Jeremiah 31:20 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 31:20
Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
bowels
מֵעַי֙me.'Ai
H4578
used only in plural the intestines · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
troubled
הָמ֤וּha.Mu
H1993
to make a loud sound (like English 'hum') · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
surely
רַחֵ֥םra.Chem
H7355
to fondle · verb, piel infinitive construct
mercy
אֲֽרַחֲמֶ֖נּוּ'ara.cha.Me.nu
H7355
to fondle · verb, piel imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
saith
נְאֻםne.'um-
H5002
an oracle · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָֽהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and…
Micah 7:18-19 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his…
Judges 10:16 And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.
Psalms 103:13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
Isaiah 63:15 Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of…
Hosea 14:4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
Luke 15:24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 31:18-26
We have here,
I. Ephraim's repentance, and return to God. Not only Judah, but Ephraim the ten tribes, shall be restored, and therefore shall thus be prepared and qualified for it, Hos 14:8. Ephraim shall say, What have I do to any more with idols? Ephraim the people, is here spoken of as a single person to denote their unanimity; they shall be as one man in their repentance and shall glorify God in it with one mind and one mouth, one and all. it is likewise thus expressed that it might be the better accommodated to particular penitents, for whose direction and encouragement this passage is intended. Ephraim is here brought in weeping for sin, perhaps because Ephraim, the person from whom tha…
Is Ephraim my dear son? &c.--The question implies that a negative answer was to be expected. Who would have thought that one so undutiful to His heavenly Father as Ephraim had been should still be regarded by God as a "pleasant child?" Certainly he was not so in respect to his sin. But by virtue of God's "everlasting love" (Jer 31:3) on Ephraim's being "turned" to God, he was immediately welcomed as God's "dear son." This verse sets forth God's readiness to welcome the penitent (Jer 31:18-19), anticipating his return with prevenient grace and love. Compare Luk 15:20 : "When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion," &c.
spake against--threatened him for his idolatr…
Is Ephraim my dear son?.... Questions put in this form, in the Hebrew language, usually more vehemently deny; and then the sense must be, Ephraim is not my dear son: and agreeably to this all the following clauses must be interpreted; which seems quite contrary to the scope and design of the context: wherefore it seems better to render the words thus, "Is not Ephraim my dear son?" (w) yes, he is; and so is everyone that stands in the relation of children to the Lord, they are all of them his dear children, Ephesians 5:1; his beloved ones, loved by him with an everlasting love; they are "precious" to him, as the word used signifies; they are dear to him as the apple of his eye; they are highl…
The Church Fathers
(Vers. 20.) If Ephraim is an honorable son (or beloved) to me: if he is a delicate child, since I spoke of him (or my words about him), I will still remember him; therefore my heart is troubled for him: I will have mercy on him, says the Lord. As Ephraim repents and says: In the beginning you taught me, and I was instructed like a young untamed bull; and in the end: Because you endured the reproach of my youth; the Lord responds, and with a full mind turned towards him, he sustains with the following oracle: Beloved son Ephraim (Gen. XLVIII), whom I have loved so much from the beginning, that I preferred him to Manasseh. The honorable son, who, contrary to the order of nature, has received the honor of the firstborn by the grace of the Lord. A delicate boy, of whom it is written: The sons of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle (Psalm 78:9). Against whom and for whom, the entire book of Hosea is the prophet, whom Jacob blessed. But let us understand delights in this place, according to what is said in the psalm: Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). In Greek and Hebrew, it is referred to as pleasure. Thus, the paradise in Eden is called the paradise of delights. For, he says, my words were in him, and I will be mindful of him even now. Lest it be thought a gratuitous blessing, and rather a gift of the indulgent giver than a reward for his merit, to whom it was granted, he therefore says: I will remember him, because my words were in him. Not in his mouth, not on his lips, but in the deepest affection of the heart. Because of this, my guts are troubled over it. To whom he speaks, through Hosea: What shall I do with you, Ephraim? What shall I do with you, Israel? I will make you like Adam, and like Seboim (Hos. 6:4; 11:8). My heart is turned within me; my guts are troubled. I will not carry out the fury of my anger, and I will not destroy Ephraim. I will have compassion on him, says the Lord. Truly, my words were in him, and he received all my commands with an eager spirit, and he kept them in his heart; but nevertheless, I will have compassion on him, says the Lord, to show that all human righteousness needs the mercy of God.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Adoption · SPIRITUAL — SPIRITUAL
Anger Of God, The · Is averted upon confession of sin and repentance — Is averted upon confession of sin and repentance
Bowels · .Of the sensibilities — .Of the sensibilities
Chastisement · FROM GOD — FROM GOD
Ephraim, Tribe Of · The leading tribe of the kingdom of Israel — The leading tribe of the kingdom of Israel
First Born, The · Objects of special love — Objects of special love
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Jeremiah 31:20
20 ls Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.
20. An filius pretiosus mihi Ephraim? an filius oblectationum? tamen ex quo tempore loquutus sum de eo, recordando recordabor filius ('zkrnv, vel, quia a termpore loquutus sum cum eo, reeordando recordabor illius; dicemus postea de sensu) propterea sonuerunt viscera mea illi (id est, super ipsum) miserando miserabor illius, dicit Jehova.
God here complains of the Israelites, because he had produced so little an effect on them by his great goodness: for the adoption wi…
Changing of sorrow into joy, because Ephraim will turn to the Lord, and the Lord will lead him back. - Jer 31:15. "Thus saith Jahveh: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, bitter weeping, Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not. Jer 31:16. Thus saith Jahveh: Restrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for there is a reward for thy work, saith Jahveh, and they shall return from the land of the enemy. Jer 31:17. And there is hope for thy latter end, saith Jahveh, that children shall return to thy border. Jer 31:18. I have certainly heard Ephraim complaining, Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised, like a calf…
The exiled people had been in the Lord’s memory all along. God responded to his people’s repentance with a father’s love for his wayward children (cp. Luke 15:11-24).
Rashi on Jeremiah 31:20
“Is Ephraim a son who is dear to me?” These are the words of the Shechinah. That is to say, He is complaining, “And as for Me, I have a change of heart to have pity. Is he My dear son (as one who has but one son, whose every wish he grants him)?” dandled (Esbaniement in O.F.)
whenever I speak of him Every time that I speak of him. And the Midrash Leviticus Rabbah (2:3) explains: It is enough My speech (דַּי דִבּוּרִי) with which I endowed him, that I taught him My Torah, for Me to have mercy on him.
