Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Jeremiah 31
Israel gathered again
“At that time, declares the LORD, I will be God to all the clans of Israel, and they will be my people.”
The LORD says:
“The people who survived the sword
found favor in the wilderness,
as Israel went to find rest.”
From far away the LORD appeared to me:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have drawn you with steadfast love.
I will build you again, and you will be rebuilt,
virgin Israel.
Again you will take up your tambourines
and go out dancing with those who celebrate.
Again you will plant vineyards
on the hills of Samaria.
Those who plant them will enjoy their fruit.
For a day is coming when watchmen
will call out on the hills of Ephraim:
‘Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the LORD our God!’”
For the LORD says:
“Sing with joy for Jacob!
Shout for the foremost of the nations!
Make your praise heard and say,
‘LORD, save your people,
the remnant of Israel!’
Look, I will bring them from the land of the north
and gather them from the farthest reaches of the earth.
Among them will be the blind and those who are lame,
pregnant women and women in labor together.
A great assembly will return here.
They will come with weeping;
with pleas for mercy I will lead them.
I will guide them beside streams of water
on a level path where they will not stumble.
For I am a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Hear the word of the LORD, nations!
Announce it on distant coastlands.
Say, ‘The one who scattered Israel will gather him
and guard him as a shepherd guards his flock.’
For the LORD has ransomed Jacob
and redeemed him from a hand stronger than his.
They will come and sing on Zion's height,
streaming toward the goodness of the LORD—
the grain, new wine, and oil,
the young of the flocks and herds.
Their life will be like a well-watered garden,
and they will languish no more.
Then young women will rejoice in dancing,
and young men and old men together.
I will turn their mourning into joy;
I will comfort them and give them gladness in place of grief.
I will satisfy the priests with rich food,
and my people will be filled with my goodness,
declares the LORD.”
Rachel and Ephraim
The LORD says:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
lament and bitter weeping:
Rachel weeps for her children.
She refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.”
The LORD says:
“Hold back your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your labor,
declares the LORD.
They will return from the enemy's land.
There is hope for your future, declares the LORD;
your children will return to their own territory.
I have surely heard Ephraim grieving:
‘You disciplined me, and I was disciplined
like a calf not yet trained.
Bring me back, and I will return,
for you are the LORD my God.
After I turned back, I repented;
after I came to understand, I struck my thigh.
I was ashamed and humiliated,
for I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
Is Ephraim not a dear son to me,
a child in whom I delight?
Whenever I speak against him,
I still remember him.
That is why my inward parts stir for him;
I will surely have compassion on him,
declares the LORD.
The road home
Set up road markers for yourself;
put up signposts.
Set your heart on the highway,
the road by which you went.
Return, virgin Israel;
return to these towns of yours.
How long will you wander about,
faithless daughter?
For the LORD has created something new in the land:
a woman will surround a man.”
The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: “When I restore their fortunes, they will again say this in the land of Judah and its towns: ‘May the LORD bless you, dwelling of righteousness, holy mountain.’
Judah and all its towns will live there together—farmers and those who travel with the flocks.
For I will refresh every weary person and satisfy every person who languishes.”
At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me.
Building and planting
“Look, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of people and the seed of animals.
Just as I watched over them to uproot, tear down, overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and plant, declares the LORD.
In those days they will no longer say, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.’
Instead, each person will die for their own guilt. Everyone who eats sour grapes will have their own teeth set on edge.
A new covenant
“Look, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. They broke my covenant, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.
This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my instruction within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
No longer will each person teach their neighbor or their brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their guilt and remember their sin no more.
The order of creation and the rebuilt city
The LORD says—
the one who gives the sun for light by day,
the fixed order of moon and stars for light by night,
who stirs the sea so its waves roar,
whose name is the LORD of hosts:
“Only if this fixed order departs from before me,
declares the LORD,
will Israel's offspring cease
to be a nation before me for all time.”
The LORD says:
“Only if the heavens above can be measured
and the foundations of the earth below explored
will I reject all Israel's offspring
because of all they have done,”
declares the LORD.
“Look, days are coming, declares the LORD, when the city will be rebuilt for the LORD, from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.
The measuring line will extend from there to the hill of Gareb and turn toward Goah.
The whole valley of corpses and ashes, and all the fields as far as the Kidron Valley, to the corner of the Horse Gate on the east, will be holy to the LORD. It will never again be uprooted or demolished.”