Restoration Promised

33 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still ^(A)confined in the courtyard of the guard, saying, ² “This is what ^(B)the Lord says, He who made ^[a]the earth, the Lord who formed it to create it, He whose name is the ^(C)Lord: ³ ‘^(D)Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you ^(E)great and ^[b]mighty things, ^(F)which you do not know.’ ⁴ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says concerning the ^(G)houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah which have been torn down to make a defense against the ^(H)assault ramps and the sword: ⁵ ‘While they are coming to ^(I)fight the Chaldeans and to fill ^[c]their houses with the bodies of people whom I have struck down in My anger and My wrath, and I have ^(J)hidden My face from this city because of all their wickedness: ⁶ Behold, I am going to bring to it ^(K)healing and a remedy, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an ^(L)abundance of peace and truth. ⁷ And I will ^(M)restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and will ^(N)rebuild them as they were at first. ⁸ And I will ^(O)cleanse them from all their wrongdoing by which they have sinned against Me, and I will forgive all their wrongdoings by which they have sinned against Me and revolted against Me. ^9 [d]It will be to Me a ^(P)name of joy, praise, and glory before ^(Q)all the nations of the earth, which will hear of all the ^(R)good that I do for them, and they will be ^(S)frightened and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.’

¹⁰ “This is what the Lord says: ‘Yet again there will be heard in this place, of which you say, “It is a ^(T)waste, without man and without animal,” that is, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are ^(U)deserted, without man and without inhabitant and without animal, ¹¹ the voice of ^(V)joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say,

as they bring a ^(X)thanksgiving offering into the house of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says the Lord.

¹² “This is what the Lord of armies says: ‘There will again be in this place which is waste, ^(Y)without man or animal, and in all its cities, a pasture for shepherds who rest their ^(Z)flocks. ¹³ In the ^(AA)cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the Negev, in the land of Benjamin, in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again ^(AB)pass under the hands of the one who counts them,’ says the Lord.

The Davidic Kingdom

¹⁴ ‘Behold, ^(AC)days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will ^(AD)fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ¹⁵ In those days and at that time I will make a ^(AE)righteous Branch of David sprout; and He shall execute ^(AF)justice and righteousness on the earth. ¹⁶ In those days ^(AG)Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety; and this is the name by which it will be called: the ^(AH)Lord is our righteousness.’ ¹⁷ For this is what the Lord says: ‘^[e]David shall ^(AI)not lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; ^18 [f]and the ^(AJ)Levitical priests shall not lack a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to ^(AK)prepare sacrifices ^[g]continually.’”

¹⁹ And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁰ “This is what the Lord says: ‘If you can ^(AL)break My covenant for the day and My covenant for the night, so that day and night do not occur at their proper time, ²¹ then ^(AM)My covenant with David My servant may also be broken, so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levitical priests, My ministers. ²² As the ^(AN)heavenly ^[h]lights cannot be counted, and the ^(AO)sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will ^(AP)multiply the ^[i]descendants of My servant David and the ^(AQ)Levites who serve Me.’”

²³ And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁴ “Have you not observed what these people have asserted, saying, ‘The ^(AR)two families which the Lord chose, He has ^(AS)rejected them’? So they ^(AT)despise My people as no longer being a nation ^[j]in their sight. ²⁵ This is what the Lord says: ‘If My ^(AU)covenant for day and night does not continue, and I have ^(AV)not established the ^[k]fixed patterns of heaven and earth, ²⁶ then I would ^(AW)reject the ^[l]descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so as not to take from his ^[m]descendants ^(AX)rulers over the ^[n]descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But I will ^(AY)restore their fortunes and have ^(AZ)mercy on them.’”

The Triumphal Entry

11 ^(A)And as they *approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and ^(B)Bethany, near ^(C)the Mount of Olives, He *sent two of His disciples, ² and *said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. ³ And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he ^[a]will send it back here.” ⁴ They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they *untied it. ⁵ And some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶ And they told them just as Jesus had said, and they gave them permission. ^7 (D)They *brought the colt to Jesus and *put their cloaks on it; and He sat on it. ⁸ And many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. ⁹ And those who went in front and those who followed were shouting:

^11 (G)And Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple area; and after looking around at everything, ^(H)He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.

^12 (I)On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. ¹³ Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ And He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening.

Jesus Drives Money Changers from the Temple

^15 (J)Then they *came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling ^[d]doves; ¹⁶ and He would not allow anyone to carry ^[e]merchandise through the temple grounds. ¹⁷ And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written: ‘^(K)My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? ^(L)But you have made it a den of robbers.” ¹⁸ And the chief priests and the scribes heard this, and they ^(M)began seeking how to put Him to death; for they were afraid of Him, because all ^(N)the crowd was astonished at His teaching.

¹⁹ And ^(O)whenever evening came, ^[f]they would leave the city.

^20 (P)As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. ²¹ And being reminded, Peter *said to Him, “^(Q)Rabbi, look, the fig tree that You cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus answered and *said to them, “^(R)Have faith in God. ^23 (S)Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted to him. ²⁴ Therefore, I say to you, ^(T)all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you. ²⁵ And whenever you ^(U)stand praying, ^(V)forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you for your ^[g]offenses. ²⁶ [^[h](W)But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your ^[i]offenses.”]

Jesus’ Authority Questioned

²⁷ And they *came again to Jerusalem. ^(X)And as He was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders *came to Him, ²⁸ and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?” ²⁹ But Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me.” ³¹ And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ³² But should we say, ‘From men’?”—they were afraid of the ^[j]people, for they all considered John to have been a real prophet. ³³ Answering Jesus, they *said, “We do not know.” And Jesus *said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.”

A Psalm of Fearless Trust in God.

A Psalm of David.