Jeremiah 31-33

English Standard Version

The Lord Will Turn Mourning to Joy

31 ^(A)“At that time, declares the Lord, ^(B)I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”

²Thus says the Lord:
“The people who survived the sword
    found grace in the wilderness;
^(C)when Israel sought for rest,
³    the Lord appeared to him^[a] from far away.
^(D)I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    therefore ^(E)I have continued ^(F)my faithfulness to you.
⁴^(G)Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
    O virgin Israel!
^(H)Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines
    and shall go forth in ^(I)the dance of the merrymakers.
⁵^(J)Again you shall plant vineyards
    on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant
    and shall enjoy the fruit.
⁶For there shall be a day when watchmen will call
    in ^(K)the hill country of Ephraim:
^(L)‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,
    to the Lord our God.’”

⁷For thus says the Lord:
^(M)“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
    and raise shouts for ^(N)the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
    ^(O)‘O Lord, save your people,
    the remnant of Israel.’
⁸Behold, I will bring them ^(P)from the north country
    and ^(Q)gather them from ^(R)the farthest parts of the earth,
among them ^(S)the blind and the lame,
    the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together;
    a great company, they shall return here.
⁹^(T)With weeping they shall come,
    ^(U)and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back,
I will make them ^(V)walk by brooks of water,
    ^(W)in a straight path in which they shall not stumble,
for ^(X)I am a father to Israel,
    and Ephraim is ^(Y)my firstborn.

¹⁰“Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
    and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, ‘He who scattered Israel will ^(Z)gather him,
    and will keep him ^(AA)as a shepherd keeps his flock.’
¹¹^(AB)For the Lord has ransomed Jacob
    and has redeemed him from ^(AC)hands too strong for him.
¹²They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
    ^(AD)and they shall be radiant ^(AE)over the goodness of the Lord,
^(AF)over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
    and over the young of the flock and the herd;
^(AG)their life shall be like a watered garden,
    ^(AH)and they shall languish no more.
¹³^(AI)Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
    and the young men and the old shall be merry.
^(AJ)I will turn their mourning into joy;
    I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
¹⁴^(AK)I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance,
    and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,
declares the Lord.”

¹⁵Thus says the Lord:
^(AL)“A voice is heard in ^(AM)Ramah,
    lamentation and bitter weeping.
^(AN)Rachel is weeping for her children;
    she refuses to be comforted for her children,
    ^(AO)because they are no more.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord:
“Keep your voice from weeping,
    and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work,
declares the Lord,
    and ^(AP)they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
¹⁷^(AQ)There is hope for your future,
declares the Lord,
    and your children shall come back to their own country.
¹⁸I have heard ^(AR)Ephraim grieving,
‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
    like an untrained calf;
^(AS)bring me back that I may be restored,
    for you are the Lord my God.
¹⁹For after ^(AT)I had turned away, I relented,
    and after I was instructed, ^(AU)I struck my thigh;
^(AV)I was ashamed, and I was confounded,
    because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
²⁰^(AW)Is Ephraim my dear son?
    ^(AX)Is he my darling child?
For as often as I speak against him,
    I do remember him still.
^(AY)Therefore my heart^[b] yearns for him;
    I will surely have mercy on him,
declares the Lord.

²¹^(AZ)“Set up road markers for yourself;
    make yourself guideposts;
^(BA)consider well the highway,
    ^(BB)the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
    return to these your cities.
²²^(BC)How long will you waver,
    ^(BD)O faithless daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:
    a woman encircles a man.”

²³Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, ^(BE)when I restore their fortunes:

^(BF)“‘The Lord bless you, ^(BG)O habitation of righteousness,
^(BH)O holy hill!’

²⁴^(BI)And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and ^(BJ)the farmers and those who wander with their flocks. ²⁵For I will ^(BK)satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

²⁶At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.

