Jeremiah 31:20-21

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 31:21

Set thee up waymarks. The "virgin of Israel" is addressed. She is directed to mark out the road for the returning exiles. The command is obviously the. torical in form; the general sense is that the Israelites are to call to mind the road so familiar to their forefathers, though only known to themselves by tradition. The word rendered "waymarks" occurs again in 2 Kings 33:17 and Ezekiel 39:15 . It apparently means a stone pillar, which might be used either as a waymark or a sepulchral... 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 31:20

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

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Jeremiah 31:21

Jeremiah 31:21 . Set thee up way-marks “These words are a call to Israel to prepare for their return. The word צינים , rendered way-marks, means stone pillars, and תמרודים , translated heaps, from המר , a palm-tree, probably signifies tall-poles, like palm-trees, or, perhaps, made of palm- trees; both set up in the roads, at certain distances, for the traveller’s direction, and extremely necessary for those who had to pass wild and spacious deserts,” Blaney. Set thy heart... 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

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Jeremiah 31:21

Set thee up = Erect. make thee = set up. high heaps: i.e. finger posts. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Jeremiah 31:21

"Set thee up waymarks, make thee guideposts; set thy heart toward the highway, even the way by which thou wentest, turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities. How long wilt thou go hither and thither, O thou backsliding daughter? for Jehovah hath created a new thing in the earth: A woman shall encompass a man.""O thou backsliding daughter ..." (Jeremiah 31:22). This refers to the actual condition of Israel. God here addressed her as "Virgin of Israel"; but that envisions her... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Jeremiah 31:20

Jeremiah 31:20. Is Ephraim my dear son? &c.— Some render this passage, Is not Ephraim my dear son? Is he not a delightful child? Verily, the oftener I speak of him, I shall still remember him more and more: therefore my bowels yearn upon or towards him, &c. Houbigant, however, defends the common reading; he thinks that God means to deny that Ephraim was his son, in order to shew him that his bowels were moved towards him solely through free mercy, and not on account of any merit or... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Jeremiah 31:21

Jeremiah 31:21. Set thee up way-marks— The prophet bids them to think of preparing for their return to their own country; and, in order to that end, to set up landmarks to direct travellers in the right path. Instead of, make thee high heaps, Houbigant reads, erect monuments of thy grief; that is, tokens in thy return of thy late unhappy and captive state. read more

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