What Does Jeremiah 31:20 Mean in the King James?
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 analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
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.
“troubled” 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 sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.THE THREAD
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.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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