Jer 31:1-34 | ESV | STEP | At that time , declares the Lord , I will be the God of all the clans of Israel , and they shall be my people .

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,
3 the 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.
6 For there shall be a day when watchmen will call
in ^lthe hill country of Ephraim:
^m‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.’”
7 For thus says the Lord:
ⁿ“Sing 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.’
8 Behold, 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.
12 They 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.
18 I 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.
19 For 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.”
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, ^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. 25 For I will ^bmsatisfy 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 ^bn“Behold, 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. 28 And 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. 29 In 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 ^bw“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make ^bxa 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 ^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. 34 And 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.”