Bible Strands
Jeremiah 31:13
Then the maidens will rejoice with dancing, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy, and give them comfort and joy for their sorrow.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks in a prophetic oracle of restoration, addressing the exiled community of Judah as they return to Zion. The surrounding verses frame this as the moment of material and spiritual abundance after prolonged languishing.
The words — בְּתוּלָה (bethulah) is the subject of the rejoicing, a word that elsewhere marks covenantal identity (the nation as "virgin"); here it is the one who dances. מָחוֹל (machol) is the specific word for dancing, a rhythmic, communal act distinct from mere clapping or shouting.
The thread — The reversal formula "mourning into dancing/joy" recurs in Psalms 30:11 and Isaiah 61:3, and the return-with-singing motif appears in Isaiah 51:11.
Why it lands — The verse assigns the reversal entirely to God ("I will turn"), and the inclusion of "young men and old alike" (יַחְדָּו) removes any condition of merit or age from the promise.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
Cross-references
- Psalms 30:11 You turned my mourning into dancing; You peeled off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
- Isaiah 61:3 to console the mourners in Zion—to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.
- Isaiah 51:11 So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.
- Isaiah 51:3 For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.
- Esther 9:22 as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to be days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.
- Psalms 149:3 Let them praise His name with dancing, and make music to Him with tambourine and harp.
- Isaiah 60:20 Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not wane; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and the days of your sorrow will cease.
- Jeremiah 31:4 Again I will build you, and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out in joyful dancing.
- Isaiah 35:10 So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.
- Isaiah 65:18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight.