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30 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book. For, behold, the days come,’ says Yahweh, ‘that I will reverse the captivity of my people Israel and Judah,’ says Yahweh. ‘I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.’”

These are the words that Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For Yahweh says:

“We have heard a voice of trembling;
    a voice of fear, and not of peace.
Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child.
    Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail,
    and all faces are turned pale?
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it.
    It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;
    but he will be saved out of it.
It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will break his yoke from off your neck,
    and will burst your bonds.
    Strangers will no more make them their bondservants;
but they will serve Yahweh their God,
    and David their king,
    whom I will raise up to them.
10 Therefore don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says Yahweh.
    Don’t be dismayed, Israel.
For, behold, I will save you from afar,
    and save your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob will return,
    and will be quiet and at ease.
    No one will make him afraid.
11 For I am with you, says Yahweh, to save you;
    for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you,
    but I will not make a full end of you;
but I will correct you in measure,
    and will in no way leave you unpunished.”

12 For Yahweh says,

“Your hurt is incurable.
    Your wound is grievous.
13 There is no one to plead your cause,
    that you may be bound up.
    You have no healing medicines.
14 All your lovers have forgotten you.
    They don’t seek you.
For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy,
    with the chastisement of a cruel one,
for the greatness of your iniquity,
    because your sins were increased.
15 Why do you cry over your injury?
    Your pain is incurable.
For the greatness of your iniquity,
    because your sins have increased,
    I have done these things to you.
16 Therefore all those who devour you will be devoured.
    All your adversaries, everyone of them, will go into captivity.
Those who plunder you will be plunder.
    I will make all who prey on you become prey.
17 For I will restore health to you,
    and I will heal you of your wounds,” says Yahweh;
“because they have called you an outcast,
    saying, ‘It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.’”

18 Yahweh says:

“Behold, I will reverse the captivity of Jacob’s tents,
    and have compassion on his dwelling places.
The city will be built on its own hill,
    and the palace will be inhabited in its own place.
19 Thanksgiving will proceed out of them
    with the voice of those who make merry.
I will multiply them,
    and they will not be few;
I will also glorify them,
    and they will not be small.
20 Their children also will be as before,
    and their congregation will be established before me.
    I will punish all who oppress them.
21 Their prince will be one of them,
    and their ruler will proceed from among them.
I will cause him to draw near,
    and he will approach me;
    for who is he who has had boldness to approach me?” says Yahweh.
22 “You shall be my people,
    and I will be your God.
23 Behold, Yahweh’s storm, his wrath, has gone out,
    a sweeping storm:
    it will burst on the head of the wicked.
24 The fierce anger of Yahweh will not return until he has accomplished,
    and until he has performed the intentions of his heart.
    In the latter days you will understand it.”

Promises of Deliverance

30 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Write down for the record everything I have said to you, Jeremiah. For the time is coming when I will restore the fortunes of my people of Israel and Judah. I will bring them home to this land that I gave to their ancestors, and they will possess it again. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

This is the message the Lord gave concerning Israel and Judah. This is what the Lord says:

“I hear cries of fear;
    there is terror and no peace.
Now let me ask you a question:
    Do men give birth to babies?
Then why do they stand there, ashen-faced,
    hands pressed against their sides
    like a woman in labor?
In all history there has never been such a time of terror.
    It will be a time of trouble for my people Israel.[a]
    Yet in the end they will be saved!
For in that day,”
    says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
“I will break the yoke from their necks
    and snap their chains.
Foreigners will no longer be their masters.
    For my people will serve the Lord their God
and their king descended from David—
    the king I will raise up for them.

10 “So do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant;
    do not be dismayed, Israel,”
    says the Lord.
“For I will bring you home again from distant lands,
    and your children will return from their exile.
Israel will return to a life of peace and quiet,
    and no one will terrorize them.
11 For I am with you and will save you,”
    says the Lord.
“I will completely destroy the nations where I have scattered you,
    but I will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you, but with justice;
    I cannot let you go unpunished.”

12 This is what the Lord says:
“Your injury is incurable—
    a terrible wound.
13 There is no one to help you
    or to bind up your injury.
    No medicine can heal you.
14 All your lovers—your allies—have left you
    and do not care about you anymore.
I have wounded you cruelly,
    as though I were your enemy.
For your sins are many,
    and your guilt is great.
15 Why do you protest your punishment—
    this wound that has no cure?
I have had to punish you
    because your sins are many
    and your guilt is great.

16 “But all who devour you will be devoured,
    and all your enemies will be sent into exile.
All who plunder you will be plundered,
    and all who attack you will be attacked.
17 I will give you back your health
    and heal your wounds,” says the Lord.
“For you are called an outcast—
    ‘Jerusalem[b] for whom no one cares.’”

18 This is what the Lord says:
“When I bring Israel home again from captivity
    and restore their fortunes,
Jerusalem will be rebuilt on its ruins,
    and the palace reconstructed as before.
19 There will be joy and songs of thanksgiving,
    and I will multiply my people, not diminish them;
I will honor them, not despise them.
20     Their children will prosper as they did long ago.
I will establish them as a nation before me,
    and I will punish anyone who hurts them.
21 They will have their own ruler again,
    and he will come from their own people.
I will invite him to approach me,” says the Lord,
    “for who would dare to come unless invited?
22 You will be my people,
    and I will be your God.”

23 Look! The Lord’s anger bursts out like a storm,
    a driving wind that swirls down on the heads of the wicked.
24 The fierce anger of the Lord will not diminish
    until it has finished all he has planned.
In the days to come
    you will understand all this.

Footnotes

  1. 30:7 Hebrew Jacob; also in 30:10b, 18. See note on 5:20.
  2. 30:17 Hebrew Zion.