Jeremiah Chapter 31
Jeremiah 31
The Glory of the New Covenant
Jeremiah 31:1-2, Salvation to Israel in the Latter Days
Jeremiah 31:1-2, “At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. 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.”
Jeremiah 31 continues the restoration promises from Jeremiah 30. The phrase “At the same time” points back to the latter days mentioned at the end of Jeremiah 30. This is not merely a short term encouragement about return from Babylon. It reaches forward to the final restoration of Israel under the LORD’s covenant mercy.
The LORD says He will be “the God of all the families of Israel.” This is important because the promise includes all Israel, not Judah only. The northern kingdom had been scattered long before, and Judah was now facing Babylonian judgment. Yet God still speaks of “all the families of Israel.” His covenant purpose had not been erased by exile, judgment, or national division.
“They shall be my people.” This is covenant language. God is promising restored relationship. Israel had broken covenant, gone after idols, and refused the prophets, but God’s final purpose includes a restored people who belong to Him.
The people who survive the sword find grace in the wilderness. That means judgment is real, but grace remains. The sword does not destroy the entire people. A remnant survives, and that remnant finds grace. The wilderness recalls Israel’s earlier history, when God brought them out of Egypt and sustained them on the way to the land. In the future restoration, God again meets His people in weakness, preserves them, and brings them to rest.
Jeremiah 31:3-6, The Basis of God’s Faithfulness to Israel
Jeremiah 31:3-6, “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. 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. Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria, the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things. 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.”
The foundation of Israel’s restoration is not Israel’s merit, power, wisdom, or faithfulness. The foundation is God’s everlasting love. “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love.” This was spoken first to Israel, and it means God’s covenant love for Israel has not expired.
This matters because Jeremiah has already announced severe judgment. Jerusalem will fall. The temple will be destroyed. The kingly line will be humiliated. The people will go into exile. Yet none of that means God has stopped loving Israel. Divine discipline does not cancel divine love.
“Therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” God’s love is not passive sentiment. It draws. It acts. It moves toward restoration. His lovingkindness is covenant mercy, the loyal love by which He remains faithful to His promises.
God says, “Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built.” Earlier in Jeremiah, much of the message involved pulling down, destroying, and plucking up. Here God promises the opposite. Israel will be rebuilt.
Jeremiah 1:10, “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”
Jeremiah’s ministry includes both judgment and restoration. In Jeremiah 31, the building and planting promises come to the foreground.
The restored Israel is called “O virgin of Israel.” This is grace language. Israel had been spiritually adulterous through idolatry, yet God speaks of her restoration with purity and renewal. She will again be adorned with tabrets and go forth in dances of joy. Mourning will not have the last word.
The mountains of Samaria are specifically mentioned. This includes the territory associated with the former northern kingdom. The promise is not limited to Judah. Vines will be planted, and the planters will eat the fruit as common things. This means stability. They will not plant only for invaders to consume. They will enjoy ordinary covenant blessing in the land.
The watchmen on Mount Ephraim will cry, “Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.” Watchmen who once warned of danger will announce worship. The breach between north and south will be healed. Ephraim will no longer be separated from Zion. The restored people will go up together to the LORD.
Jeremiah 31:7-9, The Joyful Restoration
Jeremiah 31:7-9, “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. 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. 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.”
The restoration of Israel is so great that the nations are told to hear it, publish it, and praise God for it. This is not a private tribal hope. God’s faithfulness to Israel displays His glory before the world.
“O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.” The remnant theme is essential. Not every individual Israelite is promised deliverance apart from faith and repentance. God preserves and saves a remnant. Yet that remnant represents the continuing covenant people.
God promises to bring them from the north country and gather them from the coasts of the earth. The geography is broad. The return from Babylon was a true historical fulfillment in part, but the language reaches beyond Babylon to worldwide regathering.
The blind, lame, pregnant women, and women in labor are included. This means the return is not limited to the strong and capable. God Himself will lead the weak. Human inability will not prevent divine restoration.
