A Hebraic Study on Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 31:31-34
Scripture Foundation
See, the days are coming,” declares YaHuWaH, “when I shall make a renewed covenant with the house of Yisra’El and with the house of Yahudah, not like the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I strengthened their hand to bring them out of the land of Mitsrayim, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares YaHuWaH. “For this is the covenant I shall make with the house of Yisra’El after those days,” declares YaHuWaH: “I shall put My Torah in their inward parts, and write it on their hearts. And I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be My people. And no longer shall they teach, each one his neighbour, and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know YaHuWaH,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares YaHuWaH. “For I shall forgive their crookedness, and remember their sin no more.” – Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 31:31-34
Hebrew Word Studies
Covenant – בְּרִית (berit)
Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB): covenant, alliance, pledge.
Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon: properly “to cut” (as in cutting an agreement or treaty).
Klein’s Etymological Dictionary: from root בר (bar), meaning to purify or select, pointing to something binding, chosen, and set apart.
In Hebraic thought, a covenant is not merely a contract; it is a binding relationship sealed in blood and bound by oaths of fidelity.
Thus, the “new” or “renewed” covenant is not a new religion but a renewed bond with Yisra’El and Yahudah, based on Torah written inside, not abolished.
Teach – לָמַד (lamad)
BDB: to exercise in, to train, to teach diligently.
Gesenius: to accustom oneself, to be trained.
Root idea: teaching is training by practice and repetition, not just intellectual transfer.
The prophecy says, “No longer shall they lamad one another.” If teaching is still necessary today, and it clearly is, then this stage of the covenant has not yet come.
Know – יָדַע (yada)
BDB: to know, recognize, acknowledge, confess.
Gesenius: not merely intellectual knowledge, but experiential intimacy (the same word used of Adam “knowing” Ḥawwah).
Hebraic thought: to know YaHuWaH means to be joined to Him in covenantal intimacy, walking in His ways.
The promise is: “They shall all yada Me, from least to greatest.” Today, most of the world does not know Him in this intimate, obedient way. Thus the prophecy’s fulfillment is still to come.
Hebraic Context
The Audience
YaHuWaH declares this covenant is with the house of Yisra’El and with the house of Yahudah. Christianity misapplies it to a “church” divorced from Torah and divorced from the people of Yisra’El. But the covenant was never promised to Gentiles outside Yisra’El. Gentiles are only included by being grafted into the olive tree of Yisra’El (Romiyim (Romans) 11:17-24).
The Timing
The covenant is declared for “after those days.” Which days? The days of dispersion, judgment, and exile. The New Covenant is connected to national restoration, the regathering of Yisra’El into the Land (see Yeḥezqĕl (Ezekiel) 36:24-28; 37:21-28). This has not yet happened in fullness.
The Universal Knowledge of YaHuWaH
Right now, the nations are filled with ignorance, idolatry, atheism, and false religion. Even within the Torah movement, teaching and correction are still necessary. This proves that the promise “they shall all know Me” has not yet reached fulfillment.
Christianity’s Deception
Christian doctrine twists the “new covenant” into:
A law-free, church-centered covenant.
A replacement of Torah with “grace.”
A justification for why they do not keep the Sabbaths, Feasts, and commands of YaHuWaH.
They misuse Iḇ`rim (Hebrews) 8, which is simply quoting Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 31, forgetting that Hebrews itself admits the covenant is “becoming old and growing aged, and near disappearing” (Iḇ`rim (Hebrews) 8:13), not already vanished. It is a process, not a completed reality.
To say “the new covenant is here, so we no longer need Torah” is to accuse YaHuWaH of lying, because He said the covenant would be marked by Torah being written on hearts, not Torah being abolished.
The Already / Not Yet Reality
The New Covenant has begun through Yahusha’s blood:
Yahusha said, “This is My blood, that of the renewed covenant, which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mattithyahu 26:28).
Through His death and resurrection, the covenant was inaugurated, the door opened.
But the covenant has not been consummated:
The two houses of Yisra’El are not yet fully regathered.
Not all people know YaHuWaH.
Teaching is still necessary.
Sin still abounds, and forgiveness is not yet universal.
Sha’ul recognized this tension: “For now we see in part, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know, as I also have been known” (Qorintiyim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 13:12).
The Fulfillment to Come
The New Covenant will be fully manifest when:
Yahusha returns to rule as King of Kings from Yerushalayim.
Both houses of Yisra’El are restored into one nation.
The Torah is perfectly inscribed on every heart.
All the earth knows YaHuWaH.
There will be no more need for teachers, for His knowledge will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea (Ḥabaqquq (Habakkuk) 2:14).
Hidden Nugget
Christianity claims the New Covenant frees men from Torah, but the prophecy of Yirmeyahu teaches the exact opposite: the sign of the New Covenant is Torah engraved inside. What they reject is the very evidence that would mark the true covenant’s arrival.
Torah Connection
The prophecy directly echoes Deḇarim (Deuteronomy) 30:6-8:
And YaHuWaH your Elohim shall circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed, to love YaHuWaH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being, so that you might live. And YaHuWaH your Elohim shall put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. And you shall turn back and obey the voice of YaHuWaH, and do all His commands which I command you today.
This is the Torah itself foretelling the day when the heart will be circumcised, Torah internalized, and obedience restored. Yirmeyahu’s prophecy is not new; it is Torah renewed.
Final Word
We are not yet in the fullness of the New Covenant. We live in its firstfruits through Yahusha, but we await its completion at His return. To claim otherwise is to charge YaHuWaH with breaking His own word. Let us not fall into the error of Christianity, which uses the New Covenant as a license for lawlessness. Instead, let us guard the Torah, proclaim the truth, and look forward to the day when His Torah will be fully written in every heart, when no one will need to teach another, and when the whole earth will truly know YaHuWaH.
© AmmiOlam.org
Restoring the ancient paths – walking in the covenant of truth.