Hosea 2:14
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14 Therefore, I will now allure her
and bring her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.(A)
Isaiah 40:1-2
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God’s People Are Comforted
40 Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.(A)
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.(B)
Ezekiel 20:35-36
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35 and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.(A) 36 As I entered into judgment with your ancestors in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, says the Lord God.(B)
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Revelation 12:6
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6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days.(A)
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Isaiah 30:18
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God’s Promise to Zion
18 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.(A)
Revelation 12:14
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14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to her place where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.(A)
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Genesis 34:3
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3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her.
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Romans 11:26-27
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26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
“Out of Zion will come the Deliverer;
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.”(A)
27 “And this is my covenant with them,
when I take away their sins.”(B)
John 6:44
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44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day.(A)
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Zechariah 8:19-23
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19 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful festivals for the house of Judah; therefore love truth and peace.”(A)
Many Peoples Drawn to Jerusalem
20 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, the inhabitants of many cities; 21 the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Come, let us go to entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts; I myself am going.’(B) 22 Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord.(C) 23 Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from nations of every language shall take hold of a Jew, grasping his garment and saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’ ”(D)
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Zechariah 1:12-17
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12 Then the angel of the Lord said, “O Lord of hosts, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which you have been angry these seventy years?”(A) 13 Then the Lord replied with gracious and comforting words to the angel who spoke with me.(B) 14 So the angel who spoke with me said to me, “Proclaim this message: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am very zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion,(C) 15 and I am extremely angry with the nations that are at ease, for while I was only a little angry, they made the disaster worse.(D) 16 Therefore, thus says the Lord: I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion; my house shall be built in it, says the Lord of hosts, and a measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.(E) 17 Proclaim further: Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity; the Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.”(F)
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Zephaniah 3:9-20
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9 At that time I will change the speech of the peoples
to a pure speech,
that all of them may call on the name of the Lord
and serve him with one accord.(A)
10 From beyond the rivers of Cush
my suppliants, my scattered ones,
shall bring my offering.(B)
11 On that day you shall not be put to shame
because of all the deeds by which you have rebelled against me;
for then I will remove from your midst
your proudly exultant ones,
and you shall no longer be haughty
in my holy mountain.(C)
12 For I will leave in the midst of you
a people humble and lowly.
They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord—(D)
13 the remnant of Israel;
they shall do no wrong
and utter no lies,
nor shall a deceitful tongue
be found in their mouths.
Then they will pasture and lie down,
and no one shall make them afraid.(E)
A Song of Joy
14 Sing aloud, O daughter Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!(F)
15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
he has turned away your enemies.
The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
you shall fear disaster no more.(G)
16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Do not fear, O Zion;
do not let your hands grow weak.(H)
17 The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will renew you[a] in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing(I)
18 as on a day of festival.”[b]
I will remove disaster from you,[c]
so that you will not bear reproach for it.
19 I will deal with all your oppressors
at that time.
And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.(J)
20 At that time I will bring you home,
at the time when I gather you;
for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
before your eyes, says the Lord.(K)
Micah 7:14-20
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14 Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock that belongs to you,
which lives alone in a forest
in the midst of a garden land;
let them feed in Bashan and Gilead
as in the days of old.
15 As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
show us[a] marvelous things.(A)
16 The nations shall see and be ashamed
of all their might;
they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
their ears shall be deaf;(B)
17 they shall lick dust like a snake,
like the crawling things of the earth;
they shall come trembling out of their fortresses;
they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,
and they shall stand in fear of you.(C)
God’s Compassion and Steadfast Love
18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over the transgression
of the remnant of his possession?
He does not retain his anger forever
because he delights in showing steadfast love.(D)
19 He will again have compassion upon us;
he will tread our iniquities under foot.
