Jeremiah 30-32

New American Standard Bible

Liberation from Captivity Promised

30 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ²“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘^(A)Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book. ³For behold, ^(B)days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will ^(C)restore the fortunes of My people ^(D)Israel and Judah.’ The Lord says, ‘I will also ^(E)bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers, and they shall take possession of it.’”

⁴Now these are the words which the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah:

⁵“For this is what the Lord says:

‘^[a]I have heard a sound of ^(F)terror,
Of fear, and there is no peace.
⁶Ask now, and see
If a male can give birth.
Why do I see every man
With his hands on his waist, ^(G)as a woman in childbirth?
And why have all faces turned pale?
⁷Woe, for that ^(H)day is great,
There is ^(I)none like it;
And it is the time of Jacob’s ^(J)distress,
Yet he will be ^(K)saved from it.

⁸‘It shall come about on that day,’ declares the Lord of armies, ‘that I will ^(L)break his yoke from ^[b]their necks and will tear to pieces ^[c]their ^(M)restraints; and strangers will no longer ^(N)make ^[d]them their slaves. ⁹But they shall serve the Lord their God and ^(O)David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

¹⁰And ^(P)do not fear, Jacob My servant,’ declares the Lord,
‘And do not be dismayed, Israel;
For behold, I am going to save you ^(Q)from far away,
And your ^[e]descendants from the land of their captivity.
And Jacob will return and be ^(R)at peace, without anxiety,
And ^(S)no one will make him afraid.
¹¹For ^(T)I am with you,’ declares the Lord, ‘to save you;
For I will completely ^(U)destroy all the nations where I have scattered you,
Only I will ^(V)not destroy you completely.
But I will ^(W)discipline you fairly
And will by no means leave you unpunished.’

¹²“For this is what the Lord says:
‘Your broken limb is irreparable,
And your ^(X)wound is incurable.
¹³There is no one to plead your cause;
No healing for your sore,
^(Y)No recovery for you.
¹⁴All your ^(Z)lovers have forgotten you,
They do not seek you;
For I have ^(AA)wounded you with the wound of an enemy,
With the ^(AB)punishment of a ^(AC)cruel one,
Because your ^(AD)wrongdoing is great,
And your ^(AE)sins are numerous.
¹⁵Why do you cry out over your injury?
Your pain is incurable.
Because your wrongdoing is great
And your sins are numerous,
I have done these things to you.
¹⁶Therefore all who ^(AF)devour you will be devoured;
And all your adversaries, every one of them, ^(AG)will go into captivity;
And those who plunder you will become plunder,
And all who plunder you I will turn into plunder.
¹⁷For I will ^[f]restore you to ^[g]^(AH)health
And I will heal you of your wounds,’ declares the Lord,
‘Because they have called you an ^(AI)outcast, saying:
“It is Zion; no one ^[h]cares for her.”’

Restoration of Jacob

¹⁸“This is what the Lord says:
‘Behold, I will ^(AJ)restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob
And ^(AK)have compassion on his dwellings;
And the ^(AL)city will be rebuilt on its ruins,
And the ^(AM)palace will stand on its rightful place.
¹⁹From them will come a ^(AN)song of thanksgiving
And the voices of those who ^[i]^(AO)celebrate;
And I will ^(AP)multiply them and they will not decrease;
I will ^(AQ)honor them and they will not be insignificant.
²⁰^[j]Their children also will be as before,
And ^[k]their congregation will be ^(AR)established before Me;
And I will punish all ^[l]their oppressors.
²¹^[m]Their ^(AS)leader shall be one of them,
And ^[n]their ruler will come out from ^[o]their midst;
And I will ^(AT)bring him near and he shall approach Me;
For ^[p]who would dare to risk his life to ^(AU)approach Me?’ declares the Lord.
²²‘You shall be ^(AV)My people,
And I will be your God.’”

²³Behold, the ^(AW)tempest of the Lord!
Wrath has gone forth,
A ^[q]sweeping tempest;
It will whirl upon the head of the wicked.
²⁴The ^(AX)fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back
Until He has performed and accomplished
The intent of His heart.
In the ^(AY)latter days you will understand this.

