Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 31
Chapter 31 of Jeremiah
“The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for rest,
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
O virgin Israel!
Again you shall adorn yourself with timbrels,
and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
upon the mountains of Samar′ia;
the planters shall plant,
and shall enjoy the fruit.
in the hill country of E′phraim:
‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,
to the LORD our God.’”
“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
‘The LORD has saved his people,
the remnant of Israel.’
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
the woman with child and her who is in travail, together;
a great company, they shall return here.
and with consolations[b] I will lead them back,
I will make them walk by brooks of water,
in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;
for I am a father to Israel,
and E′phraim is my first-born.
and declare it in the coastlands afar off;
say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall be like a watered garden,
and they shall languish no more.
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,
says the LORD.”
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are not.”
“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.
says the LORD,
and your children shall come back to their own country.
‘Thou hast chastened me, and I was chastened,
like an untrained calf;
bring me back that I may be restored,
for thou art the LORD my God.
and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh;
I was ashamed, and I was confounded,
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
Is he my darling child?
For as often as I speak against him,
I do remember him still.
Therefore my heart yearns for him;
I will surely have mercy on him,
says the LORD.
make yourself guideposts;
consider well the highway,
the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
return to these your cities.
O faithless daughter?
For the LORD has created a new thing on the earth:
a woman protects a man.”
¶ ‘The LORD bless you, O habitation of righteousness,
O holy hill!’
¶ ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
who gives the sun for light by day
and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
the LORD of hosts is his name:
from before me, says the LORD,
then shall the descendants of Israel cease
from being a nation before me for ever.”
“If the heavens above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
then I will cast off all the descendants of Israel
for all that they have done,
says the LORD.”FOOTNOTES
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