Jeremiah 31:3–20

³From afar Jehovah hath appeared to me, With love age-during I have loved thee, Therefore I have drawn thee with kindness. ⁴Again do I build thee, And thou hast been built, O virgin of Israel, Again thou puttest on thy tabrets, And hast gone out in the chorus of the playful. ⁵Again thou dost plant vineyards In mountains of Samaria, Planters have planted, and made common. ⁶For there is a day, Cried have watchmen on mount Ephraim, ‘Rise, and we go up to Zion, unto Jehovah our God; ⁷For thus said Jehovah: Sing, O ye to Jacob, with joy, And cry aloud at the head of the nations, Sound ye, praise ye, and say, Save, O Jehovah, thy people, the remnant of Israel. ⁸Lo, I am bringing them in from the north country, And have gathered them from the sides of the earth, Among them are blind and lame, Conceiving and travailing one—together, A great assembly—they turn back hither. ⁹With weeping they come in, And with supplications I bring them, I cause them to go unto streams of waters, In a right way—they stumble not in it, For I have been to Israel for a father, And Ephraim—My first-born is he.

¹⁰Hear a word of Jehovah, O nations, And declare ye among isles afar off, and say: He who is scattering Israel doth gather him, And hath kept him as a shepherd doth his flock, ¹¹For Jehovah hath ransomed Jacob, And redeemed him from a hand stronger than he. ¹²And they have come in, And have sung in the high place of Zion, And flowed unto the goodness of Jehovah, For wheat, and for new wine, and for oil, And for the young of the flock and herd, And their soul hath been as a watered garden, And they add not to grieve any more. ¹³Then rejoice doth a virgin in a chorus, Both young men and old men—together, And I have turned their mourning to joy, And have comforted them, And gladdened them above their sorrow, ¹⁴And satisfied the soul of the priests with fatness, And My people with My goodness are satisfied, An affirmation of Jehovah. ¹⁵Thus said Jehovah, A voice in Ramah is heard, wailing, weeping most bitter, Rachel is weeping for her sons, She hath refused to be comforted for her sons, because they are not. ¹⁶Thus said Jehovah: Withhold thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears, For there is a reward for thy work, An affirmation of Jehovah, And they have turned back from the land of the enemy. ¹⁷And there is hope for thy latter end, An affirmation of Jehovah, And the sons have turned back to their border.

¹⁸I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, ‘Thou hast chastised me, And I am chastised, as a heifer not taught, Turn me back, and I turn back, For thou art Jehovah my God. ¹⁹For after my turning back I repented, And after my being instructed I struck on the thigh, I have been ashamed, I have also blushed, For I have borne the reproach of my youth. ²⁰A precious son is Ephraim to Me? A child of delights? For since My speaking against him, I do thoroughly remember him still, Therefore have My bowels been moved for him, I do greatly love him, An affirmation of Jehovah.