Jeremiah 31 is the high point of the Book of Comfort. Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness. Scattered Israel would return from the north country, including the blind and the lame. They would come and sing in the height of Zion, and God would turn their mourning into joy.

Even grief over lost children received God's comfort. God said, Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded, says Yahweh. They will come again from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your latter end. God also remembered Ephraim, the northern kingdom, like a dear son and promised mercy.

Then came the promise of a new covenant. The old covenant at Sinai had been broken. In the new covenant God said, I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. Everyone would know God personally, and God would forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more. In the New Testament, the book of Hebrews quotes this new covenant promise in full (Hebrews 8:8-12).

Jeremiah 31 gathers the brightest hopes of the Book of Comfort. It opens with God's declaration to Israel. Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness. God pictured a joyful return, with weeping turned to prayer and a straight road beside rivers of waters. He called himself a father to Israel. Young and old would dance, and their soul will be as a watered garden.

The chapter honestly faces grief. A voice is heard in Ramah, Rachel weeping for her children. Many readers see Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, as standing for the mothers of Israel mourning the exile. God answered with hope. There is hope for your latter end, says Yahweh. Your children will come again to their own territory. God's heart yearned for Ephraim, and he promised mercy.

Then comes the promise at the center of the book. Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. Unlike the Sinai covenant their fathers broke, this covenant would be inward. I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. Everyone would know God, and he would forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more. God backed the promise by the fixed order of the sun, moon, and stars. In the New Testament, Hebrews 8 quotes this whole promise (Hebrews 8:8-12) and says that he is the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has been given as law (Hebrews 8:6).