What Does Jeremiah 31:13 Mean?
Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together. I will overturn their mourning into gladness, and I will comfort them, and I will gladden them out of their sorrow.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
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.THE KEY
Grief is not merely replaced here; its direction is overturned until mourning becomes movement shared across generations.
THE MEANING
Even in grief, this promise holds open a changed direction: God meets you with comfort and turns mourning toward joy. Rejoicing belongs to the whole community, across generations, so sorrow does not define the final shape of shared life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that mourning is permanent and will always have the last word.
THE ROOT
וְהָפַכְתִּי
wehaphakhti
GROWS FROM
ה־פ־ך
h-p-k
To turn, overturn, or change a condition.
“overturn” in this verse is wehaphakhti. The verb describes an active change of direction: mourning is turned into joy. The same root gives a word for upheaval, so the verse pictures grief’s settled order being overturned.
ALSO GROWS
haphakh: To turn or overturn.
הָפַךְ
This is the root verb behind the promise that mourning changes direction.
mahpekhah: An upheaval or revolution.
מַהְפֵּכָה
This branch makes the root’s force vivid: a settled state can be overturned, as mourning gives way to joy.
וְנִחַמְתִּים
wenichamtim
GROWS FROM
נ־ח־ם
n-ch-m
To comfort or console.
The verse names comfort between the turning of mourning and the rejoicing that follows. Its root also appears in words for consolation and a comforter, showing that the change includes care meeting grief directly.
ALSO GROWS
nichum: Consolation or comfort.
נִחוּם
This noun names the care that the verse places within the movement from mourning to joy.
menachem: One who comforts or consoles.
מְנַחֵם
This branch gives comfort a personal presence: grief is met by a comforter, not passed over.
תִּשְׂמַח
tismach
GROWS FROM
ש־מ־ח
sh-m-ch
To rejoice or be glad.
The same root appears first in the virgin’s rejoicing and again when the speaker makes the people rejoice. Joy is not left as an abstract feeling; it becomes shared expression across the verse.
ALSO GROWS
simchah: Joy or gladness.
שִׂמְחָה
This noun names the joy that the verse says replaces mourning.
sameach: Glad or joyful.
שָׂמֵחַ
This form describes a person in the state of rejoicing that the verse brings into view.
THE PATTERN
Grief can be met with comfort and turned into shared joy, changing the direction of life rather than leaving sorrow in command.
You overturned the beating of my breast into a dance. You untied my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.To set for those who mourn in Zion, to give them a headdress in place of ash, the oil of leaping for mourning, the garment of praise in place of a dimmed breath; that they might be called oaks of alignment, the planting of the LORD, that he might be adorned.Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice; you will be pained, but your pain will become joy.THE THREAD
You overturned the beating of my breast into a dance. You untied my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.Psalm 30:11 uses the same Hebrew root ה־פ־ך (h-p-k) for turning mourning into dancing. It also shares the word for dance, מָחוֹל (machol), showing joy as movement rather than a feeling alone.
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