Jeremiah 31:31–43:13
31 “Behold, the wdays are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that xI took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, 8though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 yBut this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: zI will put My law in their minds, and write it on their 9hearts; aand I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for bthey all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For cI will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
dWho gives the sun for a light by day,
The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night,
Who disturbs ethe sea,
And its waves roar
f(The Lord of hosts is His name):
36 “If gthose ordinances depart
From before Me, says the Lord,
Then the seed of Israel shall also cease
From being a nation before Me forever.”
h“If heaven above can be measured,
And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath,
I will also icast off all the seed of Israel
For all that they have done, says the Lord.
38 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that the city shall be built for the Lord—jfrom the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 kThe surveyor’s line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath. 40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, lto the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, mshall be holy to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.”
32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord—ain the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2 For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up bin the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house. 3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you cprophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: d“Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; 4 and Zedekiah king of Judah eshall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him 1face to face, and see him feye to eye; 5 then he shall glead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall be huntil I visit him,” says the Lord; i“though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed” ’?”
6 And Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 7 ‘Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you, saying, “Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the jright of redemption is yours to buy it.” ’ 8 Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. 9 So I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle who was in Anathoth, and kweighed out to him the money—seventeen shekels of silver. 10 And I signed the 2deed and sealed it, took witnesses, and weighed the money on the scales. 11 So I took the purchase deed, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open; 12 and I gave the purchase deed to lBaruch the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the mwitnesses who signed the purchase deed, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison.
13 “Then I charged nBaruch before them, saying, 14 ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days.” 15 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Houses and fields and vineyards shall be opossessed again in this land.” ’
Jeremiah Prays for Understanding
16 “Now when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: 17 ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, pYou have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. qThere is nothing too 3hard for You. 18 You show rlovingkindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them—the Great, sthe Mighty God, whose name is tthe Lord of hosts. 19 You are ugreat in counsel and mighty in 4work, for your veyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, wto give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. 20 You have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, to this day, and in Israel and among other men; and You have made Yourself xa name, as it is this day. 21 You yhave brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror; 22 You have given them this land, of which You swore to their fathers to give them—z“a land flowing with milk and honey.” 23 And they came in and took possession of it, but athey have not obeyed Your voice or walked in Your law. They have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have caused all this calamity to come upon them.
24 ‘Look, the siege mounds! They have come to the city to take it; and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of bthe sword and famine and pestilence. What You have spoken has happened; there You see it! 25 And You have said to me, O Lord God, “Buy the field for money, and take witnesses”!—yet the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ”
God’s Assurance of the People’s Return
26 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the cGod of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me? 28 Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it. 29 And the Chaldeans who fight against this city shall come and dset fire to this city and burn it, with the houses eon whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger; 30 because the children of Israel and the children of Judah fhave done only evil before Me from their youth. For the children of Israel have provoked Me only to anger with the work of their hands,’ says the Lord. 31 ‘For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My fury from the day that they built it, even to this day; gso I will remove it from before My face 32 because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger—hthey, their kings, their princes, their priests, itheir prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33 And they have turned to Me the jback, and not the face; though I taught them, krising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. 34 But they lset their abominations in 5the house which is called by My name, to defile it. 35 And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to mcause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to nMolech, owhich I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.’
36 “Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: 37 Behold, I will pgather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them qto dwell safely. 38 They shall be rMy people, and I will be their God; 39 then I will sgive them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. 40 And tI will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but uI will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. 41 Yes, vI will rejoice over them to do them good, and wI will 6assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.’
42 “For thus says the Lord: x‘Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. 43 And fields will be bought in this land yof which you say, “It is desolate, without man or beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” 44 Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them, and take witnesses, in zthe land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the 7lowland, and in the cities of the 8South; for aI will cause their captives to return,’ says the Lord.”
Excellence of the Restored Nation
33 Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still ashut up in the court of the prison, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord bwho made it, the Lord who formed it to establish it c(the 1Lord is His name): 3 d‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and 2mighty things, which you do not know.’
4 “For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been pulled down to fortify against ethe siege mounds and the sword: 5 ‘They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but only to ffill their places with the dead …