经文研读
Jeremiah 31:35 — The Creator Who Guarantees the New Covenant
Jeremiah 31:35 identifies the speaker of the new covenant oracle as the Creator who established the fixed orders of day and night and who stirs the roaring sea — a name, Jehovah of hosts, that vouches for the permanence of what he has just promised.
经文
- 35.那 使 太 陽 白 日 發 光 ， 使 星 月 有 定 例 ， 黑 夜 發 亮 ， 又 攪 動 大 海 ， 使 海 中 波 浪 匉 訇 的 ， 萬 軍 之 耶 和 華 是 他 的 名 。 他 如 此 說 ：Thus saith Jehovah, who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirreth up the sea, so that the waves thereof roar; Jehovah of hosts is his name:
这段经文的意思
The verse names the speaker three times by action before giving the name. The one promising the new covenant is the One who gives the sun as daylight's light, fixes the statutes (ordinances) of the moon and stars for the night's light, and stirs the sea so its waves roar. Each clause is a present-tense activity attributed to Jehovah; the verse gathers sun, moon, stars, and sea into a single sentence about who is speaking. Because no cross references and no original-language entries were provided, the explanation stays with the English text alone.
The name attached to all of this is 'Jehovah of hosts' — a title that ties the creator of the heavens to the commander of an army. The point is not decorative theology but a guarantee clause: just as the heavenly bodies keep their statutes and the sea keeps roaring on schedule, so the speaker can be trusted to keep what he has just promised in Jeremiah 31:33–34 (law written on the heart, sins remembered no more). The created order becomes the analogy for covenant fidelity.
Read tightly with the surrounding verses, 31:35 is the hinge. Verses 31–34 announce the new covenant; verses 36–37 then swear by the unchangeable ordinances of heaven and earth that Israel will not be cast off. Verse 35 is the declaration that introduces those oaths, naming the kind of God who can make them — the Creator, whose name is Jehovah of hosts.
背景
Jeremiah 31 is a chapter of restoration. It opens with Jehovah promising to be the God of all the families of Israel (v. 1), traces his everlasting love (v. 3), pictures Israel returning from the north with the lame and blind (v. 8), and includes the famous Rachel weeping in Ramah (v. 15) before the turn to joy (v. 13). Within that flow, the new-covenant oracle in 31:31–34 stands as the theological center: law on the heart, universal knowledge of Jehovah, and complete forgiveness.
Jeremiah 31:35 sits exactly where the covenant announcement gives way to the oath. Verse 34 ends with 'saith Jehovah' after forgiving iniquity; verse 35 opens with the same formula but expands the 'I' behind it into the Creator of the cosmos. Verse 36 then bets Israel's permanence on the fixity of those heavenly ordinances, and verse 37 raises the standard higher still — only if the heavens can be measured and the earth's foundations searched will Israel be cast off. The verse therefore both crowns the promise and launches the guarantee.
常见问题
Why does Jeremiah 31:35 suddenly talk about the sun, moon, and sea in the middle of a covenant passage?
The shift is deliberate. The verse identifies the speaker of the new-covenant oracle as the Creator who established the fixed orders of day, night, and sea. Those created orders then become the guarantee for the promise just made in vv. 33–34: a God who keeps the cosmos on schedule can be trusted to keep his covenant word.
What does 'Jehovah of hosts' add to the passage?
The title links the creator of sun, moon, and stars to the commander of an army. It says the one who fixed the heavens is also the sovereign who rules over powers, and therefore the one able to back the new-covenant promise with absolute authority.
How does verse 35 connect to verses 36–37?
Verse 35 names the Creator; verses 36–37 stake Israel's permanence on the fixity of his creation. If the sun stops its statute, then Israel's seed may cease as a nation; if the heavens can be measured, only then will Israel be cast off. The created order is offered as the oath that seals the covenant of vv. 31–34.