311 At that time, an affirmation of Jehovah, I am for God to all families of Israel, And they—they are to Me for a people. 2 Thus said Jehovah: Found grace in the wilderness Hath a people remaining from the sword Going to cause it to rest—Israel. 3 From afar Jehovah hath appeared to me, With love age-during I have loved thee, Therefore I have drawn thee 'with' kindness. 4 Again do I build thee, And thou hast been built, O virgin of Israel, Again thou puttest on thy tabrets, And hast gone out in the chorus of the playful. 5 Again thou dost plant vineyards In mountains of Samaria, Planters have planted, and made common. 6 For there is a day, Cried have watchmen on mount Ephraim, 'Rise, and we go up to Zion, unto Jehovah our God; 7 For thus said Jehovah: Sing, O ye to Jacob, 'with' joy, And cry aloud at the head of the nations, Sound ye, praise ye, and say, Save, O Jehovah, thy people, the remnant of Israel. 8 Lo, I am bringing them in from the north country, And have gathered them from the sides of the earth, Among them 'are' blind and lame, Conceiving and travailing one—together, A great assembly—they turn back hither. 9 With weeping they come in, And with supplications I bring them, I cause them to go unto streams of waters, In a right way—they stumble not in it, For I have been to Israel for a father, And Ephraim—My first-born 'is' he.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 31:1-9
Commentary on Jeremiah 31:1-9
(Read Jeremiah 31:1-9)
God assures his people that he will again take them into covenant relation to himself. When brought very low, and difficulties appear, it is good to remember that it has been so with the church formerly. But it is hard under present frowns to take comfort from former smiles; yet it is the happiness of those who, through grace, are interested in the love of God, that it is an everlasting love, from everlasting in the counsels, to everlasting in the continuance. Those whom God loves with this love, he will draw to himself, by the influences of his Spirit upon their souls. When praising God for what he has done, we must call upon him for the favours his church needs and expects. When the Lord calls, we must not plead that we cannot come; for he that calls us, will help us, will strengthen us. The goodness of God shall lead them to repentance. And they shall weep for sin with more bitterness, and more tenderness, when delivered out of their captivity, than when groaning under it. If we take God for our Father, and join the church of the first-born, we shall want nothing that is good for us. These predictions doubtless refer also to a future gathering of the Israelites from all quarters of the globe. And they figuratively describe the conversion of sinners to Christ, and the plain and safe way in which they are led.