Jeremiah 31:1–14

The Joyful Return of the Exiles

³¹At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.^*

²Thus says the Lord:

The people who survived the sword

found grace in the wilderness;

when Israel sought for rest,^*

³the Lord appeared to him^l from far away.^m

I have loved you with an everlasting love;

therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.^*

⁴Again I will build you, and you shall be built,

O virgin Israel!

Again you shall adorn yourself with your tambourines

and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.^*

⁵Again you shall plant vineyards

on the mountains of Samaria;

the planters shall plant

and shall enjoy the fruit.^*

⁶For there shall be a day when sentinels will call

in the hill country of Ephraim:

“Come, let us go up to Zion,

to the Lord our God.”^*

⁷For thus says the Lord:

Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,

and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;

proclaim, give praise, and say,

“Save, O Lord, your people,

the remnant of Israel.”^*

⁸See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north

and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,

among them the blind and the lame,

those with child and those in labor together;

a great company, they shall return here.^*

⁹With weeping they shall come,

and with consolationsⁿ I will lead them back;

I will let them walk by brooks of water,

in a straight path where they shall not stumble,

for I have become a father to Israel,

and Ephraim is my firstborn.^*

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,

and declare it in the coastlands far away;

say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him

and will keep him as a shepherd does a flock.”^*

¹¹For the Lord has ransomed Jacob

and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.^*

¹²They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,

and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,

over the grain, the wine, and the oil,

and over the young of the flock and the herd;

their life shall become like a watered garden,

and they shall never languish again.^*

¹³Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,

and the young men and the old shall be merry.^o

I will turn their mourning into joy;

I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow.^*

¹⁴I will give the priests their fill of fatness,

and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty,

says the Lord.^*