Jeremiah 31
31
1At that time, I will be the God of all Israel's families, and they will be my people, declares the Lord. 2This is what the Lord says: The Israelites who survive death by the sword were blessed by the Lord in the desert as they looked for peace and quiet.
3Long ago the Lord came and told us, My love for you will last forever. I hold you close to me with my trustworthy love. 4I'm going to rebuild you, and it will happen. You will be rebuilt, Virgin Israel. You will pick up your tambourines again and run outside to dance with joy. 5You will replant vineyards on Samaria's hills; those who plant will enjoy the grapes.
6A day is coming when watchmen will call out from the hills of Ephraim, “Come on, let's go up to Zion, to worship the Lord our God!”
7This is what the Lord says: Sing happily for the descendants of Jacob; shout for the greatest of all nations! Let everybody know! Praise and call out, “Lord, save your people, those who are left of Israel!”
8Watch, because I will bring them back from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Everyone will return, even the blind and the lame, pregnant women, even mothers giving birth—a great gathering coming home, 9They will come back with tears in their eyes, and they will be praying as I take them home. I will lead them beside streams of waters, on level paths where they won't stumble. For I am Israel's Father; Ephraim#31:9. Ephraim was not literally the firstborn but is used as a wider description for Israel. More than birth order, firstborn refers more to the rights and privileges relating to this status. is my firstborn.
10Listen, nations, to what the Lord has to say, and let others know about in faraway countries: The Lord who scattered Israel will gather them together and keep them safe, just like a shepherd looks after his flock. 11The Lord has redeemed the descendants of Jacob and rescued them from their enemies who had defeated them. 12They will return and celebrate with happy shouts on Mount Zion; their faces will beam over the Lord's wonderful gifts—the grain, new wine, and olive oil, and the young of their flocks and herds. Their life will be like a well-watered garden; and they won't ever be depressed again. 13The girls will dance in celebration; young men and old people will join in too. I will turn their sorrow into joy, and I will comfort them and change their sadness into happiness. 14I will give my priests everything they need and more, and my people will be more than satisfied with my goodness towards them, declares the Lord.
15This is what the Lord says: The sound of terrible weeping and mourning is heard in Ramah. It's Rachel crying for her children. They are dead, and she can't be comforted 16This is what the Lord says: Don't cry anymore, don't weep anymore, because you're going to be rewarded for what you've done, declares the Lord. Your children will return from the country of your enemies. 17So you can have hope for the future, declares the Lord. Your children will return to their own country.
18Don't worry, I've heard Ephraim's groans, saying, “You disciplined me really hard as if I was a calf that hadn't been trained. Please bring me back, let me return, for you are the Lord my God. 19When I came back to you I was sorry, and once I understood, I held my head in sadness.#31:19. “I held my head in sadness”: literally, “I struck my thigh.” I was ashamed and I blushed, embarrassed at what I'd done when I was young.”
20But isn't Ephraim still my precious son, my lovely child? Even though I often have to scold him, I can't forget him. So I'm torn inside with longing, wanting to show how much I care about him! declares the Lord.
21Put up markers on the road; make signposts for yourselves. You need to be sure you can find the highway, the road you traveled on. Come back, Virgin Israel, come back to your towns. 22How long are you going to waver in your decision, you unfaithful daughter? For the Lord has made something new happen here: a woman is going to protect a man.
23This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: When I bring them back home from exile, they will say again in the land of Judah and in its towns: “May the Lord bless you, holy mountain of Jerusalem, home of what is good and right. 24The people of Judah and all its towns will live together in the land, the farmers and those who move around with their flocks, 25because I'm going to give rest to those who are tired and give strength to all those who are weak.”
26At this I woke up and looked around. I'd had a very pleasant sleep.#31:26. It is unclear how this verse fits into the whole narrative. Some see it as Jeremiah's comment, others the reactions of those just mentioned.
27Look! The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make the numbers of people and livestock grow in Israel and Judah. 28I took care of them by uprooting them and tearing them down, by wiping them out and destroying them and bringing them disaster. Now I will take care of them by building them up and helping them grow, declares the Lord.
29At that time people won't repeat this proverb, “The fathers ate the unripe grapes, but their children got the sour taste.” 30No. Each person will die because of their own sins. If anyone eats unripe grapes, they will get the sour taste themselves.
31Look! The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and Judah. 32It won't be like the agreement that I made with their forefathers when I held their hands and led them out of Egypt. They broke that agreement, even though I was faithful like a husband to them, declares the Lord.
