Jeremiah 31:13 - Prayer Tents

Jeremiah 31

31"And when that happens"—GOD's Decree— "it will be plain as the sun at high noon: I'll be the God of every man, woman, and child in Israel and they shall be my very own people."H6256H5002H3068H430H4940H3478H59712This is the way GOD put it: "They found grace out in the desert, these people who survived the killing. Israel, out looking for a place to rest,H559H3068H5971H8300H2719H4672H2580H4057H3478H1980H72803met God out looking for them!" GOD told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love!H3068H7200H7350H157H5769H160H2617H49004And so now I'll start over with you and build you up again, dear virgin Israel. You'll resume your singing, grabbing tambourines and joining the dance.H1129H1129H1330H3478H5710H8596H3318H4234H78325You'll go back to your old work of planting vineyards on the Samaritan hillsides, And sit back and enjoy the fruit— oh, how you'll enjoy those harvests!H5193H3754H2022H8111H5193H5193H24906The time's coming when watchmen will call out from the hilltops of Ephraim: 'On your feet! Let's go to Zion, go to meet our GOD!'"H3426H3117H5341H2022H669H7121H6965H5927H6726H3068H4307Oh yes, GOD says so: "Shout for joy at the top of your lungs for Jacob! Announce the good news to the number-one nation! Raise cheers! Sing praises. Say, 'GOD has saved his people, saved the core of Israel.'H559H3068H7442H8057H3290H6670H7218H1471H8085H1984H559H3068H3467H5971H7611H34788"Watch what comes next: "I'll bring my people back from the north country And gather them up from the ends of the earth, gather those who've gone blind And those who are lame and limping, gather pregnant women, Even the mothers whose birth pangs have started, bring them all back, a huge crowd!H935H6828H776H6908H3411H776H5787H6455H2030H3205H3162H1419H6951H77259"Watch them come! They'll come weeping for joy as I take their hands and lead them, Lead them to fresh flowing brooks, lead them along smooth, uncluttered paths. Yes, it's because I'm Israel's Father and Ephraim's my firstborn son!H935H1065H8469H2986H3212H5158H4325H3477H1870H3782H1H3478H669H106010"Hear this, nations! GOD's Message! Broadcast this all over the world! Tell them, 'The One who scattered Israel will gather them together again. From now on he'll keep a careful eye on them, like a shepherd with his flock.'H8085H1697H3068H1471H5046H339H4801H559H2219H3478H6908H8104H7462H573911I, GOD, will pay a stiff ransom price for Jacob; I'll free him from the grip of the Babylonian bully.H3068H6299H3290H1350H3027H238912The people will climb up Zion's slopes shouting with joy, their faces beaming because of GOD's bounty— Grain and wine and oil, flocks of sheep, herds of cattle. Their lives will be like a well-watered garden, never again left to dry up.H935H7442H4791H6726H5102H2898H3068H1715H8492H3323H1121H6629H1241H5315H7302H1588H1669H325413Young women will dance and be happy, young men and old men will join in. I'll convert their weeping into laughter, lavishing comfort, invading their grief with joy.H1330H8055H4234H970H2205H3162H2015H60H8342H5162H8055H301514I'll make sure that their priests get three square meals a day and that my people have more than enough.'" GOD's Decree.H7301H5315H3548H1880H5971H7646H2898H5002H306815Again, GOD's Message: "Listen to this! Laments coming out of Ramah, wild and bitter weeping. It's Rachel weeping for her children, Rachel refusing all solace. Her children are gone, gone—long gone into exile."H559H3068H6963H8085H7414H5092H8563H1065H7354H1058H1121H3985H5162H112116But GOD says, "Stop your incessant weeping, hold back your tears. Collect wages from your grief work." GOD's Decree. "They'll be coming back home!H559H3068H4513H6963H1065H5869H1832H6468H3426H7939H5002H3068H7725H776H34117There's hope for your children." GOD's Decree.H3426H8615H319H5002H3068H1121H7725H136618"I've heard the contrition of Ephraim. Yes, I've heard it clearly, saying, 'You trained me well. You broke me, a wild yearling horse, to the saddle. Now put me, trained and obedient, to use. You are my GOD.H8085H8085H669H5110H3256H3256H5695H3808H3925H7725H7725H3068H43019After those years of running loose, I repented. After you trained me to obedience, I was ashamed of my past, my wild, unruly past. Humiliated, I beat on my chest. Will I ever live this down?'H310H7725H5162H310H3045H5606H3409H954H3637H5375H2781H527120"Oh! Ephraim is my dear, dear son, my child in whom I take pleasure! Every time I mention his name, my heart bursts with longing for him! Everything in me cries out for him. Softly and tenderly I wait for him." GOD's Decree.H669H3357H1121H8191H3206H1767H1696H2142H2142H4578H1993H7355H7355H5002H306821"Set up signposts to mark your trip home. Get a good map. Study the road conditions. The road out is the road back. Come back, dear virgin Israel, come back to your hometowns.H5324H6725H7760H8564H7896H3820H4546H1870H1980H7725H1330H3478H7725H589222How long will you flit here and there, indecisive? How long before you make up your fickle mind? GOD will create a new thing in this land: A transformed woman will embrace the transforming GOD!"H2559H7728H1323H3068H1254H2319H776H5347H5437H139723A Message from Israel's GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies: "When I've turned everything around and brought my people back, the old expressions will be heard on the streets: 'GOD bless you!' . . . 'O True Home!' . . . 'O Holy Mountain!'H559H3068H6635H430H3478H559H1697H776H3063H5892H7725H7622H3068H1288H5116H6664H2022H694424All Judah's people, whether in town or country, will get along just fine with each other.H3427H3063H5892H3162H406H5265H573925I'll refresh tired bodies; I'll restore tired souls.H7301H5889H5315H4390H1669H531526Just then I woke up and looked around—what a pleasant and satisfying sleep!H6974H7200H8142H614927"Be ready. The time's coming"—GOD's Decree—"when I will plant people and animals in Israel and Judah, just as a farmer plants seed.H3117H935H5002H3068H2232H1004H3478H1004H3063H2233H120H2233H92928And in the same way that earlier I relentlessly pulled up and tore down, took apart and demolished, so now I am sticking with them as they start over, building and planting.H8245H5428H5422H2040H6H7489H8245H1129H5193H5002H306829"When that time comes you won't hear the old proverb anymore, Parents ate the green apples, their children got the stomachache.H3117H559H1H398H1155H1121H8127H694930"No, each person will pay for his own sin. You eat green apples, you're the one who gets sick.H376H4191H5771H120H398H1155H8127H694931"That's right. The time is coming when I will make a brand-new covenant with Israel and Judah.H3117H935H5002H3068H3772H2319H1285H1004H3478H1004H306332It won't be a repeat of the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant even though I did my part as their Master." GOD's Decree.H1285H3772H1H3117H2388H3027H3318H776H4714H1285H6565H1166H5002H306833"This is the brand-new covenant that I will make with Israel when the time comes. I will put my law within them—write it on their hearts!—and be their God. And they will be my people.H1285H3772H1004H3478H310H3117H5002H3068H5414H8451H7130H3789H3820H430H597134They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach each other about GOD. They'll know me firsthand, the dull and the bright, the smart and the slow. I'll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I'll forget they ever sinned!" GOD's Decree.H3925H376H7453H376H251H559H3045H3068H3045H6996H1419H5002H3068H5545H5771H2142H2403

