Jeremiah 31:32 Study Bible: 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 broke, and I disregarded them," says the LORD.

Bible > Jeremiah > Chapter 31 > Verse 32

◄ Jeremiah 31:32 ►

It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant they broke, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.

Study Bible

It will not be like the covenant
This phrase introduces a contrast between the new covenant God is promising and the old covenant established with Israel. The Hebrew word for "covenant" is "berit," which signifies a binding agreement or contract. Historically, the old covenant refers to the Mosaic Covenant, given at Mount Sinai, which was conditional and required Israel's obedience to the Law. This new covenant, however, is characterized by grace and internal transformation rather than external adherence.

I made with their fathers
The term "fathers" refers to the ancestors of the Israelites, specifically those who were delivered from Egypt and received the Law at Sinai. This historical context is crucial as it highlights the continuity of God's relationship with His people, yet also the need for a new approach due to the failure of the people to uphold the old covenant.

when I took them by the hand
This phrase evokes a tender image of God as a caring parent leading a child. The Hebrew root "laqach" implies taking or grasping, symbolizing God's initiative and guidance in delivering Israel from bondage. It underscores God's active role in the history of His people, emphasizing His desire for a close, personal relationship.

to lead them out of the land of Egypt
The exodus from Egypt is a foundational event in Israel's history, symbolizing liberation and divine intervention. It serves as a reminder of God's power and faithfulness. The phrase "lead them out" reflects God's role as a redeemer and guide, setting the stage for the new covenant that will also involve a form of spiritual liberation.

because they broke My covenant
The breaking of the covenant refers to Israel's repeated disobedience and idolatry, which violated the terms of the Mosaic Covenant. The Hebrew word "parar" means to break or violate, indicating a breach of trust and relationship. This highlights the human inability to fulfill God's standards through their own efforts, pointing to the need for a covenant based on God's grace.

though I was a husband to them
This metaphor of God as a husband illustrates the intimate and committed relationship He desired with Israel. The Hebrew word "ba'al" can mean husband or master, reflecting both love and authority. Despite God's faithfulness, Israel's unfaithfulness is likened to spiritual adultery, underscoring the depth of their betrayal and the need for a renewed relationship.

declares the LORD
The phrase "declares the LORD" is a prophetic formula affirming the authority and certainty of God's word. The Hebrew "ne'um YHWH" emphasizes that this promise of a new covenant is not merely a human hope but a divine decree. It assures the reader of God's sovereign plan and His commitment to fulfill His promises, offering hope and assurance of His unchanging nature.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Jeremiah
A major prophet in the Old Testament, known for his messages of warning and hope to the people of Judah.

2. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant-keeping God of Israel, who speaks through Jeremiah.

3. The Fathers
Refers to the ancestors of the Israelites, particularly those who were led out of Egypt.

4. Egypt
The land from which God delivered the Israelites, symbolizing bondage and oppression.

5. The Covenant
The Mosaic Covenant given at Mount Sinai, which the Israelites broke despite God's faithfulness.

Teaching Points

Understanding the Old Covenant
The Mosaic Covenant was conditional and required Israel's obedience. Its breaking highlights human inability to fulfill God's law without divine help.

God's Faithfulness
Despite Israel's unfaithfulness, God remained committed to His people, illustrating His steadfast love and mercy.

The New Covenant Promise
Jeremiah 31:32 points forward to a new covenant, one that is not based on human ability but on God's transformative work in the heart.

Marriage as a Covenant
The imagery of God as a husband underscores the personal and relational nature of God's commitment to His people.

Application to Believers
As Christians, we are called to live in the reality of the new covenant, relying on the Holy Spirit to empower us to live faithfully.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does understanding the context of the Mosaic Covenant enhance our appreciation of the new covenant in Christ?

2. In what ways does the metaphor of God as a husband challenge or encourage you in your personal relationship with Him?

3. How can we apply the lessons of Israel's unfaithfulness to our own spiritual walk today?

4. What are some practical ways we can rely on the Holy Spirit to help us live out the new covenant?

5. How do the promises of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34 provide hope and assurance for believers today?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Exodus 19-24
Describes the establishment of the Mosaic Covenant at Mount Sinai, which is the covenant referenced in Jeremiah 31:32.

Hebrews 8
Discusses the new covenant, contrasting it with the old covenant and emphasizing its fulfillment in Christ.

Deuteronomy 31:16
Predicts Israel's future unfaithfulness to the covenant, which is echoed in Jeremiah's message.

Hosea 2:19-20
Uses the metaphor of marriage to describe God's covenant relationship with Israel, similar to the "husband" imagery in Jeremiah 31:32.

Sermons

God the Husband of His People	S. Conway	Jeremiah 31:32
Great Encouragements for Those Returning to God	S. Conway	Jeremiah 31:31-33
The New Covenant	A.F. Muir	Jeremiah 31:31-34
The New Covenant	S. Conway	Jeremiah 31:31-34
The New Covenant Add the Old	D. Young	Jeremiah 31:31-34
A New Covenant	G. Brooks.	Jeremiah 31:31-37
Jeremiah's Prophecy of the New Covenant	A. B. Bruce, D. D.	Jeremiah 31:31-37
The New Covenant	Expository Outlines	Jeremiah 31:31-37
The New Covenant	Canon Liddon.	Jeremiah 31:31-37
The New Covenant	G. F. Pentecost, D. D.	Jeremiah 31:31-37

People

Gareb, Jacob, Jeremiah, Rachel, Rahel

Places

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

Topics

Affirmation, Agreement, Although, Brake, Bring, Broke, Broken, Covenant, Declares, Egypt, Fathers, Forasmuch, Forefathers, Guide, Hold, Husband, Laying, Lead, Ruled, Says, Taking, Though, Void

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Jeremiah 31:32

     1085   God, love of
     1210   God, human descriptions
     1349   covenant, at Sinai
     5676   divorce, in OT
     5702   husband
     5770   abandonment
     6232   rejection of God, results
     6243   adultery, spiritual
     6755   union with Christ, nature of
     7031   unity, God's goal
     8136   knowing God, effects
     8840   unfaithfulness, to God

Jeremiah 31:31-32

6163 faults

Jeremiah 31:31-33

5712 marriage, God and his people
7024 church, nature of

Jeremiah 31:31-34

     1352   covenant, the new
     6616   atonement, in OT
     7145   remnant

Jeremiah 31:31-37

7135 Israel, people of God

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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