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.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh appeared of old to me, saying, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.
- BSB The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.
- NKJV The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
- NASB The Lord appeared to him long ago, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you out with kindness.
- NLT Long ago the Lord said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.
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 declares that He has loved Israel with an everlasting love and drawn them with loving kindness. His covenant love, not their merit, is the ground of restoration.
Overview
This cherished verse reveals the source of all God's saving acts: an eternal, faithful, covenant love that draws His people to Himself. God's love precedes and produces their return, just as His grace precedes salvation. It beautifully foreshadows the gospel, where God's everlasting love draws sinners to Himself in Christ (John 6:44).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 24
- Ps 103:17But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;
- Isa 54:8–9In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
- Hos 11:4I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
- Eph 2:4–5But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
- Deut 33:3Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.
- 1 Jn 4:19We love him, because he first loved us.
- Deut 7:7–9The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
- 2 Tim 1:9Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
- Eph 1:3–5Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
- Rom 8:30Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
- Isa 45:17But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
- Titus 3:3–6For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
- Deut 10:15Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.
- 2 Th 2:13–16But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
- John 6:44–45No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
- Mal 1:2I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,
- Song 1:4Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.
- Rom 11:28–29As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
- 1 Pet 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
- Hos 11:1When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
- Deut 4:37And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;
- Jas 1:18Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
- Deut 33:26There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.
- Rom 9:13As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
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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 31:3 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
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