Jeremiah 31:25

Jer 31:25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.

Ver. 25. For I have satiated the weary soul.] Or, I will satiate, fill them with my fulness, so that they shall have enough for their own, and not emulate others. A good man shall be satisfied from himself, {Pro 14:14} as knowing within himself that, whatever he hath here, little or much, he hath in heaven a better and more enduring substance. {Heb 10:34}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The "weary, sorrowful," and indigent state of Israel will prove no obstacle in the way of My helping them.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

By this verse he removes every doubt, lest any one should reject what he had promised as to the restoration of the people, because the Jews and the Israelites were at the time as dead men. He therefore says, I will water the thirsty soul; some render it “the weary soul;” but נפש עיפה, nupesh oiphe, is often taken metaphorically for a thirsty soul. So in Psalm 143:6, it is said,

“I am as a dry land;”

weariness cannot be suitably applied to land; and in Isaiah 29:8, we have these words,

“As one dreaming he thinks that he eats; afterwards, when awake, his soul is empty: and as one who thinks that he drinks,”

etc. The Prophet employs there the same word, because there is hardly ever weariness without thirst; we contract thirst by weariness. Then the soul is said to be עיפה, oiphe, by a metaphor, not weary, but on the contrary thirsty; and the verb corresponds, which means to inebriate, to irrigate, or to water, and often to satiate. I will then irrigate, or water to satiety, thy dry soul, and every soul which faints, etc., but as דאב, dab, means to be deficient, and sometimes to be wearied, here it denotes a defect, for it follows, I will fill It is then to be taken for a famished soul.

The meaning is, that though the Israelites should hunger and thirst, and be for a time without food and drink, yet their want would not prevent God from affording them relief, for he had the power and the will to satisfy the hungry, and to give drink to the thirsty, or to those who were fainting on account of thirst. It now follows, —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(25) I have satiated the weary soul . . .—Here again we note an instance of an anticipation of the thought, almost of the very language, of the Gospel, “The hungry and the thirsty” shall be “filled” (Mat_5:6), the weary shall be refreshed (Mat_11:28-29).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25. sorrowful] pining, virtually the same word as that rendered “sorrow” in Jer_31:12, where see note.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For I have satiated the weary soul,.... As sinners are at first awakenings and convictions; when sin is made exceeding sinful and loathsome to them, and becomes an uneasiness, and they a burden to themselves on account of it; when they labour, till they are weary, to get food for their famishing souls; weary in seeking for righteousness to cover them, in working for life to save them, and inquiring after rest; but cannot find neither food, nor righteousness, nor life, nor rest, till they come to Christ; and as all the saints are weary of a body of sin and death, with mourning over it, and groaning under it; weary of Satan's temptations and buffetings; weary of the world, and the men of it, and with afflictive dispensations of Providence in it; and are as weary travellers passing through a waste howling wilderness; these the Lord "satiates", refreshes, and even "inebriates" (h), as the word used signifies, with his love; which is very reviving and refreshing, and is a feast of itself; and is very satisfying when it is shed abroad in the heart; when souls have a delightful sense of it, and see their interest in it; particularly satiates with his pardoning grace and mercy, and with food, and fulness of it, in Christ; with righteousness, life, and salvation by him; and with rest, peace, joy, and comfort in him: and this, though a promise and prophecy of what would be, yet, because of the certainty of it, is represented as if it had been done already; as also what follows:

and I have replenished every sorrowful soul; that is sorry for sin after a godly sort, and mourns for it after an evangelical manner; is troubled for want of the divine presence, and is pressed with afflictions inward and outward: these the Lord "replenishes" or "fills" (i); that is, with all good, as the Targum adds, and fills them to satisfaction; with Christ, and all good things by him; with peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation; with the Spirit, his gifts and graces; with Gospel provisions, the goodness and fatness of his house; with all spiritual blessings now, and with glory and happiness hereafter. The Septuagint, and all the Oriental versions, instead of "weary" and "sorrowful", render the words "thirsty and hungry"; and such as hunger and thirst after righteousness; after the discoveries of pardoning grace; after Christ, and salvation by him; after more knowledge of him, and communion with him; are, sooner or later, filled with those things they are hungering and thirsting after; see Mat 5:6.

(h) "inebriavi", V. L. Vatablus; "inebriabo", Piscator. (i) "implebo", Schmidt; "explebo", Piscator; "explevero", Junius & Tremellius; "implevero", Cocceius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Sorrowful - Or, languishing Jer 31:12.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

I have here is of the same significancy with I will, as ordinarily in prophetical promises, which are the words of Him who calleth the things that are not as if they were, and would have his people look upon the things which he hath promised to do as certain as if they were already done. The words are only a promise to the same sense as before, that God would give his people abundance of ease and plenty, and wipe all tears from their eyes.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

For Jehovah will have fulfilled every unsatisfied craving. I have satiated (literally, watered) means "I have decreed to satiate;" it is the perfect of prophetic certitude, which represents an event as already having taken place in the Divine counsels. Sorrowful; rather, languishing (see on ver. 12).

Divine satisfaction.

There are always the weary who need rest, the sorrowful who need consolation.

1. Naturally we all have restless longing, large desires that go out beyond the present and the attainable. The soul has its appetites, its hunger, its thirst.

2. Sin and sorrow have deepened our need. The Jews in their calamities were a type of mankind in its sin and weariness.

I NO EARTHLY SATISFACTION WILL MEET THESE WANTS. Food for the body cannot satisfy the soul. Man is not able to live by bread alone. The life is more than meat. We are too large for the world and its gifts, rich and abundant as they may be. We look before and after, And pine for what is not; Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught,

Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought." (Shelley.) Hence the restlessness and dissatisfaction we experience in the height of prosperity. Thank God for these feelings. They are indications of a heavenly birth, indications of immortality.

II GOD OFFERS US FULL SATISFACTION. He will satisfy satiate.

1. God gives all we need. God does not keep his children on half rations. He has rich stores, and he offers freely. From our broken cisterns we turn to his ever-flowing fountains.

2. What God gives is of the kind we need true light, not mocking speculations; Divine consolations of hope and peace, not barren philosophic maxims, but full and free forgiveness. What God does he does perfectly. He does not call us to a bare salvation, but to a full satisfaction, meeting the peculiar and deep wants of the soul with the special satisfaction they need, and bestowing this to satiation.

III THE FULL ENJOYMENT OF DIVINE SATISFACTION BELONGS TO THE FUTURE. Much may be enjoyed now. Larger faith would open at once more abundant stores. God"s hand is not shortened. It is we who limit our own enjoyment of his grace by unbelief and sinfulness. Still there can be no perfect satisfaction in this imperfect world. Heaven will be totally different from earth in the fact that here we are always reaching out to the beyond; there for the first time all needs will be satisfied. The hope of such a condition should lead to patience and a faithful following of the way of the cross now that leads to the home of rest hereafter.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For - The words are a promise, that God would give his people abundance of ease and plenty.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.