Jeremiah 31

1 “At that time,” a declaration of YHWH, “I am the God of all families of Israel, || And they are My people.” 2 Thus said YHWH: “A people remaining from the sword || Have found grace in the wilderness || When Israel went to find rest.” 3 YHWH has appeared to me from afar, “I have loved you with perpetual love, || Therefore I have drawn you with kindness. 4 I build you again, || And you have been built, || O virgin of Israel, || You put on your tambourines again, || And have gone out in the chorus of the playful. 5 You plant vineyards in mountains of Samaria again, || Planters have planted, and made common. 6 For there is a day, || Watchmen have cried on Mount Ephraim, || Rise, and we go up to Zion, to our God YHWH”; 7 For thus said YHWH: “Sing with joy for Jacob, || And cry aloud at the head of the nations, || Sound, praise, and say, || Save, O YHWH, Your people, the remnant of Israel. 8 Behold, I am bringing them in from the north country, || And have gathered them from the sides of the earth, || Blind and lame are among them, || Conceiving and travailing one—together, || A great assembly—they return here. 9 They come in with weeping, || And I bring them with supplications, || I cause them to go to streams of waters, || In a right way—they do not stumble in it, || For I have been a Father to Israel, || And Ephraim—he is My firstborn.” 10 Hear a word of YHWH, O nations, || And declare among the far off in the islands, and say: He who is scattering Israel gathers him, || And has kept His flock as a shepherd, 11 For YHWH has ransomed Jacob, || And redeemed him from a hand stronger than he. 12 And they have come in, || And have sung in the high place of Zion, || And flowed to the goodness of YHWH, || For wheat, and for new wine, and for oil, || And for the young of the flock and herd, || And their soul has been as a watered garden, || And they do not continue to grieve anymore. 13 “Then a virgin rejoices 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 And satisfied the soul of the priests with fatness, || And My people are satisfied with My goodness,” || A declaration of YHWH. 15 Thus said YHWH: “A voice is heard in Ramah, || Wailing and the weeping of bitterness, || Rachel is weeping for her sons, || She has refused to be comforted for her sons, because they are not.” 16 Thus said YHWH: “Withhold your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, || For there is a reward for your work,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “And they have turned back from the land of the enemy. 17 And there is hope for your latter end,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “And the sons have turned back to their border. 18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, || You have disciplined me, || And I am disciplined, as a heifer that is not taught, || Turn me back, and I turn back, || For You are my God YHWH. 19 For after my turning back I regretted, || 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 Ephraim a precious son to Me? A child of delights? For since My speaking against him, || I still thoroughly remember him, || Therefore My bowels have been moved for him, || I love him greatly,” || A declaration of YHWH. 21 “Set up signs for yourself, || Make heaps for yourself, || Set your heart to the highway, the way you went, || Turn back, O virgin of Israel, || Turn back to these cities of yours. 22 Until when do you withdraw yourself, O backsliding daughter? For YHWH has prepared a new thing in the land, || Woman surrounds man.” 23 Thus said YHWH 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, || YHWH blesses you, habitation of righteousness, || Mountain of holiness. 24 And farmers have dwelt in Judah, || And in all its cities together, || And they have journeyed in order. 25 For I have satiated the weary soul, || And I have filled every grieved soul.” 26 On this I have awoken, and I behold, and my sleep has been sweet to me. 27 “Behold, days are coming,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “And I have sown the house of Israel, || And the house of Judah, || With seed of man and seed of beast. 28 And it has been, as I watched over them to pluck up, || And to break down, and to throw down, || And to destroy, and to afflict; So I watch over them to build, and to plant,” || A declaration of YHWH. 29 “In those days they no longer say: Fathers have eaten unripe fruit, || And the sons’ teeth are blunted. 30 But—each dies for his own iniquity, || Every man who is eating the unripe fruit, || His teeth are blunted. 31 Behold, days are coming,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “And I have made a new covenant || With the house of Israel || And with the house of Judah, 32 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 My covenant void, || And I ruled over them,” || A declaration of YHWH. 33 “For this is the covenant that I make, || With the house of Israel, after those days,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “I have given My law in their inward part, || And I write it on their heart, || And I have been their God, || And they are My people. 34 And they do not teach anymore || Each his neighbor, and each his brother, || Saying, Know YHWH, || For they all know Me, from their least to their greatest,” || A declaration of YHWH; “For I pardon their iniquity, || And I make no more mention of their sin.” 35 Thus said YHWH, || 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, || YHWH of Hosts is His Name: 36 “If these statutes depart from before Me,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “Even the seed of Israel ceases || From being a nation before Me for all the days.” 37 Thus said YHWH: “If the heavens above can be measured, || And the foundations of earth searched below, || Even I kick against all the seed of Israel, || For all that they have done,” || A declaration of YHWH. 38 “Behold, days are coming,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “And the city has been built for YHWH, || From the Tower of Hananeel to the Corner Gate. 39 And the measuring line has gone out again before it, over the height of Gareb, || And it has gone around to Goah. 40 And all the valley of the carcasses and of the ashes, || And all the fields to the Brook of Kidron, || To the corner of the Horse Gate eastward, || Are holy to YHWH, || It is not plucked up, || Nor is it thrown down anymore to a distant age!”


Next: Chapter 32

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