Israel and Judah Will Be Delivered from Their Distress
30 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,[fn] 2 “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, saying,[fn] ‘Write for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you in a scroll. 3 For look, days are coming,’ declares[fn] Yahweh, ‘when I will restore the fortunes[fn] of my people Israel and Judah,’ says Yahweh, ‘and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors[fn] and they will take possession of it.’ ”
4 Now these are the words that Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.
- 5 “For thus says Yahweh:‘We have heard a sound of trembling,
- terror, and there is no peace.
- 6 Ask please and see whether a male can bear a child. Why do I see every strong man
- with his hands on his loins like a woman giving birth?
- And why are all their faces changed to paleness?
- 7 Alas! For that day is great, there is none like it .[fn]
- And it is a time of distress for Jacob,
- yet from it he will be delivered.
- 8 And it will happen on that day,’ declares[fn] Yahweh of hosts, ‘I will break his yoke from your neck
- and your bonds I will tear to pieces.
- And strangers will no longer let him work as a slave.
- 9 But they will serve Yahweh their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
- 10 But you must not fear, my servant Jacob,’ declares[fn] Yahweh, ‘and you must not be dismayed, Israel,
- for look, I am going to save you from far,
- and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
- And Jacob will return,
- and he will be at ease,
- and there will be no one who makes him[fn] afraid.
- 11 For I am with you,’ declares[fn] Yahweh, ‘to save you. For I will make a complete destruction
- of all the nations to which I scattered you,
- but you I will not make a complete destruction.
- And I will chastise you to the measure,
- and I will not leave you entirely unpunished.’
- 12 For thus says Yahweh,‘Your injury is incurable,
- your wound is overcome by sickness.
- 13 There is no one who pleads your cause, for your boil there is no healing for you.
- 14 All your lovers have forgotten you, they do not care for you.
- I have struck you with the blow of an enemy,
- the punishment of the cruel,
- because of the greatness of your guilt,
- your sins are numerous.
- 15 Why do you cry because of your wound? Your pain is incurable.
- Because of the greatness of your guilt—your sins are vast—
- I have done these things to you.
- 16 Therefore[fn] all those who devour you will be devoured, and all your foes, all of them will go into captivity,
- and those who plunder you will be as plunder,
- and all those who plunder you I will make as plunder.
- 17 For I will present healing to you, and I will heal you of your wounds,’ declares[fn] Yahweh.
- ‘Because they have called you an outcast, saying,
- “It is Zion, there is no one who cares for her.” ’
- 18 Thus says Yahweh:‘Look, I will restore the fortunes[fn] of the tents of Jacob,
- and I will have compassion on his dwellings,
- and the city will be rebuilt upon its mound,
- and the citadel fortress will stand on its rightful site.
- 19 And thanksgiving and the sound of merrymakers will come out from them,
- and I will make them numerous,
- and they will not be few.
- And I will make them honored,
- and they will not be lowly.
- 20 And their children will be as of old, and their community will be established before me .[fn]
- And I will punish all their oppressors.
- 21 And their noble will be from them, and their ruler will come out from their midst.
- And I will bring him near and he will approach me.
- For who is he that would pledge his heart to approach me?’ declares[fn] Yahweh.
- 22 ‘And you will be to me a people, and I will be to you God.’ ”
- 23 Look, the storm of Yahweh! Wrath has gone forth,
- a whirling tempest.
- It will whirl upon the head of the wicked.
- 24 The burning anger of Yahweh[fn] will not turn back until his doing, and until his accomplishing the plans of his mind .[fn]
- In the last of the days you will understand it.
- 31 “At that time,” declares[fn] Yahweh, “I will be the God of all the clans[fn] of Israel,
- and they will be to me a people.”
- 2 Thus says Yahweh:“The people of the survivors of the sword found grace in the desert;[fn]
- Israel going to find their rest.”
- 3 From afar Yahweh appeared to me, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.
- Therefore[fn] I have drawn you with loyal love.
- 4 I will again build you, and you will be built, O virgin Israel.
- You will again adorn yourself with your tambourines,
- and you will go forth in the dancing in a ring of the merrymakers.
- 5 You will again plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. The planters will plant, and they will enjoy it.[fn]
- 6 For there will be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim, ‘Stand up, and let us go up to Zion, to Yahweh our God.’ ”
- 7 For thus says Yahweh,“Sing for joy for Jacob with gladness,
- and shout out for the head of the nations.
- Proclaim, praise, and say,
- ‘Save, O Yahweh, your people, the remnant of Israel.’
- 8 Look, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and I will gather them from the remotest part of the earth.
- Among them the blind, and the lame,
- those who are pregnant, and those who give birth,
- together, a great assembly,
- they will return here.
- 9 With weeping they will come, and with pleas for mercy I will bring them;
- I will let them walk by streams of water in a straight path.
- They will not stumble in it,
- for I have become to Israel a father,
- and Ephraim, he is my firstborn.”
- 10 Hear the word of Yahweh, O nations, and declare in the coastlands from afar, and say,
- “The scatterer of Israel will gather him,
- and he will keep him as a shepherd his flock.
- 11 For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob, and he has redeemed him from the hand of the person stronger[fn] than he.
- 12 And they will come, and they will sing for joy on the height of Zion,
- and they will be radiant over the goodness of Yahweh,
- over the grain, and over the wine, and over the olive oil,
- and over the young ones of the flock, and over the cattle.
- And their life will become like a well-watered garden,
- and they will never languish again.”
- 13 “Then the young woman will rejoice in the dancing in a ring, and the young men and the old men together.
- And I will turn their mourning to jubilation,
- and I will comfort them,
- and I will gladden them from their sorrow.
- 14 And I will saturate the appetite of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,” declares[fn] Yahweh.
- 15 Thus says Yahweh, “A voice is heard in Ramah,
- lamentation, the weeping of bitterness.
- Rachel is weeping for her children;
- she refuses to be comforted because of her children,
- for they are no more.”
- 16 Thus says Yahweh:“Restrain your voice from weeping,
- and your eyes from tears,
- for there is a reward for your work,” declares[fn] Yahweh,
- “and they will return from the land of the enemy.
- 17 And there is hope for your future,” declares[fn] Yahweh, “and your children will return to their territory.
- 18 Indeed I heard Ephraim pitying themselves, ‘You disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
- like a calf that is not trained.
- Bring me back and let me return,
- for you are Yahweh my God.
- 19 For after my turning back I repented, and after coming to understand I struck my thigh.
- I was ashamed and also humiliated,
- because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
- 20 Is Ephraim my dear son, or the child of my delight?
- For as often as[fn] I have earnestly spoken against him,
- Therefore[fn] my bowels are turbulent for him,
- surely I will have compassion on him,” declares[fn] Yahweh.
- 21 “Set up for yourself road markers, make for yourself signposts,
- set your mind[fn] to the main road,
- the road by which you went.
- Return, O virgin of Israel,
- return to these your cities.
- 22 How long[fn] will you waver, O unfaithful daughter? For Yahweh has created a new thing on the earth,
- a woman, she shelters a man.”
- 23 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “They will again say these words[fn] in the land of Judah and in its towns at my restoring their fortunes,[fn] ‘Yahweh bless you, O settlement of righteousness,
- O hill of holiness.’
- 24 And Judah and all of its towns together will live in it, farmers and those who travel with the flocks.[fn]
- 25 For I will saturate the thirst of the weary, and every person who languishes I will replenish.”
- 26 At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.