:
1 At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. 2 Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. 3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. 4 Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry. 5 Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things. 6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God. 7 For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. 8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither. 9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. 10 Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. 11 For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. 12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all. 13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. 14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD. 15 Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. 16 Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. 17 And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border. 18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God. 19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. 20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD. 21 Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities. 22 How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man. 23 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness. 24 And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks. 25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. 26 Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me. 27 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. 28 And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD. 29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. 30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. 31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 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 brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 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. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. 35 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: 36 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. 37 Thus saith the LORD; 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. 38 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the city shall be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner. 39 And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath. 40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.
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[AD 220] Tertullian on Jeremiah 31:1-8
When Jeremiah says, “And I will gather them together from the extremities of the land in the feast day,” he signifies the day of the Passover and of Pentecost, which is properly a “feast day.” However, every day is the Lord’s. Every hour, every time, is apt for baptism. If there is a difference in the solemnity, there is no distinction in the grace.

Source: ON BAPTISM 19
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:1-8
If the intention of the Lord were not fulfilled and if his wrath had not remained on the head of the wicked, the Lord of all could not be the God of the tribes of Israel. But he addressed this only to the remnant who were saved. And if the objection should be posed to us that he said, “I will be the God of the Israelite race” or “of all the tribes of Israel,” we would cite, “If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of your father,” as well as the apostle, who wrote, “Consider Israel according to the flesh,” which implies that there is another Israel according to the Spirit. They are Israel, therefore, who discern God with the mind or who remain most steadfast in the Lord. In this way, Israel will be the people of God.

Source: SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 6:11.1-2
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:1-8
The remnant of the people of Israel are gathered through the apostles and apostolic people, about whom we read above “guardians will call on the mountain” and to whom it was commanded to “sing and resound,” that the remnant of Israel might be saved. The Lord also promises that he will bring them down from the north country, he who is “the most severe wind but is called the right hand,” due to unbelief and the frigidity of his love. He also promises to gather them from the ends of the earth in no time other than the paschal solemnity, that is, in the days of the Lord’s passion, when the Lord was crucified and when the gospel promise was fulfilled: “When I am lifted up, I will draw everyone to me.” At that moment, he generated many people, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy: “a people is born in one moment,” for on one day, three thousand and five thousand people believed. It is also written in Hebrew, “among whom were the blind, the lame, the pregnant and women in labor together, a great gathering of those returning here.”

Source: SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 6:15.2-4
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:1
(Chapter 31, Verse 1) In that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the tribes of Israel (or the people of Israel), and they will be my people. Unless the thought of the Lord is fulfilled and his fury rests upon the head of the wicked, the Lord cannot be the God of all the tribes of Israel. But he says this to the remnant who have been saved. Now if what has been said to us is opposed to us: I will be the God of the people of Israel, or all the tribes of Israel, let us consider the example: If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of your father (John 8:39). And the Apostle writes: See Israel according to the flesh (I Cor. X, 8). From which he teaches that there is another Israel according to the spirit. Therefore, that Israel is the one who perceives God with the mind, or is the most righteous of the Lord, and such a people will be the people of God.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:2
(Version 2.) Thus says the Lord: The people who remained with the sword found favor in the wilderness, let Israel go to their rest. LXX: Thus says the Lord: I have found warmth in the desert with those who have perished by the sword. Go, and do not kill Israel. The Latin texts in this place are laughed at for their ambiguity in the interpretation of the Greek word. Instead of warmth, they are interpreted as lupine: for the Greek word θερμὸν has both meanings, which is not found in Hebrew. For it is written that Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion translated χάριν as 'grace'. Only the Seventy translated it as 'heat', thinking that the last letter Mem was intended. For if we read Hen as Nun, it means 'grace'; if as Mem, it means 'heat'. But the sense according to the Hebrew is: The people of the Jews, who had remained under the Roman sword, or surely could have escaped the wrath of the Lord in fury, found grace in the desert of the Gentiles, so that they might be saved among the multitude of nations in the Church, to which they will both go and find their rest, Israel which they have always hoped for, as the prophecies of the prophets had promised them. Furthermore, according to the translation of the Septuagint, the understanding is this: the Lord found the chosen ones and living Apostles, and their companions in the desert of the gentiles, among those who had been killed by their own unfaithfulness, they did not possess the warmth of life. Therefore, it is commanded to the Angels and those who are in the service of God, not to kill all, lest Israel be completely destroyed, and it is said to them: Go, and do not kill Israel; otherwise there should be some who live, some who are warmed by the fervor of faith, some who escape the coldness of unfaithfulness and death, whom the Lord finds in the desert.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:3-6
(Versed 3 and following) Far off the Lord appeared to me (or to him): and in everlasting love I loved you: therefore I have drawn you with mercy. And again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel: you shall again be adorned (or crowned) with your timbrels, and you shall go forth in the dance of them that make merry. You shall again plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria: plant, and you shall enjoy the fruits thereof: for there shall be a day, that the watchmen on mount Ephraim shall call to the shepherds: Arise, and let us go up to Sion to our Lord God. Because Israel had offended the Lord, and had said: We have no king but Caesar (John 19:15). And: Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours (Mark 12:7); and had strayed far from God: therefore the Lord appeared to him after a long time, not in the time of Zerubbabel and Ezra, after they had been taken captive again, but in everlasting love He loved him, which will never be destroyed. And He drew him with His mercy. For he was saved not by merit, but by mercy. And he says again: I will build you up, and you will be built up, O virgin Israel. Let us understand this specifically in the Church. For those who long for golden and jeweled Jerusalem are mad, consecrating their greed for the mystery of the city of the Lord. You will still be adorned with your tambourines, to sing to the Lord in the Churches, with all the flesh of evil works consumed in you. And you will go out in the chorus of those who play, with the crowds of nations, you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. Not in valleys and low places, but in the mountains of Samaria, which were possessed by foreigners after the captivity of the people of Israel, to whom it is said: Plant vineyards and harvest. Then it was the day of the Lord, on which the custodians of the Apostolic faith, and apostolic men on the mountain of Samaria, and on the mountain of Ephraim, of which one signifies guardianship, the other abundance. But what do the custodians of Samaria say, or rather, what do they cry out on the mountain of Ephraim? Arise, you who lie low, abandon lowly things, despise the victims of sacrifice. Let the broken spirit be a sacrifice to the Lord (Psalm 50). Let us ascend to Zion, that is, to the Church, where there is the vision and sight of God. And when we are in Zion, or rather when we ascend to it, let us together ascend to our Lord God.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:7
(Verse 7.) For thus says the Lord: Rejoice with joy, O Jacob, and shout for joy at the head of the nations; proclaim, sing, and say: Save, O Lord, your people, the remnant of Israel. It is significant that not all of Israel is saved, but the remnant of Israel, as the Lord commands and says: Rejoice with joy, you who are of Jacob, and shout for joy, bringing all things back to the head of the nations, because once the tail was turned into the head. Perform, sing, and say. What is it that they are commanded to say? Save, O Lord, your people. Which people? Certainly the remnant of Israel, who have been saved according to election. Concerning whom Paul, taking up the testimony of Isaiah, speaks: Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and made like Gomorrah (Isa. 1:9; Rom. 9:29).

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:8
(Verse 8) Behold, I will bring them from the land of the North, and gather them from the ends of the earth. What follows: In the solemnity of the Passover, he shall beget many sons, which is not found in Hebrew, but is only read in the Septuagint, for which it is written among the Hebrews:

Among them will be the blind, and the lame, and the pregnant, and those giving birth together: the great Church of those returning here. The remaining people of Israel will be gathered by the Apostles and the apostolic men, of whom we read above: The custodians on the mountain will cry out, and to whom it is commanded: Resound, sing, and say, so that the remaining people of Israel may be saved. The Lord himself also promises to bring them back from the land of the North, which is a very harsh wind, but by the name of dexterous is called, from unbelief, from the coldness of the Lord's love; and to gather them from the ends of the earth, not at any other time, but on the solemnity of the Passover, that is, on the feast days of the Lord's passion: when the Lord was crucified, and that which he himself promised in the Gospel was fulfilled. When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all things to myself (John 12:23). Then he generated a great multitude, so that the prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled: For a nation has been born once (Isaiah 66:8). For on one day, three thousand believed, and on another day, five thousand men (Acts 2 and 4). And what is written in Hebrew: Among them will be the blind and the lame, and the pregnant and those giving birth together, a great church of those returning here; although it is also fulfilled according to the letter, that the blind will see, and the lame will walk: nevertheless, it can be better understood according to allegory, that those who were previously blind in faith, afterwards believed in the Savior; and those who were lame, to whom Elijah once spoke: How long will you limp on both feet (1 Kings 18:21)? Afterwards, they may have walked (Al. seen). And: The people who sat in darkness and the shadow of death have seen a great light. (Isaiah 9:2); the lame may have run, and the pregnant woman may have given birth to sons, the great Church of those who return to faith. The Jews imagine this to have been fulfilled when, under Ezra, they departed from Babylon after the Passover to return to Jerusalem, in which there was a figure, and not the reality. For in that time, not all the things that we read and are going to read could have been proven to be complete (Al. could have been approved).

