aa[See ver. 8 above]
ax[See ver. 18 above]
du[See ver. 7 above]

Jeremiah 31

The Lord Will Turn Mourning to Joy

1 a“At that time, declares the Lord, bI 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;
cwhen Israel sought for rest,
3the Lord appeared to him
Septuagint; Hebrew me
from far away.
eI have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore fI have continued gmy faithfulness to you.
4 hAgain I will build you, and you shall be built,
O virgin Israel!
iAgain you shall adorn yourself with tambourines
and shall go forth in jthe dance of the merrymakers.
5 kAgain 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
in lthe hill country of Ephraim:
mArise, and let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.’”
7 For thus says the Lord:
nSing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for othe chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
p‘O Lord, save your people,
the remnant of Israel.’
8Behold, I will bring them qfrom the north country
and rgather them from sthe farthest parts of the earth,
among them tthe blind and the lame,
the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together;
a great company, they shall return here.
9 uWith weeping they shall come,
vand with pleas for mercy I will lead them back,
I will make them wwalk by brooks of water,
xin a straight path in which they shall not stumble,
for yI am a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is zmy firstborn.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, ‘He who scattered Israel will aagather him,
and will keep him abas a shepherd keeps his flock.’
11 acFor the Lord has ransomed Jacob
and has redeemed him from adhands too strong for him.
12They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
aeand they shall be radiant afover the goodness of the Lord,
agover the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
ahtheir life shall be like a watered garden,
aiand they shall languish no more.
13 ajThen shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
akI will turn their mourning into joy;
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
14 alI 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:
am“A voice is heard in anRamah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
aoRachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
apbecause 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 aqthey shall come back from the land of the enemy.
17 arThere is hope for your future,

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

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

bh“‘The Lord bless you, biO habitation of righteousness,
bjO holy hill!’
24 bkAnd Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and blthe farmers and those who wander with their flocks. 25For I will bmsatisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

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

27 bnBehold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when boI will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with bpthe seed of man and the seed of beast. 28And it shall come to pass that bqas I have watched over them brto pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, bsso I will watch over them btto build and to plant, declares the Lord. 29In those days they shall no longer say:

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

The New Covenant

31 bwBehold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make bxa new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when byI took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, bzthough I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 caFor this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: cbI will put my law within them, and I will write it ccon their hearts. cdAnd I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ cefor they shall all know me, cffrom the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For cgI will forgive their iniquity, and chI will remember their sin no more.”

35 Thus says the Lord,
who cigives the sun for light by day
and cjthe fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar
ckthe Lord of hosts is his name:
36 clIf 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,
cmthen I will cast off all the offspring of Israel
for all that they have done,

declares the Lord.”
38 cnBehold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord cofrom the Tower of Hananel to cpthe Corner Gate. 39 cqAnd the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. 40 crThe whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the csbrook Kidron, to the corner of ctthe Horse Gate toward the east, cushall be sacred to the Lord. cvIt shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”

Jeremiah 33

The Lord Promises Peace

1The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still cwshut up in the court of the guard: 2Thus says cxthe Lord who made the earth,
Septuagint; Hebrew it
the Lord who formed it to establish it— czthe Lord is his name:
3 daCall to me and I will answer you, dband will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. 4For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah that were torn down to make a defense against dcthe siege mounds and against the sword: 5They are coming in ddto fight against the Chaldeans and to fill them
That is, the torn-down houses
with the dead bodies of men whom I shall strike down dfin my anger and my wrath, dgfor I have hidden my face from this city because of all their evil.
6 dhBehold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security. 7 diI will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, djand rebuild them as they were dkat first. 8 dlI will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, dmand I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me. 9 dnAnd this city
Hebrew  And it
shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. They shall dpfear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.

10Thus says the Lord: In this place dqof which you say, ‘It is a waste without man or beast,’ in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man or inhabitant or beast, there shall be heard again 11 drthe voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring dsthank offerings to the house of the Lord:

dt“‘Give thanks to the Lord of hosts,
for the Lord is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!’
duFor I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the Lord.

12Thus says the Lord of hosts: dvIn this place that is waste, without man or beast, and in all of its cities, there shall again be dwhabitations of shepherds dxresting their flocks. 13 dyIn the cities of the hill country, dzin the cities of the Shephelah, eaand in the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, ebthe places about Jerusalem, ecand in the cities of Judah, edflocks shall again pass under the hands eeof the one who counts them, says the Lord.

The Lord’s Eternal Covenant with David

14 efBehold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when egI will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous ehBranch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16In those days Judah will be saved, eiand Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ej‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

17For thus says the Lord: ekDavid shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18 eland the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.”

19The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 20 emThus says the Lord: enIf you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, eoso that day and night will not come at their appointed time, 21 epthen also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers. 22As eqthe host of heaven cannot be numbered and erthe sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.”

23The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 24“Have you not observed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two clans that he chose’? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight. 25Thus says the Lord: esIf I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, 26then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. etFor I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.”

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