Jeremiah 31:3–20

³the Lord appeared to him^d from afar.

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 timbrels,

and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.

⁵Again you shall plant vineyards

upon the mountains of Samaria;

the planters shall plant,

and shall enjoy the fruit.

⁶For 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.’ ”

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,

‘The Lord has saved his people,

the remnant of Israel.’

⁸Behold, 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.

⁹With 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.’

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 be like a watered garden,

and they shall languish no more.

¹³Then 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.

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

and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,

says the Lord.”

¹⁵Thus 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.”

¹⁶Thus 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.

¹⁷There is hope for your future,

says the Lord,

and your children shall come back to their own country.

¹⁸I 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.

¹⁹For 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.’

²⁰Is 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.