Jer 30-31 | ESV | STEP | The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord :

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ^aWrite in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. 3 ^bFor behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, ^cwhen I will restore ^dthe fortunes of my people, ^eIsrael and Judah, says the Lord, ^fand I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.”

4 These are the words that the Lord spoke concerning ^gIsrael and Judah:

5 “Thus says the Lord:
We have heard a cry of panic,
of terror, and no peace.
6 Ask now, and see,
can a man bear a child?
^hWhy then do I see every man
with his hands on his stomach ⁱlike a woman in labor?
^jWhy has every face turned pale?
7 Alas! ^kThat day is so great
^lthere is none like it;
it is a time of distress for Jacob;
yet he shall be saved out of it.
8 “And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, that I will ^mbreak his ⁿyoke from off your neck, and I will ^oburst your bonds, ^pand foreigners shall no more make a servant of him. ^{▼▼Or serve him} 9 But they shall serve the Lord their God and ^rDavid their king, whom I will raise up for them.

10 ^s“Then fear not, ^tO Jacob my servant, declares the Lord,
nor be dismayed, O Israel;
for behold, ^uI will save you from far away,
^vand your offspring from the land of their captivity.
^wJacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
and none shall make him afraid.
11 ^xFor I am with you to save you,

declares the Lord;
^yI will make a full end of all the nations
among whom I scattered you,
but of you I will not make a full end.
^zI will ^aadiscipline you in just measure,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
12 “For thus says the Lord:
^abYour hurt is incurable,
^acand your wound is grievous.
13 There is none to uphold your cause,
no medicine for your wound,
^adno healing for you.
14 ^aeAll your lovers have forgotten you;
they care nothing for you;
for I have dealt you the blow of ^afan enemy,
the punishment ^agof a merciless foe,
because your guilt is great,
^ahbecause your sins are flagrant.
15 ^aiWhy do you cry out over your hurt?
^ajYour pain is incurable.
Because your guilt is great,
^akbecause your sins are flagrant,
I have done these things to you.
16 ^alTherefore all who devour you shall be devoured,
and ^amall your foes, every one of them, shall go into captivity;
^anthose who plunder you shall be plundered,
^aoand all who prey on you I will make a prey.
17 ^apFor I will restore ^aqhealth to you,
and ^aryour wounds I will heal,

declares the Lord,
because ^asthey have called you an outcast:
^at‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’
18 “Thus says the Lord:
Behold, ^auI will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob
and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city shall be rebuilt on ^avits mound,
and the palace shall stand where it used to be.
19 ^awOut of them shall come songs of thanksgiving,
and the voices of those who celebrate.
^axI will multiply them, and they shall not be few;
I will make them honored, and they shall not be small.
20 ^ayTheir children shall be as they were of old,
and their congregation shall be established before me,
and I will punish all who oppress them.
21 ^azTheir prince shall be one of themselves;
^batheir ruler shall come out from their midst;
^bbI will make him draw near, and he shall approach me,
^bcfor who would dare of himself to approach me?

declares the Lord.
22 ^bdAnd you shall be my people,
and I will be your God.”
23 ^beBehold ^bfthe storm of the Lord!
Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
24 ^bgThe fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back
until he has executed and accomplished
the intentions of his mind.
^bhIn the latter days you will understand this.

Jeremiah 31

The Lord Will Turn Mourning to Joy

1 ^bi“At that time, declares the Lord, ^bjI will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”

2 Thus says the Lord:
“The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness;
^bkwhen Israel sought for rest,
3 the Lord appeared to him ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew me} from far away.
^bmI have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore ^bnI have continued ^bomy faithfulness to you.
4 ^bpAgain I will build you, and you shall be built,
O virgin Israel!
^bqAgain you shall adorn yourself with tambourines
and shall go forth in ^brthe dance of the merrymakers.
5 ^bsAgain you shall plant vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant
and shall enjoy the fruit.
6 For there shall be a day when watchmen will call
in ^btthe hill country of Ephraim:
^bu‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.’”
7 For thus says the Lord:
^bv“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for ^bwthe chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
^bx‘O Lord, save your people,
the remnant of Israel.’
8 Behold, I will bring them ^byfrom the north country
and ^bzgather them from ^cathe farthest parts of the earth,
among them ^cbthe blind and the lame,
the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together;
a great company, they shall return here.
9 ^ccWith weeping they shall come,
^cdand with pleas for mercy I will lead them back,
I will make them ^cewalk by brooks of water,
^cfin a straight path in which they shall not stumble,
for ^cgI am a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is ^chmy firstborn.
10 “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, ‘He who scattered Israel will ^cigather him,
and will keep him ^cjas a shepherd keeps his flock.’
11 ^ckFor the Lord has ransomed Jacob
and has redeemed him from ^clhands too strong for him.
12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
^cmand they shall be radiant ^cnover the goodness of the Lord,
^coover the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
^cptheir life shall be like a watered garden,
^cqand they shall languish no more.
13 ^crThen shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
^csI will turn their mourning into joy;
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
14 ^ctI will feast the soul of the priests with abundance,
and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,

declares the Lord.”
15 Thus says the Lord:
^cu“A voice is heard in ^cvRamah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
^cwRachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
^cxbecause they are no more.”
16 Thus 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 ^cythey shall come back from the land of the enemy.
17 ^czThere is hope for your future,

declares the Lord,
and your children shall come back to their own country.
18 I have heard ^daEphraim grieving,
‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
like an untrained calf;
^dbbring me back that I may be restored,
for you are the Lord my God.
19 For after ^dcI had turned away, I relented,
and after I was instructed, ^ddI struck my thigh;
^deI was ashamed, and I was confounded,
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
20 ^dfIs Ephraim my dear son?
^dgIs he my darling child?
For as often as I speak against him,
I do remember him still.
^dhTherefore my heart ^{▼▼Hebrew bowels} yearns for him;
I will surely have mercy on him,

declares the Lord.
21 ^dj“Set up road markers for yourself;
make yourself guideposts;
^dkconsider well the highway,
^dlthe road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
return to these your cities.
22 ^dmHow long will you waver,
^dnO faithless daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:
a woman encircles a man.”
23 Thus 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, ^dowhen I restore their fortunes:

^dp“‘The Lord bless you, ^dqO habitation of righteousness,
^drO holy hill!’
24 ^dsAnd Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and ^dtthe farmers and those who wander with their flocks. 25 For I will ^dusatisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

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

27 ^dv“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^dwI will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with ^dxthe seed of man and the seed of beast. 28 And it shall come to pass that ^dyas I have watched over them ^dzto pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, ^easo I will watch over them ^ebto build and to plant, declares the Lord. 29 In those days they shall no longer say:

^ec“‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
30 ^edBut everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

The New Covenant

31 ^ee“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make ^efa new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when ^egI took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, ^ehthough I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 ^eiFor this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: ^ejI will put my law within them, and I will write it ^ekon their hearts. ^elAnd I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ ^emfor they shall all know me, ^enfrom the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For ^eoI will forgive their iniquity, and ^epI will remember their sin no more.”

35 Thus says the Lord,
who ^eqgives the sun for light by day
and ^erthe fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
^esthe Lord of hosts is his name:
36 ^et“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.”
37 Thus says the Lord:
“If the heavens above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
^euthen I will cast off all the offspring of Israel
for all that they have done,

declares the Lord.”
38 ^ev“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord ^ewfrom the Tower of Hananel to ^exthe Corner Gate. 39 ^eyAnd the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. 40 ^ezThe whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the ^fabrook Kidron, to the corner of ^fbthe Horse Gate toward the east, ^fcshall be sacred to the Lord. ^fdIt shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”