Jeremiah 30-32

New King James Version

Restoration of Israel and Judah

30 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ²“Thus speaks the Lord God of Israel, saying: ‘Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you. ³For behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that ^(A)I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ^(B)‘And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’ ”

⁴Now these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah.

⁵“For thus says the Lord:

‘We have heard a voice of trembling,
Of ^[a]fear, and not of peace.
⁶Ask now, and see,
Whether a ^[b]man is ever in ^[c]labor with child?
So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins
^(C)Like a woman in labor,
And all faces turned pale?
⁷^(D)Alas! For that day is great,
^(E)So that none is like it;
And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble,
But he shall be saved out of it.

⁸‘For it shall come to pass in that day,’
Says the Lord of hosts,
‘That I will break his yoke from your neck,
And will burst your bonds;
Foreigners shall no more enslave them.
⁹But they shall serve the Lord their God,
And ^(F)David their king,
Whom I will ^(G)raise up for them.

¹⁰‘Therefore ^(H)do not fear, O My servant Jacob,’ says the Lord,
‘Nor be dismayed, O Israel;
For behold, I will save you from afar,
And your seed ^(I)from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet,
And no one shall make him afraid.
¹¹For I am with ^(J)you,’ says the Lord, ‘to save you;
^(K)Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you,
^(L)Yet I will not make a complete end of you.
But I will correct you ^(M)in justice,
And will not let you go altogether unpunished.’

¹²“For thus says the Lord:

^(N)‘Your affliction is incurable,
Your wound is severe.
¹³There is no one to plead your cause,
That you may be bound up;
^(O)You have no healing medicines.
¹⁴^(P)All your lovers have forgotten you;
They do not seek you;
For I have wounded you with the wound ^(Q)of an enemy,
With the chastisement ^(R)of a cruel one,
For the multitude of your iniquities,
^(S)Because your sins have increased.
¹⁵Why ^(T)do you cry about your affliction?
Your sorrow is incurable.
Because of the multitude of your iniquities,
Because your sins have increased,
I have done these things to you.

¹⁶‘Therefore all those who devour you ^(U)shall be devoured;
And all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into ^(V)captivity;
Those who plunder you shall become ^(W)plunder,
And all who prey upon you I will make a ^(X)prey.
¹⁷^(Y)For I will restore health to you
And heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord,
‘Because they called you an outcast saying:
“This is Zion;
No one seeks her.” ’

¹⁸“Thus says the Lord:

‘Behold, I will bring back the captivity of Jacob’s tents,
And ^(Z)have mercy on his dwelling places;
The city shall be built upon its own ^[d]mound,
And the palace shall remain according to its own plan.
¹⁹Then ^(AA)out of them shall proceed thanksgiving
And the voice of those who make merry;
^(AB)I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish;
I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
²⁰Their children also shall be ^(AC)as before,
And their congregation shall be established before Me;
And I will punish all who oppress them.
²¹Their nobles shall be from among them,
^(AD)And their governor shall come from their midst;
Then I will ^(AE)cause him to draw near,
And he shall approach Me;
For who is this who pledged his heart to approach Me?’ says the Lord.
²²‘You shall be ^(AF)My people,
And I will be your God.’ ”

²³Behold, the ^(AG)whirlwind of the Lord
Goes forth with fury,
A ^[e]continuing whirlwind;
It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.
²⁴The fierce anger of the Lord will not return until He has done it,
And until He has performed the intents of His heart.

^(AH)In the latter days you will consider it.

The Remnant of Israel Saved

31 “At ^(AI)the same time,” says the Lord, ^(AJ)“I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.”

²Thus says the Lord:

“The people who survived the sword
Found grace in the wilderness—
Israel, when ^(AK)I went to give him rest.”