If This Ordered Cosmos Ever Fell to Pieces

35GOD's Message, from the God who lights up the day with sun and brightens the night with moon and stars, Who whips the ocean into a billowy froth, whose name is GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies:H559H3068H5414H8121H216H3119H2708H3394H3556H216H3915H7280H3220H1530H1993H3068H6635H803436"If this ordered cosmos ever fell to pieces, fell into chaos before me"—GOD's Decree— "Then and only then might Israel fall apart and disappear as a nation before me."H2706H4185H6440H5002H3068H2233H3478H7673H1471H6440H311737GOD's Message: "If the skies could be measured with a yardstick and the earth explored to its core, Then and only then would I turn my back on Israel, disgusted with all they've done." GOD's Decree.H559H3068H8064H4605H4058H4146H776H2713H4295H3988H2233H3478H6213H5002H306838"The time is coming"—it's GOD's Decree—"when GOD's city will be rebuilt, rebuilt all the way from the Citadel of Hanamel to the Corner Gate.H3117H935H5002H3068H5892H1129H3068H4026H2606H8179H643839The master plan will extend west to Gareb Hill and then around to Goath.H4060H6957H6961H3318H1389H1619H5437H160140The whole valley to the south where incinerated corpses are dumped—a death valley if there ever was one!—and all the terraced fields out to the Brook Kidron on the east as far north as the Horse Gate will be consecrated to me as a holy place. "This city will never again be torn down or destroyed."H6010H6297H1880H7709H8309H5158H6939H6438H5483H8179H4217H6944H3068H5428H2040H5769