1 AT the same time, [ At the time of the future great gathering. ] 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 [ Assyrian conquest of Israel. ] found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, [ The remnant of Israel. Those who are not of the ten tribes lead away by the Lord. ] 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. [ The Lord will put or draw them back with great love. ]

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 [ Symbolic rejoicing of Israel, they are glad to be back in his good graces. ] 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. [ Then, Israel will once again be a fruitful vineyard both spiritually as well as physically blessed with the bounty of the land. ]

6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen [ The righteous prophets of the latter days (see also Ezekiel 3:16–21). In the last dispensation they will cry to all people to join together in proper worship of the Lord (see D&C 1:1–2).] upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, [ Ephraim will be the one to lead the charge so to speak. And how does he do that from the mount (the temple), is is there that Ephraim will be the one to provide the Temple blessings - hence the baptismal font in the temple is upon the backs of oxen (representative of the tribe of Ephraim). ] Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD [ Israel will worship in Zion the True God. See Isaiah 2:3. ] our God.

7 For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness [ You can rejoice in what the Lord is about to do for you. ] for Jacob, [ Or Israel as he was also known to the Lord. ] and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. [ Those tribes of Jacob (Joseph and Judah) who were not lead away by the hand of the Lord. ]

8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, [ Or the place where God lead them to in the first place. (see D&C 110:11; 133:26) and from the coasts (ends) of the earth. Elder LeGrand Richards said of this gathering: “‘I will bring them . . . : a great company shall return thither.’ This was something the Lord was going to do. Note that Jeremiah does not say that they will return hither, or to the place where this prediction was made, but thither, or to a distant place. He understood that Joseph was to be given a new land in the ‘utmost bound of the everlasting hills.’ (See Genesis 49:22–26; Deuteronomy 33:13–17.)” (Israel! Do You Know? pp. 177–78.) The Hebrew word for north is tsafon (צָפוֹן). Tsafon is a feminine noun that means "hidden" or "dark". In the Bible, it's used to refer to the north as a quarter, which is considered gloomy and unknown. ] and gather them from the coasts of the earth, [ It matters not where they are - even from the farthest reaches of the earth- he will gather them all together. ] 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 Why will they be weeping? Israel returning with weeping. They will weep because they will realize that the sufferings they have endured throughout the centuries came about because they rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall lead them in the last days (see Jeremiah 50:4; Zechariah 12:10). ] and with supplications will I lead them: [ They will be humble, submissive, repentant and will be seeking him (supplication), they will acknowledge him as their Father. ] 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, [ Millennial Eden? Isaiah 51:3. ] 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, [ “The lamentation of Rachel is heard at Ramah, as the most loftily situated border-town of the two kingdoms, whence the wailing that had arisen sounded far and near, and could be heard in Judah. . . . The destruction of the people of Israel by the Assyrians and Chaldeans is a type of the massacre of the infants at Bethlehem [as cited by Matthew in his gospel (Matthew 2:18)], in so far as the sin which brought the children of Israel into exile laid a foundation for the fact that Herod the Idumean became king over the Jews, and wished to destroy the true King and Savior of Israel that he might strengthen his own dominion.” (C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, 8:2:25–26.)] and bitter weeping; Rahel [ Rachel wife of Jacob as though she were lamenting the loss of her own children. is not based upon some historical fact but rather is poetical. Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin (cf. 35:16-22) which occurred previous to the incidents surrounding Joseph's faked death and going into Egypt and so forth. so, there is not any specific historical reference here to draw from where Rachel was mourning the loss of a son.] 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, [ The Lord tells Rachel to be comforted as all of her labors are not in vain as they will ultimately return from exile. ] 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 [ All is not lost as your children will return again to the Promised land. ] 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? [ In other words "How long will you be content to wander about randomly?" used to contrast against the straight path the Lord design by the Lord in v 9, 21. ] for the LORD hath created a new thing [ Israel is not to follow through on its commitment to repent and follow the Lord ONLY - Israel's repentant attitude is described in v18-19. ] in the earth, A woman shall compass a man. [ In the passage above Jeremiah is talking about what will occur in the latter days. He uses the term compass as a verb which denotes having power over whatever is compassed. The children of Israel were commanded to "compass" the city of Jericho - armies compass and destroy. Throughout the history of this wicked earth, women have always found themselves compassed by men. This has resulted in very sad experiences. The passage above says that this will not always be the case. When the Lord restores Israel in the last days, they will be endowed with power from on high. This power is beyond our current comprehension. According to the passage above, righteous women in the last days will wield this power. As such, they will no longer be the physically weaker sex. As a result, a new phenomenon will occur, women shall be capable of compassing men. Joseph Smith referred to this on the day that he was murdered. He was lamenting the fact that the Church, nor its members, nor Israel in general were then capable of defending themselves against the power of the adversary, but the day would come when they could. The passage should be read, "The wife shall return to her husband;" alluding to the conversion of the Jewish people, called above a backsliding daughter. Clarkes Commentary, “In the verse now before us, [the Hebrew word translated as ‘compass’] signifies to encompass with love and care, to surround lovingly and carefully,— the natural and fitting dealing on the part of the stronger to the weak and those who need assistance. And the new thing that God creates consists in this, that the woman, the weaker nature that needs help, will lovingly and solicitously surround the man, the stronger. Herein is expressed a new relation of Israel to the Lord, a reference to a new covenant which the Lord, ver. 31ff., will conclude with His people, and in which He deals so condescendingly towards them that they can lovingly embrace Him. This is the substance of the Messianic meaning in the words.” (Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary, 8:2:30.) ]