²⁷^(BL)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^(BM)I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with ^(BN)the seed of man and the seed of beast. ²⁸And it shall come to pass that ^(BO)as I have watched over them ^(BP)to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, ^(BQ)so I will watch over them ^(BR)to build and to plant, declares the Lord. ²⁹In those days they shall no longer say:

^(BS)“‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge.’

³⁰^(BT)But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

The New Covenant

³¹^(BU)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make ^(BV)a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³²not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when ^(BW)I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, ^(BX)though I was their husband, declares the Lord. ³³^(BY)For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: ^(BZ)I will put my law within them, and I will write it ^(CA)on their hearts. ^(CB)And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ ^(CC)for they shall all know me, ^(CD)from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For ^(CE)I will forgive their iniquity, and ^(CF)I will remember their sin no more.”

³⁵Thus says the Lord,
who ^(CG)gives the sun for light by day
    and ^(CH)the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    ^(CI)the Lord of hosts is his name:
³⁶^(CJ)“If this fixed order departs
    from before me, declares the Lord,
then shall the offspring of Israel cease
    from being a nation before me forever.”

³⁷Thus says the Lord:
“If the heavens above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
^(CK)then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel
for all that they have done,
declares the Lord.”

³⁸^(CL)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord ^(CM)from the Tower of Hananel to ^(CN)the Corner Gate. ³⁹^(CO)And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. ⁴⁰^(CP)The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the ^(CQ)brook Kidron, to the corner of ^(CR)the Horse Gate toward the east, ^(CS)shall be sacred to the Lord. ^(CT)It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”

Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord ^(CU)in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, ^(CV)which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ²At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet ^(CW)was shut up in ^(CX)the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. ³For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(CY)Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; ⁴^(CZ)Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, ^(DA)but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. ⁵And ^(DB)he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the Lord. ^(DC)Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?”

⁶Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ^(DD)‘Buy my field that is at ^(DE)Anathoth, ^(DF)for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ ⁸Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in ^(DG)the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at ^(DH)Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

⁹“And I bought the field at ^(DI)Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and ^(DJ)weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰^(DK)I signed the deed, ^(DL)sealed it, ^(DM)got witnesses, and ^(DN)weighed the money on scales. ¹¹Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. ¹²And I gave the deed of purchase to ^(DO)Baruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of ^(DP)the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in ^(DQ)the court of the guard. ¹³I charged ^(DR)Baruch in their presence, saying, ¹⁴‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time. ¹⁵For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and ^(DS)fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

¹⁶“After I had given the deed of purchase to ^(DT)Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁷‘Ah, Lord God! It is ^(DU)you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by ^(DV)your outstretched arm! ^(DW)Nothing is too hard for you. ¹⁸^(DX)You show steadfast love to thousands, ^(DY)but you repay the guilt of fathers ^(DZ)to their children after them, O great and ^(EA)mighty God, whose name is the ^(EB)Lord of hosts, ¹⁹^(EC)great in counsel and ^(ED)mighty in deed, ^(EE)whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, ^(EF)rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. ²⁰You have shown ^(EG)signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, ^(EH)and have made a name for yourself, as at this day. ²¹^(EI)You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and ^(EJ)outstretched arm, ^(EK)and with great terror. ²²And you gave them this land, ^(EL)which you swore to their fathers to give them, ^(EM)a land flowing with milk and honey. ²³And they entered and took possession of it. ^(EN)But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them. ²⁴Behold, ^(EO)the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and ^(EP)because of sword and famine and pestilence ^(EQ)the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. ²⁵Yet you, O Lord God, have said to me, ^(ER)“Buy the field for money ^(ES)and get witnesses”—though ^(ET)the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’”

²⁶The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷“Behold, I am the Lord, ^(EU)the God of all flesh. ^(EV)Is anything too hard for me? ²⁸Therefore, thus says the Lord: ^(EW)Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. ²⁹The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city ^(EX)shall come and set this city on fire and burn it, ^(EY)with the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal ^(EZ)and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, ^(FA)to provoke me to anger. ³⁰For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight ^(FB)from their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but ^(FC)provoke me to anger ^(FD)by the work of their hands, declares the Lord. ³¹This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, ^(FE)so that I will remove it from my sight ³²because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—^(FF)their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³³^(FG)They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them ^(FH)persistently, they have not listened ^(FI)to receive instruction. ³⁴They set up ^(FJ)their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. ³⁵They built the high places of Baal ^(FK)in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^(FL)to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, ^(FM)though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do ^(FN)this abomination, ^(FO)to cause Judah to sin.

