Jeremiah 31-33

Revised Standard Version

The Joyful Return of the Exiles

31 “At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.”

²³ Thus 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, when I restore their fortunes:

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

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

Individual Retribution

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

³⁰ But every one shall die for his own sin; each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

A New Covenant

³¹ “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³² not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. ³³ But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴ And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Jerusalem to Be Enlarged

³⁸ “Behold, the days are coming says the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the tower of Hanan′el to the Corner Gate. ³⁹ And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Go′ah. ⁴⁰ The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall not be uprooted or overthrown any more for ever.”

Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedeki′ah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrez′zar. ² At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard which was in the palace of the king of Judah. ³ For Zedeki′ah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; ⁴ Zedeki′ah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chalde′ans, but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye; ⁵ and he shall take Zedeki′ah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, says the Lord; though you fight against the Chalde′ans, you shall not succeed’?”

⁶ Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷ Behold, Han′amel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ‘Buy my field which is at An′athoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ ⁸ Then Han′amel my cousin came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field which is at An′athoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

⁹ “And I bought the field at An′athoth from Han′amel my cousin, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰ I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. ¹¹ Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy; ¹² and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neri′ah son of Mahsei′ah, in the presence of Han′amel my cousin, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. ¹³ I charged Baruch in their presence, saying, ¹⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time. ¹⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

¹⁶ “After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neri′ah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁷ ‘Ah Lord God! It is thou who hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thy outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for thee, ¹⁸ who showest steadfast love to thousands, but dost requite the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God whose name is the Lord of hosts, ¹⁹ great in counsel and mighty in deed; whose eyes are open to all the ways of men, rewarding every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings; ²⁰ who hast shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and hast made thee a name, as at this day. ²¹ Thou didst bring thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror; ²² and thou gavest them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey; ²³ and they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey thy voice or walk in thy law; they did nothing of all thou didst command them to do. Therefore thou hast made all this evil come upon them. ²⁴ Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chalde′ans who are fighting against it. What thou didst speak has come to pass, and behold, thou seest it. ²⁵ Yet thou, O Lord God, hast said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses”— though the city is given into the hands of the Chalde′ans.’”

God’s Assurance of the People’s Return

²⁶ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷ “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too hard for me? ²⁸ Therefore, thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chalde′ans and into the hand of Nebuchadrez′zar king of Babylon, and he shall take it. ²⁹ The Chalde′ans who are fighting against this city shall come and set this city on fire, and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs incense has been offered to Ba′al and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to anger. ³⁰ For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; the sons of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, says the Lord. ³¹ This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight ³² because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah which they did to provoke me to anger—their kings and their princes, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³³ They have turned to me their back and not their face; and though I have taught them persistently they have not listened to receive instruction. ³⁴ They set up their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. ³⁵ They built the high places of Ba′al in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

³⁶ “Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: ³⁷ Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation; I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. ³⁸ And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹ I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰ I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them; and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. ⁴¹ I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

⁴² “For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. ⁴³ Fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hands of the Chalde′ans. ⁴⁴ Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephe′lah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for I will restore their fortunes, says the Lord.”

Healing after Punishment

33 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard: ² “Thus says the Lord who made the earth,^[d] the Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is his name: ³ Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things which you have not known. ⁴ For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah which were torn down to make a defense against the siege mounds and before the sword:^{[e] 5} The Chalde′ans are coming in to fight^[f] and to fill them with the dead bodies of men whom I shall smite in my anger and my wrath, for I have hidden my face from this city because of all their wickedness. ⁶ Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance^[g] of prosperity and security. ⁷ I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first. ⁸ I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me. ⁹ And this city^[h] shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them; they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.

¹⁰ “Thus says the Lord: In this place of which you say, ‘It is a waste without man or beast,’ in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man or inhabitant or beast, there shall be heard again ¹¹ the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord:

For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the Lord.

¹² “Thus says the Lord of hosts: In this place which is waste, without man or beast, and in all of its cities, there shall again be habitations of shepherds resting their flocks. ¹³ In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephe′lah, and in the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, flocks shall again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the Lord.

The Righteous Branch and the Covenant with David

¹⁴ “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfil the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ¹⁵ In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring forth for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

¹⁷ “For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, ¹⁸ and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn cereal offerings, and to make sacrifices for ever.”

¹⁹ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁰ “Thus says the Lord: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, ²¹ then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers. ²² As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.”

²³ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁴ “Have you not observed what these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two families which he chose’? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight. ²⁵ Thus says the Lord: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the ordinances of heaven and earth, ²⁶ then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his descendants to rule over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes, and will have mercy upon them.”