Israel’s Mourning Turned to Joy

31 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “I will be the ^(AZ)God of all the ^(BA)families of Israel, and they shall be My people.”

²This is what the Lord says:
“The people who survived the sword
^(BB)Found grace in the wilderness—
Israel, when it went to ^(BC)find its rest.”
³The Lord appeared to ^[r]him ^[s]long ago, saying,
“I have ^(BD)loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore I have drawn you out with ^(BE)kindness.
⁴^(BF)I will build you again and you will be rebuilt,
Virgin of Israel!
You will ^[t]take up your ^(BG)tambourines again,
And go out to the dances of the ^(BH)revelers.
⁵Again you will ^(BI)plant vineyards
On the ^[u]hills of Samaria;
The planters will plant
And will ^[v]enjoy the fruit.
⁶For there will be a day when watchmen
On the hills of Ephraim call out,
‘Arise, and ^(BJ)let’s go up to Zion,
To the Lord our God.’”

⁷For this is what the Lord says:
“^(BK)Sing aloud with joy for Jacob,
And be joyful with the ^[w]^(BL)chief of the nations;
Proclaim, give praise, and say,
‘Lord, ^(BM)save Your people,
The ^(BN)remnant of Israel!’
⁸Behold, I am ^(BO)bringing them from the north country,
And I will ^(BP)gather them from the remote parts of the earth,
Among them those who are ^(BQ)blind and those who ^(BR)limp,
The pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together;
They will return here as a great assembly.
⁹^(BS)They will come with weeping,
And by pleading I will bring them;
I will lead them by ^(BT)streams of waters,
On a straight path on which they will ^(BU)not stumble;
For I am a ^(BV)father to Israel,
And Ephraim is ^(BW)My firstborn.”

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord, you nations,
And declare it in the ^(BX)coastlands far away,
And say, “He who scattered Israel will ^(BY)gather him,
And He will keep him as a ^(BZ)shepherd keeps his flock.”
¹¹For the Lord has ^(CA)ransomed Jacob
And redeemed him from the hand of him who was ^(CB)stronger than he.
¹²“They will ^(CC)come and shout for joy on the ^(CD)height of Zion,
And they will be ^(CE)radiant over the ^[x]bounty of the Lord—
Over the ^(CF)grain, the new wine, the oil,
And over the young of the ^(CG)flock and the herd.
And their life will be like a ^(CH)watered garden,
And they will ^(CI)never languish again.
¹³Then the virgin will rejoice in the ^(CJ)dance,
And the young men and the old together;
For I will ^(CK)turn their mourning into joy
And comfort them, and give them ^(CL)joy for their sorrow.
¹⁴I will refresh the soul of the priests with ^[y]abundance,
And My people will be ^(CM)satisfied with My goodness,” declares the Lord.

¹⁵This is what the Lord says:
“^(CN)A voice is heard in ^(CO)Ramah,
Lamenting and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
She ^(CP)refuses to be comforted for her children,
Because ^(CQ)they are no more.”

¹⁶This is what the Lord says:

“^(CR)Restrain your voice from weeping
And your eyes from tears;
For your ^(CS)work will be rewarded,” declares the Lord,
“And they will ^(CT)return from the land of the enemy.
¹⁷There is ^(CU)hope for your future,” declares the Lord,
“And your children will return to their own territory.
¹⁸I have certainly heard Ephraim ^(CV)grieving,
‘You have ^(CW)disciplined me, and I was corrected,
Like an untrained ^(CX)calf;
^(CY)Bring me back that I may be restored,
For You are the Lord my God.
¹⁹For after I turned back, I ^(CZ)repented;
And after I was instructed, I ^[z]^(DA)slapped my thigh;
I was ^(DB)ashamed and also humiliated
Because I bore the shame of my youth.’
²⁰Is ^(DC)Ephraim My dear son?
Is he a delightful child?
Indeed, as often as I have spoken against him,
I certainly still remember him;
Therefore My ^[aa]^(DD)heart yearns for him;
I will certainly ^(DE)have mercy on him,” declares the Lord.

²¹“Set up roadmarks for yourself,
Place guideposts for yourself;
^(DF)Direct your ^[ab]mind to the highway,
The way by which you went.
^(DG)Return, O virgin of Israel,
Return to these your cities.
²²How long will you waver,
You ^(DH)rebellious daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:
A woman will shelter a man.”