You will cast all our[b] sins
into the depths of the sea.(E)
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our ancestors
from the days of old.(F)
Amos 9:11-15
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The Restoration of David’s Kingdom
11 On that day I will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its[a] breaches
and raise up its[b] ruins
and rebuild it as in the days of old,(A)
12 in order that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are called by my name,
says the Lord who does this.(B)
13 The time is surely coming, says the Lord,
when the one who plows shall catch up with the one who reaps
and the treader of grapes with the one who sows the seed;
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.(C)
14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.(D)
15 I will plant them upon their land,
and they shall never again be plucked up
out of the land that I have given them,
says the Lord your God.(E)
Hosea 2:3
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
3 or I will strip her naked
and expose her as in the day she was born
and make her like a wilderness
and turn her into a parched land
and kill her with thirst.(A)
Ezekiel 39:25-29
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25 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name.(A) 26 They shall bear their shame, and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they live securely in their land with no one to make them afraid,(B) 27 when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands and through them have displayed my holiness in the sight of many nations.(C) 28 Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God because I sent them into exile among the nations and then gathered them into their own land. I will leave none of them behind,(D) 29 and I will never again hide my face from them, when I pour out my spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord God.(E)
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Ezekiel 37:11-28
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11 Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’(A) 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people, and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.(B) 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and bring you up from your graves, O my people.(C) 14 I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”(D)
The Two Sticks
15 The word of the Lord came to me: 16 Mortal, take a stick and write on it, “For Judah and the Israelites associated with it”; then take another stick and write on it, “For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with it”;(E) 17 and join them together into one stick, so that they may become one in your hand. 18 And when your people say to you, “Will you not show us what you mean by these?” 19 say to them, “Thus says the Lord God: I am about to take the stick of Joseph (which is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with it, and I will put the stick of Judah upon it[a] and make them one stick, in order that they may be one in my hand.”(F) 20 When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, 21 then say to them, “Thus says the Lord God: I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone and will gather them from every quarter and bring them to their own land.(G) 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king over them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.(H) 23 They shall never again defile themselves with their idols and their detestable things or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all the apostasies into which they have fallen[b] and will cleanse them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God.(I)
24 “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes.(J) 25 They shall live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your ancestors lived; they and their children and their children’s children shall live there forever, and my servant David shall be their prince forever.(K) 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will bless[c] them and multiply them and will set my sanctuary among them forevermore.(L) 27 My dwelling place shall be over them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.(M) 28 Then the nations shall know that I the Lord sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is among them forevermore.”(N)
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Ezekiel 36:8-15
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8 But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot out your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they shall soon come home. 9 See now, I am for you; I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown, 10 and I will multiply your population, the whole house of Israel, all of it; the towns shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt,(A) 11 and I will multiply humans and animals upon you. They shall increase and be fruitful, and I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.(B) 12 I will lead people upon you—my people Israel—and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance. No longer shall you bereave them of children.
13 Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, “You devour people, and you bereave your nation of children,” 14 therefore you shall no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, says the Lord God, 15 and no longer will I let you hear the insults of the nations; no longer shall you bear the disgrace of the peoples, and no longer shall you cause your nation to stumble, says the Lord God.(C)
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Ezekiel 34:22-31
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22 I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged, and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
23 I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them; he shall feed them and be their shepherd.(A) 24 And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I the Lord have spoken.(B)
25 I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild animals from the land, so that they may live in the wild and sleep in the woods securely.(C) 26 I will make them and the region around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing.(D) 27 The trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase. They shall be secure on their soil, and they shall know that I am the Lord when I break the bars of their yoke and save them from the hands of those who enslaved them.(E) 28 They shall no more be plunder for the nations, nor shall the animals of the land devour them; they shall live in safety, and no one shall make them afraid.(F) 29 I will provide for them a splendid vegetation so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land and no longer suffer the insults of the nations.(G) 30 They shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord God. 31 You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture,[a] and I am your God, says the Lord God.(H)
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- 34.31 Gk OL: Heb pasture, you are people
Ezekiel 20:10
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10 So I led them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.(A)
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Jeremiah 33:6-26
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6 I am going to bring it recovery and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them abundance[a] of prosperity and security.(A) 7 I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and rebuild them as they were at first.(B) 8 I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me.(C) 9 And this city[b] shall be to me a name of joy, a praise, and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them; they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.(D)
10 Thus says the Lord: In this place of which you say, “It is a waste without humans or animals,” in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without inhabitants, human or animal, there shall once more be heard 11 the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing as they bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord:
“Give thanks to the Lord of hosts,
for the Lord is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!”