“They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them.” This is not merely political return. It is spiritual return. They come with tears, repentance, prayer, and dependence on God.
Zechariah 12:10, “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”
Jeremiah and Zechariah point to the same final repentance of Israel. The restored people are not merely back in the land. They are turned back to the LORD.
God will lead them by rivers of waters in a straight way where they will not stumble. This is shepherd language. The LORD becomes the guide, provider, and protector of His people.
“For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.” Ephraim was not literally Jacob’s firstborn son, but here Ephraim represents Israel’s privileged status in God’s covenant purpose. Firstborn language speaks of preeminence, inheritance, and special standing.
Jeremiah 31:10-12, Gathering the Scattered Flock
Jeremiah 31:10-12, “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. For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. 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.”
The nations are commanded to hear and declare the word of the LORD. Even the distant isles are to proclaim this truth, “He that scattered Israel will gather him.” God takes responsibility for both scattering and gathering. He scattered Israel in covenant judgment. He will gather Israel in covenant mercy.
The LORD will also keep Israel as a shepherd keeps his flock. This answers the failure of the shepherds in Jeremiah 23. Human shepherds scattered and destroyed the flock, but the LORD Himself will gather and keep.
“The LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.” Israel could not deliver itself. The oppressor was stronger. But the LORD is stronger than the oppressor. Redemption means liberation by the power and payment of God. Ransom means rescue from bondage.
They will come and sing in the height of Zion. Zion becomes the place of joy, worship, and abundance. They will flow together to the goodness of the LORD. The blessings listed, wheat, wine, oil, flocks, and herds, show material restoration in the land. Their soul will be as a watered garden, showing spiritual satisfaction and life.
“They shall not sorrow any more at all.” The final restoration is not fragile. It is complete comfort under the blessing of God.
Jeremiah 31:13-14, The Joyful Response
Jeremiah 31:13-14, “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. And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.”
God promises to turn mourning into joy. This is not denial of sorrow. Israel’s mourning was real. Exile, judgment, death, and shame were real. But God’s restoration is greater than the grief.
The joy includes the virgin, young men, and old men together. Every generation and station of life participates. This is national joy, communal joy, covenant joy.
The priests will be satisfied with abundance, and the people will be satisfied with God’s goodness. The priestly abundance likely reflects restored worship and a blessed people bringing offerings to the LORD. When the people are restored spiritually and materially, worship is restored as well.
The key phrase is, “my people shall be satisfied with my goodness.” The deepest blessing is not merely land, food, music, or safety. It is the goodness of the LORD Himself.
Jeremiah 31:15-17, Rachel Weeping
Jeremiah 31:15-17, “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. 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. And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.”
Jeremiah pictures Rahel, or Rachel, weeping for her children. Rachel was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, and therefore connected to major tribes of Israel. In this poetic image, she rises as the mother of the people and mourns because her children have been taken away.
Ramah was associated with grief, exile, and departure. Rachel refuses to be comforted because her children “were not.” The phrase captures the devastation of exile and death. Mothers in Israel felt as if their children were gone beyond recovery.
Yet God commands comfort, “Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears.” This does not trivialize grief. It answers grief with promise. Her work will be rewarded. Her children will come again from the land of the enemy. There is hope in her end.
Matthew applies Jeremiah 31:15 typologically to Herod’s slaughter of the children around Bethlehem.
Matthew 2:16-18, “Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”
The connection is not that Jeremiah only predicted Herod. Rather, Matthew sees the same pattern of covenant grief, innocent suffering, and divine promise. In both Jeremiah and Matthew, sorrow is real, but sorrow does not have the last word.
Jeremiah 31:18-20, God Embraces a Repentant Israel
Jeremiah 31:18-20, “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. 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. 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.”
Ephraim now appears as a repentant son. God says, “I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself.” The repentance is not shallow. Ephraim recognizes the chastening of God. “Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke.”
Israel had been stubborn, like an untrained animal resisting the yoke. God’s discipline was necessary to break pride and bring submission.