²³This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Once again they will speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities when I ^(DI)restore their fortunes,

‘The Lord bless you, O ^(DJ)place of righteousness,
O ^(DK)holy hill!’

²⁴Judah and all its cities will ^(DL)live together in it, the farmers and those who travel with flocks. ²⁵^(DM)For I give plenty of water to the weary ones, and ^[ac]refresh everyone who languishes.” ²⁶At this I ^(DN)awoke and looked, and my ^(DO)sleep had been pleasant to me.

A New Covenant

²⁷“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will ^(DP)sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of mankind and the seed of animals. ²⁸And just as I have ^(DQ)watched over them to ^(DR)uproot them, tear them down, ruin, destroy, and bring disaster on them, so I will watch over them to ^(DS)build and to plant them,” declares the Lord.

²⁹“In those days they will no longer say,
‘^(DT)The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
^[ad]But it is the children’s teeth that have become blunt.’

³⁰But ^(DU)everyone will die for his own wrongdoing; each person who eats the sour grapes, his own teeth will become blunt.

³¹“^(DV)Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a ^(DW)new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³²not like the ^(DX)covenant which I made with their fathers on the day I ^(DY)took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My ^(DZ)covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. ³³“For ^(EA)this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “^(EB)I will put My law within them and write it on their heart; and ^(EC)I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴They will ^(ED)not teach again, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all ^(EE)know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will ^(EF)forgive their wrongdoing, and their ^(EG)sin I will no longer remember.”

³⁵This is what the Lord says,
He who ^(EH)gives the sun for light by day
And the ^[ae]fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
Who ^(EI)stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
^(EJ)The Lord of armies is His name:
³⁶“^(EK)If ^[af]this fixed order departs
From Me,” declares the Lord,
“Then the descendants of Israel also will ^(EL)cease
To be a nation before Me ^[ag]forever.”
³⁷This is what the Lord says:
“^(EM)If the heavens above can be measured
And the foundations of the earth searched out below,
Then I will also ^(EN)reject all the descendants of Israel
For everything that they have done,” declares the Lord.

³⁸“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the ^(EO)city will be rebuilt for the Lord from the ^(EP)Tower of Hananel to the ^(EQ)Corner Gate. ³⁹The ^(ER)measuring line will go out farther straight ahead, to the hill Gareb; then it will turn to Goah. ⁴⁰And ^(ES)the entire valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook ^(ET)Kidron to the corner of the ^(EU)Horse Gate toward the east, shall be ^(EV)holy to the Lord; it will not be uprooted or overthrown ever again.”

Jeremiah Imprisoned

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the ^(EW)tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ²Now at that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the ^(EX)courtyard of the guard, which was at the house of the king of Judah, ³because Zedekiah king of Judah had ^(EY)imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you ^(EZ)prophesy, saying, ‘^(FA)This is what the Lord says: “Behold, I am going to ^(FB)hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will take it; ⁴and Zedekiah king of Judah will ^(FC)not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but he will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon, and he will ^(FD)speak with him ^[ah]face to face and see him eye to eye. ⁵Then he will ^(FE)take Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him,” declares the Lord. “If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will ^(FF)not succeed”’?”

⁶And Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁷‘Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you, saying, “Buy for yourself my field which is at ^(FG)Anathoth, for you have the ^(FH)right of redemption to buy it.”’ ⁸Then my uncle’s son Hanamel came to me in the ^(FI)courtyard of the guard in accordance with the word of the Lord and said to me, ‘Buy my field, please, that is at ^(FJ)Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for you have the right of possession and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the ^(FK)word of the Lord.

⁹“So I bought the field which was in Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle’s son, and I ^(FL)weighed out the silver for him, seventeen ^(FM)shekels of silver. ¹⁰And I ^[ai]^(FN)signed and ^(FO)sealed the deed, and ^(FP)called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. ¹¹Then I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the ^(FQ)terms and conditions and the open copy; ¹²and I gave the deed of purchase to ^(FR)Baruch the son of ^(FS)Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle’s son and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, in the sight of all the Jews who were sitting in the courtyard of the guard. ¹³And I commanded Baruch in their sight, saying, ¹⁴‘This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, so that they may ^[aj]last a long time.” ¹⁵For this is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “^(FT)Houses and fields and vineyards will again be purchased in this land.”’

