Jeremiah 31:37 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 31:37
Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.
to spurn · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
seed
זֶ֧רַעZe.ra'
H2233
seed · noun, common masculine singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֛לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
done
עָשׂ֖וּ'a.Su
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
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
Jeremiah 33:24-26 Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus the…
Isaiah 40:12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a meas…
Jeremiah 33:22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Lev…
Romans 11:1-5 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
Romans 11:26-29 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Job 11:7-9 Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
Jeremiah 46:28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven t…
Psalms 89:2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 31:35–end
Glorious things have been spoken in the foregoing verses concerning the gospel church, which that epocha of the Jewish church that was to commence at the return from captivity would at length terminate in, and which all those promises were to have their full accomplishment in. But may we depend upon these promises? Yes, we have here a ratification of them, and the utmost assurance imaginable given of the perpetuity of the blessings contained in them. The great thing here secured to us is that while the world stands God will have a church in it, which, though sometimes it may be brought very low, shall yet be raised again, and its interests re-established; it is built upon a rock, and the gat…
(Compare Jer 33:22).
for all that they have done--namely, all the sins. God will regard His own covenant promise, rather than their merits.
John Gill on Jeremiah 31:37
Thus saith the Lord, if heaven above can be measured,.... Either the space between the highest heavens and the earth; or the extent of the heavens, from one end of them to the other, which cannot be done by man; so the Targum,
"as it is impossible that man should know the measure of the heavens above;''
otherwise it is measured by the Lord, for he hath "meted out heaven with a span", Isaiah 40:12;
and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath: so as to be known what they are, or on what they are fastened, since the earth is hung upon nothing, Job 38:6;
I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord; as the former cannot be, so neither the…
Jeremiah 31:37
37. Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.
37. Sic dicit Jehova, Si mensurentur coeli sursum, et investigentur fundamenta terrae deorsum, etiam ego rejiciam (vel, spernam) totum semen Israel, propter onmia quae fecerunt, dicit Johova.
He confirms the same thing by another comparison, even that it would be impossible for God wholly to forget his covenant, but that he would again gather his people. Exile might indeed appear as a permanent death; and thus the truth of God might have been brought to nothing; and the cove…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 37) Thus says the Lord: If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will reject all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord. LXX: Thus says the Lord: If the heavens are raised high above and the floor of the earth is humbled below, then I will not reject the nation of Israel, says the Lord, for all that they have done. The Hebrew text in this passage differs greatly from the Vulgate edition. Let us first speak according to the Hebrew: If the heavens above can be measured and their height known, or the foundations of the earth investigated and their outermost limits understood, then I will reject the whole offspring of Israel because of all that they have done, says the Lord. Just as it is impossible for us to know the height of the heavens and the foundations of the earth, so it will also be impossible for me to reject the whole offspring of Israel. But if I reject the entire seed of Israel, the summit of the heavens will be shaken, and the ends of the earth. This syllogism is woven in the Gospel: when the impossible is compared to the impossible: Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matth. XIX). For just as that ((or: the impossible)) cannot be done, so neither can this be done; but if this is done, then that which was thought to be impossible will be done. Therefore, those who interpret this passage differently, also placing that testimony, that the Son might be able to seek help from the Father and summon twelve legions of angels to His aid. The Septuagint translated this meaning in opposition, saying: 'If heaven is exalted higher and the pavement of the earth is lowered below;', and I, says the Lord, will not reject the seed of Israel because of all they have done. But if that is the case, the Israelite people will be rejected. For just as the sky cannot be higher than what it is, nor the earth lower than what it is, so too the people of Israel will by no means be rejected. If we see the Jews boasting according to this Hebrew testimony, we agree with them that the entire seed of Israel is not cast away. For not all are cast away, but only those who were unbelieving.
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
Astronomy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Geology · 22:16; — 22:16;
Heaven · Immeasurable — Immeasurable
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).
The new covenant. - Jer 31:31. "Behold, days are coming, saith Jahveh, when I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant; Jer 31:32. Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I laid hold of their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant of mine they broke, though I had married them to myself, saith Jahveh; Jer 31:33. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith Jahveh: I will put my law within them, and on their heart will I write it; and I will become to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. Jer 31:34. And they shall no more teach every man his neighbour an…
The Lord compared his promise of the new covenant to his faithfulness in maintaining the laws of nature.
Rashi on Jeremiah 31:37
If the heavens... will be measured How much is their altitude.
I too will reject...Israel That is to say that just as they can neither be measured nor fathomed so will Israel not be rejected because of all that they sinned.
