Jeremiah 31

The LORD Will Restore Israel

1“At that time,” says the LORD, “I will be God to 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;
  when Israel sought rest,

3the LORD appeared to them from far away:
  ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
  therefore I have continued my steadfast love toward you.

4Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
  O virgin Israel!
  Again you shall take up your tambourines
  and go out in the dance of those who rejoice.

5Again 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
  on the hills of Ephraim:
  ‘Rise up—let us go up to Zion,
  to the LORD our God.’”

Return from Exile

7For thus says the LORD:
  “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
  and shout among the chief of the nations;
  proclaim, give praise, and say,
  ‘O LORD, save your people,
  the remnant of Israel!’

8Look—I am bringing them from the land of the north,
  and gathering them from the farthest parts of the earth,
  among them the blind and the lame,
  the one who is pregnant and the one in labor together—
  a great company, they shall return here.

9With weeping they shall come,
  and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back.
  I will cause them to walk by streams of water,
  on a level path in which they shall not stumble,
  for I have become a father to Israel,
  and Ephraim is my firstborn.

10Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
  and declare it in the coastlands far away:
  ‘The one who scattered Israel will gather Israel,
  and will keep watch over Israel like a shepherd over a flock.’

11For the LORD has redeemed Jacob
  and ransomed him from a hand stronger than his.

12They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
  and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD—
  over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
  and over the young of the flock and the herd;
  their whole being shall be like a watered garden,
  and they shall languish no more.

13Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance,
  and the young men and the old together;
  for I will turn their mourning into joy,
  I will comfort them,
  and give them gladness for sorrow.

14I will satisfy the priests with abundance,
  and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,”
  says the LORD.

Rachel Weeps; Hope Is Promised

15Thus says the LORD:
  “A voice is heard in Ramah,
  lamentation and bitter weeping.
  Rachel is weeping for her children;
  she refuses to be comforted for her children,
  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,” says the LORD,
  “and they shall return from the land of the enemy.

17There is hope for your future,” says the LORD,
  “and your children shall return to their own border.

18I have surely heard Ephraim grieving:
  ‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
  like an untrained calf.
  Bring me back, and I will return,
  for you are the LORD my God.

19For after I turned away, I repented;
  and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh;
  I was ashamed, and I was humiliated,
  for I bore the reproach of my youth.’

20Is Ephraim my dear son?
  Is he my precious child?
  For as often as I speak against him,
  I still remember him.
  Therefore my inner being yearns for him;
  I will surely have compassion on him,” says the LORD.

21“Set up road markers for yourself;
  make yourself guideposts.
  Pay attention to the highway,
  the road by which you went.
  Return, O virgin Israel—
  return to these your cities!

22How long will you wander,
  O faithless daughter?
  For the LORD has created a new thing on the earth:
  a woman shall encompass a man.”

Judah Also Will Be Restored

23Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel:
  “Once more they shall say in the land of Judah and in its towns,
  when I restore their fortunes:
  ‘The LORD bless you, O habitation of righteousness,
  O holy mountain!’

24And Judah and all its towns shall live there together,
  the farmers and those who wander with their flocks.

25For I will satisfy the weary soul,
  and every faint soul I will replenish.”

26At this I awoke and looked,
  and my sleep was pleasant to me.

The LORD Will Rebuild and Replant

27“Look—the days are coming,” says the LORD,
  “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah
  with the seed of humans and the seed of animals.

28And just as I have watched over them
  to pluck up and break down,
  to overthrow, destroy, and bring disaster,
  so I will watch over them
  to build and to plant,” says the LORD.

29“In those days they shall no longer say:
  ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,
  and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

30But each one shall die for their own iniquity;
  everyone who eats sour grapes,
  their teeth shall be set on edge.

The New Covenant

31“Look—the days are coming,” says the LORD,
  “when I will cut a new covenant
  with the house of Israel and the house of Judah—

32not like the covenant that I cut with their ancestors
  in the day when I took them by the hand
  to bring them out of the land of Egypt—
  my covenant that they broke,
  though I was their husband,” says the LORD.

33“For this is the covenant that I will cut
  with the house of Israel after those days,” says the LORD:
  “I will put my instruction within them,
  and I will write it on their hearts.
  And I will be their God,
  and they shall be my people.

34And they shall no longer teach—each one their neighbor
  and each one their sister or brother—saying,
  ‘Know the LORD,’
  for they shall all know me,
  from the least of them to the greatest,” says the LORD,
  “for I will forgive their iniquity,
  and I will remember their sin no more.”

The Covenant Secured by Creation

35Thus says the LORD,
  who gives the sun for light by day,
  and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
  who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
  the LORD of Hosts is his name:

36“If this fixed order departs from before me,” says the LORD,
  “then the offspring of Israel also shall 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,
  then I will also reject all the offspring of Israel
  because of all that they have done,” says the LORD.

Jerusalem Rebuilt

38“Look—the days are coming,” says the LORD,
  “when the city shall be rebuilt for the LORD
  from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.

39The measuring line shall go out farther straight ahead
  to the hill Gareb,
  and then turn to Goah.

40The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes,
  and all the fields as far as the Wadi Kidron,
  to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east,
  shall be holy to the LORD.
  It shall not be plucked up or overthrown any more forever.”