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.”
At that time, an affirmation of Jehovah, I am for God to all families of Israel, And they — they are to Me for a people.
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.”
Thus said Jehovah: Found grace in the wilderness Hath a people remaining from the sword Going to cause it to rest — Israel.
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.
From afar Jehovah hath appeared to me, With love age-during I have loved thee, Therefore I have drawn thee [with] kindness.
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.
Again do I build thee, And thou hast been built, O virgin of Israel, Again thou puttest on thy tabrets, And hast gone out in the chorus of the playful.
5 You will plant vineyards again on the mountains of Samaria; the farmers will plant and put the fruit to good use.
Again thou dost plant vineyards In mountains of Samaria, Planters have planted, and made common.
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.'
For there is a day, Cried have watchmen on mount Ephraim, 'Rise, and we go up to Zion, unto Jehovah our God;
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.'
For thus said Jehovah: Sing, O ye to Jacob, [with] joy, And cry aloud at the head of the nations, Sound ye, praise ye, and say, Save, O Jehovah, thy people, the remnant of Israel.
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.
Lo, I am bringing them in from the north country, And have gathered them from the sides of the earth, Among them [are] blind and lame, Conceiving and travailing one — together, A great assembly — they turn back hither.
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.”
With weeping they come in, And with supplications I bring them, I cause them to go unto streams of waters, In a right way — they stumble not in it, For I have been to Israel for a father, And Ephraim — My first-born [is] he.
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.'
Hear a word of Jehovah, O nations, And declare ye among isles afar off, and say: He who is scattering Israel doth gather him, And hath kept him as a shepherd [doth] his flock,
11 For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from the hand that was too strong for him.
For Jehovah hath ransomed Jacob, And redeemed him from a hand stronger than he.
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.
And they have come in, And have sung in the high place of Zion, And flowed unto the goodness of Jehovah, For wheat, and for new wine, and for oil, And for the young of the flock and herd, And their soul hath been as a watered garden, And they add not to grieve any more.
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.
Then rejoice doth a virgin in a chorus, Both young men and old men — together, And I have turned their mourning to joy, And have comforted them, And gladdened them above their sorrow,
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.”
And satisfied the soul of the priests [with] fatness, And My people with My goodness are satisfied, An affirmation of Jehovah.
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.”
Thus said Jehovah, A voice in Ramah is heard, wailing, weeping most bitter, Rachel is weeping for her sons, She hath refused to be comforted for her sons, because they are not.
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.
Thus said Jehovah: Withhold thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears, For there is a reward for thy work, An affirmation of Jehovah, And they have turned back from the land of the enemy.
17 There is hope for your future—this is Yahweh's declaration—your descendants will return inside their borders.”
And there is hope for thy latter end, An affirmation of Jehovah, And the sons have turned back [to] their border.
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.
I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, 'Thou hast chastised me, And I am chastised, as a heifer not taught, Turn me back, and I turn back, For thou [art] Jehovah my God.
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.'
For after my turning back I repented, And after my being instructed I struck on the thigh, I have been ashamed, I have also blushed, For I have borne the reproach of my youth.
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.”
A precious son is Ephraim to Me? A child of delights? For since My speaking against him, I do thoroughly remember him still, Therefore have My bowels been moved for him, I do greatly love him, An affirmation of Jehovah.
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.
Set up for thee signs, make for thee heaps, Set thy heart to the highway, the way thou wentest, Turn back, O virgin of Israel, Turn back unto these thy cities.
22 How long will you waver, faithless daughter? For Yahweh has created something new on earth—a woman surrounds a strong man.
Till when dost thou withdraw thyself, O backsliding daughter? For Jehovah hath prepared a new thing in the land, Woman doth compass man.
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.'
Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, Still they say this word in the land of Judah, And in its cities, In My turning back [to] their captivity, Jehovah doth bless thee, habitation of righteousness, Mountain of holiness.
24 For Judah and all its cities will live together there, as will farmers and those who set out with flocks.
And dwelt in Judah have husbandmen, and in all its cities together, And they have journeyed in order.
25 For I will cause those who are weary to drink, and I fill up those who are faint.”
For I have satiated the weary soul, And every grieved soul I have filled.'
26 After this I awoke, and I realized that my sleep had been refreshing.
On this I have awaked, and I behold, and my sleep hath been sweet to me.
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.
Lo, days are coming, an affirmation of Jehovah, And I have sown the house of Israel, And the house of Judah, With seed of man, and seed of beast.
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.
And it hath been, as I watched over them to pluck up, And to break down, and to throw down, And to destroy, and to afflict; So do I watch over them to build, and to plant, An affirmation of Jehovah.
29 In those days no one will say any longer, 'Fathers have eaten sour grapes, but the children's teeth are dulled.'
In those days they do not say any more: Fathers have eaten unripe fruit, And the sons' teeth are blunted.
30 For each man will die in his own iniquity; everyone who eats sour grapes, his teeth will be dulled.
But — each for his own iniquity doth die, Every man who is eating the unripe fruit, Blunted are his teeth.
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.
Lo, days are coming, an affirmation of Jehovah, And I have made with the house of Israel And with the house of Judah a new covenant,
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.
Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers, In the day of My laying hold on their hand, To bring them out of the land of Egypt, In that they made void My covenant, And I ruled over them — an affirmation of Jehovah.
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.
For this [is] the covenant that I make, With the house of Israel, after those days, An affirmation of Jehovah, I have given My law in their inward part, And on their heart I do write it, And I have been to them for God, And they are to me for a people.
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.”
And they do not teach any more Each his neighbour, and each his brother, Saying, Know ye Jehovah, For they all know Me, from their least unto their greatest, An affirmation of Jehovah; For I pardon their iniquity, And of their sin I make mention no more.
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.
Thus said Jehovah, Who is giving the sun for a light by day, The statutes of moon and stars for a light by night, Quieting the sea when its billows roar, Jehovah of Hosts [is] His name:
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.”
If these statutes depart from before Me, An affirmation of Jehovah, Even the seed of Israel doth cease From being a nation before Me all the days.
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.”
Thus said Jehovah: If the heavens above be measured, And the foundations of earth below searched, Even I kick against all the seed of Israel, For all that they have done, An affirmation of Jehovah.
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.
Lo, days [are coming], an affirmation of Jehovah, And the city hath been built to Jehovah, From the tower of Hananeel to the gate of the corner.
39 Then the measuring line will go out again farther, to the hill of Gareb and around Goah.
And gone out again hath the measuring line Over-against it, unto the height of Gareb, And it hath compassed to Goah.
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.”
And all the valley of the carcases and of the ashes, And all the fields unto the brook Kidron, Unto the corner of the horse-gate eastward, [Are] holy to Jehovah, it is not plucked up, Nor is it thrown down any more to the age!
