1 At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. |
2 Thus 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. |
3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. |
4 Again 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. |
5 Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things. |
6 For 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. |
7 For 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. |
8 Behold, 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. |
9 They 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. |
10 Hear 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. |
11 For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. |
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, saith the LORD. |
15 Thus 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. |
16 Thus 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. |
17 And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border. |
18 I 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. |
19 Surely 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. |
20 Is 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. |
21 Set 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. |
22 How 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. |
23 Thus 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. |
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 awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me. |
30 God shews Jeremiah the deliverance and return of the Jews, Jer 30:1-9.
He comforts Jacob, Jer 30:10-17.
Their return shall be gracious. Wrath on the wicked, Jer 30:18-24.
30:8 In that day - In the day when God should deliver the seed of Jacob out of trouble. His yoke - The yoke of the king of Babylon, that power of his, which for seventy years he exercised over the Jews.Of him - Of the Jews.
30:9 But - Either this must be understood of the kingdom of Christ, under which the Jews that received him were made spiritually free: or there is a time yet to come, when this ancient people of God shall be restored to a farther civil liberty than they have enjoyed ever since the captivity of Babylon.
30:11 In measure - Not in equity only, but with moderation.Unpunished - But yet God will not let his own people go unpunished, that by it they may be reclaimed, and the world may take notice that God is of purer eyes than that he can, in any persons, behold iniquity.
30:12 For - They had sinned to that degree that God had resolved they should go into captivity.
30:13 No medicine - The prophet's design was to convince them, that there was no present remedy, but patience, though their false prophets might promise a cure.
30:14 Thy lovers - The Egyptians and Assyrians.
30:23 A continuing - Not a sudden blast, that shall presently go over, but a vengeance that shall abide.
30:24 Consider - And though at present they will not consider, yet afterward, when they see things come to pass, then they shall consider what I have told them.
31 The restoration of Israel published, Jer 31:1-14.
Rachel mourning is comforted, Jer 31:15-17.
Ephraim repenting is brought home, Jer 31:18-21.
Christ promised, Jer 31:22-26.
His care over the church, Jer 31:27-30.
His new covenant, Jer 31:31-34.
The stability and enlargement of the church, Jer 31:35-40.
31:2 To rest - In Canaan.
31:5 Samaria - Samaria was the metropolis of the ten tribes.Mountains are convenient for vineyards, being free from shades and exposed to the sun. Shall plant - God promises them a liberty to plant, and that they should enjoy their plantations, eating them as common things, which they could not do 'till the fifth year.
31:6 Arise - This was fulfilled under the gospel; for both Galilee and Samaria received the gospel.
31:9 With weeping - Some think that it had been better translated, they went weeping; for though the verb be the future tense in the Hebrew, yet that tense has often the signification of the preterperfect tense, thus it answereth, Psa 126:5-6. He that goeth forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shalt doubtless come again rejoicing. There is a weeping for joy, as well as for sorrow, and thus the text corresponds with that, Zec 12:10. I will pour upon them the spirit of grace and supplications, and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn.By rivers - And they shall have no want as they had when they came out of Egypt, through the wilderness, where they often wanted water.
31:11 Hath redeemed - God will as certainly do it, as if he had already done it. In their deliverance as well from Babylon as Egypt, they were types of the deliverance of God's people, by Christ; as well as in their entering into Canaan, they were types of the saints, entering into heaven.
31:12 And sing - All the phrases in this verse signify one thing, the happy state of the Jews, after their return from captivity.The height of Zion means the temple. A watered garden - They shall be a beautiful, flourishing, and growing people. Soul seems here to be taken for the whole man. Not sorrow - In that manner they have been.But under these expressions is also promised the spiritual joy which the true Israel of God will have under the gospel, and the eternal joy they shall have in heaven.
31:15 In Ramah - That is, in Canaan, and particularly in Ramah, where Nebuzar - adan, chap.Jer 40:1, disposed of the prisoners he had taken, setting some at liberty, ordering others to death, and carrying the rest away to Babylon, which caused a bitter weeping and lamentation. Rachel - Rachel is here brought in, having been buried near that place, as if she were risen up from the grave, and lamented the Jewish nation which came out of her loins (for so Benjamin did, which was one of the two tribes that made the kingdom of Judah.) Were not - Because her children either were not absolutely, being slain by the pestilence, the famine, and the sword of the king of Babylon, or were no longer her children, being transplanted into Babylon.And there was a lamentation like this, when Herod caused the infants of two years old to be slain in Bethlehem, and in the coasts round about Bethlehem, of which Ramah was one.
31:18 I have heard - The prophet here shews the change that would be wrought in the hearts of the Israelites preceding this return from their captivity. As a bullock - Which ordinarily are very unruly when they are first put into it.
31:19 Surely - After God had changed our hearts, we repented.I smote - After God had instructed us, by his prophets, by our afflictions, and by his Holy Spirit, we smote upon our thighs in testimony of our sorrow. The reproach - The just punishment of the sins which I had long ago committed.
31:20 For since - From the time I spake against him by my threatenings, I remember him with the affection and compassion of a father.
31:21 Set up - Thou shalt return to these cities which thou now leavest, therefore take good notice of the way, set up marks by which thou mayest know it again, make thee pillars or some high heaps of stones in the way, mind well the way that the Assyrians and the Babylonians carried thee, for thou shalt come back the same way.
31:22 Backsliding - Running after idols; or seeking help from foreign nations, instead of applying to God. A woman - This seems to be a promise of the Jewish church in its time, and of the gospel - church, prevailing over all its enemies; though, considering the fewness of the church's members, with the multitude of its enemies, and their power, it seemed as strange a thing, as for a woman to prevail against a strong and mighty man.
31:23 The Lord of hosts - These prophecies of the restoration of the Jews, are ordinarily prefaced with these two attributes of God, the one of which asserts his power to do the thing promised; the other his goodness to his people.
31:25 For - The words are a promise, that God would give his people abundance of ease and plenty.
31:26 Upon this I awaked - Probably this revelation was made to Jeremiah, in a dream.