Jeremiah 31

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,

Then I will also ^bcast off all the offspring of Israel

For all that they have done,” declares the Lord.

³⁸“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the ^acity will be rebuilt for the Lord from the ^bTower of Hananel to the ^cCorner Gate.

³⁹“The ^ameasuring line will go out farther straight ahead to the hill Gareb; then it will turn to Goah.

⁴⁰“And ^athe whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook ^bKidron, to the corner of the ^cHorse Gate toward the east, shall be ^dholy to the Lord; it will not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”