33But this is the agreement I'm going to make with the people of Israel at that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws inside them and write them in their minds. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34No one will need to teach a neighbor or their brother, telling them, “You ought to know the Lord.” For everyone will know me, from the smallest to the greatest. I will forgive them when they do wrong, and I will forget about their sins.
35This is what the Lord says, who provides the sun to give light during the day, who places in order the moon and stars to give light at night, who makes the sea rough so that its waves roar; his name is the Lord Almighty:
36Only if these natural laws disappeared before my eyes would Israel's descendants stop being my people, declares the Lord. 37This is what the Lord says: Only if the heavens above could be measured, and the foundations of the earth below could be investigated, would I reject all of Israel's descendants because of everything they've done, declares the Lord.
38The time is coming, declares the Lord, when this city will be rebuilt for the Lord, all the way from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39The builder's measuring line will again stretch out directly to Gareb Hill and then turn toward Goah. 40The entire valley, where the dead are buried and the trash is dumped, and all the fields from the Kidron Valley as far as the Horse Gate to the east, will be holy to the Lord. Jerusalem will never again be torn down or destroyed.
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Jeremiah 31: FBV
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Yirmeyah 31
31
1 At the same time, saith Hashem, I will be Elohim l'khol mishpekhot Yisroel, and they shall be My people.
2 Thus saith Hashem, The Am seridei cherev (the People that survived the cherev)#31:2 as a Remnant found chen (grace) in the midbar; even Yisroel, when Yisroel journeyed to find [a place of] rest.
3 Hashem hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yes, I have loved thee with an ahavat olam; therefore with chesed have I drawn thee.
4 Again I will build thee up, and thou shalt be rebuilt, O Betulat Yisroel; thou shalt again adorn thyself with thy timbrels, and shalt go forth in the dance of merrymakers.
5 Thou shalt yet plant keramim upon the hills of Shomron; the planters shall plant, and shall put the fruit to ordinary use.#31:5 See Lv 19:24-25
6 For there shall be a yom, that the notzrim (watchmen) upon har Ephrayim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Tziyon unto Hashem Eloheinu.
7 For thus saith Hashem; Sing with simcha for Ya'akov, and shout among the Rosh HaGoyim; publish ye, hallelu (praise ye), and say, Hashem, save Thy people, the She'erit Yisroel (the Remnant of Israel).
8 Hineni, I will bring them from the eretz tzafon (land of the north), and gather them from the ends of ha'aretz, and with them the ivver (blind) and the pise'ach (lame), the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together; a Kahal Gadol shall return here.
9 They shall come with weeping, and with techinnunim will I lead them back; I will cause them to walk by the nachalei mayim (streams of water) in a derech yashar (straight road), wherein they shall not stumble; for I am an Av to Yisroel, and Ephrayim is My bechor.
10 Hear the Devar Hashem, O ye Goyim, and preach it in the farthest shores, and say, He that scattered Yisroel will gather Yisroel, and He shall be shomer over Yisroel, like a Ro'eh over the Eder thereof.
11 For Hashem hath redeemed Ya'akov, and made Geulah (Redemption) for Ya'akov out of the yad of him that was chazak more than Ya'akov.
12 Therefore they shall come and loudly, joyously sing on the height of Tziyon, and shall stream to the Tuv Hashem (Bounty, Goodness of Hashem), for dagan (grain), and for tirosh (new wine) and for yitzhar (pure olive oil) and for the young of the tzon and of the herd; and their nefesh shall be like a well-watered gan (garden); and they shall not sorrow any more at all.
13 Then shall the betulah rejoice in the machol (dance), both bocherim (young men) and zekenim together; for I will turn their evel (mourning) into sasson (joy), and will comfort them, and make them have simcha from their sorrow.
14 And I will satisfy the nefesh of the Kohanim with deshen (fatness, abundance) and My people shall be sated with My Tuv (Bounty, Goodness), saith Hashem.
15 Thus saith Hashem; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel, weeping for her banim, refused to be comforted for her banim, because they were no more.#31:15 See Mt 2:18
16 Thus saith Hashem; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for sachar (reward) there will be for thy labor, saith Hashem; and they shall return from the eretz oyev (land of the enemy).
17 And there is tikveh (hope) in thine acharit (future, latter end), saith Hashem, that thy banim shall return to their own border.
