← All Chapters The Book of Jeremiah · Chapter 31

Jeremiah 31: Written on the Heart

God promises an everlasting love and a new covenant, when his law will be written on hearts and every sin will be remembered no more.

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Jeremiah 31 (WEB)

1 At that time, says Yahweh, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

2 Thus says Yahweh, The people who were left of the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

3 Yahweh appeared of old to me, saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you.

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

5 Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy its fruit.

6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim shall cry, Arise, and let us go up to Zion to Yahweh our God.

7 For thus says Yahweh, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations: publish, praise, and say, Yahweh, save your people, the remnant of Israel.

8 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: a great company shall they return here.

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

10 Hear Yahweh’s word, you nations, and declare it in the islands afar off; and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.

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

12 They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow to the goodness of Yahweh, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to 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.

13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and 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.

14 I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says Yahweh.

15 Thus says Yahweh: 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.

16 Thus says Yahweh: Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says Yahweh; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.

17 There is hope for your latter end, says Yahweh; and your children shall come again to their own border.

18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf: turn me, and I shall be turned; for you are Yahweh my God.

19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I struck on my thigh: I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.

20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a darling child? for as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says Yahweh.

21 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.

22 How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? for Yahweh has created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall encompass a man.

23 Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Yet again shall they use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I shall bring again their captivity: Yahweh bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness.

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

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

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

27 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of animal.

28 It shall 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 will I watch over them to build and to plant, says Yahweh.

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

30 But everyone shall die for his own iniquity: every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

31 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a 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 in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Yahweh.

33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:

34 and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Yahweh; for they shall all know me, from their least to their greatest, says Yahweh: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.

35 Thus says Yahweh, 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; Yahweh of Armies is his name:

36 If these ordinances depart from before me, says Yahweh, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever.

37 Thus says Yahweh: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says Yahweh.

38 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that the city shall be built to Yahweh from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner.

39 The measuring line shall go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and shall turn about to Goah.

40 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, shall be holy to Yahweh; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more forever.

Summary

This chapter is the high point of the Book of Consolation, overflowing with tenderness. God declares that he has loved his people with an everlasting love and has drawn them with loving kindness, promising to rebuild them so they will again dance and plant and sing for joy. He will gather the blind, the lame, and the laboring from the farthest north, leading them by streams of water on a level path, for he is a father to Israel. Where Rachel weeps for her children, God answers that there is hope for the future, and her children will come home. He hears Ephraim's repentance and yearns over him with a father's mercy. The promise climbs to its summit: the days are coming when God will make a new covenant with his people, not like the old one they broke, but one in which he writes his law on their inward parts and their hearts. All will know him, from the least to the greatest, and he will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more. This new covenant is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, sealed in his blood, who pours out the Spirit to write God's law within and grants full and final forgiveness.

Key Themes

  • Yahweh (the LORD) — The God of everlasting love who gathers, comforts, and forgives his people, and who promises a new covenant written on the heart.
  • Israel and Ephraim — God's people, pictured as a returning virgin and a repentant son, drawn home by the Father's mercy and yearning love.
  • Rachel — The mother weeping for her lost children, answered with the promise that there is hope and her children shall come home.
  • The new covenant — God's promise to write his law on the heart, give all his people knowledge of him, and remember their sin no more, fulfilled in Christ.

Key Verse

Jeremiah 31:33 (WEB)

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:

Lessons Learned

  • God's love for his people is everlasting; it precedes and outlasts their failures.
  • Under the new covenant God works obedience from the inside, writing his law on the heart.
  • True knowledge of God will belong to all his people, from the least to the greatest.
  • God's forgiveness in the new covenant is full and final; he remembers our sin no more.
  • God's love is everlasting. "I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you" (Jeremiah 31:3, WEB). His love is the source of our return.
  • The new covenant transforms the heart. "I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it" (Jeremiah 31:33, WEB). God changes us from within, not merely without.
  • All will know the Lord. "They shall all know me, from their least to their greatest" (Jeremiah 31:34, WEB). Intimacy with God is the promise to every believer.
  • Sin is remembered no more. "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:34, WEB). In Christ, forgiveness is complete and final.
  1. How does God describe his love for his people in the opening verses, and why does that matter?
  2. What hope does God offer to weeping Rachel, and what does it reveal about his heart?
  3. What is new about the new covenant compared with the old one made at Sinai?
  4. How is this promise of a new covenant fulfilled in Jesus (see Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8:8-12)?
  5. What difference does it make to know that God remembers your forgiven sin "no more"?
  1. God says he has loved them with "an everlasting love" and drawn them with loving kindness (31:3). His love is the cause, not the reward, of their return. Help the group rest in a love that is not earned and cannot be exhausted by our failures.
  2. To Rachel's bitter weeping God answers that there is "hope for your latter end" and her children will return (31:16-17). Even profound grief is met with God's tender promise, showing a Father who enters our sorrow and speaks comfort into it.
  3. The old covenant was written on stone and externally imposed, and the people broke it (31:32). The new covenant is written on the heart, gives everyone true knowledge of God, and secures full forgiveness (31:33-34). It changes the inner person, not just outward behavior.
  4. Jesus inaugurates this covenant at the Last Supper, calling the cup "the new covenant in my blood" (Luke 22:20), and Hebrews 8 quotes this very passage to show it is fulfilled in him. By his death and the gift of the Spirit, God writes his law on our hearts and forgives our sins forever.
  5. This is a personal-application question. Invite members to consider the freedom of knowing their forgiven sins are not held against them (31:34). As leader, let the conversation rest in the assurance of complete forgiveness secured by Christ.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), the King James Version (KJV), and the American Standard Version (ASV), all of which are in the public domain.