it is applicable enough to the church and people of God in their present state; who are left of the sword of the Papists, and are now in the wilderness, where they are nourished for a time, and times, and half a time; and before long will be brought into a state of settled rest and tranquillity.\n\n\n "

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Translations8 · 5

AMHEVG በዚያን ዘመን፥ ይላል እግዚአብሔር፥ ለእስራኤል ወገኖች ሁሉ አምላክ እሆናቸዋለሁ እነርሱም ሕዝብ ይሆኑኛል። አማርኛ ENGNIV “At that time,” declares the Lord, “I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be my people.” English BCV እግዚኣብሄር ከምዙይ ይብል ኣሎ፦ በቲ ዘመን እቱይ ንዅሎም ነገድ እስራኤል ኣምላኾም ክኸውን እየ፤ ንሳቶም ከዓ ህዝበይ ክኾኑኒ እዮም። ትግርኛ GAZBIB Waaqayyo dubbii isaa itti fufee,“Ani yeroo sanatti gosa Israa'el hundumaaf Waaqayyo isaanii nan ta'a, isaanis saba koo … Afaan Oromoo BCV GIZ ውእተ አሚረ፡ ይቤ እግዚአብሔር፡ እከውኖሙ አምላኮሙ ለሕዝበ እሥራኤል ወእሙንቱሂ ይከውኑኒ ሕዝብየ። giz GAZGAZ Waaqayyo dubbii isaa itti fufee,“Ani yeroo sanatti gosa Israa'el hundumaaf Waaqayyo isaanii nan ta'a, isaanis saba koo … Afaan Oromoo BCV aksum እግዚኣብሄር ከምዙይ ይብል ኣሎ፦ በቲ ዘመን እቱይ ንዅሎም ነገድ እስራኤል ኣምላኾም ክኸውን እየ፤ ንሳቶም ከዓ ህዝበይ ክኾኑኒ እዮም። ትግርኛ AMHNIV “በዚያ ዘመን” ይላል እግዚአብሔር፤ “ለእስራኤል ነገድ ሁሉ አምላካቸው እሆናለሁ፤ እነርሱም ሕዝቤ ይሆናሉ።” አማርኛ