ירמיה 31
| בעת ההיא נאם יהוה אהיה לאלהים לכל משפחות ישראל והמה יהיו לי לעם׃ | 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.
| כה אמר יהוה מצא חן במדבר עם שרידי חרב הלוך להרגיעו ישראל׃ | 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.
| מרחוק יהוה נראה לי ואהבת עולם אהבתיך על כן משכתיך חסד׃ | 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.’
| עוד אבנך ונבנית בתולת ישראל עוד תעדי תפיך ויצאת במחול משחקים׃ | 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.
| עוד תטעי כרמים בהרי שמרון נטעו נטעים וחללו׃ | 5 |
Again you will plant your vineyards on the hills of Samaria, and you will eat the grapes [that grow there].
| כי יש יום קראו נצרים בהר אפרים קומו ונעלה ציון אל יהוה אלהינו׃ | 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!'”
| כי כה אמר יהוה רנו ליעקב שמחה וצהלו בראש הגוים השמיעו הללו ואמרו הושע יהוה את עמך את שארית ישראל׃ | 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!’
| הנני מביא אותם מארץ צפון וקבצתים מירכתי ארץ בם עור ופסח הרה וילדת יחדו קהל גדול ישובו הנה׃ | 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!
| בבכי יבאו ובתחנונים אובילם אוליכם אל נחלי מים בדרך ישר לא יכשלו בה כי הייתי לישראל לאב ואפרים בכרי הוא׃ | 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.”
| שמעו דבר יהוה גוים והגידו באיים ממרחק ואמרו מזרה ישראל יקבצנו ושמרו כרעה עדרו׃ | 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.
| כי פדה יהוה את יעקב וגאלו מיד חזק ממנו׃ | 11 |
I will buy [my] Israeli people back from those who [conquered them because] they were more powerful [than my people].
| ובאו ורננו במרום ציון ונהרו אל טוב יהוה על דגן ועל תירש ועל יצהר ועל בני צאן ובקר והיתה נפשם כגן רוה ולא יוסיפו לדאבה עוד׃ | 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.
| אז תשמח בתולה במחול ובחרים וזקנים יחדו והפכתי אבלם לששון ונחמתים ושמחתים מיגונם׃ | 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.
| ורויתי נפש הכהנים דשן ועמי את טובי ישבעו נאם יהוה׃ | 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!”
| כה אמר יהוה קול ברמה נשמע נהי בכי תמרורים רחל מבכה על בניה מאנה להנחם על בניה כי איננו׃ | 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.
| כה אמר יהוה מנעי קולך מבכי ועיניך מדמעה כי יש שכר לפעלתך נאם יהוה ושבו מארץ אויב׃ | 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].
| ויש תקוה לאחריתך נאם יהוה ושבו בנים לגבולם׃ | 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.’
| שמוע שמעתי אפרים מתנודד יסרתני ואוסר כעגל לא למד השבני ואשובה כי אתה יהוה אלהי׃ | 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.
| כי אחרי שובי נחמתי ואחרי הודעי ספקתי על ירך בשתי וגם נכלמתי כי נשאתי חרפת נעורי׃ | 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.’
| הבן יקיר לי אפרים אם ילד שעשועים כי מדי דברי בו זכר אזכרנו עוד על כן המו מעי לו רחם ארחמנו נאם יהוה׃ | 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.
| הציבי לך צינים שמי לך תמרורים שתי לבך למסלה דרך הלכתי שובי בתולת ישראל שבי אל עריך אלה׃ | 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.
| עד מתי תתחמקין הבת השובבה כי ברא יהוה חדשה בארץ נקבה תסובב גבר׃ | 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]!”
| כה אמר יהוה צבאות אלהי ישראל עוד יאמרו את הדבר הזה בארץ יהודה ובעריו בשובי את שבותם יברכך יהוה נוה צדק הר הקדש׃ | 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]!’
| וישבו בה יהודה וכל עריו יחדו אכרים ונסעו בעדר׃ | 24 |
[The people of] Judah [who live in] the towns, including the farmers and the shepherds, will all live together [peacefully].
| כי הרויתי נפש עיפה וכל נפש דאבה מלאתי׃ | 25 |
I will enable weary people to rest, and enable people who are very exhausted to become strong again.”
| על זאת הקיצתי ואראה ושנתי ערבה לי׃ | 26 |
I, [Jeremiah], woke up [after dreaming all those things], and I looked [around]. I had slept [very] delightfully!
| הנה ימים באים נאם יהוה וזרעתי את בית ישראל ואת בית יהודה זרע אדם וזרע בהמה׃ | 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.
| והיה כאשר שקדתי עליהם לנתוש ולנתוץ ולהרס ולהאביד ולהרע כן אשקד עליהם לבנות ולנטוע נאם יהוה׃ | 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.
| בימים ההם לא יאמרו עוד אבות אכלו בסר ושני בנים תקהינה׃ | 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.
| כי אם איש בעונו ימות כל האדם האכל הבסר תקהינה שניו׃ | 30 |
But now all people will die because of the sins that they themselves have committed.
| הנה ימים באים נאם יהוה וכרתי את בית ישראל ואת בית יהודה ברית חדשה׃ | 31 |
[I], Yahweh, say this: ‘There will be a time when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and Judah.
| לא כברית אשר כרתי את אבותם ביום החזיקי בידם להוציאם מארץ מצרים אשר המה הפרו את בריתי ואנכי בעלתי בם נאם יהוה׃ | 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.’
| כי זאת הברית אשר אכרת את בית ישראל אחרי הימים ההם נאם יהוה נתתי את תורתי בקרבם ועל לבם אכתבנה והייתי להם לאלהים והמה יהיו לי לעם׃ | 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.
| ולא ילמדו עוד איש את רעהו ואיש את אחיו לאמר דעו את יהוה כי כולם ידעו אותי למקטנם ועד גדולם נאם יהוה כי אסלח לעונם ולחטאתם לא אזכר עוד׃ | 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.’”
| כה אמר יהוה נתן שמש לאור יומם חקת ירח וכוכבים לאור לילה רגע הים ויהמו גליו יהוה צבאות שמו׃ | 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:
| אם ימשו החקים האלה מלפני נאם יהוה גם זרע ישראל ישבתו מהיות גוי לפני כל הימים׃ | 36 |
“I will not reject my Israeli people any more than I will get rid of the laws [that control the universe].
| כה אמר יהוה אם ימדו שמים מלמעלה ויחקרו מוסדי ארץ למטה גם אני אמאס בכל זרע ישראל על כל אשר עשו נאם יהוה׃ | 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!
| הנה ימים נאם יהוה ונבנתה העיר ליהוה ממגדל חננאל שער הפנה׃ | 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.
| ויצא עוד קוה המדה נגדו על גבעת גרב ונסב געתה׃ | 39 |
[Workers] will stretch a measuring line/string over Gareb Hill all the way [southwest] to Goah.
| וכל העמק הפגרים והדשן וכל השרמות עד נחל קדרון עד פנת שער הסוסים מזרחה קדש ליהוה לא ינתש ולא יהרס עוד לעולם׃ | 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.”