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 56] 2 Corinthians on Jeremiah 31:9
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. [Jeremiah 31:9]
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:9
(Verse 9) In their weeping they will come (or go); I will lead them in mercy, and bring them by the torrents of water in a straight path, and they will not stumble (or wander) in it. For I have become the father of Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. If we read according to the Hebrew, they will come in weeping: for this indicates Job (); we will say that sometimes, the weeping of excessive joy is a sign, according to that: I weep with joy. But according to the Seventy who said: 'He will go out in weeping, and I will lead them in mercy or consolation,' we understand that it is also said in the Psalms: 'They went forth weeping and cast their seeds, but they will come with joy, carrying their bundles' (Ps. 125:6-7). For they wept when they were led away captive, but they received great consolation when they were brought back by the mercy of the Lord. And the Lord brought them through the apostles and apostolic men, full of waters and of a most abundant river, on the straight path, namely the path of faith, not in the deceit of the Jews. And they will not stumble in it, he says, because the blind have ceased to be blind, to whom it was once said: If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now, because you say: we see, your sin remains. We can understand the straight path, and Christ, in which whoever walks will not stumble. I have become, he says, the father of Israel, who has been brought back, and Ephraim is my firstborn. For where sin once abounded, grace has superabounded. But Scripture testifies that Ephraim is a type of the people gathered from the nations. For he was the younger son of Joseph, and he took the birthright from Manasseh, who was by nature the firstborn (Gen. XLVIII); but in the mystery of the cross, with crossed hands, he stood at the left side of Jacob and received the blessing from his right hand. And he who had stood on the right, blessed with the left, was reduced to the second rank. And just as Jacob took the birthright from Esau, so Ephraim took the firstborn position from Manasseh. And the entire people of the ten tribes were called Ephraim, because Jeroboam the son of Nebat, from this tribe, was the first to obtain the kingdom in Samaria (Ibid., 27).

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:10
The calling of the nations is demonstrated clearly when Scripture says, “Hear the word of the Lord, nations, and announce it to the distant coastlands.” What do they announce to the distant coastlands? They announce that “the same Lord who scattered Israel will gather him,” showing that it was never in the power of his enemies to scatter Israel, but only in the will of the Lord, “and guard Israel as a shepherd guards his flock,” since “the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep,” “for the Lord redeemed Jacob with his own precious blood and freed him from the hands of those who were more powerful or stronger.” … “They will come,” it continues, no doubt referring to those who were liberated from the hand of the powerful, “and praise their liberator on Mount Zion,” that is, in the church, “and stream to the goodness of the Lord of all abundance,” which is known not in the fruits and foods of this flesh but in a diversity of virtues.

Source: SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 6:17.3-5
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:10-14
(Verse 10 and following) Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and proclaim it in distant islands, and say: He who scattered Israel will gather him and will watch over him as a shepherd does his flock. For the Lord has redeemed Jacob and delivered him from the hand of the stronger (or the hand of the more powerful). And they will come and praise on Mount Zion, and they will gather to the good things of the Lord, abundant with grain, wine, oil, and the offspring of cattle and sheep. And their soul shall be like a well-watered garden (or like a fruitful tree), and they shall never hunger again. Then the virgin shall rejoice in the dance (or the virgins) and the young men and the old men together, and I will turn their mourning into joy, and I will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow. And I will make the souls of the priests drunk with fatness (or the sons of Levi), and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the Lord. Clearly the calling of the nations is shown, with the Scripture saying: Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it on the islands far away, and say. What do the islands that are far away announce? It is the Lord, who dispersed Israel, who will gather them together. Therefore, it was not by the power of their enemies that they were scattered, but by the will of the Lord. And He will guard them as a shepherd guards his flock. For a good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep (John 10). Because the Lord has redeemed Jacob with the price of His own blood and has liberated him from the hand of the more powerful or stronger one. By these things are shown the stronger opposing powers of the nature of human frailty. And as far as strength is concerned, they are stronger by nature, but we are stronger by faith, if indeed we deserve to be freed from him who can bind the strong and plunder his house. And they will come, he says, without a doubt, that when freed from the hand of the powerful, they will praise their liberator on Mount Zion, that is, in the Church, and they will gather to the good things of the Lord, the abundance of all things, which is felt not in the fruits and food of this flesh, but in the variety of virtues. He said, 'With wheat, and wine, and oil, from which the bread of the Lord is made, and the type of His blood is filled, and the blessing of sanctification is shown, as the Scripture says: 'God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions' (Psalm 45:8). And with the offspring of livestock, which are simple in the Church, and with cattle, which are horned, they drive away adversaries. But so that we may know that these blessings pertain not to the body, but to the soul, it follows: 'Their soul will be like a well-watered garden, or like a fruitful tree, which is planted by the flowing waters, and the Lord's paradise in delights' (Psalm 1). And furthermore, he says, you shall not hunger. In no way will you be hungry, of which it is written: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6); but that which is changed by satiety, and excludes the scarcity of all things. Then the virgin will rejoice in the choir, of whom the Apostle writes: For I have betrothed you to one husband to present a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2). And to the young men, to whom John speaks: I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one; and to the elders, to whom he testifies in mystical language: I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning (1 John 2:14). And, he says, I will turn their mourning into joy, so that the cross that had terrified them may bring joy through the resurrection. And I will console them and make them glad from their sorrow, according to what the Lord says: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. And I will gladden the souls of the Priests, who have knowledge of God, from whose mouths they seek the law of the Lord, those who believe in Him, of whom the Prophet sings: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4). But what follows according to the Septuagint: Of the sons of Levi, it is not found in Hebrew. And it is clear that it is not said of those priests who are sons of Levi, but of those in whose type Melchizedek preceded. And the drunkenness of the priests is also proven in the Apostles, when they were fervent in faith and were said to be full of must (Acts 2). Hence, the place in which the Lord was apprehended is called Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36), which in our language means the valley of fatness. And when the priests, who are rich with the teachings of the Lord, have been intoxicated at the feast, they will say to Joseph: How splendid is your intoxicating cup (Gen. 43 and 44)! Then this promise of the Lord will also be fulfilled: And my people will be filled with my blessings (Ps. 22:5). All these things are now given in part, but then they will be given in full, when we see face to face, and our humble bodies will be transformed into the glory of resurrection.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 60] Matthew on Jeremiah 31:15
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. [Jeremiah 31:15]
[AD 373] Ephrem the Syrian on Jeremiah 31:15
“Thus says the Lord: A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, sobbing and weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children.” In a historical sense this prophecy speaks about sons of Judah and Benjamin living in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Jeremiah later on describes the fulfillment of this prophecy, saying that tribes of Judah and Benjamin were sent to Ramah, the city of Benjamin’s tribe, and then they were sent to captivity in Babylon. But in a spiritual sense, these words were fulfilled when Herod killed infants in Ephrathah and in its suburbs. It was said that Rachel was crying in Bethlehem and her voice was heard in Ramah because her body was buried in Bethlehem. But the people of Bethlehem were captured and sent to Ramah, and from there they had to go into a foreign land, to Babylon. It is why the prophet comforts mothers of killed infants when referring to Rachel.

Source: COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH 31:15
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Jeremiah 31:15
What need have I to study the rising and the setting of the stars, and at their rising plough up and pierce the fallow ground with hard ploughshares or at their setting cut the fruitful crop? One star means more to me than all the others, “the bright morning star” at whose rising was sown not the seed of grain but the seed of martyrs, that time when Rachel wept for her children to offer for Christ her babies washed with her tears. The setting of that star brought back in triumph from the tomb not the unfeeling relics of funeral piles but bands of the living, who had been dead.

Source: LETTER 50(44)
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Jeremiah 31:15
Herod sought him after his birth. He was to kill all the children in that place. And the prophet revealed this, too, foretelling it long beforehand when he said, “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, mourning and much weeping, of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are not.” The Scriptures also predicted that he would come to Egypt when they said, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Source: DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE PAGANS 3:7
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:15
(Verse 15.) Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in the heights, lamentation, weeping, and mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be comforted over her children, because they are no more. LXX: Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in Rama, lamentation, weeping, and mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be comforted, because they are no more. Neither according to the Hebrew, nor according to the Seventy, did Matthew take testimony. For we read in it: Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not (Matthew 2:17-18). From which it is clear that the Evangelists and Apostles did not follow the interpretation of any Hebrew, but rather expressed in their own words, as if Hebrews, what they read in Hebrew. Rachel, the mother of Joseph, when she was coming to Bethlehem, suddenly seized with the pain of childbirth, gave birth to a son, whom the midwife, because she was dying in childbirth, called Benoni, that is, the son of my sorrow. But Jacob the father changed the name and called him Benjamin, that is, the son of his right hand (Gen. XXXV, 18). Therefore, it is questioned how the evangelist Matthew transferred the testimony of the Prophet to the killing of the infants: when it is clearly written about the ten tribes, of which Ephratha was not the leader, and it is by no means in the tribe of Ephraim, but in the tribe of Judah: for it is itself, and Bethlehem with two names. And the names of both correspond. Bethlehem is called the house of bread. Ephrata, which we can call fertility. Therefore, since Rachel was buried in Ephrata, that is, in Bethlehem, as both the Holy Scripture and her tombstone testify to this day, it is said that she weeps for the children who were killed nearby and in their own regions. Some Jews interpret this place as meaning that when Jerusalem was captured under Vespasian, countless thousands of captives were sent to Rome through this road, Gaza, and Alexandria. But others, because in the final captivity under Hadrian, when the city of Jerusalem was also destroyed, an innumerable people of various ages and both sexes were sold in the market of Terebinth. And therefore it is detestable for the Jews to visit that renowned market. Let them say whatever they want, we will rightly say that the Evangelist Matthew took testimony for the place where Rachel was buried, so that she mourned the sons of neighboring villages as if they were her own.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Jeremiah 31:15
Ramah belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, and the tomb of Rachel is in the hippodrome of Chaphratha on the way to Ephrath. While the prophecy had its fulfillment in the time of Herod the Great, who did away with the babies in the hope of doing away at the same time with the newborn Savior, the prophet places it here in the context of the promise of good things so as to emphasize that the birth of our Lord and Savior according to the flesh was the real good and the summit of salvation, though on account of it the babies met that unjust end.

