30The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,H1697H3414H3068H559 2“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Write down for the record everything I have said to you, Jeremiah.H559H3068H430H3478H559H3789H1697H1696H5612 3For the time is coming when I will restore the fortunes of my people of Israel and Judah. I will bring them home to this land that I gave to their ancestors, and they will possess it again. I, the Lord, have spoken!”H3117H935H5002H3068H7725H7622H5971H3478H3063H559H3068H7725H776H5414H1H3423 4This is the message the Lord gave concerning Israel and Judah.H1697H3068H1696H3478H3063 5This is what the Lord says: “I hear cries of fear; there is terror and no peace.H559H3068H8085H6963H2731H6343H7965 6Now let me ask you a question: Do men give birth to babies? Then why do they stand there, ashen-faced, hands pressed against their sides like a woman in labor?H7592H7200H2145H3205H7200H1397H3027H2504H3205H6440H2015H3420 7In all history there has never been such a time of terror. It will be a time of trouble for my people Israel. Yet in the end they will be saved!H1945H3117H1419H369H6256H3290H6869H3467 8For in that day,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will break the yoke from their necks and snap their chains. Foreigners will no longer be their masters.H3117H5002H3068H6635H7665H5923H6677H5423H4147H2114H5647 9For my people will serve the Lord their God and their king descended from David—the king I will raise up for them.H5647H3068H430H1732H4428H6965 10“So do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel,” says the Lord. “For I will bring you home again from distant lands, and your children will return from their exile. Israel will return to a life of peace and quiet, and no one will terrorize them.H3372H5650H3290H5002H3068H2865H3478H3467H7350H2233H776H7628H3290H7725H8252H7599H2729 11For I am with you and will save you,” says the Lord. “I will completely destroy the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you, but with justice; I cannot let you go unpunished.”H5002H3068H3467H6213H3617H1471H6327H6213H3617H3256H4941H5352H5352 12This is what the Lord says: “Your injury is incurable—a terrible wound.H559H3068H7667H605H4347H2470 13There is no one to help you or to bind up your injury. No medicine can heal you.H1777H1779H4205H8585H7499 14All your lovers—your allies—have left you and do not care about you anymore. I have wounded you cruelly, as though I were your enemy. For your sins are many, and your guilt is great.H157H7911H1875H5221H4347H341H4148H394H7230H5771H2403H6105 15Why do you protest your punishment—this wound that has no cure? I have had to punish you because your sins are many and your guilt is great.H2199H7667H4341H605H7230H5771H2403H6105H6213 16“But all who devour you will be devoured, and all your enemies will be sent into exile. All who plunder you will be plundered, and all who attack you will be attacked.H398H398H6862H3212H7628H7601H8154H4933H962H5414H957 17I will give you back your health and heal your wounds,” says the Lord. “For you are called an outcast—‘Jerusalem for whom no one cares.’”H5927H724H7495H4347H5002H3068H7121H5080H6726H1875 18This is what the Lord says: “When I bring Israel home again from captivity and restore their fortunes, Jerusalem will be rebuilt on its ruins, and the palace reconstructed as before.H559H3068H7725H7622H3290H168H7355H4908H5892H1129H8510H759H3427H4941 19There will be joy and songs of thanksgiving, and I will multiply my people, not diminish them; I will honor them, not despise them.H3318H8426H6963H7832H7235H4591H3513H6819 20Their children will prosper as they did long ago. I will establish them as a nation before me, and I will punish anyone who hurts them.H1121H6924H5712H3559H6440H6485H3905 21They will have their own ruler again, and he will come from their own people. I will invite him to approach me,” says the Lord, “for who would dare to come unless invited?H117H4910H3318H7130H7126H5066H6148H3820H5066H5002H3068 22You will be my people, and I will be your God.”H5971H430 23Look! The Lord’s anger bursts out like a storm, a driving wind that swirls down on the heads of the wicked.H5591H3068H3318H2534H1641H5591H2342H7218H7563 24The fierce anger of the Lord will not diminish until it has finished all he has planned. In the days to come you will understand all this.H2740H639H3068H7725H6213H6965H4209H3820H319H3117H995