18 I have surely heard Ephrayim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, like an unbroken egel; turn Thou me, and I shall be turned; for Thou art Hashem Elohai.
19 Surely after I turned away, I made teshuva; and after I was instructed, I beat upon my yarech (thigh); I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, because nasati cherpat neurai (I did bear, carry the reproach, disgrace of my youth).
20 Is Ephrayim My ben yakir (dear son)? Is he a yeled in whom I delight? For when I spoke of him, I do earnestly remember him still; therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have rachamim (mercy) upon him, saith Hashem.
21 Set thee up tziyyunim (roadmarks, road signs), make thee tamurim (guideposts); set thine lev upon the highway, even the derech thou art now walking; turn back, O Betulat Yisroel, turn back to these thy towns.
22 How long wilt thou dillydally, O Bat HaShovevah (backsliding daughter)? For Hashem barah chadashah (Hashemhath created a new thing) on ha'aretz; A nekevah (woman, female),#31:22 i.e., Israel shall encircle [seek out] a gever (man, male).#31:22 i.e., G-d
23 Thus saith Hashem Tzva'os Elohei Yisroel: Once again they shall use this saying in Eretz Yehudah and in the towns thereof, when I shall turn them back from their captivity; yevarechecha Adonoi neveh tzedek har hakodesh (may Hashembless thee, O Righteous Abode, O Har HaKodesh)!
24 There shall dwell in Yehudah itself, in all the towns thereof together, ikkarim (farmers); they also that go forth with the eder.
25 For I will refresh the nefesh of the weary, and I will replenish even the stress-laden nefesh.
26 Upon this, I awoke, and beheld; and my sheynah (sleep) was sweet unto me.
27 Hinei, the days are coming, saith Hashem, that I will sow again Bais Yisroel and Bais Yehudah with the zera adam (human seed),#31:27 i.e., repopulation and also with the zera behemah (animal seed).#31:27 i.e., replenishing livestock
28 And it shall come to pass, that just as I watched over them, to uproot, and to tear down, and to overthrow, and to destroy, and to bring catastrophe; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith Hashem.
29 In those days they shall say no more, The Avot have eaten the sour grape, and the shinayim (teeth) of the Banim are set on edge.
30 But every one shall die for his own avon (iniquity); kol haAdam that eateth the sour grape, his shinayim shall be set on edge.
31 Hinei, the days come, saith Hashem, that I will cut a Brit Chadasha with Bais Yisroel, and with Bais Yehudah;
32 Not according to the Brit that I cut with their Avot in the day that I took hold of their yad to take them out of Eretz Mitzrayim; which My Brit they broke, although I was Ba'al (Husband) to them, saith Hashem;
33 But this shall be the Brit that I will cut with Bais Yisroel;#31:33 T.N. Orthodox Jewish Brit Chadasha (OJBC) is Jewish, according to Jeremiah After those days, saith Hashem, I will set My Torah in them inwardly, and I will write ketuvim on their hearts; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be My People.
34 And they shall teach no more every ish his re'a (neighbor), and every ish his brother, saying, Know Hashem; for they shall all have da'as of Me, from the katon of them unto the gadol of them, saith Hashem; for I will forgive their avon, and I will remember their chattat no more.
35 Thus saith Hashem, which giveth the shemesh for an ohr by day, and the chukkot yarei'ach and chukkot kokhavim for an ohr by night, which stirreth up the sea when the waves thereof roar; Hashem Tzva'os is Shmo:
36 If those chukkim depart from before Me, saith Hashem, then the Zera Yisroel also shall cease from being a Goy (Nation) before Me forever.
37 Thus saith Hashem; If Shomayim above can be measured, and, below, the foundations of ha'aretz can be searched out, I will also cast off kol Zera Yisroel for all that they have done, saith Hashem.
38 Hinei, the days are coming, saith Hashem, that the Ir shall be built unto Hashem from the Migdal Chanan'el unto the Sha'ar HaPinnah (Corner Gate).
39 And the measuring line shall yet go forth straight ahead to Garev Hill, and around to Goah.
40 And the whole valley [of Hinnom] of the pegarim (corpses), and of the deshen (ashes), and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the Sha'ar HaSusim (Horse Gate) to the east, shall be kodesh unto Hashem; it shall not be uprooted, nor destroyed any more l'olam.
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THE ORTHODOX JEWISH BIBLE
FOURTH EDITION © Artists For Israel Intl Inc., 2002-2011, 2021.