What Does Jeremiah 31:20 Mean?
Is Ephraim my weighty son? Is he a child to dandle? For whenever I speak against him, I surely remember him still. Therefore my innards moan for him, and I will surely have compassion on him, declares the LORD.
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
Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.THE KEY
Rebuke has not severed the bond: Ephraim remains remembered as precious, and compassion surges from within.
THE MEANING
You can be the one spoken against and still remain remembered; rebuke does not dissolve the bond. The LORD’s inward parts are stirred for you, and compassion moves toward you as a remembered child.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that being rebuked means being forgotten or abandoned.
THE ROOT
אֲרַחֲמֶנּוּ
ʾaraḥămennû
GROWS FROM
רחם
r-ḥ-m
Show tender compassion.
The verb translated have mercy comes from רחם (racham), a root also connected with the womb and with compassion. The word carries the tenderness of an inward bond: Ephraim is not merely recalled but held in compassion.
ALSO GROWS
rechem: Womb
רֶחֶם
The word’s bodily image gives compassion the feel of intimate, life-bearing tenderness.
rachamim: Compassion
רַחֲמִים
This names the compassion that the verse says is moving toward Ephraim.
הָמוּ
hamu
GROWS FROM
המה
h-m-h
Roar, murmur, or surge in tumult.
“moan” in this verse is hamu. The inward parts do not sit calmly; they surge and roar for Ephraim. The root gives the tenderness motion and sound, showing that remembrance stirs the innermost being.
ALSO GROWS
hamah: To roar, murmur, or surge noisily
הָמָה
It reveals the movement inside the phrase rendered my bowels are troubled.
hamon: Tumult or a roaring multitude
הָמוֹן
It extends the root’s sense of a deep inner stir into a sound that swells and gathers.
אֶפְרַיִם
Efrayim
GROWS FROM
פרה
p-r-h
Be fruitful, bear fruit.
Ephraim’s name is tied to פרה (parah), to be fruitful; Genesis 41:52 explains it through God making Joseph fruitful. Here that name stands beside rebuke and tenderness, holding fruitfulness in view even when the relationship is strained.
ALSO GROWS
parah: To bear fruit, be fruitful
פָּרָה
It carries the root sense behind Ephraim’s name.
peri: Fruit
פְּרִי
It makes the name’s fruit-bearing image concrete within the verse’s address to Ephraim.
THE PATTERN
Compassion keeps a bond alive through distance and failure, stirring toward the one who remains remembered.
Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she would not have compassion on the son of her womb? Even they may forget, but I will not forget you.How shall I give you up, Ephraim? How shall I hand you over, Israel? How shall I set you as Admah? How shall I set you as Zeboim? My heart is turned over within me, and my compassions burn together.And he rose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and his inward parts were moved, and he ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him.THE THREAD
Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she would not have compassion on the son of her womb? Even they may forget, but I will not forget you.Isaiah uses רחם (racham), the same compassion root as Jeremiah, beside the word for womb, רֶחֶם (rechem). Jeremiah’s inward stirring becomes clearer: compassion is the tenderness of a bond that remembers its child.
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