Source: ON JEREMIAH 7:31.15
[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Jeremiah 31:15
Today we are celebrating the feast of all those infants who, the Gospel text tells us, were killed by King Herod, and for this reason our land, the fruitful mother of heavenly soldiers and such great virtues, should rejoice with the greatest exultation. Behold, the wicked enemy could never have helped the blessed infants as much by submission as he did by his hatred. As today’s most sacred feast shows us, the grace of benediction shone forth in the blessed infants as much as cruelty against them abounded. For we heard a little while ago that when King Herod was pursuing Christ, thousands of happy boys were killed. As the prophet said, “Rachel mourns her children; she refuses to be consoled because her children are no more.” The blessed mother of the triumphant, the land of illustrious warriors, rich in children, for a short time seemed to the eyes of the foolish to be bereaved. But she never was in need of consolation, nor did she bewail the sons whom she acquired with enviable sorrows, even while she lost them. Blessed are you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, who suffered the cruelty of King Herod in the death of your sons and at the same time merited to offer to God a white-clad group of peaceable, sinless infants.

Source: SERMON 222:1
[AD 735] Bede on Jeremiah 31:15
According to the oracle of Jeremiah, “A voice was heard in Ramah,” that is, “on high,” “of lamentation and great wailing.” This clearly denotes that holy church’s mourning, by which it grieves for the violent death of its members, does not, as our enemies foolishly claim, pass away into a void, but it ascends right to the throne of the heavenly judge.

Source: Homilies on the Gospels 1:10
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:16-17
(Verse 16, 17.) Thus says the Lord: Let your voice be still from weeping, and your eyes from tears: for there is a reward for your work, says the Lord. And the enemies (or of the enemies) will return from the land, and there will be hope for your future, says the Lord: and the children will return to their borders. This has not yet happened literally, for we do not read of the ten tribes who were exiled in the cities of the Medes and Persians returning to the land of Judah: but it has been fulfilled according to the spirit, and in the passion of the Lord, and it continues to be fulfilled: when all Israel is saved from the whole world, and Rachel is said: Let your voice be still from weeping, and your eyes from tears. And there is a sense: Stop weeping, for the Lord has considered your previous works. And your children will return from the land of the enemy, so you may not be held back by present sorrow. For there is hope for your future, says the Lord. And your children will return to their borders, which their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had. But we understand better concerning little ones, that they shall receive the reward of shedding blood for Christ: and for the land of Herod's enemies, they shall hold the kingdom of heaven: and they shall return to their former dwelling place, when, for the body of humility, they shall receive a glorious body. This is the ultimate hope, when the just will shine like the sun (Wis. III), and once little infants and nursing babies, without any increase in age, and without injury or physical labor, will rise again as fully grown men, to the measure of the fullness of Christ (Eph. IV).

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Jeremiah 31:18-20
Let us purify ourselves by tears, that the Lord our God may hear us when we lament, as he heard Ephraim when weeping, as it is written: “I have surely heard Ephraim weeping.” He expressly repeats the words of Ephraim: “You have chastised me, and I was chastised; like a calf I was not trained.” For a calf shows itself off and leaves its stall, and so Ephraim was untrained like a calf far away from the stall, because he had forsaken the stall of the Lord, followed Jeroboam and worshiped the calves, which future event was prophetically indicated through Aaron, namely, that the people of the Jews would fall after this manner. And so repenting, Ephraim says, “Turn me, and I shall be turned, for you are the Lord my God. Surely in the end of my captivity I repented, and after I learned I mourned over the days of confusion and subjected myself to you because I received reproach and made you known.”

