Restoration Promised

1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still 1aconfined in the court of the guard, saying,

2 “Thus says athe Lord who made 1the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it, the bLord is His name,

3 ‘aCall to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you bgreat and mighty things, cwhich you do not know.’

4 “For thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the ahouses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah which are broken down to make a defense against the bsiege ramps and against the sword,

5 ‘While they are coming to afight with the Chaldeans and to fill them with the corpses of men whom I have slain in My anger and in My wrath, and I have bhidden My face from this city because of all their wickedness:

6 ‘Behold, I will bring to it ahealth and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an babundance of peace and truth.

7 ‘I will arestore the 1fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and will brebuild them as they were at first.

8 ‘I will acleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me.

9 ‘1It will be to Me a aname of joy, praise and glory before ball the nations of the earth which will hear of all the cgood that I do for them, and they will dfear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.’

10 “Thus says the Lord, ‘Yet again there will be heard in this place, of which you say, “It is a awaste, without man and without beast,” that is, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are bdesolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast,

11 the voice of ajoy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say,

“bGive thanks to the Lord of hosts,

For the Lord is good,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting”;

and of those who bring a cthank offering into the house of the Lord. For I will restore the 1fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says the Lord.

12 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘There will again be in this place which is waste, awithout man or beast, and in all its cities, a 1habitation of shepherds who rest their bflocks.

13 ‘In the acities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the Negev, in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again bpass under the hands of the one who numbers them,’ says the Lord.