Jeremiah 33:20

“This is what the LORD says: If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and night cease to occupy their appointed time,

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Yahweh addresses Jeremiah through a rhetorical conditional, using the stability of the natural world to frame a subsequent promise regarding David’s line.

The words — The Hebrew אִם (im, "if") and תָּפֵרוּ (taferu, "you will break") establish the verse’s conditional syntax, while בְּרִיתִי (beriti, "My covenant") explicitly ties the divine pledge to the day and night cycle.

The thread — The passage draws directly from Genesis 8:22, which guarantees that day and night will not cease, and sets up the parallel condition in Jeremiah 33:21 concerning David’s throne and the Levitical priesthood.

Why it lands — The text requires the reader to treat the unbroken rhythm of creation as a measurable standard for assessing the reliability of God’s institutional promises.

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

כֹּ֚הkohthus אָמַ֣ר'a.Marhe says יְהוָ֔הYah.wehYahweh אִם־'im-if תָּפֵ֙רוּ֙ta.Fe.ruyou will break אֶת־'et-<obj.>בְּרִיתִ֣יbe.ri.T/icovenant of/ my הַיּ֔וֹםhai./Yomthe/ day וְאֶת־ve./'Etand/ <obj.>בְּרִיתִ֖יbe.ri.T/icovenant of/ my הַלָּ֑יְלָהha./La.ye.lahthe/ night וּלְבִלְתִּ֛יu./le./vil.Tiand/ to/ not הֱי֥וֹתhe.Yotto be יֽוֹמָם־yo.mom-daytime וָלַ֖יְלָהva./Lay.lahand/ night בְּעִתָּֽם׃be./'i.Ta/mat/ appropriate time/ their

King James Version

Thus saith the Lord; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;

Cross-references

Genesis 8:22 As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease.”
Psalms 89:37 like the moon, established forever, a faithful witness in the sky.” Selah
Isaiah 54:9 “For to Me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you.
Psalms 104:19 He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows when to set.
Jeremiah 31:35 Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, who sets in order the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of Hosts is His name:
Jeremiah 33:25 This is what the LORD says: If I have not established My covenant with the day and the night and the fixed order of heaven and earth,