Jeremiah 31

1 Yahweh says that at that time, he will be the God [who is worshiped by] all the clans in Israel, and they will be his people.

“In that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”

2 This is what Yahweh says: “Those [people] who remained alive and were not killed by [their enemies’] swords were blessed [by me even] in the desert; I enabled them to have peace.

Thus says the Lord: “The people who had remained after the sword, found grace in the desert. Israel will go to his rest.”

3 Long ago [I, ] Yahweh, said to [your ancestors, ] the Israeli people, ‘I have loved you and I will continue to love you forever. By faithfully loving you, I have brought you close to myself.’

The Lord appeared to me from a distance: “And I have loved you in perpetual charity. Therefore, showing pity, I have drawn you.

4 And [now I tell you], my Israeli people whom I love [MET], that I will cause you to be a nation again. You will [joyfully] dance as you play your tambourines.

And I will build you up again. And you shall be built up, O virgin of Israel. Still shall you be adorned with your timbrels, and still shall you go forth to the singing of those who play.

5 Again you will plant your vineyards on the hills of Samaria, and you will eat the grapes [that grow there].

Still shall you plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. The planters will plant, and they will not gather the vintage until the time arrives.

6 There will be a time when watchmen will call out from the hills of Samaria [MTY], ‘Come, let’s go up to Jerusalem to [worship] Yahweh, our God!'”

For there will be a day on which the guardians on mount Ephraim will cry out: ‘Arise! And let us ascend on Zion to the Lord our God!’”

7 And now Yahweh also says this: “Sing joyfully about [what I have done for] the people of Israel! Shout about [your nation, ] the greatest nation! Shout joyfully, praising me and saying, ‘Yahweh, rescue your people, the ones who are still alive!’

For thus says the Lord: “Exult in the joy of Jacob, and neigh before the head of the Gentiles. Shout, and sing, and say: ‘O Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel!’

8 Do that [because] I will bring them back from the northeast, from the most distant places on the earth. Among them will be blind people and lame people, women who are pregnant and women who are (having labor pains/about to give birth to babies). They will be a huge group of people!

Behold, I will lead them from the land of the north, and I will gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, she who is with child, together with she who is giving birth: a great assembly returning to this place.

9 They will be crying as they return, and they will be praying [to me]. I will guide them along streams of water, on level paths where they will not stumble. [I will do this] because I am [like] a father to the Israeli people; [it is as though] Israel is my oldest son.”

They will approach with weeping. And I will lead them back with mercy. And I will lead them through the torrents of water, by an upright way, and they will not stumble in it. For I have become Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.”

10 Yahweh says, “[You people in the] nations of the world, listen to this message from me. Then proclaim it to [people who live along] the coasts far away. I scattered my people, but I will gather them [again] and will take care of them like [SIM] a shepherd takes care of his sheep.

Listen to the word of the Lord, O Gentiles, and announce it amid the islands that are far away, and say: “Whoever has scattered Israel will gather him, and he will guard him as a shepherd guards his flock.”

11 I will buy [my] Israeli people back from those who [conquered them because] they were more powerful [than my people].

For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and he has freed him from the hand of one more powerful.

12 My people will return [to Jerusalem] and shout joyfully on the slopes of Zion Hill. They will rejoice about the things that I have abundantly given to them— grain and new wine and [olive] oil and young sheep and cattle. They themselves will be like a well-watered garden, and they will no longer be sad.

And they will arrive and give praise on Mount Zion. And they will flow together, to the good things of the Lord, over grain, and wine, and oil, and the offspring of cattle and herds. And their soul will be like an irrigated garden, and they will no longer be hungry.

13 The young women will dance joyfully, and [all] the men, young ones and old ones, will join with them. I will cause them to rejoice instead of mourning; I will comfort them and cause them to be happy instead of being sad.

Then the virgin will rejoice with singing, the young and the old together, and I will turn their mourning into gladness, and I will console them and gladden them after their sorrow.

14 The priests will have plenty of things to eat and drink, and [all] my people will be filled with the good things that I give them. [That will certainly happen because I], Yahweh, have said it!”

