The New Covenant
Jeremiah awakens from a pleasant sleep into a promise that the LORD will sow both Israel and Judah anew with people and animals. As surely as He once watched over them to uproot and destroy, He will now watch over them to build and plant, and the old proverb about children suffering for their fathers' sour grapes will give way to personal accountability.
A26t this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been most pleasant to me. 27“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and of beast. 28Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, to demolish, destroy, and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD. 29“In those days, it will no longer be said: 30Instead, each will die for his own iniquity. If anyone eats the sour grapes, his own teeth will be set on edge.
The LORD announces a new covenant with Israel and Judah, distinct from the covenant broken after the exodus. In this covenant He writes His law within them, claims them again as His people, makes knowledge of Himself universal among them, and forgives their iniquity so fully that He will remember their sin no more.
31Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, 32It will not be like the covenant 33“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel 34No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother,
The LORD, who fixed the sun, moon, stars, and roaring sea in their order, declares that only if this creation order fails will Israel cease to be a nation before Him. If the heavens can be measured or the earth's foundations searched out, only then would He cast off all the offspring of Israel for what they have done.
35Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, who sets in order the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar — the LORD of Hosts is His name: 36“Only if this fixed order departed from My presence, 37This is what the LORD says:
The LORD promises days when Jerusalem will be rebuilt for Him from one landmark to another, with the whole valley of death and ashes made holy. The city will never again be uprooted or overthrown.
38“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when this city will be rebuilt for Me, from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39The measuring line will once again stretch out straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn toward Goah. 40The whole valley of the dead bodies and ashes, and all the fields as far as the Kidron Valley, to the corner of the Horse Gate to the east, will be holy to the LORD. It will never again be uprooted or demolished.”