Jeremiah 31
1 At that time, declares the LORD, I will be God to all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.
2 This is what the LORD says: “The people who escaped the sword found favor in the wilderness; Israel was on its way to its rest.”
3 The LORD appeared to me from afar: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; that is why I have drawn you to me with faithful love.
4 I will rebuild you, and you will be rebuilt, virgin Israel. You will again adorn yourself with your tambourines and go out dancing with those who rejoice.
5 You will again plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; those who plant them will plant them and enjoy their fruit.
6 For a day will come when watchmen cry out in the hill country of Ephraim, ‘Get up! Let’s go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.’”
7 For this is what the LORD says: “Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations. Make your voices heard, praise him, and say, ‘Save your people, LORD, the remnant of Israel!’
8 Look, I am bringing them from the land of the north and gathering them from the farthest parts of the earth. Among them are the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and the woman in labor, all together. A great assembly will return here.
9 They will come weeping, and I will lead them with pleas for mercy. I will bring them to streams of water, along a straight path where they will not stumble, because I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
10 Hear the word of the LORD, nations, and announce it in distant coastlands: ‘The one who scattered Israel will gather him and guard him as a shepherd guards his flock.’
11 For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and freed him from the hand of one stronger than he.
12 They will come and sing for joy on the heights of Zion; they will stream to the LORD’s goodness—to the grain, the new wine, the olive oil, and the young of the flocks and herds. Their lives will be like a well-watered garden, and they will never again waste away.
13 Then the young woman will rejoice in the dance, and the young men and old men together. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them and make them glad after their sorrow.”
14 “I will satisfy the priests with abundance, and my people will be filled with my goodness,” declares the LORD.
15 This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamenting and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are gone.”
16 This is what the LORD says: “Hold back your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” declares the LORD. “They will return from the enemy’s land.
17 There is hope for your future,” declares the LORD, “and your children will return to their own territory.”
18 “I have surely heard Ephraim lamenting: ‘You disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf. Bring me back, and I will return, for you are the LORD my God.
19 For after I turned back, I repented; after I understood, I struck my thigh. I was ashamed and humiliated, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
20 “Is Ephraim not my dear son, a child in whom I delight? Whenever I speak against him, I still remember him. That is why my heart yearns for him; I will surely have compassion on him,” declares the LORD.
21 Set up road markers for yourself; put up signs. Pay attention to the road, the way you traveled. Return, virgin Israel; return to these cities of yours.
22 How long will you wander, rebellious daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing on earth: a woman will surround a man.
23 This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “People will again say these words in the land of Judah and its cities when I restore their fortunes: ‘May the LORD bless you, home of righteousness, holy mountain!’
24 Judah and all its cities will live there together, along with farmers and those who travel with their flocks.
25 For I have refreshed the weary life and filled every life that was wasting away.”
26 At this I woke and looked around, and my sleep had been sweet to me.
27 Look, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with human seed and animal seed.
28 Just as I watched over them to uproot, tear down, demolish, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and plant,” declares the LORD.
29 “In those days they will no longer say, ‘The parents ate sour grapes, and the children’s teeth were set on edge.’
30 Instead, each person will die for their own guilt: everyone who eats sour grapes will have their own teeth set on edge.
31 Look, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. They broke my covenant, though I was their husband,” declares the LORD.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD: “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will anyone teach a neighbor or a brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their guilt and remember their sin no more.”
35 This is what the LORD says: he gives the sun for light by day, and the laws of the moon and stars for light by night; he stirs up the sea and makes its waves roar. The LORD of Armies is his name.
36 “If these laws ever depart from before me,” declares the LORD, “then the offspring of Israel will also cease to be a nation before me forever.”
37 This is what the LORD says: “If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I too will reject all the offspring of Israel for everything they have done,” declares the LORD.
38 Look, days are coming, declares the LORD, when the city will be rebuilt for the LORD, from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.
39 The measuring line will extend farther, straight ahead to the hill of Gareb, then turn toward Goah.
40 The whole valley of corpses and ashes, and all the terraces as far as the Kidron Brook, up to the corner of the Horse Gate to the east, will be holy to the LORD. They will never again be uprooted or demolished, forever.
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