Meaning, commentary and cross references
Jeremiah 31:33
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”In other translations
KJV · King James Version
But this shall be 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.
NIV · New International Version
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
WEB · World English Bible
“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the LORD: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
What does Jeremiah 31:33 mean?
John Gill · Exposition of the Entire Bible, on Jeremiah 31:33
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord,.... The several articles or branches of the covenant next follow, which show it to be different from the former: I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; not the ceremonial law, which was abolished when this covenant was made; but rather the moral law still in force, which is a transcript of the nature and will of God; was inscribed on Adam's heart in innocence; is greatly obliterated by sin; a contrary disposition to it is in man; this is reinscribed in regeneration; and hence a regard is had to it by regenerate persons, in which lies part of their…
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible, on Jeremiah 31:27–34
Who the persons are with whom this covenant is made - with the house of Israel and Judah, with the gospel church, the Israel of God on which peace shall be (Gal 6:16), with the spiritual seed of believing Abraham and praying Jacob. Judah and Israel had been two separate kingdoms, but were united after their return, in the joint favours God bestowed upon them; so Jews and Gentiles were in the gospel church and covenant. 2. What is the nature of this covenant in general: it is a new covenant and not according to the covenant made with them when they came out of Egypt; not as if that made with them at Mount Sinai were a covenant of nature and innocency, such as was made with Adam in the day he…
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706–21; Romans–Revelation completed by Nonconformist ministers). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
John Calvin · Commentaries, on Jeremiah 31:33
33. But this shall be 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. 33. Quia hoc foedus quod percutiam cum domo Israel post dies illos, dicit Jehova, ponam legem meam in medio ipsorum (id est, in visceribus) et in cordibus ipsorum scribam eam; et ego ero illis in Deum, et ipsi erunt mihi in populum. He now shews a difference between the Law and the Gospel, for the Gospel brings with it the grace of regeneration: its doctrine, therefore, is not that of the letter, but penetrates into the heart and reforms all the inward…
John Calvin, Commentaries (Calvin Translation Society English text). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
Context: Jeremiah 31:30–36 (WEB)
30But everyone will die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge. 31“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, 32not 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 covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says the LORD. 33“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the LORD: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest,” says the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” 35The LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar— the LORD of Armies is his name, says: 36“If these ordinances depart from before me,” says the LORD, “then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever.”
Cross references
- 2 Corinthians 3:3
being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh.
- Hebrews 10:16
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,” says the Lord, “I will put my laws on their heart, I will also write them on their mind;” then he says,
- Hebrews 8:10
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the Lord: “I will put my laws into their mind; I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
- Ezekiel 11:19–20
I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh,
- Jeremiah 24:7
I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God; for they will return to me with their whole heart.
- Ezekiel 36:25–27
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
- Jeremiah 32:40
I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good. I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.
- Psalms 40:8
Key words
In the Baptist Catechism
- Q24. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
God, out of His mere good pleasure, from all eternity, having chosen a people to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation, by a Redeemer.