Jeremiah 31:15-40

New American Standard Bible

¹⁵This is what the Lord says:
“^(A)A voice is heard in ^(B)Ramah,
Lamenting and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
She ^(C)refuses to be comforted for her children,
Because ^(D)they are no more.”

¹⁶This is what the Lord says:

“^(E)Restrain your voice from weeping
And your eyes from tears;
For your ^(F)work will be rewarded,” declares the Lord,
“And they will ^(G)return from the land of the enemy.
¹⁷There is ^(H)hope for your future,” declares the Lord,
“And your children will return to their own territory.
¹⁸I have certainly heard Ephraim ^(I)grieving,
‘You have ^(J)disciplined me, and I was corrected,
Like an untrained ^(K)calf;
^(L)Bring me back that I may be restored,
For You are the Lord my God.
¹⁹For after I turned back, I ^(M)repented;
And after I was instructed, I ^[a]^(N)slapped my thigh;
I was ^(O)ashamed and also humiliated
Because I bore the shame of my youth.’
²⁰Is ^(P)Ephraim My dear son?
Is he a delightful child?
Indeed, as often as I have spoken against him,
I certainly still remember him;
Therefore My ^[b]^(Q)heart yearns for him;
I will certainly ^(R)have mercy on him,” declares the Lord.

²¹“Set up roadmarks for yourself,
Place guideposts for yourself;
^(S)Direct your ^[c]mind to the highway,
The way by which you went.
^(T)Return, O virgin of Israel,
Return to these your cities.
²²How long will you waver,
You ^(U)rebellious daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:
A woman will shelter a man.”

²³This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Once again they will speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities when I ^(V)restore their fortunes,

‘The Lord bless you, O ^(W)place of righteousness,
O ^(X)holy hill!’

²⁴Judah and all its cities will ^(Y)live together in it, the farmers and those who travel with flocks. ²⁵^(Z)For I give plenty of water to the weary ones, and ^[d]refresh everyone who languishes.” ²⁶At this I ^(AA)awoke and looked, and my ^(AB)sleep had been pleasant to me.

A New Covenant

²⁷“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will ^(AC)sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of mankind and the seed of animals. ²⁸And just as I have ^(AD)watched over them to ^(AE)uproot them, tear them down, ruin, destroy, and bring disaster on them, so I will watch over them to ^(AF)build and to plant them,” declares the Lord.

²⁹“In those days they will no longer say,
‘^(AG)The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
^[e]But it is the children’s teeth that have become blunt.’

³⁰But ^(AH)everyone will die for his own wrongdoing; each person who eats the sour grapes, his own teeth will become blunt.

³¹“^(AI)Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a ^(AJ)new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³²not like the ^(AK)covenant which I made with their fathers on the day I ^(AL)took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My ^(AM)covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. ³³“For ^(AN)this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “^(AO)I will put My law within them and write it on their heart; and ^(AP)I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴They will ^(AQ)not teach again, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all ^(AR)know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will ^(AS)forgive their wrongdoing, and their ^(AT)sin I will no longer remember.”

³⁵This is what the Lord says,
He who ^(AU)gives the sun for light by day
And the ^[f]fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
Who ^(AV)stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
^(AW)The Lord of armies is His name:
³⁶“^(AX)If ^[g]this fixed order departs
From Me,” declares the Lord,
“Then the descendants of Israel also will ^(AY)cease
To be a nation before Me ^[h]forever.”
³⁷This is what the Lord says:
“^(AZ)If the heavens above can be measured
And the foundations of the earth searched out below,
Then I will also ^(BA)reject all the descendants of Israel
For everything that they have done,” declares the Lord.

³⁸“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the ^(BB)city will be rebuilt for the Lord from the ^(BC)Tower of Hananel to the ^(BD)Corner Gate. ³⁹The ^(BE)measuring line will go out farther straight ahead, to the hill Gareb; then it will turn to Goah. ⁴⁰And ^(BF)the entire valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook ^(BG)Kidron to the corner of the ^(BH)Horse Gate toward the east, shall be ^(BI)holy to the Lord; it will not be uprooted or overthrown ever again.”