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:
“Some of the people were not killed by the enemy’s sword.
Those people will find help in the desert.
I have come to give rest to Israel.”
3And from far away the Lord appeared to his people. He said,
“I love you people
with a love that will last forever.
I became your friend
because of my love and kindness.
4People of Israel, I will build you up again,
and you will be rebuilt.
You will pick up your tambourines again.
You will 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!
Save those who are left alive from the nation of Israel!’
8Look, I will bring Israel from the country in the north.
I will gather them from the faraway places on earth.
Some of the people are blind and crippled.
Some of the women will be pregnant and ready to give birth.
A great many people will come back.
9Those people will be crying as they come back.
But they will pray as I bring them back.
I will lead those people by streams of water.
I will lead them on an even road where they will not stumble.
This is because 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 together.
And he will watch over his people like a shepherd.’
11The Lord will bring the people of Jacob back.
The Lord will buy them back from people stronger than they were.
12The people of Israel will come to the high points of Jerusalem.
There they will 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 cows.
They will be like a garden that has plenty of water.
And the people of Israel will not be troubled anymore.
13Then young women of Israel will be happy and dance.
The young men and old men will also dance.
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 sound was heard in Ramah.
It was painful crying and much sadness.
Rachel cries for her children.
And she cannot 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 come back from their enemy’s land.
17So there is hope for you!” says the Lord.
“Your children will come back 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, and I will come back.
You truly are the Lord my God.
19Lord, I wandered away from you.
But I changed my heart and life.
Once I understood,
I beat my breast with sorrow.
I am ashamed and disgraced
because of the foolish things I did when I was young.’
20“You know that Israel is my dear son.
I love that child.
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 the signs that 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 will make something new happen in the land:
A woman will go seeking a man.”
23The Lord of heaven’s armies, 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 say: ‘May the Lord bless you. You are a righteous dwelling. You are a 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 days are coming when I will help the families of Israel and Judah to grow. I will help their children and animals to grow, too. It will be like planting and caring for a plant. 28In the past I watched over Israel and Judah, but I watched for the time to pull them up. I tore them down. I destroyed them. I brought disaster to them. 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 fathers have eaten sour grapes.
And that caused the children to grind their teeth from the sour taste.’
30But 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.
It will be with the people of Israel
and the people of Judah.
32It will not be like the agreement
I made with their ancestors.
That was 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“I will make this agreement
with the people of Israel,” says the Lord.
“I will put my teachings in their minds.
And I will 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.
This is 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.
I will not remember their sins anymore.”
The Lord Will Never Leave Israel
35This is what the Lord says:
“The Lord makes the sun shine in the day.
And he makes the moon and stars shine at night.
He stirs up the sea so that its waves crash on the shore.
The Lord of heaven’s armies is his name.
36“Only if these laws should ever fail,”
says the Lord,
“will Israel’s descendants stop
being a nation before me.”
37This is what the Lord says:
“There’s only one way I will reject all the descendants of Israel.
That is if people can measure the sky above.
It is if they can learn the secrets of the earth below.
Then I will reject them because of what they have done,” says the Lord.
The New Jerusalem
38The Lord says, “The days are coming when Jerusalem will be rebuilt for me. Everything from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate will be rebuilt. 39The measuring line will stretch from the Corner Gate straight to the hill of Gareb. Then it will turn to the place named Goah. 40There is the whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown. It will be holy to the Lord. And all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley will be included. They are 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: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Jeremiah 31
31
The Exiles Return
1At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people. # Ge 17:7–8; Jer 30:22
2Thus says the Lord:
The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness,
when I went to give Israel rest. # Nu 10:33; Dt 1:33
3The Lord has appeared to him from afar, saying:
Indeed, I have loved you with an everlasting love; # Mal 1:2
therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. # Hos 11:4
4Again I will build you # Jer 33:7
and you will be built, O virgin of Israel.
You will again be adorned with your tambourines
and shall go forth in the dances of those who make merry. # Jer 31:13
5You will yet plant vines
on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters will plant
and will enjoy them. # Dt 28:30; Am 9:14
6For there will be a day when the watchmen
on the hills of Ephraim will proclaim,
“Arise, and let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.” # Jer 50:4–5
7For thus says the Lord:
Sing with gladness for Jacob,
and shout among the chief of the nations;
proclaim, praise, and say,
“O Lord, save Your people, # Ps 14:7; 28:9
the remnant of Israel.”
8Behold, I will bring them from the north country,
and gather them from the remote parts of the earth, # Jer 23:8
and with them the blind and the lame, # Isa 42:16
the woman with child and her who is in labor with child, together;
a great company will return here.
9They will come with weeping,
and with supplications I will lead them.
