³ Then ^(A)death shall be chosen rather than life by all the ^[a]residue of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says the Lord of hosts.

⁶ In those days ^(A)men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.

⁸ but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country ^(A)and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own ^(B)land.”

³ “But ^(A)I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.

^4 (A)If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you.

^3 (A)Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for ^(B)it is better for me to die than to live!”

⁷ O Lord, ^(A)righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.

The Blessing of Returning to God

30 “Now ^(A)it shall come to pass, when ^(B)all these things come upon you, the blessing and the ^(C)curse which I have set before you, and ^(D)you ^[a]call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you,