Jeremiah 31
Both Israel and Judah Will Be Rescued
1 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”2 This is what the Lord says:The people who survived the wars have found favor in the desert.Israel went to find its rest.3 The Lord appeared to me in a faraway place and said,“I love you with an everlasting love.So I will continue to show you my kindness.4 Once again I will build you up,and you will be rebuilt, my dear people Israel.Once again you will take your tambourines,and you will go dancing with happy people.5 Once again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria.Those who plant them will enjoy the fruit.6 There will be a day when watchmen on the mountains of Ephraimwill call out this message:‘Arise! Let’s go to Zion, to the Lord our God.’ ”7 This is what the Lord says:Sing a happy song about Jacob.Sing joyfully for the leader of the nations.Shout, sing praise, and say,“O Lord, rescue your people, the remaining few from Israel.”8 “I will bring them from the land of the north.I will gather them from the farthest parts of the earth.Blind people and lame people will returntogether with pregnant women and those in labor.A large crowd will return here.9 They will cry as they return.They will pray as I bring them back.I will lead them beside streamson a level path where they will not stumble.I will be a Father to Israel,and Ephraim will be my firstborn.10 “You nations, listen to the word of the Lord.Tell it to the distant islands.Say, ‘The one who scattered the people of Israel will gather themand watch over them as a shepherd watches over his flock.’11 The Lord will free the descendants of Jacoband reclaim them from those who are stronger than they are.12 They will come and shout for joy on top of Mount Zion.They will stream to it to enjoy the Lord’s blessings:fresh grain, new wine, and olive oil, lambs and calves.Their lives will be like well-watered gardens,and they will never suffer again.13 Then young women will rejoice and dancealong with young men and old men.I will turn their mourning into joy.I will comfort them.I will give them joy in place of their sorrow.14 I will satisfy the priests with rich food.My people will be filled with my blessings,” declares the Lord.15 This is what the Lord says:A sound is heard in Ramah,the sound of crying in bitter grief.Rachel is crying for her children.She refuses to be comforted,because they are dead.16 This is what the Lord says:Stop your crying, and wipe away your tears.You will be rewarded for your work, declares the Lord.You will return from the land of the enemy.17 Your future is filled with hope, declares the Lord.Your children will return to their own territory.18 “I have certainly heard Ephraim mourn and say,‘You disciplined me, and I was disciplined.I was like a young, untrained calf.Turn me, and I will be turned,because you are the Lord my God.19 After I was turned around, I changed the way I thought and acted.After I was taught a lesson, I hung my head in shame.I was so ashamed and humiliated,because of all the stupid things I have doneever since I was young.’20 Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child?Even though I have often spoken against him, I still think fondly of him.That is why my heart longs for him,and I will certainly have compassion on him,” declares the Lord.21 Set up landmarks!Put up road signs!Remember the highway, the road on which you traveled.Come back, my dear people Israel, come back to your cities.22 How long will you wander around, you unfaithful people?The Lord will create something new on earth:A woman will protect a man.23 This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: When I have brought them back from captivity, they will once again use this saying in Judah and in its cities:“The Lord bless you, home of righteousness, holy mountain.”24 Judah and all its cities will live there together.Farmers and shepherds will also live there.25 I will give those who are weary all they need.I will refresh everyone who is filled with sorrow.”26 At this, I woke up and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant.27 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will plant the nations of Israel and Judah with people and animals.28 Once I watched over them to uproot them, to tear them down, and to wreck, ruin, and hurt them. Now I will watch over them to build them up and to plant them,” declares the Lord.29 “When those days come, people will no longer say, ‘Fathers have eaten sour grapes, and their children’s teeth are set on edge.’
30 But each person will die for his own sin. Whoever eats sour grapes will have his own teeth set on edge.
The New Promise
31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new promiset to Israel and Judah.32 It will not be like the promise that I made to their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. They rejected that promise, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.33 “But this is the promise that I will make to Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “I will put my teachings inside them, and I will write those teachings on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will each person teach his neighbors or his relatives by saying, ‘Know the Lord.’ All of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” declares the Lord, “because I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold their sins against them.”
35 The Lord provides the sun to be a light during the day.He orders the moon and stars to be lights during the night.He stirs up the sea so that its waves roar.His name is the Lord of Armies.This is what the Lord says:36 Only if these laws stop working, declares the Lord,will Israel’s descendants stop being a nation in my presence.37 This is what the Lord says:Only if the heavens could be measuredor the foundations of the earth could be searched,would I ever reject all of Israel’s descendantsbecause of everything that they have done, declares the Lord.38 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to Corner Gate.39 A measuring line will stretch from there straight to the Hill of Gareb, and then it will turn to Goah.
40 The whole valley, filled with its dead bodies and ashes, and the whole area to the Kidron Valley, as far as the corner of Horse Gate in the east, will be holy to the Lord. It will never be uprooted or torn down again.”
Jeremiah 31
1 At that time, saith Jehovah, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.2 Thus saith Jehovah, The people that were left of the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.3 Jehovah appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.4 Again will I build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: again shalt thou be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.5 Again shalt thou plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy the fruit thereof.6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the hills of Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto Jehovah our God.7 For thus saith Jehovah, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Jehovah, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall they return hither.9 They shall come with weeping; and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.10 Hear the word of Jehovah, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off; and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as shepherd doth his flock.11 For Jehovah hath ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.12 And they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow unto the goodness of Jehovah, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith Jehovah.15 Thus saith Jehovah: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuseth to be comforted for her children, because they are not.16 Thus saith Jehovah: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith Jehovah; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.17 And there is hope for thy latter end, saith Jehovah; and thy children shall come again to their own border.18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art Jehovah my God.19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a darling child? for as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearneth for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith Jehovah.21 Set thee up waymarks, make thee guide-posts; set thy heart toward the highway, even the way by which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.22 How long wilt thou go hither and thither, O thou backsliding daughter? for Jehovah hath created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall encompass a man.23 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Yet again shall they use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity: Jehovah bless thee, O habitation of righteousness, O mountain of holiness.24 And Judah and all the cities thereof shall dwell therein together, the husbandmen, and they that go about with flocks.25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and every sorrowful soul have I replenished.26 Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.27 Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.28 And it shall come to pass that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them to build and to plant, saith Jehovah.29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.31 Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith Jehovah.33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith Jehovah: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:34 and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.35 Thus saith Jehovah, who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirreth up the sea, so that the waves thereof roar; Jehovah of hosts is his name:36 If these ordinances depart from before me, saith Jehovah, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.37 Thus saith Jehovah: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith Jehovah.38 Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that the city shall be built to Jehovah from the tower of Hananel unto the gate of the corner.39 And the measuring line shall go out further straight onward unto the hill Gareb, and shall turn about unto Goah.40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto Jehovah; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.