Jeremiah 31 — AAB
Mourning Turned to Joy
31Verse 1“At that time,” declares the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be My people.”Verse 2This is what the LORD says:“The people who survived the swordfound favor in the wilderness
when Israel went to find rest.”Verse 3The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:+
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.Verse 4Again I will build you, and you will be rebuilt,O Virgin Israel.Again you will take up your tambourinesand go out in joyful dancing.Verse 5Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria;the farmers will plant and enjoy the fruit.Verse 6For there will be a day when watchmen will call outon the hills of Ephraim,‘Arise, let us go up to Zion,to the LORD our God!’”Verse 7For this is what the LORD says:
“Sing with joy for Jacob;shout for the foremost of the nations!Make your praises heard, and say,‘O LORD, save Your people,
the remnant of Israel!’Verse 8Behold, I will bring them from the land of the northand gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,including the blind and the lame,expectant mothers and women in labor.
They will return as a great assembly!Verse 9They will come with weeping,and by their supplication I will lead them;I will make them walk beside streams of waters,on a level path where they will not stumble.For I am Israel’s Father,and Ephraim is My firstborn.”Verse 10Hear, O nations, the word of the LORD,and proclaim it in distant coastlands:
“The One who scattered Israel will gather them and keep themas a shepherd keeps his flock.Verse 11For the LORD has ransomed Jacoband redeemed him from the hand that had overpowered him.Verse 12They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion;they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD—the grain, new wine, and oil,and the young of the flocks and herds.Their life will be like a well-watered garden,and never again will they languish.Verse 13Then the maidens will rejoice with dancing,young men and old as well.I will turn their mourning into joy,and give them comfort and joy for their sorrow.Verse 14I will fill the souls of the priests abundantly,and will fill My people with My goodness,”declares the LORD.Verse 15This is what the LORD says:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,mourning and great weeping,Rachel weeping for her childrenand refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”+Verse 16This is what the LORD says:
“Keep your voice from weepingand your eyes from tears,for the reward for your work will come,declares the LORD.Then your children will returnfrom the land of the enemy.Verse 17So there is hope for your future,declares the LORD,and your children will returnto their own land.Verse 18I have surely heard Ephraim’s+moaning:
‘You disciplined me severely,like an untrained calf.Restore me, that I may return,for You are the LORD my God.Verse 19After I returned, I repented;and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief.I was ashamed and humiliatedbecause I bore the disgrace of my youth.’Verse 20Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me,a delightful child?Though I often speak against him,I still remember him.Therefore My heart yearns for him;+I have great compassion for him,”declares the LORD.Verse 21“Set up the road markers,put up the signposts.Keep the highway in mind,the road you have traveled.Return, O Virgin Israel,return to these cities of yours.Verse 22How long will you wander,O faithless daughter?For the LORD has created a new thing in the land—a woman will shelter+a man.”Verse 23This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “When I restore them from captivity,+they will once again speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities: ‘May the LORD bless you, O righteous dwelling place, O holy mountain.’Verse 24And Judah and all its cities will dwell together in the land, the farmers and those who move with the flocks,Verse 25for I will refresh the weary soul and replenish all who are weak.”
The New Covenant
Verse 26At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been most pleasant to me.Verse 27“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and of beast.Verse 28Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, to demolish, destroy, and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD.Verse 29“In those days, it will no longer be said:‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’Verse 30Instead, each will die for his own iniquity. If anyone eats the sour grapes, his own teeth will be set on edge.Verse 31Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,when I will make a new covenantwith the house of Israeland with the house of Judah.Verse 32It will not be like the covenantI made with their fatherswhen I took them by the handto lead them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke,though I was a husband to them,+”declares the LORD.Verse 33“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israelafter those days, declares the LORD.I will put My law in their mindsand inscribe it on their hearts.And I will be their God,and they will be My people.Verse 34No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother,saying, ‘Know the LORD,’because they will all know Me,from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD.For I will forgive their iniquitiesand will remember their sins no more.”+Verse 35Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, who sets in order the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of Hosts is His name:Verse 36“Only if this fixed order departed from My presence,declares the LORD,would Israel’s descendants ever ceaseto be a nation before Me.”Verse 37This is what the LORD says:
“Only if the heavens above could be measuredand the foundations of the earth below searched outwould I reject all of Israel’s descendantsbecause of all they have done,”declares the LORD.Verse 38“The days are coming,”+declares the LORD, “when this city will be rebuilt for Me, from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.Verse 39The measuring line will once again stretch out straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn toward Goah.Verse 40The whole valley of the dead bodies and ashes, and all the fields as far as the Kidron Valley, to the corner of the Horse Gate to the east, will be holy to the LORD. It will never again be uprooted or demolished.”