Bible Strands
Jeremiah 31:2
This is what the LORD says: “The people who survived the sword found favor in the wilderness when Israel went to find rest.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh addresses the surviving families of Israel immediately after declaring He will again be their God. The declaration targets those who escaped military destruction and entered the wilderness during the exodus period.
The words — חֵן (chen) translates literally to "favor," denoting the unmerited divine acceptance granted to the remnant. This favor is situated בַּ/מִדְבָּר (ba/midbar), literally "in the wilderness," where the people initially sought refuge and rest.
The thread — The wilderness guidance motif parallels the cloud and fire that led Israel during the Exodus (Deuteronomy 1:33) and contrasts with the oath that the rebellious generation would never enter God's rest (Psalms 95:11). The promise of finding rest in the desert also mirrors the ark's journey from the mountain of the LORD (Numbers 10:33).
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that survival is not self-produced but results from divine favor in desolate conditions. It demands acceptance that God's rest is encountered during the wilderness journey rather than through immediate territorial security.
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
Thus saith the Lord, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.
Cross-references
- Numbers 10:33 So they set out on a three-day journey from the mountain of the LORD, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD traveling ahead of them for those three days to seek a resting place for them.
- Psalms 95:11 So I swore on oath in My anger, “They shall never enter My rest.”
- Deuteronomy 1:33 who went before you on the journey, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day, to seek out a place for you to camp and to show you the road to travel.
- Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
- Isaiah 63:7 I will make known the LORD’s loving devotion and His praiseworthy acts, because of all that the LORD has done for us—the many good things for the house of Israel according to His great compassion and loving devotion.
- Exodus 1:16 “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them on the birthstools. If the child is a son, kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live.”
- Exodus 1:22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”
- Exodus 14:8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out defiantly.
- Exodus 15:9 The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’
- Exodus 17:8 After this, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.