Jeremiah 31
31
The New Israel
1The Lord says, “At that time I will be God of all Israel’s family groups, and they will be my people.”
2This is what the Lord says:
“The people who were not killed by the enemy’s sword
found help in the desert.
I came to give rest to Israel.”
3And from far away the Lord appeared to his people and said,
“I love you people
with a love that will last forever.
That is why I have continued
showing you kindness.
4People of Israel, I will build you up again,
and you will be rebuilt.
You will pick up your tambourines again
and dance with those who are joyful.
5You will plant vineyards again
on the hills around Samaria.
The farmers will plant them
and enjoy their fruit.
6There will be a time when watchmen in the mountains of Ephraim shout this message:
‘Come, let’s go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord our God!’ ”
7This is what the Lord says:
“Be happy and sing for the people of Jacob.
Shout for Israel, the greatest of the nations.
Sing your praises and shout this:
‘Lord, save your people,
those who are left alive from the nation of Israel!’
8Look, I will soon bring Israel from the country in the north,
and I will gather them from the faraway places on earth.
Some of the people are blind and crippled.
Some of the women are pregnant, and some are ready to give birth.
A great many people will come back.
9They will be crying as they come,
but they will pray as I bring them back.
I will lead those people by streams of water
on an even road where they will not stumble.
I am Israel’s father,
and Israel is my firstborn son.
10“Nations, listen to the message from the Lord.
Tell this message in the faraway lands by the sea:
‘The one who scattered the people of Israel will bring them back,
and he will watch over his people like a shepherd.’
11The Lord will pay for the people of Jacob
and will buy them back from people stronger than they were.
12The people of Israel will come to the high points of Jerusalem
and shout for joy.
Their faces will shine with happiness about all the good things from the Lord:
the grain, new wine, oil, young sheep, and young cows.
They will be like a garden that has plenty of water,
and they will not be troubled anymore.
13Then young women of Israel will be happy and dance,
the young men and old men also.
I will change their sadness into happiness;
I will give them comfort and joy instead of sadness.
14The priests will have more than enough sacrifices,
and my people will be filled with the good things I give them!” says the Lord.
15This is what the Lord says:
“A voice was heard in Ramah
of painful crying and deep sadness:
Rachel crying for her children.
She refused to be comforted,
because her children are dead!”
16But this is what the Lord says:
“Stop crying;
don’t let your eyes fill with tears.
You will be rewarded for your work!” says the Lord.
“The people will return from their enemy’s land.
17So there is hope for you in the future,” says the Lord.
“Your children will return to their own land.
18“I have heard Israel moaning:
‘Lord, you punished me, and I have learned my lesson.
I was like a calf that had never been trained.
Take me back so that I may come back.
You truly are the Lord my God.
19Lord, after I wandered away from you,
I changed my heart and life.
After I understood,
I beat my breast with sorrow.
I was ashamed and disgraced,
because I suffered for the foolish things I did when I was young.’
20“You know that Israel is my dear son,
The child I love.
Yes, I often speak against Israel,
but I still remember him.
I love him very much,
and I want to comfort him,” says the Lord.
21“People of Israel, fix the road signs.
Put up signs to show you the way home.
Watch the road.
Pay attention to the road on which you travel.
People of Israel, come home,
come back to your towns.
22You are an unfaithful daughter.
How long will you wander before you come home?
The Lord has made something new happen in the land:
A woman will go seeking a man.”
23The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: “I will again do good things for the people of Judah. At that time the people in the land of Judah and its towns will again use these words: ‘May the Lord bless you, home of what is good, holy mountain.’ 24People in all the towns of Judah will live together in peace. Farmers and those who move around with their flocks will live together in peace. 25I will give rest and strength to those who are weak and tired.”
26After hearing that, I, Jeremiah, woke up and looked around. My sleep had been very pleasant.
27The Lord says, “The time is coming when I will help the families of Israel and Judah and their children and animals to grow. 28In the past I watched over Israel and Judah, to pull them up and tear them down, to destroy them and bring them disaster. But now I will watch over them to build them up and make them strong,” says the Lord.
29“At that time people will no longer say:
‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,
and that caused the children to grind their teeth from the sour taste.’
30Instead, each person will die for his own sin; the person who eats sour grapes will grind his own teeth.
The New Agreement
31“Look, the time is coming,” says the Lord,
“when I will make a new agreement
with the people of Israel
and the people of Judah.
32It will not be like the agreement
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to bring them out of Egypt.
I was a husband to them,
but they broke that agreement,” says the Lord.
33“This is the agreement I will make
with the people of Israel at that time,” says the Lord:
“I will put my teachings in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34People will no longer have to teach their neighbors and relatives
to know the Lord,
because all people will know me,
from the least to the most important,” says the Lord.
“I will forgive them for the wicked things they did,
and I will not remember their sins anymore.”
The Lord Will Never Leave Israel
35The Lord makes the sun shine in the day
and the moon and stars to shine at night.
He stirs up the sea so that its waves crash on the shore.
The Lord All-Powerful is his name.
