Jeremiah 31:26
in Jeremiah 31At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been most pleasant to me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.
KJV
Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.
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This verse in Jeremiah 31
Commentary
10 notes on this verseFor you should not be surprised if the Prophet says that his soul is disturbed, since the Lord Jesus himself said: "Now my soul is troubled." For he who took on our weaknesses also took on our emotions, in which he was sad even unto death, not because of death; for voluntary death could not have sorrow, in which the joy and refreshment of all was to come. Of this he also said elsewhere: "And I arose, and saw, and a sweet sleep came to me."
This site's exposition
This is what the LORD of
on Jeremiah 31:23-30
The prophet's one comment on the vision is his own: “My sleep had been most pleasant to me.” The watching of 1:12 returns reversed, “so I will watch over them to build and to plant.” The sour-grape proverb is repealed: “each will die for his own iniquity.”
This site's exposition
At this I awoke and looked around
Jeremiah awoke from the vision of chapters 30 and 31, and his sleep had been pleasant. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take the sleep as a prophetic dream, and Adam Clarke agrees that the whole message came in a dream. For a prophet so often weeping, this one sleep was sweet.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Because I have made the weary soul drunk (or because I have made every thirsty soul drunk) and I have satisfied (or filled) every hungry soul: therefore I am awake and I have seen, and my sleep has been sweet to me. The change of persons makes the understanding of the Prophets obscure. The Lord had said, 'Yet they will say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I turn their captivity.' But what will they say?
Let us, then, submit ourselves to God, and not be subject to sin, and when we ponder the remembrance of our offences, let us blush as though at some disgrace, and not speak of them as a glory to us, as some boast of overcoming modesty, or putting down the feeling of justice. Let our conversion be such, that we who did not know God may now ourselves declare Him to others, that the Lord, moved by such a conversion on our part, may answer to us: "Ephraim is from youth a dear son, a pleasant child, for since My words are concerning him, I will verily remember him, therefore have I hastened to be over him; I will surely have mercy on him, saith the Lord." And what mercy He promises us, the Lord also shows, when He says further on: "I have satiated every thirsty soul, and have satisfied every hungry soul. Therefore, I awaked and beheld, and My sleep was sweet unto Me." We observe that the Lord promises His sacraments to those who sin. Let us, then, all be converted to the Lord.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Upon this I awakened, and beheld,....
The prophet, having found his sleep sweet, made so by the revelations of divine grace, sets himself to sleep again, in hopes of further discoveries, and is not disappointed; for it is here further promised, I.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Upon this I awaked - It appears that the prophecy, commencing with Jer 30:2 and ending with Jer 31:25 of this chapter, was delivered to the prophet in a dream. Dahler supposes it to be a wish; that the prophet, though he could not hope to live to that time, might be permitted to awake up from his tomb; and, having seen this prosperity, would be content to return to his grave.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The words of Jeremiah: Upon this (or, By reason of this) announcement of a happy restoration, "I awaked" from the prophetic dream vouchsafed to me (Jer 23:25) with the "sweet" impression thereof remaining on my mind. "Sleep" here means dream, as in Ps 90:5.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The prophet, seeming to himself to awake and look up in the midst of his sleep (whether ecstatic or not we cannot tell), rejoiced in a revelation so entirely consolatory, and unlike his usual message of woe.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| זֹ֖את | zot | this | H2063 → | 603 times |
| הֱקִיצֹ֣תִי | hekitzoti | I awoke | H6974 → | 22 times |
| וָאֶרְאֶ֑ה | vaereh | and I looked | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| וּשְׁנָתִ֖י | ushenati | and sleep my | H8142 → | 23 times |
| עָ֥רְבָה | ʾarevah | it was pleasing | H6149 → | |
| לִּֽי׃ ס | li | to <the> me |
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
זֹ֖אתthis
zotH2063 →603 times
הֱקִיצֹ֣תִיI awoke
hekitzotiH6974 →22 times
וָאֶרְאֶ֑הand I looked
vaerehH7200 →1300 times
וּשְׁנָתִ֖יand sleep my
ushenatiH8142 →23 times
עָ֥רְבָהit was pleasing
ʾarevahH6149 →
לִּֽי׃ סto <the> me
li
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 127:2In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat— for He gives sleep to His beloved.
it leads to
- Ecclesiastes 5:12
The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich man permits him no sleep.
- Psalms 4:8
I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
- Job 11:18
You will be secure, because there is hope, and you will look around and lie down in safety.
- Psalms 3:5
I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.
- Ecclesiastes 2:20–23
So my heart began to despair over all the labor that I had done under the sun.
- Ecclesiastes 5:12
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies27
On this verse
About Jeremiah

This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, Interrogation of Job and David 2.3.11; Ambrose of Milan, Concerning Repentance 2.5.38-39; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
