31:27 “Indeed, a time is coming,” 5 says the Lord, 6 “when I will cause people and animals to sprout up in the lands of Israel and Judah. 7
31:31 “Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, 8 “when I will make a new covenant 9 with the people of Israel and Judah. 10 31:32 It will not be like the old 11 covenant that I made with their ancestors 12 when I delivered them 13 from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,” 14 says the Lord. 15 31:33 “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel 16 after I plant them back in the land,” 17 says the Lord. 18 “I will 19 put my law within them 20 and write it on their hearts and minds. 21 I will be their God and they will be my people. 22
31:34 “People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. 23 For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” 24 says the Lord. “For 25 I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”
31:35 The Lord has made a promise to Israel.
He promises it as the one who fixed the sun to give light by day
and the moon and stars to give light by night.
He promises it as the one who stirs up the sea so that its waves roll.
He promises it as the one who is known as the Lord who rules over all. 26
31:36 The Lord affirms, 27 “The descendants of Israel will not
cease forever to be a nation in my sight.
That could only happen if the fixed ordering of the heavenly lights
were to cease to operate before me.” 28
31:37 The Lord says, “I will not reject all the descendants of Israel
because of all that they have done. 29
That could only happen if the heavens above could be measured
or the foundations of the earth below could all be explored,” 30
says the Lord. 31
31:38 “Indeed a time is coming,” 32 says the Lord, 33 “when the city of Jerusalem 34 will be rebuilt as my special city. 35 It will be built from the Tower of Hananel westward to the Corner Gate. 36
33:14 “I, the Lord, affirm: 37 ‘The time will certainly come when I will fulfill my gracious promise concerning the nations of Israel and Judah. 38
“Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
1 tn Heb “Oracle of the
2 tn Heb “restore the fortune.” For the translation and meaning of this idiom see the note at 29:14.
3 tn Heb “fathers.”
4 sn As the nations of Israel and Judah were united in their sin and suffered the same fate – that of exile and dispersion – (cf. Jer 3:8; 5:11; 11:10, 17) so they will ultimately be regathered from the nations and rejoined under one king, a descendant of David, and regain possession of their ancestral lands. The prophets of both the eighth and seventh century looked forward to this ideal (see, e.g., Hos 1:11 (2:2 HT); Isa 11:11-13; Jer 23:5-6; 30:3; 33:7; Ezek 37:15-22). This has already been anticipated in Jer 3:18.
5 tn Heb “Behold days are coming!” The particle “Behold” is probably used here to emphasize the reality of a fact. See the translator’s note on 1:6.
6 tn Heb “Oracle of the
7 tn Heb “Behold, the days are coming and [= when] I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of people and of animals.” For the significance of the metaphor see the study note.
8 tn Heb “Oracle of the
9 tn Or “a renewed covenant” (also in vv. 22-23).
10 tn Heb “the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”
11 tn The word “old” is not in the text but is implicit in the use of the word “new.” It is supplied in the translation for greater clarity.
12 tn Heb “fathers.”
13 tn Heb “when I took them by the hand and led them out.”
14 tn Or “I was their master.” See the study note on 3:14.
15 tn Heb “Oracle of the
16 tn Heb “with the house of Israel.” All commentators agree that the term here refers to both the whole nation which was divided into the house of Israel and the house of Judah in v. 30.
17 tn Heb “after those days.” Commentators are generally agreed that this refers to the return from exile and the repopulation of the land referred to in vv. 27-28 and not to something subsequent to the time mentioned in v. 30. This is the sequencing that is also presupposed in other new covenant passages such as Deut 30:1-6; Ezek 11:17-20; 36:24-28.
18 tn Heb “Oracle of the
19 tn Heb “‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after these days:’ says the
20 tn Heb “in their inward parts.” The Hebrew word here refers to the seat of the thoughts, emotions, and decisions (Jer 9:8 [9:7 HT]). It is essentially synonymous with “heart” in Hebrew psychological terms.
21 tn The words “and minds” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation to bring the English psychology more into line with the Hebrew where the “heart” is the center both of knowing/thinking/reflecting and deciding/willing.
22 sn Compare Jer 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and see the study note on 30:2.
23 tn Heb “teach…, saying, ‘Know the
24 sn This statement should be understood against the background of Jer 8:8-9 where class distinctions were drawn and certain people were considered to have more awareness and responsibility for knowing the law and also Jer 5:1-5 and 9:3-9 where the sinfulness of Israel was seen to be universal across these class distinctions and no trust was to be placed in friends, neighbors, or relatives because all without distinction had cast off God’s yoke (i.e., refused to submit themselves to his authority).
25 tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) that introduces this clause refers to more than just the preceding clause (i.e., that all will know the
26 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” See the study note on 2:19 for this title. In the Hebrew text the verse reads: “Thus says the
27 tn Heb “Oracle of the
28 tn Heb “‘If these fixed orderings were to fail to be present before me,’ oracle of the
29 sn This answers Jeremiah’s question in 14:19.
30 tn Heb “If the heavens above could be measured or the foundations of the earth below be explored, then also I could reject all the seed of Israel for all they have done.”
31 tn Heb “Oracle of the
32 tc The words “is coming” (בָּאִים, ba’im) are not in the written text (Kethib) but are supplied in the margin (Qere), in several Hebrew
33 tn Heb “Oracle of the
34 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
35 tn Heb “the city will be built to [or for] the
36 tn The word “westward” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation to give some orientation.
37 tn Heb “Oracle of the
38 sn This refers at the very least to the promises of Jer 23:5-6, 7-8; 30:3; 31:27, 31 where the same formula “The time will certainly come (Heb “Behold the days are coming”)” occurs. Reference may also be to the promises through the earlier prophets of what is alluded to here, i.e., the restoration of Israel and Judah under a Davidic ruler and the revival of the offerings (cf. Hos 1:10-11; 3:4-5; Amos 9:11-12; Isa 11:1-5, 10-16; Jer 30:9, 21 for the former and Jer 31:14; 33:11 for the latter).
39 tn Grk “for,” but providing an explanation of the God-intended limitation of the first covenant from v. 7.
40 sn The “fault” or limitation in the first covenant was not in its inherent righteousness, but in its design from God himself. It was never intended to be his final revelation or provision for mankind; it was provisional, always pointing toward the fulfillment to come in Christ.
41 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
42 tc ‡ Several witnesses (א* A D* I K P Ψ 33 81 326 365 1505 2464 al latt co Cyr) have αὐτούς (autous) here, “[in finding fault with] them, [he says],” alluding to Israel’s failings mentioned in v. 9b. (The verb μέμφομαι [memfomai, “to find fault with”] can take an accusative or dative direct object.) The reading behind the text above (αὐτοίς, autoi"), supported by Ì46 א2 B D2 0278 1739 1881 Ï, is perhaps a harder reading theologically, and is more ambiguous in meaning. If αὐτοίς goes with μεμφόμενος (memfomeno", here translated “showing its fault”), the clause could be translated “in finding fault with them” or “in showing [its] faults to them.” If αὐτοίς goes with the following λέγει (legei, “he says”), the clause is best translated, “in finding/showing [its] faults, he says to them.” The accusative pronoun suffers no such ambiguity, for it must be the object of μεμφόμενος rather than λέγει. Although a decision is difficult, the dative form of the pronoun best explains the rise of the other reading and is thus more likely to be original.