Jeremiah 31:38
“The Rebuilding of Jerusalem”Jeremiah 31:38–40
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible · Public domain
Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain
Bible text: World English Bible, Messianic edition · Public domain
Bible text: Geneva Bible (1599) · Public domain
Bible text: Young's Literal Translation · Public domain
- הִנֵּהhi·Nehhere!H2009PrtParticle Interjection
- יָמִים בָּאִיםya·Mim ba·'Imdays [are] comingH3117N-mp ¦ V-Qal-Prtcpl-mpNoun Plural Masculine Absoluteיָמִיםdaysבָּאִים[are] coming
- נְאֻםne·'um[the] utterance ofH5002N-mscNoun Singular Masculine Construct
- יְהוָהYah·wehYahwehH3068N-properNoun Proper Title
- וְנִבְנְתָהve·niv·ne·Tahand it will be rebuiltH1129Conj-w ¦ V-Niphal-ConsecPerf-3fsVerb Niphal Consecutive Perfect 3rd Singular Feminineוְandנִבְנְתָהit will be rebuilt
- הָעִירha·'Irthe cityH5892Art ¦ N-fsNoun Singular Feminine Absoluteהָtheעִירcity
- לַיהוָהla·Yah·wehfor YahwehH3068Prep-l ¦ N-properNoun Proper TitleלַforיהוָהYahweh
- מִמִּגְדַּלmi·mig·Dalfrom [the] tower ofH4026Prep-m ¦ N-mscNoun Singular Masculine Constructמִfromמִּגְדַּל[the] tower of
- חֲנַנְאֵלcha·nan·'ElHananelH2606N-proper-mNoun Proper Masculine
- שַׁעַרSha·'ar[the] gate ofH8179N-mscNoun Singular Masculine Construct
- הַפִּנָּהha·pi·Nahthe cornerH6438Art ¦ N-fsNoun Singular Feminine Absoluteהַtheפִּנָּהcorner
English is a literal word-by-word gloss of the Hebrew, not the KJV's wording. Why?
This is the original text the KJV's translators worked from — each Hebrew word with its own literal English meaning in this verse, prepared by scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge. The KJV translates whole sentences, not word by word, so its wording differs: one Hebrew word can become several English words, and the KJV may choose “the LORD” where the gloss reads “Yahweh”. Both are faithful — they answer different questions. For the KJV's own rendering, switch to the KJV text.
Words in [ ] are added by the English.
Details
Study this verse
Public-domain commentary
Matthew Henry
From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry wrote on whole passages, and this entry covers Jeremiah 31:35–40. He set out his notes in a three-level outline, kept here as he numbered it.
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 gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now here are two things offered for the confirmation of our faith in this matter - the building of the world and the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
I.The building of the world, and the firmness and lastingness of that building, are evidences of the power and faithfulness of that God who has undertaken the establishment of his church. He that built all things at first is God (Hebrews 3:4), and the same is he that makes all things now. The constancy of the glories of the kingdom of nature may encourage us to depend upon the divine promise for the continuance of the glories of the kingdom of grace, for this is as the waters of Noah, Isaiah 54:9. Let us observe here,
1.The glories of the kingdom of nature, and infer thence how happy those are that have this God, the God of nature, to be their God for ever and ever. Take notice,
(1.)Of the steady and regular motion of the heavenly bodies, which God is the first mover and supreme director of: He gives the sun for a light by day (Jeremiah 31:35), not only made it at first to be so, but still gives it to be so; for the light and heat, and all the influences of the sun, continually depend upon its great Creator. He gives the ordinances of the moon and stars for a light by night; their motions are called ordinances both because they are regular and by rule and because they are determined and under rule. See Job 38:31-33.
(2.)Take notice of the government of the sea, and the check that is given to its proud billows: The Lord of hosts divides the sea, or (as some read it) settles the sea, when the waves thereof roar (divide et impera - divide and rule); when it is most tossed God keeps it within compass (Jeremiah 5:22), and soon quiets it and makes it calm again. The power of God is to be magnified by us, not only in maintaining the regular motions of the heavens, but in controlling the irregular motions of the seas.
