1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. 3 For behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to the land which I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.”

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

5 “Thus says the Lord:

We have heard a cry of panic,

of terror, and no peace.

6 Ask now, and see,

can a man bear a child?

Why then do I see every man

with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor?

Why has every face turned pale?

7 Alas! that day is so great

there is none like it;

it is a time of distress for Jacob;

yet he shall be saved out of it.

8 “And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will break the yoke from off theirb neck, and I will burst theirb bonds, and strangers shall no more make servants of them.c 9 But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

10 “Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, says the Lord,

nor be dismayed, O Israel;

for lo, I will save you from afar,

and your offspring from the land of their captivity.

Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,

and none shall make him afraid.

11 For I am with you to save you,

says the Lord;

I will make a full end of all the nations

among whom I scattered you,

but of you I will not make a full end.

I will chasten you in just measure,

and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

12 “For thus says the Lord:

Your hurt is incurable,

and your wound is grievous.

13 There is none to uphold your cause,

no medicine for your wound,

no healing for you.

14 All your lovers have forgotten you;

they care nothing for you;

for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy,

the punishment of a merciless foe,

because your guilt is great,

because your sins are flagrant.

15 Why do you cry out over your hurt?

Your pain is incurable.

Because your guilt is great,

because your sins are flagrant,

I have done these things to you.

16 Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured,

and all your foes, every one of them, shall go into captivity;

those who despoil you shall become a spoil,

and all who prey on you I will make a prey.

17 For I will restore health to you,

and your wounds I will heal,

says the Lord,

because they have called you an outcast:

‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’

18 “Thus says the Lord:

Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob,

and have compassion on his dwellings;

the city shall be rebuilt upon its mound,

and the palace shall stand where it used to be.

19 Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving,

and the voices of those who make merry.

I will multiply them, and they shall not be few;

I will make them honored, and they shall not be small.

20 Their children shall be as they were of old,

and their congregation shall be established before me;

and I will punish all who oppress them.

21 Their prince shall be one of themselves,

their ruler shall come forth from their midst;

I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me,

for who would dare of himself to approach me?

says the Lord.

22 And you shall be my people,

and I will be your God.”

23 Behold the storm of the Lord!

Wrath has gone forth,

a whirling tempest;

it will burst upon the head of the wicked.

24 The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back

until he has executed and accomplished

the intents of his mind.

In the latter days you will understand this.

Chapter 31

1 “At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.”

2 Thus says the Lord:

“The people who survived the sword

found grace in the wilderness;

when Israel sought for rest,

3 the Lord appeared to himd from afar.

I have loved you with an everlasting love;

therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

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

O virgin Israel!

Again you shall adorn yourself with timbrels,

and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.

5 Again you shall plant vineyards

upon the mountains of Samaria;

the planters shall plant,

and shall enjoy the fruit.

6 For there shall be a day when watchmen will call

in the hill country of Ephraim:

‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,

to the Lord our God.’ ”

7 For thus says the Lord:

“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,

and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;

proclaim, give praise, and say,

‘The Lord has saved his people,

the remnant of Israel.’

8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country,

and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,

among them the blind and the lame,

the woman with child and her who is in travail, together;

a great company, they shall return here.

9 With weeping they shall come,

and with consolations* I will lead them back,

I will make them walk by brooks of water,

in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;

for I am a father to Israel,

and Ephraim is my first-born.

10 “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,

and declare it in the coastlands afar off;

say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,

and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’

11 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob,

and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.

12 They 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 be like a watered garden,

and they shall languish no more.

13 Then shall the maidens rejoice in the dance,

and the young men and the old shall be merry.

I will turn their mourning into joy,

I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.

14 I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance,

and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,

says the Lord.”

15 Thus says the Lord:

“A voice is heard in Ramah,

lamentation and bitter weeping.

Rachel is weeping for her children;

she refuses to be comforted for her children,

because they are not.”

16 Thus says the Lord:

“Keep your voice from weeping,

and your eyes from tears;

for your work shall be rewarded,

says the Lord,

and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.

17 There is hope for your future,

says the Lord,

and your children shall come back to their own country.

18 I have heard Ephraim bemoaning,

‘Thou hast chastened me, and I was chastened,

like an untrained calf;

bring me back that I may be restored,

for thou art the Lord my God.

19 For after I had turned away I repented;

and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh;

I was ashamed, and I was confounded,

because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

20 Is Ephraim my dear son?

Is he my darling child?

For as often as I speak against him,

I do remember him still.

Therefore my heart yearns for him;

I will surely have mercy on him,

says the Lord.

21 “Set up waymarks for yourself,

make yourself guideposts;

consider well the highway,

the road by which you went.

Return, O virgin Israel,

return to these your cities.

22 How long will you waver,

O faithless daughter?

For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:

a woman protects a man.”

23 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes:

‘The Lord bless you, O habitation of righteousness,

O holy hill!’

24 And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and the farmers and those who wander* with their flocks. 25 For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

26 Thereupon I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.

27 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. 28 And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. 29 In those days they shall no longer say:

‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,

and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

30 But every one shall die for his own sin; each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

35 Thus says the Lord,

who gives the sun for light by day

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

who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—

the Lord of hosts is his name:

36 “If this fixed order departs

from before me, says the Lord,

then shall the descendants of Israel cease

from being a nation before me for ever.”

37 Thus says the Lord:

“If the heavens above can be measured,

and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,

then I will cast off all the descendants of Israel

for all that they have done,

says the Lord.”

38 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. 40 The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the …