Old/New Testament
Israel and Judah Restored
30 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book. 3 For surely the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah. The Lord says, I also will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
4 These are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah. 5 For thus says the Lord:
I have heard a sound of trembling,
of fear, and not of peace.
6 Ask now, and see,
can a male labor with child?
Why do I see every man
with his hands on his loins, as a woman in labor,
and all faces turned pale?
7 Alas! for that day is great,
so that no one is like it;
it is even 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 shall break his yoke from off their neck
and tear away their bonds,
and strangers shall no longer make them their slaves.
9 But they shall serve the Lord their God
and David their king,
whom I will raise up for them.
10 Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,
says the Lord,
nor be dismayed, O Israel;
for I will save you from afar,
and your seed from the land of their captivity.
And Jacob shall return and shall be in rest and be quiet,
and no one shall make him afraid.
11 For I am with you, says the Lord,
to save you.
Although I make a full end of all nations
wherever I have scattered you,
yet I will not make a full end of you.
But I will correct you in measure
and will not leave you altogether unpunished.
12 For thus says the Lord:
Your bruise is incurable
and your wound is severe.
13 There is no one to plead your cause
that you may be bound up.
You have no healing medicines.
14 All your lovers have forgotten you;
they do not seek you;
for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy,
with the chastisement of a cruel one,
because of the multitude of your iniquities, because your sins are numerous.
15 Why do you cry because of your affliction?
Your sorrow is incurable.
Because of the multitude of your iniquities, because your sins are numerous,
I have done these things to you.
16 Therefore all who devour you will be devoured;
and all your adversaries, every one of them, will go into captivity.
And those who plunder you will become plunder,
and all who prey upon you I will give for prey.
17 For I will restore health to you,
and I will heal you of your wounds,
says the Lord,
because they called you an outcast, saying,
“This is Zion whom no man cares for.”
18 Thus says the Lord:
I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents
and have mercy on his dwelling places;
and the city will be built upon her own heap,
and the palace will remain on its rightful place.
19 Out of them will proceed thanksgiving
and the voice of those who make merry;
and I will multiply them,
and they will not be few.
I will also glorify them,
and they will not be small.
20 Their children also will be as before,
and their congregation will be established before Me;
and I will punish all who oppress them.
21 Their leader shall be one of them,
and their ruler shall proceed from their midst;
and I will cause him to draw near and he will approach Me;
for who is this that dares
to approach Me?
says the Lord.
22 You shall be My people,
and I will be your God.
23 Look, the whirlwind of the Lord
goes forth with fury,
a continuing whirlwind;
it will fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.
24 The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return
until He has done it
and until He has performed the intentions of His heart.
In the latter days
you will understand it.
The Exiles Return
31 At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.
2 Thus says the Lord:
The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness,
when I went to give Israel rest.
3 The Lord has appeared to him from afar, saying:
Indeed, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
4 Again I will build you
and you will be built, O virgin of Israel.
You will again be adorned with your tambourines
and shall go forth in the dances of those who make merry.
5 You will yet plant vines
on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters will plant
and will enjoy them.
6 For there will be a day when the watchmen
on the hills of Ephraim will proclaim,
“Arise, and let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.”
7 For thus says the Lord:
Sing with gladness for Jacob,
and shout among the chief of the nations;
publish, praise, and say,
“O Lord, save Your people,
the remnant of Israel.”
8 See, I will bring them from the north country,
and gather them from the remote parts of the earth,
and with them the blind and the lame,
the woman with child and her who is in labor with child, together;
a great company will return here.
9 They will come with weeping,
and with supplications I will lead them.
I will cause them to walk 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 firstborn.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands far off, and say,
“He who scattered Israel will gather him
and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.”
11 For the Lord has redeemed Jacob
and ransomed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.
12 Therefore they will come and sing in the height of Zion,
and will be joyful over the goodness of the Lord,
for wheat and for wine and for oil
and for the young of the flock and of the herd;
and their souls will be as a watered garden.
And they will not sorrow any more at all.
