Jeremiah 31

1 At that time, I will be the God of all Israel's families, and they will be my people, declares the Lord.

At that time, saith Jehovah, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, And they shall be my people.

2 This is what the Lord says: The Israelites who survive death by the sword were blessed by the Lord in the desert as they looked for peace and quiet.

Thus saith Jehovah: The people, escaped from the sword, hath found favor in the wilderness; I will go and give rest to Israel.

3 Long ago the Lord came and told us, My love for you will last forever. I hold you close to me with my trustworthy love.

Jehovah appeared to me from afar, [[saying, ]] With an everlasting love do I love thee, Therefore have I kept mercy for thee.

4 I'm going to rebuild you, and it will happen. You will be rebuilt, Virgin Israel. You will pick up your tambourines again and run outside to dance with joy.

Again will I build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel! Again shalt thou adorn thy tabrets, And go forth in the dance of them that make merry.

5 You will replant vineyards on Samaria's hills; those who plant and will enjoy the grapes.

Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria; The planters shall plant, and eat the fruit.

6 A day is coming when watchmen will call out from the hills of Ephraim, “Come on, let's go up to Zion, to worship the Lord our God!”

For the day is coming when the watchmen shall cry upon Mount Ephraim, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion, To Jehovah, our God.

7 This is what the Lord says: Sing happily for the descendants of Jacob; shout for the greatest of all nations! Let everybody know! Praise and call out, “Lord, save your people, those who are left of Israel!”

For thus saith Jehovah: Sing with gladness for Jacob, And shout for the head of the nations! Publish ye, praise ye, and say: Jehovah, thou hast saved thy people, The remnant of Israel.

8 Watch, because I will bring them back from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Everyone will return, even the blind and the lame, pregnant women, even mothers giving birth—a great gathering coming home,

Behold, I will bring them from the land of the North, And gather them from the extremities of the earth; And with them shall be the blind and the lame, The woman with child, and she that is in travail with child together; A great company shall return thither.

9 They will come back with tears in their eyes, and they will be praying as I take them home. I will lead them beside streams of waters, on level paths where they won't stumble. For I am Israel's Father; Ephraim is my firstborn.

They shall come with weeping, And amid supplications will I lead them; I will conduct them to streams of water, In a straight way, in which they shall not stumble. For I have become a father to Israel, And Ephraim is my first-born.

10 Listen, nations, to what the Lord has to say, and let others know about in faraway countries: The Lord who scattered Israel will gather them together and keep them safe, just like a shepherd looks after his flock.

Hear the word of Jehovah, O ye nations, And proclaim it in the distant coasts, and say: “He that scattered Israel will gather him, And will guard him, as a shepherd his flock.”

11 The Lord has redeemed the descendants of Jacob and rescued them from their enemies who had defeated them.

For Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob, And ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.

12 They will return and celebrate with happy shouts on Mount Zion; their faces will beam over the Lord's wonderful gifts—the grain, new wine, and olive oil, and the young of their flocks and herds. Their life will be like a well-watered garden; and they won't ever be depressed again.

And they shall come and sing upon the height of Zion; They shall exult in the bounty of Jehovah, The corn, and the new wine, and the oil, And the young of the flock, and of the herd; And they shall be as a well-watered garden, And they shall languish no more.

13 The girls will dance in celebration; young men and old people will join in too. I will turn their sorrow into joy, and I will comfort them and change their sadness into happiness.

Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, And the young men and old men together, For I will change their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and cheer them after their sorrow.

14 I will give my priests everything they need and more, and my people will be more than satisfied with my goodness towards them, declares the Lord.

And I will satisfy the priests with fatness, And my people shall be satisfied with my bounty, saith Jehovah.

15 This is what the Lord says: The sound of terrible weeping and mourning is heard in Ramah. It's Rachel crying for her children. They are dead, and she can't be comforted

Thus saith Jehovah: A voice hath been heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel, weeping for her children, Refuseth to be comforted, because they are no more.

16 This is what the Lord says: Don't cry anymore, don't weep anymore, because you're going to be rewarded for what you've done, declares the Lord. Your children will return from the country of your enemies.

Thus saith Jehovah: Refrain thy voice from weeping, And thine eyes from tears, For thy labor shall be rewarded, saith Jehovah; They shall come again from the land of the enemy.

17 So you can have hope for the future, declares the Lord. Your children will return to their own country.

There is hope for thy future days, saith Jehovah; Thy children shall come again to their border.

18 Don't worry, I've heard Ephraim's groans, saying, “You disciplined me really hard as if I was a calf that hadn't been trained. Please bring me back, let me return, for you are the Lord my God.

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: “Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, Like a steer not broken. Turn thou me, and I shall be turned, For thou, O Jehovah, art my God!

19 When I came back to you I was sorry, and once I understood, I held my head in sadness. I was ashamed and I blushed, embarrassed at what I'd done when I was young.”

Surely, after I returned, I repented, And after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, yea, I was confounded, Because I bore the reproach of my youth.”

20 But isn't Ephraim still my precious son, my lovely child? Even though I often have to scold him, I can't forget him. So I'm torn inside with longing, wanting to show how much I care about him! declares the Lord.

Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a beloved child? For as often as I speak of him, I do earnestly remember him still. My heart beateth for him; I will have mercy upon him, saith Jehovah.

21 Put up markers on the road; make signposts for yourselves. You need to be sure you can find the highway, the road you traveled on. Come back, Virgin Israel, come back to your towns.

Set thee up waymarks; Raise thee pillars; Have regard to the highway, the way that thou goest! Return, O virgin of Israel, Return to these thy cities!

22 How long are you going to waver in your decision, you unfaithful daughter? For the Lord has made something new happen here: a woman is going to protect a man.

How long wilt thou wander about, O rebellious daughter? Behold, Jehovah createth a new thing in the earth: The woman shall protect the man.

23 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: When I bring them back home from exile, they will say again in the land of Judah and in its towns: “May the Lord bless you, holy mountain of Jerusalem, home of what is good and right.

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Again shall they say in the land of Judah, And in the cities thereof, when I bring back their captives, “May Jehovah bless thee, O habitation of justice, O holy mountain!”

24 The people of Judah and all its towns will live together in the land, the farmers and those who move around with their flocks,

And Judah shall dwell in it, and all his cities together, Husbandmen, and they that go forth with their flocks.

25 because I'm going to give rest to those who are tired and give strength to all those who are weak.”

For I will refresh him that is thirsty, And I will satisfy him that languisheth.

26 At this I woke up and looked around. I'd had a very pleasant sleep.

Upon this I awoke, and beheld, And my sleep was sweet to me.

27 Look! The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make the numbers of people and livestock grow in Israel and Judah.

Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, That I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah. With the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.

28 I took care of them by uprooting them and tearing them down, by wiping them out and destroying them and bringing them disaster. Now I will take care of them by building them up and helping them grow, declares the Lord.

And it shall be that as I have watched over them To pluck up, and to pull down, and to overthrow, And to destroy, and to afflict, So will I watch over them To build, and to plant, saith Jehovah.

29 At that time people won't repeat this proverb, “The fathers ate the unripe grapes, but their children got the sour taste.”

In those days they shall no more say, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children's teeth are set on edge.”

30 No. Each person will die because of their own sins. If anyone eats unripe grapes, they will get the sour taste themselves.

But every one shall die for his own iniquity; Every man that eateth sour grapes, His teeth shall be set on edge.

31 Look! The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and Judah.

Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, That I will make with the house of Israel, And with the house of Judah, a new covenant;

32 It won't be like the agreement that I made with their forefathers when I held their hands and led them out of Egypt. They broke that agreement, even though I was faithful like a husband to them, declares the Lord.

Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, In the day when I took them by the hand To bring them out of the land of Egypt; Which covenant of mine they broke, And I rejected them, saith Jehovah.

33 But this is the agreement I'm going to make with the people of Israel at that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws inside them and write them in their minds. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith Jehovah, I will put my law into their inward parts, And upon their hearts will I write it; And I will be their God, And they shall be my people.

34 No one will need to teach a neighbor or their brother, telling them, “You ought to know the Lord.” For everyone will know me, from the smallest to the greatest. I will forgive them when they do wrong, and I will forget about their sins.

And they shall teach no more, Every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, Saying, “Know ye Jehovah!” For they shall all know me, From the least of them even to the greatest of them, saith Jehovah; For I will forgive their iniquity, And I will remember their sin no more.

35 This is what the Lord says, who provides the sun to give light during the day, who places in order the moon and stars to give light at night, who makes the sea rough so that its waves roar; his name is the Lord Almighty:

Thus saith Jehovah, Who made the sun for a light by day, And the ordinances of the moon and stars for a light by night, Who stirreth up the sea, so that the waves thereof roar, Jehovah of hosts is his name:

36 Only if I allowed this order to fell apart, declares the Lord, would Israel's descendants stop being my people.

If these ordinances shall depart from before me, Then shall the race of Israel also cease from being a nation before me forever.

37 This is what the Lord says: Only if the heavens above could be measured, and the foundations of the earth below could be investigated, would I reject all of Israel's descendants because of everything they've done, declares the Lord.

Thus saith Jehovah: If the heavens above can be measured, Or the foundations of the earth beneath searched out, Then will I cast off all the race of Israel For all which they have done, saith Jehovah.

38 The time is coming, declares the Lord, when this city will be rebuilt for the Lord, all the way from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.

Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, That the city shall be built to Jehovah From the tower of Hananeel to the corner-gate.

39 The builder's measuring line will again stretch out directly to Gareb Hill and then turn toward Goah.

And the measuring line shall go forth over against it even to the hill Gareb, And extend itself to Goath.

40 The entire valley, where the dead are buried and the trash is dumped, and all the fields from the Kidron Valley as far as the Horse Gate to the east, will be holy to the Lord. Jerusalem will never again be torn down or destroyed.

And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, And all the fields to the brook Kidron, Even to the corner of the horsegate toward the East, Shall be holy to Jehovah. No more shall it be plucked up, Or thrown down, forever.