Jeremiah 31:21

Repentance and Restoration

21 Set up road markers^[a] for yourself; establish signposts! Keep the highway in mind, the way you have traveled. Return, Virgin Israel! Return to these cities of yours.

Jeremiah 31:21 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 31:21

Set thee up way marks, make thee high heaps
Of stones, raised up as pillars, or like pyramids; or upright, as palm trees, which signification the word ^F26 has; to be marks and signs, to know the way again upon a return. The Targum is,

``O congregation of Israel, remember the right works of thy fathers; pour out supplications; in bitterness set thy heart.''

And so the Vulgate Latin version interprets the last clause, "put on bitternesses", without any sense; so Cocceius. The design of the words is to put the Jews upon thoughts of returning to their own land, and to prepare for it; set thine heart towards the highway, [even] the way [which] thou
wentest;
from Judea to Babylon, or into other countries; think of going the same way back again; for, as there was a highway from Judea, there is one to it; let thine heart be upon returning that way. Jarchi reads, "the way which I went"; that is, the way in which the Lord went with the people; the right way in which he guided and directed them; and in which following him, they could not err; see ( Isaiah 35:8 ) . The Targum is,

``consider the works which thou hast done, whether they are fight, when thou goest in a way afar off;''

turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities;
an invitation and encouragement to the Jews to turn again to their own land; as from the Babylonish captivity, so from all lands in the latter day; which is yet to be fulfilled, and to which the prophecy more properly belongs.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 (Myrwrmt) "columnulas", Schmidt; "pyramidas", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "palmulas", Tigurine version, "a (rmt) palma".

Jeremiah 31:21 In-Context

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

20 Isn't Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Whenever I speak against him, I certainly still think about him. Therefore, My inner being yearns for him; I will truly have compassion on him. [This is] the Lord's declaration.

21 Set up road markers for yourself; establish signposts! Keep the highway in mind, the way you have traveled. Return, Virgin Israel! Return to these cities of yours.

22 How long will you turn here and there, faithless daughter? For the Lord creates something new in the land- a female will shelter a man.

23 This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "When I restore their fortunes, they will once again speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities: May the Lord bless you, righteous settlement, holy mountain.

Footnotes

• [a]. 2 Kg 23:17; Ezk 39:15