Jeremiah 31:15-40
1599 Geneva Bible
15 Thus saith the Lord, A voice was heard on high, a mourning, and bitter weeping. [a]Rachel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.
16 Thus saith the Lord, Refrain the 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 borders.
18 I have heard [b]Ephraim lamenting thus, Thou hast corrected me, and I was chastised as an [c]untamed calf: [d]convert thou me, and I shall be converted: for thou art the Lord my God.
19 Surely after that I was converted, I repented, and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my [e]thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
20 Is Ephraim [f]my dear son or pleasant child? yet since I spake unto him, I still [g]remembered him: therefore my bowels are troubled for him. I will surely have compassion upon him, saith the Lord.
21 Set thee up [h]signs: make thee heaps: set thine heart toward the path and way, that thou hast walked: turn again, O virgin of Israel: turn again to these thy cities.
22 How long wilt thou go astray, O thou rebellious daughter? for the Lord hath created [i]a new thing in the earth: A WOMAN shall compass a man.
23 Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, Yet shall they say this thing 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 holy mountain.
24 And Judah shall dwell in it, and all the cities thereof together, the husbandmen and they that go forth with the flock.
25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.
26 Therefore I awaked and beheld, and my sleep [j]was sweet unto me.
27 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel, and the house of Judah [k]with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.
28 And like as I have watched upon them, to pluck up and to root out, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to plague them, so will I watch over them, to build and to plant them, saith the Lord.
29 In those days shall they say no more, The fathers have [l]eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
30 But everyone shall die for his own iniquity, every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
31 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a [m]new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah,
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, the which my covenant they [n]brake, although I was [o]an husband unto them, saith the Lord.
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, After [p]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.
34 And they shall [q]teach 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 unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and will remember their sins no more.
35 Thus saith the Lord, which giveth [r]the sun for a light to the day, and the courses of the moon and of the stars for a light to the night, which breaketh the sea, when the waves thereof roar: his Name is the Lord of hosts.
36 If these ordinances depart out of my sight, saith the Lord, then shall the seed of Israel cease from being a nation before me, forever.
37 Thus saith the Lord, If the heavens can be measured, [s]or the foundations of the earth be searched out beneath, then will I cast off all the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, saith the Lord.
38 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the [t]city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananel, unto the gate of the corner.
39 And the line of the measure shall go forth [in] his presence upon 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 unto the brook of Kidron, and unto the corner of the horsegate toward the East, shall be holy unto the Lord, neither shall it be plucked up nor destroyed anymore forever.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Jeremiah 31:15 To declare the greatness of God’s mercy in delivering the Jews, he showeth them that they were like to the Benjamites of Israelites, that is, utterly destroyed and carried away, insomuch, that if Rachel the mother of Benjamin could have risen again to seek for her children, she should have found none remaining.
- Jeremiah 31:18 That is, the people that were led captive.
- Jeremiah 31:18 Which was wanton and could not be subject to the yoke.
- Jeremiah 31:18 He showeth how the faithful used to pray: that is, desire God to turn them forasmuch as they cannot turn of themselves.
- Jeremiah 31:19 In sign of repentance and detestation of my sin.
- Jeremiah 31:20 As though he would say: No, for by his iniquity he did what lay in him to cast me off.
- Jeremiah 31:20 To wit, in pity him for my promise’s sake.
- Jeremiah 31:21 Mark by what way thou didst go into captivity, and thou shalt turn again by the same.
- Jeremiah 31:22 Because their deliverance from Babylon, was a figure of their deliverance from sin, he showeth how this should be procured, to wit, by Jesus Christ, whom a woman should conceive and bear in her womb. Which is a strange thing in earth, because he should be born of a virgin without man, or he meaneth that Jerusalem, which was like a barren woman in her captivity, should be fruitful as she, that is joined in marriage, and whom God blesseth with children.
- Jeremiah 31:26 Having understood this vision of the Messiah to come, in whom the two houses of Israel and Judah should be joined, I rejoiced.
- Jeremiah 31:27 I will multiply and enrich them with people and cattle.
- Jeremiah 31:29 The wicked used this proverb, when they did murmur against God’s judgments pronounced by the Prophets, saying, That their fathers had committed the fault and that the children were punished, Ezek. 18:3.
- Jeremiah 31:31 Though the covenant of redemption made to the fathers, and this which was given after, seem divers, yet they are all one, and grounded on Jesus Christ, save that this is called new, because of the manifestation of Christ, and the abundant graces of the holy Ghost given to his Church under the Gospel.