Source: Concerning Repentance 2.5.36
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:18-19
(Verse 18, 19.) Hearing, I heard Ephraim passing through (or lamenting); you chastised me, and I was instructed like an untamed heifer (or like a calf, and I did not learn); turn me, and I will be turned; for you are the Lord my God. For after you converted me (or I was captured), I repented. And after I knew (or you showed me), I struck my thigh (or I groaned), I was ashamed and embarrassed (or from the day of confusion, and I saw you), because I endured the reproach of my youth. God speaks, having heard Ephraim speaking and lamenting. There is no doubt that it signifies the ten tribes, over whom Jeroboam son of Nabath first ruled, who also made golden calves in Dan and Bethel, so that, deceived by this error, the people would cease to worship and adore the God of Israel. You have chastised me, he says, and I have been chastised. Every correction leads to salvation, which for the present seems to be sadness; and afterwards it brings forth peaceful fruits. And he says: 'Just as an untamed calf or a young bull, and I have not learned, this signifies that I have been trained with much labor and beatings in order to be converted, and I have not progressed. Convert me,' he says, 'and I will be converted.' Therefore, we cannot fulfill the same thing that we are doing penance for unless we rely on God's help. For after you have converted me and I have been converted to you, then I will know that you are the Lord my God, and my mistakes and sins will not destroy me. And after you converted me, I repented. See how great is the help of God, and how fragile is the human condition: that even this very thing, that we repent, we cannot accomplish unless the Lord converts us beforehand. And after, he says, you showed me, either repentance itself, or knowledge of you, or I recognized you, I struck my thigh. Which is an indication of one who is in pain and lamenting, and weeping over their previous error, that they would strike their thigh with their hand, and confess that they were foolish before. Confucius, he said, I am confused and embarrassed, or from the day of confusion. For what time is not our confusion, if we remember the ancient sins, and all the things we have done wrong, let us recapitulate them? And what LXX said, and I showed you, means that after he groaned and recognized his own sins, he has come to such progress that he has also shown God to others who were ignorant, according to what the repentant David says: I will teach the wicked your ways, and the impious will turn to you (Psalm 50:15). And when he says, 'Because I endured the reproach of my youth,' he confesses that he sinned in his ignorance of youth, so that he may more easily obtain forgiveness, according to what David sings: 'Remember not the sins of my youth and my ignorance' (Psalm 25:7). Therefore, in the following passages, God calls him a little child and full of delights. He says this because of the greatness of the riches and the fertility of the land in which the tribe of Ephraim luxuriates even to this day.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:20
(Vers. 20.) If Ephraim is an honorable son (or beloved) to me: if he is a delicate child, since I spoke of him (or my words about him), I will still remember him; therefore my heart is troubled for him: I will have mercy on him, says the Lord. As Ephraim repents and says: In the beginning you taught me, and I was instructed like a young untamed bull; and in the end: Because you endured the reproach of my youth; the Lord responds, and with a full mind turned towards him, he sustains with the following oracle: Beloved son Ephraim (Gen. XLVIII), whom I have loved so much from the beginning, that I preferred him to Manasseh. The honorable son, who, contrary to the order of nature, has received the honor of the firstborn by the grace of the Lord. A delicate boy, of whom it is written: The sons of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle (Psalm 78:9). Against whom and for whom, the entire book of Hosea is the prophet, whom Jacob blessed. But let us understand delights in this place, according to what is said in the psalm: Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). In Greek and Hebrew, it is referred to as pleasure. Thus, the paradise in Eden is called the paradise of delights. For, he says, my words were in him, and I will be mindful of him even now. Lest it be thought a gratuitous blessing, and rather a gift of the indulgent giver than a reward for his merit, to whom it was granted, he therefore says: I will remember him, because my words were in him. Not in his mouth, not on his lips, but in the deepest affection of the heart. Because of this, my guts are troubled over it. To whom he speaks, through Hosea: What shall I do with you, Ephraim? What shall I do with you, Israel? I will make you like Adam, and like Seboim (Hos. 6:4; 11:8). My heart is turned within me; my guts are troubled. I will not carry out the fury of my anger, and I will not destroy Ephraim. I will have compassion on him, says the Lord. Truly, my words were in him, and he received all my commands with an eager spirit, and he kept them in his heart; but nevertheless, I will have compassion on him, says the Lord, to show that all human righteousness needs the mercy of God.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:21-22
(Vers. 21, 22.) Set up watchmen for yourself, make for yourself bitternesses: direct your heart to the straight path in which you have walked. Return, O virgin Israel, return to your cities. How long will you indulge in pleasures, wandering daughter? For the Lord has created something new on the earth: a woman will encompass a man. LXX: Set up watchmen for yourself, do penance, put your heart on your shoulders, the way in which you have walked. Return, O virgin Israel, return to your mourning cities. How long will you turn away, despised daughter? For the Lord has created you for salvation in a new plantation: men will surround you in your salvation. Where we say, how long will you dissolve in pleasures, Symmachus set forth, how long will you sink into the depths? But I have presented both editions in their entirety, so that I may show the most obscure passage, containing the sacraments of the Church, either unknown or omitted, from the Septuagint (or anyone else who has interpreted this prophet). The Hebrew word 'Sionim' can be translated as either 'watchers' or 'watchtowers', as Aquila and Symmachus have interpreted. I am puzzled by what the Vulgate edition intended by replacing 'Sionim' with 'Sion', which confuses the reader's understanding, making them think that after Ephraim, suddenly God's word happened to Sion and the tribe of Judah, even though the continuous speech is directed towards Ephraim, as mentioned earlier: 'I have surely heard Ephraim.' And: Son, honorable to me Ephraim, or delicate boy, to whom even now he speaks: Set up for yourself watchtowers, or spies, who may inform you of the coming of such great happiness in all things. And what follows, the bitternesses, which in Hebrew are called Themrurim (), for which Symmachus interpreted, the transformations, this indicates that he should weep either for past sins or for the greatness of joy, and with the whole mind turn to the Lord, and set, or direct, his heart on the path along which it has gone, for from there it will return. And what the Seventy said about this: 'Put your heart on your shoulders', signifies that thoughts should be joined to actions, or contemplate the shoulders of those who bear themselves, from the captivity of those bringing them back. This is more fully expressed by Isaiah in regard to camels, chariots, and dromedaries, stating that they are to be brought back (Isa. 60). 'Return,' he says, 'O virgin of Israel, return to your cities which you have deserted as a captive. How long will you be dissolved in neglect and wander in profound error?' Consider what I am about to say, and carefully consider where such great happiness is to be expected. Listen to what you have never known before. The Lord has created a new thing upon the earth. Without the seed of a man, without any sexual intercourse and conception, a woman will enclose a man in the chamber of her womb, who, as it were, by the cries of infancy and the progress of wisdom and age, will appear to grow in size; but the perfect man will be contained within the female womb for the usual months. Where Symmachus and Aquila have been interpreted according to our edition. However, what the Vulgate edition wanted to convey in this place, I could say, and find some meaning, if it were not sacrilegious to argue about the words of God with a human sense; but Theodotius, following the Vulgate edition itself, has interpreted: The Lord created a new salvation, in which salvation man will go around, using the singular instead of the plural. And at the same time, it should be noted that the nativity of the Savior and the conception of God are called creation.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:23-24
(Verse 23, 24) Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Again they will say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes: ‘The Lord bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O holy hill!’ And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and the farmers and those who move about with the flocks. According to the Hebrew text, it is clear that upon the return of Israel and the conversion of their captivity, the cities of Judah will be inhabited, and it will be said to them individually: 'May the Lord bless you, who is the true beauty of righteousness and the holy mountain, in which whoever dwells will fear no plots.' And Judah will dwell in its cities without iniquity: there will be farmers and a multitude of livestock, which seems to have been fulfilled in part under Zerubbabel and Ezra. However, the fullness of the prophecy refers to the times of Christ: either in his first coming, when these things were fulfilled spiritually, or in his second coming, when everything will be fulfilled both spiritually, according to the Jews and our carnal-minded judaizers. Moreover, according to the Septuagint, this is the meaning: 'This word will still be spoken in the land of Judah and in its cities when I restore their captivity.' What will be said? 'Blessed is the Lord upon his holy mountain, the mount of Zion.' There is no other mountain that deserves the meaning of justice and holiness except the Savior. However, it is foolish to believe that the mountain, which is irrational and insensible, is just and holy due to Jewish error. He is the one about whom it is written in the following: 'And in every city of his, the Savior is implied.' When the farmer is mentioned, there is no doubt that it signifies the Lord, about whom it is written in the Gospel: 'I am the vine, you are the branches. My Father is the farmer' (John 15:1). And the Apostle also says: You are God's field, you are God's building (1 Corinthians 3:9). And what follows: And he will be exalted in the flock, it shows that the righteous and holy Lord himself is exalted in each flock, and ascends to heights in his servants and believers.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:25-26
Because I have made the weary soul drunk (or because I have made every thirsty soul drunk) and I have satisfied (or filled) every hungry soul: therefore I am awake and I have seen, and my sleep has been sweet to me. The change of persons makes the understanding of the Prophets obscure. The Lord had said, 'Yet they will say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I turn their captivity.' But what will they say? No doubt this follows: May the Lord bless you, the beauty of righteousness, the holy mountain, etc. And again, when they said these things, the Lord responded: Because I have refreshed the weary soul, whether thirsty or hungry, and I have satisfied every hungry soul. And when he said this, the people responded, those who came from captivity: Therefore I awakened and saw, and my sleep was sweet to me. For the Lord refreshes the weary soul, whether thirsty or hungry, and he says in the Gospel: Whoever thirsts, let him come to me and drink (John 7:37). And he said: 'Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from his belly.' (Ibid., 38). And he satisfies every hungry soul and thirsty soul. Regarding this hunger and thirst, the same is testified in the Gospel: 'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.' (Matthew 5:6). And it should be noted that intoxication is being portrayed positively in this passage, as it is mentioned in the Song of Solomon: 'Eat, friends, drink, and become intoxicated, my beloved.' (Song of Solomon 5:1). Joseph was intoxicated with wine along with his brothers at noon (Gen. XLIII). And being intoxicated and satisfied, those who had been tired and hungry give thanks, responding: I have awakened and seen the Lord, namely raising up and saying: Arise, you who sleep, and rise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you (Ephes. V, 14). And my sleep, he said, was sweet to me, so that I might imitate the words of my Lord saying: I slept, and was filled with sleep, and I arose, because the Lord will receive me (Psal. III, 6).

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Jeremiah 31:26
Let us, then, submit ourselves to God and not be subject to sin, and when we ponder the remembrance of our offenses, let us blush as though at some disgrace and not speak of them as a glory to us, as some boast of overcoming modesty or putting down the feeling of justice. Let our conversion be such that we who did not know God may now ourselves declare him to others, that the Lord, moved by such a conversion on our part, may answer to us: “Ephraim is from youth a dear son, a pleasant child, for since my words are concerning him, I will truly remember him; therefore have I hastened to be over him. I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord.” And what mercy he promises us, the Lord also shows, when he says further on: “I have satiated every thirsty soul and have satisfied every hungry soul. Therefore, I woke up and beheld, and my sleep was sweet to me.” We observe that the Lord promises his sacraments to those who sin. Let us, then, all be converted to the Lord.

Source: Concerning Repentance 2.5.38-39
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Jeremiah 31:26
The Lord Jesus said, “Now my soul is troubled.” For he who took on our infirmities also took on our feelings. He was sad even to death, but not by reason of death. For the death that was freely chosen could not have held sorrow. In it was the future joy of all people and the refreshment of all. Concerning it the Scripture said, in another passage, “And I rose up and saw, and sleep became pleasant to me.” Good is the sleep that has made the hungry not to hunger and the thirsty not to thirst and has prepared for them the pleasant savor of the mysteries. How then was Christ’s soul troubled when he made the souls of others not to fear? He was sad, then, even to death, until grace should be fulfilled. This is proved by his testimony as he speaks of his death, “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished.”

Source: THE PRAYER OF JOB AND DAVID 4:3.11
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:27-30
(Verse 27 and following) Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of men and the seed of animals. And as I have watched over them to uproot, demolish, scatter, and afflict, so I will watch over them to build and plant, says the Lord. In those days, they shall no longer say, 'The fathers ate sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge,' but each one shall die for his own iniquity. Every person who eats a sour grape, their teeth will be stunned. The phrase 'domum et domum' or 'house and house', that is, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, is not found in the Septuagint, but only Israel and Judah, so it says: and I will sow Israel and Judah. And what he brought: we must understand that it refers to the seed of humans and animals, to rational and simple beings. And as it is said in the beginning of Jeremiah: Behold, I have set you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant; and I watched over them to do what I threatened, so, he says, I will now watch over them to build and to plant. For the cultivation of God, for the building up of God (1 Corinthians 3:9). All such promises are thought by the Jews and our Judaizers to be fulfilled in the thousand-year kingdom. But we, as the Apostle says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase (Ibid., 6), and as the prophet Isaiah mentions that the Savior is the builder of walls and houses (Isaiah 58), we defend that these were spiritually fulfilled in the first coming of Christ, but only partially fulfilled: for now we see in a mirror, dimly, and we do not know as we ought to know (1 Corinthians 13). But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away with. Or certainly, we believe that in the second coming, when the Lord appears in His majesty and the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, all Israel will be saved, and not partially by individuals, but God will be all in all (Romans 11 and 1 Corinthians 15). And what is implied by: In those days they shall no longer say, the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge, and so on, we have explained more fully in the explanations of Ezekiel, when we interpreted that passage: Son of man, what do you mean by these proverbs of the children of Israel, saying, the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. Thus says the Lord: 'As I live, if there is beyond this parable in Israel, for all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die' (Ezekiel 18:1-4). From this, we learn that it is not death that the Lord does, but sin. For the soul that sins, it shall die. And in this present place, it is said that Israel will by no means be condemned eternally for the sins of their fathers; but through their own merits and faith in Christ, they will be saved after many ages. And it should be noted that vices and sins are called sour grapes, so that the teeth of those who eat them are stunned, and they cannot taste its sweetness, of which it is said: Taste and see, for the Lord is sweet (Psalm 33:9). Whoever does not understand the Scriptures as the truth of the matter has eaten sour grapes. Hence all heretics who believe perverse things cannot eat the bread that comes down from heaven, but their teeth are stunned, not by the harshness of food, but by the vice of their teeth.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 391] Pacian of Barcelona on Jeremiah 31:29-30
Will you be able to persuade anyone that, by receiving those who lapsed, the entire church has fallen? That the party of those who receive them back has become like someone who denies the faith because they admit penitents? But even if a congregation somehow has been too lenient, have other congregations who did not approve of their actions but rather followed convention and kept communion, also lost the name Christian? Hear the voice of Jeremiah! “In those days they shall not say, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ But each one shall die for his own sin.”

