Jeremiah 31:1-17

English Standard Version

The Lord Will Turn Mourning to Joy

31 ^(A)“At that time, declares the Lord, ^(B)I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”

²Thus says the Lord:
“The people who survived the sword
    found grace in the wilderness;
^(C)when Israel sought for rest,
³    the Lord appeared to him^[a] from far away.
^(D)I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    therefore ^(E)I have continued ^(F)my faithfulness to you.
⁴^(G)Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
    O virgin Israel!
^(H)Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines
    and shall go forth in ^(I)the dance of the merrymakers.
⁵^(J)Again you shall plant vineyards
    on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant
    and shall enjoy the fruit.
⁶For there shall be a day when watchmen will call
    in ^(K)the hill country of Ephraim:
^(L)‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,
    to the Lord our God.’”

⁷For thus says the Lord:
^(M)“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
    and raise shouts for ^(N)the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
    ^(O)‘O Lord, save your people,
    the remnant of Israel.’
⁸Behold, I will bring them ^(P)from the north country
    and ^(Q)gather them from ^(R)the farthest parts of the earth,
among them ^(S)the blind and the lame,
    the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together;
    a great company, they shall return here.
⁹^(T)With weeping they shall come,
    ^(U)and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back,
I will make them ^(V)walk by brooks of water,
    ^(W)in a straight path in which they shall not stumble,
for ^(X)I am a father to Israel,
    and Ephraim is ^(Y)my firstborn.

¹⁰“Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
    and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, ‘He who scattered Israel will ^(Z)gather him,
    and will keep him ^(AA)as a shepherd keeps his flock.’
¹¹^(AB)For the Lord has ransomed Jacob
    and has redeemed him from ^(AC)hands too strong for him.
¹²They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
    ^(AD)and they shall be radiant ^(AE)over the goodness of the Lord,
^(AF)over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
    and over the young of the flock and the herd;
^(AG)their life shall be like a watered garden,
    ^(AH)and they shall languish no more.
¹³^(AI)Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
    and the young men and the old shall be merry.
^(AJ)I will turn their mourning into joy;
    I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
¹⁴^(AK)I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance,
    and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,
declares the Lord.”

¹⁵Thus says the Lord:
^(AL)“A voice is heard in ^(AM)Ramah,
    lamentation and bitter weeping.
^(AN)Rachel is weeping for her children;
    she refuses to be comforted for her children,
    ^(AO)because they are no more.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord:
“Keep your voice from weeping,
    and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work,
declares the Lord,
    and ^(AP)they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
¹⁷^(AQ)There is hope for your future,
declares the Lord,
    and your children shall come back to their own country.

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Footnotes

Jeremiah 31:3 Septuagint; Hebrew me

Jeremiah 31:23-34

English Standard Version

²³Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, ^(A)when I restore their fortunes:

^(B)“‘The Lord bless you, ^(C)O habitation of righteousness,
^(D)O holy hill!’

²⁴^(E)And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and ^(F)the farmers and those who wander with their flocks. ²⁵For I will ^(G)satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

²⁶At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.

²⁷^(H)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^(I)I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with ^(J)the seed of man and the seed of beast. ²⁸And it shall come to pass that ^(K)as I have watched over them ^(L)to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, ^(M)so I will watch over them ^(N)to build and to plant, declares the Lord. ²⁹In those days they shall no longer say:

^(O)“‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge.’

³⁰^(P)But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

The New Covenant

³¹^(Q)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make ^(R)a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³²not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when ^(S)I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, ^(T)though I was their husband, declares the Lord. ³³^(U)For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: ^(V)I will put my law within them, and I will write it ^(W)on their hearts. ^(X)And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ ^(Y)for they shall all know me, ^(Z)from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For ^(AA)I will forgive their iniquity, and ^(AB)I will remember their sin no more.”