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
The Lord Will Turn Mourning to Joy
1 # ch. 30:24 “At that time, declares the Lord, #[2 Cor. 6:18]; See ch. 30:22I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”
2Thus says the Lord:
“The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness;
# [ch. 30:10; Ps. 95:11; Isa. 63:14] when Israel sought for rest,
3the Lord appeared to him#31:3 Septuagint; Hebrew me from far away.
#
Deut. 7:8; 10:15; Mal. 1:2; Rom. 11:28 I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore #Ps. 36:10 I have continued #Hos. 11:4my faithfulness to you.
4 # ver. 28; ch. 33:7 Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
O virgin Israel!
#
Isa. 61:10 Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines
and shall go forth in #ver. 13; Ex. 15:20; Judg. 11:34; 21:21; See 2 Sam. 6:14the dance of the merrymakers.
5 #
Isa. 65:21; Amos 9:14 Again you shall plant vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant
and shall enjoy the fruit.
6For there shall be a day when watchmen will call
in #See Josh. 24:33 the hill country of Ephraim:
#
Isa. 2:3; 27:13 ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.’”
7For thus says the Lord:
#
Isa. 12:6; 65:18 “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for #Amos 6:1 the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
#
Ps. 118:25
‘O Lord, save your people,
the remnant of Israel.’
8Behold, I will bring them #See ch. 3:18 from the north country
and #See ch. 23:3 gather them from #See ch. 6:22 the farthest parts of the earth,
among them #Isa. 35:5, 6the blind and the lame,
the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together;
a great company, they shall return here.
9 # ch. 50:4; [Ezra 3:13; 10:1] With weeping they shall come,
# ch. 3:21; Zech. 12:10 and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back,
I will make them #Isa. 35:6, 7; 49:10; [Ps. 23:2] walk by brooks of water,
#
Isa. 35:8; 43:19; 49:11 in a straight path in which they shall not stumble,
for #Rom. 8:15 I am a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is #[Ex. 4:22; Ps. 89:27]my firstborn.
10“Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, ‘He who scattered Israel will #[See ver. 8 above] gather him,
and will keep him #Isa. 40:11as a shepherd keeps his flock.’
11 #
Isa. 43:1; 44:23; 48:20 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob
and has redeemed him from #[Isa. 49:24, 25]hands too strong for him.
12They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
#
Isa. 2:2; Mic. 4:1 and they shall be radiant #Hos. 3:5 over the goodness of the Lord,
# [Deut. 12:17] over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
#
Isa. 58:11 their life shall be like a watered garden,
#
Isa. 35:10
and they shall languish no more.
13 # See ver. 4 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
# [John 16:20] I will turn their mourning into joy;
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
14 # [ver. 25] I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance,
and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,
declares the Lord.”
15Thus says the Lord:
# Cited Matt. 2:18 “A voice is heard in #Josh. 18:25 Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
# [Gen. 35:19, 20; 48:7; 1 Sam. 10:2] Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
# ch. 10:20 because they are no more.”
16Thus says the Lord:
“Keep your voice from weeping,
and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work,
declares the Lord,
and #Ezra 1:5; Hos. 1:11they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
17 # ch. 29:11 There is hope for your future,
declares the Lord,
and your children shall come back to their own country.
18I have heard #[ver. 9] Ephraim grieving,
‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
like an untrained calf;
#
Ps. 80:3; Lam. 5:21 bring me back that I may be restored,
for you are the Lord my God.
19For after #Deut. 30:2 I had turned away, I relented,
and after I was instructed, #Ezek. 21:12 I struck my thigh;
# [ch. 3:25] I was ashamed, and I was confounded,
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
20 # [See ver. 18 above] Is Ephraim my dear son?
# [Prov. 8:30] Is he my darling child?
For as often as I speak against him,
I do remember him still.
#
Song 5:4; Isa. 16:11 Therefore my heart#31:20 Hebrew bowels yearns for him;
I will surely have mercy on him,
declares the Lord.
21 # [Isa. 57:14; 62:10] “Set up road markers for yourself;
make yourself guideposts;
# ch. 50:4, 5 consider well the highway,
# [Isa. 57:14; 62:10] the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
return to these your cities.
22 # ch. 2:18, 23, 36 How long will you waver,
# ch. 49:4 O faithless daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:
a woman encircles a man.”
23Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, #See ch. 30:3 when I restore their fortunes:
#
Ps. 122:6, 7 “‘The Lord bless you, #ch. 50:7; Isa. 1:26 O habitation of righteousness,
#
Zech. 8:3
O holy hill!’
24 # ch. 33:13 And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and #ch. 33:13the farmers and those who wander with their flocks. 25For I will #Ps. 36:8; [ver. 14]satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”
26At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.
27 # ch. 9:25 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when #Ezek. 36:11; Hos. 2:23; Zech. 10:9 I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with #[Ps. 22:30; Isa. 53:10]the seed of man and the seed of beast. 28And it shall come to pass that #ch. 44:27; [ch. 32:42] as I have watched over them #[ver. 40]; See ch. 1:10 to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, #ch. 44:27; [ch. 32:42] so I will watch over them #See ch. 24:6to build and to plant, declares the Lord. 29In those days they shall no longer say:
#
Ezek. 18:2, 3; [Lam. 5:7] “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
30 #
Ezek. 18:4
But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
The New Covenant
31 # ver. 31-34, cited Heb. 8:8-12 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make #Luke 22:20; 2 Cor. 3:6a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when #[Deut. 1:31] I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, #See ch. 3:14though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33#ch. 32:40; Ezek. 37:26; Cited Heb. 10:16 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: #ch. 32:40; Ezek. 37:26; Cited Heb. 10:16 I will put my law within them, and I will write it #Ps. 37:31; 2 Cor. 3:3 on their hearts. #Hos. 2:23; Zech. 8:8; 13:9; Rev. 21:7; See ch. 30:22And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ #Isa. 54:13 for they shall all know me, #See ch. 6:13 from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For #ch. 33:8; 36:3; 50:20; Mic. 7:18; Acts 10:43; Rom. 11:27; Cited Heb. 10:17 I will forgive their iniquity, and #Isa. 43:25I will remember their sin no more.”
35Thus says the Lord,
who #Gen. 1:16 gives the sun for light by day
and #See ver. 36 the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
# See ch. 10:16 the Lord of hosts is his name:
36 # [Ps. 148:6; Isa. 54:9, 10]; For ver. 36, 37, see ch. 33:20-26 “If this fixed order departs
from before me, declares the Lord,
then shall the offspring of Israel cease
from being a nation before me forever.”
37Thus says the Lord:
“If the heavens above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
#
Rom. 11:1
then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel
for all that they have done,
declares the Lord.”
38 # ver. 27, 31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord #Neh. 3:1; 12:39; Zech. 14:10 from the Tower of Hananel to #2 Kgs. 14:13the Corner Gate. 39#Ezek. 40:3; Zech. 1:16; 2:1, 2; [Rev. 11:1]And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. 40#[ch. 7:31, 32] The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the #See 2 Sam. 15:23 brook Kidron, to the corner of #2 Chr. 23:15 the Horse Gate toward the east, #Isa. 52:1; Joel 3:17 shall be sacred to the Lord. #[ver. 28]It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”
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