Jeremiah 31:19-20

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 31:18-21

Ephraim bemoaning himself; or, the penitent's restoration. The exiled Israelites are represented as about to grieve over their apostasy, and to seek God in confession and prayer. The answer of God is full of mercy and encouragement. The Captivity is to be brought back, and the cities of Israel are to be again occupied. I. THE STAGES AND PROCESSES OF TRUE REPENTANCE . ( Jeremiah 31:18 , Jeremiah 31:19 .) 1 . Conviction and acknowledgment of sin. The unbroken... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 31:19

After that I was turned, I repented; rather, after my turning away ( as Jeremiah 8:4 ), I have repented. It is a different kind of "turning" which is here meant, a turning away from God. I was instructed; literally, I was made to know; i.e. brought to my senses by punishment. I smote upon my thigh; rather, I have smitten, etc. Ephraim describes his present state of mind, and the symbols by which he translates it into act. Smiting upon the thigh was a sign of mourning (comp. ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 31:19

Conversion and repentance. I. BOTH THESE ARE TOLD OF HERE . Conversion is. It is spoken of as "being turned" and "instructed." Repentance is . It is spoken of plainly and again figuratively: "I smote upon my thigh" This is a common mode of expressing indignation and grief. II. AND REPENTANCE IS SAID TO COME AFTER CONVERSION . And this is ever so. Not that there is no repentance prior to conversion. There is, and a genuine one. The "bemoaning" spoken of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 31:20

The Divine speaker asks, as it were in surprise, whether Ephraim, who has so flagrantly sinned against him, can really be his dear (or, precious ) son , his pleasant child (literally, child of caressing, i.e. one caressed). The latter expression occurs in a remarkable passage of Isaiah ( Isaiah 5:7 ). Since I spake against him; rather, as often as I spake against him; i.e. as often as I pronounced sentence against Ephraim—such a sentence as is recorded in Isaiah 9:8-21 (where... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Jeremiah 31:15-22

The religious character of the restoration of the ten tribes. Chastisement brought repentance, and with it forgiveness; therefore God decrees their restoration.Jeremiah 31:15Ramah, mentioned because of its nearness to Jerusalem, from which it was distant about five miles. As the mother of three tribes, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh, Rachel is regarded as the mother of the whole ten. This passage is quoted by Matthew (marginal reference) as a type. In Jeremiah it is a poetical figure... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Jeremiah 31:19

Jeremiah 31:19. Surely after that I was turned, I repented After I was enlightened and impressed with a due sense of my duty, and of the many deviations from it of which I had been guilty, and after my will was subjected to the will of God, I straightway became a true penitent, and expressed my repentance by all the outward and inward signs of an unfeigned sorrow for, and hatred to, my past conduct. And after that I was instructed Respecting my sin and folly, in forsaking the fountain of... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Jeremiah 31:20

Jeremiah 31:20. Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he, &c. These questions are designed to be answered in the affirmative, as appears from the inference, therefore my bowels are moved for him. It seems that, to suit the idiom of our language, and fully to express the sense of the original, the particle not ought to have been supplied, and the clause to have been read, Is not Ephraim my dear son? Is he not a pleasant child? That is, is he not one that I have set my affections on, as a... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 31:1-22

The people return home (31:1-22)God has not forgotten any of his people who have been driven into a harsh existence in distant countries. Those of both the northern kingdom Israel and the southern kingdom Judah will share in the restoration to the land of their ancestors (31:1-3). They will be reunited in a land of renewed contentment and prosperity. They will join again in the national religious festivals at Jerusalem (4-6).The prophet pictures the joyous journey back to Palestine. Even the... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Jeremiah 31:20

child = a young child. Hebrew. yalad. My bowels are troubled. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 32:36 ). Compare Duke Jeremiah 15:20 . read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Jeremiah 31:19

Jeremiah 31:19. Surely, &c.— The smiting of the thigh is an expression of great surprise and concern. The Lord commands Ezekiel to deplore the miseries of his people, and to smite upon his thigh; chap. Jeremiah 21:12. We find the same custom in Homer, Xenophon, and other ancient writers. If, therefore, this be one of those natural expressions of the internal state of our mind, the phrase will imply true contrition, and in this view the climax will appear proper. See Pilkington's Remarks,... read more

Group of Brands