Jeremiah 31:15-22

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

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.^(A)
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;^(B)
17 there is hope for your future,
            says the Lord:
    your children shall come back to their own country.^(C)

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.^(D)
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.”^(E)
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.^(F)

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.^(G)
22 How long will you waver,
    O faithless daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth:
    a woman encompasses^[a] a man.