Jeremiah, starting at chapter 31
{31:1} At that time, says Yahweh, will I be the God of all the
families of Israel, and they shall be my people. {31:2} Thus says
Yahweh, The people who were left of the sword found favor in the
wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. {31:3}
Yahweh appeared of old to me, [saying], Yes, I have loved you with an
everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you.
{31:4} Again will I build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of
Israel: again you shall be adorned with your tambourines, and shall go
forth in the dances of those who make merry. {31:5} Again you shall
plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant,
and shall enjoy [its fruit]. {31:6} For there shall be a day, that the
watchmen on the hills of Ephraim shall cry, Arise you, and let us go
up to Zion to Yahweh our God. {31:7} For thus says Yahweh, Sing with
gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations: publish
you, praise you, and say, Yahweh, save your people, the remnant of
Israel. {31:8} Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and
gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, [and] with them the
blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with
child together: a great company shall they return here. {31:9} They
shall come with weeping; and with petitions will I lead them: I will
cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which
they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my
firstborn. {31:10} Hear the word of Yahweh, you nations, and declare
it in the islands afar off; and say, He who scattered Israel will
gather him, and keep him, as shepherd does his flock. {31:11} For
Yahweh has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who
was stronger than he. {31:12} They shall come and sing in the height
of Zion, and shall flow to the goodness of Yahweh, to the grain, and
to the new wine, and to the oil, and to 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. {31:13} Then shall the virgin rejoice in
the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn
their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice
from their sorrow. {31:14} I will satiate the soul of the priests with
fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says
Yahweh. {31:15} Thus says Yahweh: A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she
refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.
{31:16} Thus says Yahweh: Refrain your voice from weeping, and your
eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says Yahweh; and
they shall come again from the land of the enemy. {31:17} There is
hope for your latter end, says Yahweh; and [your] children shall come
again to their own border. {31:18} I have surely heard Ephraim
bemoaning himself [thus], You have chastised me, and I was chastised,
as a calf unaccustomed [to the yoke]: turn you me, and I shall be
turned; for you are Yahweh my God. {31:19} Surely after that I was
turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I struck on my
thigh: I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I did bear the
reproach of my youth. {31:20} Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a darling
child? for as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember
him still: therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy
on him, says Yahweh. {31:21} Set up road signs, make guideposts; set
your heart toward the highway, even the way by which you went: turn
again, virgin of Israel, turn again to these your cities. {31:22} How
long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? for Yahweh
has created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall encompass a man.
{31:23} Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Yet again shall
they use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I
shall bring again their captivity: Yahweh bless you, habitation of
righteousness, mountain of holiness. {31:24} Judah and all its cities
shall dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with
flocks. {31:25} For I have satiated the weary soul, and every
sorrowful soul have I replenished. {31:26} On this I awakened, and
saw; and my sleep was sweet to me. {31:27} Behold, the days come, says
Yahweh, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah
with the seed of man, and with the seed of animal. {31:28} It shall
happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break
down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch
over them to build and to plant, says Yahweh. {31:29} In those days
they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the
children's teeth are set on edge. {31:30} But everyone shall die for
his own iniquity: every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall
be set on edge. {31:31} Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I
will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house
of Judah: {31:32} 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; which my covenant they broke, although I was a
husband to them, says Yahweh. {31:33} But this is the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I
will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write
it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people: {31:34} and
they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, Know Yahweh; for they shall all know me, from the
least of them to the greatest of them, says Yahweh: for I will forgive
their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more. {31:35} Thus
says Yahweh, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances
of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the
sea, so that its waves roar; Yahweh of Armies is his name: {31:36} If
these ordinances depart from before me, says Yahweh, then the seed of
Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever. {31:37}
Thus says Yahweh: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations
of the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the
seed of Israel for all that they have done, says Yahweh. {31:38}
Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that the city shall be built to
Yahweh from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner. {31:39}
The measuring line shall go out further straight onward to the hill
Gareb, and shall turn about to Goah. {31:40} The whole valley of the
dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron,
to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy to
Yahweh; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more forever.