Source: LETTER 3:3.3
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Jeremiah 31:29-30
Finally, that we may not be disturbed by the words I have quoted and many others of like importance, about returning the sins of the parents on the children—words written truthfully, yet that might be thought contrary to this prophecy—he solves this very vexed question by adding, “Behold, the days shall come, says the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their ancestors.” In this new covenant through the blood of the Mediator, the paternal decree having been cancelled, humankind by rebirth begins to be no longer subject to the paternal debts that bind them at birth, as the Mediator says: “And call no one on earth your father,” inasmuch as we but shall live forever with the Father.

Source: AGAINST JULIAN 6:25.82
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Jeremiah 31:29-30
It is similarly impossible, he says, for children to be called to account for ancestral sins, because I promise to children the greatest blessings even when their parents sin.

Source: ON JEREMIAH 7:31
[AD 69] Hebrews on Jeremiah 31:31-34
For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. [Jeremiah 31:31-34] Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
[AD 202] Irenaeus on Jeremiah 31:31
All things therefore are of one and the same substance, that is, from one and the same God, just as the Lord says to the disciples, “Therefore every scribe who is instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.” He did not teach that the one who brought forth the old was one while the person who brought forth the new was another. Rather, he taught that they were one and the same. For the Lord is the good man of the house who rules the entire house of his Father and who delivers a law suited both for slaves and those who are as yet undisciplined. He provides fitting precepts to those who are free and have been justified by faith, as well as throwing his own inheritance open to those who are sons and daughters. And he called his disciples “scribes” and “teachers of the kingdom of heaven” of whom also he elsewhere says to the Jews, “Behold, I send to you wise men, and scribes and teachers; and some of them you shall kill and persecute from city to city.” Now, without contradiction, he means by those things that are brought forth from the treasure new and old—the two covenants. The old concerns that giving of the law that took place formerly. He points out the new as being that manner of life required by the gospel, of which David says, “Sing to the Lord a new song.” … And Jeremiah says, “Behold, I will make a new covenant, not as I made with your ancestors” in Mount Horeb. But one and the same householder produced both covenants, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who spoke with Abraham and Moses, and who has again restored us to liberty and has multiplied that grace that is from himself.

Source: AGAINST HERESIES 4:9.1
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on Jeremiah 31:31
For we find in the Scriptures, as the Lord says, “Behold, I make with you a new covenant, not as I made with your ancestors in Mount Horeb.” He made a new covenant with us. For what belonged to the Greeks and Jews is old. But we, who worship him in a new way, in the third form, are Christians. For clearly, as I think, he showed that the one and only God was known by the Greeks in a Gentile way, by the Jews Judaically and in a new and spiritual way by us.

Source: STROMATEIS 6:5
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Jeremiah 31:31
From the prophets I will prove that the Old and New Covenants have one Lawgiver. And so, what does Jeremiah say? “I will give you a new covenant.” Do you see Jeremiah’s prophetic reference to a new covenant that shines forth brilliantly for so many years before Christ’s coming? “I will give you a new covenant.” But how does it seem that he gave even the Old? When he said, “I will give you a new covenant,” he added, “not like the covenant that I gave to your ancestors.”

Source: HOMILIES ON REPENTANCE AND ALMSGIVING 6:4.15
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Jeremiah 31:31
Don’t you see how their reasoning comes around to the very contrary? The God of the old covenant, whom they call cruel, will be found mild and meek. The God of the new, whom they acknowledged to be good, will be hard and grievous, according to their madness. But we say that there is but one and the same Legislator of both covenants, who dispensed all correctly and adapted to the difference of the times the difference between the two systems of law. Therefore the first commandments are not cruel, nor are the second hard and grievous, but all come from one and the same providential care. Hear the affirmation of the prophet that God gave the old covenant also, or rather (so we must speak), the affirmation of him who is both the one and the other: “I will make a covenant with you, not according to the covenant that I made with your ancestors.”

Source: HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 16:8
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:31-32
(Verse 31, 32.) Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will strike (or establish) the house of Israel and the house of Judah with a new covenant (or testament), not like the covenant (or testament) that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. The covenant (or testament) that they broke, though I was their master (or I disregarded them), says the Lord. And ((Vulg. but)) this will be the covenant (or testament) that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says 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. And no longer shall each one teach ((Vulg. man and man)) his neighbor, and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. The apostle Paul, or someone else, wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews, and all subsequent Ecclesiastical men say that everything was fulfilled in the first coming of the Savior, and that the new Testament, that is, the Gospel, succeeded the old Testament, from which the law of the letter was changed to the law of the spirit, so that all sacrifices, circumcision, and the Sabbath were spiritually fulfilled. But as for the covenant we set forth as Testament, it is of Hebrew truth, although it is correctly called a Testament, because the will and testimony of those who enter into the covenant are contained in it. When Israel was brought out of the land of Egypt, there was such a familiarity with God in that people that it is said that their hand was held and a covenant was made, which they made void, and therefore the Lord neglected them. But now in the Gospel after the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, he promises to give the covenant not on stone tablets, but on fleshy tablets of the heart. And when it is written that the Testament of the Lord is in the minds of the believers, it means that he is their God and they are his people, so that they should not seek Jewish teachers, traditions, and human commands, but be taught by the Holy Spirit, if they are worthy to listen: You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you (1 Corinthians 3:19). But the Spirit breathes where He wishes, and He has various graces. And the knowledge of one God is the possession of all virtues. And this, He says, will come to pass, because I will be propitious to their iniquity, and I will no longer remember their sins. From which it is clear, according to the understanding of this passage, that the things above are to be understood in the first coming of the Savior, when both peoples, Israel and Judah, were joined together. But if anyone finds difficulty in understanding why He said: I will make a covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, a new covenant, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, let him first understand that the Church of Christ came from the Jews, and that the Lord and Savior came to them and said: I came only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24); and the apostles themselves confirmed this: It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46). For it was not fitting to give the bread of the children to the dogs, but because the sons did not want to receive their father coming to them, He gave power to all, so that those who receive Him may become children of God (Matthew 15; John 1).

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Jeremiah 31:31
Nowhere, or hardly anywhere, except in this passage of the prophet, do we find in the Old Testament Scriptures any mention so made of the New Testament as to indicate it by its name. It is no doubt often referred to and foretold as about to be given, but not so plainly as to have its name mentioned. Consider, then, carefully what difference God has testified as existing between the two Testaments—the old covenant and the new.

Source: ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER 33
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Jeremiah 31:31
Because of the offense of the old Adam, which was by no means healed by the law that commanded and threatened, it is called the old covenant. The other is called the new covenant, because of the newness of the spirit that heals the new Adam of the fault of the old. Then consider what follows, and see in how clear a light the fact is placed, that people who have faith are unwilling to trust in themselves: “Because,” says he, “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 write it in their hearts.”

Source: ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER 35
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Jeremiah 31:31
He conveyed to us, of course, many prophecies on the same point: first, that there is one Lawgiver for the two covenants; then, the incompleteness of the former covenant, since there would be no need for the second one if the former had been adequate.

Source: ON JEREMIAH 7:31-32
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Jeremiah 31:32
The number seven has gone. The number eight has come. Yesterday is gone. Today has come. That is the promised day on which we have been warned to hear and follow God’s Word. The day of the Old Testament is gone. The new day has come in which the New Testament is made perfect, of which Jeremiah says, “Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their ancestors, in that day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.” He adds the reason why the covenant was changed: “They did not abide by my covenant, and I did not regard them, says the Lord.”