- Jeremiah 31:32 And so were the occasion of their own divorcement through their infidelity, Isa. 50:1.
- Jeremiah 31:32 Or, master.
- Jeremiah 31:33 In the time of Christ, my law shall instead of tables of stone be written in their hearts by mine holy Spirit, Heb. 8:10.
- Jeremiah 31:34 Under the kingdom of Christ there shall be none blinded with ignorance, but I will give them faith, and knowledge of God for remission of their sins and daily increase the same: so that it shall not seem to come so much by the preaching of my ministers, as by the instruction of my holy Spirit, Isa. 54:13, but the full accomplishing hereof is referred to the kingdom of Christ, when we shall be joined with our head.
- Jeremiah 31:35 If the sun, moon and stars cannot but give light according to mine ordinance, so long as this world lasteth, so shall my Church never fail, neither shall anything hinder it: and as sure as I will have a people, so certain is it, that I will leave them my word forever to govern them with.
- Jeremiah 31:37 The one and the other is impossible.
- Jeremiah 31:38 As it was performed, Neh. 3:1. By this description he showeth that the city should be as ample, and beautiful as ever it was: but he alludeth to the spiritual Jerusalem, whose beauty should be incomparable.
Jeremiah 49:34-51:14
1599 Geneva Bible
34 ¶ The words of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the Prophet, concerning [a]Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will break the [b]bow of Elam, even the chief of their strength.
36 And upon Elam I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them towards all these winds, and there shall be no nation, whither the fugitives of Elam shall not come.
37 For I will cause Elam to be afraid before their enemies, and before them that seek their lives, and will bring upon them a plague, even the indignation of my wrath, saith the Lord, and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them.
38 And I will set my [c]throne in Elam, and I will destroy both the king and the princes from thence, saith the Lord: but [d]in the latter days I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the Lord.
50 He prophesieth the destruction of Babylon, and the deliverance of Israel which was in captivity.
1 The word that the Lord spake concerning Babel, and concerning the land of the Chaldeans by the [e]ministry of Jeremiah the Prophet.
2 Declare among the nations, and publish it, and set up a standard, proclaim it and conceal it not: say, [f]Babel is taken, Bel is confounded, [g]Merodach is broken down: her idols are confounded, and their images are burst in pieces.
3 For out of the North [h]there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land waste, and none shall dwell therein: they shall flee, and depart, both man and beast.
4 In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall [i]come, they, and the children of Judah together, going, and [j]weeping shall they go, and seek the Lord their God.
5 They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us cleave to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
6 ¶ My people hath been as lost sheep: their [k]shepherds have caused them to go astray, and have turned them away to the mountains: they have gone from [l]mountain to hill, and forgotten their resting place.
7 All that found them have devoured them, and their enemies said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord, [m]the habitation of justice, even the Lord the hope of their fathers.
8 [n]Flee from the midst of Babel, and depart out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be ye as the he goats [o]before the flock.
9 For lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babel a multitude of mighty nations from the North country, and they shall set themselves in array against her, whereby she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a strong man, which is expert, for none shall return in vain.
10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her, [p]shall be satisfied, saith the Lord.
11 Because you were glad and rejoiced in destroying mine heritage, and because ye are grown fat, as the calves in the grass, [q]and neighed like strong horses,
12 Therefore your mother shall be sore confounded, and she that bare you shall be ashamed, behold, the uttermost of the nations shall be a desert, a dry land, and a wilderness.
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but shall be wholly desolate: everyone that goeth by Babel, shall be astonished, [r]and hiss at all her plagues.
14 [s]Put yourselves in array against Babel round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath [t]sinned against the Lord.
15 Cry against her round about: she hath [u]given her hand: her foundations are fallen, and her walls are destroyed: for it is the vengeance of the Lord: take vengeance upon her: as she hath done, do unto her.
16 Destroy the [v]sower from Babel, and him that handleth the scythe in the time of harvest: because of the sword of the oppressor they shall turn everyone to his people, and they shall flee everyone to his own land.
17 Israel is like scattered sheep: the lions have dispersed them: first the king of [w]Assyria hath devoured him, and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel hath broken his [x]bones.
18 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, Behold, I will visit the king of Babel, and his land, as I have visited the King of Assyria.
19 And I will bring Israel again to his habitation: he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon the mount Ephraim and Gilead.
20 In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none: and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will be merciful unto them whom I reserve.
21 Go up against the land of the [y]rebels, even against it and against the inhabitants (A)of [z]Pekod: destroy, and lay it waste after them, saith the Lord, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.
