Jeremiah 31)
1 At the same time (i.e. in the latter days [30:24]), says the LORD (Yahaveh), will I be the God (Elohim) to all the families of Israel (not Judah alone), and they shall be My People. (See. Lev. 26:12.)
Q l1 2-7. Joy.
m1 8. Restoration.
n1 9. Sorrow ended.
l2 10-14. Joy.
m2 15-17. Restoration.
n2 18-22. Sorrow ended.
l3 33. Blessing.
m3 24. Restoration.
n3 25,26. Sorrow ended.
2 Thus says 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.' " (See Ex. 3. Num. 10:33. Deut. 1:33.)
3 The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying, 'Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love (see Isa. 44:7): therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you.
4 Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: you shall again be adorned with your tabrets (see Ex. 15:20. 1 Sam. 10:5), and shall go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
5 You shall yet plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things. (See Lev. 19:23-25. Deut. 6; 28:30. Cp. Isa. 62:9.)
6 For there is a day, that the watchmen upon the hill country of Ephraim shall cry, 'Arise you, and let us go up to Zion to the LORD our God.'
7 For thus says the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish you, praise you, and say, 'O LORD, save Your People (see Ps. 118:25. Matt. 21:9), the remnant of Israel.'
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather out them from the borders (or extremities) of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travails with child together: a great organized community shall return here.
9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the streams of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.' " (See Ex. 4:22. Cp. Ps. 89. Ephraim put for all the 10 tribes.)
10 Hear the word of the LORD, O you nations, and declare it in the coast-lands (or maritime countries) afar off, and say, "He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. (See. Deut. 30;3.)
11 For the LORD has redeemed [by power] (or liberated. See Ex. 6:6) Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. (See Ps. 35:10.)
12 Therefore 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.
13 Then 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.
14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and My People shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the LORD."
15 Thus says the LORD;
"A voice was heard on the high place (Evidently a "high place" near Bethlehem. A common name in Palestine), lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel (the mother of Joseph and Benjamin [i.e. Ephraim]. Thus uniting the 2 kingdoms and the 2 peoples. Cp. v.9) weeping for her sons refused to be comforted for her sons, because they were not. (Now, another weeping , and other comfort given. Cp. vv.9,16. See. Gen. 42:36. Quoted in Matt. 2:18. See Gen. 35:19)
16 Thus says the LORD; 'Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears: for your work there exists a rewarded, says the LORD; and they shall come again (i.e. in resurrection. Cp. v.15) from the land of the enemy.
17 And there exists hope in your end, says the LORD, that your sons shall come again to their own border.
18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; 'You did chastise me, and I have been chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: cause You me to return, and I shall be turned; for You are the LORD my God.
19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.'
20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant young child? for since I spoke against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him (see Deut. 32:36. Cp. Luke 15:20); I will surely have mercy upon him, says the LORD.
21 Erect way-marks (guiding pillars), set up high heaps (i.e. finger posts): set your heart toward the highway, even the way which you went: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these your cities.
22 How long will you go about (i.e. in order to elude by withdrawing), O you backsliding daughter? for the LORD has created a new thing in the land, A spouse (I.e. Israel shall turn an cleave to the Mighty One. See Gen. 1:27; 5:2; 6:19; 7:3,9,16. Lev. 3:1,6; 4:28; 5:6,&c. Here, the virgin of Israel.) shall turn about (so as to return and seek the favor) a mighty one. (A "new thing" for a woman to become the suitor. See 31:14 and Deut. 24:4. Hosea 2:19,&c. See Ps. 26:6, "so will I compass Your altar", not go around it, but keep close to it. Cp. Ps. 7:7. Instead of "going about", wandering [1st line], the virgin of Israel will seek, and cleave close to the Mighty One, even Yahaveh, as a girdle cleaves to a man.)
23 Thus says 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 (this cannot be spiritualized); The LORD bless you, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.'
24 And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks.
25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.
26 Upon this I awakened, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet to me.
T W 27. Seed. Prophecy.
X o 28. Destruction and renovation.
p 29,30. Proverb.
X o 31-33. Old and New Covenant.
p 34. Teaching.
W 35-37. Seed. Fulfillment.
27 "Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel (see 2:4) and the house of Judah (see 3:18. Here we have the union of the 2 houses. Israel is always named 1st, for this was the name of the whole nation, which Judah was not) with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.
28 And 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, says the LORD.
29 In those days they shall say no more, 'The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the son's teeth are set on edge.' (A proverb, mentioned here for the 1st time. Here restated and corrected in v.30.)
30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eat the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
31 Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will make (see Matt. 26:28) a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: (Quoted in Heb. 8:-12; 10:16,16.)
32 Not 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 (see Ex. 24:3-8), although I was an husband to them, says the LORD: (this is a Homonym with 2 meanings: 1) to be lord, or master, hence to be a husband; 2) to disdain, or reject. If it be the latter here, the last clause will read "and I rejected [or abhorred] them, declares Yehovah". Moreover, it is quoted thus in Heb. 8:9, "and I regarded them not, says the Lord)
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel ; After those days, says the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts (minds, discipline. Cp. Ezek. 11:19; 36:26. Heb. 10:16); and will be their God (cp. 24:7; 30:22; 32:38), and they shall be my people. (Looks forward to the millennium.)
34 And they shall teach (to goad, with a rod, to learn, in love, God's way of correction) no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD:' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
35 Thus says the LORD, which gives the sun for a light by day (see Gen. 1:16), and the statutes (see Ge. 8:22. Cp. 33:20,25) of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which stirs up (or excites) the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is His name:
36 If those ordinances (if the laws of nature. So sure is the literal fulfillment of these prophecies concerning the literal restoration of Israel) depart from before Me, says the LORD, 'then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me all the days.' (See 32:33.)
37 Thus 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, says the LORD. (Another asseveration as to the literal fulfillment of Israel's restoration.)
38 Behold, the days come,' says the LORD, that the city shall be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananeel (on the north-east corner) as far as the gate of the corner. (At the north-west corner. Cp. 2 Kings 14:13.)
39 And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it over the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath.
40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook of Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for times age-abiding.' "