Source: LETTER 50(44)
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Jeremiah 31:32
There was a law before, and there is a law now: “The law of the Spirit of life has delivered me.” There was worship before, and there is worship now: “Whose worship,” Paul says, and again, “Who serve God in spirit.” There was a covenant before, and there is a covenant now: “I will make a new covenant with you, not according to the covenant that I made with your ancestors.” There was holiness before, and there is holiness now. There was a baptism before, and there is a baptism now. There was a sacrifice before, and there is a sacrifice now. There was a temple before, and there is a temple now. There was a circumcision before, and there is a circumcision now. So also there was grace before, and there is a grace now. But the first-named as types, and the others as the reality, have kept the same name but not the same meaning. Thus, even in pictures and images one that is done in black and white shades is said to be a person, and likewise one that has been done in realistic colors. Similarly, in the case of statues, both the gold one and clay one are called statues, but the one as a model, the other as the real statue.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 14
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:32
For the grace of the law, which has passed away, we have received the abiding grace of the gospel, and, instead of the shadows and figures of the ancient covenant, truth has come by Jesus Christ. Jeremiah also prophesies in the person of God: “Behold, the days shall come, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their ancestors, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.” Notice what he says, that it is not to the people of the Gentiles, with whom he had not previously made a covenant, but to the people of the Jews, to whom he had given the law by Moses, that he promises the new covenant of the gospel, so that they might no longer live according to the ancient letter but in the newness of the Spirit.

Source: LETTER 75
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Jeremiah 31:32
Learn, all of you—learn! What better law of God is there, after all, than the holy gospel? It is the law of the New Testament, about which you heard, when the prophet was read, “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, I will perfect on the house of Jacob a new testament, not like the testament that I laid down for their ancestors when I led them from the land of Egypt.” The testament (or covenant) is promised there, delivered here. It is promised through the prophet, delivered through the Lord of the prophets.

Source: SERMON 25:1
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Jeremiah 31:32
“But I,” he says, “hold on to what God handed over to Moses.” Listen to what God says through the prophet. What is God telling Jeremiah? “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, I will confirm on the house of Jacob a new covenant.” Leave the old aside, take up the new, and you can see that you ought to leave aside circumcision, and unleavened bread taken literally, and the sabbath taken literally and the sacrifices taken literally. Listen to how the new covenant is promised: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, I will confirm for them a new covenant, not like the covenant that I gave to their ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt,” when the law of commandments was given, when the people were led through the desert. It is not like that that I will give the new covenant. So do not go on wearing the old tunic. That was what crucified Christ. Your parent crucified him; you hate him. He by his own hand, you in your heart, both of you have carried out the crime. Therefore be displeased with what your parent did, and listen to what your Lord has done.

Source: SERMON 196A.2
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:33
When Israel was led out of the land of Egypt, God was intimate only with that people, such that it could be said that he took them by the hand and made a covenant with them, which they then violated and were therefore neglected by the Lord. Now, however, it is promised in the gospel that after the cross, resurrection and ascension, the covenant will be written not on stone tablets but on tablets of embodied hearts, since the testament of the Lord was to be written on the minds of believers, he being God dwelling in them and they a people in him, so that they would never again seek Jewish teachers and traditions and human commandments but would be taught instead by the Holy Spirit, provided that they are worthy to hear: “You are God’s temple, and the Spirit of God dwells in you.” But “the Spirit blows where he wills” and has various graces and is himself the possession of the knowledge of the God of all virtue. “And I will forgive their iniquities, and I will not remember their sins any more,” he says. From this, it is clear, according to the proper knowledge of the reading above, that this must be understood of the Savior’s first coming, when both the people of Israel and Judah were joined together. Should anyone worry, however, about why it says “I will make a new covenant—or testament—with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with your ancestors,” he should first understand that the church of Christ came to everyone from the Jews and, moreover, that the Lord Savior said, “I came only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Source: SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 6:26.5-8
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Jeremiah 31:33
Isn’t the finger of God to be understood as being the Holy Spirit? Read the gospel, and see that where one Evangelist has the Lord saying, “If I with the Spirit of God cast out demons,” another says, “If I with the finger of God cast out demons.” So if that law too was written by the finger of God, that is by the Spirit of God, the Spirit by which Pharaoh’s magicians were defeated, so they said, “This is the finger of God.” So if that law too, indeed because that law too was composed by the Spirit of God, that is, by the finger of God, why can it not be said of it, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ has delivered you from the law of sin and death”?… So, the “law of the Spirit of life,” written on the heart, not on stone, in Christ Jesus, in whose person was celebrated the ultimately real and genuine Passover “has delivered you from the law of sin and death.”

Source: SERMON 155:3, 6
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Jeremiah 31:33
What are you asking about, you see, is what special thing God is keeping for the good, if he generously bestows so many things on both good and bad. When I said, “What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it come up into the heart of people,” there is no lack of people to say, “Can you think what it is?” Here is what it is that God is keeping for the good alone, though it is he who has made them good. Here is what it is. Our reward has been very briefly defined by the prophet: I will be their God, and they shall be my people. I will be their God. He has promised us himself as our reward.

Source: SERMON 331:4
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Jeremiah 31:33
God is the reward, in him the end, in him the perfection of happiness, in him the sum of the blessed and eternal life. For after saying, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people,” he at once adds, “And they shall no more teach everyone his neighbor, and everyone his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest of them.”

Source: ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER 39
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Jeremiah 31:33
Here, God is Jerusalem’s reward. Its highest—its entire—good is to possess him and to be possessed by him.

Source: City of God 17.3
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Jeremiah 31:33
I have acted thus, not as a finished master but as one needing to be perfected with his pupils, excellent lady, daughter deservedly honored and cherished in Christ. Indeed, even in the subjects that, one way or another, I know, I am more anxious for you to be learned than to be in need of my learning, for we ought not to desire the ignorance of others in order to teach what we know. It surely is much better for all of us to be ready to be taught of God what will certainly be perfected in that country on high when the promise will be fulfilled in us, that a person shall not say to his neighbor, “Know the Lord, for all shall know him,” as it is written, “from the least of them even to the greatest.”

Source: LETTER 266
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Jeremiah 31:33
You should not write the creed out in any way, but, so as to hold the exact words of the creed, learn it by listening. Not even when you have learned it should you write it down, but, rather, always hold it and cherish it in your memory. For whatever you will hear in the creed is contained in the inspired books of the Holy Scriptures. The fact that it is not permitted to write down what has been thus collected and reduced to a definite form comes about in memory of the promise of God in which, predicting a New Testament, he said in the words of the prophet: “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, by setting my law in their minds, I will write it also in their hearts.”

Source: SERMON 212:2
[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on Jeremiah 31:33
It was probable, however, that the holy apostles would perhaps think these things difficult to put into practice. Therefore he who knows all things takes the natural law of self-love as the arbiter of what any one would wish to obtain from another. Treat others, he says, such as you wish them to treat you. If you would have them harsh and unfeeling, fierce and wrathful, revengeful and ill-disposed, treat them this way. But if, on the contrary, you would have them kind and forgiving, do not think it a thing intolerable to be so yourselves. And in the case of those so disposed, the law is perhaps unnecessary, because God writes on our hearts the knowledge of his will. “For in those days,” says the Lord, “I will surely give my laws into their minds and will write them on their hearts.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 29
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on Jeremiah 31:34
God raised Christ to the skies, transplanting mortality into immortality and translating earth to heaven—he, the husbandman of God, “pointing out the favorable signs and rousing the nations to good works, putting them in mind of their true sustenance,” having bestowed on us the truly great, divine and inalienable inheritance of the Father, deifying people by heavenly teaching, putting his laws into our minds and writing them on our hearts. What laws does he inscribe? “That all shall know God, from small to great,” and, “I will be merciful to them,” says God, “and will not remember their sins.” Let us receive the laws of life, let us comply with God’s corrections. Let us become acquainted with him, that he may be gracious.

Source: EXHORTATION TO THE GREEKS 11
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Jeremiah 31:34
Consider how easy it is for people to obey. For Jeremiah said, “They shall no more teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying: ‘Know the Lord.’ For all men will know me from the least of them to the greatest.” And Isaiah showed how indestructible the Church would be. “For in the last days the mountain of the Lord will be conspicuous, and the house of the Lord will be on top of the mountains and will be exalted above the hills. And to this mountaintop will come many peoples and many nations.”

Source: DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE PAGANS 6:5
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Jeremiah 31:34
Let me beg you to consider then this simple and single-hearted person and take notice of him in the affairs of life, and you will see him a pattern of the utmost scrupulousness, such that if he would have shown it in spiritual matters he would not have been overlooked. The facts of the truth are clearer than the sun. And wherever a person may go, he might easily lay hold of his own salvation, if he wanted to, that is, to be obedient and not to look on this as a byproduct. For were these events confined to Palestine or to a little corner of the world? Didn’t you hear the prophet say, “All shall know me, from the least even to the greatest”?

Source: HOMILIES ON ROMANS 26
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Jeremiah 31:34
To show the rapidity of the change and the facility with which they would embrace Christ’s teaching, the prophet went on to say, “And they shall no more teach everyone his neighbor and everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.” On his coming, Christ would also pardon the transgressions of all people and no more remember their sins. What could be clearer than this? By these predictions the prophet revealed the calling of the Gentiles, the superiority of the new law over the old law, the ease of access, the grace possessed by those who have believed and the gift given in baptism.

