Jer 31:1
31:1 At the {a} same time, saith the LORD, I will be the God of
     all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

     (a) When this noble governor will come, meaning Christ, not
         only Judah and Israel, but the rest of the world will
         be called.

Jer 31:2
31:2 Thus saith the LORD, The people [who were] {b} left by the
     sword found grace in the wilderness; {c} [even] Israel,
     when I went to cause him to rest.

     (b) Who were delivered from the cruelty of Pharaoh.
     (c) That is, God.

Jer 31:3
31:3 The LORD appeared {d} of old to me, [saying], {e} I have
     loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with
     lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

     (d) The people thus reason as though he were not so
          beneficial to them now as he had been of old.
     (e) Thus the Lord answers that his love is not changeable.

Jer 31:4
31:4 Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin
     of Israel: thou shalt again {f} be adorned with thy
     tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make
     merry.

     (f) You will still have opportunity to rejoice which is
         meant by tabrets and dancing as their custom was after
         notable victories, Ex 15:20, Jud 11:34.

Jer 31:5
31:5 Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of {g}
     Samaria: the planters shall plant, and {h} shall eat [them]
     as common things.

     (g) Because the Israelites who were the ten tribes never
         returned to Samaria, therefore this must be spiritually
         understood under the kingdom of Christ, which was the
         restoration of the true Israel.
     (h) That is, will eat the fruit of it, as in
         Le 19:23-25, De 20:6.

Jer 31:6
31:6 For there shall be a day, [that] the {i} watchmen upon the
     mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to {k}
     Zion to the LORD our God.

     (i) The ministers of the word.
     (k) They will exhort all to the embracing of the gospel, as
         in Isa 2:3.

Jer 31:7
31:7 {l} For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob,
     and shout among the chief of the nations: proclaim ye,
     praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of
     Israel.

     (l) He shows what will be the concord and love of all under
         the gospel when none will be refused for their
         infirmities: and everyone will exhort one another to
         embrace it.

Jer 31:9
31:9 They shall come with {m} weeping, and with supplications
     will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers
     of {n} waters in a straight way, in which they shall not
     stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim [is] {o}
     my firstborn.

     (m) That is, lamenting their sins which had not given ear
         to the prophets and therefore it follows that God
         received them to mercy, Jer 50:4. Some take it
         that they should weep for joy.
     (n) Where they found no impediments, but abundance of all
         things.
     (o) That is, my dearly beloved as the first child is to the
         father.

Jer 31:11
31:11 For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from
      the hand {p} of [him that was] stronger than he.

      (p) That is, from the Babylonians and other enemies.

Jer 31:12
31:12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion,
      and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for
      {q} grain, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of
      the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a
      watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.

      (q) By these temporal benefits he means the spiritual
          graces which are in the Church, and of which there
          would ever be plenty, Isa 58:11,12.

Jer 31:13
31:13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the {r} dance, both young
      men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into
      joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from
      their sorrow.

      (r) In the company of the faithful, who ever praise God
          for his benefits.

Jer 31:14
31:14 And I will abundantly satisfy the soul of the priests with
      {s} fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my
      goodness, saith the LORD.

      (s) Meaning, the spirit of wisdom, knowledge and zeal.

Jer 31:15
31:15 Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah,
      lamentation, [and] bitter weeping; {t} Rachel weeping for
      her children refused to be comforted for her children,
      because they [were] not.

      (t) To declare the greatness of God's mercy in delivering
          the Jews, he shows them that they were like the
          Benjamites of the Israelites, that is, utterly
          destroyed and carried away, so much so that if Rachel
          the mother of Benjamin could have risen again to seek
          her children she would have found none remaining.

Jer 31:18
31:18 I have surely heard {u} Ephraim bemoaning himself [thus];
      Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a {x} bull
      unaccustomed [to the yoke]: {y} turn thou me, and I shall
      be turned; for thou [art] the LORD my God.

      (u) That is, the people who were led captive.
      (x) Which was wanton and could not be subject to the yoke.
      (y) He shows how the faithful used to pray, that is,
          desire God to tame them as they cannot turn of
          themselves.