22 A cry of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
23 How is the [aa]hammer of the whole world destroyed, and broken! how is Babel become desolate among the nations!
24 I have snared thee, and thou art taken, O Babel, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord.
25 The Lord hath opened his treasure, and hath brought forth the weapons of his wrath: for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her [ab]from the utmost border: open her storehouses, tread on her as on sheaves, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.
27 Destroy all her [ac]bullocks: let them go down to the slaughter. Woe unto them, for their day is come, and the time of their visitation.
28 The voice of them that [ad]flee, and escape out of the land of Babel to declare in Zion, the vengeance of the Lord our God, and the vengeance of his Temple.
29 Call up the archers against Babel: all ye that bend the bow, besiege it round about: let none thereof escape: (B)recompense her according to her work, and according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the Lord, even against the holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be destroyed in that day, saith the Lord.
31 Behold, I come unto thee, O proud man, saith the Lord God of hosts: for thy day is come, even the time that I will visit thee.
32 And the proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.
33 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The children of Israel, and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives, held them, and would not let them go.
34 But their strong redeemer, whose Name is the Lord of hosts, he shall maintain their cause, that he may give rest to the land, [ae]and disquiet the inhabitants of Babel.
35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, and upon the inhabitants of Babel, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.
36 A sword is upon the [af]soothsayers, and they shall dote: a sword is upon her strong men, and they shall be afraid.
37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the multitude that are in the midst of her, and they shall be like women: a sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be spoiled.
38 A [ag]drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they dote upon their idols.
39 Therefore the [ah]Ziims with the Iims shall dwell there, and [ai]the ostriches shall dwell therein: for it shall be no more inhabited, neither shall it be inhabited from generation unto generation.
40 As God destroyed (C)Sodom and Gomorrah with the places thereof near about, saith the Lord: so shall no man dwell there, neither shall the son of man remain therein.
41 ¶ Behold, a people shall come from the North, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from [aj]the coasts of the earth.
42 They shall hold the bow and the buckler: they are cruel and unmerciful: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, and be put in array like men to the battle against thee, O daughter of Babel.
43 The king of Babel hath heard the report of them, and his hands [ak]waxed feeble: sorrow came upon him, even sorrow as of a woman in travail.
44 Behold, he (D)shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the strong habitation: for I will make Israel to rest, and I will make them to haste away from her: and who is a chosen man that I may appoint against her? for who is like me, and who will appoint me the time? and who is the [al]shepherd that will stand before me?
45 Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord, that he hath devised against Babel, and his purpose that he hath conceived against the land of the Chaldeans: surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.
46 At the noise of the winning of Babel the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.
51 6 Why Babylon is destroyed. 41 The vain confidence of the Babylonians. 43 The vanity of idolaters. 59 Jeremiah giveth his book to Seraiah.
1 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up against Babel, and against the inhabitants [am]that lift up their heart against me, a destroying [an]wind,
2 And will send unto Babel fanners that shall fan her, and shall empty her land, for in the day of trouble they shall be against her on every side.
3 Also to the bender that bendeth his bow, and to him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine, will I say, Spare not her young men, but destroy all her host.
4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets.
5 For Israel hath been no [ao]widow, nor Judah from his God, from the Lord of hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the holy one of Israel.
6 ¶ [ap]Flee out of the midst of Babel, and deliver every man his soul: be not destroyed in her iniquity: for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance: he will render unto her a recompense.
7 Babel hath been as a golden cup in the [aq]Lord’s hand, that made all the earth drunken, the nations have drunken of her wine, therefore do the nations [ar]rage.
8 (E)Babel is suddenly fallen, and destroyed: howl for her, bring balm for her sore, if she may be healed.
9 We would have cured Babel, but she could not be healed: forsake her, and let [as]us go everyone into his own country: for her judgment is come up into heaven, and is lifted up to the clouds.
10 The Lord hath brought forth our [at]righteousness: come and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.
11 Make bright the arrows: [au]gather the shields: the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the King of the Medes: for his purpose is against Babel to destroy it, because it is the [av]vengeance of the Lord, and the vengeance of his Temple.
12 Set up the standard upon the walls of Babel, make the watch strong: set up the watchmen: prepare the scouts: for the Lord hath both devised, and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babel.
13 O thou that dwellest upon many [aw]waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, even the [ax]end of thy covetousness.
14 The Lord of hosts hath sworn by [ay](F)himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillars, and they shall cry and shout against thee.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 49:34 That is, Persia, so called of Elam the son of Shem.
