Jeremiah 31
31
1At that time, declares the LORD,
I will be the God of all the families of Israel,
and they will be my people.
2The LORD proclaims:
The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness.
As Israel searched for a place of rest,
3the LORD appeared to them#31.3 Or to me from a distance:#31.3 Or a long time ago
I have loved you with a love that lasts forever.
And so with unfailing love,
I have drawn you to myself.#31.3 Heb lacks myself.
4Again, I will build you up,
and you will be rebuilt, virgin Israel.
Again, you will play your tambourines
and dance with joy.
5Again, you will plant vineyards
on the hills of Samaria;
farmers will plant and then enjoy the harvests.
6The time will come when
the watchmen shout from
the highlands of Ephraim:
“Get ready! We’re going up to Zion
to the LORD our God!”
7The LORD proclaims:
Sing joyfully for the people of Jacob;
shout for the leading nation.
Raise your voices with praise and call out:
“The LORD has saved his people,#31.7 LXX; MT Save your people, LORD
the remaining few in Israel!”
8I’m going to bring them back from the north;
I will gather them from the ends of the earth.
Among them will be the blind and the disabled,
expectant mothers and those in labor;
a great throng will return here.
9With tears of joy they will come;
while they pray, I will bring them back.
I will lead them by quiet streams
and on smooth paths so they don’t stumble.
I will be Israel’s father,
Ephraim will be my oldest child.
10Listen to the LORD’s word, you nations,
and announce it to the distant islands:
The one who scattered Israel will gather them
and keep them safe, as a shepherd his flock.
11The LORD will rescue the people of Jacob
and deliver them from the power of those stronger than they are.
12They will come shouting for joy on the hills of Zion,
jubilant over the LORD’s gifts:
grain, wine, oil, flocks, and herds.
Their lives will be like a lush garden;
they will grieve no more.
13Then the young women will dance for joy;
the young and old men will join in.
I will turn their mourning into laughter
and their sadness into joy;
I will comfort them.
14I will lavish the priests with abundance
and shower my people with my gifts,
declares the LORD.
15The LORD proclaims:
A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and wailing.
It’s Rachel crying for her children;
she refuses to be consoled,
because her children are no more.
16The LORD proclaims:
Keep your voice from crying
and your eyes from weeping,
because your endurance will be rewarded,
declares the LORD.
They will return from the land of their enemy!
17There’s hope for your future,
declares the LORD.
Your children will return home!
18I hear, yes, I hear Ephraim lamenting:
“You disciplined me,
and I learned my lesson,
even though I was as stubborn as a mule.
Bring me back, let me return,
because you are the LORD my God.
19After I turned away from you,
I regretted it;
I realized what I had done,
and I have hit myself#31.19 Or struck my thigh—
I was humiliated and disgraced,
and I have carried this disgrace
since I was young.”
20Isn’t Ephraim my much-loved child?
Don’t I utterly adore him?
Even when I scold him,
I still hold him dear.
I yearn for him and love him deeply,
declares the LORD.
21Set up markers,
put up signs;
think about the road you have traveled,
the path you have taken.
Return, virgin Israel;
return to these towns of yours.
22How long will you hem and haw,
my rebellious daughter?
The LORD has created something new on earth:
Virgin Israel will once again embrace her God!#31.22 Or a woman surrounds a man
23The LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: When I bring my people#31.23 Or them back from captivity, they will once again utter these words in the land and towns of Judah:
The LORD bless you,
righteous dwelling place,
holy mountain.
24Those who live in Judah and its towns will dwell together with farmers and shepherds. 25I will strengthen the weary and renew those who are weak.
26Then I woke up and looked around. What a pleasant sleep I had!
27The time is coming, declares the LORD, when I will plant seeds in Israel and Judah, and both people and animals will spring up. 28Just as I watched over them to dig up and pull down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and plant, declares the LORD. 29In those days, people will no longer say:
Sour grapes eaten by parents
leave a bitter taste in the mouths of their children.
30Because everyone will die for their own sins:
whoever eats sour grapes
will have a bitter taste in their own mouths.
31The time is coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32It won’t be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant with me even though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33No, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the LORD. I will put my Instructions within them and engrave them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34They will no longer need to teach each other to say, “Know the LORD!” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD; for I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sins.