They Shall Be My People; I Will Be Their God

³⁶“Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ^(FP)‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: ³⁷^(FQ)Behold, I will gather them from all the countries ^(FR)to which I drove them in ^(FS)my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, ^(FT)and I will make them dwell in safety. ³⁸^(FU)And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹^(FV)I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, ^(FW)for their own good and the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰^(FX)I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. ^(FY)And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. ⁴¹^(FZ)I will rejoice in doing them good, ^(GA)and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

⁴²“For thus says the Lord: ^(GB)Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. ⁴³^(GC)Fields shall be bought in this land ^(GD)of which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; ^(GE)it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ⁴⁴Fields shall be bought for money, and ^(GF)deeds shall be signed and ^(GG)sealed and ^(GH)witnessed, ^(GI)in the land of Benjamin, ^(GJ)in the places about Jerusalem, ^(GK)and in the cities of Judah, ^(GL)in the cities of the hill country, ^(GM)in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for ^(GN)I will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.”

The Lord Promises Peace

33 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still ^(GO)shut up in the court of the guard: ²“Thus says ^(GP)the Lord who made the earth,^[c] the Lord who formed it to establish it—^(GQ)the Lord is his name: ³^(GR)Call to me and I will answer you, ^(GS)and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. ⁴For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah that were torn down to make a defense against ^(GT)the siege mounds and against the sword: ⁵They are coming in ^(GU)to fight against the Chaldeans and to fill them^[d] with the dead bodies of men whom I shall strike down ^(GV)in my anger and my wrath, ^(GW)for I have hidden my face from this city because of all their evil. ⁶^(GX)Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security. ⁷^(GY)I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, ^(GZ)and rebuild them as they were ^(HA)at first. ⁸^(HB)I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, ^(HC)and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me. ⁹^(HD)And this city^[e] shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. They shall ^(HE)fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.

¹⁰“Thus says the Lord: In this place ^(HF)of which you say, ‘It is a waste without man or beast,’ in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man or inhabitant or beast, there shall be heard again ¹¹^(HG)the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring ^(HH)thank offerings to the house of the Lord:

^(HI)“‘Give thanks to the Lord of hosts,
for the Lord is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!’

^(HJ)For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the Lord.

¹²“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(HK)In this place that is waste, without man or beast, and in all of its cities, there shall again be ^(HL)habitations of shepherds ^(HM)resting their flocks. ¹³^(HN)In the cities of the hill country, ^(HO)in the cities of the Shephelah, ^(HP)and in the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, ^(HQ)the places about Jerusalem, ^(HR)and in the cities of Judah, ^(HS)flocks shall again pass under the hands ^(HT)of the one who counts them, says the Lord.

The Lord's Eternal Covenant with David

¹⁴^(HU)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^(HV)I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ¹⁵In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous ^(HW)Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ¹⁶In those days Judah will be saved, ^(HX)and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ^(HY)‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

¹⁷“For thus says the Lord: ^(HZ)David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, ¹⁸^(IA)and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.”

¹⁹The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁰^(IB)“Thus says the Lord: ^(IC)If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, ^(ID)so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, ²¹^(IE)then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers. ²²As ^(IF)the host of heaven cannot be numbered and ^(IG)the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.”

²³The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁴“Have you not observed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two clans that he chose’? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight. ²⁵Thus says the Lord: ^(IH)If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, ²⁶then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ^(II)For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.”