Jeremiah 31:35

The Lord has made a promise to Israel. He promises it as the one who fixed the sun to give light by day and the moon and stars to give light by night. He promises it as the one who stirs up the sea so that its waves roll. He promises it as the one who is known as the Lord who rules over all. ¹ 

Ge 1:14-18; Ex 14:21,22; De 4:19; Job 26:12; Job 38:10,11; Job 38:33; Ps 19:1-6; Ps 72:5,17; Ps 74:13; Ps 74:16; Ps 78:13; Ps 89:2,36,37; Ps 93:3,4; Ps 106:9; Ps 107:25-29; Ps 114:3-5; Ps 119:89; Ps 136:7-9; Isa 48:2; Isa 51:15; Isa 54:5; Isa 63:12; Jer 5:22; Jer 10:16; Jer 32:18; Jer 46:18; Jer 50:34; Jer 51:19; Mt 5:45; Mt 8:25,26

¹ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” See the study note on 2:19 for this title. In the Hebrew text the verse reads: “Thus says the Lord who provides the sun for light by day, the fixed ordering of the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar, whose name is Yahweh of armies, ‘…’” The hymnic introduction to the quote which does not begin until v. 36 has been broken down to avoid a long awkward sentence in English. The word “said” has been translated “made a promise” to reflect the nature of the content in vv. 36-37. The first two lines of the Hebrew poetry are a case of complex or supplementary ellipsis where the complete idea of “providing/establishing the fixed laws” is divided between the two lines (cf. E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 110-13). The necessity for recombining the ellipsis is obvious from reference to the fixed ordering in the next verse. (Some commentators prefer to delete the word as an erroneous glossing of the word in the following line (see, e.g., J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 277, n. y).