Source: DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE PAGANS 10:9-10
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:34
In Jeremiah, we read concerning the future kingdom …, “They shall all know me, from the least to the greatest of them.” The context of this passage clearly shows that the prophet is describing the future kingdom. But how can there possibly be in it a least or greatest, if all are to be equal? The secret is disclosed in the Gospel: “Whoever shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever shall teach and not do shall be least.”

Source: Against Jovinianus 2.27
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Jeremiah 31:34
If we are asked why we do not worship God as the Hebrew ancestors of the Old Testament worshiped him, we reply that God has taught us differently by the New Testament fathers, and yet not in opposition to the Old Testament, but as that Testament itself predicted. For it is thus foretold by the prophet Jeremiah … that that covenant would not continue but that there would be a new one. And to the objection that we do not belong to the house of Israel or to the house of Judah, we answer according to the teaching of the apostle, who calls Christ the seed of Abraham and says to us, as belonging to Christ’s body, “Therefore you are Abraham’s seed.”

Source: REPLY TO FAUSTUS THE MANICHAEAN 32:9
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Jeremiah 31:34
You do not say, “Let man be made,” but, “Let us make man.” Nor do you say, “after his kind,” but after “our image” and “likeness.” Because, being renewed in his mind and beholding and apprehending your truth, a person does not need another person as his director so that he may imitate his own kind. By your direction he proves what your good, acceptable and perfect will is. You teach him—now that he has been made capable—to perceive the Trinity of the Unity and the Unity of the Trinity. Therefore this being said in the plural, “Let us make man,” it is yet followed by the phrase in the singular, “and God made man.” This is said in the plural, “after our likeness,” followed by the phrase in the singular, “after the image of God.” Thus humankind is renewed in the knowledge of God, after the image of him who created them. Being made spiritual, he judges all things—all things that are to be judged—“yet he himself is judged by no mortal.”

Source: Confessions 13.22.32
[AD 455] Prosper of Aquitaine on Jeremiah 31:34
The adulterous woman whom the law prescribed to be stoned was set free by him with truth and grace when the avengers of the law, frightened with the state of their own conscience, had left the trembling guilty woman to the judgment of him who had come “to seek and save what was lost.” For that reason he, bowing down—that is, stooping down to our human level and intent on the work of our reformation—“wrote with his finger on the ground,” in order to repeal the law of the commandments with the decrees of his grace and to reveal himself as the One who had said, “I will give my laws in their understanding, and I will write them in their hearts.” This indeed he does every day when he infuses his will into the hearts of those who are called and when with the pen of the Holy Spirit the Truth mercifully rewrites on the pages of their souls all that the devil enviously falsified.

Source: THE CALL OF ALL NATIONS 1:8
[AD 455] Prosper of Aquitaine on Jeremiah 31:34
Obviously, those who have heard the gospel and refused to believe are all the more inexcusable than if they had not listened to any preaching of the truth. But it is certain that in God’s foreknowledge they were not children of Abraham and were not reckoned among the number of them of whom it is said, “In your seed all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed.” He promised them the faith when he said, “And no one shall teach his neighbor and no one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord.’ For all shall know me, from the small among them even to the great.” He promised them pardon when he said, “I will forgive their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” He promised them an obedient heart when he said, “I will give them another heart and another way, that they may fear me all days.” He promised them perseverance when he said, “I will give my fear in their heart, that they may not revolt from me, and I will visit them, that I may make them good.” Finally, to all without exception he promised the faith when he said, “I have sworn by myself, justice alone shall go out of my mouth, and my words shall not be turned away. Every knee shall be bowed to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”

Source: THE CALL OF ALL NATIONS 1:9
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Jeremiah 31:34
The future life achieves the fulfillment of these words. In that life we shall no longer need instruction from one another, since everything will be patently obvious. Sufferings will be at an end, bodies will be incorruptible, souls will be immune to change. Now it is customary with the divine Scripture to mix prophecies together. It connects prophecies about his repeated call to Israel with those about the captivity, and the Lord in the sacred Gospels cites at the one time the sayings about Jerusalem and those about the consummation.

Source: ON JEREMIAH 7:31
[AD 735] Bede on Jeremiah 31:34
The teachers of the Word come and go, and others follow in the succession of those who pass away. But the sacred Scripture remains for all time without ever being abolished, until the time when the Lord shall appear at the end of the world. Then we shall have no further need for the Scriptures or for those who interpret them, since there will be a long-awaited fulfillment of that promise of the Lord that says, “And they shall not teach their neighbor and brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.”

Source: On the Tabernacle 1:7
[AD 373] Ephrem the Syrian on Jeremiah 31:35-36
“If laws of day and night cease to speak before my face, says the Lord, then the descendants of Israel cease to be a nation forever.” It is impossible that the world order established from the beginning would change, that is, movement of stars, change of seasons. Therefore, without doubt, the promise given to David would not be left unfulfilled, and his kingdom and his seed would not cease before God’s face. Although this prophecy was fulfilled in its own time for Zerubbabel, who ruled over David’s kingdom, it was more completely fulfilled in our Lord, as even the angel said, “The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign in the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.”And the prophet repeats and confirms later on what is said here about the spread and eternity of Christ’s kingdom by saying, “Just as the heavenly stars could not be counted and the sands of the sea could not be measured, so I will increase the seed of David,” that is, the seed of his Word (Logos), son of David, priests and the Levites of the new covenant. According to their dignified status, the prophet depicts the gospel and the church of Christ in the image of the powers of heaven (stars) and their spread in the image of the sands of the sea, because thus it should be that the gospel and the church would become known to all the ends of the universe and that all nations would believe in them.

Source: COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH 31:36
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:35-36
(Verse 35, 36) Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day, the order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar: The Lord of hosts is his name. If these laws (or statutes) depart from before me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me forever. And in the beginning of Genesis, we read that the sun was placed in the sky for light by day, and the moon and stars for light by night (Gen. 1). And in the psalm it says: Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge (Psalm 19:2), meaning that night and day succeed each other. Just as, he says, the order of things, especially the celestial spheres, cannot be changed, and the waves of the sounding sea roll toward the shore, and the terrifying noise of the swelling waves is heard, but it cannot go beyond what is commanded by God, according to that: You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth (Psalm 104:9). Similarly, he says, the offspring and lineage of Israel will be perpetual by the will of the Lord, and will never fail. However, here the laws are not to be understood as Mosaic, but as the constitution and order of nature. Let us ask the Jews, if the heavens will perish, and all will become old like a garment; and to the Lord it is said: But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail (Ps. CI, 28), how can the seed of Israel be perpetual? For if the heavens perish, the seed of Israel will perish; but if it is perpetual, then the heavens will not perish. But if the Scriptures cannot lie, and the heavens are perishable, then the seed of Israel will perish as well, especially since Jacob speaks to his sons, saying: Come, and I will tell you what will happen in the last days (Gen. XLIX, 1). When it is said, in the last days, therefore the world will cease to exist, and there will be a different arrangement of things (or dispensation). This is against them. Furthermore, the Gospel also shows that this world is not everlasting, saying: Heaven and earth will pass away (Matth. XXIV, 35). And behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world (Matt. XXVIII, 20). Let us also say it differently: As long as this world exists, the seed of Israel and the Jewish nation will remain, not in those who are now unbelievers, but in those who believed with the Apostles and through the Apostles, so that the remnants may be saved.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:37
(Verse 37) Thus says the Lord: If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will reject all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord. LXX: Thus says the Lord: If the heavens are raised high above and the floor of the earth is humbled below, then I will not reject the nation of Israel, says the Lord, for all that they have done. The Hebrew text in this passage differs greatly from the Vulgate edition. Let us first speak according to the Hebrew: If the heavens above can be measured and their height known, or the foundations of the earth investigated and their outermost limits understood, then I will reject the whole offspring of Israel because of all that they have done, says the Lord. Just as it is impossible for us to know the height of the heavens and the foundations of the earth, so it will also be impossible for me to reject the whole offspring of Israel. But if I reject the entire seed of Israel, the summit of the heavens will be shaken, and the ends of the earth. This syllogism is woven in the Gospel: when the impossible is compared to the impossible: Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matth. XIX). For just as that ((or: the impossible)) cannot be done, so neither can this be done; but if this is done, then that which was thought to be impossible will be done. Therefore, those who interpret this passage differently, also placing that testimony, that the Son might be able to seek help from the Father and summon twelve legions of angels to His aid. The Septuagint translated this meaning in opposition, saying: 'If heaven is exalted higher and the pavement of the earth is lowered below;', and I, says the Lord, will not reject the seed of Israel because of all they have done. But if that is the case, the Israelite people will be rejected. For just as the sky cannot be higher than what it is, nor the earth lower than what it is, so too the people of Israel will by no means be rejected. If we see the Jews boasting according to this Hebrew testimony, we agree with them that the entire seed of Israel is not cast away. For not all are cast away, but only those who were unbelieving.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:38-40
Those who accept the reign of the Messiah for one thousand years in the land of Judea—clearly the Jews and our Judaizers—strive to claim and to demonstrate that the sanctuary of the Lord, that is, the temple, must be maintained forever in one location, specifically that of the tower of Hananel and the corner gate and the hill Gareb and Goah and the entire valley of corpses and ashes and the river Kidron and the corner of the eastern Gate of Horses. Because they are unable to show that it was completed after their captivity in the times of Zerubbabel and Ezra, they pass to the times of the Messiah, whom they say is coming at the consummation of the world, so that a golden and bejeweled Jerusalem can descend, according to the Apocalypse of John, and be built within this space of land, that is, beginning at one place and ending at another. And they receive this whiff of a suspicion that the foundation of the city is to be laid from the tower at Anathoth, which today is called Jeremiah’s and is separated from Jerusalem by three thousand [sic], to the river Kidron, where there is a garden in which Judas the traitor betrayed the Savior, as written in the Gospel.“We are about to read in what follows,” they say, “that Hanamel the son of Shallum was Jeremiah’s uncle and that Jeremiah bought Hanamel’s field and that this is the tower of Hanamel.” Yet, they did not know the truth of the Hebrew, for this is what is written: “from the tower of Hananel,” with an n clearly as the fifth letter, whereas the name in the other phrase has an m as the fifth letter: “Behold, Hanamel, son of Shallum, your uncle, will come to you.”

