Jeremiah 31:19 Study Bible: Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I struck on my thigh: I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.'

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◄ Jeremiah 31:19 ►

After I returned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.'

Study Bible

After I returned, I repented;
This phrase reflects the theme of repentance and return to God, a central message in the book of Jeremiah. The context is the promise of restoration for Israel after a period of exile and punishment. The act of returning signifies a change of heart and a turning back to God, which is a recurring theme throughout the Old Testament, especially in the prophetic books. The Hebrew concept of repentance, "teshuvah," involves a complete turning away from sin and a return to God. This mirrors the prodigal son’s return in Luke 15:11-32, emphasizing God’s readiness to forgive and restore.

and after I was instructed,
Instruction here implies a process of learning and understanding God’s ways, often through discipline or correction. In the historical context, Israel's exile served as a period of instruction, teaching them the consequences of their disobedience. This aligns with Proverbs 3:11-12, which speaks of the Lord’s discipline as an act of love. The instruction is not merely academic but transformative, leading to a deeper relationship with God.

I struck my thigh in grief.
Striking the thigh is an expression of deep sorrow and regret, a cultural gesture of mourning and repentance in ancient Near Eastern societies. This physical act symbolizes the internal anguish and acknowledgment of wrongdoing. It is similar to the public displays of mourning seen in other parts of the Bible, such as tearing clothes or wearing sackcloth, as seen in Job 1:20 and Jonah 3:6.

I was ashamed and humiliated
Shame and humiliation are common responses to sin and its consequences. In the biblical context, these feelings are not just personal but communal, affecting the entire nation of Israel. The acknowledgment of shame is a step towards redemption, as it reflects a recognition of sin and a desire for reconciliation with God. This is echoed in Psalm 51, where David expresses deep remorse for his sins.

because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
The disgrace of youth refers to the past sins and rebellious actions of Israel, often depicted as spiritual adultery or idolatry. This phrase highlights the long-lasting impact of sin and the need for genuine repentance. The historical context involves Israel’s repeated turning away from God to worship other deities, leading to their downfall and exile. This is reminiscent of Ezekiel 16, where Israel’s unfaithfulness is portrayed as a youthful indiscretion that brings shame. The acknowledgment of past disgrace is crucial for moving forward in God’s plan of restoration.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Jeremiah
A major prophet in the Old Testament, known for his messages of repentance and hope to the people of Judah during a time of impending judgment and exile.

2. Ephraim
Often used as a representative name for the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Ephraim here symbolizes the people of Israel who have strayed from God but are now returning in repentance.

3. Repentance
A central theme in this verse, highlighting the turning away from sin and returning to God, accompanied by a deep sense of remorse and shame for past actions.

4. Instruction
The process of being taught or corrected, which leads to a realization of one's sins and the need for repentance.

5. Disgrace of Youth
Refers to the past sins and rebellious actions committed during a time of spiritual immaturity, which now bring shame upon reflection.

Teaching Points

The Necessity of Repentance
True repentance involves a heartfelt acknowledgment of sin and a sincere turning back to God. It is not merely feeling sorry but involves a change in direction.

The Role of Instruction
Being open to God's instruction and correction is crucial for spiritual growth. It leads to a deeper understanding of our need for repentance.

Dealing with Shame
While shame can be a natural response to sin, it should lead us to God's grace and forgiveness rather than despair. God uses our past to teach us and draw us closer to Him.

God's Readiness to Forgive
No matter how far we have strayed, God is always ready to forgive and restore us when we return to Him with a repentant heart.

Reflecting on Past Mistakes
Reflecting on the "disgrace of youth" can be a powerful reminder of God's mercy and a motivator to live a life that honors Him.

Bible Study Questions

1. What does true repentance look like in your life, and how can you ensure it leads to lasting change?

2. How can you remain open to God's instruction and correction in your daily walk with Him?

3. In what ways have you experienced shame for past actions, and how can you use those experiences to grow closer to God?

4. How does the account of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 encourage you in your journey of repentance and restoration?

5. Reflect on a time when you felt the "disgrace of youth." How did God use that experience to teach you and draw you closer to Him?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Luke 15:11-32
The Parable of the Prodigal Son mirrors the theme of repentance and returning to the Father, highlighting God's readiness to forgive and restore.

Psalm 51
David's prayer of repentance after his sin with Bathsheba reflects a similar heart of contrition and desire for cleansing.

2 Chronicles 7:14
Emphasizes the importance of humility, prayer, and turning from wicked ways as a path to healing and restoration from God.