(3.)Take notice of the vastness of the heavens and the unmeasurable extent of the firmament; he must needs be a great God who manages such a great world as this is; the heavens above cannot be measured (Jeremiah 31:37), and yet God fills them.
(4.)Take notice of the mysteriousness even of that part of the creation in which our lot is cast and which we are most conversant with. The foundations of the earth cannot be searched out beneath, for the Creator hangs the earth upon nothing (Job 26:7), and we know not how the foundations thereof are fastened, Job 38:6.
(5.)Take notice of the immovable stedfastness of all these (Jeremiah 31:36): These ordinances cannot depart from before God; he has all the hosts of heaven and earth continually under his eye and all the motions of both; he has established them, and they abide, abide according to his ordinance, for all are his servants, Psalm 119:90, Psalm 119:91. The heavens are often clouded, and the sun and moon often eclipsed, the earth may quake and the sea be tossed, but they all keep their place, are moved, but not removed. Herein we must acknowledge the power, goodness, and faithfulness of the Creator.
2.The securities of the kingdom of grace inferred hence: we may be confident of this very thing that the seed of Israel shall not cease from being a nation, for the spiritual Israel, the gospel church, shall be a holy nation, a peculiar people, 1 Peter 2:9. When Israel according to the flesh is no longer a nation the children of the promise are counted for the seed (Romans 9:8) and God will not cast off all the seed of Israel, no, not for all that they have done, though they have done very wickedly, Jeremiah 31:37. He justly might cast them off, but he will not. Though he cast them out from their land, and cast them down for a time, yet he will not cast them off. Some of them he casts off, but not all; to this the apostle seems to refer (Romans 11:1), Hath God cast away his people? God forbid that we should think so! For (Jeremiah 31:5) at this time there is a remnant, enough to save the credit of the promise that God will not cast off all the seed of Israel, though many among them throw away themselves by unbelief. Now we may be assisted in the belief of this by considering,
(1.)That the God that has undertaken the preservation of the church is a God of almighty power, who upholds all things by his almighty word. Our help stands in his name who made heaven and earth, and therefore can do any thing.
(2.)That God would not take all this care of the world but that he designs to have some glory to himself out of it; and how shall he have it but by securing to himself a church in it, a people that shall be to him for a name and a praise?
(3.)That if the order of the creation therefore continues firm because it was well-fixed at first, and is not altered because it needs no alteration, the method of grace shall for the same reason continue invariable, as it was a first well settled.
(4.)That he who has promised to preserve a church for himself has approved himself faithful to the word which he has spoken concerning the stability of the world. He that is true to his covenant with Noah and his sons, because he established it for an everlasting covenant (Genesis 9:9, Genesis 9:16), will not, we may be sure, be false to his covenant with Abraham and his seed, his spiritual seed, for that also is an everlasting covenant. Even that which they have done amiss, though they have done much, shall not prevail to defeat the gracious intentions of the covenant. See Psalm 89:30, etc.
II.The rebuilding of Jerusalem which was now in ruins, and the enlargement and establishment of that, shall be an earnest of these great things that God will do for the gospel church, the heavenly Jerusalem, Jeremiah 31:38-40. The days will come, though they may be long in coming, when,
1.Jerusalem shall be entirely built again, as large as ever it was; the dimensions are here exactly described by the places through which the circumference passed, and no doubt the wall which Nehemiah built, and which, the more punctually to fulfil the prophecy, began about the tower of Hananeel, here mentioned (Nehemiah 3:1), enclosed as much ground as is here intended, though we cannot certainly determine the places here called the gate of the corner, the hill Gareb, etc.
2.When built it shall be consecrated to God and to his service. It shall be built to the Lord (Jeremiah 31:38), and even the suburbs and fields adjacent shall be holy unto the Lord. It shall not be polluted with idols as formerly, but God shall be praised and honoured there; the whole city shall be as it were one temple, one holy place, as the new Jerusalem is, which therefore has no temple, because it is all temple.
