Jeremiah 31

Hope for Restoration

31“In that day,” says the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.H6256H5002H3068H430H4940H3478H59712This is what the Lord says: “Those who survive the coming destruction will find blessings even in the barren land, for I will give rest to the people of Israel.”H559H3068H5971H8300H2719H4672H2580H4057H3478H1980H72803Long ago the Lord said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.H3068H7200H7350H157H5769H160H2617H49004I will rebuild you, my virgin Israel. You will again be happy and dance merrily with your tambourines.H1129H1129H1330H3478H5710H8596H3318H4234H78325Again you will plant your vineyards on the mountains of Samaria and eat from your own gardens there.H5193H3754H2022H8111H5193H5193H24906The day will come when watchmen will shout from the hill country of Ephraim, ‘Come, let us go up to Jerusalem

to worship the Lord our God.’”H3426H3117H5341H2022H669H7121H6965H5927H6726H3068H4307Now this is what the Lord says: “Sing with joy for Israel

. Shout for the greatest of nations! Shout out with praise and joy: ‘Save your people, O Lord, the remnant of Israel!’H559H3068H7442H8057H3290H6670H7218H1471H8085H1984H559H3068H3467H5971H7611H34788For I will bring them from the north and from the distant corners of the earth. I will not forget the blind and lame, the expectant mothers and women in labor. A great company will return!H935H6828H776H6908H3411H776H5787H6455H2030H3205H3162H1419H6951H77259Tears of joy will stream down their faces, and I will lead them home with great care. They will walk beside quiet streams and on smooth paths where they will not stumble. For I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my oldest child.H935H1065H8469H2986H3212H5158H4325H3477H1870H3782H1H3478H669H106010“Listen to this message from the Lord, you nations of the world; proclaim it in distant coastlands: The Lord, who scattered his people, will gather them and watch over them as a shepherd does his flock.H8085H1697H3068H1471H5046H339H4801H559H2219H3478H6908H8104H7462H573911For the Lord has redeemed Israel from those too strong for them.H3068H6299H3290H1350H3027H238912They will come home and sing songs of joy on the heights of Jerusalem. They will be radiant because of the Lord’s good gifts—the abundant crops of grain, new wine, and olive oil, and the healthy flocks and herds. Their life will be like a watered garden, and all their sorrows will be gone.H935H7442H4791H6726H5102H2898H3068H1715H8492H3323H1121H6629H1241H5315H7302H1588H1669H325413The young women will dance for joy, and the men—old and young—will join in the celebration. I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing.H1330H8055H4234H970H2205H3162H2015H60H8342H5162H8055H301514The priests will enjoy abundance, and my people will feast on my good gifts. I, the Lord, have spoken!”H7301H5315H3548H1880H5971H7646H2898H5002H3068

Rachel’s Sadness Turns to Joy

15This is what the Lord says: “A cry is heard in Ramah—deep anguish and bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted—for her children are gone.”H559H3068H6963H8085H7414H5092H8563H1065H7354H1058H1121H3985H5162H112116But now this is what the Lord says: “Do not weep any longer, for I will reward you,” says the Lord. “Your children will come back to you from the distant land of the enemy.H559H3068H4513H6963H1065H5869H1832H6468H3426H7939H5002H3068H7725H776H34117There is hope for your future,” says the Lord. “Your children will come again to their own land.H3426H8615H319H5002H3068H1121H7725H136618I have heard Israel

saying, ‘You disciplined me severely, like a calf that needs training for the yoke. Turn me again to you and restore me, for you alone are the Lord my God.H8085H8085H669H5110H3256H3256H5695H3808H3925H7725H7725H3068H43019I turned away from God, but then I was sorry. I kicked myself for my stupidity! I was thoroughly ashamed of all I did in my younger days.’H310H7725H5162H310H3045H5606H3409H954H3637H5375H2781H527120“Is not Israel still my son, my darling child?” says the Lord. “I often have to punish him, but I still love him. That’s why I long for him and surely will have mercy on him.H669H3357H1121H8191H3206H1767H1696H2142H2142H4578H1993H7355H7355H5002H306821Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Mark well the path by which you came. Come back again, my virgin Israel; return to your towns here.H5324H6725H7760H8564H7896H3820H4546H1870H1980H7725H1330H3478H7725H589222How long will you wander, my wayward daughter? For the Lord will cause something new to happen—Israel will embrace her God

.”H2559H7728H1323H3068H1254H2319H776H5347H5437H139723This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “When I bring them back from captivity, the people of Judah and its towns will again say, ‘The Lord bless you, O righteous home, O holy mountain!’H559H3068H6635H430H3478H559H1697H776H3063H5892H7725H7622H3068H1288H5116H6664H2022H694424Townspeople and farmers and shepherds alike will live together in peace and happiness.H3427H3063H5892H3162H406H5265H573925For I have given rest to the weary and joy to the sorrowing.”H7301H5889H5315H4390H1669H531526At this, I woke up and looked around. My sleep had been very sweet.H6974H7200H8142H614927“The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will greatly increase the human population and the number of animals here in Israel and Judah.H3117H935H5002H3068H2232H1004H3478H1004H3063H2233H120H2233H92928In the past I deliberately uprooted and tore down this nation. I overthrew it, destroyed it, and brought disaster upon it. But in the future I will just as deliberately plant it and build it up. I, the Lord, have spoken!H8245H5428H5422H2040H6H7489H8245H1129H5193H5002H306829“The people will no longer quote this proverb: ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste.’H3117H559H1H398H1155H1121H8127H694930All people will die for their own sins—those who eat the sour grapes will be the ones whose mouths will pucker.H376H4191H5771H120H398H1155H8127H694931“The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.H3117H935H5002H3068H3772H2319H1285H1004H3478H1004H306332This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord.H1285H3772H1H3117H2388H3027H3318H776H4714H1285H6565H1166H5002H306833“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.H1285H3772H1004H3478H310H3117H5002H3068H5414H8451H7130H3789H3820H430H597134And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”H3925H376H7453H376H251H559H3045H3068H3045H6996H1419H5002H3068H5545H5771H2142H240335It is the Lord who provides the sun to light the day and the moon and stars to light the night, and who stirs the sea into roaring waves. His name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and this is what he says.H559H3068H5414H8121H216H3119H2708H3394H3556H216H3915H7280H3220H1530H1993H3068H6635H803436“I am as likely to reject my people Israel as I am to abolish the laws of nature!”H2706H4185H6440H5002H3068H2233H3478H7673H1471H6440H311737This is what the Lord says: “Just as the heavens cannot be measured and the foundations of the earth cannot be explored, so I will not consider casting them away for the evil they have done. I, the Lord, have spoken!H559H3068H8064H4605H4058H4146H776H2713H4295H3988H2233H3478H6213H5002H306838“The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when all Jerusalem will be rebuilt for me, from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.H3117H935H5002H3068H5892H1129H3068H4026H2606H8179H643839A measuring line will be stretched out over the hill of Gareb and across to Goah.H4060H6957H6961H3318H1389H1619H5437H160140And the entire area—including the graveyard and ash dump in the valley, and all the fields out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the Horse Gate—will be holy to the Lord. The city will never again be captured or destroyed.”H6010H6297H1880H7709H8309H5158H6939H6438H5483H8179H4217H6944H3068H5428H2040H5769