Acts 3:19
Calls for repentance and turning to God so that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

Sermons

Conversion and Repentance	S. Conway	Jeremiah 31:19
Bemoaning One's Self	S. Conway	Jeremiah 31:18, 19
A Pattern Prayer for the Penitent	C. M. Hardy, B. A.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
A Pleasant Child	W. F. Morgan, D. D.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
Chastisement Resulting in Penitence	Robert Hall, M. A.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
Discipline	J. Parker, D. D.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
Ephraim Bemoaning Himself		Jeremiah 31:18-21
Ephraim Bemoaning Himself; Or, the Penitent's Restoration	A.F. Muir	Jeremiah 31:18-21
Evangelical Repentance	J. Hill.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
God's Tender Mercy to the Penitent	Dean Vaughan.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
Mercy to Penitents	T	Jeremiah 31:18-21
Presumptuous Sins Call for Profound Repentance	Bp. Sanderson.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
Repentance	J. Foot, D. D.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
Repentant Ephraim	F. Whitfield, M. A.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
Sanctified Affliction	J. Thorburn.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
Sin the Reproach and Shame of Youth	John Guyse, D. D.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
Spiritual Way-Marks	John Jones.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
The Cause and Design of Affliction	J. Leifchild.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
The Contrite Comforted	F. Storr, M. A.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
The Cry of the Penitent	W. Hay Aitken, M. A.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
The Divine Mercy to Mourning Penitents	President Davies.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
The Inner Side of Conversion		Jeremiah 31:18-21
The Picture of a True Penitent	W. G. Lewis.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
The Repentance of the Truly Converted	Canon Jelf.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
The Stubborn Sinner Submitting to God	E. Payson, D. D.	Jeremiah 31:18-21
To the Penitent	G. Brooks.	Jeremiah 31:18-21

People

Gareb, Jacob, Jeremiah, Rachel, Rahel

Places

Corner Gate, Egypt, Gareb, Goah, Horse Gate, Kidron, Ramah, Samaria, Tower of Hananel, Zion

Topics

Ashamed, Bear, Beat, Blushed, Bore, Borne, Breast, Confounded, Covered, Disgrace, Early, Got, Humiliated, Instructed, Myself, Regret, Repented, Reproach, Shame, Signs, Smote, Sorrow, Struck, Surely, Thigh, Truly, Turning, Undergo, Understand, Yea, Yes, Youth

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Jeremiah 31:19

     5140   breasts
     5879   humiliation
     8340   self-respect

Jeremiah 31:18-20

6734 repentance, importance
8479 self-examination, examples

Library

What the Stable Creation Teaches
'If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever.'--JER. xxxi. 36. This is the seal of the new covenant, which is to be made in days future to the prophet and his contemporaries, with the house of Israel and of Judah. That new covenant is referred to in Hebrews as the fundamental law of Christ's kingdom. Therefore we have the right to take to ourselves the promises which it contains, and to think of 'the house …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

What the Immense Creation Teaches
'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.'--JER. xxxi. 37. In the former sermon we considered the previous verse as presenting the stability of creation as a guarantee of the firmness of God's gracious covenant. Now we have to consider these grand closing words which bring before us another aspect of the universe as a guarantee for another side of God's gracious …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

August the Twenty-First Satisfaction
"My people shall be satisfied with My goodness." --JEREMIAH xxxi. 10-14. And how unlike is all this to the feasts of the world! There is a great show, but no satisfaction. There is much decorative china, but no nutritious food or drink. "Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again." We rise from the table, and our deepest cravings are unappeased. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" We know. We have had a condiment, but no meat; a showy menu-card, but no reviving feast. Nothing but …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

God in the Covenant
But I have been thinking for the last two or three days, that the covenant of grace excels the other covenant most marvelously in the mighty blessings which it confers. What does the covenant of grace convey? I had thought this morning of preaching a sermon upon "The covenant of grace; what are the blessings it gives to God's children?" But when I began to think of it, there was so much in the covenant, that if I had only read a catalogue of the great and glorious blessings, wrapped up within its …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

The Two Covenants: their Relation
"It is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondmaid, and one by the freewoman. Howbeit, the one by the bondmaid is born after the flesh; but the son by the freewoman is born through promise. Which things contain an allegory: for these women are two covenants." -GAL. iv. 22-24. THERE are two covenants, one called the Old, the other the New. God speaks of this very distinctly in Jeremiah, where He says: "The days come, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, not after the …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

The New Covenant
"But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After 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. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."--JER. xxxi. 33, 34. ISAIAH has often been called …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

Conversion of all that Come.
"Turn Thou me and I shall be turned." --Jer. xxxi. 18. The elect, born again and effectually called, converts himself. To remain unconverted is impossible; but he inclines his ear, he turns his face to the blessed God, he is converted in the fullest sense of the word. In conversion the fact of cooperation on the part of the saved sinner assumes a clearly defined and perceptible character. In regeneration there was none; in the calling there was a beginning of it; in conversion proper it became a …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Old Things are Passed Away.
…
John Newton—Olney Hymns

