31
1 “At
that time,” says
the LORD, “I
will be the
God of all
the families of
Israel, and they
will be my
people.”
2 The
LORD says, “The
people who survive
the sword found
favor in the
wilderness; even
Israel, when I
went to cause
him to rest.”
3 The
LORD appeared of
old to me, saying,
“Yes, I have loved
you with an
everlasting love.
Therefore I have
drawn you
with loving kindness.
4 I
will build you
again,
and you will
be built, O
virgin of Israel.
You will again
be adorned with
your tambourines,
and will go
out in the
dances of those
who make merry.
5 Again
you will plant
vineyards on the
mountains of
Samaria.
The planters will
plant,
and will enjoy
its fruit.
6 For
there will be
a day that
the watchmen on
the hills
of Ephraim cry,
‘Arise! Let’s go
up to Zion
to the LORD
our God.’ ”
7 For
the LORD says,
“Sing with
gladness for Jacob,
and shout for
the chief of
the nations.
Publish, praise,
and say,
‘LORD, save your
people,
the remnant of
Israel!’
8 Behold,
I will bring
them from the
north country,
and gather them
from the uttermost
parts of the earth,
along with the
blind and the
lame,
the woman with
child and her
who travails with
child together.
They will return
as a great
company.
9 They
will come with
weeping.
I will lead
them with petitions.
I will cause
them to walk
by rivers of
waters,
in a straight
way in which
they won’t stumble;
for I am
a father to Israel.
Ephraim is my
firstborn.
10 “Hear
the LORD’s word,
you nations,
and declare it
in the
distant islands. Say,
‘He who scattered
Israel will gather
him,
and keep him,
as a shepherd
does his flock.’
11 For
the LORD has
ransomed Jacob,
and redeemed him
from the hand
of him who
was stronger than
he.
12 They
will come and
sing in the
height of Zion,
and will flow
to the goodness
of the LORD,
to the grain,
to the new
wine, to the
oil,
and to the
young of the
flock and of
the herd.
Their soul will
be as a
watered garden.
They will not
sorrow any more
at all.
13 Then
the virgin will
rejoice in the
dance,
the young men and
the old together;
for I will turn
their mourning
into joy,
and will comfort
them, and make
them rejoice from
their sorrow.
14 I
will satiate the
soul of the
priests with
fatness,
and my people
will be satisfied
with my goodness,”
says the LORD.
15 The
LORD says:
“A voice is
heard in Ramah,
lamentation and
bitter weeping,
Rachel weeping
for her children.
She refuses to
be comforted for
her children,
because they are
no more.”
16 The
LORD says:
“Refrain your
voice from weeping,
and your eyes
from tears,
for your work
will be rewarded,”
says the LORD.
“They will come
again from the land
of the enemy.
17 There
is hope for
your latter end,” says
the LORD.
“Your children
will come again
to their own
territory.
18 “I
have surely
heard Ephraim grieving
thus,
‘You have
chastised me,
and I was
chastised, as an
untrained calf.
Turn me, and
I will be
turned,
for you are
the LORD my
God.
19 Surely
after that I
was turned.
I repented.
After that I
was instructed.
I struck my
thigh.
I was ashamed,
yes, even
confounded,
because I bore
the reproach of
my youth.’
20 Is Ephraim
my dear son?
Is he a darling
child?
For as often
as I speak
against him,
I still earnestly
remember him.
Therefore my
heart yearns for
him.
I will surely
have mercy on
him,” says the
LORD.
21 “Set
up road signs.
Make guideposts.
Set your heart
toward the highway,
even the way by
which you went.
Turn again,
virgin of Israel.
Turn again to
these your cities.
22 How
long will you
go here and
there,
you backsliding
daughter?
For the LORD
has created a
new thing in
the earth:
a woman will
encompass a man.”
23 The
LORD of Armies,
the God of
Israel, says: “Yet
again they will use
this speech in
the land of
Judah and in
its cities, when
I reverse their
captivity: ‘The
LORD bless you,
habitation of
righteousness, mountain
of holiness.’
24 Judah
and all its
cities will dwell
therein together,
the farmers, and
those who go
about with flocks.
25 For
I have satiated
the weary soul,
and I have
replenished every
sorrowful soul.”
26 On
this I awakened,
and saw; and
my sleep was
sweet to me.
27 “Behold,
the days come,”
says the LORD, “that
I will sow
the house of
Israel and the
house of Judah
with the seed
of man and with
the seed of animal.
28 It
will happen that,
like as I
have watched over
them to pluck
up and to
break down and
to overthrow and
to destroy and
to afflict, so
I will watch
over them to
build and to
plant,” says the
LORD.
29 “In
those days they
will say no more,
“ ‘The fathers have eaten
sour grapes,
and the children’s
teeth are set
on edge.’
30 But
everyone will die
for his own
iniquity. Every
man who eats the
sour grapes, his
teeth will be
set on edge.
31 “Behold,
the days come,”
says the LORD, “that
I will make
a new covenant
with the house
of Israel, and
with the house
of Judah,
32 not
according to the
covenant that I
made with
their fathers in
the day that
I took them
by the hand
to bring them
out of the land
of Egypt, which
covenant of mine
they broke,
although I was
a husband to
them,” says the
LORD.
33 “But
this is the
covenant that I
will make with
the house of
Israel after those
days,” says the
LORD:
“I will put
my law in
their inward parts,
and I will
write it in
their heart.
I will be
their God,
and they shall
be my people.
34 They
will no longer
each teach his
neighbor,
and every man
teach his brother,
saying, ‘Know the
LORD;’
for they will
all know me,
from their least
to their greatest,”
says the LORD,
“for I will
forgive their
iniquity,
and I will
remember their sin
no more.”
35 The
LORD, who gives
the sun for
a light by day,
and the
ordinances of the
moon and of
the stars for
a light by night,
who stirs up
the sea, so
that its waves
roar—
the LORD of
Armies is his
name, says:
36 “If
these ordinances
depart from before
me,” says the
LORD,
“then the
offspring of
Israel also will
cease from being
a nation before
me forever.”
37 The
LORD says: “If
heaven above can
be measured,
and the
foundations of the
earth searched out
beneath,
then I will
also cast off
all the offspring
of Israel for
all that they
have done,” says
the LORD.
38 “Behold,
the days come,”
says the LORD, “that
the city will
be built to
the LORD from
the tower of
Hananel to the
gate of the
corner.
39 The
measuring line will
go out further
straight onward to
the hill Gareb,
and will turn
toward Goah.
40 The
whole valley of
the dead bodies
and of the
ashes, and all
the fields to the
brook Kidron, to
the corner of
the horse gate
toward the east,
will be holy
to the LORD.
It will not
be plucked up
or thrown down
any more forever.”