Jeremiah 31:2
New International Version
This is what the LORD says: “The people who survive the sword will find favor in the wilderness; I will come to give rest to Israel.”

New Living Translation
This is what the LORD says: “Those who survive the coming destruction will find blessings even in the barren land, for I will give rest to the people of Israel.”

English Standard Version
Thus says the LORD: “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest,

Berean Standard Bible
This is what the LORD says: “The people who survived the sword found favor in the wilderness when Israel went to find rest.”

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
Thus says the LORD: “The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness— Israel, when I went to give him rest.”

New American Standard Bible
This is what the LORD says: “The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness— Israel, when it went to find its rest.”

NASB 1995
Thus says the LORD, “The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness— Israel, when it went to find its rest.”

NASB 1977
Thus says the LORD, “The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness— Israel, when it went to find its rest.”

Legacy Standard Bible
Thus says Yahweh, “The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness— Israel, when it went to find its relief.”

Amplified Bible
Thus says the LORD, “The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness [of exile]— Israel (the Northern Kingdom), when it went to find its rest.”

Christian Standard Bible
This is what the LORD says: The people who survived the sword found favor in the wilderness. When Israel went to find rest,

Holman Christian Standard Bible
This is what the LORD says: They found favor in the wilderness— the people who survived the sword. When Israel went to find rest,

American Standard Version
Thus saith Jehovah, The people that were left of the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

Contemporary English Version
In the desert I was kind to those who escaped death. I gave them peace, and when the time is right, I'll do the same for you. I, the LORD, have spoken.

English Revised Version
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.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
This is what the LORD says: The people who survived the wars have found favor in the desert. Israel went to find its rest.

Good News Translation
In the desert I showed mercy to those people who had escaped death. When the people of Israel longed for rest,

International Standard Version
This is what the LORD says: "The people who survived the sword, found favor in the desert while Israel was seeking rest.

Majority Standard Bible
This is what the LORD says: “The people who survived the sword found favor in the wilderness when Israel went to find rest.”

NET Bible
The LORD says, "The people of Israel who survived death at the hands of the enemy will find favor in the wilderness as they journey to find rest for themselves.

New Heart English Bible
Thus says the LORD, "The people who were left of the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

Webster's Bible Translation
Thus saith the LORD, The people who were left by the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.

World English Bible
Yahweh says, “The people who survive the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.”
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Thus said YHWH: “A people remaining from the sword "" Have found grace in the wilderness "" When Israel went to find rest.”

Young's Literal Translation
Thus said Jehovah: Found grace in the wilderness Hath a people remaining from the sword Going to cause it to rest -- Israel.

Smith's Literal Translation
Thus said Jehovah, The people escaped of the sword found grace in the desert; Israel going to cause him to rest.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Thus saith the Lord: The people were left and escaped from the sword, found grace in the desert: Israel shall to his rest.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Thus says the Lord: “The people who had remained after the sword, found grace in the desert. Israel will go to his rest.”

New American Bible
Thus says the LORD: The people who escaped the sword find favor in the wilderness. As Israel comes forward to receive rest,

New Revised Standard Version
Thus says the LORD: The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest,
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Thus says the LORD: The people who escaped from the sword found compassion in the wilderness when Israel went into exile.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Thus says LORD JEHOVAH: “The people that was saved from the sword found mercy in the wilderness. Israel went into captivity”
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Thus saith the LORD: The people that were left of the sword Have found grace in the wilderness, Even Israel, when I go to cause him to rest.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Thus saith the Lord, I found him warm in the wilderness with them that were slain with the sword: go ye and destroy not Israel.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Mourning Turned to Joy
1“At that time,” declares the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be My people.” 2This is what the LORD says: “The people who survived the sword found favor in the wilderness when Israel went to find rest.” 3The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.…

Cross References
Hosea 11:1
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.

Exodus 33:14
And the LORD answered, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Isaiah 63:9
In all their distress, He too was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. In His love and compassion He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

Deuteronomy 7:8
But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Isaiah 40:1-2
“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God. / “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”

Matthew 11:28-30
Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. / Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. / For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Isaiah 49:13
Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; break forth in song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, and He will have compassion on His afflicted ones.

Hosea 2:14
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her and lead her to the wilderness, and speak to her tenderly.

Isaiah 43:1-2
But now, this is what the LORD says—He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine! / When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.

Romans 5:8
But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Isaiah 51:3
For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Isaiah 54:10
Though the mountains may be removed and the hills may be shaken, My loving devotion will not depart from you, and My covenant of peace will not be broken,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

Ephesians 2:4-5
But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, / made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!

Isaiah 35:10
So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.


Treasury of Scripture

Thus said 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.

The people.

Exodus 1:16,22
And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live…

Exodus 2:23
And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

Exodus 5:21
And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.

found.

Jeremiah 2:2
Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

Deuteronomy 1:30,33
The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; …

Deuteronomy 2:7
For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

when.

Numbers 10:33
And they departed from the mount of the LORD three days' journey: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting place for them.

Deuteronomy 12:9
For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the LORD your God giveth you.

Psalm 95:11
Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

Jump to Previous
Cause Desert Favor Find Found Grace Israel Kept Remaining Rest Resting-Place Safe Sought Survive Survived Sword Waste Way Wilderness
Jump to Next
Cause Desert Favor Find Found Grace Israel Kept Remaining Rest Resting-Place Safe Sought Survive Survived Sword Waste Way Wilderness
Jeremiah 31
1. The restoration of Israel.
10. The publication thereof.
15. Rahel mourning is comforted.
18. Ephraim repenting is brought home again.
22. Christ is promised.
27. His care over the church.
31. His new covenant.
35. The stability,
38. and amplitude of the church.