The prayer is deeply theological, “turn thou me, and I shall be turned.” Ephraim understands that even repentance depends upon God’s grace. The sinner must turn, but he cannot turn rightly unless God turns him. This is not passive fatalism. It is humble dependence.
“Surely after that I was turned, I repented.” Divine grace produces real repentance. After being instructed, Ephraim smote upon his thigh, a sign of grief and shame. He was ashamed and confounded because he bore the reproach of his youth.
Then God responds with tenderness, “Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child?” Though God had spoken against him in judgment, He says, “I do earnestly remember him still.” This is covenant love. God’s discipline did not erase His fatherly affection.
“My bowels are troubled for him” is intense language of deep inward compassion. God says, “I will surely have mercy upon him.” The repentant son is received with mercy.
This anticipates the heart of the prodigal son account.
Luke 15:20, “And he arose, and came to his father, but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”
Jeremiah 31 shows the same pattern. Rebellion, chastening, repentance, and fatherly mercy.
Jeremiah 31:21-22, The Clear Path of Restoration
Jeremiah 31:21-22, “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. 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.”
Israel is told to set up waymarks and high heaps, marking the road home. The people must set their heart toward the highway, the way by which they went away. The road of exile will become the road of return.
“Turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.” The repetition urges immediate response. Since God promises restoration, Israel should no longer wander in backsliding.
“How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter?” God’s love makes continued wandering unreasonable. Backsliding is not only rebellion. It is foolish delay in light of mercy.
“The LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.” This is a difficult phrase, but in context it most likely speaks of surprising security and reversal in Israel’s restoration. The weak will be made secure. The vulnerable will no longer be exposed. God will create a new order of safety and blessing.
The phrase should not be forced into a prophecy of the virgin birth. The virgin birth is gloriously taught elsewhere, but Jeremiah 31:22 is about Israel’s restoration and the strange new security God will create for His backsliding daughter.
Jeremiah 31:23-25, The Blessing Pronounced upon Jerusalem
Jeremiah 31:23-25, “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. And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks. For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”
The LORD promises that this blessing will again be spoken in Judah and its cities, “The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.” Jerusalem had become a place of injustice, idolatry, and corruption. But God promises a future when it will be known as a habitation of justice and mountain of holiness.
This requires more than architectural rebuilding. It requires moral and spiritual transformation. Jerusalem must become what God intended it to be, a city marked by justice and holiness.
The restoration includes both city and countryside. Husbandmen and shepherds will dwell throughout Judah. This means ordinary life returns under God’s blessing. Farming, flocks, cities, worship, justice, and holiness all belong together in the restored order.
God says, “I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.” The weary are satisfied. The sorrowful are filled. God’s restoration reaches the soul, not only the economy or the land.
Jeremiah 31:26-30, Answering an Untrue Proverb
Jeremiah 31:26-30, “Upon this I awaked, and beheld, and my sleep was sweet unto me. Behold, 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. 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, saith the LORD. In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity, every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.”
Jeremiah awakens and says his sleep was sweet to him. The vision or revelation of restoration brought comfort. A prophet who had carried the burden of judgment is refreshed by the promise of mercy.
God promises to sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and beast. The land that was emptied by judgment will be repopulated. The people and their livestock will multiply again.
Then God returns to Jeremiah’s original commission. As He watched over them to pluck up, break down, throw down, destroy, and afflict, so He will watch over them to build and plant. God is just as attentive in restoration as He was in judgment. He does not destroy carelessly, and He does not restore weakly.
The proverb about sour grapes is then rejected. “The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.” The people had used this proverb to shift blame to previous generations, as if they were suffering only for their fathers’ sins.
God corrects this. “Every one shall die for his own iniquity.” This does not deny that sin has generational consequences. It denies that the present generation is innocent while being punished unjustly. God judges each person with righteousness.
Ezekiel makes the same point.
Ezekiel 18:20, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die, the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son, the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”
Judah must stop hiding behind the sins of the fathers and face its own need for repentance.