Jeremiah Prays and God Explains

¹⁶“After giving the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I ^(FU)prayed to the Lord, saying, ¹⁷‘^(FV)Oh, Lord ^[ak]God! Behold, You Yourself have ^(FW)made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! ^(FX)Nothing is too difficult for You, ¹⁸who ^(FY)shows mercy to thousands, but ^(FZ)repays the wrongdoing of fathers into the laps of their children after them, ^(GA)great and ^(GB)mighty God. The ^(GC)Lord of armies is His name; ¹⁹^(GD)great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose ^(GE)eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of mankind, ^(GF)giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds; ²⁰who has ^(GG)accomplished signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and even to this day both in Israel and among mankind; and You have ^(GH)made a name for Yourself, as at this day. ²¹You ^(GI)brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders, and with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror; ²²and You gave them this land, which You ^(GJ)swore to their forefathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. ²³They ^(GK)came in and took possession of it, but they ^(GL)did not obey Your voice or ^(GM)walk in Your Law; they did not do ^[al]anything that You commanded them to do; therefore You have made ^(GN)all this disaster happen to them. ²⁴Behold, the ^(GO)assault ramps have reached the city to take it; and the city has been ^(GP)handed over to the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the ^(GQ)sword, the famine, and the plague; and what You have spoken has ^(GR)come to pass; and behold, You see it. ²⁵Yet You have said to me, Lord ^[am]God, “Buy for yourself the field with money and call in witnesses”—although the city has been handed over to the Chaldeans.’”

²⁶Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁷“Behold, I am the Lord, the ^(GS)God of all flesh; is anything ^(GT)too difficult for Me?” ²⁸Therefore this is what the Lord says: “Behold, I am going to ^(GU)hand this city over to the Chaldeans and to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it. ²⁹And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will enter and ^(GV)set this city on fire and burn it, with the ^(GW)houses where people have offered incense to Baal on their roofs and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger. ³⁰For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only ^(GX)evil in My sight since their youth; for the sons of Israel have been only ^(GY)provoking Me to anger by the work of their hands,” declares the Lord. ³¹“Indeed this city has been to Me a ^(GZ)provocation of My anger and My wrath since the day that they built it, even to this day, so that it should be ^(HA)removed from My sight, ³²because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah which they have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their ^(HB)kings, their leaders, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³³They have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, ^(HC)teaching again and again, they would not listen to accept discipline. ³⁴But they ^(HD)put their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. ³⁵They built the ^(HE)high places of Baal that are in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to make their sons and their daughters pass through the fire to ^(HF)Molech, which I had not commanded them, nor had it ^[an]entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to mislead Judah to sin.

³⁶“Now therefore the Lord God of Israel says the following concerning this city of which you say, ‘It has been ^(HG)handed over to the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by plague’: ³⁷Behold, I am going to ^(HH)gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and ^(HI)have them live in safety. ³⁸They shall be ^(HJ)My people, and I will be their God; ³⁹and I will ^(HK)give them one heart and one way, so that they will fear Me always, for their own ^(HL)good and for the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰I will make an ^(HM)everlasting covenant with them that I will ^(HN)not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will ^(HO)put the fear of Me in their hearts, so that they will not turn away from Me. ⁴¹I will ^(HP)rejoice over them to do them good and will ^[ao]faithfully ^(HQ)plant them in this land with ^(HR)all My heart and all My soul. ⁴²For this is what the Lord says: ‘^(HS)Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to ^(HT)bring on them all the good that I am promising them. ⁴³And ^(HU)fields will be purchased in this land of which you say, “^(HV)It is a desolation, without man or animal; it has been handed over to the Chaldeans.” ⁴⁴People will buy fields for money, ^[ap]^(HW)sign and seal ^[aq]deeds, and call in witnesses in the ^(HX)land of Benjamin, in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the ^[ar]Negev; for I will ^(HY)restore their fortunes,’ declares the Lord.”