Jeremiah 33:20 Study Bible: "Thus says the LORD: 'If you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, so that there shall not be day and night in their season;

Bible > Jeremiah > Chapter 33 > Verse 20

◄ Jeremiah 33:20 ►

"This is what the LORD says: If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and night cease to occupy their appointed time,

Study Bible

This is what the LORD says
This phrase introduces a divine declaration, emphasizing the authority and sovereignty of God. In Hebrew, "LORD" is "YHWH," the sacred name of God, which underscores His eternal and unchanging nature. This introduction sets the stage for a message that is not merely human opinion but a divine pronouncement, demanding attention and reverence.

If you can break My covenant
The word "covenant" in Hebrew is "berith," signifying a solemn agreement or promise. Here, God speaks of His covenant as unbreakable by human means. This reflects the biblical theme of God's faithfulness and the assurance that His promises are steadfast. Historically, covenants were binding agreements, often sealed with a ritual, indicating the seriousness of God's commitment to His people.

with the day and My covenant with the night
This phrase uses the natural order of day and night as a metaphor for God's unchanging promises. The regularity of day and night is a testament to God's creation and His sustaining power. In Genesis, God established the celestial bodies to govern day and night, symbolizing order and reliability. This imagery reassures believers of the certainty and dependability of God's word.

so that day and night cease to occupy their appointed time
The phrase "appointed time" suggests a divinely ordained schedule, reflecting God's control over creation. The Hebrew concept of "appointed time" often relates to God's timing and purposes, which are perfect and unalterable. This highlights the impossibility of disrupting God's established order, reinforcing the idea that His promises are as sure as the rising and setting of the sun.

Persons / Places / Events

1. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant-making God of Israel, who is speaking through the prophet Jeremiah.

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

3. Covenant with Day and Night
A metaphorical expression of God's unbreakable promises, referring to the regularity and reliability of day and night as established by God.

4. Judah
The southern kingdom of Israel, to whom Jeremiah's prophecies were primarily directed.

5. Babylonian Exile
The historical context of Jeremiah's prophecies, during which Judah was taken into captivity by Babylon.

Teaching Points

God's Faithfulness
Just as the day and night are reliable and consistent, so are God's promises. Believers can trust in His faithfulness, even when circumstances seem uncertain.

Covenant Assurance
The metaphor of the covenant with day and night serves as a reminder that God's promises are as unbreakable as the natural order He established.

Hope in Exile
For the people of Judah in exile, this message was a source of hope, reminding them that God's covenant with them was still in effect despite their current situation.

Consistency in Creation
The regularity of day and night reflects God's order and sovereignty over creation, encouraging believers to find peace in His control over all things.

Application to Daily Life
Just as we rely on the sun to rise and set, we can rely on God's promises in our daily lives, trusting Him in both the mundane and the monumental.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does the metaphor of the covenant with day and night enhance our understanding of God's faithfulness?

2. In what ways can we see God's unbreakable promises reflected in the natural world around us?

3. How can the assurance of God's faithfulness in Jeremiah 33:20 provide comfort during times of personal "exile" or difficulty?

4. What are some practical ways we can remind ourselves of God's consistency and reliability in our daily routines?

5. How do other scriptures, such as Genesis 8:22 and Psalm 89:34-37, reinforce the message of God's enduring promises found in Jeremiah 33:20?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Genesis 8:22
This verse speaks of the enduring cycles of nature, established by God after the flood, which parallels the covenant with day and night mentioned in Jeremiah 33:20.

Psalm 89:34-37
These verses emphasize God's faithfulness to His covenant, using the imagery of the sun and moon as enduring witnesses.

Isaiah 54:9-10
Here, God compares His covenant of peace to the enduring nature of the mountains, similar to the unbreakable covenant with day and night.

Hebrews 6:17-18
This passage highlights the unchangeable nature of God's promises, providing assurance to believers.

Sermons

The Covenant of God Permanent as the Laws of Nature	A.F. Muir	Jeremiah 33:19-22
Divine Plans of Action Unalterable	Homilist	Jeremiah 33:20-26
God's Great Day-And-Night Engine	G. L. Taylor, D. D.	Jeremiah 33:20-26

People

Babylonians, Benjamin, David, Ezekiel, Isaac, Jacob, Jeremiah, Levites

Places

Jerusalem, Negeb, Shephelah

Topics

Agreement, Appointed, Break, Broken, Covenant, Daily, Fixed, Longer, Nightly, Possible, Respect, Says, Season, Thus

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Jeremiah 33:20

4903 time
4921 day

Jeremiah 33:18-22

1350 covenant, with Israel's priests

Jeremiah 33:19-22

4360 sand

Jeremiah 33:20-21

1347 covenant, with Noah

Library

A Threefold Disease and a Twofold Cure.
'I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against Me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against Me.'--JER. xxxiii. 8. Jeremiah was a prisoner in the palace of the last King of Judah. The long, national tragedy had reached almost the last scene of the last act. The besiegers were drawing their net closer round the doomed city. The prophet had never faltered in predicting its fall, but he had as uniformly …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Things Unknown
"Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."--Jeremiah 33:3. GOD'S PEOPLE WILL NEVER THRIVE on anything less substantial than bread from heaven. Israel in Egypt might live on garlic and onions, but Israel in the wilderness must be fed with the manna that came down from heaven, and with the water that gushed out of the rock, when it was smitten by the rod of God. The child of God, while he is yet in his sins, may, like other men, revel in them, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 46: 1900

