Jeremiah 31
31
Hope for Restoration
1“In that day,” says the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people. 2This is what the Lord says:
“Those who survive the coming destruction
will find blessings even in the barren land,
for I will give rest to the people of Israel.”
3Long ago the Lord said to Israel:
“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.
With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.
4I will rebuild you, my virgin Israel.
You will again be happy
and dance merrily with your tambourines.
5Again you will plant your vineyards on the mountains of Samaria
and eat from your own gardens there.
6The day will come when watchmen will shout
from the hill country of Ephraim,
‘Come, let us go up to Jerusalem#31:6 Hebrew Zion; also in 31:12.
to worship the Lord our God.’”
7Now this is what the Lord says:
“Sing with joy for Israel.#31:7 Hebrew Jacob; also in 31:11. See note on 5:20.
Shout for the greatest of nations!
Shout out with praise and joy:
‘Save your people, O Lord,
the remnant of Israel!’
8For I will bring them from the north
and from the distant corners of the earth.
I will not forget the blind and lame,
the expectant mothers and women in labor.
A great company will return!
9Tears of joy will stream down their faces,
and I will lead them home with great care.
They will walk beside quiet streams
and on smooth paths where they will not stumble.
For I am Israel’s father,
and Ephraim is my oldest child.
10“Listen to this message from the Lord,
you nations of the world;
proclaim it in distant coastlands:
The Lord, who scattered his people,
will gather them and watch over them
as a shepherd does his flock.
11For the Lord has redeemed Israel
from those too strong for them.
12They will come home and sing songs of joy on the heights of Jerusalem.
They will be radiant because of the Lord’s good gifts—
the abundant crops of grain, new wine, and olive oil,
and the healthy flocks and herds.
Their life will be like a watered garden,
and all their sorrows will be gone.
13The young women will dance for joy,
and the men—old and young—will join in the celebration.
I will turn their mourning into joy.
I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing.
14The priests will enjoy abundance,
and my people will feast on my good gifts.
I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Rachel’s Sadness Turns to Joy
15This is what the Lord says:
“A cry is heard in Ramah—
deep anguish and bitter weeping.
Rachel weeps for her children,
refusing to be comforted—
for her children are gone.”
16But now this is what the Lord says:
“Do not weep any longer,
for I will reward you,” says the Lord.
“Your children will come back to you
from the distant land of the enemy.
17There is hope for your future,” says the Lord.
“Your children will come again to their own land.
18I have heard Israel#31:18 Hebrew Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel; also in 31:20. saying,
‘You disciplined me severely,
like a calf that needs training for the yoke.
Turn me again to you and restore me,
for you alone are the Lord my God.
19I turned away from God,
but then I was sorry.
I kicked myself for my stupidity!
I was thoroughly ashamed of all I did in my younger days.’
20“Is not Israel still my son,
my darling child?” says the Lord.
“I often have to punish him,
but I still love him.
That’s why I long for him
and surely will have mercy on him.
21Set up road signs;
put up guideposts.
Mark well the path
by which you came.
Come back again, my virgin Israel;
return to your towns here.
22How long will you wander,
my wayward daughter?
For the Lord will cause something new to happen—
Israel will embrace her God.#31:22 Hebrew a woman will surround a man.”
23This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “When I bring them back from captivity, the people of Judah and its towns will again say, ‘The Lord bless you, O righteous home, O holy mountain!’ 24Townspeople and farmers and shepherds alike will live together in peace and happiness. 25For I have given rest to the weary and joy to the sorrowing.”
26At this, I woke up and looked around. My sleep had been very sweet.
27“The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will greatly increase the human population and the number of animals here in Israel and Judah. 28In the past I deliberately uprooted and tore down this nation. I overthrew it, destroyed it, and brought disaster upon it. But in the future I will just as deliberately plant it and build it up. I, the Lord, have spoken!
29“The people will no longer quote this proverb:
‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,
but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste.’
30All people will die for their own sins—those who eat the sour grapes will be the ones whose mouths will pucker.
31“The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord.
33“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”
35It is the Lord who provides the sun to light the day
and the moon and stars to light the night,
and who stirs the sea into roaring waves.
His name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
and this is what he says:
36“I am as likely to reject my people Israel
as I am to abolish the laws of nature!”
37This is what the Lord says:
“Just as the heavens cannot be measured
and the foundations of the earth cannot be explored,
so I will not consider casting them away
for the evil they have done.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
38“The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when all Jerusalem will be rebuilt for me, from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39A measuring line will be stretched out over the hill of Gareb and across to Goah. 40And the entire area—including the graveyard and ash dump in the valley, and all the fields out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the Horse Gate—will be holy to the Lord. The city will never again be captured or destroyed.”
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Jeremiah 31: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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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.