- Jeremiah 49:35 Because the Persians were good archers, he showeth that the thing wherein they put their trust, should not profit them.
- Jeremiah 49:38 I will place Nebuchadnezzar there, and in these prophecies Jeremiah speaketh of those countries, which should be subdued under the first of those four monarchies whereof Daniel maketh mention.
- Jeremiah 49:38 This may be referred to the Empire of Persians and Medes after the Chaldeans, or unto the time of Christ, as Jer. 48:47.
- Jeremiah 50:1 Hebrew, hands.
- Jeremiah 50:2 After that God had used the Babylonians’ service to punish other nations, he showeth that their turn shall come to be punished.
- Jeremiah 50:2 These were two of their chief idols.
- Jeremiah 50:3 To wit, the Medes and the Persians.
- Jeremiah 50:4 When Cyrus shall take Babel.
- Jeremiah 50:4 Read Jer. 31:9.
- Jeremiah 50:6 Their governors and ministers by their examples have provoked them to idolatry.
- Jeremiah 50:6 They have committed idolatry in every place.
- Jeremiah 50:7 For the Lord dwelt among them in his Temple, and would have maintained them by his justice against their enemies.
- Jeremiah 50:8 When God shall deliver you by Cyrus.
- Jeremiah 50:8 That is, most forward and without fear.
- Jeremiah 50:10 Shall be made rich thereby.
- Jeremiah 50:11 For joy of the victory, that ye had against my people.
- Jeremiah 50:13 In sign of contempt and disdain.
- Jeremiah 50:14 He speaketh to the enemies the Medes and Persians.
- Jeremiah 50:14 Though the Lord called the Babylonians his servants, and their work his work in punishing his people, yet because they did it not to glorify God, but for their own malice, and to profit themselves, it is here called sin.
- Jeremiah 50:15 Or, yielded, or made peace.
- Jeremiah 50:16 Destroy her so that none be left to labor the ground, or to take the fruit thereof.
- Jeremiah 50:17 Meaning, Tiglath-Pilesar, who carried away the ten tribes.
- Jeremiah 50:17 He carried away the rest, to wit, Judah, and Benjamin.
- Jeremiah 50:21 That is, Babylon: thus the Lord raised up Cyrus.
- Jeremiah 50:21 Or, of them that should be visited.
- Jeremiah 50:23 Nebuchadnezzar, who had smitten down all the princes and people of the world.
- Jeremiah 50:26 Hebrew, from the end.
- Jeremiah 50:27 Her princes and mighty men.
- Jeremiah 50:28 Of the Jews which should be delivered by Cyrus.
- Jeremiah 50:34 He showeth that when God executeth his judgments against his enemies, that his Church shall then have rest.
- Jeremiah 50:36 Hebrew, liars.
- Jeremiah 50:38 For Cyrus did cut the river Euphrates, and divided the course thereof into many streams, so that it might be passed over as though there had been no water: which thing he did by the counsel of two of Belshazzar’s captains, who conspired against their king, because he had gelded the one of them in despite, and slain the son of the other.
- Jeremiah 50:39 Read Isa. 13:21.
- Jeremiah 50:39 Hebrew, sons of the ostriches, or young.
- Jeremiah 50:41 Meaning, that the Persians should gather their army of many nations.
- Jeremiah 50:43 Which is meant of Belshazzar, Dan. 5:6.
- Jeremiah 50:44 Read Jer. 49:19.
- Jeremiah 51:1 Or, of the land that riseth up.
- Jeremiah 51:1 The Medes and Persians that shall destroy them as the wind doth the chaff.
- Jeremiah 51:5 Though they were forsaken for a time, yet they were not utterly cast off as though their husbands were dead.
- Jeremiah 51:6 He showeth that there remaineth nothing for them that abide in Babylon, but destruction, Jer. 17:6 and 48:6.
- Jeremiah 51:7 By whom the Lord poured out the drink of his vengeance, to whom it pleased him.
- Jeremiah 51:7 For the great afflictions that they have felt by the Babylonians.
- Jeremiah 51:9 Thus the people of God exhort one another to go to Zion and praise God.
- Jeremiah 51:10 In approving our cause and punishing our enemies.
- Jeremiah 51:11 Or, fill, or multiply.
- Jeremiah 51:11 For the wrong done to his people and to his Temple, Jer. 50:28.
- Jeremiah 51:13 For the land of Chaldea was full of rivers, which ran into Euphrates.
- Jeremiah 51:13 Or, measures.
- Jeremiah 51:14 Hebrew, his soul.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
Bible Gateway Recommends
