But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.

JEREMIAH 3:19KJV
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Jeremiah 3:19 (KJV)

What does Jeremiah 3:19 mean?

Jeremiah 3:19 presents God speaking about welcoming his people into the place of children and giving them a desirable land to possess. God also speaks of the relationship he wants with them: that they would call him “My father” and remain with him.

The question “How shall I put thee among the children?” gives voice to the difficulty of that welcome. The family picture matters because, in the surrounding passage, the people have turned away from God.

The Hebrew behind Jeremiah 3:19

  • “children” — בָּנִים (banim): This word means sons or children. Here it pictures the people as members of a family who have a place and a share in what belongs to their father.
  • “heritage” — נַחֲלָה (naḥalah): This word means an inheritance or possession. It presents the land as a lasting share given to the people, not merely a place to visit.
  • “away” — שׁוּב (shuv): This word often means to turn or return. In “shalt not turn away from me,” it pictures a change of direction in the people’s relationship with God.

Why Jeremiah 3:19 matters

  • The verse joins a gift of land with a family relationship. The people are to receive a “pleasant land” and also address God as “My father.”
  • The welcome is spoken in the face of betrayal. Verse 20 follows with the picture of a wife who has left her husband, making the question in verse 19 especially pointed.
  • The phrase “hosts of nations” places the land among the lands of many peoples. The KJV describes the gift as a “goodly heritage,” stressing its worth.

Where else these words appear

“pleasant” Hebrew H2532 · used in 25 verses

  • Genesis 27:15 And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son:
  • Isaiah 2:16 And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.
  • Daniel 11:8 And shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes, and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall continue more years than the king of the north.

“goodly” Hebrew H6643 · used in 32 verses

  • Deuteronomy 12:15 Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.
  • Song of Solomon 2:9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.
  • Isaiah 28:4 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

“put” Hebrew H7896 · used in 80 verses

  • Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
  • Job 10:20 Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
  • Psalms 88:6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.