Jeremiah 30

Write the words of restoration

1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2“The LORD, the God of Israel, says: Write in a scroll all the words I have spoken to you. 3For look, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah, says the LORD. I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors, and they will possess it.”

Distress and deliverance

4These are the words the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah: 5“The LORD says:
We have heard a cry of terror,
fear, and no peace. 6Ask and see:
Can a male give birth?
Why, then, do I see every man
with his hands on his waist like a woman in labor?
Why has every face turned pale? 7Alas, that day is great;
there is none like it!
It is a time of distress for Jacob,
yet he will be saved out of it.

8“On that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will break his yoke from your neck and tear off your straps. Foreigners will no longer enslave him. 9They will serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

10So do not be afraid, my servant Jacob,
declares the LORD;
do not be dismayed, Israel.
I will save you from far away,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob will return and be at rest, at ease,
with no one to make him afraid. 11For I am with you to save you, declares the LORD.
I will make an end of all the nations
among whom I scattered you,
but I will not make an end of you.
I will discipline you with justice;
I will certainly not leave you unpunished.

A wound and its healing

12“For the LORD says:
Your fracture is beyond healing;
your wound is grievous. 13No one pleads your case.
There is no treatment for your sore,
no healing for you. 14All your lovers have forgotten you;
they no longer seek you out.
I struck you as an enemy strikes,
with cruel discipline,
because your guilt is so great
and your sins so many. 15Why cry out over your fracture?
Your pain is beyond healing.
Because your guilt is so great
and your sins so many,
I have done these things to you.

16Yet all who devour you will be devoured;
all your enemies, every one, will go into captivity.
Those who plunder you will be plundered,
and all who prey on you I will give up as prey. 17For I will restore your health
and heal your wounds, declares the LORD,
because they call you an outcast:
‘She is Zion; no one cares about her.’

A rebuilt community

18“The LORD says:
I will restore the fortunes of Jacob's tents
and have compassion on his dwellings.
The city will be rebuilt on its own mound,
and the palace will stand in its rightful place. 19Thanksgiving will come from them,
and the sound of people celebrating.
I will make them numerous; they will not dwindle.
I will give them honor; they will not be insignificant. 20Jacob's children will be as they were before;
his community will be established before me.
I will call all his oppressors to account. 21Their noble leader will be one of their own;
their ruler will come from among them.
I will bring him near, and he will approach me.
For who would pledge his own heart
to approach me? declares the LORD. 22You will be my people,
and I will be your God.”

The storm of the LORD

23Look! The storm of the LORD!
Wrath has burst out, a sweeping storm;
it whirls down on the heads of the wicked. 24The LORD's burning anger will not turn back
until he has done and accomplished
what his heart intends.
In days to come you will understand it.