Jeremiah 31:15-20

Modern English Version

A voice is heard in Ramah,
    lamentation and bitter weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children,
    refusing to be comforted for her children,
    because they are no more.

Keep your voice from weeping
    and your eyes from tears;
for your work shall be rewarded,
    says the Lord,
    and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
¹⁷ There is hope for your future,
    says the Lord,
    that your children will come back to their own border.

¹⁸ I have surely heard Ephraim pleading:
    “You have chastised me,
    and I was chastised, as an untrained calf;
turn me back and I will be turned,
    for you are the Lord my God.
¹⁹ Surely after I turned back,
    I repented;
and after I was instructed,
    I struck myself on my thigh;
I was ashamed and even humiliated
    because I bore the reproach of my youth.”
²⁰ Is Ephraim My dear son?
    Is he a pleasant child?
For since I spoke against him,
    I surely do remember him still;
therefore My heart longs for him.
    I will surely have mercy on him,
    says the Lord.