Jeremiah 31:31-34, The Glorious Promise of the New Covenant
Jeremiah 31:31-34, “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, 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 brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD, But 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. And 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.”
This is one of the most important covenant passages in the entire Old Testament. The LORD promises, “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.” The first recipients named are Israel and Judah. The New Covenant is not introduced as a vague religious ideal. It is promised in the context of Israel’s restoration.
It will not be like the covenant made when God brought Israel out of Egypt. That was the Mosaic Covenant. God took them by the hand, but they broke the covenant, even though He was a husband unto them. The problem was not unfaithfulness in God. The problem was covenant breaking in Israel.
The New Covenant answers what the Mosaic Covenant exposed. The law could command righteousness, define sin, and show guilt, but it could not by itself create the inward transformation sinful man needs. The New Covenant brings inward renewal.
“I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.” The law is no longer merely external, written on stone. God writes His instruction within His people. This is not lawlessness. It is deeper obedience from a transformed heart.
“I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” The New Covenant restores covenant relationship at the deepest level.
“They shall all know me.” The knowledge of God under the New Covenant is personal, direct, and universal among covenant members. It reaches from the least to the greatest.
The foundation is forgiveness, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” There can be no true covenant restoration without forgiveness. God does not merely ignore sin. He forgives it through atonement.
Jesus explicitly instituted the New Covenant through His blood.
Luke 22:20, “Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.”
The New Covenant is fulfilled through Christ’s atoning death. His blood secures the forgiveness promised in Jeremiah 31. The writer of Hebrews quotes Jeremiah 31 to explain the superiority of Christ’s covenant.
Hebrews 8:10-12, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people, And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”
From a Baptist and evangelical perspective, this is central to salvation. Sinners are not saved by external religion, ethnic privilege, temple ritual, or law keeping. They are saved by the grace of God through the blood of Christ, receiving forgiveness, inward renewal, and true knowledge of God.
Jeremiah 31:35-37, God’s Everlasting Commitment to Israel
Jeremiah 31:35-37, “Thus 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, If 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. 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, saith the LORD.”
After the New Covenant promise, God gives one of the strongest possible statements of His continuing purpose for Israel as a nation. He identifies Himself as the Creator and Sustainer of cosmic order. He gives the sun for light by day, the moon and stars for light by night, and He rules the roaring sea. “The LORD of hosts is his name.”
Then He makes the comparison. If the ordinances of sun, moon, stars, and sea depart from before Him, then the seed of Israel will cease from being a nation before Him forever. As long as God upholds creation, He maintains His covenant purpose for Israel.
Then He intensifies the promise. If heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then He will cast off all the seed of Israel for all they have done. The point is that this will not happen. Israel’s sins are real. God says “for all that they have done.” He is not minimizing guilt. Yet even Israel’s sin does not cancel God’s covenant faithfulness.
This passage must be allowed to say what it says. The immediate context is Israel and Judah, the same people promised restoration in the chapter. The promise concerns “the seed of Israel” as a nation before God. Spiritual applications to the church do not erase the plain national promise to Israel.
Paul speaks of this same continuing purpose.
Romans 11:25-29, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes, but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”
Israel’s present unbelief does not annul God’s future promise. God’s gifts and calling are without repentance.
Jeremiah 31:38-40, The Restoration of Literal Jerusalem
Jeremiah 31:38-40, “Behold, 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. And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath. And 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.”
The chapter ends with the rebuilding of the city. The details are geographical, concrete, and local. The tower of Hananeel, the gate of the corner, the hill Gareb, Goath, the valley of dead bodies and ashes, the brook Kidron, and the horse gate all point to literal Jerusalem.
This matters because God’s restoration promise is not merely spiritualized. He promises a rebuilt city “to the LORD.” The city that would be destroyed by Babylon will be restored and made holy.
Even the valley of dead bodies and ashes will be holy unto the LORD. Places associated with uncleanness, death, and judgment will be transformed. God’s holiness will extend over the whole restored city.