13 Then the virgin shall rejoice in the dance,
both young men and old together;
for I will turn their mourning into joy,
and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
14 I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance,
and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness,
says the Lord.
15 Thus says the Lord:
A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children,
refusing to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.
16 Thus says the Lord:
Keep your voice from 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.
17 There is hope for your future,
says the Lord,
that your children will come back to their own border.
18 I have surely heard Ephraim pleading:
“You have chastised me,
and I was chastised, as an untrained calf;
turn me back and I will be turned,
for you are the Lord my God.
19 Surely after I turned back,
I repented;
and after I was instructed,
I struck myself on my thigh;
I was ashamed and even humiliated
because I bore the reproach of my youth.”
20 Is Ephraim My dear son?
Is he a pleasant child?
For since I spoke against him,
I surely do remember him still;
therefore My heart longs for him.
I will surely have mercy on him,
says the Lord.
21 Set up road marks,
place guideposts.
Set your heart toward the highway,
even the way by which you went.
Turn back, O virgin of Israel,
turn back to these your cities.
22 How long will you go about,
O faithless daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth:
A woman shall obtain a man.
23 Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Once again they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities when I restore their fortunes: “May the Lord bless you, O habitation of righteousness and mountain of holiness!” 24 And Judah and all its cities will dwell there, the farmer and those who go out with the flocks. 25 For I satiate the weary souls and I replenish every languishing soul.
26 Upon this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was sweet to me.
27 Surely, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast. 28 It shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them, to build, and to plant, says the Lord. 29 In those days they will say no more:
“The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”
30 But everyone will die for his own iniquity. Every man that eats the sour grape, his teeth will be set on edge.
A New Covenant
31 Surely, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers
in the day that I took them by the hand
to bring them out of the land of Egypt,
because they broke My covenant,
although I was a husband to them,
says the Lord.
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put My law within them
and write it in their hearts;
and I will be their God,
and they shall be My people.
34 They shall teach no more every man his neighbor
and every man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,”
for they all shall know Me,
from the least of them to the greatest of them,
says the Lord,
for I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sin no more.
35 Thus says the Lord,
who gives the sun
for a light by day
and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars
for a light by night,
who stirs up the sea
so that the waves roar,
the Lord of Hosts is His name:
36 If those ordinances depart from before Me,
says the Lord,
then the seed of Israel also will cease
from being a nation before Me forever.
37 Thus says the Lord:
If heaven above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath,
I will also cast off all the seed of Israel
for all that they have done,
says the Lord.
38 Surely, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the city will be built to the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 The measuring line shall stretch out straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. 40 The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the Kidron Valley, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, will be holy to the Lord. It will not be plucked up nor thrown down any more forever.
Salutation
Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon, our beloved fellow laborer, 2 and to beloved Apphia, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philemon’s Love and Faith
4 I thank my God, always mentioning you in my prayers, 5 whenever I hear of your love and faith, which you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 6 that the sharing of your faith may be most effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you from Christ Jesus. 7 For we have great joy and encouragement on account of your love, because the hearts of the saints are refreshed through you, brother.
Paul Pleads for Onesimus
8 Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ to command you to do that which is proper, 9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ— 10 I appeal to you on behalf of my son Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment, 11 who in the past was unprofitable to you, but now he is profitable to you and to me.
12 I have sent him back. Therefore receive him as my own heart. 13 I wanted to keep him with me, so that in your place he might serve me during my imprisonment for the gospel. 14 But without your consent I would do nothing, so that your goodness would not be forced, but given willingly. 15 Perhaps this was why he departed for a while, that you might receive him forever, 16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
17 If then you consider me a partner, receive him as you would me. 18 If he wronged you or owes you anything, charge this to my account. 19 I, Paul, have written this with my own hand. I will repay it—not to mention that you owe me even your own self. 20 Yes, brother, help me rejoice in the Lord, refresh my heart in the Lord. 21 Being convinced of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will also do more than I say.
22 But, in addition, prepare also lodging for me, for I hope that through your prayers I shall be graciously restored to you.
Final Greetings
23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, 24 as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow laborers.
25 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.