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[7] Thus says Yahweh:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
"Save, Yahweh, your people,
the remnant of Israel."
[8] See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north,
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame, those with child and
those in labor, together;
a great company, they shall return here.
[9] With weeping they shall come,
and with consolations I will lead them back,
I will let them walk by brooks of water,
in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;
for I have become a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn.
[10] Hear the word of Yahweh, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, "He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep him as a shepherd a flock."
[11] For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob,
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
[12] They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of Yahweh
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall become like a watered garden,
and they shall never languish again.
[13] Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
[14] I will give the priests their fill of fatness,
and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty,
says Yahweh.
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This is the Old Testament selection to be read aloud on the second Sunday after Christmas, Year C, according to the lectionary for the Episcopal Church. This will preceded a singing of Psalm 84, where David sang: “Happy are they who dwell in your house! they will always be praising you.” This pair will be followed by a reading from Paul’s letter to the Christians of Ephesus, where he wrote: “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.” All will accompany a Gospel reading from one of three made possible for this day, coming from “Matthew 2 or Luke 2. That read can then include these statements:
“When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead.”
“[Jesus] said to [his parents], "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?’”
“When [the Magi] had heard the king [tell them the prophets said the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem], they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.”
Not too long ago, in the twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost, verses seven through nine from this selection were read aloud. The focus of that ends with Jeremiah saying, “Ephraim is my firstborn.” I have written about those three verses and posted commentaries on my website (one from 2018 and one in 2021), which can be opened by clicking on these links: here and here. Please feel invited to read those and then return to this interpretation.
The whole of Jeremiah’s thirty-first chapter is forty verses. These eight verses constitute twenty percent of the whole. These eight are only read on this Sunday (all three years); but other verses of the whole (not all) will be read on various other dates in the lectionary calendar. Because these eight are read every year on the second Sunday after Christmas, there should be found significance to the rebirth of Jesus within one’s soul. This is then a message for all to know about that purpose of resurrection of Jesus’ soul in one’s soul.
In these eight verses there are five places where Jeremiah specifically named “Yahweh.” In the whole (forty verses), Jeremiah named “Yahweh” specifically thirty-five times (three times in verse thirty-eight alone). In all of the five places in the reading shown above, you will note that I have changed the NRSV (and others do exactly the same) translation of “Yahweh” as “the Lord,” back to “Yahweh.” I have placed His name in bold type. A “lord” is a lesser ruler. A capitalized “Lord” can be a demonic possessor. In Christianity, after one has married one’s soul to Yahweh and given birth to His Son (the point of ‘after Christmas’), it is the soul of Jesus who becomes “the Lord” of one’s flesh, while the original “lord” (one’s soul) steps aside and submits to that Spiritual possession. Because most readers of Christian literature (the Holy Bible) are not souls married to Yahweh and not reborn as Jesus (each soul-body’s individual “Lord”), it is best to stick to the basics and not go confusing the ignorant masses, who have erroneously been taught, “Do nothing and Jesus will save you, because he died on a cross.” Jesus did not die for any soul refusing to marry Yahweh, refusing to utter His name.
Looking at the BibleHub Interlinear translations, which follow the order of words written in Hebrew by Jeremiah, it is quite obvious many liberties have been taken through paraphrasing what Jeremiah was divinely inspired to write. The beauty of Scripture is it always smells like a rose, even when the death of a translation service has been heaped all over it. The truth still makes crap be known to be divine. For this reason, I will not interpret each verse as translated above. I will offer a translation that matches the order of the words written, according to viable translations of the Hebrew into English. That will be what I then interpret.
In the hit and miss custom established by the Episcopal Church, the above selected verses are only known by the ‘intro,’ which says: “Jeremiah 31:7-14.” They then lazily drop the ‘numbering ball’ and leave it up to all listeners to figure out where verse number transition take place. Because I am not a lazy Christian, I have taken the time to figure out where the verses begin; and, I have inserted the appropriate verse numbers in bold type, placed within brackets. That makes it easy for the checkers to see where my comments are directed and check my translations.
7. that here says Yahweh --- give a ringing cry for supplanter [Jacob] with gladness , and cry shrilly with the head of the people ; be heard to praise and speak , save Yahweh the people , the remainder who retains Yahweh as His elohim [Israel] .
8. Behold! will enter them of the flesh [land, earth] unknown [north] , and gather them from extremes of flesh [earth, land] them blind and lame , pregnant those bringing forth unitedly ; an assembly shall return hither .
9. weeping they will come , and with supplications of favor I will lead them I will have them walk into the torrents of water , in a way right , not they will stumble because I come to pass to those who retain Yahweh as His elohim [Israel] the Father , and doubly fruitful [Ephraim] my firstborn he .
10. hear word Yahweh people , and be conspicuous in regions distant ; and speak , he who winnows those who retain Yahweh as His elohim [Israel] will gather together him , and preserve him as a pastor his flock .
11. for has ransomed Yahweh the supplanter [Jacob] ; and redeemed him from the hand of the one stronger than he .