3.Being thus built by virtue of the promise of God, it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down, any more for ever; that is, it shall continue very long, the time of the new city from the return to its last destruction being fully as long as that of the old from David to the captivity. But this promise was to have its full accomplishment in the gospel church, which, as it is the spiritual Israel, and therefore God will not cast it off, so it is the holy city, and therefore all the powers of men shall not pluck it up, nor throw it down. It may lie waste for a time, as Jerusalem did, but shall recover itself, shall weather the storm and gain its point, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Historical interpretation
Historical reception
3 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.
Then it continues, “to the corner gate.” It is made a corner lest any true justice or any certain victory be thought demonstrable in this world. And the corner gate itself, though it may be “in the east,” whence the light originates, is nevertheless called “horse gate,” this to teach us that we need to ride and to fight, so that we may deserve to hear with the Lord, “You mounted your horses and the salvation of your chariot.” The sanctification of the Lord is placed in the eastern gate, the gate of chariots, that we may be deemed perfect when we say to the Lord, “The chariot of God is tens of thousands of joyful people, for the Lord is among them.” In this way, the building that is established on the foundation of Christ, about which the apostle also said, “as a wise architect, I laid a foundation,” will never be destroyed but will remain forever.
Those who accept the reign of the Messiah for one thousand years in the land of Judea—clearly the Jews and our Judaizers—strive to claim and to demonstrate that the sanctuary of the Lord, that is, the temple, must be maintained forever in one location, specifically that of the tower of Hananel and the corner gate and the hill Gareb and Goah and the entire valley of corpses and ashes and the river Kidron and the corner of the eastern Gate of Horses. Because they are unable to show that it was completed after their captivity in the times of Zerubbabel and Ezra, they pass to the times of the Messiah, whom they say is coming at the consummation of the world, so that a golden and bejeweled Jerusalem can descend, according to the Apocalypse of John, and be built within this space of land, that is, beginning at one place and ending at another. And they receive this whiff of a suspicion that the foundation of the city is to be laid from the tower at Anathoth, which today is called Jeremiah’s and is separated from Jerusalem by three thousand [sic], to the river Kidron, where there is a garden in which Judas the traitor betrayed the Savior, as written in the Gospel.“We are about to read in what follows,” they say, “that Hanamel the son of Shallum was Jeremiah’s uncle and that Jeremiah bought Hanamel’s field and that this is the tower of Hanamel.” Yet, they did not know the truth of the Hebrew, for this is what is written: “from the tower of Hananel,” with an n clearly as the fifth letter, whereas the name in the other phrase has an m as the fifth letter: “Behold, Hanamel, son of Shallum, your uncle, will come to you.”
Invoking the Lord and Savior “who has the key of David, who opens and no one closes, who closes and no one opens,” … let us approach the edifice of the city to which the prophetic words were directed: “Glorious things are said of you, O city of God,” and “the river’s flow delights the City of God.” Thus, the church is built from the tower “of obedience” or “grace” or “the gifts of God”—for this is what Hananel means—to the corner gate. Even though the church may appear to have a sublime beginning, we are unable to possess the straight line of truth as long as we are in the flesh, but we stand on a corner with broken lines, where the measuring line goes out beyond the corner gate to the hill Gareb, which, in our language, is translated either “sojourn” or “itch,” to teach us that we are foreigners and wanderers with ears itching to provide easy agreement to the worst of new doctrines.And “it will go around Goah,” it says, which the Septuagint translates as “a circuit around chosen stones,” who wish to be on the face of the earth and are bound together by the cornerstone, with the apostle Peter saying, “like living stones, be built into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” It continues, “And it goes around the entire valley of Phagarim,” which means “ruins” and “ashes,” so that even though we appear to be in the hills, we may always yet fear the ruins and consider the ashes and say penance with David: “I ate ashes like bread and mixed tears into my drink.” Hence, to the sleeping it is said, “Is it not true that one who falls rises again, says the Lord?” It also says “the entire Sademoth,” which we translate as the “region of death,” from sade, which means “region,” and moth, which means “death.” But Aquila translates it “suburban,” or “field” and “country.” But the “region of death” is the region of sinners and “suburban” the region of pleasures, which continues all the way to the river Kidron, where the Lord was betrayed, which is translated “darkness.” See how many places the church has and how the apostolic word that it is to be “without spot or wrinkle” is reserved for the future in heaven. You heard about the corner, you heard about the itchy ears, you heard about the ruins and the ashes and the region of death and the darkness, and still you glory in your virtue and your sinlessness!
