Jeremiah 31

¹“At the same time,” says the Lord

²Thus says the Lord “The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness— Israel, when I went to give him rest.”

³The Lord “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

⁴Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! You shall again be adorned with your tambourines, And shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.

⁵You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria; The planters shall plant and eat them as ordinary food.

⁶For there shall be a day When the watchmen will cry on Mount Ephraim, ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion, To the Lord

⁷For thus says the Lord “Sing with gladness for Jacob, And shout among the chief of the nations; Proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O Lord The remnant of Israel!’

⁸Behold, I will bring them from the north country, And gather them from the ends of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child And the one who labors with child, together; A great throng shall return there.

⁹They shall 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; For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn.

¹⁰“Hear the word of the Lord And declare it in the isles afar off, and say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, And keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’

¹¹For the Lord And ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he.

¹²Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, Streaming to the goodness of the Lord For wheat and new wine and oil, For the young of the flock and the herd; Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, And they shall sorrow no more at all.

¹³“Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, And the young men and the old, together; For I will turn their mourning to joy, Will comfort them, And make them rejoice rather than sorrow.

¹⁴I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance, And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord

¹⁵Thus says the Lord “A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord “Refrain your voice from weeping, And your eyes from tears; For your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord And they shall come back from the land of the enemy.

¹⁷There is hope in your future, says the Lord That your children shall come back to their own border.

¹⁸“I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, Like an untrained bull; Restore me, and I will return, For You are the Lord

¹⁹Surely, after my turning, I repented; And after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, Because I bore the reproach of my youth.’

²⁰Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still; Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord

²¹“Set up signposts, Make landmarks; Set your heart toward the highway, The way in which you went. Turn back, O virgin of Israel, Turn back to these your cities.

²²How long will you gad about, O you backsliding daughter? For the Lord A woman shall encompass a man.”

²³Thus says the Lord

²⁴And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all its cities together, farmers and those going out with flocks.

²⁵For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”

²⁶After this I awoke and looked around, and my sleep was sweet to me.

²⁷“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord

²⁸And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord

²⁹In those days they shall say no more: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

³⁰But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

³¹“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord

³²not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord

³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord

³⁴No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord

³⁵Thus says the Lord Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The Lord

³⁶“If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the Lord Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever.”

³⁷Thus says the Lord “If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the Lord

³⁸“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord

³⁹The surveyor’s line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath.

⁴⁰And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord