Jeremiah 31

1 “At the same time,” saith יהוה, “will I be the God (Elohim) of all the families of Yisrael, and they shall be My people.”

2 Thus saith יהוה: “The people who were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Yisrael, when I went to cause him to rest.”

3 יהוה hath appeared of old unto me, saying: “Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you.

4 Again I will build you, and you shalt be built, O virgin of Yisrael: you shalt again be adorned with your tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.

5 You shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria (Shomeron); the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things.

6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the Mount Efrayim shall cry, ‘Arise you, and let us go up to Zion (Tsiyon) unto יהוה our God (Elohim).’”

7 For thus saith יהוה: “Sing with gladness for Jacob (Yaaqov), and shout among the chief of the nations; proclaim, praise, and say, ‘O יהוה, save Your people, the remnant of Yisrael!’

8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together; a great company shall return thither.

9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a Father to Yisrael, and Efrayim is My firstborn.

10 “Hear the word of יהוה, O you nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, ‘He that scattered Yisrael will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.’

11 For יהוה hath redeemed Jacob (Yaaqov), and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.

12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion (Tsiyon), and shall flow together to the goodness of יהוה, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd; and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.

13 Then shall the virgin 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 And I will satiate the soul of the priests (kohanim) with fatness, and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness,” saith יהוה.

15 Thus saith יהוה: “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were no more”

16 Thus saith יהוה: “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded,” saith יהוה, “And they shall come again from the land of the enemy.

17 And there is hope in your end,” saith יהוה, “that your children shall come again to their own border.

18 I have surely heard Efrayim bemoaning himself thus: “You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke; turn you me, and I shall be turned; for You are יהוה my God (Elohim).

19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.’

20 “Is Efrayim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still; therefore My bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him,” saith יהוה.

21 “Set you up waymarks, make you high heaps; set your heart toward the highway, even the way which you wentest; turn back, O virgin of Yisrael, turn back to these your cities.

22 How long wilt you go about, O you backsliding daughter? For יהוה hath created a new thing in the earth: A woman shall compass a man.”

23 Thus saith יהוה of hosts (YHWH Tsevaot), the God of Israel (Elohei Yisrael): “As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah (Yehudah) and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; יהוה bless you, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness!’

24 And there shall dwell in Judah (Yehudah) itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks.

25 “For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”

26 Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.

27 “Behold, the days come,” saith יהוה, “that I will sow the house of Yisrael and the house of Judah (Yehudah) with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.

28 And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant,” saith יהוה.

29 In those days they shall say no more: ‘The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

30 “But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.

31 “Behold, the days come,” saith יהוה, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Yisrael, and with the house of Judah (Yehudah);

32 Not 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 (Mitsrayim); which My covenant they broke, although I was a 33fhusband (baal) unto them,” saith יהוה;

33 “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Yisrael: After those days, saith יהוה, I will put My Torah in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God (Elohim), and they shall be My people.

34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know יהוה,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them,” saith יהוה. “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

35 Thus saith יהוה, who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; יהוה of hosts (YHWH Tsevaot) is His name:

36 “If those ordinances depart from before Me,” saith יהוה, “then the seed of Yisrael also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever.”

37 Thus saith יהוה: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Yisrael for all that they have done,” saith יהוה.

38 “Behold, the days come,” saith יהוה, “that the city shall be built to יהוה from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner.

39 And the measuring line shall yet go forth opposite it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath.

40 “And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto יהוה. It shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more forever.”