Jeremiah 31:4-6

31:4 I will rebuild you, my dear children Israel, ¹ 

so that you will once again be built up.

Once again you will take up the tambourine

and join in the happy throng of dancers. ² 

31:5 Once again you will plant vineyards

on the hills of Samaria. ³ 

Those who plant them

will once again enjoy their fruit. ⁴ 

31:6 Yes, a time is coming

when watchmen ⁵  will call out on the mountains of Ephraim,

“Come! Let us go to Zion

to worship the Lord our God!”’” ⁶ 

[31:4]  ¹ tn Heb “Virgin Israel.”

[31:4]  ² sn Contrast Jer 7:34 and 25:10.

[31:5]  ³ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[31:5]  ⁴ sn The terms used here refer to the enjoyment of a period of peace and stability and the reversal of the curse (contrast, e.g., Deut 28:30). The Hebrew word translated “enjoy its fruit” is a technical one that refers to the owner of a vineyard getting to enjoy its fruit in the fifth year after it was planted, the crops of the first three years lying fallow, and that of the fourth being given to the Lord (cf. Lev 19:23-25).

[31:6]  ⁵ sn Watchmen were stationed at vantage points to pass on warning of coming attack (Jer 6:17; Ezek 33:2, 6) or to spread the news of victory (Isa 52:8). Here reference is made to the watchmen who signaled the special times of the year such as the new moon and festival times when Israel was to go to Jerusalem to worship. Reference is not made to these in the Hebrew Bible but there is a good deal of instruction regarding them in the later Babylonian Talmud.

[31:6]  ⁶ sn Not only will Israel and Judah be reunited under one ruler (cf. 23:5-6), but they will share a unified place and practice of worship once again in contrast to Israel using the illicit places of worship, illicit priesthood, and illicit feasts instituted by Jeroboam (1 Kgs 12:26-31) and continued until the downfall of Samaria in 722 b.c.