Jeremiah 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.”

At that time, an affirmation of Jehovah, I am for God to all families of Israel, And they — they are to Me for a 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.”

Thus said Jehovah: Found grace in the wilderness Hath a people remaining from the sword Going to cause it to rest — Israel.

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.

From afar Jehovah hath appeared to me, With love age-during I have loved thee, Therefore I have drawn thee [with] 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.

Again do I build thee, And thou hast been built, O virgin of Israel, Again thou puttest on thy tabrets, And hast gone out in the chorus of the playful.

5 Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. The planters will plant, and will enjoy its fruit.

Again thou dost plant vineyards In mountains of Samaria, Planters have planted, and made common.

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.’”

For there is a day, Cried have watchmen on mount Ephraim, 'Rise, and we go up to Zion, unto Jehovah 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!’

For thus said Jehovah: Sing, O ye to Jacob, [with] joy, And cry aloud at the head of the nations, Sound ye, praise ye, and say, Save, O Jehovah, thy 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.

Lo, I am bringing them in from the north country, And have gathered them from the sides of the earth, Among them [are] blind and lame, Conceiving and travailing one — together, A great assembly — they turn back hither.

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 will not stumble; for I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn.

With weeping they come in, And with supplications I bring them, I cause them to go unto streams of waters, In a right way — they stumble not in it, For I have been to Israel for a father, And Ephraim — My first-born [is] he.

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.’

Hear a word of Jehovah, O nations, And declare ye among isles afar off, and say: He who is scattering Israel doth gather him, And hath kept him as a shepherd [doth] his flock,

11 For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.

For Jehovah hath ransomed Jacob, And redeemed him from a hand 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.

And they have come in, And have sung in the high place of Zion, And flowed unto the goodness of Jehovah, For wheat, and for new wine, and for oil, And for the young of the flock and herd, And their soul hath been as a watered garden, And they add not to grieve any more.

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.

Then rejoice doth a virgin 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 I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,” says the LORD.

And satisfied the soul of the priests [with] fatness, And My people with My goodness are satisfied, An affirmation of Jehovah.

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.”

Thus said Jehovah, A voice in Ramah is heard, wailing, weeping most bitter, Rachel is weeping for her sons, She hath refused to be comforted for her sons, because they are not.

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.

Thus said Jehovah: Withhold thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears, For there is a reward for thy work, An affirmation of Jehovah, And they have turned back 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.

And there is hope for thy latter end, An affirmation of Jehovah, And the sons have turned back [to] their border.

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.

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, 'Thou hast chastised me, And I am chastised, as a heifer not taught, Turn me back, and I turn back, For thou [art] Jehovah 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.’

For after my turning back I repented, 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 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.

A precious son is Ephraim to Me? A child of delights? For since My speaking against him, I do thoroughly remember him still, Therefore have My bowels been moved for him, I do greatly love him, An affirmation of Jehovah.

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.

Set up for thee signs, make for thee heaps, Set thy heart to the highway, the way thou wentest, Turn back, O virgin of Israel, Turn back unto these thy 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.”

Till when dost thou withdraw thyself, O backsliding daughter? For Jehovah hath prepared a new thing in the land, Woman doth compass 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.’

Thus said Jehovah 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, Jehovah doth bless thee, 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.

And dwelt in Judah have husbandmen, and in all its cities together, And they have journeyed in order.

25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”

For I have satiated the weary soul, And every grieved soul I have filled.'

26 On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.

On this I have awaked, and I behold, and my sleep hath been 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.

Lo, days are coming, an affirmation of Jehovah, And I have sown the house of Israel, And the house of Judah, With seed of man, and seed of beast.

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.

And it hath been, as I watched over them to pluck up, And to break down, and to throw down, And to destroy, and to afflict; So do I watch over them to build, and to plant, An affirmation of Jehovah.

29 “In those days they will say no more, “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

In those days they do not say any more: Fathers have eaten unripe fruit, And the sons' teeth are blunted.

30 But everyone will die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.

But — each for his own iniquity doth die, Every man who is eating the unripe fruit, Blunted are his teeth.

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,

Lo, days are coming, an affirmation of Jehovah, And I have made with the house of Israel And with the house of Judah a new covenant,

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.

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 void My covenant, And I ruled over them — an affirmation of Jehovah.

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.

For this [is] the covenant that I make, With the house of Israel, after those days, An affirmation of Jehovah, I have given My law in their inward part, And on their heart I do write it, And I have been to them for God, And they are to me for a 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.”

And they do not teach any more Each his neighbour, and each his brother, Saying, Know ye Jehovah, For they all know Me, from their least unto their greatest, An affirmation of Jehovah; For I pardon their iniquity, And of their sin I make mention 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:

Thus said Jehovah, 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, Jehovah of Hosts [is] His name:

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.”

If these statutes depart from before Me, An affirmation of Jehovah, Even the seed of Israel doth cease From being a nation before Me all the days.

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.

Thus said Jehovah: If the heavens above be measured, And the foundations of earth below searched, Even I kick against all the seed of Israel, For all that they have done, An affirmation of Jehovah.

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.

Lo, days [are coming], an affirmation of Jehovah, And the city hath been built to Jehovah, From the tower of Hananeel 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.

And gone out again hath the measuring line Over-against it, unto the height of Gareb, And it hath compassed to 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.”

And all the valley of the carcases and of the ashes, And all the fields unto the brook Kidron, Unto the corner of the horse-gate eastward, [Are] holy to Jehovah, it is not plucked up, Nor is it thrown down any more to the age!