And I will inebriate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people will be filled with my good things, says the Lord.”

15 Yahweh [also] says this: “Women were weeping in Ramah [town on the border between Israel and Judah]; they were mourning and crying very loudly. [The women who were the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, the two grandsons of] Rachel [the wife of Jacob], were weeping about their children, and no one could comfort them because their children were [all] dead.

Thus says the Lord: “A voice has been heard on high: of lamentation, mourning, and weeping; of Rachel crying for her sons and refusing to be consoled over them, because they are not.”

16 [But now] this is what [I], Yahweh, say: ‘Do not cry [any more], because I will reward you [for the good things you have done for your children]. Your children will return from the land where their enemies [have taken them].

Thus says the Lord: “Let your voice cease from crying and your eyes from tears. For there is a reward for your work, says the Lord. And they will return from the land of the enemy.

17 [I], Yahweh, am telling you that there are things that you can confidently expect [me to do for you] in the future. Your children will return to their own land.’

And there is hope for your very end, says the Lord. And the sons will return to their own borders.

18 I have heard [the people of] Israel grieving very much [and saying to me], ‘You punished us severely, like [SIM] calves are beaten [by their owners to train them for pulling a plow]. [So] bring us back [to obey/worship you again], because we are ready to return to you, because you [alone] are Yahweh, our God.

Listening, I heard Ephraim going into captivity: ‘You have chastised me, and I was instructed, like a young untamed bull. Convert me, and I shall be converted. For you are the Lord my God.

19 We turned away [from you], but we repented; [after you] caused us to realize [that we were guilty]. We beat our chests to show that we were very ashamed [DOU] of the sins that we committed when we were young.’

For after you converted me, I did penance. And after you revealed to me, I struck my thigh. I am confounded and ashamed. For I have endured the disgrace of my youth.’

20 But [I], Yahweh, say this: The Israeli people certainly are [RHQ] still my dear children [DOU]. It is often necessary for me to threaten [to punish] them, but I still love them. That is why I have not forgotten them, and I will certainly act mercifully toward them.

Certainly, Ephraim is an honorable son to me; surely, he is a tender child. For I will still remember him, as in the time when I first spoke about him. Because my heart is stirred up over him, surely I will take pity on him, says the Lord.

21 [You Israeli people, ] set up road signs; put up posts [along the roads] to mark the road on which you walked [when you were taken from Jerusalem]. My precious/beloved Israeli people, come back to your towns here.

Establish a watchtower for yourself. Place yourself in bitterness. Direct your heart into the upright way, in which you used to walk. Return, return, O virgin of Israel, to these your cities!

22 You people who have been like [MET] daughters who have forsaken their parents, how long will you continue to wander [away from me] [RHQ]? I, Yahweh, will cause something to happen on the earth that (is new/has not happened before): The women of Israel will be protecting their husbands as they travel [back here]!”

How long will you be absorbed in delights, O wandering daughter? For the Lord has created something new upon the earth: a woman will encompass a man.”

23 This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom [we] Israeli people [worship], says: “When I bring them back from the countries to which they have been exiled, all the people from the towns in Judah will again say, [‘I hope that] Yahweh will bless this my home, the holy place where righteous [people will live]!’

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Still they will speak this word in the land of Judah, and in its cities, when I will convert their captivity: ‘May the Lord bless you, the beauty of justice, the holy mountain.’

24 [The people of] Judah [who live in] the towns, including the farmers and the shepherds, will all live together [peacefully].

And they will live in it: Judah together with all its cities, the farmer and those who drive the flocks.

25 I will enable weary people to rest, and enable people who are very exhausted to become strong again.”

For I have inebriated the weary soul, and I have satisfied every hungry soul.

26 I, [Jeremiah], woke up [after dreaming all those things], and I looked [around]. I had slept [very] delightfully!

Over this, I was awakened, as if from a deep sleep. And I saw, and my sleep became sweet to me.

27 [Then] Yahweh said [to me], “There will be a time when I will greatly increase [MET] the number of people and the number of livestock here in Israel and Judah.

