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The Prophets · Old Testament

Jeremiah 31

Jeremiah 31: Rahel weeping, Ephraim returning and a new covenant

General context

The Lord says that at the same time he will be God to all the families of Israel. Those left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; he has loved with an everlasting love and will build the virgin of Israel again, with dances, vineyards on Samaria's mountains, and watchmen on mount Ephraim calling people up to Zion. He will bring them from the north country, including the blind, the lame and women with child; they will come weeping, and he calls himself a father to Israel with Ephraim as firstborn. The nations are told that he who scattered Israel will gather him. The people will sing in Zion over wheat, wine and oil, and mourning will turn to joy. A voice is heard in Ramah: Rahel weeping for her children, refusing comfort because they are not. She is told to refrain from weeping, for the children will return. Ephraim bemoans himself as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke and asks to be turned; the Lord calls him a dear son and promises mercy. Israel is told to set up waymarks and return. In Judah the old blessing will be spoken again. A speaker awakes and finds the sleep sweet. Days are coming when the Lord will sow Israel and Judah, watch over them to build and plant, end the proverb about sour grapes, and make a new covenant unlike the one broken after Egypt: his law in their inward parts, written on hearts, all knowing him, sin remembered no more. He binds this to the ordinances of sun, moon and stars, and closes with the city rebuilt from the tower of Hananeel to the gate of the corner, its valley of dead bodies made holy and never plucked up again.

Cited passages: Jeremiah 31:1, Jeremiah 31:2, Jeremiah 31:3, Jeremiah 31:4, Jeremiah 31:5, Jeremiah 31:6, Jeremiah 31:8, Jeremiah 31:9, Jeremiah 31:10, Jeremiah 31:12, Jeremiah 31:13, Jeremiah 31:15, Jeremiah 31:16, Jeremiah 31:18, Jeremiah 31:20, Jeremiah 31:21, Jeremiah 31:23, Jeremiah 31:26, Jeremiah 31:27, Jeremiah 31:29, Jeremiah 31:31, Jeremiah 31:32, Jeremiah 31:33, Jeremiah 31:34, Jeremiah 31:35, Jeremiah 31:38, Jeremiah 31:40

Jeremiah 31 (KJV)

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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:

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:

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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Historical context

Rahel is the KJV spelling of Rachel, and the text says only that her children "were not," giving no account of what happened to them. Matthew later quotes this verse as fulfilled at the killing of children in Bethlehem, naming Jeremy the prophet. Ephraim and Samaria are named alongside Judah and Zion, and the new covenant is made with both houses, so the chapter addresses the northern kingdom as well as Judah. Two first-person lines stand apart from the Lord's speech: "The Lord hath appeared of old unto me" and "Upon this I awaked," and the text does not name who says them. The new covenant is placed in "the days come" and is quoted in Hebrews with the same opening words. The sour grape proverb is quoted in order to be retired. The closing survey names the tower of Hananeel, the gate of the corner, the hill Gareb, Goath, the brook Kidron and the horse gate, without measurements. The verbs "to pluck up, and to break down" match the commission given to Jeremiah at his call, where building and planting are also named.

Cited passages: Jeremiah 31:15, Matthew 2:17, Matthew 2:18, Jeremiah 31:5, Jeremiah 31:31, Jeremiah 31:3, Jeremiah 31:26, Hebrews 8:8, Jeremiah 31:30, Jeremiah 31:39, Jeremiah 31:40, Jeremiah 31:28, Jeremiah 1:10

Literary context

Weeping runs through the chapter and is turned. The returning company comes "with weeping," Rahel weeps and refuses comfort, and the answer is "Refrain thy voice from weeping." Turning is the other repeated motion: Ephraim asks "turn thou me, and I shall be turned," and the virgin of Israel is told "turn again." The Lord's speech about Ephraim moves from a question, "Is Ephraim my dear son?", to an answer of troubled mercy. The last third is organised by three announcements of "Behold, the days come," covering sowing, the covenant and the city. The covenant is defined by contrast, "Not according to the covenant" made at the exodus, and its content is inward, law written on hearts. The argument from sun, moon and stars makes Israel's continuance as fixed as the sky. The chapter ends with a measured city whose valley of dead bodies becomes holy, a concrete close after the inward promise, and the phrase "plucked up" is reversed from earlier judgment.

Cited passages: Jeremiah 31:9, Jeremiah 31:15, Jeremiah 31:16, Jeremiah 31:18, Jeremiah 31:21, Jeremiah 31:20, Jeremiah 31:27, Jeremiah 31:31, Jeremiah 31:38, Jeremiah 31:32, Jeremiah 31:33, Jeremiah 31:36, Jeremiah 31:40

Key moments

  1. An everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3). The Lord says he has loved Israel with an everlasting love.
  2. They come with weeping (Jeremiah 31:9). The gathered company returns weeping, led by the Lord as a father.
  3. Rahel weeping in Ramah (Jeremiah 31:15). Rahel refuses comfort for her children because they are not.
  4. Ephraim asks to be turned (Jeremiah 31:18). Ephraim bemoans himself as an untrained bullock and asks to be turned.
  5. A dear son (Jeremiah 31:20). The Lord asks whether Ephraim is his dear son and promises mercy.
  6. A new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31). The Lord announces a covenant with both houses unlike the one at the exodus.
  7. Law written on hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). The covenant's terms are inward, with the law written in hearts.

For reflection

Rahel refuses to be comforted, and the next verse tells her to stop weeping because her children will return. What does it take to receive hope while grief is still refusing it?

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