31“In that day,” says the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.H6256H5002H3068H430H4940H3478H5971 2This 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.”H559H3068H5971H8300H2719H4672H2580H4057H3478H1980H7280 3Long 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.H3068H7200H7350H157H5769H160H2617H4900 4I will rebuild you, my virgin Israel. You will again be happy and dance merrily with your tambourines.H1129H1129H1330H3478H5710H8596H3318H4234H7832 5Again you will plant your vineyards on the mountains of Samaria and eat from your own gardens there.H5193H3754H2022H8111H5193H5193H2490 6The 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.’”H3426H3117H5341H2022H669H7121H6965H5927H6726H3068H430 7Now 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!’H559H3068H7442H8057H3290H6670H7218H1471H8085H1984H559H3068H3467H5971H7611H3478 8For 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!H935H6828H776H6908H3411H776H5787H6455H2030H3205H3162H1419H6951H7725 9Tears 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.H935H1065H8469H2986H3212H5158H4325H3477H1870H3782H1H3478H669H1060 10“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.H8085H1697H3068H1471H5046H339H4801H559H2219H3478H6908H8104H7462H5739 11For the Lord has redeemed Israel from those too strong for them.H3068H6299H3290H1350H3027H2389 12They 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.H935H7442H4791H6726H5102H2898H3068H1715H8492H3323H1121H6629H1241H5315H7302H1588H1669H3254 13The 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.H1330H8055H4234H970H2205H3162H2015H60H8342H5162H8055H3015 14The priests will enjoy abundance, and my people will feast on my good gifts. I, the Lord, have spoken!”H7301H5315H3548H1880H5971H7646H2898H5002H3068 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.”H559H3068H6963H8085H7414H5092H8563H1065H7354H1058H1121H3985H5162H1121 16But 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.H559H3068H4513H6963H1065H5869H1832H6468H3426H7939H5002H3068H7725H776H341 17There is hope for your future,” says the Lord. “Your children will come again to their own land.H3426H8615H319H5002H3068H1121H7725H1366 18I 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.H8085H8085H669H5110H3256H3256H5695H3808H3925H7725H7725H3068H430 19I 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.’H310H7725H5162H310H3045H5606H3409H954H3637H5375H2781H5271 20“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.H669H3357H1121H8191H3206H1767H1696H2142H2142H4578H1993H7355H7355H5002H3068 21Set 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.H5324H6725H7760H8564H7896H3820H4546H1870H1980H7725H1330H3478H7725H5892 22How long will you wander, my wayward daughter? For the Lord will cause something new to happen—Israel will embrace her God.”H2559H7728H1323H3068H1254H2319H776H5347H5437H1397 23This 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!’H559H3068H6635H430H3478H559H1697H776H3063H5892H7725H7622H3068H1288H5116H6664H2022H6944 24Townspeople and farmers and shepherds alike will live together in peace and happiness.H3427H3063H5892H3162H406H5265H5739 25For I have given rest to the weary and joy to the sorrowing.”H7301H5889H5315H4390H1669H5315 26At this, I woke up and looked around. My sleep had been very sweet.H6974H7200H8142H6149 27“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.H3117H935H5002H3068H2232H1004H3478H1004H3063H2233H120H2233H929 28In 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!H8245H5428H5422H2040H6H7489H8245H1129H5193H5002H3068 29“The people will no longer quote this proverb: ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste.’H3117H559H1H398H1155H1121H8127H6949 30All people will die for their own sins—those who eat the sour grapes will be the ones whose mouths will pucker.H376H4191H5771H120H398H1155H8127H6949 31“The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.H3117H935H5002H3068H3772H2319H1285H1004H3478H1004H3063 32This 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.H1285H3772H1H3117H2388H3027H3318H776H4714H1285H6565H1166H5002H3068 33“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.H1285H3772H1004H3478H310H3117H5002H3068H5414H8451H7130H3789H3820H430H5971 34And 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.”H3925H376H7453H376H251H559H3045H3068H3045H6996H1419H5002H3068H5545H5771H2142H2403 35It 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.H559H3068H5414H8121H216H3119H2708H3394H3556H216H3915H7280H3220H1530H1993H3068H6635H8034 36“I am as likely to reject my people Israel as I am to abolish the laws of nature!”H2706H4185H6440H5002H3068H2233H3478H7673H1471H6440H3117 37This 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!H559H3068H8064H4605H4058H4146H776H2713H4295H3988H2233H3478H6213H5002H3068 38“The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when all Jerusalem will be rebuilt for me, from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.H3117H935H5002H3068H5892H1129H3068H4026H2606H8179H6438 39A measuring line will be stretched out over the hill of Gareb and across to Goah.H4060H6957H6961H3318H1389H1619H5437H1601 40And 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
Dublin, OH
. Yet in the end they will be saved!H1945
