Jeremiah 31
1 “At that time—this is Yahweh's declaration—I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be my 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 Yahweh says this, “The people who have survived the sword have found favor in the wilderness; I will go out to give rest to Israel.”
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 Yahweh appeared to me in the past and said, “I have loved you, Israel, with everlasting love. So I have drawn you toward myself with covenant faithfulness.
for [there is] a voice of [men] crying out of Oronaim, destruction and great ruin.
4 I will build you up again so you will be built, virgin Israel. You will again pick up your tambourines and go out with happy dances.
Moab is ruined, proclaim [it] to Zogora:
5 You will plant vineyards again on the mountains of Samaria; the farmers will plant and put the fruit to good use.
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 a day will come when the watchmen in the mountains of Ephraim will proclaim, 'Arise, let us go up to Zion to Yahweh our God.'
Flee you, and save your lives, and you shall be as a wild ass in the desert.
7 For Yahweh says this, “Shout for joy over Jacob! Shout in gladness for the chief people of the nations! Let praise be heard. Say, 'Yahweh has rescued his 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 See, I am about to bring them from the northern lands. I will gather them from the farthest parts of the earth. The blind and lame will be among them; pregnant women and those who are about to give birth will be with them. A great assembly will return here.
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 They will come weeping; I will lead them as they make their pleas. I will have them journey to streams of water on a straight road. They will not stumble on it, for I will be a father to Israel, and Ephraim will be my firstborn.”
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 Yahweh, nations. Report along the coasts in the distance. You nations must say, 'The one who scattered Israel is gathering her up and keeping her as a shepherd keeps his sheep.'
Cursed is the man that does the works of the Lord carelessly, keeping back his sword from blood.
11 For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from the hand that was too strong for him.
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 Then they will come and rejoice on the heights of Zion. Their faces will shine because of Yahweh's goodness, over the corn and the new wine, over the oil and the offspring of the flocks and herds. For their lives will become like a watered garden, and they will never again feel any more sorrow.
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 virgins will rejoice with dancing, and young and old men will be together. For I will change their mourning into celebration. I will have compassion on them and cause them to rejoice instead of sorrowing.
And Moab shall be ashamed of Chamos, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Baethel their hope, having trusted in them.
14 Then I will saturate the lives of the priests in abundance. My people will fill themselves with my goodness—this is Yahweh's declaration.”
How will you say, We are strong, and men strong for war?
15 Yahweh says this: “A voice is heard in Ramah, wailing and bitter weeping. It is Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted over them, for they live no longer.”
Moab is ruined, [even] his city, and his choice young men have gone down to slaughter.
16 Yahweh says this, “Hold your voice back from weeping and your eyes from tears; there is a reward for your work—this is Yahweh's declaration—your children will return from the land of the enemy.
The day of Moab is near at hand, and his iniquity moves swiftly [to vengeance].
17 There is hope for your future—this is Yahweh's declaration—your descendants will return inside their 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 certainly heard Ephraim sorrowing, 'You punished me, and I have been punished like an untrained calf. Bring me back and I will be brought back, for you are Yahweh 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 For after I turned back to you, I was sorry; after I was trained, I slapped my thigh. I was ashamed and humiliated, for I have borne the guilt 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 my precious child? Is he not my dear, delightful son? For whenever I speak against him, I certainly still call him to my loving mind. In this way my heart longs for him. I will certainly have compassion on him—this is Yahweh's declaration.”
Moab is put to shame, because he is broken: howl and cry; proclaim in Arnon, that Moab has perished.
21 Place road signs for yourself. Set up guideposts for yourself. Set your mind on the right path, the way you should take. Come back, virgin Israel! Come back to these cities of yours.
And judgment is coming against the land of Misor, upon Chelon, and Rephas, and Mophas,
22 How long will you waver, faithless daughter? For Yahweh has created something new on earth—a woman surrounds a strong man.
and upon Daebon, and upon Nabau, and upon the house of Daethlathaim,
23 Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, says this, “When I bring back the people to their land, they will say this in the land of Judah and its cities, 'May Yahweh bless you, you righteous place where he lives, you holy mountain.'
and upon Cariathaim, and upon the house of Gaemol, and upon the house of Maon,
24 For Judah and all its cities will live together there, as will farmers and those who set out with flocks.
and upon Carioth, and upon Bosor, and upon all the cities of Moab, far and near.
25 For I will cause those who are weary to drink, and I fill up those who are faint.”
The horn of Moab is broken, and his arm is crushed.
26 After this I awoke, and I realized that my sleep had been refreshing.
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 “Look, the days are coming—this is Yahweh's declaration—when I will sow the houses of Israel and Judah with the descendants of man and beast.
For surely Israel was to you a laughing stock, and was found among your thefts, because you did fight against him.
28 In the past, I kept them under surveillance in order to uproot them and to tear them down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring them harm. But in the coming days, I will watch over them, in order to build them up and to plant them—this is Yahweh's declaration.
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 no one will say any longer, 'Fathers have eaten sour grapes, but the children's teeth are dulled.'
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 For each man will die in his own iniquity; everyone who eats sour grapes, his teeth will be dulled.
But I know his works: is it not enough for him? has he not done thus?
31 Look, the days are coming —this is Yahweh's declaration— when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
Therefore howl you for Moab on all sides; cry out against the shorn men [in] a gloomy place. I will weep for you,
32 It will not be like the covenant that I established with their fathers in the days when I took them by their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, although I was a husband for them. —this is Yahweh's declaration.
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 This is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after these days —this is Yahweh's declaration. I will place my law within them and will write it on their heart, for I will be their God, and they will be my 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 Then each man will no longer teach his neighbor, or a man teach his brother and say, 'Know Yahweh!' For all of them will know me, from the smallest of them to the greatest —this is Yahweh's declaration— for I will forgive their iniquity and will no longer call their sins to mind.”
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 Yahweh says this, it is he who makes the sun to shine by day and fixes the moon and stars to shine by night. He is the one who sets the sea in motion so that its waves roar— Yahweh 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 “Only if these permanent things vanish from my sight—this is Yahweh's declaration— will Israel's descendants ever stop from forever being a nation before me.”
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 Yahweh says this, “Only if the highest heavens can be measured, and only if the earth's foundation below can be discovered, will I reject all of Israel's descendants because of all that they have done—this is Yahweh's declaration.”
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 “Look, the days are coming—this is Yahweh's declaration—when the city will be rebuilt for me, from the Tower of Hananel to 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 Then the measuring line will go out again farther, to the hill of Gareb and around Goah.
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 The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the terraced fields going out to the Kidron Valley as far as the corner of the Horse Gate on the east, will be set apart for Yahweh. The city will not be pulled up or overthrown again, forever.”
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.
