Jeremiah 31

1"At that time," says the LORD, "I will be the God of all the family groups of Israel, and they will be my people."

1At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

Note"Family groups" translates a Hebrew word for clans, the extended kinship units that made up the tribes. Saying *all* of them is pointed: Israel had split into two kingdoms centuries earlier, the northern one (Israel) destroyed by Assyria and the southern one (Judah) facing Babylon. Chapters 30–31 speak of both being gathered back.

2This is what the LORD says: "The people who survived the sword found kindness out in the desert. That is where I went to give Israel rest."

2Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

Note"Survived the sword" means survived war. The verse is deliberately double-edged: the wilderness is the desert Israel crossed after leaving Egypt, so it looks back to that founding journey, and at the same time it describes the exiles of Jeremiah's own day, who would come home by the same kind of route.

3The LORD appeared to us long ago and said: "I have loved you with a love that never ends. That is why I have kept pulling you toward me with faithful love.

3The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

NoteThe Hebrew phrase behind "long ago" literally means "from far off," which can mean either from a great distance or from long in the past; translators split over it. "Faithful love" translates *hesed*, loyalty owed within a committed relationship, the steady dependability of someone who keeps their word, not warm feeling.

4I will build you up again, and you will be rebuilt, Israel, my untouched daughter. Once more you will pick up your tambourines and go out dancing with the happy crowd.

4Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.

NoteCities and nations were routinely personified in Hebrew poetry as a young woman: "virgin Israel" pictures the nation as an unmarried daughter, and carries no comment on the morals of individuals. Tambourines, small hand-drums, were played by women leading victory songs and processions after a battle or a rescue.

5Once more you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria. The farmers who plant them will eat the fruit themselves.

5Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things.

NoteSamaria was the capital and heartland of the northern kingdom, wiped out by Assyria about a century before Jeremiah. Its hills were prime vineyard country. "The farmers will eat the fruit themselves" points to a specific hardship being reversed: Israelite law kept a new vineyard's fruit off-limits for its first years, and invading armies routinely ate crops the planter never tasted.

6A day is coming when the lookouts on the hills of Ephraim will call out, 'Get up, and let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.'"

6For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.

NoteEphraim was the largest tribe of the northern kingdom, and its name is often used for that whole kingdom. Lookouts stood on high ground to spot danger; here they call out an announcement instead. Northerners heading to Zion, the ridge in Jerusalem where the temple stood, is striking because the northern kingdom had kept its own rival shrines rather than worship in Jerusalem.

7This is what the LORD says: "Sing for joy over Jacob. Shout for the greatest of the nations. Let your praise be heard, and say, 'LORD, save your people, the ones left of Israel.'

7For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.

Note"The greatest of the nations" is ambiguous in Hebrew: it may mean "shout among the leading nations," i.e. broadcast the news to them, or "shout on behalf of Jacob, the foremost of nations." "The ones left of Israel" is the remnant, the survivors of war and deportation, a standing term in the prophets for the fraction of a people left after catastrophe.

8Look, I will bring them from the country in the north and gather them from the far ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, pregnant women and women in labor. A huge crowd will come back here.

8Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.

Note"The country in the north" means Assyria and Babylon. They actually lay east of Judah, but the desert was impassable, so armies and columns of deportees always traveled the arc of farmland to the north. Listing the blind, the lame and women in labor makes the point that nobody is left behind, these are exactly the people a long march would normally lose.

9They will come back crying, and I will lead them as they beg for help. I will walk them beside streams of water, on a level road where they will not trip. For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my oldest son."

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

NoteThe firstborn son held a legal rank, not just a birth order: he was chief heir, received a double share of the estate, and represented the family. Calling Ephraim, the northern kingdom, the firstborn assigns that standing to the very people who had been destroyed and scattered.

10Listen to the word of the LORD, you nations, and announce it in the lands across the sea: "The one who scattered Israel will gather him again and guard him, the way a shepherd guards his flock.

10Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.

11For the LORD has paid the price to set Jacob free. He has bought him back from the grip of someone stronger than he was.

11For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.

NoteTwo commercial words. "Paid the price to set free" and "bought back" both come from Israelite family law, where a relative was obliged to buy back a kinsman who had fallen into debt-slavery, or land the family had lost. The picture is a next-of-kin paying out to recover his own.

