Jeremiah 31
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!”H7301H5315H3548H1880H5971H7646H2898H5002H306815This 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
Jeremiah 32
32The following message came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah. This was also the eighteenth year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar.H1697H3414H3068H6224H8141H6667H4428H3063H8083H6240H8141H8141H50192Jerusalem was then under siege from the Babylonian army, and Jeremiah was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace.H4428H894H2428H6696H3389H3414H5030H3607H2691H4307H4428H3063H10043King Zedekiah had put him there, asking why he kept giving this prophecy: “This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will take it.H6667H4428H3063H3607H559H5012H559H559H3068H5414H5892H3027H4428H894H39204King Zedekiah will be captured by the Babylonians and taken to meet the king of Babylon face to face.H6667H4428H3063H4422H3027H3778H5414H5414H3027H4428H894H1696H6310H6310H5869H7200H58695He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and I will deal with him there,’ says the Lord. ‘If you fight against the Babylonians, you will never succeed.’”H3212H6667H894H6485H5002H3068H3898H3778H67436At that time the Lord sent me a message. He said,H3414H559H1697H3068H5597“Your cousin Hanamel son of Shallum will come and say to you, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else.’”H2601H1121H7967H1730H935H559H7069H7704H6068H4941H1353H70698Then, just as the Lord had said he would, my cousin Hanamel came and visited me in the prison. He said, “Please buy my field at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else, so buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that the message I had heard was from the Lord.H2601H1730H1121H935H2691H4307H1697H3068H559H7069H7704H6068H776H1144H4941H3425H1353H7069H3045H1697H30689So I bought the field at Anathoth, paying Hanamel seventeen pieces of silver for it.H7069H7704H2601H1730H1121H6068H8254H3701H7651H6235H8255H370110I signed and sealed the deed of purchase before witnesses, weighed out the silver, and paid him.H3789H5612H2856H5749H5707H8254H3701H397611Then I took the sealed deed and an unsealed copy of the deed, which contained the terms and conditions of the purchase,H3947H5612H4736H2856H4687H2706H154012and I handed them to Baruch son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. I did all this in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed, and all the men of Judah who were there in the courtyard of the guardhouse.H5414H5612H4736H1263H1121H5374H1121H4271H5869H2601H1730H5869H5707H3789H5612H4736H5869H3064H3427H2691H430713Then I said to Baruch as they all listened,H6680H1263H5869H55914“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Take both this sealed deed and the unsealed copy, and put them into a pottery jar to preserve them for a long time.’H559H3068H6635H430H3478H3947H5612H5612H4736H2856H5612H1540H5414H2789H3627H5975H7227H311715For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Someday people will again own property here in this land and will buy and sell houses and vineyards and fields.’”H559H3068H6635H430H3478H1004H7704H3754H7069H77616Then after I had given the papers to Baruch, I prayed to the Lord.H310H5414H5612H4736H1263H1121H5374H6419H3068H55917“O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!H162H136H3069H6213H8064H776H1419H3581H5186H2220H1697H638118You show unfailing love to thousands, but you also bring the consequences of one generation’s sin upon the next. You are the great and powerful God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.H6213H2617H505H7999H5771H1H2436H1121H310H1419H1368H410H3068H6635H803419You have all wisdom and do great and mighty miracles. You see the conduct of all people, and you give them what they deserve.H1419H6098H7227H5950H5869H6491H1870H1121H120H5414H376H1870H6529H461120You performed miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt—things still remembered to this day! And you have continued to do great miracles in Israel and all around the world. You have made your name famous to this day.H7760H226H4159H776H4714H3117H3478H120H6213H8034H311721“You brought Israel out of Egypt with mighty signs and wonders, with a strong hand and powerful arm, and with overwhelming terror.H3318H5971H3478H776H4714H226H4159H2389H3027H5186H248H1419H417222You gave the people of Israel this land that you had promised their