Source: SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 6:29.2-5
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:38-40
Invoking the Lord and Savior “who has the key of David, who opens and no one closes, who closes and no one opens,” … let us approach the edifice of the city to which the prophetic words were directed: “Glorious things are said of you, O city of God,” and “the river’s flow delights the City of God.” Thus, the church is built from the tower “of obedience” or “grace” or “the gifts of God”—for this is what Hananel means—to the corner gate. Even though the church may appear to have a sublime beginning, we are unable to possess the straight line of truth as long as we are in the flesh, but we stand on a corner with broken lines, where the measuring line goes out beyond the corner gate to the hill Gareb, which, in our language, is translated either “sojourn” or “itch,” to teach us that we are foreigners and wanderers with ears itching to provide easy agreement to the worst of new doctrines.And “it will go around Goah,” it says, which the Septuagint translates as “a circuit around chosen stones,” who wish to be on the face of the earth and are bound together by the cornerstone, with the apostle Peter saying, “like living stones, be built into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” It continues, “And it goes around the entire valley of Phagarim,” which means “ruins” and “ashes,” so that even though we appear to be in the hills, we may always yet fear the ruins and consider the ashes and say penance with David: “I ate ashes like bread and mixed tears into my drink.” Hence, to the sleeping it is said, “Is it not true that one who falls rises again, says the Lord?” It also says “the entire Sademoth,” which we translate as the “region of death,” from sade, which means “region,” and moth, which means “death.” But Aquila translates it “suburban,” or “field” and “country.” But the “region of death” is the region of sinners and “suburban” the region of pleasures, which continues all the way to the river Kidron, where the Lord was betrayed, which is translated “darkness.” See how many places the church has and how the apostolic word that it is to be “without spot or wrinkle” is reserved for the future in heaven. You heard about the corner, you heard about the itchy ears, you heard about the ruins and the ashes and the region of death and the darkness, and still you glory in your virtue and your sinlessness!

Source: SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 6:29.6-11
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:38-40
Then it continues, “to the corner gate.” It is made a corner lest any true justice or any certain victory be thought demonstrable in this world. And the corner gate itself, though it may be “in the east,” whence the light originates, is nevertheless called “horse gate,” this to teach us that we need to ride and to fight, so that we may deserve to hear with the Lord, “You mounted your horses and the salvation of your chariot.” The sanctification of the Lord is placed in the eastern gate, the gate of chariots, that we may be deemed perfect when we say to the Lord, “The chariot of God is tens of thousands of joyful people, for the Lord is among them.” In this way, the building that is established on the foundation of Christ, about which the apostle also said, “as a wise architect, I laid a foundation,” will never be destroyed but will remain forever.

Source: SIX BOOKS ON JEREMIAH 6:29.12-13
[AD 420] Jerome on Jeremiah 31:38
(Verse 38) . Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the city will be rebuilt for the Lord, from the tower of Ananeel (also known as Anamehel) to the corner gate. And the measuring line will extend beyond it, to the hill of Gareb, and will encompass Goatha (or according to the Septuagint, with chosen stones). And the entire valley of ruins (for which Theodotius placed the Hebrew word Phagarim, and ashes, and all Asaremoth, which we better read as Asademoth, for which Aquila interpreted as suburban) will extend to the Kidron Valley, to the corner of the Eastern Horse Gate. The holy place of the Lord will not be rooted up or destroyed forever. Those who receive the kingdom of Christ in the land of Judea, namely the Jews and our Judaizers, try to show the tower of Ananeel and the gate of the corner, and the hill of Gareb, and Goatha, and the valley of Phagarim, and all Asademoth, and the Cedron torrent, and the place of the corner gate of the east horses: and there they say that the sanctuary of the Lord, that is, the temple, is to be built, and will remain forever. Because they cannot show this accomplishment after the captivity during the times of Zorobabel and Ezra, they move on to the times of Christ, whom they say will come at the end of the world, so that he may descend upon Jerusalem adorned with gold and jewels, according to the Book of Revelation, and be built around this land, that is, from that place to this place, in a circuit (Rev. 21). And they take this ring of theirs, because it is situated by the tower of Anathoth, which is now called Jeremiah, three miles separated from Jerusalem, all the way to the Brook of Kidron, which is written in the Gospel (John 18), and is in the valley of Jehoshaphat, where there was a garden, in which Judas the betrayer handed over the Savior, the foundations of the city are laid. We are about to read, they say, that Anameel, the cousin of Sallum, was the son of Jeremiah, who bought the field, and this is the tower of Ananeel, ignorant of the Hebrew truth. For here it is written according to the Hebrew text, from the tower of Ananeel (which means 'grace of God') through Nun, namely the middle letter. There it says: 'Behold, Anameel (which means 'grace of God') the son of Sallum, your cousin, will come to you, through the middle letter Mem.' Therefore, invoking the Lord and Savior, who has the key of David, who opens and no one can shut, who shuts and no one can open; who also opened the sealed book of Isaiah and all the prophets (Isaiah 22); and the twenty-four elders who held harps worshiped (Revelation 3), indicating that only He can reveal the divine mysteries, let us approach the building of the city to which the prophetic word is directed: 'Glorious things are said of you, O city of God' (Psalm 87:3); and 'The streams of the river make glad the city of God' (Psalm 46:4). So the Church is built from the tower of obedience, or grace, and the gifts of God (for this is what Ananeel interprets), up to the gate of the corner, which may seem to have a lofty beginning, as long as we continue in this flesh, we cannot possess the straight line of truth: but we stand in the corner and with broken lines, and go out beyond the measuring line against it, that is, the gate of the corner, over the hill Gareb, which in our language is translated either as sojourning or scabies, to teach us to be strangers and foreigners, and not to easily consent to itching ears and the novelty of the worst dogmas. And Goatha will go around, he says, for which they were interpreted as seventy by a circuit, with chosen stones that roll upon the face of the earth, and are bound with a corner stone, as the apostle Peter says: And you yourselves are built up as living stones into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5). And she will go around, he says, all the valley of Phagarim, which is interpreted as ruins; and ashes, understood, so that although we may seem to be without inhabitants: nevertheless, let us always fear ruins and consider ashes; and in repentance let us say with David: For I have eaten ashes as bread, and mixed my drink with weeping (Psalm 102:10). And it is said to those who lie down: Does one not rise again who falls? says the Lord (Jeremiah VIII, 4). And he says that the whole place, which we translate as the region of death, is divided into two words; Sade (), which means region, and Moth (), which translates as death: for which Aquila translates as suburbs, or fields, and rural areas. The region of death is the region of sins; and the suburbs are the region of pleasures, which goes up to the Brook Kidron, where the Lord was handed over, who is interpreted as darkness (John XVIII). See how many places the Church has, and how that Apostolic saying is fulfilled: That it may be without stain or wrinkle (Ephes. V, 27), and be preserved in the future and in the heavenly realms. You hear of corners, you hear of decay, you hear of ruins and ashes, and the region of death, and darkness, and you boast of your power and sinlessness. Finally, it follows: even up to the corner of the gate. And this corner, so that no true justice, no certain victory, may be shown in this world. Even though it is the eastern corner of the gate from which the light comes out, it is nevertheless called the horses: to teach us that we need to run and compete, and finally deserve to hear with the Lord: You have ascended on high, you have led captivity captive: you have received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them (Psalm 68:18). In the Eastern gate, in the gate of the chariots, is the sanctification of the Lord. And then we may consider ourselves perfect, when we say to the Lord: The chariot of God is ten thousand times ten thousand: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai in the holy place (Psalm 68:17). Such a building, which is built upon the foundation of Christ, of which the Apostle speaks: 'As a wise architect, I have laid the foundation' (I Cor. III, 10), will never be destroyed, but will remain forever. The obscure and difficult matters must be discussed in more detail, so that we may quickly go through the obvious ones.

Source: Commentary on Jeremiah