Behold, the days are approaching, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the offspring of men and with the offspring of cattle.

28 [Previously], I caused [their enemies to] remove the people from their land and to destroy their land and to cause them to experience many disasters [DOU]. But in the future, I will enable them to build houses and to plant crops [here in Israel again]. [That will surely happen because I], Yahweh, have said it.

And just as I have watched over them, so that I may root up, and tear down, and scatter, and destroy, and afflict, so will I watch over them, so that I may build and plant them, says the Lord.

29 [Previously the people often said, ] ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but it is the children’s teeth that ache.’ [They meant that it was not fair for them to be punished for their ancestors’ sins]. But [when I bring them back to their land], they will no longer say that.

In those days, they will no longer say: ‘The fathers ate a bitter grape, and the teeth of the sons have been affected.’

30 But now all people will die because of the sins that they themselves have committed.

Instead, each one will die for his own iniquity. Each man who will have eaten a bitter grape, his own teeth will be affected.

31 [I], Yahweh, say this: ‘There will be a time when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and Judah.

Behold, the days are approaching, says the Lord, when I will form a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

32 [This new agreement will] not be like the agreement that I made with their ancestors when I took them by their hands and led them out of Egypt. They broke that agreement, even though I [loved them like] [MET] husbands love their wives.’

not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day when I took them by the hand, so as to lead them away from the land of Egypt, the covenant which they nullified, though I was the ruler over them, says the Lord.

33 This is what I, Yahweh, say: ‘This is the new agreement that I will make with the people of Israel some day: I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their inner beings. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

But this will be the covenant that I will form with the house of Israel, after those days, says the Lord: I will give my law to their inner most being, and I will write it upon their heart. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

34 And it will not be [necessary] for them to teach their neighbors or their relatives and say, “[You need to] know Yahweh,” because everyone, including unimportant people and very important people, will [already] know me. And I will forgive them for having been very wicked, and I will never think again about the sins that they have committed.’”

And they will no longer teach, a man his neighbor, and a man his brother, saying: ‘Know the Lord.’ For all will know me, from the littlest of them even to the greatest, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will no longer remember their sin.

35 Yahweh is the one who causes the sun to give light during the day, and who causes the moon and the stars to give light during the night. He stirs up the seas, with the result that waves roar. His name is the Commander of the armies of angels, and this is what he says:

Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun as the light of the day, who puts the moon and the stars in order as the light of the night, who stirs up the sea and makes its waves roar: the Lord of hosts is his name.

36 “I will not reject my Israeli people any more than I will get rid of the laws [that control the universe].

If these laws fail in my sight, says the Lord, then the offspring of Israel will also fail, so that they will not be a people in my sight for all time.”

37 And this is what I say: ‘No one can measure the sky, and no one can find out what is supporting the earth. Similarly, I cannot reject forever the descendants of Jacob because of all the [evil] things that they have done.’ [That is certain, because] I, Yahweh, have said it!

Thus says the Lord: “If the heavens above are able to be measured, and if the foundations of the earth beneath can be examined, I also will cast aside all the offspring of Israel, because of all that they have done, says the Lord.

38 [I], Yahweh, also say that there will be a time when [everything in] Jerusalem will be rebuilt for me, from the tower of Hananel [at the northeast corner, west] to [the gate named] the Corner Gate.

Behold, the days are approaching, says the Lord, when a city will be built for the Lord from the tower of Hananel, even to the Gate of the Corner;

39 [Workers] will stretch a measuring line/string over Gareb Hill all the way [southwest] to Goah.

and the measuring line will go on even further in his sight, over the hill of Gareb, and it will encircle Goah

40 And the whole area, including the place where corpses and ashes are thrown in the [Kidron] Valley, and all the fields to the east as far as the Horse Gate, will become set apart for me. And the city [of Jerusalem] will never again be captured or destroyed.”

and the entire Valley of dead bodies and ashes, and the entire region of death, even to the torrent of Kedron, and to the corner of the Horse Gate to the east. All this will be the holy place of the Lord. It will not be rooted up, and it will not be torn down, anymore, forever.”