ancestors long before—a land flowing with milk and honey.H5414H776H7650H1H5414H776H2100H2461H170623Our ancestors came and conquered it and lived in it, but they refused to obey you or follow your word. They have not done anything you commanded. That is why you have sent this terrible disaster upon them.H935H3423H8085H6963H1980H8451H6213H6680H6213H7451H712224“See how the siege ramps have been built against the city walls! Through war, famine, and disease, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, who will conquer it. Everything has happened just as you said.H5550H935H5892H3920H5892H5414H3027H3778H3898H6440H2719H7458H1698H1696H720025And yet, O Sovereign Lord, you have told me to buy the field—paying good money for it before these witnesses—even though the city will soon be handed over to the Babylonians.”H559H136H3069H7069H7704H3701H5749H5707H5892H5414H3027H377826Then this message came to Jeremiah from the Lord:H1697H3068H3414H55927“I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?H3068H430H1320H1697H638128Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I will hand this city over to the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he will capture it.H559H3068H5414H5892H3027H3778H3027H5019H4428H894H392029The Babylonians outside the walls will come in and set fire to the city. They will burn down all these houses where the people provoked my anger by burning incense to Baal on the rooftops and by pouring out liquid offerings to other gods.H3778H3898H5892H935H3341H784H5892H8313H1004H1406H6999H1168H5258H5262H312H430H370730Israel and Judah have done nothing but wrong since their earliest days. They have infuriated me with all their evil deeds,” says the Lord.H1121H3478H1121H3063H6213H7451H5869H5271H1121H3478H3707H4639H3027H5002H306831“From the time this city was built until now, it has done nothing but anger me, so I am determined to get rid of it.H5892H639H2534H3117H1129H3117H5493H644032“The sins of Israel and Judah—the sins of the people of Jerusalem, the kings, the officials, the priests, and the prophets—have stirred up my anger.H7451H1121H3478H1121H3063H6213H3707H4428H8269H3548H5030H376H3063H3427H338933My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return. Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey.H6437H6203H6440H3925H7925H3925H8085H3947H414834They have set up their abominable idols right in my own Temple, defiling it.H7760H8251H1004H7121H8034H293035They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing. What an incredible evil, causing Judah to sin so greatly!H1129H1116H1168H1516H1121H2011H1121H1323H5674H4432H6680H5927H3820H6213H8441H3063H239836“Now I want to say something more about this city. You have been saying, ‘It will fall to the king of Babylon through war, famine, and disease.’ But this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:H559H3068H430H3478H5892H559H5414H3027H4428H894H2719H7458H169837I will certainly bring my people back again from all the countries where I will scatter them in my fury. I will bring them back to this very city and let them live in peace and safety.H6908H776H5080H639H2534H1419H7110H7725H4725H3427H98338They will be my people, and I will be their God.H5971H43039And I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants.H5414H259H3820H259H1870H3372H3117H2896H1121H31040And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me.H3772H5769H1285H7725H310H3190H5414H3374H3824H549341I will find joy doing good for them and will faithfully and wholeheartedly replant them in this land.H7797H2895H5193H776H571H3820H531542“This is what the Lord says: Just as I have brought all these calamities on them, so I will do all the good I have promised them.H559H3068H935H1419H7451H5971H935H2896H169643Fields will again be bought and sold in this land about which you now say, ‘It has been ravaged by the Babylonians, a desolate land where people and animals have all disappeared.’H7704H7069H776H559H8077H120H929H5414H3027H377844Yes, fields will once again be bought and sold—deeds signed and sealed and witnessed—in the land of Benjamin and here in Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the hill country, in the foothills of Judah and in the Negev, too. For someday I will restore prosperity to them. I, the Lord, have spoken!”H7069H7704H3701H3789H5612H2856H5749H5707H776H1144H5439H3389H5892H3063H5892H2022H5892H8219H5892H5045H7622H7725H5002H3068
Dublin, OH
to worship the Lord our God.’”H3426