Continue studying Jeremiah 31:38 across the web’s major study libraries — every link below opens this exact verse, chapter, or book on the destination site.
Read & Compare
BibleGatewayThis verse in more than 200 translations and 70 languages.
Bible.comThe YouVersion reader — hundreds of translations, reading plans, and highlights.
ESV.orgCrossway's official English Standard Version reader.
NET BibleThe NET translation with 60,000+ translators' notes on every rendering decision.
STEP BibleTyndale House's free study tool — original text, vocabulary, and scholarly resources.
BibliaLogos Bible Software's free web reader.
USCCBThe New American Bible (Revised Edition) with the U.S. bishops' study notes.
Commentaries
BibleHub CommentariesDozens of classic commentaries on this verse, gathered on one page.
StudyLightMore than 100 commentary sets — the largest collection on the web.
BibleRefPlain-English commentary on what this verse means, verse by verse.
Enduring WordDavid Guzik's free commentary on this chapter, widely used by Bible teachers.
Bible Study ToolsVerse commentary alongside Greek and Hebrew study aids.
Original Language & Research
- BibleHub InterlinearThe verse word by word — original language, transliteration, and English.
- BibleHub LexiconEvery word's original-language definition and Strong's entry.
Blue Letter BibleDeep-study tools — Strong's numbers, concordance, and word studies.
SefariaThe Hebrew text with Rashi and centuries of Jewish commentary.
Sermons, Hymns & Audio
TrulyRandomVerse is not affiliated with these sites and doesn’t control their content. They’re linked because they’re genuinely useful.
Written with AI assistance. Always check it against Scripture.
This verse
The LORD promises that days are coming when Jerusalem will be built again for him, from the tower of Hananeel to the gate of the corner.
“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD,”
A prophet’s way of announcing a future that God has fixed. “Behold” (hinnēh) asks for attention, and “saith the LORD” (nᵉʼum Yᵉhôvâh) gives the promise his own authority.
“that the city shall be built to the LORD”
The city is Jerusalem. Bânâh, “to build”, stands in a passive form, so the stress falls on the city being built and on the one it is built for. “To the LORD” speaks of dedication and ownership.
“from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner.”
Two known points on the wall, the tower probably on the north and the gate on the west. Chănanʼêl means “God has favored”, and pinnâh is the word for a corner.
Passage studyJeremiah 31:38–40
The City Rebuilt and Holy to the LORD
Summary
The LORD promises that Jerusalem, which is about to fall to Babylon, will be built again, and built for him. A measuring line marks out a city that reaches past its old edges to the hill Gareb and to Goath. Even the valley of dead bodies and ashes and the fields down to the Kidron will be holy to the LORD, and the city he builds will stand for ever. These three verses close the chapter of the new covenant, and they show that when God restores his people he restores them wholly, in a place that belongs to him.
Where this promise stands in Jeremiah
These verses belong to the part of Jeremiah often called the Book of Comfort or the Book of Consolation (Jeremiah 30–33). There the prophet turns from judgment and exile to promises of return and renewal for both Israel and Judah. Just before our passage comes the promise of the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31–34), in which God writes his law on the hearts of his people, forgives their sin, and is known by all of them. The rebuilt city is the outward side of that inward work. A people with new hearts will live in a renewed and holy place, so God’s restoration reaches both the soul and the ground under our feet.
Jeremiah spoke these words when Jerusalem was facing destruction by the Babylonians, which came in 586 BC. The walls and gates would be torn down and the people carried away. Jerusalem was the heart of the nation and the place of God’s temple, so its fall looked to the people like God leaving them and the covenant coming to an end. Into that grief God speaks of walls, gates and hills by name, which told the first hearers that he would return to this very city and give them a secure future in their own land.
What it means that the city is “built to the LORD”
The promise opens with “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD”. “Behold” (hinnēh) calls for attention, “the days come” speaks of a time God has appointed, and “saith the LORD” (nᵉʼum Yᵉhôvâh) marks this as the word of Israel’s covenant God, who has the power to do what he says. The future of the city rests on his will and his initiative, and human ability or merit adds nothing to its certainty.
