“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of mankind and the seed of animals.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of animal.
- KJV 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.
- BSB “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and of beast.
- NKJV “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.
- NLT “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will greatly increase the human population and the number of animals here in Israel and Judah.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God promises to repopulate Israel and Judah, sowing them again with people and livestock after the devastation of exile. It assures that judgment is not the final word.
Overview
Using agricultural imagery, the Lord pledges to 'sow' the land with abundant human and animal life, reversing the desolation brought by Babylon. This is a covenant promise of restoration after exile, grounded in God's faithfulness rather than Israel's merit. Such fruitfulness anticipates the greater ingathering of God's people through the gospel, in which the once-barren are made fruitful in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Hos 2:23I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ and they will say, ‘My God!’”
- Zech 10:9I will sow them among the peoples; and they will remember me in far countries; and they will live with their children, and will return.
- Ezek 36:11and I will multiply on you man and animal; and they shall increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited after your former estate, and you will do better than at your beginnings: and you shall know that I am Yahweh.
- Ezek 36:9For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn into you, and you shall be tilled and sown;
- Jer 30:19Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they will not be small.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 31:27 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.