Jeremiah 31

1 The Lord says, "At that time I will be God of all Israel's family groups, and they will be my people."

2 This is what the Lord says: "The people who were not killed by the enemy's sword found help in the desert. I came to give rest to Israel."

3 And from far away the Lord appeared to his people and said, "I love you people with a love that will last forever. That is why I have continued showing you kindness.

4 People of Israel, I will build you up again, and you will be rebuilt. You will pick up your tambourines again and dance with those who are joyful.

5 You will plant vineyards again on the hills around Samaria. The farmers will plant them and enjoy their fruit.

6 There will be a time when watchmen in the mountains of Ephraim shout this message: 'Come, let's go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord our God!'"

7 This is what the Lord says: "Be happy and sing for the people of Jacob. Shout for Israel, the greatest of the nations. Sing your praises and shout this: 'Lord, save your people, those who are left alive from the nation of Israel!'

8 Look, I will soon bring Israel from the country in the north, and I will gather them from the faraway places on earth. Some of the people are blind and crippled. Some of the women are pregnant, and some are ready to give birth. A great many people will come back.

9 They will be crying as they come, but they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead those people by streams of water on an even road where they will not stumble. I am Israel's father, and Israel is my firstborn son.

10 "Nations, listen to the message from the Lord. Tell this message in the faraway lands by the sea: 'The one who scattered the people of Israel will bring them back, and he will watch over his people like a shepherd.'

11 The Lord will pay for the people of Jacob and will buy them back from people stronger than they were.

12 The people of Israel will come to the high points of Jerusalem and shout for joy. the grain, new wine, oil, young sheep, and young cows. They will be like a garden that has plenty of water, and they will not be troubled anymore.

13 Then young women of Israel will be happy and dance, the young men and old men also. I will change their sadness into happiness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sadness.

14 The priests will have more than enough sacrifices, and my people will be filled with the good things I give them!" says the Lord.

15 This is what the Lord says: "A voice was heard in Ramah of painful crying and deep sadness: Rachel crying for her children. She refused to be comforted, because her children are dead!"

16 But this is what the Lord says: "Stop crying; don't let your eyes fill with tears. You will be rewarded for your work!" says the Lord. "The people will return from their enemy's land.

17 So there is hope for you in the future," says the Lord. "Your children will return to their own land.

18 "I have heard Israel moaning: 'Lord, you punished me, and I have learned my lesson. I was like a calf that had never been trained. Take me back so that I may come back. You truly are the Lord my God.

19 Lord, after I wandered away from you, I changed my heart and life. After I understood, I beat my breast with sorrow. I was ashamed and disgraced, because I suffered for the foolish things I did when I was young.'

20 "You know that Israel is my dear son, The child I love. Yes, I often speak against Israel, but I still remember him. I love him very much, and I want to comfort him," says the Lord.

21 "People of Israel, fix the road signs. Put up signs to show you the way home. Watch the road. Pay attention to the road on which you travel. People of Israel, come home, come back to your towns.

22 You are an unfaithful daughter. How long will you wander before you come home? in the land: A woman will go seeking a man."

23 The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: "I will again do good things for the people of Judah. At that time the people in the land of Judah and its towns will again use these words: 'May the Lord bless you, home of what is good, holy mountain.'

24 People in all the towns of Judah will live together in peace. Farmers and those who move around with their flocks will live together in peace.

25 I will give rest and strength to those who are weak and tired."

26 After hearing that, I, Jeremiah, woke up and looked around. My sleep had been very pleasant.

27 The Lord says, "The time is coming when I will help the families of Israel and Judah and their children and animals to grow.

28 In the past I watched over Israel and Judah, to pull them up and tear them down, to destroy them and bring them disaster. But now I will watch over them to build them up and make them strong," says the Lord.

29 "At that time people will no longer say: 'The parents have eaten sour grapes, and that caused the children to grind their teeth from the sour taste.'

30 Instead, each person will die for his own sin; the person who eats sour grapes will grind his own teeth.

31 "Look, the time is coming," says the Lord, "when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and the people of Judah.

32 It will not be like the agreement I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt. I was a husband to them, but they broke that agreement," says the Lord.

33 "This is the agreement I will make with the people of Israel at that time," says the Lord: "I will put my teachings in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

34 People will no longer have to teach their neighbors and relatives to know the Lord, because all people will know me, from the least to the most important," says the Lord. "I will forgive them for the wicked things they did, and I will not remember their sins anymore."

35 The Lord makes the sun shine in the day and the moon and stars to shine at night. He stirs up the sea so that its waves crash on the shore. The Lord All-Powerful is his name.

36 "Only if these laws should ever fail," says the Lord, "will Israel's descendants ever stop being a nation before me."

37 This is what the Lord says: "Only if people can measure the sky above and learn the secrets of the earth below, will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of what they have done," says the Lord.

38 The Lord says, "The time is coming when Jerusalem will be rebuilt for me -- everything from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.

39 The measuring line will stretch from the Corner Gate straight to the hill of Gareb. Then it will turn to the place named Goah.

40 The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate -- all that area will be holy to the Lord. The city of Jerusalem will never again be torn down or destroyed."

Jeremiah 31 Commentary

Chapter 31

The restoration of Israel. (1-9) Promises of guidance and happiness; Rachel lamenting. (10-17) Ephraim laments his errors. (18-20) The promised Saviour. (21-26) God's care over the church. (27-34) Peace and prosperity in gospel time. (35-40)

Verses 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.

