Jeremiah 30–31

Chapter 30

Deliverance from Captivity Promised

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

²“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘^aWrite all the words which I have spoken to you in a book.

³‘For behold, ^adays are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will ^brestore the ¹fortunes of My people ^cIsrael and Judah.’ The Lord says, ‘I will also ^dbring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers and they shall possess it.’ ”

⁴Now these are the words which the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah:

⁵“For thus says the Lord,

‘¹I have heard a sound of ^aterror,

Of dread, and there is no peace.

⁶‘Ask now, and see

If a male can give birth.

Why do I see every man

With his hands on his loins, ^aas a woman in childbirth?

And why have all faces turned pale?

⁷‘Alas! for that ^aday is great,

There is ^bnone like it;

And it is the time of Jacob’s ^cdistress,

But he will be ^dsaved from it.

⁸‘It shall come about on that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will ^abreak his yoke from off ¹their neck and will tear off their ^bbonds; and strangers will no longer ^cmake ²them their slaves.

⁹‘But they shall serve the Lord their God and ^aDavid their king, whom I will raise up for them.

¹⁰‘^aFear not, O Jacob My servant,’ declares the Lord,

‘And do not be dismayed, O Israel;

For behold, I will save you ^bfrom afar

And your ¹offspring from the land of their captivity.

And Jacob will return and will be ^cquiet and at ease,

And ^dno one will make him afraid.

¹¹‘For ^aI am with you,’ declares the Lord, ‘to save you;

For I will ^bdestroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you,

Only I will ^cnot destroy you completely.

But I will ^dchasten you justly

And will by no means leave you unpunished.’

¹²“For thus says the Lord,

‘Your wound is incurable

And your ^ainjury is serious.

¹³‘There is no one to plead your cause;

No healing for your sore,

^aNo recovery for you.

¹⁴‘All your ^alovers have forgotten you,

They do not seek you;

For I have ^bwounded you with the wound of an enemy,

With the ^cpunishment of a ^dcruel one,

Because your ^einiquity is great

And your ^fsins are numerous.

¹⁵‘Why do you cry out over your injury?

Your pain is incurable.

Because your iniquity is great

And your sins are numerous,

I have done these things to you.

¹⁶‘Therefore all who ^adevour you will be devoured;

And all your adversaries, every one of them, ^bwill go into captivity;

And those who plunder you will be for plunder,

And all who prey upon you I will give for prey.

¹⁷‘For I will ¹restore you to ^2ahealth

And I will heal you of your wounds,’ declares the Lord,

‘Because they have called you an ^boutcast, saying:

“It is Zion; no one ³cares for her.” ’

Restoration of Jacob

¹⁸“Thus says the Lord,

‘Behold, I will ^arestore the ¹fortunes of the tents of Jacob

And ^bhave compassion on his dwelling places;

And the ^ccity will be rebuilt on its ruin,

And the ^dpalace will stand on its rightful place.

¹⁹‘From them will proceed ^athanksgiving

And the voice of those who ^1bcelebrate;

And I will ^cmultiply them and they will not be diminished;

I will also ^dhonor them and they will not be insignificant.

²⁰‘¹Their children also will be as formerly,

And ²their congregation shall be ^aestablished before Me;

And I will punish all their oppressors.

²¹‘¹Their ^aleader shall be one of them,

And their ruler shall come forth from their midst;

And I will ^bbring him near and he shall approach Me;

For ²who would dare to risk his life to ^capproach Me?’ declares the Lord.

²²‘You shall be ^aMy people,

And I will be your God.’ ”

²³Behold, the ^atempest of the Lord!

Wrath has gone forth,

A ¹sweeping tempest;

It will burst on the head of the wicked.

²⁴The ^afierce anger of the Lord will not turn back

Until He has performed and until He has accomplished

The intent of His heart;

In the ^blatter days you will understand this.

Chapter 31

Israel’s Mourning Turned to Joy

¹“At that time,” declares the Lord, “I will be the ^aGod of all the ^bfamilies of Israel, and they shall be My people.”

²Thus says the Lord,

“The people who survived the sword

^aFound grace in the wilderness—

Israel, when it went to ^bfind its rest.”

³The Lord appeared to ¹him from afar, saying,

“I have ^aloved you with an everlasting love;

Therefore I have drawn you with ^blovingkindness.

⁴“^aAgain I will build you and you will be rebuilt,

O virgin of Israel!

Again you will ¹take up your ^btambourines,

And go forth to the dances of the ^cmerrymakers.

⁵“Again you will ^aplant vineyards

On the ¹hills of Samaria;

The planters will plant

And will ²enjoy them.

