Jeremiah 31:35

Jeremiah 31:35, in plain English

God reminds us of his cosmic power—he controls the sun, moon, stars, and ocean—as a prelude to what he's about to say about his commitment to Israel.

Why it's here

God is setting up a comparison. He's saying: I'm the one who orders the entire universe. Now listen to what I'm about to say about my people.

Who's speaking

God speaking through Jeremiah

Where it sits in the story

Throughout Scripture, God's power over creation is connected to his trustworthiness. If God can manage the cosmos, he can certainly manage history and keep his promises.

The scholarly reading

God's fidelity to Israel in the new covenant is as certain as the cosmic order itself—sun by day, moon and stars by night, and the rhythm of the seas.

Language and setting

The majestic affirmation of God's covenant-keeping power is grounded in cosmic language: כֹּה־אָמַר יְהוָה נוֹתֵן שֶׁמֶשׁ לְאוֹר בַּיּוֹם חֻקּוֹת יָרֵחַ וְכוֹכָבִים לְאוֹר בַּלָּיְלָה... יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת שְׁמוֹ (koh-amar YHVH noten shemesh le'or bayom chukkot yareah vekovavim le'or balayil... YHVH tzva'ot shmah—'Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, ordinances of moon and stars for light by night... the LORD of Hosts is His name'). The term חֻקּוֹת (chukkot—'ordinances' or 'laws') uses the same root as the Torah language, suggesting that creation's stability and covenant's stability are identical—both rooted in divine intention. This echoes Job 38 and Psalm 89:37-38, where covenantal permanence is anchored in cosmic order.

Voice

The LORD, invoking divine authority over creation.

Significance

This represents a stunning theological claim: God's commitment to Israel is as reliable as the physical laws governing the universe. It establishes that redemption is not contingent, negotiable, or subject to human failure—it is rooted in the very structure of creation. This becomes foundational to later Christian confidence in God's faithfulness and, ultimately, to the theological claim that Christ's resurrection is as inevitable as sunrise.

33“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.

34No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”

35Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, who sets in order the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of Hosts is His name:

36“Only if this fixed order departed from My presence, declares the LORD, would Israel’s descendants ever cease to be a nation before Me.”

37This is what the LORD says: “Only if the heavens above could be measured and the foundations of the earth below searched out would I reject all of Israel’s descendants because of all they have done,”

Read all of Jeremiah 31 — God promises something revolutionary: a covenant written not on stone but on hearts. No longer external rules — internal transformation.