Jehovah will turn the captivity of the tents of Jacob and will have compassion on his dwelling places. The city will be rebuilt on its mound, and the palace will be inhabited after its own manner. Out from them will come thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry (vv. 18-19).
Jehovah declared that days are coming when the city of Jerusalem will be built unto Jehovah (31:38).
When Jehovah will turn again Israel’s captivity, they will say in the land of Judah and in its cities, “Jehovah bless you, O habitation of righteousness, / O mountain of holiness” (v. 23). Habitation of righteousness refers to Jerusalem, and mountain of holiness, to Mount Zion. Verse 24 says, “Judah and all its cities will dwell together in it, the farmers and they who wander with the flocks.”
Jehovah will satisfy the weary soul and fill every languishing soul (v. 25).
Jehovah will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast (v. 27). This indicates that every living thing will be rich in life. Jehovah also said that as He has watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to overthrow, to destroy, and to bring evil, so He will watch over them to build and to plant (v. 28).
Jehovah will multiply Israel so that they will not be few, and He will cause them to be honored so that they will not be small (30:19).
According to verses 20 and 21, their children will be as they were of old, and their assembly will be established before Jehovah; their leader will be one of them, and their ruler will come out of their midst; and Jehovah will bring him near, and he will approach Him.
In these verses Jehovah spoke of one leader, not of many leaders. Thus, there will not be different opinions. At that time, the children of God will have no more opinion and no more division.
God promised that the seed of Israel will not cease from being a nation before Jehovah forever, just as the ordinances of the sun, the moon, and the stars, and the roaring of the waves of the sea will never depart. “If this order departs / From before Me, declares Jehovah, / Then the seed of Israel will also cease / From being a nation before Me forever” (31:36). There is a similar word in verses 25 and 26 of chapter 33: “Thus says Jehovah, If My covenant with respect to day and night does not stand, if I have not established the statutes of heaven and earth, then I will also reject the seed of Jacob and David My servant and will not take rulers from his seed to be over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I will turn their captivity and will have compassion on them.” Both portions use the same illustration to indicate that from the time of the restoration, that is, the coming millennium, Israel will exist forever, just as the universe will exist forever. They will not cease from being a nation.
Jehovah also assured Israel that He will not cast off their seed for all they have done. “Thus says Jehovah, / If the heavens above can be measured, / And the foundations of the earth below can be examined carefully, / Then I will also cast off all the seed of Israel / For all they have done, declares Jehovah” (31:37). Thus, just as the heavens cannot be measured and the foundations of the earth cannot be examined, the descendants of Israel will never be cut off. God will never cast off the descendants of Israel.
Jeremiah prophesied that Jehovah, as their Husband, would make a new covenant with Israel. “Indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, declares Jehovah” (vv. 31-32). This is the first portion of the Scriptures where God speaks of making a new covenant with the Jews. According to the Bible, the new covenant is first for the Jews, the people of Israel; it is not first for the Gentiles. Those days in verse 33 refers to the beginning of the millennium at the end of the great tribulation. At that time, God will make a new covenant with the Israelites. God has put us in His new covenant today and has given us the blessings of the new covenant because we have believed into the Lord Jesus. The Israelites will gain the blessings of the new covenant on that day by believing in Jesus as the Lord.