Whether the Active Life Remains after this Life?
Objection 1: It would seem that the active life remains after this life. For the acts of the moral virtues belong to the active life, as stated above [3738](A[1]). But the moral virtues endure after this life according to Augustine (De Trin. xiv, 9). Therefore the active life remains after this life. Objection 2: Further, teaching others belongs to the active life, as stated above [3739](A[3]). But in the life to come when "we shall be like the angels," teaching will be possible: even as apparently …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Waiting Faith Rewarded and Strengthened by New Revelations
'And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect. And I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for Me, behold, My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A vision of Judgement and Cleansing
'And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 2. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? 3. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the Angel. 4. And He answered and spake unto those that stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him He said, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Perseverance in Holiness
May the King himself come near and feast his saints to-day! May the Comforter who convinced of sin now come to cheer us with the promise! We noticed concerning the fig tree, that it was confirmed in its barrenness: it had borne no fruit, though it made large professions of doing so, and it was made to abide as it was. Let us consider another form of confirmation: not the curse of continuance in the rooted habit of evil; but the blessing of perseverance in a settled way of grace. May the Lord show …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 35: 1889

Appendix xiv. The Law in Messianic Times.
THE question as to the Rabbinic views in regard to the binding character of the Law, and its imposition on the Gentiles, in Messianic times, although, strictly speaking, not forming part of this history, is of such vital importance in connection with recent controversies as to demand special consideration. In the text to which this Appendix refers it has been indicated, that a new legislation was expected in Messianic days. The ultimate basis of this expectancy must be sought in the Old Testament …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Conversion --Varied Phenomena or Experience.
We have spoken of the meaning of this term, inquired into the nature of the change, and noted its essential elements. We have also learned that there are some who do not need it because they are in a converted state, and that all who are not in such a state of Grace, do need conversion, regardless of anything that may or may not have taken place in the past. We inquire now as to the agencies or means by which this change is brought about. For it is a change which man can certainly not effect by his …
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church

The Girdle of the City. Nehemiah 3
The beginning of the circumference was from 'the sheep-gate.' That, we suppose, was seated on the south part, yet but little removed from that corner, which looks south-east. Within was the pool of Bethesda, famous for healings. Going forward, on the south part, was the tower Meah: and beyond that, "the tower of Hananeel": in the Chaldee paraphrast it is, 'The tower Piccus,' Zechariah 14:10; Piccus, Jeremiah 31:38.--I should suspect that to be, the Hippic tower, were not that placed on the north …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

The King in Exile
'And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy Him. 14. When he arose, he took the young child and His mother by night, and departed into Egypt; 15. And was there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

"We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. "
1 John ii. 1.--"We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." There is no settlement to the spirit of a sinner that is once touched with the sense of his sins, and apprehension of the justice and wrath of God, but in some clear and distinct understanding of the grounds of consolation in the gospel, and the method of salvation revealed in it. There is no solid peace giving answer to the challenges of the law and thy own conscience, but in the advocation of Jesus Christ, the Saviour …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Quotation in Matt. Ii. 6.
Several interpreters, Paulus especially, have asserted that the interpretation of Micah which is here given, was that of the Sanhedrim only, and not of the Evangelist, who merely recorded what happened and was said. But this assertion is at once refuted when we consider the object which Matthew has in view in his entire representation of the early life of Jesus. His object in recording the early life of Jesus is not like that of Luke, viz., to communicate historical information to his readers. …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Exposition of Chap. Iii. (ii. 28-32. )
Ver. 1. "And it shall come to pass, afterwards, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." The communication of the Spirit of God was the constant prerogative of the Covenant-people. Indeed, the very idea of such a people necessarily requires it. For the Spirit of God is the only inward bond betwixt Him and that which is created; a Covenant-people, therefore, without such an inward …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Lord's Supper Instituted.
(Jerusalem. Evening Before the Crucifixion.) ^A Matt. XXVI. 26-29; ^B Mark XIV. 22-25; ^C Luke XXII. 19, 20; ^F I. Cor. XI. 23-26. ^a 26 And as they were eating, ^f the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; 24 and when he had given thanks, { ^b blessed,} ^f he brake it, ^a and he gave to the disciples, and said, ^b Take ye: ^a Take, eat; this is my body. ^f which is ^c given ^f for you: this do in remembrance of me. [As only unleavened bread was eaten during the paschal supper, …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The First Covenant
"Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice, and keep My covenant, ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me."--EX. xix. 5. "He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments."--DEUT. iv. 13.i "If ye keep these judgments, the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant,"--DEUT. vii. 12. "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, which My covenant they brake."--JER. xxxi. 31, 32. WE have …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

Sanctification.
I. I will remind you of some points that have been settled in this course of study. 1. The true intent and meaning of the law of God has been, as I trust, ascertained in the lectures on moral government. Let this point if need be, be examined by reference to those lectures. 2. We have also seen, in those lectures, what is not, and what is implied in entire obedience to the moral law. 3. In those lectures, and also in the lectures on justification and repentance, it has been shown that nothing is …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

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