The verb for “built”, bânâh, is the ordinary Hebrew word for building, and it also covers repairing and setting up. Here it is in a passive form (tibbānətâ, “shall be built”), which leaves the builder unnamed. God himself is behind the work, and he will use people whom he strengthens for it.
“To the LORD” tells us whom the city is for. Jerusalem will be rebuilt for God’s glory and his purposes, as a place where he dwells and his will is honoured, in the way the temple was built for the LORD (1 Kings 6:1). The old city had been defiled by the sin of its people, and the new one is dedicated to him from the start. Ezekiel carries the same promise, that God will cleanse his people and cause their ruined cities to be rebuilt (Ezekiel 36:33–36).
Why are a tower and a gate named?
The two landmarks show how far the rebuilding will reach. The tower of Hananeel stood on the north side of Jerusalem, and the gate of the corner was probably on the west. By naming one known point and then another, the LORD describes a whole city restored along its line of defence, and the first hearers could picture the very stones he meant.
The name Hananeel, Chănanʼêl, means “God has favored”, and it fits the promise well, since the rebuilding comes from God’s favour to a people who had failed him. The word for “corner”, pinnâh, means a corner or angle, and by extension a cornerstone or a corner tower. Both landmarks appear again in Scripture. The men who rebuilt the wall after the exile worked as far as the tower of Hananeel (Nehemiah 3:1), and Zechariah names the tower and the corner gate when he describes Jerusalem inhabited in safety (Zechariah 14:10–11).
The measuring line goes out to Gareb and Goath
A measuring line is the tool of builders and surveyors, who use it to lay out foundations and mark boundaries. The two Hebrew words are qav, a cord, and middâh, a measure or extent. The line shows that God’s restoration is planned. He has the dimensions of the new city in hand before a stone is laid, and so the promise is as definite as a surveyor’s plan.
The line “shall yet go forth”. The verb yâtsâʼ means to go out, and here the line goes out beyond where the city used to end, first to the hill Gareb and then around to Goath. The verb for “compass about”, çâbab, means to go around or encircle. The rebuilt Jerusalem is larger than the one that fell. Other prophets see the same kind of measuring. Ezekiel is shown a man with a measuring reed in his vision of the new temple (Ezekiel 40:3), and Zechariah sees Jerusalem measured as a city without walls (Zechariah 2:1–5).
Gareb (Gârêb) and Goath (Gôʻâh) are named only here, and their exact sites are unknown to us. Gareb was probably a hill to the west or south-west of the city, and Goath may have lain to the south or south-east, perhaps toward the valley of Hinnom. The name Gareb is connected with a word meaning “scabby”, which has led some to think of a place where lepers lived. Both were outside the old city, on ground that was peripheral and may have been thought unclean. God’s line takes them in, so the edges of the city come inside his holy place along with its centre.
The valley of dead bodies and ashes becomes holy
Verse 40 goes further and names the most defiled ground around Jerusalem. “The whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes” is most likely the valley of Hinnom, south and west of the city, where children had been sacrificed to Molech at Topheth (2 Kings 23:10). It was a place of death and of judgment. The word for ashes, deshen, comes from a root, dâshên, that speaks of fatness, and it is the word for the fatty ashes left from sacrifices.
The boundary then runs through “all the fields unto the brook of Kidron”, the valley on the east of the city. The Kidron too had a history of uncleanness, because it was where faithful kings destroyed idols. Asa burnt his mother’s idol there (2 Chronicles 15:16), and Josiah burned the grove from the temple there and threw its dust on the graves (2 Kings 23:6). The line ends at “the corner of the horse gate toward the east”, a gate on the eastern side near the temple, which Nehemiah’s builders later repaired (Nehemiah 3:28).
All of this ground “shall be holy unto the LORD”. The word qôdesh comes from the root qâdash, to be set apart or consecrated. Places once given over to idols, corpses and ashes will belong to God and be fit for his presence. It is a complete reversal. The holiness that once marked the temple will cover the whole city out to its farthest and worst corners, and the uncleanness of the past will be gone.
