18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself [thus], You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed [to the yoke]: turn you me, and I shall be turned; for you are Yahweh my God.
Turn us again, God. Cause your face to shine, And we will be saved.
Turn you us to you, Yahweh, and we shall be turned; Renew our days as of old.
A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping [and] the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God. Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backsliding. Behold, we are come to you; for you are Yahweh our God.
"Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects: Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.
Turn us again, God of hosts. Cause your face to shine, And we will be saved.
Blessed is the man whom you discipline, Yah, And teach out of your law;
"He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
God, having raised up his servant, Jesus, sent him to you first, to bless you, in turning away everyone of you from your wickedness."
For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will Yahweh feed them like a lamb in a meadow.
Don't be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."
"I will heal their waywardness. I will love them freely; For my anger is turned away from him. I will be like the dew to Israel. He will blossom like the lily, And send down his roots like Lebanon. His branches will spread, And his beauty will be like the olive tree, And his fragrance like Lebanon. Men will dwell in his shade. They will revive like the grain, And blossom like the vine. Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? I answer, and will take care of him. I am like a green fir tree; From me your fruit is found."
"How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, My compassion is aroused. I will not execute the fierceness of my anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim: For I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of you; And I will not come in wrath.
Therefore I am to Ephraim like a moth, And to the house of Judah like rottenness. When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria, And sent to king Jareb: But he is not able to heal you, Neither will he cure you of your wound.
Yet the people have not turned to him who struck them, neither have they sought Yahweh of Hosts.
Don't be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding, Who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you.
Deliver me from all my transgressions. Don't make me the reproach of the foolish. I was mute. I didn't open my mouth, Because you did it.
For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven, Yahweh saw the earth; To hear the groans of the prisoner; To free those who are condemned to death;
Yahweh, I know that your judgments are righteous, That in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
A whip for the horse, A bridle for the donkey, And a rod for the back of fools!
He who is often rebuked and stiffens his neck Will be destroyed suddenly, with no remedy.
Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God.
He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn't open his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he didn't open his mouth.
For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls who I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I angry, and struck him; I hid [my face] and was angry; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.
For you are our Father, though Abraham doesn't know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us: you, Yahweh, are our Father; our Redeemer from everlasting is your name.
In vain have I struck your children; they received no correction: your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
O Yahweh, don't your eyes look on truth? you have stricken them, but they were not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
For there shall be a day, that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim shall cry, Arise you, and let us go up to Zion to Yahweh our God.
In those days, and in that time, says Yahweh, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go on their way weeping, and shall seek Yahweh their God. They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, [saying], Come you, and join yourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten.
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him. Let him put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him; let him be filled full with reproach.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 31
Commentary on Jeremiah 31 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 31
This chapter goes on with the good words and comfortable words which we had in the chapter before, for the encouragement of the captives, assuring them that God would in due time restore them or their children to their own land, and make them a great and happy nation again, especially by sending them the Messiah, in whose kingdom and grace many of these promises were to have their full accomplishment.
These exceedingly great and precious promises were firm foundations of hope and full fountains of joy to the poor captives; and we also may apply them to ourselves and mix faith with them.
Jer 31:1-9
God here assures his people,
Jer 31:10-17
This paragraph is much to the same purport with the last, publishing to the world, as well as to the church, the purposes of God's love concerning his people. This is a word of the Lord which the nations must hear, for it is a prophecy of a work of the Lord which the nations cannot but take notice of. Let them hear the prophecy, that they may the better understand and improve the performance; and let those that hear it themselves declare it to others, declare it in the isles afar off. It will be a piece of news that will spread all the world over. it will look very great in history; let us see how it looks in prophecy.
It is foretold,
Jer 31:18-26
We have here,
Jer 31:27-34
The prophet, having found his sleep sweet, made so by the revelations of divine grace, sets himself to sleep again, in hopes of further discoveries, and is not disappointed; for it is here further promised,
Jer 31:35-40
Glorious things have been spoken in the foregoing verses concerning the gospel church, which that epocha of the Jewish church that was to commence at the return from captivity would at length terminate in, and which all those promises were to have their full accomplishment in. But may we depend upon these promises? Yes, we have here a ratification of them, and the utmost assurance imaginable given of the perpetuity of the blessings contained in them. The great thing here secured to us is that while the world stands God will have a church in it, which, though sometimes it may be brought very low, shall yet be raised again, and its interests re-established; it is built upon a rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now here are two things offered for the confirmation of our faith in this matter-the building of the world and the rebuilding of Jerusalem.