Jeremiah 31:18–34

18  I have heard pEphraim grieving,

‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined,

like an untrained calf;

qbring me back that I may be restored,

for you are the Lord my God.

19  For after rI had turned away, I relented,

and after I was instructed, sI struck my thigh;

tI was ashamed, and I was confounded,

because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

20  pIs Ephraim my dear son?

uIs he my darling child?

For as often as I speak against him,

I do remember him still.

vTherefore my heart2 yearns for him;

I will surely have mercy on him,

declares the Lord.

21  w“Set up road markers for yourself;

make yourself guideposts;

xconsider well the highway,

wthe road by which you went.

Return, O virgin Israel,

return to these your cities.

22  yHow long will you waver,

zO faithless daughter?

For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:

a woman encircles a man.”

23 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, awhen I restore their fortunes:

b“ ‘The Lord bless you, cO habitation of righteousness,

dO holy hill!’

24 eAnd Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and ethe farmers and those who wander with their flocks. 25 For I will fsatisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

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

27 g“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when hI will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with ithe seed of man and the seed of beast. 28 And it shall come to pass that jas I have watched over them kto pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, jso I will watch over them lto build and to plant, declares the Lord. 29 In those days they shall no longer say:

m“ ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,

and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

30 nBut everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

The New Covenant

31 o“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make pa new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when qI took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, rthough I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 sFor this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: sI will put my law within them, and I will write it ton their hearts. uAnd I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ vfor they shall all know me, wfrom the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For xI will forgive their iniquity, and yI will remember their sin no more.”