Chronological

30 ¶ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

² Thus hath the LORD God of Israel spoken, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.

³ For, Behold, the days come, said the LORD, that I will turn the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, said the LORD, and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.

⁴ And these are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

⁵ For thus hath the LORD said; We have heard a voice of trembling, of terror, and not of peace.

⁶ Ask now, and see whether the man doth travail with child? for I have seen that every man has his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail; and all faces have turned pale.

⁷ Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

⁸ For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of the hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no longer place him in servitude,

⁹ but they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.

¹⁰ ¶ Therefore fear thou not, O my slave Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I am he that saves thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall turn, and shall rest, and be quiet, and there shall be no one left to scatter him.

¹¹ For I shall be with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee; and I shall make a full end in all Gentiles among whom I scattered thee, yet I will not make a full end of thee: but I will chastise thee with judgment and will not cut thee off altogether.

¹² For thus hath the LORD said, Thy breach is incurable, and thy sore is grievous.

¹³ There is no one to judge thy cause unto health; there is no cure, nor are there any medicines for thee.

¹⁴ All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they do not seek thee; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the whip of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.

¹⁵ Why dost thou cry out for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the greatness of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.

¹⁶ Therefore all those that devour thee shall be devoured; and all those that afflict thee, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and those that trampled upon thee shall be trodden down, and all that prey upon thee I will give for a prey.

¹⁷ For I will cause healing to come for thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, said the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeks after.

¹⁸ ¶ Thus hath the LORD said; Behold, I will turn the captivity of Jacob’s tents and have mercy on his dwelling places and the city shall be built upon her own hill, and the temple according to her judgment shall stand.

¹⁹ And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of people that live in joy: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be decreased; I will multiply them, and they shall not be cut down.

²⁰ Their sons shall also be as at first, and their congregation shall be confirmed before me, and I will visit all their oppressors.

²¹ And of him shall be their Rock, and from the midst of him shall their Governor come forth; and I will cause him to come near, and he shall draw near unto me: for who is this that softened his heart to approach unto me? said the LORD.

²² And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

²³ Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD goes forth with fury, the whirlwind which is preparing itself; it shall remain upon the head of the wicked.

²⁴ The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return until he has done it and until he has performed the intents of his heart; in the end of the days ye shall understand this.

31 ¶ In that time, said the LORD, I will be the God unto all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

² Thus hath the LORD said, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness as I went to cause Israel to find rest.

³ The LORD has appeared of old unto me, saying, I have loved thee with an eternal love: therefore, I have put up with thee with mercy.

⁴ Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tambourines and shalt go forth in the chorus of dancers.

⁵ Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant and shall eat them as common things.

⁶ For there shall be a day in which the watchmen upon the Mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise, and let us go up into Zion unto the LORD our God.

⁷ For thus hath the LORD said; Rejoice in Jacob with joy, and give shouts of joy at the head of the Gentiles; cause this to be heard, give praise, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.

⁸ Behold, I turn them from the land of the north wind and gather them from the coasts of the earth; there shall be blind and lame among them, and women with child and those that travail with child together; a great company shall return there.

⁹ They shall come with weeping, but with mercies I will cause them to return; I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, in which they shall not stumble; for I shall be a father to Israel, and Ephraim shall be my firstborn.

¹⁰ ¶ Hear the word of the LORD, O ye Gentiles, and cause it to be known in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.

¹¹ For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.

¹² Therefore they shall come and do praises in the height of Zion and shall run unto the goodness of the LORD, unto the bread, and unto the wine, and unto the oil, and unto the gain of the flock and of the herd and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.

¹³ Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

¹⁴ And I will satiate the soul of the priest with fatness, and my people shall be filled with my goodness, said the LORD.

¹⁵ Thus hath the LORD said; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her sons, she refused to be comforted regarding her sons, because they perished.

¹⁶ Thus hath the LORD said; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.

¹⁷ There is also hope for thine end, saith the LORD, and the sons shall come again to their own border.

¹⁸ ¶ I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast afflicted me, and I was chastised as an indomitable bullock: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.

¹⁹ Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, and even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.

²⁰ Peradventure is Ephraim a precious son unto me? Peradventure is he unto me a delightful child? With all this since I spoke of him, I have remembered him constantly. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him; in tenderness I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.

²¹ Establish signs, make thee high markers; consider the highway with great care, even the way which thou didst come; return, O virgin of Israel, return unto these thy cities.

²² How long wilt thou wander, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD will bring forth a new thing upon the earth, A woman shall compass the man.

²³ Thus hath the LORD of the hosts the God of Israel said; Even yet shall they speak this word in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof when I shall turn their captivity: The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice and mountain of holiness.

²⁴ And Judah shall dwell in her, and also in all her cities, husbandmen, and those that go forth with flocks.

²⁵ For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have filled every sorrowful soul.

²⁶ Upon this I awoke, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.

²⁷ ¶ Behold, the days come, said the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.

²⁸ And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up and to break down and to throw down and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them, to build and to plant, said the LORD.

²⁹ In those days they shall no longer say, The fathers have eaten the sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.

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

³¹ Behold, the days come, said the LORD, in which I will make a new covenant with the house of Jacob and with the house of Judah:

³² not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt because they invalidated my covenant although I was a husband unto them, said the LORD;

³³ But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, said the LORD, I will give my law in their souls and write it in their hearts and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

³⁴ And they shall no longer teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD, for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, said the LORD, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

³⁵ ¶ Thus hath the LORD said, who gives the sun for light by day, and the laws of the moon and of the stars for light by night, who divides the sea and the waves thereof roar; The LORD of the hosts is his name;

³⁶ If these laws depart from before me, said the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.

³⁷ Thus hath the LORD said: If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, said the LORD.

³⁸ Behold, the days come, said the LORD, and the city shall be built unto the LORD from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner.

³⁹ And the measuring line shall extend before him upon the hill Gareb and shall compass about to Goath.

⁴⁰ And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes with the burnt fat, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east shall be holy unto the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.