Jeremiah 31
1 At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God for all the families of Israel, and they shall be unto me for a people.
Thus has the Lord said concerning MOAB, Woe to Nabau! for it has perished: Cariathaim is taken: Amath and Agath are put to shame.
2 Thus hath said the Lord, The people of those that are escaped of the sword found grace in the wilderness, —even Israel, when it went to find rest.
There is no longer any healing for Moab, [nor] glorying in Esebon: he has devised evils against her: we have cut her off from [being] a nation, and she shall be completely still: after you shall go a sword;
3 “From afar is the Lord appeared unto me,” [saying, ] Yea, with an everlasting love have I loved thee; therefore have I guided thee with loving-kindness.
for [there is] a voice of [men] crying out of Oronaim, destruction and great ruin.
4 Yet again will I build thee up, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: yet again shalt thou adorn thy timbrels, and go forth in the dances of those that make merry.
Moab is ruined, proclaim [it] to Zogora:
5 Yet again shalt thou plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall redeem the fruit.
for Aloth is filled with weeping: one shall go up weeping by the way of Oronaim; you have heard a cry of destruction.
6 For there cometh a day, that the watchers call out upon the mountain of Ephraim, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God.
Flee you, and save your lives, and you shall be as a wild ass in the desert.
7 For thus hath said the Lord, Sing for Jacob with joy, and shout at the head of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, The Lord hath helped thy people, the remnant of Israel.
Since you have trusted in your strong-hold, therefore you shall be taken: and Chamos shall go forth into captivity, and his priests, and his princes together.
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and I will gather them from the farthest ends of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she that travaileth with child together: a great assembly shall they return hither.
And destruction shall come upon every city, it shall by no means escape; the valley also shall perish, and the plain country shall be completely destroyed, as the Lord has said.
9 With weeping shall they come, and with supplications will I bring them in: I will lead them by brooks of water in a straight way, whereon they shall not stumble; for I am become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.
Set marks upon Moab, for she shall be touched with a plague-spot, and all her cities shall become desolate; whence [shall there be] an inhabitant for her?
10 Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and tell it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattereth Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd his flock.
Cursed is the man that does the works of the Lord carelessly, keeping back his sword from blood.
11 For the Lord hath ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him out of the hand of one stronger than he.
Moab has been at ease from a child, and trusted in his glory; he has not poured out [his liquor] from vessel to vessel, and has not gone into banishment, therefore his taste remained in him, and his smell departed not.
12 And they shall come and sing on the height of Zion, and shall come together as a stream to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flocks and of the herds, and their soul shall be as a well-watered garden; and they shall not farther experience grief any more.
Therefore, behold, his days come, says the Lord, when I shall send upon him bad leaders, and they shall lead him astray, and they shall utterly break in pieces his possessions, and shall cut his horns asunder.
13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and youth and old men together: and I will change their mourning into gladness, and I will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
And Moab shall be ashamed of Chamos, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Baethel their hope, having trusted in them.
14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord.
How will you say, We are strong, and men strong for war?
15 Thus hath said the Lord, A voice is heard in Ramah, groaning, weeping, and bitter lamentation; Rachel is weeping for her children: she refuseth to be comforted for her children because they are not [here].
Moab is ruined, [even] his city, and his choice young men have gone down to slaughter.
16 Thus hath said the Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thy eyes from tears; for there is a reward for thy work, saith the Lord, and they shall return from the land of the enemy.
The day of Moab is near at hand, and his iniquity moves swiftly [to vengeance].
17 And there is hope for [thee in] thy future, saith the Lord, and thy children shall return to their own borders.
Shake [the head] at him, all you that are round about him; all [of you] utter his name; say you, How is the glorious staff broken to pieces, the rod of magnificence!
18 I have indeed heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, “Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untamed calf; cause me to return, and I will return; for thou art the Lord my God.
Come down from [your] glory, and sit down in a damp place: Daebon shall be broken, because Moab is destroyed: there has gone up against you one to ravage your strong-hold.
19 Surely after my returning, I repent; and after I am made conscious [by punishment], I smite upon my thigh: I am ashamed, yea, I am confounded, because I bear the disgrace of my youth.”
Stand by the way, and look, you that dwell in Arer; and ask him that is fleeing, and him that escapes, and say, What has happened?
20 Is not Ephraim a dear son unto me? or a child that I dandle? for whenever I speak of him, I do earnestly remember him again: therefore are my inward parts moved for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.
Moab is put to shame, because he is broken: howl and cry; proclaim in Arnon, that Moab has perished.