12. therefore they will come and give a ringing cry in the heights of a dry place [Zion] and flowing the goodness Yahweh above grain and above new wine and above fresh oil , and upon sons flock and herd , and will become their souls like a garden well-watered , and not shall they be joined to be faint again .
13. then shall rejoice virgin in the dance , and the young men and the old together ; for I will overturn their mourning into exultation and will console them , and make them glad rather than sorry .
14. and I will saturate the soul of the priest with blessing ; and my people in my goodness will be satisfied say Yahweh . ס
In the translations that I have just supplied, you will note that the name meanings for “Jacob,” “Israel,” “Ephraim” and “Zion” have been replaced by the name meanings. Additionally, in two places where the word translating ordinarily as “land, earth” [“erets”] is found, I have translated that as “flesh.” In that regard, one needs to realize that Yahweh does not care about saving any “land” or “earth,” only that which is animated by souls. Therefore, where the word commonly translated as “nation” is written, I have translated it as “people.” Without the “people,” there are no “nations.”
When these eight verses are known to be hand-selected to be read on the second Sunday of Christmas, the theme of childbirth must be realized. In verse eight there are words that translate as, “pregnant those bringing forth unitedly.” The use of the Hebrew “harah” [transliterated as “hā·rāh”] means “Pregnant,” but has been translated these ways in other Old Testament texts: “child (5), conceive (2), pregnant (3), pregnant woman (1), pregnant women (1), woman with child (1), women (1), women who were with child (1), women with child (1).” [NASB Translations] The use of “unitedly” [from “yaḥ·dāw,” from “yachad,” meaning “unitedness”] then leads to verse nine concluding with the words that say, “and doubly fruitful [Ephraim] my firstborn he.” The “doubly fruitful” aspect of the name Ephraim says this “unitedness” will produce “two in one,” where one will be the ”firstborn” of Yahweh, which is “he” known as Adam. The soul of Adam reborn into the soul of another becomes “Jesus,” a name meaning “Yahweh Saves.”
When verse thirteen begins by saying, “then shall rejoice virgin in the dance,” this means a soul that has never married Yahweh and received His Spirit is a “virgin,” having never been divinely penetrated. The “rejoicing” and “dancing” comes from such penetration, which is the presence of Yahweh’s Spirit and the pregnancy of His Son to be born anew in one’s flesh. When that segment leads to Jeremiah adding: “and the young men and the old together,” here the word “yaḥ·dāw” is repeated, with the “unitedness” translated as “together.” The “virgin” soul has become “young” in its time saved, because it has “united” with the “old” soul that is Adam-Jesus. All souls are of masculine essence at this time, when freed from the negativity-femininity of the limits of a body of flesh [“earth”]. This means they are “men,” who will become “sons flock and herd.” (From verse twelve)
The “saturation” of the “soul” [from “wə·riw·wê·ṯî ne·p̄eš,” rooted in “ravah” and “nephesh”] is then a statement of the overwhelming presence of Yahweh’s Spirit, with His Son resurrected within one’s soul. This leaves no room for self-awareness or self-ego to take control of one’s being. All is willingly submitted to Yahweh, welcoming His presence through love. It is this birth of Yahweh’s Son, making one also His Son, with Him becoming the Father (as well as the Husband), so as Jesus reborn one becomes “a priest.” That designation means the remainder of one’s life in the flesh will be spent ministering the Word, so others will also be led to marry their souls to Yahweh and become Jesus reborn.
The only questionable part of these eight verses is the word “north” [“ṣā·p̄ō·wn,” from “tsaphon”]. When this word is connected to “the land” [“erets”], also following that translated into English as “Israel,” this makes one think Jeremiah was writing a warning to the Northern Kingdom, which was already overrun by the Assyrians, with the Israelites scattered to the four corners of the known world. The truth comes when the word “north” is seen as a directional word that means “upright.” Brown-Driver-Briggs writes of the Hebrew word “tsaphon” – “hidden, dark.” Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance list “northern side, dark, gloomy” as proper translations, adding: “tsaphon {tsaw-fone'}; from tsaphan; properly, hidden, i.e. Dark; used only of the north as a quarter (gloomy and unknown) -- north(-ern, side, -ward, wind).” This means verse eight saying: “Behold! will enter them of the flesh [land, earth] unknown [north]” is a statement of the invisibility of the ”return of Jesus,” as he will not return in the flesh he ascended in – to save the world – he will return as the “unknown” soul resurrected within one’s own soul, all within the flesh of that soul.
As a reading chosen with purpose, to be read aloud on the second Sunday after Christmas, the purpose here is to see the need to become two souls merged within one body of flesh. That being the only point of Christmas, the primary soul will then be Yahweh’s “firstborn” Son, who we Christians call “Jesus.” We must be “saturated” with the Spirit, as a Christ of Yahweh’s Anointment, so our “virgin” souls can become His “priests” in ministry, as the “sons” who will “gather” the “flock and herd” to Him. This means Christmas is when we are reborn as Jesus; and, that becomes the beginning of the rest of one’s life, where “life” means “eternal,” thus extending well beyond the remainder of one’s life on “earth” (in the “flesh”).