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…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 31:24
Judah . . . cities . . . husbandmen . . . they with flocks--Two classes, Citizens and countrymen, the latter divided into agriculturists and shepherds, all alike in security, though the latter were to be outside the protection of city walls. "Judah" here stands for the country, as distinguished from its cities.
John Gill on Jeremiah 31:24
And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together,.... In peace and unity, in great concord and harmony:
husbandmen, and those that go forth with flocks; husbandmen and shepherds; meaning such not merely in a temporal sense, but in a spiritual one; ministers of the Gospel, labourers with God, and under him, in the husbandry of his church; pastors after his own heart, to feed his people, his flocks, his sheep and lambs, with knowledge and understanding; who shall agree in their ministry, teaching the same doctrines, and administering the same ordinances, according to the rule of the word.
John Calvin on Jeremiah 31:24
Jeremiah 31:24
24. And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks.
24. Et sedebunt (vel, habitabunt) in ea (nempe terra) Jehudah, et omnes urbes ejus (id est, incolae ejus) simul agricolae, et proficiscentur cum grege.
He proceeds with the same subject, but sets forth the effect of that favor of which he had spoken, for dwell, he says, shall the Jews again in the land; that is, they shall rest there and have a quiet habitation. He adds cities, only to amplify the favor of God as to the number and multiplicity of men; as though he had said, that not a few would return, but a vast number of men, sufficient to fil…