Jer 31:19
31:19 Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after I was
      instructed, I smote upon [my] {z} thigh: I was ashamed,
      and even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my
      youth.

      (z) In sign of repentance and detestation of my sin.

Jer 31:20
31:20 [Is] Ephraim {a} my dear son? [is he] a pleasant child?
      for since I spoke against him, I do earnestly {b} remember
      him still: therefore my heart is troubled for him; I will
      surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.

      (a) As though he would say no for by his iniquity he did
          what lay in him to cast me off.

Jer 31:21
31:21 Set thee up {c} waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thy
      heart toward the highway, [even] the way [which] thou
      wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to
      these thy cities.

      (c) Mark by what way you went into captivity and you will
          turn again by the same.

Jer 31:22
31:22 How long wilt thou wander about, O thou backsliding
      daughter?  for the LORD hath created {d} a new thing in
      the earth, A woman shall encompass a man.

      (d) Because their deliverance from Babylon was a figure of
          their deliverance from sin, he shows how this would be
          procured that is, by Jesus Christ, whom a woman would
          conceive and bear in her womb. Which is a strange
          thing in earth, because he would be born of a virgin
          without man or he means that Jerusalem which was like
          a barren woman in her captivity would be fruitful as
          she that is joined in marriage and whom God blesses
          with children.

Jer 31:26
31:26 Upon this I awoke, and beheld; and my sleep {e} was sweet
      to me.

      (e) Having understood this vision of the Messiah to come,
          in whom the two houses of Israel and Judah would be
          joined, I rejoiced.

Jer 31:27
31:27 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will sow the
      house of Israel and the house of Judah {f} with the seed
      of man, and with the seed of beast.

      (f) I will multiply and enrich them with people and
          cattle.

Jer 31:29
31:29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have {g}
      eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on
      edge.

      (g) The wicked used this proverb when they murmured
          against God's judgments pronounced by the prophets,
          saying that their fathers had committed the fault and
          that the children were punished, Eze 18:2,3.

Jer 31:31
31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a
      {h} new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the
      house of Judah:

      (h) Though the covenant of redemption made to the fathers
          and this which was given later seemed varied, yet they
          are all one and grounded on Jesus Christ, save that
          this is called new, because of the manifestation of
          Christ and the abundant graces of the Holy Spirit
          given to his Church under the gospel.

Jer 31:32
31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their
      fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to bring
      them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they {i}
      broke, although I was an husband to them, saith the LORD:

      (i) And so were the opportunity of their own divorcement
          through their infidelity, Isa 50:1.

Jer 31:33
31:33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the
      house of Israel; After {k} those days, saith the LORD, I
      will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in
      their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my
      people.

      (k) In the time of Christ, my law will instead of tables
          of stone be written in their hearts by my Holy Spirit,
          He 8:10.

Jer 31:34
31:34 And they shall {l} teach no more every man his neighbour,
      and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they
      shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest
      of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their
      iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

      (l) Under the kingdom of Christ there will be no one
          blinded with ignorance, but I will give them faith,
          and acknowledge God for remission of their sins and
          daily increase the same: so that it will not seem to
          come so much by the preaching of my ministers as by
          the instruction of my Holy Spirit, Isa 54:13 but
          the full accomplishing of it is referred to the
          kingdom of Christ, when we will be joined with our
          head.

Jer 31:35
31:35 Thus saith the LORD, who giveth {m} the sun for a light by
      day, [and] the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for
      a light by night, who divideth the sea when its waves
      roar; The LORD of hosts [is] his name:

      (m) If the sun, moon and stars cannot but glue light
          according to my ordinance, so long as this world
          lasts, so shall my church never fail, neither shall
          anything hinder it: and as sure as I will have a
          people, so certain is it, that I will leave them my
          word forever to govern them with.

Jer 31:37
31:37 Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, {n}
      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.

      (n) The one and the other is impossible.

Jer 31:38
31:38 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the {o} city
      shall be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananeel to
      the gate of the corner.

      (o) As it was performed, Neh 3:1. By this
          description he shows that the city would be as ample
          and beautiful as it ever was: but he alludes to the
          spiritual Jerusalem whose beauty would be
          incomparable.