{32:1} The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year
of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of
Nebuchadnezzar. {32:2} Now at that time the king of Babylon's army was
besieging Jerusalem; and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court
of the guard, which was in the king of Judah's house. {32:3} For
Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why do you prophesy,
and say, Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will give this city into the hand
of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; {32:4} and Zedekiah king
of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall
surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall
speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall see his eyes; {32:5}
and he shall bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I
visit him, says Yahweh: though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall
not prosper? {32:6} Jeremiah said, The word of Yahweh came to me,
saying, {32:7} Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle shall
come to you, saying, Buy you my field that is in Anathoth; for the
right of redemption is yours to buy it. {32:8} So Hanamel my uncle's
son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of
Yahweh, and said to me, Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which
is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and
the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this
was the word of Yahweh. {32:9} I bought the field that was in Anathoth
of Hanamel my uncle's son, and weighed him the money, even seventeen
shekels of silver. {32:10} I subscribed the deed, and sealed it, and
called witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances. {32:11}
So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed,
containing the terms and conditions, and that which was open; {32:12}
and I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah,
the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle's son, and in
the presence of the witnesses who subscribed the deed of the purchase,
before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard. {32:13} I
commanded Baruch before them, saying, {32:14} Thus says Yahweh of
Armies, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase
which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an
earthen vessel; that they may continue many days. {32:15} For thus
says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and
vineyards shall yet again be bought in this land. {32:16} Now after I
had delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I
prayed to Yahweh, saying, {32:17} Ah Lord Yahweh! behold, you have
made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your
outstretched arm; there is nothing too hard for you, {32:18} who show
loving kindness to thousands, and recompense the iniquity of the
fathers into the bosom of their children after them; the great, the
mighty God, Yahweh of Armies is his name; {32:19} great in counsel,
and mighty in work; whose eyes are open on all the ways of the sons of
men, to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the
fruit of his doings: {32:20} who performed signs and wonders in the
land of Egypt, even to this day, both in Israel and among [other] men;
and made you a name, as in this day; {32:21} and brought forth your
people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders,
and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great
terror; {32:22} and gave them this land, which you did swear to their
fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey; {32:23} and
they came in, and possessed it, but they didn't obey your voice,
neither walked in your law; they have done nothing of all that you
commanded them to do: therefore you have caused all this evil to come
on them. {32:24} Behold, the mounds, they are come to the city to take
it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight
against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the
pestilence; and what you have spoken has happened; and behold, you see
it. {32:25} You have said to me, Lord Yahweh, Buy you the field for
money, and call witnesses; whereas the city is given into the hand of
the Chaldeans. {32:26} Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah,
saying, {32:27} Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh: is there
anything too hard for me? {32:28} Therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold,
I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the
hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it: {32:29}
and the Chaldeans, who fight against this city, shall come and set
this city on fire, and burn it, with the houses, on whose roofs they
have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other
gods, to provoke me to anger. {32:30} For the children of Israel and
the children of Judah have done only that which was evil in my sight
from their youth; for the children of Israel have only provoked me to
anger with the work of their hands, says Yahweh. {32:31} For this city
has been to me a provocation of my anger and of my wrath from the day
that they built it even to this day; that I should remove it from
before my face, {32:32} because of all the evil of the children of
Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke
me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and
their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem. {32:33} They have turned to me the back, and not the face:
and though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they
have not listened to receive instruction. {32:34} But they set their
abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.
{32:35} They built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of
the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass
through [the fire] to Molech; which I didn't command them, neither did
it come into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause
Judah to sin. {32:36} Now therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of
Israel, concerning this city, about which you say, It is given into
the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and
by the pestilence: {32:37} Behold, I will gather them out of all the
countries, where I have driven them in my anger, and in my wrath, and
in great indignation; and I will bring them again to this place, and I
will cause them to dwell safely: {32:38} and they shall be my people,
and I will be their God: {32:39} and I will give them one heart and
one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them, and of
their children after them: {32:40} and I will make an everlasting
covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to
do them good; and I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may
not depart from me. {32:41} Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them
good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart
and with my whole soul. {32:42} For thus says Yahweh: Like as I have
brought all this great evil on this people, so will I bring on them
all the good that I have promised them. {32:43} Fields shall be bought
in this land, about which you say, It is desolate, without man or
animal; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. {32:44} Men shall
buy fields for money, and subscribe the deeds, and seal them, and call
witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem,
and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill country, and
in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South: for I
will cause their captivity to return, says Yahweh.
{33:1} Moreover the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the second time,
while he was yet shut up in the court of the guard, saying, {33:2}
Thus says Yahweh who does it, Yahweh who forms it to establish it;
Yahweh is his name: {33:3} Call to me, and I will answer you, and will
show you great things, and difficult, which you don't know. {33:4} For
thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this
city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are
broken down [to make a defense] against the mounds and against the
sword; {33:5} while [men] come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to
fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have killed in my anger
and in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from
this city: {33:6} Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will
cure them; and I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth.
{33:7} I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel
to return, and will build them, as at the first. {33:8} I will cleanse
them from all their iniquity, by which they have sinned against me;
and I will pardon all their iniquities, by which they have sinned
against me, and by which they have transgressed against me. {33:9}
[This city] shall be to me for a name of joy, for a praise and for a
glory, before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the
good that I do to them, and shall fear and tremble for all the good
and for all the peace that I procure to it. {33:10} Thus says Yahweh:
Yet again there shall be heard in this place, about which you say, It
is waste, without man and without animal, even in the cities of Judah,
and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and
without inhabitant and without animal, {33:11} the voice of joy and
the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of
the bride, the voice of those who say, Give thanks to Yahweh of
Armies, for Yahweh is good, for his loving kindness endures forever;
[and of them] who bring [sacrifices of] thanksgiving into the house of
Yahweh. For I will cause the captivity of the land to return as at the
first, says Yahweh. {33:12} Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Yet again
shall there be in this place, which is waste, without man and without
animal, and in all its cities, a habitation of shepherds causing their
flocks to lie down. {33:13} In the cities of the hill country, in the
cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South, and in the land
of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of
Judah, shall the flocks again pass under the hands of him who numbers
them, says Yahweh. {33:14} Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I
will perform that good word which I have spoken concerning the house
of Israel and concerning the house of Judah. {33:15} In those days,
and at that time, will I cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up to
David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
{33:16} In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell
safely; and this is [the name] by which she shall be called: Yahweh
our righteousness. {33:17} For thus says Yahweh: David shall never
want a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; {33:18}
neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer
burnt offerings, and to burn meal offerings, and to do sacrifice
continually. {33:19} The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying,
{33:20} Thus says Yahweh: If you can break my covenant of the day, and
my covenant of the night, so that there shall not be day and night in
their season; {33:21} then may also my covenant be broken with David
my servant, that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne; and
with the Levites the priests, my ministers. {33:22} As the army of the
sky can't be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured; so will I
multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites who minister to
me. {33:23} The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, {33:24} Don't
you consider what this people has spoken, saying, The two families
which Yahweh did choose, he has cast them off? thus do they despise my
people, that they should be no more a nation before them. {33:25} Thus
says Yahweh: If my covenant of day and night fails, if I have not
appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; {33:26} then will I also
cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David my servant, so that I will
not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and will have mercy
on them.
___
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