35The LORD proclaims:
The one who established the sun to light up the day
and ordered#31.35 Or orders of the moon and stars to light up the night,
who stirs up the sea into crashing waves,
whose name is the LORD of heavenly forces:
36If the created order should vanish from my sight,
declares the LORD,
only then would Israel’s descendants ever stop being a nation
before me.
37The LORD proclaims:
If the heavens above could be measured
and the foundation of the earth below could be fathomed,
only then would I reject Israel’s descendants
for what they have done,
declares the LORD.
38The time is coming, declares the LORD, when the city will be rebuilt for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39Its boundaries will extend to the Gareb Hill and around to Goah. 40The entire valley defiled by corpses and ashes, and all the fields as far as the Kidron Valley and the Horse Gate on the east, all this will be set apart for the LORD. And the city will never again be dug up or overthrown.
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Jeremiah 31: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 31
31
1“At that time,” says the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”
2 The LORD says, “The people who survive the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.”
3 The LORD appeared of old to me, saying,
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love.
Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.
4 I will build you again,
and you will be built, O virgin of Israel.
You will again be adorned with your tambourines,
and will go out in the dances of those who make merry.
5 Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria.
The planters will plant,
and will enjoy its fruit.
6 For there will be a day that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim cry,
‘Arise! Let’s go up to Zion to the LORD our God.’”
7 For the LORD says,
“Sing with gladness for Jacob,
and shout for the chief of the nations.
Publish, praise, and say,
‘LORD, save your people,
the remnant of Israel!’
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country,
and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth,
along with the blind and the lame,
the woman with child and her who travails with child together.
They will return as a great company.
9 They will come with weeping.
I will lead them with petitions.
I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters,
in a straight way in which they won’t stumble;
for I am a father to Israel.
Ephraim is my firstborn.
10“Hear the LORD’s word, you nations,
and declare it in the distant islands. Say,
‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.’
11 For the LORD has ransomed Jacob,
and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.
12 They will come and sing in the height of Zion,
and will flow to the goodness of the LORD,
to the grain, to the new wine, to the oil,
and to the young of the flock and of the herd.
Their soul will be as a watered garden.
They will not sorrow any more at all.
13 Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance,
the young men and the old together;
for I will turn their mourning into joy,
and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
14 I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness,
and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,” says the LORD.
15 The LORD says:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children.
She refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.”
16 The LORD says:
“Refrain your voice from weeping,
and your eyes from tears,
for your work will be rewarded,” says the LORD.
“They will come again from the land of the enemy.
17 There is hope for your latter end,” says the LORD.
“Your children will come again to their own territory.
18“I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus,
‘You have chastised me,
and I was chastised, as an untrained calf.
Turn me, and I will be turned,
for you are the LORD my God.
19 Surely after that I was turned.
I repented.
After that I was instructed.
I struck my thigh.
I was ashamed, yes, even confounded,
because I bore the reproach of my youth.’
20 Is Ephraim my dear son?
Is he a darling child?
For as often as I speak against him,
I still earnestly remember him.
Therefore my heart yearns for him.
I will surely have mercy on him,” says the LORD.
21“Set up road signs.
Make guideposts.
Set your heart toward the highway,
even the way by which you went.
Turn again, virgin of Israel.
Turn again to these your cities.
22 How long will you go here and there,
you backsliding daughter?
For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth:
a woman will encompass a man.”
23 The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Yet again they will use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I reverse their captivity: ‘The LORD bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness.’ 24Judah and all its cities will dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks. 25For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”
26 On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.
27“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of animal. 28It will happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” says the LORD. 29“In those days they will say no more,
“‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
30 But everyone will die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.
31“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, 32not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says the LORD. 33“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the LORD:
“I will put my law in their inward parts,
and I will write it in their heart.
I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
34 They will no longer each teach his neighbor,
and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD;’
for they will all know me,
from their least to their greatest,” says the LORD,
“for I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sin no more.”
35 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 its waves roar—
the LORD of Hosts is his name, says:
36“If these ordinances depart from before me,” says the LORD,
“then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever.”
37 The LORD says: “If heaven above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath,
then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,” says the LORD.
38“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that the city will be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner. 39The measuring line will go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and will turn toward Goah. 40The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, will be holy to the LORD. It will not be plucked up or thrown down any more forever.”
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