This is what the Lord says:
36“Only if these laws should ever fail,”
says the Lord,
“will Israel’s descendants ever stop
being a nation before me.”
37This is what the Lord says:
“Only if people can measure the sky above
and learn the secrets of the earth below,
will I reject all the descendants of Israel
because of what they have done,” says the Lord.
The New Jerusalem
38The Lord says, “The time is coming when Jerusalem will be rebuilt for me—everything from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39The measuring line will stretch from the Corner Gate straight to the hill of Gareb. Then it will turn to the place named Goah. 40The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate—all that area will be holy to the Lord. The city of Jerusalem will never again be torn down or destroyed.”
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Jeremiah 31: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Jeremias (Jeremiah) 31
31
1At that time, saith the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel: and they shall be my people.
2Thus saith the Lord: The people that were left and escaped from the sword found grace in the desert: Israel shall go to his rest.
3The Lord hath appeared from afar to me. Yea, I have loved thee with everlasting love: therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on thee.
4And I will build thee again, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel. Thou shalt again be adorned with thy timbrels and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
5Thou shalt yet plant vineyards in the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and they shall not gather the vintage before the time.
6For there shall be a day, in which the watchmen on mount Ephraim shall cry: Arise, and let us go up to Sion to the Lord our God.
7For thus saith the Lord: Rejoice ye in the joy of Jacob and neigh before the head of the Gentiles. Shout ye and sing, and say: Save, O Lord, thy people, the remnant of Israel.
8Behold, I will bring them from the north country and will gather them from the ends of the earth: and among them shall be the blind and the lame, the woman with child and she that is bringing forth, together, a great company of them returning hither.
9They shall come with weeping: and I will bring them back in mercy. And I will bring them through the torrents of waters in a right way: and they shall not stumble in it. For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
10Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the islands that are afar off, and say: He that scattered Israel will gather him: and he will keep him as the shepherd doth his flock.
11For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and delivered him out of the hand of one that was mightier than he.
12And they shall come and shall give praise in mount Sion: and they shall flow together to the good things of the Lord, for the corn and wine and oil and the increase of cattle and herds. And their soul shall be as a watered garden: and they shall be hungry no more.
13Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, the young men and old men together: and I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and make them joyful after their sorrow.
14And I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness: and my people shall be filled with my good things, saith the Lord.
15Thus saith the Lord: A voice was heard on high of lamentation, of mourning and weeping, of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted for them, because they are not.
16Thus saith the Lord: Let thy voice cease from weeping and thy eyes from tears, for there is a reward for thy work, saith the Lord: and they shall return out of the land of the enemy.
17And here is hope for thy last end, saith the Lord: and the children shall return to their own borders.
18Hearing, I heard Ephraim when he went into captivity. Thou hast chastised me: and I was instructed, as a young bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Convert me, and I shall be converted: for thou art the Lord my God.
19For after thou didst convert me, I did penance: and after thou didst show unto me, I struck my thigh. I am confounded and ashamed, because I have borne the reproach of my youth.
20Surely Ephraim is an honourable son to me, surely he is a tender child: for since I spoke of him, I will still remember him. Therefore are my bowels troubled for him: pitying, I will pity him, saith the Lord.
21Set thee up a watch-tower: make to thee bitterness direct thy heart into the right way wherein thou hast walked. Return, O virgin of Israel, return to these thy cities.
22How long wilt thou be dissolute in deliciousness, O wandering daughter? For the Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth: A WOMAN SHALL COMPASS A MAN.
23Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: As yet shall they say this word in the land of Juda and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring back their captivity: The Lord bless thee, the beauty of justice, the holy mountain.
24And Juda and all his cities shall dwell therein together: the husbandmen and they that drive the flocks.
25For I have inebriated the weary soul: and I have filled every hungry soul.
26Upon this I was as it were awaked out of a sleep, and I saw, and my sleep was sweet to me.
27Behold, the days come, saith the Lord: and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Juda with the seed of men, and with the seed of beasts.
28And as I have watched over them, to pluck up and to throw down and to scatter and destroy and afflict: so will I watch over them, to build up and to plant them, saith the Lord.
29In those days they shall say no more: The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.
30But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that shall eat the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
31Behold, the days shall come, saith the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Juda:
32Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt: the covenant which they made void, and I had dominion over them, saith the Lord.
33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: I will give my law in their bowels and I will write it in their heart: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying: Know the Lord. For all shall know me from the least of them even to the greatest, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.
35Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for the light of the day, the order of the moon and of the stars for the light of the night: who stirreth up the sea, and the waves thereof roar. The Lord of hosts is his name.
36If these ordinances shall fail before me, saith the Lord: then also the seed of Israel shall fail, so as not to be a nation before me for ever.
37Thus saith the Lord: If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I also will cast away all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.
38Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hanameel even to the gate of the corner.
39And the measuring line shall go out farther in his sight upon the hill Gareb: and it shall compass Goatha,
40And the whole valley of dead bodies and of ashes, and all the country of death, even to the torrent Cedron and the corner of the horse-gate towards the east, the Holy of the Lord. It shall not be plucked up and it shall not be destroyed any more for ever.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.