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. [see Zech 8:3 Jerusalem will again be called Zion. ]

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. [ This proverb conveyed the idea that children are affected by what their parents are and do. Apparently the Jews had erroneously set a stigma on the children of known sinners, overlooking the qualifying statement in Exodus 20:5–6. In this chapter, Jeremiah set the Jews straight (see also Ezekiel 18:1–4). Nothing in Exodus 20:5–6 justifies saying that, in a final sense, children are punished for their parents’ sins. Nevertheless, as the following statement shows, children may suffer the consequences of parental sins: “There is the man who resisted release from positions in the Church. He knew positions were temporary trusts, but he criticized the presiding leader who had released him, complaining that proper recognition had not be given; the time had not been propitious; it had been a reflection upon his effectiveness. He bitterly built up a case for himself, absented himself from his meetings, and justified himself in his resultant estrangement. His children partook of his frustrations, and his children’s children. In later life he ‘came to himself,’ and on the brink of the grave made an about-face. His family would not effect the transformation which now he would give his life to have them make. How selfish! Haughty pride induces eating sour grapes, and innocent ones have their teeth set on edge. ‘It is hard for the to kick against the pricks.’ “When I was a child, we used the expression, ‘He cut off his nose to spite his face.’ To us, that meant that one was fighting against fate, rebelling against the inevitable, damaging himself to spite others, breaking his toe to give vent to his senseless anger. “Eight lovely children had blessed the temple marriage of a man and woman who in later years were denied a temple recommend. They would not be so dealt with by this young bishop. Why should they be deprived and humiliated? Were they less worthy than others? They argued that this boy-bishop was too strict, too orthodox. Never would they be active, nor enter the door of that Church as long as that bishop presided. They would show him. The history of this family is tragic. The four younger ones were never baptized; the four older ones never were ordained, endowed, nor sealed. No missions were filled by this family. Today the parents are ill at ease, still defiant. They had covered themselves with a cloud, and righteous prayers could not pass through. (See Lam. 3:44.) “sour grapes! Such unhappy food!” (Spencer W. Kimball, in Conference Report, Apr. 1955, p. 95.) ]

30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. [ 29-30 No more will the sinful traditions of fathers lead the children astray, rather the sinner will be brought to justice himself. ]

31 ¶ Behold, the days come, [ Or in the latter day. Elder VAUGHN J. FEATHERSTONE said in 2001 at a BYU devotional "It is my conviction that most of you will live to see that day." ] , saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant [ What is this new covenant? Different one from the one made at Sinai, (D&C 133: 57) everlasting covenant, even the fulness of my gospel. Is this a personal covenant? Being translated in the last days such that you have your calling and election made sure? ] with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers [ Moses at Sinai the covenant was the 10 commandments. So we are not going to do it the same way as we did the. Why? Because we read here that they broke the covenant. ] 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, [ Or it was not my fault that they did not keep their covenant, I did my part. ] saith the LORD:

33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, [ So in the latter days, the final dispensation. ] saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, [ This covenant will be different in that it will be placed in their inward partsIt is not doing the works of the law of Moses, it is about our relationship with Christ. It is not about just beig compliant to the law it is that we become and want to live the law because that is our new nature. It will be who they are. Just as wearing the garment is an outward expression of our inward commitment. This covenant will be placed inward as an expression of who we are at the inside level. When we put the law in our inward parts we destroy the natural man, with the law in our inward parts we will want only to do the right and no desire to do evil. ] and write it in their hearts; [ The original covenant was an external one, it was engraved on tablets of stone. This one will be an internal one engraved into the hearts of those who accept it. ] and will be their God, [ When we do that there is no question who is our God. This covenant will be with those who have obtained a certain level, a certain commitment to Christ, they most likely have been tested to prove it. This is why it will be in the coming days a time when there will be great sifting upon th earth. ] and they shall be my people. [ We become his literal heirs to the kingdom, not as tenants in common, but as joint heirs - ALL that he has becomes ours. ]

34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, [ We will not need to teach the truth - it will abound every where every one will see God for who and what he is and want to be like him, follow him. President Joseph Fielding Smith, speaking of this prophetic promise, said: “The Lord has promised that the time shall come when every man shall be his own teacher, that is, he will know because of righteous living what to do. He will be so filled with the Spirit of the Lord that he will be guided and directed in doing right without the necessity of someone coming into his home to set it in order. Now is a good time for us to begin.” (Doctrines of Salvation, 1:319.) ] 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 [ Established courses of each are immutable. ] 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, [ The Lord, who has worked so long and hard to establish His righteous people, said that if those saving and exalting priesthood ordinances cease to exist, then Israel also will cease to exist—forever. This statement surely indicates the importance of ordinances in the Lord’s plan. ] saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. [ Authority statement - as long as the established course of the planets is unchanging - So to is it that his covenant with Abraham is unchanging. Consider the situation of Judah and Israel during the time that Jeremiah is penning these statements from the Lord, they must have seemed extremely optimistic. Israel is a shattered nation, Judah has just been smashed and exiled to Babylon, and the Lord has told them they aren't returning from exile any time soon. That is a depressing scene and the Lord continues to rail on Judah for listening to false prophets. Yet, despite all of this, the Lord will remember His covenants with Abraham and spare a righteous remnant and put them on the land He promised to him. He just won't be doing it anytime soon. ]

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, [ The stream that runs through Gethsemane. ] , 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. [ 38-40 When this new covenant is made Israel will inhabit the Promised land never to be thrown out again. ]