²³ This message from the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁴ “Haven’t you noticed what these people have been saying?—‘The Lord rejected the two families that he had chosen!’ They have contempt for my people and no longer consider them a nation. ²⁵ This is what the Lord says: ‘If I had not established my covenant for day and night and the laws that govern^[a] the heavens and earth, ²⁶ then I might reject the descendants^[b] of Jacob and my servant David by not taking some of his descendants as rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Indeed, I’ll restore their fortunes, and I’ll have compassion on them.’”