The Excellence of the Restored Nation

While [Jeremiah] was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to [him] a second time 2 “ Thus says the LORD who made the earth,[fn] the LORD who formed it and established it, the LORD is His name: 3 Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

4 

For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah that have been torn down for defense against the siege ramps and the sword: 5 The Chaldeans are coming to fight[fn] and to fill [those places] with the corpses of the men I will strike down in My anger and in My wrath. I have hidden My face from this city because of all its wickedness.

6 

Nevertheless, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal [its people] and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. 7 I will restore Judah and Israel from captivity[fn] and will rebuild them as in former times. 8 And I will cleanse them from all the iniquity they have committed against Me, and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against Me.

9 

So [this city] will bring Me renown, joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I do for it. They will tremble in awe because of all the goodness and prosperity that I will provide for it.

10 

This is what the LORD says: In this place you say is a wasteland without man [or] beast, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted — inhabited by neither man nor beast — there will be heard again 11 the sounds of joy [and] gladness, the voices of the bride [and] bridegroom, and the voices of those bringing thank offerings into the house of the LORD, saying:

‘Give thanks to the LORD of Hosts,

for the LORD is good;

His loving devotion endures forever.’

For I will restore the land from captivity[fn] as in former times, says the LORD.

12 

This is what the LORD of Hosts says: In this desolate place, without man or beast, and in all its cities, there will once more be pastures for shepherds to rest [their] flocks. 13 In the cities of the hill country, the foothills,[fn] [and] the Negev, in the land of Benjamin and the cities surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the LORD.

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