“I Will Turn Their Mourning into Joy”

October 26 – November 1, 2026Jeremiah 31–33; 36–39; Lamentations 1; 39 chapters · 297 verses

Babylon's army surrounds Jerusalem, and Jeremiah sits in prison. From there he promises a new covenant written on the heart and buys a field to prove the people will come home. Then the city falls, and Lamentations gives voice to the grief that follows.

Chapter

Jeremiah 31

The text shown is the King James Version, the Church's preferred English Bible for classes and meetings. The General Handbook lists the ESV and NRSV as helpful translations for ages 14 and up. They are copyrighted, so they open on their publishers' sites. Highlighted verses have a study note with links to compare that verse.

Map

Place

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Study guide

This week moves from hope to catastrophe to grief. The chapters aren't in time order, so the background below will help you follow them.

How to read this week

Chapters 30–33 are the "Book of Consolation." Inside a book full of warnings, these four chapters are almost all promise: return, rebuilding, joy, and a new covenant. Jeremiah 30:2 even tells him to write them in a book of their own.
Notice when the hope is spoken. Chapters 32–33 are set while Jeremiah is in prison and the city is under siege (32:1–2; 33:1). He promises restoration at the worst possible moment.
Chapter 36 jumps back about 18 years, to Jehoiakim's reign. It explains how Jeremiah's words were written down, burned, and written again. Then chapters 37–39 return to the siege and the fall of the city.
Read Lamentations slowly, as poetry. Chapters 1, 2 and 4 each have 22 verses, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order. Chapter 3 has 66 verses: three for each letter. The form says grief is being expressed "from A to Z," completely.
Find the turn in Lamentations 3. The chapter starts in darkness (3:1–20), turns on "This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope" (3:21), and reaches "his compassions fail not. They are new every morning" (3:22–23).

The last years of Judah

605/604 BC — Baruch writes Jeremiah's words on a scroll; King Jehoiakim burns it (36:1, 9, 23)
597 BC — Jehoiachin and thousands taken to Babylon; Zedekiah made king
First year of Zedekiah — Lehi prophesies in Jerusalem and leaves (1 Nephi 1:4). Latter-day Saints traditionally date this 600 BC.
588 BC — Babylon begins the siege of Jerusalem (39:1)
587 BC — Jeremiah, in prison, buys his cousin's field at Anathoth (32:1–15)
587/586 BC — The wall is breached; Zedekiah is captured, his sons are killed, and he is blinded (39:2–7). The temple is burned (52:13).
After the fall — Lamentations mourns the ruined city. Jews still read it on Tisha B'Av, the fast day for the temple's destruction.

Images and moments to recognize

Passage	Image	What it means
31:15	Rachel weeping for her children	Rachel, mother of Joseph and Benjamin, mourns her exiled descendants. Matthew 2:18 applies the verse to the children killed at Bethlehem. Verses 16–17 answer her: "they shall come again."
31:31–34	A new covenant written in the heart	The law moves from stone tablets to the heart, and everyone will "know the LORD." Hebrews 8:8–12 quotes this passage in full, the longest Old Testament quotation in the New Testament.
32:6–15	Buying a field during a siege	Land is worthless when an army is camped outside, yet Jeremiah pays full price. The deeds are sealed in a clay jar to last "many days." It's a public act of faith that "houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again."
32:17, 27	"Is there any thing too hard for me?"	Jeremiah's prayer says nothing is too hard for the Lord (32:17), and the Lord echoes it back to him (32:27). Compare Genesis 18:14.
33:15	The Branch of righteousness	A new shoot from David's family line. A messianic title also found in Isaiah 11:1, Jeremiah 23:5 and Zechariah 3:8.
36:23	The scroll in the fire	Jehoiakim cuts the scroll piece by piece and burns it. The Lord has Jeremiah dictate it again, "and there were added besides unto them many like words" (36:32). Rejecting God's word doesn't destroy it.
38:6	Sinking in the mire	Jeremiah is lowered into an empty cistern, with no water, only mud. A Cushite official, Ebed-melech, pulls him out with old rags padding the ropes (38:7–13).
39:6–7	Zedekiah's sons	The Bible says Zedekiah's sons were killed. The Book of Mormon says one son, Mulek, escaped to the Americas (Helaman 8:21; Omni 1:15).
Lam 1:1	The city as a widow	Jerusalem is pictured as a woman sitting alone, "how is she become as a widow!" The Hebrew title of the book, Eikhah ("How!"), comes from this opening cry.
Lam 3:22–23	Mercies new every morning	The one sustained note of hope in the book, placed at the exact center of its middle poem.

Archaeology from these chapters

Gemariah son of Shaphan (36:10–12, 25) — A clay seal impression bearing this name was found in the City of David in the 1980s. He's the official who begged the king not to burn the scroll.
Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Gedaliah son of Pashhur (37:3; 38:1) — Seal impressions naming both men were found in Jerusalem in 2005 and 2008. They're two of the officials who had Jeremiah thrown into the cistern.
Sealed deeds in clay jars (32:14) — Storing documents in sealed jars was a real ancient practice. The Dead Sea Scrolls survived in jars for about 2,000 years.

Questions for the week

What's the difference between a law written on stone and one written on the heart (31:33)? How does that happen for you?
What "field" could you buy now as an act of faith in the Lord's promises (32:6–15)?
Jehoiakim burned the scroll. What are quieter ways people "cut out" parts of the word they don't want to hear?
Who has been an Ebed-melech for you, someone who pulled you out of the mire?
Lamentations doesn't skip the grief. How can honest sorrow and real hope live side by side (Lam 3:21–26)?

Conference talks & Church resources

Talks, devotionals and Church resources that teach from this week's chapters.

Scholarly papers

Faithful scholarship from BYU and related publishers, tagged with the chapters each one discusses.

Podcasts & video

Weekly Come, Follow Me shows and episodes covering Jeremiah 30–52 and Lamentations.