“It shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.” This final permanence goes beyond the partial postexilic restoration, because Jerusalem was later destroyed again. The promise reaches to the final restoration under Messiah, when God’s purposes for Israel, the land, and the city are fully accomplished.
The chapter began with God saying, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.” It ends with the city built to the LORD and never again overthrown. Jeremiah 31 is therefore one of the clearest chapters in Scripture on Israel’s restoration, the New Covenant, and the faithfulness of God to His promises.
Doctrinal and Practical Notes
Jeremiah 31 teaches that God’s love for Israel is everlasting. Judgment disciplines Israel, but it does not erase God’s covenant love.
Jeremiah 31 teaches that God will gather the same Israel He scattered. The LORD who judged will also restore.
Jeremiah 31 teaches that restoration includes repentance. Israel comes with weeping, supplications, shame over sin, and whole hearted return to the LORD.
Jeremiah 31 teaches that God’s restoration includes the land, Zion, Samaria, Ephraim, Judah, Jerusalem, and the rebuilt city. The promises are spiritual, but they are not merely spiritual.
Jeremiah 31 teaches that the New Covenant brings inward transformation. God writes His law in the heart, gives true knowledge of Himself, forgives iniquity, and remembers sin no more.
Jeremiah 31 teaches that Christ institutes the New Covenant by His blood. The forgiveness promised by Jeremiah is secured by the atoning work of Jesus.
Jeremiah 31 teaches that God has not cast off Israel as a nation. The created order itself is called as witness that Israel will not cease from being a nation before Him.
Jeremiah 31 teaches that sorrow does not have the last word. Rachel weeps, but God promises hope. Ephraim mourns, but God promises mercy. The weary soul is satiated, and the sorrowful soul is replenished.
Jeremiah 31 teaches that every generation is accountable for its own sin. The proverb of the sour grapes is rejected. God’s judgment is righteous and personal.
Jeremiah 31 teaches that the final restoration of Jerusalem will be holy and permanent. The city will be built to the LORD and not plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.
Summary
Jeremiah 31 is one of the greatest restoration chapters in the Old Testament. The LORD promises that He will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be His people. The remnant that survives the sword will find grace in the wilderness and rest in the LORD.
The foundation of the promise is God’s everlasting love. He has loved Israel with an everlasting love and drawn her with lovingkindness. He will build her again, restore joy, bring vines again to Samaria, and cause Ephraim to call the people up to Zion. The nations are told to sing, publish, and praise God for saving the remnant of Israel. God will gather them from the north and from the ends of the earth, including the weak and vulnerable. They will come with weeping and supplications, and He will lead them by rivers of waters.
The LORD who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock. He will redeem Jacob and ransom him from the stronger enemy. Israel will sing in Zion, flow to the goodness of the LORD, and become like a watered garden. Mourning will be turned to joy.
Rachel is pictured weeping for her children, but God commands her to refrain from weeping because her children will return from the land of the enemy. Ephraim is heard repenting, confessing chastisement, asking God to turn him, and grieving over his shame. God responds with fatherly mercy, calling Ephraim His dear son and promising compassion.
Israel is told to set up waymarks and return to her cities. Judah and Jerusalem will again be called the habitation of justice and mountain of holiness. God will satiate the weary soul and replenish the sorrowful soul. He will sow Israel and Judah with man and beast, and as He watched over them to destroy and afflict, He will watch over them to build and plant. The false proverb about sour grapes will be ended, and each person will be accountable for his own iniquity.
The central promise is the New Covenant. God will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant made at the Exodus, which they broke. He will put His law in their inward parts, write it in their hearts, be their God, make them His people, cause them all to know Him, forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. This covenant is instituted by Jesus Christ through His blood.
The chapter then declares God’s permanent commitment to Israel. As long as the sun, moon, stars, and sea remain under God’s ordinances, Israel will not cease from being a nation before Him. God will not cast off all the seed of Israel for all they have done. Finally, literal Jerusalem will be rebuilt to the LORD, with named geographic markers, and the whole city will be holy. It will not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.
