Jeremiah 31:17-21

English Standard Version

¹⁷^(A)There is hope for your future,
declares the Lord,
    and your children shall come back to their own country.
¹⁸I have heard ^(B)Ephraim grieving,
‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
    like an untrained calf;
^(C)bring me back that I may be restored,
    for you are the Lord my God.
¹⁹For after ^(D)I had turned away, I relented,
    and after I was instructed, ^(E)I struck my thigh;
^(F)I was ashamed, and I was confounded,
    because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
²⁰^(G)Is Ephraim my dear son?
    ^(H)Is he my darling child?
For as often as I speak against him,
    I do remember him still.
^(I)Therefore my heart^[a] yearns for him;
    I will surely have mercy on him,
declares the Lord.

²¹^(J)“Set up road markers for yourself;
    make yourself guideposts;
^(K)consider well the highway,
    ^(L)the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
    return to these your cities.