Jeremia 31:16

Lutherbibel

Aber der HERR spricht also: Laß dein Schreien und Weinen und die Tränen deiner Augen; denn deine Arbeit wird wohl belohnt werden, spricht der HERR. Sie sollen wiederkommen aus dem Lande des Feindes;

Parallel Translations

Schlachter Bibel (1951)
So spricht der Herr : Wehre deiner Stimme das Weinen und deinen Augen die Tränen! Denn es gibt noch einen Lohn für deine Mühe, spricht der Herr ; und sie sollen wiederkommen aus dem Lande des Feindes;

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Refrain: Genesis 43:31, Genesis 45:1, Psalms 30:5, Mark 5:38, Mark 5:39, John 20:13-15, 1 Thessalonians 4:14

for: Ruth 2:12, 2 Chronicles 15:7, Ecclesiastes 9:7, Hebrews 6:10, Hebrews 11:6

they: Jeremiah 31:4, Jeremiah 31:5, Jeremiah 23:3, Jeremiah 29:14, Jeremiah 30:3, Jeremiah 30:18, Jeremiah 33:7, Jeremiah 33:11, Ezra 1:5-11, Ezekiel 11:17, Ezekiel 11:18, Ezekiel 20:41, Ezekiel 20:42, Hosea 1:11

Reciprocal: Jeremiah 30:5 - a voice Matthew 5:4 - General Luke 7:13 - Weep not Revelation 5:5 - Weep

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thus saith the Lord, refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears,.... Though sorrow on such an occasion may be lawfully indulged, yet it ought to be moderated; and attention should be given to those things which may serve to relieve under it, and especially when they come from the Lord himself; then a stop is to be put to the mournful voice, and wet eyes are to be dried up:

for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; in bearing these children, and bringing them into the world, and expressing such an affectionate and tender concern for them; signifying, that the trouble of bearing and bringing them into the world, and nursing them the time they did live, should not, as it might seem, be fruitless, and to answer no end; but it should be seen hereafter, that all this was not in vain; nor should they think it so; but that they have an ample recompense of all their sorrow and trouble:

and they shall come again from the land of the enemy; meaning either Joseph, and Mary, and Jesus; who, by the warning of an angel, went into Egypt, the land of the enemy, where the Jewish fathers were once evilly entreated, just before this barbarity was committed; where they stayed till all danger was over, and then returned; see Matthew 2:13; compared with Hosea 11:1; or rather the murdered children, who, in the resurrection morn, shall return from the grave, the land of that "last enemy", death, which shall be destroyed, 1 Corinthians 15:26; and so Rachel, and the Jewish mothers she represents, are comforted with the hopes of a better resurrection; see Hebrews 11:35.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The religious character of the restoration of the ten tribes. Chastisement brought repentance, and with it forgiveness; therefore God decrees their restoration.

Jeremiah 31:15

Ramah, 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 representing in a dramatic form the miserable condition of the kingdom of Ephraim devastated by the sword of the Assyrians.

Jeremiah 31:16

Rachel’s work had been that of bearing and bringing up children, and by their death she was deprived of the joy for which she had labored: but by their being restored to her she will receive her wages.

Jeremiah 31:17

In thine end - i. e., for thy time to come (see the Jeremiah 29:11 note).

Jeremiah 31:18

As a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke - literally, like an untaught calf. Compare the Hosea 10:11 note. Ephraim, like an untrained steer, had resisted Yahweh’s will.

Jeremiah 31:19

After that I was turned - i. e., after I had turned away from Thee. In Jeremiah 31:18 it has the sense of turning to God.

Instructed - Brought to my senses by suffering. The smiting upon the thigh is a sign of sorrow. Compare Ezekiel 21:17.

The reproach of my youth - i. e., the shame brought upon me by sins of my youth.

Jeremiah 31:20

Moved to compassion by Ephraim’s lamentation, Yahweh shows Himself as tender and ready to forgive as parents are their spoiled (rather, darling) child.

For ... him - Or, “that so often as I speak concerning him,” i. e., his punishment.

My bowels are troubled - The metaphor expresses the most tender internal emotion.

Jeremiah 31:21

Waymarks - See 2 Kings 23:17 note.

High heaps - Or, signposts, pillars to point out the way.

Set thine heart - Not set thy affection, but turn thy thoughts and attention (in Hebrew the heart is the seat of the intellect) to the highway, even the way by which thou wentest.

Jeremiah 31:22

Israel instead of setting itself to return hesitates, and goes here and there in a restless mood. To encourage it God gives the sign following.

A woman shall compass a man - i. e., the female shall protect the strong man; the weaker nature that needs help will surround the stronger with loving and fostering care. This expresses a new relation of Israel to the Lord, a new covenant, which the Lord will make with His people (Jeremiah 31:31 following). The fathers saw in these words a prophecy of the miraculous conception of our Lord by the Virgin.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 31:16. They shall come again from the land of the enemy. — This could not be said of the murdered innocents at Bethlehem; they never came again; but the Jews, who had gone into captivity, did come again from the land of their enemy to their own border.