For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the Lord.(E)
12 Thus says the Lord of hosts: In this place that is waste, without humans or animals, and in all its towns there shall again be pasture for shepherds resting their flocks.(F) 13 In the towns of the hill country, of the Shephelah, and of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, the places around Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah, flocks shall again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the Lord.(G)
The Righteous Branch and the Covenant with David
14 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.(H) 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.(I) 16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”(J)
17 For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel,(K) 18 and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to make grain offerings, and to make sacrifices for all time.(L)
19 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 20 Thus says the Lord: If any of you could break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night would not come at their appointed time,(M) 21 only then could my covenant with my servant David be broken, so that he would not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with my ministers the Levites.(N) 22 Just as the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will increase the offspring of my servant David and the Levites who minister to me.(O)
23 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 24 Have you not observed how these people say, “The two families that the Lord chose have been rejected by him,” and how they hold my people in such contempt that they no longer regard them as a nation?(P) 25 Thus says the Lord: Only if I had not established my covenant with day and night and the ordinances of heaven and earth(Q) 26 would I reject the offspring of Jacob and of my servant David and not choose any of his descendants as rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy upon them.(R)
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Jeremiah 32:36-41
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36 Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, “It is being given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence”: 37 See, I am going to gather them from all the lands to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation; I will bring them back to this place, and I will settle them in safety.(A) 38 They shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for all time, for their own good and the good of their children after them.(B) 40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them, never to draw back from doing good to them, and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, so that they may not turn from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing good to them, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.(C)
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Jeremiah 31:1-37
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The Joyful Return of the Exiles
31 At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.(A)
2 Thus says the Lord:
The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for rest,(B)
3 the Lord appeared to him[a] from far away.[b]
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.(C)
4 Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
O virgin Israel!
Again you shall adorn yourself with your tambourines
and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.(D)
5 Again you shall plant vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant
and shall enjoy the fruit.(E)
6 For there shall be a day when sentinels will call
in the hill country of Ephraim:
“Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.”(F)
7 For thus says the Lord:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
“Save, O Lord, your people,
the remnant of Israel.”(G)
8 See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
those with child and those in labor together;
a great company, they shall return here.(H)
9 With weeping they shall come,
and with consolations[c] I will lead them back;
I will let them walk by brooks of water,
in a straight path where they shall not stumble,
for I have become a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn.(I)
10 Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him
and will keep him as a shepherd does a flock.”(J)
11 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.(K)
12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall become like a watered garden,
and they shall never languish again.(L)
13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.[d]
I will turn their mourning into joy;
I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow.(M)
14 I will give the priests their fill of fatness,
and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty,
says the Lord.(N)
15 Thus says the Lord:
A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.(O)
16 Thus says the Lord:
Keep your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work,
says the Lord:
they shall come back from the land of the enemy;(P)
17 there is hope for your future,
says the Lord:
your children shall come back to their own country.(Q)
18 Indeed, I heard Ephraim pleading:
“You disciplined me, and I took the discipline;
I was like an untrained calf.
Bring me back; let me come back,
for you are the Lord my God.(R)
19 For after I had turned away I repented,
and after I was discovered, I struck my thigh;
I was ashamed, and I was dismayed
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.”(S)
20 Is Ephraim my dear son?
Is he the child in whom I delight?
As often as I speak against him,
I still remember him.
Therefore I am deeply moved for him;
I will surely have mercy on him,
says the Lord.(T)
21 Set up road markers for yourself;
make yourself signposts;
consider well the highway,
the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
return to these your cities.(U)
22 How long will you waver,
O faithless daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:
a woman encompasses[e] a man.
23 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its towns when I restore their fortunes:
“The Lord bless you, O abode of righteousness,
O holy hill!”(V)
24 And Judah and all its towns shall live there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks.(W)
25 I will satisfy the weary,
and all who are faint I will replenish.(X)
26 Thereupon I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.
Individual Retribution
27 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals.(Y) 28 And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord.(Z) 29 In those days they shall no longer say:
“The parents have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”(AA)
30 But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of the one who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.(AB)
A New Covenant
31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.(AC) 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.(AD) 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.(AE) 34 No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.(AF)
35 Thus says the Lord,
who gives the sun for light by day
and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
the Lord of hosts is his name:(AG)
36 If this fixed order were ever to cease
from my presence, says the Lord,
then also the offspring of Israel would cease
to be a nation before me forever.(AH)
37 Thus says the Lord:
If the heavens above can be measured
and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
then I will reject all the offspring of Israel
because of all they have done,
says the Lord.(AI)
Jeremiah 30:18-22
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
18 Thus says the Lord:
I am going to restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob
and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city shall be rebuilt upon its mound
and the citadel set on its rightful site.(A)
19 Out of them shall come thanksgiving
and the sound of merrymakers.
I will make them many, and they shall not be few;
I will make them honored, and they shall not be disdained.(B)
20 Their children shall be as of old;
their congregation shall be established before me,
and I will punish all who oppress them.
21 Their prince shall be one of their own;
their ruler shall come from their midst;
I will bring him near, and he shall approach me,
for who would otherwise dare to approach me?
says the Lord.(C)
22 And you shall be my people,
and I will be your God.(D)
Jeremiah 16:14
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
God Will Restore Israel
14 Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, “As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt,”(A)
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