Verses 10-17 He that scattered Israel, knows where to find them. It is comfortable to observe the goodness of the Lord in the gifts of providence. But our souls are never valuable as gardens, unless watered with the dews of God's Spirit and grace. A precious promise follows, which will not have full accomplishment except in the heavenly Zion. Let them be satisfied of God's loving-kindness, and they will be satisfied with it, and desire no more to make them happy. Rachel is represented as rising from her grave, and refusing to be comforted, supposing her offspring rooted out. The murder of the children at Bethlehem, by Herod, ( Matthew 2:16-18 ) , in some degree fulfilled this prediction, but could not be its full meaning. If we have hope in the end, concerning an eternal inheritance, for ourselves and those belonging to us, all temporal afflictions may be borne, and will be for our good.

Verses 18-20 Ephraim (the ten tribes) is weeping for sin. He is angry at himself for his sin, and folly, and frowardness. He finds he cannot, by his own power, keep himself close with God, much less bring himself back when he is revolted. Therefore he prays, Turn thou me, and I shall be turned. His will was bowed to the will of God. When the teaching of God's Spirit went with the corrections of his providence, then the work was done. This is our comfort in affliction, that the Lord thinks upon us. God has mercy in store, rich mercy, sure mercy, suitable mercy, for all who seek him in sincerity.

Verses 21-26 The way from the bondage of sin to the liberty of God's children, is a high-way. It is plain, it is safe; yet none are likely to walk in it, unless they set their hearts towards it. They are encouraged by the promise of a new, unheard-of, extraordinary thing; a creation, a work of Almighty power; the human nature of Christ, formed and prepared by the power of the Holy Ghost: and this is here mentioned as an encouragement to the Jews to return to their own land. And a comfortable prospect is given them of a happy settlement there. Godliness and honesty God has joined: let no man think to put them asunder, or to make the one atone for the want of the other. In the love and favour of God the weary soul shall find rest, and the sorrowful shall find joy. And what can we see with more satisfaction than the good of Jerusalem, and peace upon Israel?

Verses 27-34 The people of God shall become numerous and prosperous. In ( hebrews 8:8 hebrews 8:9 ) , this place is quoted as the sum of the covenant of grace made with believers in Jesus Christ. Not, I will give them a new law; for Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it; but the law shall be written in their hearts by the finger of the Spirit, as formerly written in the tables of stone. The Lord will, by his grace, make his people willing people in the day of his power. All shall know the Lord; all shall be welcome to the knowledge of God, and shall have the means of that knowledge. There shall be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, at the time the gospel is published. No man shall finally perish, but for his own sins; none, who is willing to accept of Christ's salvation.

Verses 35-40 As surely as the heavenly bodies will continue their settled course, according to the will of their Creator, to the end of time, and as the raging sea obeys him, so surely will the Jews be continued a separate people. Words can scarcely set forth more strongly the restoration of Israel. The rebuilding of Jerusalem, and its enlargement and establishment, shall be an earnest of the great things God will do for the gospel church. The personal happiness of every true believer, as well as the future restoration of Israel, is secured by promise, covenant, and oath. This Divine love passes knowledge; and to those who take hold upon it, every present mercy is an earnest of salvation.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 31

This chapter is connected with the former, respects the same times, and is full of prophecies and promises of spiritual blessings; of the coming of Christ; of the multiplication of his people, and the increase of their joy; of the conversion of the Gentiles; of the covenant of grace; and of the stability of the saints. It begins with the principal promise of the covenant, confirmed by past experience, of divine goodness, and with a fresh declaration of God's everlasting love, Jer 31:1-3; an instance of which would appear, in planting vines or churches in Samaria, the metropolis of Ephraim or the ten tribes, under the ministry of the apostles, the watchmen, on Mount Ephraim; whereby the Israel of God would be built, beautified, and made to rejoice, Jer 31:4-6; yea, it would be matter of joy to all that heard of it; since, notwithstanding distance and other difficulties, a great number should come to Christ, and to his church, drawn by the Father's love to them, and as owing to the relation he stands in to them, Jer 31:7-9; redemption out of the hands of Satan, and every spiritual enemy, must be published among the Gentiles; which would cause great joy, and give great satisfaction to the priests and people of the Lord, expressed by various metaphors, Jer 31:10-14; and though, upon the birth of the Redeemer, there would be an event, which might tend to damp the joy of saints on account of it, the murder of the infants at Bethlehem; yet some things are said to encourage faith, hope, and joy, and to abate sorrow and weeping, Jer 31:15-17; Ephraim's affliction, and behaviour under it, his repentance and reception, are recorded, Jer 31:18-20; backsliding Israel are called upon to return, in consideration of the birth of the Messiah, Jer 31:21,22; the happy and flourishing estate of the people of God is promised; all which were made known to the prophet by a dream in the night, Jer 31:23-26; and fresh promises are made, that the Lord would do them good, and not punish the children for their fathers' sins, but everyone for their own, Jer 31:28-30; and then an account is given of the new covenant of grace, as distinct from the old, and of the articles of it; the inscription of the law in the heart, spiritual knowledge of the Lord, and remission of sin, Jer 31:31-34; then follow assurances of the everlasting continuance of the true Israel and church of God, Jer 31:35-37; and the chapter is concluded with a promise of rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, and of the holiness of it, and of its abiding for ever, Jer 31:38-40.