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The Lord appeared to him long ago, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you out with kindness.
Jeremiah 31:3 · New American Standard Bible
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.
  • KJV 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 Yahweh’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him, his righteousness to children’s children;
  • Isa 54:8–9In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment; but with everlasting loving kindness I will have mercy on you,” says Yahweh your Redeemer.
  • Hos 11:4I drew them with cords of a man, with ties of love; and I was to them like those who lift up the yoke on their necks; and I bent down to him and I fed him.
  • Eph 2:4–5But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,
  • Deut 33:3Yes, he loves the people. All his saints are in your hand. They sat down at your feet. Each receives your words.
  • 1 Jn 4:19We love him, because he first loved us.
  • Deut 7:7–9Yahweh didn’t set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples:
  • 2 Tim 1:9who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before times eternal,
  • Eph 1:3–5Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ;
  • Rom 8:30Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.
  • Isa 45:17Israel will be saved by Yahweh with an everlasting salvation. You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting.
  • Titus 3:3–6For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
  • Deut 10:15Only Yahweh had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their offspring after them, even you above all peoples, as it is today.
  • 2 Th 2:13–16But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth;
  • John 6:44–45No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.
  • Mal 1:2“I have loved you,” says Yahweh. Yet you say, “How have you loved us?” “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” says Yahweh, “Yet I loved Jacob;
  • Song 1:4Take me away with you. Let us hurry. The king has brought me into his rooms. We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will praise your love more than wine! They are right to love you.
  • Rom 11:28–29Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake.
  • 1 Pet 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
  • Hos 11:1“When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
  • Deut 4:37Because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their offspring after them, and brought you out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt;
  • Jas 1:18Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
  • Deut 33:26“There is no one like God, Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens for your help, in his excellency on the skies.
  • Rom 9:13Even as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Jeremiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Jeremiah 31:3YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JeremiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 31:3 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

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.