12So they will come and sing on the heights of Zion. They will stream together to the good gifts of the LORD: grain, new wine, olive oil, and young animals from the flocks and herds. Their life will be like a well-watered garden, and they will never again waste away with grief.

12Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for 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.

NoteGrain, new wine and olive oil are the standard trio for the whole harvest of the land, bread, drink and cooking-and-lamp oil. "New wine" is the freshly pressed juice of the year's crop. The heights of Zion are the temple ridge in Jerusalem, uphill from every direction, which is why worshipers always "go up" to it.

13Then the young women will dance for joy, and the young men and old men with them. I will turn their sadness into gladness. I will comfort them and give them joy instead of sorrow.

13Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

14I will fill the priests with rich food, and my people will have their fill of my good gifts," says the LORD.

14And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.

NotePriests had no farmland of their own. They lived on assigned portions of what people brought to the sanctuary, so "filled with rich food" describes their income as much as their meals; the fat parts were the choicest cut. When the country was ruined, the priests went hungry with everyone else.

15This is what the LORD says: "A sound is heard in Ramah: mourning and bitter crying. It is Rachel crying for her children. She refuses to be comforted, because they are gone."

15Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

NoteRamah was a town about five miles north of Jerusalem; Babylonian forces used it as the collection point where captives were assembled before the march into exile. Rachel was Jacob's favorite wife and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, making her the ancestress of the northern tribes and of Benjamin, so she is pictured weeping over the descendants being led away past her grave.

16This is what the LORD says: "Stop your crying, and dry your eyes. Your hard work will be paid back, says the LORD. Your children will come home from the land of the enemy.

16Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.

17So there is hope for your future, says the LORD. Your children will come back to their own land.

17And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.

18I have certainly heard Ephraim groaning to himself: 'You disciplined me hard, and I took it, like a young bull that has never worn a yoke. Turn me back, and I will come back, because you are the LORD my God.

18I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.

NoteA yoke is the wooden beam harnessing an animal to a plow; an untrained calf fights it and gets handled roughly until it learns. The Hebrew plays on one verb throughout: the same word means "turn back," "come home from exile," and "turn away from wrongdoing," so the plea to be turned carries all three senses at once.

19After I turned back, I was sorry for what I had done. After I was taught, I struck my thigh in grief. I felt shame, and my face burned, because I carried the disgrace of my younger years.'

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

NoteStriking the thigh was a recognized gesture of grief and self-reproach, in the same family as beating the breast or slapping the forehead. "My face burned" renders a word for public humiliation, shame before other people, not a private feeling.

20Is Ephraim not my dear son, a child I delight in? Even though I speak against him, I still remember him with care. That is why my heart aches for him. I will certainly show him mercy," says the LORD.

20Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.

NoteThe Hebrew locates strong emotion in the internal organs (the older English versions say "my bowels are troubled") where modern English uses the heart or the gut. The verb suggests churning or growling inside.

21"Set up road markers for yourself. Put up signposts. Keep the main road in mind, the road you traveled on. Come back, Israel, my untouched daughter, come back to these towns of yours.

21Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.

NoteRoad markers were cairns, piles of stones set beside a route so it could be found again. The instruction is practical: mark the road as you are dragged along it into exile, because you will be walking back down it.

22How long will you wander, my unfaithful daughter? For the LORD has made something new in the land: a woman will surround a man."

22How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.

NoteThis last line is one of the most obscure sentences in the book, and translators have never agreed. The Hebrew says a female will "go around" or "encircle" a male, possibly protect, possibly court or take the initiative toward, possibly simply surround. The plain rendering keeps the ambiguity rather than choosing.

23This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: "When I bring them back from captivity, people will once again say these words in the land of Judah and in its towns: 'May the LORD bless you, home of justice, holy mountain.'

23Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.

Note"LORD of Armies" translates "LORD of hosts," a title picturing God commanding massed forces, armies, or the ranked stars and heavenly beings. "Bring them back from captivity" renders a phrase that can mean either "return the captives" or, more broadly, "restore their fortunes"; both senses are live here. The blessing quoted is the kind of greeting travelers called out to a place or its people.