⁶“For there will be a day when watchmen

On the hills of Ephraim call out,

‘Arise, and ^alet us go up to Zion,

To the Lord our God.’ ”

⁷For thus says the Lord,

“^aSing aloud with gladness for Jacob,

And shout among the ^1bchief of the nations;

Proclaim, give praise and say,

‘O Lord, ^csave Your people,

The ^dremnant of Israel.’

⁸“Behold, I am ^abringing them from the north country,

And I will ^bgather them from the remote parts of the earth,

Among them the ^cblind and the ^dlame,

The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together;

A great ¹company, they will return here.

⁹“^aWith weeping they will come,

And by supplication I will lead them;

I will make them walk by ^bstreams of waters,

On a straight path in which they will ^cnot stumble;

For I am a ^dfather to Israel,

And Ephraim is ^eMy firstborn.”

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,

And declare in the ^acoastlands afar off,

And say, “He who scattered Israel will ^bgather him

And keep him as a ^cshepherd keeps his flock.”

¹¹For the Lord has ^aransomed Jacob

And redeemed him from the hand of him who was ^bstronger than he.

¹²“They will ^acome and shout for joy on the ^bheight of Zion,

And they will be ^cradiant over the ¹bounty of the Lord—

Over the ^dgrain and the new wine and the oil,

And over the young of the ^eflock and the herd;

And their life will be like a ^fwatered garden,

And they will ^gnever languish again.

¹³“Then the virgin will rejoice in the ^adance,

And the young men and the old, together,

For I will ^bturn their mourning into joy

And will comfort them and give them ^cjoy for their sorrow.

¹⁴“I will ¹fill the soul of the priests with ²abundance,

And My people will be ^asatisfied with My goodness,” declares the Lord.

¹⁵Thus says the Lord,

“^aA voice is heard in ^bRamah,

Lamentation and bitter weeping.

Rachel is weeping for her children;

She ^crefuses to be comforted for her children,

Because ^dthey are no more.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord,

“^aRestrain your voice from weeping

And your eyes from tears;

For your ^bwork will be rewarded,” declares the Lord,

“And they will ^creturn from the land of the enemy.

¹⁷“There is ^ahope for your future,” declares the Lord,

“And your children will return to their own territory.

¹⁸“I have surely heard Ephraim ^agrieving,

‘You have ^bchastised me, and I was chastised,

Like an untrained ^ccalf;

^dBring me back that I may be restored,

For You are the Lord my God.

¹⁹‘For after I turned back, I ^arepented;

And after I was instructed, I ^bsmote on my thigh;

I was ^cashamed and also humiliated

Because I bore the reproach of my youth.’

²⁰“Is ^aEphraim My dear son?

Is he a delightful child?

Indeed, as often as I have spoken against him,

I certainly still remember him;

Therefore My ^1bheart yearns for him;

I will surely ^chave mercy on him,” declares the Lord.

²¹“Set up for yourself roadmarks,

Place for yourself guideposts;

^aDirect your ¹mind to the highway,

The way by which you went.

^bReturn, O virgin of Israel,

Return to these your cities.

²²“How long will you go here and there,

O ^afaithless daughter?

For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth—

A woman will encompass a man.”

²³Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Once again they will speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities when I ^arestore their ¹fortunes,

‘The Lord bless you, O ^babode of righteousness,

O ^choly hill!’

²⁴“Judah and all its cities will ^adwell together in it, the farmer and they who go about with flocks.

²⁵“^aFor I satisfy the weary ones and ¹refresh everyone who languishes.”

²⁶At this I ^aawoke and looked, and my ^bsleep was pleasant to me.

A New Covenant

²⁷“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will ^asow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.

²⁸“As I have ^awatched over them to ^bpluck up, to break down, to overthrow, to destroy and to bring disaster, so I will watch over them to ^cbuild and to plant,” declares the Lord.

²⁹“In those days they will not say again,

‘^aThe fathers have eaten sour grapes,

And the children’s teeth are ¹set on edge.’

³⁰“But ^aeveryone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be ¹set on edge.

³¹“^aBehold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a ^bnew covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

³²not like the ^acovenant which I made with their fathers in the day I ^btook them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My ^ccovenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.

³³“But ^athis is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “^bI will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and ^cI will be their God, and they shall be My people.

³⁴“They will ^anot teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all ^bknow Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will ^cforgive their iniquity, and their ^dsin I will remember no more.”

³⁵Thus says the Lord,

Who ^agives the sun for light by day

And the ¹fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,

Who ^bstirs up the sea so that its waves roar;

^cThe Lord of hosts is His name:

³⁶“^aIf ¹this fixed order departs

From before Me,” declares the Lord,

“Then the offspring of Israel also will ^bcease

From being a nation before Me ²forever.”

³⁷Thus says the Lord,

“^aIf the heavens above can be measured

And the foundations of the earth searched out below,

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