Discerning Prayer.
INTRODUCTORY. BY D.W. WHITTLE. To recognize God's existence is to necessitate prayer to Him, by all intelligent creatures, or, a consciously living in sin and under condemnation of conscience, because they do not pray to Him. It would be horrible to admit the existence of a Supreme Being, with power and wisdom to create, and believe that the creatures he thought of consequence and importance enough to bring into existence, are not of enough consequence for him to pay any attention to in the troubles …
Various—The Wonders of Prayer

The Royal Priesthood
Gerhard Ter Steegen Jer. xxxiii. 18; Rev. i. 6 The race of God's anointed priests shall never pass away; Before His glorious Face they stand, and serve Him night and day. Though reason raves, and unbelief flows on, a mighty flood, There are, and shall be, till the end, the hidden priests of God. His chosen souls, their earthly dross consumed in sacred fire, To God's own heart their hearts ascend in flame of deep desire; The incense of their worship fills His Temple's holiest place; Their song with …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

The Best of the Best
"I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys."--Song of Solomon 2:1. THE time of flowers has come, and as they are in some faint degree emblems of our Lord, it is well, when God thus calls, that we should seek to learn what he desires to teach us by them. If nature now spreads out her roses and her lilies, or prepares to do so, let us try, not only to see them, but to see Christ as he is shadowed forth in them. "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys." If these are the words …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 42: 1896

Nature of Covenanting.
A covenant is a mutual voluntary compact between two parties on given terms or conditions. It may be made between superiors and inferiors, or between equals. The sentiment that a covenant can be made only between parties respectively independent of one another is inconsistent with the testimony of Scripture. Parties to covenants in a great variety of relative circumstances, are there introduced. There, covenant relations among men are represented as obtaining not merely between nation and nation, …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Putting God to Work
"For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen a God beside thee who worketh for him that waiteth for him."--Isaiah 64:4. The assertion voiced in the title given this chapter is but another way of declaring that God has of His own motion placed Himself under the law of prayer, and has obligated Himself to answer the prayers of men. He has ordained prayer as a means whereby He will do things through men as they pray, which He would not otherwise do. Prayer …
Edward M. Bounds—The Weapon of Prayer

Be Ye Therefore Perfect, Even as Your Father which is in Heaven is Perfect. Matthew 5:48.
In the 43rd verse, the Savior says, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward …
Charles G. Finney—Lectures to Professing Christians

The Sermon of the Seasons
"Oh, the long and dreary Winter! Oh, the cold and cruel Winter!" We say to ourselves, Will spring-time never come? In addition to this, trade and commerce continue in a state of stagnation; crowds are out of employment, and where business is carried on, it yields little profit. Our watchmen are asked if they discern any signs of returning day, and they answer, "No." Thus we bow our heads in a common affliction, and ask each man comfort of his fellow; for as yet we see not our signs, neither does …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 32: 1886

Twentieth Day for God's Spirit on the Heathen
WHAT TO PRAY.--For God's Spirit on the Heathen "Behold, these shall come from far; and these from the land of Sinim."--ISA. xlix. 12. "Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall haste to stretch out her hands to God."--PS. lxviii. 31. "I the Lord will hasten it in His time."--ISA. lx. 22. Pray for the heathen, who are yet without the word. Think of China, with her three hundred millions--a million a month dying without Christ. Think of Dark Africa, with its two hundred millions. Think …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

Truth Hidden when not Sought After.
"They shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."--2 Tim. iv. 4. From these words of the blessed Apostle, written shortly before he suffered martyrdom, we learn, that there is such a thing as religious truth, and therefore there is such a thing as religious error. We learn that religious truth is one--and therefore that all views of religion but one are wrong. And we learn, moreover, that so it was to be (for his words are a prophecy) that professed Christians, …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

Cleansing.
As there are conditions requiring to be complied with in order to the obtaining of salvation, before one can be justified, e. g., conviction of sin, repentance, faith; so there are conditions for full salvation, for being "filled with the Holy Ghost." Conviction of our need is one, conviction of the existence of the blessing is another; but these have been already dealt with. "Cleansing" is another; before one can be filled with the Holy Ghost, one's heart must be "cleansed." "Giving them the Holy …
John MacNeil—The Spirit-Filled Life

Curiosity a Temptation to Sin.
"Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away."--Proverbs iv. 14, 15. The chief cause of the wickedness which is every where seen in the world, and in which, alas! each of us has more or less his share, is our curiosity to have some fellowship with darkness, some experience of sin, to know what the pleasures of sin are like. I believe it is even thought unmanly by many persons (though they may not like to say …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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