24Judah and all its towns will live there together, both the farmers and those who move around with their flocks.

24And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks.

25For I will refresh anyone who is worn out, and I will fill up anyone who is drained by sorrow."

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

26At this I woke up and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me.

26Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.

NoteAn abrupt first-person aside, apparently the prophet's own, and the text never explains it. It implies the preceding message came in a dream or vision during sleep, unusual for Jeremiah, who elsewhere is sharply critical of prophets who trade in dreams.

27"The days are coming," says the LORD, "when I will plant the house of Israel and the house of Judah with a crop of people and a crop of animals.

27Behold, the days come, saith 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 beast.

28Just as I kept watch over them to pull up and tear down, to knock over and destroy and bring trouble, so I will keep watch over them to build and to plant," says the LORD.

28And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD.

29"In those days people will no longer say, 'The parents ate sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.'

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

NoteA proverb in circulation among the exiles, quoted and rejected here and also in Ezekiel 18. "Teeth set on edge" is the grating, blunted feeling unripe fruit leaves in the mouth. The saying complained that one generation was suffering for what an earlier generation did.

30Instead, each person will die for his own sin. Whoever eats the sour grapes will be the one whose own teeth are set on edge.

30But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.

31Look, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new agreement with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

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

Note"Agreement" translates *covenant*: a formal, binding relationship sealed with oaths and carrying stated obligations on both sides, closer to a treaty between a king and his subjects than to a private contract. Israel's national life was framed by the covenant made at Sinai after the escape from Egypt.

32It will not be like the agreement I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt. They broke that agreement of mine, even though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.

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 brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

Note"I was a husband to them" follows the Hebrew text; the verb can also mean "I was master over them." The ancient Greek translation, followed by the quotation of this passage in Hebrews 8, reads a similar-looking Hebrew word and gets "so I turned away from them" instead. Both readings are ancient.

33But this is the agreement I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. I will put my law inside them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Note"Law" translates *torah*, which covers instruction and teaching generally, not only statutes. "Inside them" is literally "in their inward parts", the interior of the body, where Hebrew locates thought and will; the pairing with "hearts" contrasts something internal with laws carved on stone tablets or written on a scroll.

34No longer will anyone have to teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, 'Get to know the LORD.' They will all know me, from the least important to the greatest, says the LORD. For I will forgive the wrong they have done and will never again call their sin to mind."

34And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

35This is what the LORD says, the one who gives the sun for light by day, who set the moon and stars in order for light by night, who stirs up the sea so its waves roar. The LORD of Armies is his name:

35Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:

NoteThe verb rendered "stirs up" is disputed: the same Hebrew root can mean to churn the sea into a storm or to still it, and the older English versions read it as "divides," hearing an echo of the sea splitting at the exodus. The argument of the verse is about fixed, observable regularity, sunrise, moon phases, the sea's behavior.

36"Only if that fixed order ever left my presence, says the LORD, would the descendants of Israel ever stop being a nation before me."

36If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.

37This is what the LORD says: "Only if the heavens above could be measured, and the foundations of the earth below dug out and explored, would I ever reject all the descendants of Israel for everything they have done, says the LORD."

37Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.

38"Look, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when this city will be rebuilt for the LORD, from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.

38Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the city shall be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner.

NoteThe tower of Hananel and the Corner Gate were landmarks at the northern edge of Jerusalem's wall. A measuring line is a surveyor's cord; running it out marks the boundary of the rebuilt city, so this and the next two verses trace a perimeter.

39The measuring line will stretch out farther, straight over to the hill of Gareb, and then turn toward Goah.

39And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath.

NoteGareb and Goah appear nowhere else and their locations are unknown; from the sweep of the description they were probably west and south of the city.

40The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are dumped, and all the fields out to the Kidron Valley, as far as the corner of the Horse Gate on the east side, will be holy to the LORD. It will never again be torn up or knocked down."

40And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.

NoteThe valley of dead bodies and ashes is almost certainly the Hinnom valley on the south side of Jerusalem, the city dump, where refuse and the greasy ash from the altar were thrown, and where children had been sacrificed in earlier reigns. The Kidron valley runs along the east side. Declaring this ground holy takes in the most defiled land around the city.