Jeremiah 31:21

21 Establish signs, make thee high markers; consider the highway with great care, even the way which thou didst come; return, O virgin of Israel, return unto these thy cities.

Jeremiah 31:21 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 31:21

Set thee up way marks, make thee high heaps
Of stones, raised up as pillars, or like pyramids; or upright, as palm trees, which signification the word ^F26 has; to be marks and signs, to know the way again upon a return. The Targum is,

``O congregation of Israel, remember the right works of thy fathers; pour out supplications; in bitterness set thy heart.''

And so the Vulgate Latin version interprets the last clause, "put on bitternesses", without any sense; so Cocceius. The design of the words is to put the Jews upon thoughts of returning to their own land, and to prepare for it; set thine heart towards the highway, [even] the way [which] thou
wentest;
from Judea to Babylon, or into other countries; think of going the same way back again; for, as there was a highway from Judea, there is one to it; let thine heart be upon returning that way. Jarchi reads, "the way which I went"; that is, the way in which the Lord went with the people; the right way in which he guided and directed them; and in which following him, they could not err; see ( Isaiah 35:8 ) . The Targum is,

``consider the works which thou hast done, whether they are fight, when thou goest in a way afar off;''

turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities;
an invitation and encouragement to the Jews to turn again to their own land; as from the Babylonish captivity, so from all lands in the latter day; which is yet to be fulfilled, and to which the prophecy more properly belongs.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 (Myrwrmt) "columnulas", Schmidt; "pyramidas", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "palmulas", Tigurine version, "a (rmt) palma".

Jeremiah 31:21 In-Context

19 Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, and even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.

20 Peradventure is Ephraim a precious son unto me? Peradventure is he unto me a delightful child? With all this since I spoke of him, I have remembered him constantly. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him; in tenderness I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.

21 Establish signs, make thee high markers; consider the highway with great care, even the way which thou didst come; return, O virgin of Israel, return unto these thy cities.

22 How long wilt thou wander, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD will bring forth a new thing upon the earth, A woman shall compass the man.

23 Thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said; Even yet shall they speak this word in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof when I shall turn their captivity: The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice and mountain of holiness.