31:1 “At that time,” declares the LORD, “I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be my people.”
31:2 This is what the LORD says: “The people who survive the sword will find favor in the desert; I will come to give rest to Israel.”
31:3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
31:4 I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful.
31:5 Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the farmers will plant them and enjoy their fruit.
31:6 There will be a day when watchmen cry out on the hills of Ephraim, ‘Come, let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.’”
31:7 This is what the LORD says: “Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations. Make your praises heard, and say, ‘O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’
31:8 See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return.
31:9 They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.
31:10 “Hear the word of the LORD, O nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’
31:11 For the LORD will ransom Jacob and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they.
31:12 They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD–the grain, the new wine and the oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more.
31:13 Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.
31:14 I will satisfy the priests with abundance, and my people will be filled with my bounty,” declares the LORD.
31:15 This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.”
31:16 This is what the LORD says: “Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” declares the LORD. “They will return from the land of the enemy.
31:17 So there is hope for your future,” declares the LORD. “Your children will return to their own land.
31:18 “I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined. Restore me, and I will return, because you are the LORD my God.
31:19 After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
31:20 Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD.
31:21 “Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take. Return, O Virgin Israel, return to your towns.
31:22 How long will you wander, O unfaithful daughter? The LORD will create a new thing on earth–a woman will surround a man.”
31:23 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “When I bring them back from captivity, the people in the land of Judah and in its towns will once again use these words: ‘The LORD bless you, O righteous dwelling, O sacred mountain.’
31:24 People will live together in Judah and all its towns–farmers and those who move about with their flocks.
31:25 I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”
31:26 At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me.
31:27 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will plant the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the offspring of men and of animals.
31:28 Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD.
31:29 “In those days people will no longer say, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
31:30 Instead, everyone will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes–his own teeth will be set on edge.
31:31 “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
31:32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.
31:33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
31:34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
31:35 This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar–the LORD Almighty is his name:
31:36 “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” declares the LORD, “will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me.”
31:37 This is what the LORD says: “Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the LORD.
31:38 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when this city will be rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.
31:39 The measuring line will stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn to Goah.
31:40 The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be holy to the LORD. The city will never again be uprooted or demolished.”
31:1 At that time, declares Jehovah, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be My people.
31:2 Thus says Jehovah, The people who survived the sword / Found favor in the wilderness ? / Even Israel, when I went to give him rest.
31:3 Jehovah appeared to me from afar, saying, / Indeed I have loved you with an eternal love, / Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.
31:4 I will build you again, and you will be built, / O virgin of Israel. / Again you will adorn yourself with your tambourines / And will go forth in the dance of those who make merry.
31:5 Again you will plant vineyards / On the mountains of Samaria; / The planters will plant / And will partake of the fruit.
31:6 For there will be a day when watchmen call out / In the hill country of Ephraim, / Saying, Arise and let us go up to Zion, / To Jehovah our God.
31:7 For thus says Jehovah, / Give a ringing shout with joy for Jacob, / And cry out at the head of the nations; / Announce, praise, and say, / O Jehovah, save Your people, / The remnant of Israel.
31:8 I will bring them / From the land of the north, / And I will gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, / The blind and the lame among them, / The pregnant woman and she who is travailing together, / A great assembly; they will return here.
31:9 They will come with weeping, / And with supplications I will lead them. / I will cause them to walk by the waterbrooks / In a straight way, in which they will not stumble; / For I am a Father to Israel, / And Ephraim is My firstborn.
31:10 Hear the word of Jehovah, O nations, / And declare in the coastlands from afar, / And say, He who scattered Israel will gather him / And keep him, as a shepherd his flock.
31:11 For Jehovah has ransomed Jacob / And redeemed him from the hand of one stronger than he.
31:12 And they will come and sing in the height of Zion, / And they will flow forth to the goodness of Jehovah ? / To the grain and to the new wine and to the fresh oil / And to the young of the flock and of the herd; / And their soul will be like a watered garden, / And they will not languish anymore.
31:13 Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, / And the young men and the old men together, / And I will turn their mourning to gladness / And comfort them and cause them to rejoice after their sorrow.
31:14 And I will fill the soul of the priests with abundance, / And My people will be satisfied with My goodness, / Declares Jehovah.
31:15 Thus says Jehovah, / A voice is heard in Ramah, / A wailing, a very bitter weeping. / Rachel is weeping for her children; / She refuses to be comforted for her children, / Because they are no more.
31:16 Thus says Jehovah, / Hold back your voice from weeping / And your eyes from tears; / For there is a reward for your work, declares Jehovah; / And they will return from the land of the enemy.
31:17 And there is hope for your latter end, declares Jehovah, / That your children will return to their own border.
31:18 Indeed I have heard Ephraim lamenting, / You have chastised me, and I was chastised, / Like an untrained calf; / Bring me back that I may be restored, / For You are Jehovah my God.
31:19 For after I turned back, I repented; / And after I was instructed, / I struck myself on the thigh. / I was ashamed and even confounded, / For I bear the reproach of my youth.
31:20 Is Ephraim a precious son to Me? / Or a child of My good pleasure? / For as often as I speak against him, / I surely remember him more; / Therefore My bowels moan for him; / I will surely have mercy on him, declares Jehovah.
31:21 Set up road markers for yourself; / Make signposts for yourself; / Pay attention to the highway, / The way you went; / Return, O virgin of Israel; / Return to these cities of yours.
31:22 How long will you wander here and there, / O apostate daughter? / For Jehovah has created a new thing in the earth: / A female will encompass a mighty man.
31:23 Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Once more they will say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I turn again their captivity, Jehovah bless you, O habitation of righteousness, / O mountain of holiness.
31:24 And Judah and all its cities will dwell together in it, the farmers and they who wander with the flocks.
31:25 For I have satisfied the weary soul and filled every languishing soul.
31:26 At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.
31:27 Indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.
31:28 And as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares Jehovah.
31:29 In those days they will no longer say, The fathers eat sour grapes, / And the children s teeth are set on edge.
31:30 For everyone will die for his own iniquity; every man who eats sour grapes, his own teeth will be set on edge.
31:31 Indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
31:32 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, declares Jehovah.
31:33 But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares Jehovah: I will put My law in their inward parts and write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.
31:34 And they will no longer teach, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for all of them will know Me, from the little one among them even to the great one among them, declares Jehovah, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.
31:35 Thus says Jehovah, / Who gives the sun for light by day / And the order of the moon and the stars for light by night, / Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar ? / Jehovah of hosts is His name ?
31:36 If this order departs / From before Me, declares Jehovah, / Then the seed of Israel will also cease / From being a nation before Me forever.
31:37 Thus says Jehovah, / If the heavens above can be measured, / And the foundations of the earth below can be examined carefully, / Then I will also cast off all the seed of Israel / For all they have done, declares Jehovah.
31:38 Indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when the city will be built unto Jehovah from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.
31:39 And the measuring line will go out even further beyond it to the hill of Gareb and will turn toward Goah.
31:40 And the whole valley of corpses and of fatty ashes and all the fields as far as the brook of Kidron unto the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east will be holy to Jehovah; it will not be uprooted or torn down anymore forever.