Jeremiah 31:15-22
The Message
15-17 Again, God’s Message:
“Listen to this! Laments coming out of Ramah,
wild and bitter weeping.
It’s Rachel weeping for her children,
Rachel refusing all solace.
Her children are gone,
gone—long gone into exile.”
But God says, “Stop your incessant weeping,
hold back your tears.
Collect wages from your grief work.” God’s Decree.
“They’ll be coming back home!
There’s hope for your children.” God’s Decree.
18-19 “I’ve heard the contrition of Ephraim.
Yes, I’ve heard it clearly, saying,
‘You trained me well.
You broke me, a wild yearling horse, to the saddle.
Now put me, trained and obedient, to use.
You are my God.
After those years of running loose, I repented.
After you trained me to obedience,
I was ashamed of my past, my wild, unruly past.
Humiliated, I beat on my chest.
Will I ever live this down?’
20 “Oh! Ephraim is my dear, dear son,
my child in whom I take pleasure!
Every time I mention his name,
my heart bursts with longing for him!
Everything in me cries out for him.
Softly and tenderly I wait for him.” God’s Decree.
21-22 “Set up signposts to mark your trip home.
Get a good map.
Study the road conditions.
The road out is the road back.
Come back, dear virgin Israel,
come back to your hometowns.
How long will you flit here and there, indecisive?
How long before you make up your fickle mind?
God will create a new thing in this land:
A transformed woman will embrace the transforming God!”
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Jeremiah 31:15-22
New International Version
15 This is what the Lord says:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,(A)
mourning and great weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,(B)
because they are no more.”(C)
16 This is what the Lord says:
“Restrain your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears,(D)
for your work will be rewarded,(E)”
declares the Lord.
“They will return(F) from the land of the enemy.
17 So there is hope(G) for your descendants,”
declares the Lord.
“Your children(H) will return to their own land.
18 “I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning:
‘You disciplined(I) me like an unruly calf,(J)
and I have been disciplined.
Restore(K) me, and I will return,
because you are the Lord my God.
19 After I strayed,(L)
I repented;
after I came to understand,
I beat(M) my breast.
I was ashamed(N) and humiliated
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’(O)
20 Is not Ephraim my dear son,
the child(P) in whom I delight?
Though I often speak against him,
I still remember(Q) him.
Therefore my heart yearns for him;
I have great compassion(R) for him,”
declares the Lord.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 31:22 Or will protect
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
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