Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Jeremiah 31:22 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 22. 22How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
The prophetic word through Jeremiah states or reports “How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing…” at Jeremiah 31:22 as a specific part of “Ephraim's Turning and Divine Yearning Meet.”
Read It With
- Jeremiah 31:18–22
Read Jeremiah 31:22 with 31:18–22. By itself, “How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing…” can be detached from the speaker, addressee, date, imperial horizon, poetic movement, or outcome that gives it force. The complete unit establishes: Ephraim laments discipline and seeks restoration; compassionate remembrance answers, followed by road markers and a difficult 'new thing' saying.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within the same chapter, this unit advances from “Rachel's Lament Is Heard without Being Silenced” into “Ephraim's Turning and Divine Yearning Meet.” Its non-interchangeable movement is: Ephraim laments discipline and seeks restoration; compassionate remembrance answers, followed by road markers and a difficult 'new thing' saying. This verse's placement is specific: The prophetic word through Jeremiah states or reports “How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing…” at Jeremiah 31:22 as a specific part of “Ephraim's Turning and Divine Yearning Meet.”
Follow the Context
- The unit begins at 31:18 with the speech, scene, image, or date named in its title.
- Ephraim laments discipline and seeks restoration; compassionate remembrance answers, followed by road markers and a difficult 'new thing' saying.
- At 31:22 the movement reaches its response or transition before the next unit.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
The 'woman shall compass a man' saying is obscure and cannot securely establish a gender doctrine or miracle claim.
What Remains True
Proposals include protection, courtship, reversal, and a new social relation; the Hebrew is compressed and debated. In Jeremiah 31:22, that bounded truth is carried through this verse's role: The prophetic word through Jeremiah states or reports “How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing…” at Jeremiah 31:22 as a specific part of “Ephraim's Turning and Divine Yearning Meet.”
How It Can Shape Life
- Present major options and refuse dogmatic claims beyond the evidence. This verse directs that response through its exact role: The prophetic word through Jeremiah states or reports “How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing…” at Jeremiah 31:22 as a specific part of “Ephraim's Turning and Divine Yearning Meet.”
Teach It Back
Explain Jeremiah 31:22's precise role in Jeremiah 31:18–22: The prophetic word through Jeremiah states or reports “How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing…” at Jeremiah 31:22 as a specific part of “Ephraim's Turning and Divine Yearning Meet.” State how “Ephraim's Turning and Divine Yearning Meet” controls the line, keep this uncertainty visible—Discipline imagery does not excuse abuse, and the woman-surrounding-man line has multiple uncertain readings that must not ground gender dogma.—trace role to contextual meaning to enduring truth to application, and reject one use the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Jeremiah 31:18–22 — Ephraim's Turning and Divine Yearning MeetSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Readings differ over historical reconstruction, composition, rhetoric, theology, and later reception. The preferred reading follows this complete unit while preserving the limit: Discipline imagery does not excuse abuse, and the woman-surrounding-man line has multiple uncertain readings that must not ground gender dogma.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Jeremiah 31:18–22, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Jeremiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2; fixed commit
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a critical apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Jer.xml, OSIS 31:18–22
Open the fixed Hebrew Jeremiah file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Jeremiah with Translator, Textual, and Study Notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press; official eBible PDF distribution, NET Bible Second Edition; official PDF accessed 2026
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, dates, names, textual problems, and material translation alternatives.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Jeremiah PDF, pp. 1258-1459, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Jeremiah 31:18–22
Open the official NET Jeremiah PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Jeremiah: Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Themes, and Bible in the World
Terence E. Fretheim and Michael Chan
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, current public course accessed 2026
Supports: Reader-oriented historical, literary, theological, and pastoral synthesis with ancient-to-modern limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Jeremiah course, Outline and Themes: restoration, new covenant, field, Baruch scroll, siege, and fall; applied to Jeremiah 31:18–22
Open the Enter the Bible Jeremiah course ↗open university study guide series
Jeremiah and Ezekiel: Jeremiah Parts 1-3 Study Guides
Joel S. Baden and Jacqueline Vayntrub
Yale Bible Study, 2024
Supports: Current university-level literary-historical synthesis and explicit composition questions.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Jeremiah Part 2 study guide, pp. 1-6: prophetic conflict, politics, exile, and restoration; applied to Jeremiah 31:18–22
Open the Yale Jeremiah and Ezekiel course ↗