“Not plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever”
The passage ends with the city’s security: “it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.” Nâthash means to tear away or pull up by the roots, as a plant is uprooted, and hâraç means to tear down or throw down, as a wall or a building is demolished. Jerusalem was about to suffer both at the hands of Babylon. God promises a city that will suffer neither again, and “for ever” (ʻôwlâm) puts no end to that promise. Its permanence rests on his faithfulness to his covenant.
How the promise is fulfilled in Christ
Jerusalem was rebuilt after the exile, and the promise also looks further, to Christ and the new covenant he established. Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19), speaking of the temple of his body. He is the builder of a spiritual house made of living stones, and he is its chief corner stone (1 Peter 2:4–6). God now dwells in his people (2 Corinthians 6:16), and those who come to Christ have come to “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Hebrews 12:22).
The measuring line that took in Gareb and Goath pictures how wide this work is. In Christ those who were far off become fellow citizens with the saints and are built together into a holy temple for God (Ephesians 2:19–22). The holiness promised to the valley of ashes comes to us through his sacrifice. He is the Lamb of God (John 1:29), who took our defilement on himself, and we are sanctified through the offering of his body once for all (Hebrews 10:10).
The words “any more for ever” belong to his kingdom, which “shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44). Isaiah saw the mountain of the LORD’s house exalted in the last days (Isaiah 2:2–4) and heard God promise new heavens and a new earth, with Jerusalem created as a rejoicing (Isaiah 65:17–19). John saw that promise complete, when the new Jerusalem comes down from God, he dwells with his people, and death and sorrow are gone (Revelation 21:1–4). In that city God and the Lamb are the temple and the light, and all that defiles is kept outside it (Revelation 21:22–27).
What the measured city gives us
These verses were given to people who were about to watch their city burn, and they show us the God who plans restoration while the ruin is still ahead. He rebuilds what looks finished, and our hope in any loss rests on his power and his word, “Behold, the days come.”
They also show how far his holiness reaches. God claimed the valley of dead bodies and the fields of ashes for himself, and the same God cleanses the most defiled heart. The parts of a life that we count as shameful or beyond repair lie inside the line he draws, and through Christ they can be made holy to the LORD.
And what he builds, he keeps. The city of this promise will stand for ever, so the security of God’s people rests on him and on his faithfulness, which outlasts every change in our circumstances.
Jeremiah 31:38 This verse
“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD,”
A prophet’s way of announcing a future that God has fixed. “Behold” (hinnēh) asks for attention, and “saith the LORD” (nᵉʼum Yᵉhôvâh) gives the promise his own authority.
“that the city shall be built to the LORD”
The city is Jerusalem. Bânâh, “to build”, stands in a passive form, so the stress falls on the city being built and on the one it is built for. “To the LORD” speaks of dedication and ownership.
“from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner.”
Two known points on the wall, the tower probably on the north and the gate on the west. Chănanʼêl means “God has favored”, and pinnâh is the word for a corner.
Jeremiah 31:39
“And the measuring line shall yet go forth”
The cord (qav) of measure (middâh) is a surveyor’s tool, as in the measured temple of Ezekiel 40. “Yet” looks ahead to a day after the ruin, and yâtsâʼ has the line going out.
“over against it upon the hill Gareb,”
Gârêb was likely a hill west or south-west of the old city. Its name is tied to a word for “scabby”.
“and shall compass about to Goath.”
The line turns (çâbab, to go around) to Gôʻâh, perhaps south or south-east of the city. The name may be connected with lowing, the sound of cattle.
Jeremiah 31:40
“And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes,”
Most likely the valley of Hinnom, the place of child sacrifice. Deshen is the fatty ash of sacrifices. “The whole valley” is included, every part of it.
“and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron,”
The open ground running east to the Kidron valley, where idols had been burned.
“unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east,”
A gate on the east side near the temple, which closes the circuit that began in verse 38.
“shall be holy unto the LORD;”
Qôdesh, set apart for God. The defiled ground changes its standing and becomes his.
“it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.”
Nâthash is to uproot and hâraç is to tear down. Together they describe what Babylon was about to do, and ʻôwlâm, “for ever”, says it will have no repeat.
Last revised