I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters,
in a straight way in which they shall not stumble. # Isa 63:13
For I am a Father to Israel, # Jer 3:4
and Ephraim is My firstborn. # Ex 4:22
10Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands far off, # Isa 66:19 and say,
“He who scattered Israel will gather him
and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.” # Isa 40:11; Eze 34:12
11For the Lord has redeemed Jacob # Isa 44:23; 48:20
and ransomed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.
12Therefore they will come and sing in the height of Zion,
and will be joyful over the goodness of the Lord,
for wheat and for wine and for oil
and for the young of the flock and of the herd;
and their souls will be as a watered garden. # Isa 58:11
And they will not sorrow any more at all. # Isa 35:10; 65:19
13Then the virgin shall rejoice in the dance,
both young men and old together;
for I will turn their mourning into joy, # Ps 30:11; Isa 51:11
and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
14I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance, # Jer 31:25
and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness,
says the Lord.
15Thus says the Lord:
A voice is heard in Ramah, # Jos 18:25
lamentation and bitter weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children,
refusing to be comforted for her children, # Ge 37:35
because they are no more.
16Thus says the Lord:
Keep your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears;
for your work shall be rewarded, # Ru 2:12
says the Lord,
and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. # Jer 30:3
17There is hope for your future,
says the Lord,
that your children will come back to their own border.
18I have surely heard Ephraim pleading:
“You have chastised me, # Job 5:17
and I was chastised, as an untrained calf;
turn me back and I will be turned, # Ps 80:3
for you are the Lord my God.
19Surely after I turned back,
I repented;
and after I was instructed,
I struck myself on my thigh; # Eze 21:12
I was ashamed and even humiliated # Eze 36:31
because I bore the reproach of my youth.” # Jer 3:25
20Is Ephraim My dear son?
Is he a pleasant child?
For since I spoke against him,
I still remember him;
therefore My heart longs for him.
I will surely have mercy on him, # Isa 55:7; 63:15
says the Lord.
21Set up road marks,
place guideposts.
Set your heart toward the highway, # Jer 50:5
even the way by which you went.
Turn back, O virgin of Israel,
turn back to these your cities.
22How long will you go about, # Jer 2:23
O faithless daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth:
A woman shall obtain a man.
23Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Once again they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities when I restore their fortunes: “May the Lord bless you, O habitation of righteousness and mountain of holiness!” # Isa 1:26; Jer 50:7; Zec 8:3 24And Judah and all its cities will dwell there, # Eze 36:10; Zec 8:4–8 the farmer and those who go out with the flocks. 25For I satiate the weary souls and I replenish every languishing soul. # Jer 31:14; Jn 4:14
26Upon this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was sweet to me.
27Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will sow # Eze 36:9; Hos 2:23 the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast. 28It shall come to pass that as I have watched over them # Jer 44:27 to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them, to build, and to plant, # Jer 1:10 says the Lord. 29In those days they will say no more:
“The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” # La 5:7; Eze 18:2–3
30But everyone will die for his own iniquity. # Isa 3:11; Eze 18:4 Every man that eats the sour grape, his teeth will be set on edge.
A New Covenant
31Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant # Jer 32:40; Lk 22:20
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
32It will not be according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers # Dt 5:3
in the day that I took them by the hand # Dt 1:31
to bring them out of the land of Egypt,
because they broke My covenant,
although I was a husband to them,
says the Lord.
33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put My law within them
and write it in their hearts; # 2Co 3:3; Heb 10:16
and I will be their God,
and they shall be My people.
34They shall teach no more every man his neighbor
and every man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,”
for they all shall know Me, # Isa 54:13
from the least of them to the greatest of them,
says the Lord,
for I will forgive their iniquity, # Jer 33:8
and I will remember their sin no more.
35Thus says the Lord,
who gives the sun
for a light by day
and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars
for a light by night,
who stirs up the sea
so that the waves roar,
the Lord of Hosts is His name: # Isa 51:15; Jer 10:16
36If those ordinances depart from before Me,
says the Lord,
then the seed of Israel also will cease
from being a nation before Me forever. # Isa 54:9–10; Jer 33:20–26
37Thus says the Lord:
If heaven above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, # Jer 33:22
I will also cast off all the seed of Israel # Jer 33:24–26
for all that they have done,
says the Lord.
38Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the city will be built to the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. # 2Ki 14:13; Zec 14:10 39The measuring line # Zec 2:1–2 shall stretch out straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. 40The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the Kidron Valley, # 2Sa 15:23 to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, will be holy to the Lord. # Joel 3:17 It will not be plucked up nor thrown down any more forever.
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The Holy Bible, Modern English Version
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