Jeremiah 31:1-9

The Lord Will Turn Mourning to Joy

1 z "At that time, declares the Lord, a I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people."

2 Thus says the Lord:
"The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness;
b when Israel sought for rest,
 3 the Lord appeared to him 1 from far away.
c I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore d I have continued e my faithfulness to you.
 4 f Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
O virgin Israel!
g Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines
and shall go forth in h the dance of the merrymakers.
 5 i Again you shall plant vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant
and shall enjoy the fruit.
 6 For there shall be a day when watchmen will call
in j the hill country of Ephraim:
k 'Arise, and let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.'"

7 For thus says the Lord:
l "Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for m the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
n 'O Lord, save your people,
the remnant of Israel.'
 8 Behold, I will bring them o from the north country
and p gather them from q the farthest parts of the earth,
among them r the blind and the lame,
the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together;
a great company, they shall return here.
 9 s With weeping they shall come,
t and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back,
I will make them u walk by brooks of water,
v in a straight path in which they shall not stumble,
for w I am a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is x my firstborn.

  1. Cross References
    Jeremiah 30:24
    The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intentions of his mind. In the latter days you will understand this.
  2. Cross References
    2 Corinthians 6:18
    And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.
    Jeremiah 30:22
    And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
  3. Cross References
    Jeremiah 30:10
    Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid.
    Psalms 95:11
    Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest.
    Isaiah 63:14
    Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest. So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name.
  4. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 7:8
    But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
    Deuteronomy 10:15
    Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.
    Malachi 1:2
    I have loved you," says the Lord. But you say, "How have you loved us?" "Is not Esau Jacob's brother?" declares the Lord. "Yet I have loved Jacob
    Romans 11:28
    As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.
  5. Cross References
    Psalms 36:10
    Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart!
  6. Cross References
    Hosea 11:4
    I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.
  7. Cross References
    Jeremiah 31:28
    And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the Lord.
    Jeremiah 33:7
    I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first.
  8. Cross References
    Isaiah 61:10
    I will greatly rejoice in the Lord ; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
  9. Cross References
    Jeremiah 31:13
    Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
    Exodus 15:20
    Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.
    Judges 11:34
    Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter.
    Judges 21:21
    And watch. If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come out of the vineyards and snatch each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
    2 Samuel 6:14
    And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod.
  10. Cross References
    Isaiah 65:21
    They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
    Amos 9:14
    I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
  11. Cross References
    Joshua 24:33
    And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of Phinehas his son, which had been given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
  12. Cross References
    Isaiah 2:3
    And many peoples shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
    Isaiah 27:13
    And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
  13. Cross References
    Isaiah 12:6
    Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
    Isaiah 65:18
    But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.
  14. Cross References
    Amos 6:1
    Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes!
  15. Cross References
    Psalms 118:25
    Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!
  16. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:18
    In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.
  17. Cross References
    Jeremiah 23:3
    Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
  18. Cross References
    Jeremiah 6:22
    Thus says the Lord : "Behold, a people is coming from the north country, a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
  19. Cross References
    Isaiah 35:5 - 6
    Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
  20. Cross References
    Jeremiah 50:4
    In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek the Lord their God.
    Ezra 3:13
    So that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.
    Ezra 10:1
    While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly.
  21. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:21
    A voice on the bare heights is heard, the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons because they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the Lord their God.
    Zechariah 12:10
    And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
  22. Cross References
    Isaiah 35:6 - 7
    Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
    Isaiah 49:10
    They shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them.
    Psalms 23:2
    He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
  23. Cross References
    Isaiah 35:8
    And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.
    Isaiah 43:19
    Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
    Isaiah 49:11
    And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up.
  24. Cross References
    Romans 8:15
    For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!
  25. Cross References
    Exodus 4:22
    Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son.
    Psalms 89:27
    And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.