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Selected Verse: Jeremiah 31:18 - King James

Verse         Translation Text
Jer 31:18 King James 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.

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
Ephraim--representing the ten tribes.

bemoaning himself--The spirit of penitent supplication shall at last be poured on Israel as the necessary forerunner of their restoration (Zac 12:10-14).

Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised--In the first clause the chastisement itself is meant; in the second the beneficial effect of it in teaching the penitent true wisdom.

bullock unaccustomed to . . . yoke--A similar image occurs in Deu 32:15. Compare "stiff-necked," Act 7:51; Exo 32:9, an image from refractory oxen. Before my chastisement I needed the severe correction I received, as much as an untamed bullock needs the goad. Compare Act 9:5, where the same figure is used of Saul while unconverted. Israel has had a longer chastisement than Judah, not having been restored even at the Jews' return from Babylon. Hereafter, at its restoration, it shall confess the sore discipline was all needed to "accustom" it to God's "easy yoke" (Mat 11:29-30).

turn thou me--by Thy converting Spirit (Lam 5:21). But why does Ephraim pray for conversion, seeing that he is already converted? Because we are converted by progressive steps, and need the same power of God to carry forward, as to originate, our conversion (Joh 6:44, Joh 6:65; compare with Isa 27:3; Pe1 1:5; Phi 1:6).
 
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6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
3 I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
21 Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;
14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.