³The Lord has appeared ^[f]of old to me, saying:
“Yes, ^(AL)I have loved you with ^(AM)an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have ^(AN)drawn you.
⁴Again ^(AO)I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt,
O virgin of Israel!
You shall again be adorned with your ^(AP)tambourines,
And shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.
⁵^(AQ)You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria;
The planters shall plant and ^[g]eat them as ordinary food.
⁶For there shall be a day
When the watchmen will cry on Mount Ephraim,
^(AR)‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,
To the Lord our God.’ ”

⁷For thus says the Lord:

^(AS)“Sing with gladness for Jacob,
And shout among the chief of the nations;
Proclaim, give praise, and say,
‘O Lord, save Your people,
The remnant of Israel!’
⁸Behold, I will bring them ^(AT)from the north country,
And ^(AU)gather them from the ends of the earth,
Among them the blind and the lame,
The woman with child
And the one who labors with child, together;
A great throng shall return there.
⁹^(AV)They shall come with weeping,
And with supplications I will lead them.
I will cause them to walk ^(AW)by the rivers of waters,
In a straight way in which they shall not stumble;
For I am a Father to Israel,
And Ephraim is My ^(AX)firstborn.

¹⁰“Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
And declare it in the ^[h]isles afar off, and say,
‘He who scattered Israel ^(AY)will gather him,
And keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’
¹¹For ^(AZ)the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
And ransomed him ^(BA)from the hand of one stronger than he.
¹²Therefore they shall come and sing in ^(BB)the height of Zion,
Streaming to ^(BC)the goodness of the Lord—
For wheat and new wine and oil,
For the young of the flock and the herd;
Their souls shall be like a ^(BD)well-watered garden,
^(BE)And they shall sorrow no more at all.

¹³“Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance,
And the young men and the old, together;
For I will turn their mourning to joy,
Will comfort them,
And make them rejoice rather than sorrow.
¹⁴I will ^[i]satiate the soul of the priests with abundance,
And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord.”

Mercy on Ephraim

¹⁵Thus says the Lord:

^(BF)“A voice was heard in ^(BG)Ramah,
Lamentation and bitter ^(BH)weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted for her children,
Because ^(BI)they are no more.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord:

“Refrain your voice from ^(BJ)weeping,
And your eyes from tears;
For your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord,
And they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
¹⁷There is ^(BK)hope in your future, says the Lord,
That your children shall come back to their own border.

¹⁸“I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself:
‘You have ^(BL)chastised me, and I was chastised,
Like an untrained bull;
^(BM)Restore me, and I will return,
For You are the Lord my God.
¹⁹Surely, ^(BN)after my turning, I repented;
And after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh;
I was ^(BO)ashamed, yes, even humiliated,
Because I bore the reproach of my youth.’
²⁰Is Ephraim My dear son?
Is he a pleasant child?
For though I spoke against him,
I earnestly remember him still;
^(BP)Therefore My ^[j]heart yearns for him;
^(BQ)I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord.

²¹“Set up signposts,
Make landmarks;
^(BR)Set your heart toward the highway,
The way in which you went.
^[k]Turn back, O virgin of Israel,
Turn back to these your cities.
²²How long will you ^(BS)gad about,
O you ^(BT)backsliding daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth—
A woman shall encompass a man.”

Future Prosperity of Judah

²³Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “They shall again use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I bring back their captivity: ^(BU)‘The Lord bless you, O home of justice, and ^(BV)mountain of holiness!’ ²⁴And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and ^(BW)in all its cities together, farmers and those going out with flocks. ²⁵For I have ^[l]satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”

²⁶After this I awoke and looked around, and my sleep was ^(BX)sweet to me.

²⁷“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that ^(BY)I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. ²⁸And it shall come to pass, that as I have ^(BZ)watched over them ^(CA)to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them ^(CB)to build and to plant, says the Lord. ²⁹^(CC)In those days they shall say no more:

‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

³⁰^(CD)But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

A New Covenant

³¹“Behold, the ^(CE)days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— ³²not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that ^(CF)I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, ^[m]though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. ³³^(CG)But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: ^(CH)I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their ^[n]hearts; ^(CI)and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for ^(CJ)they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For ^(CK)I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

³⁵Thus says the Lord,
^(CL)Who gives the sun for a light by day,
The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night,
Who disturbs ^(CM)the sea,
And its waves roar
^(CN)(The Lord of hosts is His name):

³⁶“If ^(CO)those ordinances depart
From before Me, says the Lord,
Then the seed of Israel shall also cease
From being a nation before Me forever.”

