What Does Jeremiah 31:31 Mean in the King James?

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

Jeremiah 31:31 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The word translated “new” also means “renew,” so this covenant’s newness carries the force of making a bond fresh again.

THE MEANING

You hear a promise of a bond made new, addressed to the whole household named as Israel and Judah. Both names stand within the same promise, so renewal holds together what division has separated.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie that division makes renewal impossible.

THE ROOT

חֲדָשָׁה

chadashah

GROWS FROM

חדש

To be new, renew, or make fresh.

Because chadashah grows from ⁨חדש⁩, “new” carries the active sense of making fresh again. The covenant’s newness can be heard as renewal, a relationship opening into fresh life.

ALSO GROWS

chiddesh: Renew, make fresh.

חִדֵּשׁ

This verb makes explicit the renewing action carried within the word “new.”

chodesh: Month; the new moon.

חֹדֶשׁ

Its shared root links newness with recurring renewal, like the moon’s return.

וְכָרַתִּי

ve-kharati

GROWS FROM

כרת

To cut or sever.

The verb translated “make” is literally “cut”: Hebrew speaks of cutting a covenant. This gives the promise the weight of a binding act with real consequence.

ALSO GROWS

karat berit: Cut a covenant; establish a covenant.

כָּרַת בְּרִית

This Hebrew expression shows the covenant as a bond entered through a decisive act.

hikkaret: Be cut off, be severed.

הִכָּרֵת

The same root can describe separation, making the covenant’s binding force especially vivid.

THE PATTERN

Scripture’s language of renewal makes newness a restored relationship that reaches into the inner life.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Psalm 51:10 · KJVThe same ⁨חדש⁩ root behind Jeremiah’s “new” appears as “renew,” bringing the covenant’s language into the inner life.

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 36:26 · KJVRenewal takes the form of a new heart and spirit, reaching the person at the center.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

Hebrews 8:10 · KJVThe covenant becomes inwardly present, written in the heart and mind.

THE THREAD

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Psalm 51:10 · KJV

Jeremiah’s “new” and the psalm’s “renew” share the root ⁨חדש⁩ (chadash). Their shared root lets covenant renewal and inward renewal illuminate each other: newness is an active making-fresh.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us