This is what the LORD says
This phrase introduces a divine proclamation, emphasizing the authority and sovereignty of God. In Hebrew, "LORD" is "YHWH," the sacred name of God, which underscores His eternal and unchanging nature. This introduction sets the stage for a message of hope and restoration, reminding the reader that the words to follow are not merely human thoughts but divine revelation.

The people who survived the sword
This phrase refers to the remnant of Israel who endured the calamities and destruction brought upon them, likely during the Babylonian conquest. The "sword" symbolizes warfare and judgment, a common theme in prophetic literature. Historically, this reflects the survival of a faithful remnant despite the nation's widespread disobedience and subsequent punishment. Theologically, it highlights God's mercy and the preservation of His covenant people.

found favor in the wilderness
The "wilderness" is a significant motif in the Bible, often representing a place of testing, purification, and divine encounter. In Hebrew, "favor" is "chen," which denotes grace and unmerited kindness. This phrase recalls the Exodus narrative, where God provided for Israel in the desert. It suggests a period of renewal and divine provision, where God extends His grace to those who have endured hardship.

when Israel went to find rest
"Rest" in this context is more than physical repose; it signifies peace, security, and fulfillment of God's promises. The Hebrew word "nuach" implies a settled state, often associated with the Promised Land. This phrase points to the ultimate goal of God's deliverance—bringing His people into a place of spiritual and physical rest. It echoes the eschatological hope of eternal rest in God's presence, a theme that resonates throughout Scripture.

(2) The people which were left of the sword . . .--The main thought of this and the next verse is that the past experience of God's love is a pledge or earnest for the future. Israel of old had "found grace in the wilderness" (comp. Hosea 11:1). But as the prophet has in his thoughts a new manifestation of that love, his language is modified accordingly. He thinks of the captives that had escaped, or should hereafter escape, the sword of the Chaldaeans (there had been no such deliverance in the case of the Egyptian exodus), and of their finding grace in the wilderness that lies between Palestine and the Euphrates. The verses that follow show, however, that the prophet is thinking also of the more distant exiles, the ten tribes in the cities of the Medes beyond the Tigris (2Kings 17:6).

Even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.--The verb that answers to the last five words includes the meaning of "settling" or "establishing," as well as of giving rest; and the whole clause is better translated Let me go, or I will go (the verb is in the infinitive with the force of an imperative, but this is its meaning) to set him at rest, even Israel.

Verse 2. - The people which were left of the sword, etc.; literally, the people of those left of the sword. The expression clearly implies that the Jews at the time spoken of had escaped, or were about to escape, in some great battle or some other kind of slaughter. Hence the finding grace in the wilderness cannot refer to the sequel of the passage through the Red Sea, and we must perforce explain it of the second great deliverance, viz. from the Babylonian exile. This view is strongly confirmed by Jeremiah 51:50, where the Israelites who escape the predicted slaughter at Babylon are called "escaped ones from the sword," and exhorted to remember Jehovah and Jerusalem "afar off." The "wilderness" of the present passage, like the "afar off" of ch. 51. (and of the next verse) seems to mean Babylon, which was, by comparison with the highly favoured Judah, a "barren and dry land" (comp. Psalm 63:1), a spiritual Arabia. It may be objected that the tense here is the perfect; but there is abundance of analogy for explaining it as the prophetic perfect. The restoration of the chosen people to favour is as certain in the Divine counsels as if it were already an event past. (It seems less appropriate to understand "the wilderness" of the country which separated Assyria from Palestine. It was in Babylon that the covenant of Sinai was renewed to God's repentant people.) Even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest; rather, when I went to cause Israel to rest (literally, to cause him - Israel - to rest; but the pleonastic pronoun need not be represented in the English). Another possible and perhaps preferable rendering is, I will go to cause, etc. "Rest" could only be had in the consciousness of God's favor. With all the outward property of many of the Jews in Babylon, there was no true "rest." Comp. chap. 16, "Ask for the old paths.., and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls" (the same verbal root in the Hebrew for "rest" in both passages).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
This is what
כֹּ֚ה (kōh)
Adverb
Strong's 3541: Like this, thus, here, now

the LORD
יְהוָ֔ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

says:
אָמַ֣ר (’ā·mar)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“The people
עַ֖ם (‘am)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

who survived
שְׂרִ֣ידֵי (śə·rî·ḏê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 8300: A survivor

the sword
חָ֑רֶב (ḥā·reḇ)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2719: Drought, a cutting instrument, as a, knife, sword

found
מָצָ֥א (mā·ṣā)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 4672: To come forth to, appear, exist, to attain, find, acquire, to occur, meet, be present

favor
חֵן֙ (ḥên)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2580: Graciousness, subjective, objective

in the wilderness
בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר (bam·miḏ·bār)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4057: A pasture, a desert, speech

when Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (yiś·rā·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3478: Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc

went
הָל֥וֹךְ (hā·lō·wḵ)
Verb - Qal - Infinitive absolute
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

to find rest.”
לְהַרְגִּיע֖וֹ (lə·har·gî·‘ōw)
Preposition-l | Verb - Hifil - Infinitive construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 7280: To toss violently and suddenly, to settle, quiet, to wink


Links
Jeremiah 31:2 NIV
Jeremiah 31:2 NLT
Jeremiah 31:2 ESV
Jeremiah 31:2 NASB
Jeremiah 31:2 KJV

Jeremiah 31:2 BibleApps.com
Jeremiah 31:2 Biblia Paralela
Jeremiah 31:2 Chinese Bible
Jeremiah 31:2 French Bible
Jeremiah 31:2 Catholic Bible

OT Prophets: Jeremiah 31:2 Thus says Yahweh The people who were (Jer.)
Jeremiah 31:1
Top of Page
Top of Page