³⁷Thus says the Lord:

^(CP)“If heaven above can be measured,
And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath,
I will also ^(CQ)cast off all the seed of Israel
For all that they have done, says the Lord.

³⁸“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that the city shall be built for the Lord ^(CR)from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. ³⁹^(CS)The surveyor’s line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath. ⁴⁰And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, ^(CT)to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, ^(CU)shall be holy to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.”

Jeremiah Buys a Field

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord ^(CV)in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ²For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up ^(CW)in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house. ³For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you ^(CX)prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(CY)“Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; ⁴and Zedekiah king of Judah ^(CZ)shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him ^[o]face to face, and see him ^(DA)eye to eye; ⁵then he shall ^(DB)lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall be ^(DC)until I visit him,” says the Lord; ^(DD)“though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed” ’?”

⁶And Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁷‘Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you, saying, “Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the ^(DE)right of redemption is yours to buy it.” ’ ⁸Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. ⁹So I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle who was in Anathoth, and ^(DF)weighed out to him the money—seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰And I signed the ^[p]deed and sealed it, took witnesses, and weighed the money on the scales. ¹¹So I took the purchase deed, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open; ¹²and I gave the purchase deed to ^(DG)Baruch the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the ^(DH)witnesses who signed the purchase deed, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison.

¹³“Then I charged ^(DI)Baruch before them, saying, ¹⁴‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days.” ¹⁵For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Houses and fields and vineyards shall be ^(DJ)possessed again in this land.” ’

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

¹⁶“Now when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁷‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, ^(DK)You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. ^(DL)There is nothing too ^[q]hard for You. ¹⁸You show ^(DM)lovingkindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them—the Great, ^(DN)the Mighty God, whose name is ^(DO)the Lord of hosts. ¹⁹You are ^(DP)great in counsel and mighty in ^[r]work, for Your ^(DQ)eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, ^(DR)to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. ²⁰You have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, to this day, and in Israel and among other men; and You have made Yourself ^(DS)a name, as it is this day. ²¹You ^(DT)have brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror; ²²You have given them this land, of which You swore to their fathers to give them—^(DU)“a land flowing with milk and honey.” ²³And they came in and took possession of it, but ^(DV)they have not obeyed Your voice or walked in Your law. They have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have caused all this calamity to come upon them.

²⁴‘Look, the siege mounds! They have come to the city to take it; and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of ^(DW)the sword and famine and pestilence. What You have spoken has happened; there You see it! ²⁵And You have said to me, O Lord God, “Buy the field for money, and take witnesses”!—yet the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ”

God’s Assurance of the People’s Return

²⁶Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁷“Behold, I am the Lord, the ^(DX)God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me? ²⁸Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it. ²⁹And the Chaldeans who fight against this city shall come and ^(DY)set fire to this city and burn it, with the houses ^(DZ)on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger; ³⁰because the children of Israel and the children of Judah ^(EA)have done only evil before Me from their youth. For the children of Israel have provoked Me only to anger with the work of their hands,’ says the Lord. ³¹‘For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My fury from the day that they built it, even to this day; ^(EB)so I will remove it from before My face ³²because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger—^(EC)they, their kings, their princes, their priests, ^(ED)their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³³And they have turned to Me the ^(EE)back, and not the face; though I taught them, ^(EF)rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. ³⁴But they ^(EG)set their abominations in ^[s]the house which is called by My name, to defile it. ³⁵And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to ^(EH)cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to ^(EI)Molech, ^(EJ)which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.’

³⁶“Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: ³⁷Behold, I will ^(EK)gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them ^(EL)to dwell safely. ³⁸They shall be ^(EM)My people, and I will be their God; ³⁹then I will ^(EN)give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. ⁴⁰And ^(EO)I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but ^(EP)I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. ⁴¹Yes, ^(EQ)I will rejoice over them to do them good, and ^(ER)I will ^[t]assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.’

⁴²“For thus says the Lord: ^(ES)‘Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. ⁴³And fields will be bought in this land ^(ET)of which you say, “It is desolate, without man or beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” ⁴⁴Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them, and take witnesses, in ^(EU)the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the ^[u]lowland, and in the cities of the ^[v]South; for ^(EV)I will cause their captives to return,’ says the Lord.”