21 Set thyself up waymarks, place thyself pillars; direct thy heart toward the highway, the way which thou didst go: return, O virgin of Israel, return to these thy cities.
And judgement is coming against the land of Misor, upon Chelon, and Rephas, and Mophas,
22 How long wilt thou roam about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the Lord hath created a new thing on the earth, The woman will go about [seeking for] the husband.
and upon Daebon, and upon Nabau, and upon the house of Daethlathaim,
23 Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Yet again shall they say this word in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I will bring back again their captivity, —May the Lord bless thee, O habitation of righteousness, O holy mountain.
and upon Cariathaim, and upon the house of Gaemol, and upon the house of Maon,
24 And there shall dwell therein Judah, and in all his cities together, husbandmen, and they that move about with the flocks.
and upon Carioth, and upon Bosor, and upon all the cities of Moab, far and near.
25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and every grieving soul have I gratified.
The horn of Moab is broken, and his arm is crushed.
26 For this did I awake, and looked about, and my sleep was sweet unto me.
Make you him drunk; for he has magnified himself against the Lord: and Moab shall clap with his hand, and shall be also himself a laughing stock.
27 Behold, days are coming, saith the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man; and with the seed of cattle.
For surely Israel was to you a laughing stock, and was found amongst your thefts, because you did fight against him.
28 And it shall come to pass, that just as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to overthrow, and to destroy, and to do harm: so will I watch over them, to build up, and to plant, saith the Lord.
The inhabitants of Moab have left the cities, and lived in rocks; they have become as doves nestling in rocks, at the mouth of a cave.
29 In those days shall they not say any more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge;
And I have heard of the pride of Moab, he has greatly heightened his pride and his haughtiness, and his heart has been lifted up.
30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grapes—his teeth shall be set on edge.
But I know his works: is it not enough for him? has he not done thus?
31 Behold, days are coming, saith the Lord, when I will make with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, a new covenant;
Therefore howl you for Moab on all sides; cry out against the shorn men [in] a gloomy place. I will weep for you,
32 Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day that I took hold of them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they have broken, although I was become their husband, saith the Lord;
O vine of Aserema, as with the weeping of Jazer: your branches are gone over the sea, they reached the cities of Jazer: destruction has come upon your fruits, [and] upon your grape gatherers.
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord, I place my law in their inward parts, and upon their heart will I write it; and I will be unto them for a God, and they shall be unto me for a people.
Joy and gladness have been utterly swept off the land of Moab: and [though] there was wine in your presses, in the morning they trod it not, neither in the evening did they raise the cry of joy.
34 And they shall not teach any more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they all shall know me, from the least of them even unto their greatest, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I not remember any more.
From the cry of Esebon even to Aetam their cities uttered their voice, from Zogor to Oronaim, and their tidings [as] a heifer of three years old, for the water also of Nebrin shall be dried up.
35 Thus hath said the Lord, who bestoweth the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirreth up the sea that its waves roar—The Lord of hosts is his name:
And I will destroy Moab, says the Lord, as he comes up to the altar, and burns incense to his gods.
36 If these ordinances ever depart from before me, saith the Lord, then also shall the seed of Israel cease from being a nation before me during all time.
Therefore the heart of Moab shall sound as pipes, my heart shall sound as a pipe for the shorn men; forasmuch as what [every] man has gained has perished from him.
37 Thus hath said the Lord, If the heavens can be measured above, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath: then also will I reject all the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, saith the Lord.
They shall all have their heads shaved in every place, and every beard shall be shaved; and all hands shall beat [the breasts], and on all loins shall be sackcloth.
38 Behold, days are coming, saith the Lord, when the city shall be built up to the Lord from the tower of Chananel unto the corner-gate.
And on all the housetops of Moab, and in his streets [shall be mourning]: for I have broken [him], says the Lord, as a vessel, which is useless.
39 And the measuring-line shall yet again go forth opposite it over the hill Gareb, and shall take a turn to Go'ath.
How has he changed! how has Moab turned [his] back! Moab is put to shame, and become a laughing stock, and an object of anger to all that are round about him.
40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all fields as far as the brook Kidron, unto the corner of the horse-gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the Lord: it shall not be plucked up, nor overthrown any more to eternity.
For thus said the Lord;
Carioth is taken, and the strongholds have been taken together.
And Moab shall perish from being a multitude, because he has magnified himself against the Lord.
A snare, and fear, and the pit, are upon you, O inhabitant of Moab.
He that flees from the terror shall fall into the pit, and he that comes up out of the pit shall even be taken in the snare: for I will bring these things upon Moab in the year of their visitation.
