Jeremiah 31

¹ "At that time, declares the LORD,
I will be the God of all the clans of Israel,
and they will be my people."

² This is what the LORD says:
"The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness—
Israel, on its way to find rest."

³ "From afar the LORD appeared to me:
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have drawn you with faithful kindness."

⁴ "I will build you again and you will be rebuilt,
virgin Israel.
Again you will take up your tambourines
and go out in the dances of those who celebrate."

⁵ "Again you will plant vineyards
on the hills of Samaria.
The planters will plant
and will enjoy the fruit."

⁶ "For there will be a day
when watchmen call out on the hills of Ephraim:
'Arise! Let us go up to Zion,
to the LORD our God.'"

⁷ For this is what the LORD says:
"Shout with joy for Jacob!
Raise a cry for the chief of the nations!
Make it heard, give praise, and say,
'O LORD, save your people,
the remnant of Israel!'"

⁸ "Look—I am bringing them from the land of the north;
I will gather them from the ends of the earth.
Among them the blind and the lame,
the pregnant woman and the one in labor, together—
a great assembly will return here."

⁹ "With weeping they will come,
and with pleas for mercy I will lead them.
I will make them walk by streams of water,
on a level path where they will not stumble.
For I am a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn."

¹⁰ "Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
and declare it in the distant coastlands.
Say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him
and watch over him as a shepherd his flock.'"

¹¹ "For the LORD has ransomed Jacob
and redeemed him from the hand of one stronger than he."

¹² "They will come and shout for joy on the height of Zion;
they will be radiant over the goodness of the LORD—
over the grain, the new wine, the oil,
and over the young of the flock and herd.
Their life will be like a watered garden,
and they will never languish again."

¹³ "Then the young woman will rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old together.
I will turn their mourning into joy;
I will comfort them and give them gladness instead of sorrow."

¹⁴ "I will drench the soul of the priests with abundance,
and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,
declares the LORD."

¹⁵ This is what the LORD says:
"A voice is heard in Ramah—
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more."

¹⁶ This is what the LORD says:
"Hold back your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your labor, declares the LORD:
they will return from the land of the enemy."

¹⁷ "There is hope for your future, declares the LORD:
children will return to their own territory."

¹⁸ "I have surely heard Ephraim grieving:
'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 away, I repented;
after I was made to understand, I struck my thigh.
I was ashamed—yes, humiliated—
for I bore the disgrace of my youth.'"

²⁰ "Is Ephraim my precious son?
Is he a child of delight?
For as often as I speak against him,
I still remember him constantly.
Therefore my inner being churns for him;
I will surely have compassion on him, declares the LORD."

²¹ "Set up road markers for yourself;
place signposts.
Fix your attention on the highway,
the road by which you went.
Return, virgin Israel,
return to these your cities."

²² "How long will you waver,
O faithless daughter?
For the LORD has created a new thing on earth:
a woman surrounds a man."

²³ This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "They will again say this word in the land of Judah and in its towns when I restore their fortunes: 'May the LORD bless you, O abode of righteousness, O holy mountain.'"

²⁴ "Judah and all its towns will live there together—the farmers and those who move about with the flocks."

²⁵ "For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish."

²⁶ At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep had been pleasant to me.

²⁷ "Look—days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals."

²⁸ "And just as I watched over them to uproot and to tear down, to overthrow, to destroy, and to bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the LORD."

²⁹ "In those days they will no longer say,
'The parents ate sour grapes
and the children's teeth are set on edge.'"

³⁰ "Rather, each one will die for his own guilt. Every person who eats sour grapes—his own teeth will be set on edge."

³¹ "Look—days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah."

³² "It will not be like the covenant I cut with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke, though I was a husband to them, declares the LORD."

³³ "Rather, this is the covenant I will cut with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and on their heart I will write it. I will be their God, and they will be my people."

³⁴ "They will no longer teach each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their guilt and their sin I will remember no more."

³⁵ This is what the LORD says—
he who gives the sun for light by day,
the fixed order of the moon and stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar;
the LORD of Hosts is his name:

³⁶ "If these fixed orders were to depart
from before me, declares the LORD,
then the offspring of Israel would also cease
from being a nation before me for all time."

³⁷ This is what the LORD says:
"If the heavens above could be measured
and the foundations of the earth below could be explored,
then I would reject all the offspring of Israel
for all that 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 go out further, straight to the hill of Gareb, and will then turn to Goah."

⁴⁰ "The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the terraces as far as the Wadi Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east—it will be holy to the LORD. It will never again be uprooted or overthrown."