Jeremiah 31

“At that time,” says the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”

The LORD says, “The people who survive the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.”

The LORD appeared of old to me, saying, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.

I will build you again, and you will be built, O virgin of Israel. You will again be adorned with your tambourines, and will go out in the dances of those who make merry.

Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. The planters will plant, and will enjoy its fruit.

For there will be a day that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim cry, ‘Arise! Let’s go up to Zion to the LORD our God.’”

For the LORD says, “Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations. Publish, praise, and say, ‘LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel!’

Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together. They will return as a great company.

They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won’t stumble; for I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn.

“Hear the LORD’s word, you nations, and declare it in the distant islands. Say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.’

For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.

They will come and sing in the height of Zion, and will flow to the goodness of the LORD, to the grain, to the new wine, to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd. Their soul will be as a watered garden. They will not sorrow any more at all.

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

I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,” says the LORD.

The LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”

The LORD says: “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” says the LORD. “They will come again from the land of the enemy.

There is hope for your latter end,” says the LORD. “Your children will come again to their own territory.

“I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned, for you are the LORD my God.

Surely after that I was turned. I repented. After that I was instructed. I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’

Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him,” says the LORD.

“Set up road signs. Make guideposts. Set your heart toward the highway, even the way by which you went. Turn again, virgin of Israel. Turn again to these your cities.

How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth: a woman will encompass a man.”

The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Yet again they will use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I reverse their captivity: ‘The LORD bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness.’

Judah and all its cities will dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks.

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

On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.

“Behold, the days come,” says 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 animal.

It will happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” says the LORD.

“In those days they will say no more, “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

But everyone will die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.

“Behold, the days come,” says 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 covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says the LORD.

“But this is 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 I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest,” says the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

The LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar— the LORD of Armies is his name, says:

“If these ordinances depart from before me,” says the LORD, “then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever.”

The LORD says: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,” says the LORD.

“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that the city will be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner.

The measuring line will go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and will turn toward Goah.

The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, will be holy to the LORD. It will not be plucked up or thrown down any more forever.”

Chapter overviewAI-generated

Overview.
This chapter presents a prophetic vision of God’s future restoration of Israel and Judah, moving from the promise of return from exile to the establishment of a new covenant. It shifts from judgment to hope, emphasizing divine love, the renewal of national life, and an inward transformation of the heart that will secure an unbreakable relationship between God and His people.

Flow.

The chapter opens with God’s promise to be Israel’s God and to bring His people back from exile, picturing their restoration as a return from the wilderness to rest and joy.
It continues with vivid images of return: weeping turned to joy, agricultural renewal, and communal worship reestablished in Zion.
Rachel’s grief is acknowledged, yet God assures her that her children will return; Ephraim’s repentance is heard and met with tender mercy.
The vision culminates in the announcement of a new covenant—internal, universal, and enduring—sealed by God’s irrevocable commitment to Israel as His people.

Connections.
Following chapter 30, which promises deliverance from Jacob’s distress and the restoration of Israel and Judah, this chapter deepens the hope with specific promises of divine initiative, heartfelt repentance, and covenant renewal. It answers the prior warnings of exile with a vision of return and transformation. The new covenant proclaimed here sets the foundation for chapter 32, where Jeremiah’s purchase of a field symbolizes faith in the future restoration of the land even as Jerusalem faces imminent fall.

What it teaches.
This chapter reveals God’s sovereign purpose to restore His people not by external arrangements but through a renewed heart and a new covenant. The promise that God will write His law on the heart and forgive sins entirely () anticipates the work of Christ, as later interpreted in . The permanence of Israel’s election is grounded in God’s immutable promises (), reflecting the covenant theology affirmed in WCF 7.3–6 and HC LD 12. The universal knowledge of God under this covenant fulfills the promise that all will know the Lord, from the least to the greatest, a hallmark of the gospel age (BC, Art. 21; CD II.2).

Apply.
God’s steadfast love secures restoration not because of human worthiness but through His eternal covenant purpose.

AI-generated. Not a substitute for Scripture, your pastor, or the confessions.