31:4 I will rebuild you, my dear children Israel, 4
so that you will once again be built up.
Once again you will take up the tambourine
and join in the happy throng of dancers. 5
1 tn Heb “Why did you hide in order to flee?” The verb “hide” and the infinitive “to flee” form a hendiadys, the infinitive becoming the main verb and the other the adverb: “flee secretly.”
2 tn Heb “and steal me.”
3 tn Heb “And [why did] you not tell me so I could send you off with joy and with songs, with a tambourine and with a harp?”
4 tn Heb “Virgin Israel.”
sn For the significance of this metaphor see the note on Jer 14:17. Here the emphasis appears on his special love and care for his people and the hint (further developed in vv. 21-22) that, though guilty of sin, he considers them like an innocent young virgin.
5 sn Contrast Jer 7:34 and 25:10.