Old/New Testament
Chapter 30
Israel Restored.[a] 1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you. 3 For the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah, and I will bring them back to take possession of the land that I gave to their ancestors.
4 These are the words that the Lord spoke in regard to Israel and Judah:
5 Thus says the Lord:
We have heard a cry of panic,
of terror, not of peace.
6 Inquire now and see:
Can a man bear a child?
Why then do I see every man grasping his loins
like a woman in labor?
Why has every face turned pale?
7 How frightening that day will be!
There will be none like it.
It will be a time of anguish for Jacob,
although he will be saved from it.
8 On that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will break off the yoke from your necks, and I will snap your bonds. Strangers will no longer enslave you. 9 Instead, Israel and Judah will serve the Lord, their God, and David, their king, whom I will raise up for them.
10 Therefore, do not be afraid, Jacob my servant,
and do not despair, O Israel, says the Lord.
Behold, I will rescue you from distant countries
and your descendants from the land of their captivity.
Jacob will return and live in peace,
tranquil, with no one to trouble him.
11 For I am with you, and I will save you,
says the Lord.
I will totally destroy the nations
among whom I have scattered you,
but I will not make an end of you.
However, I will chastise you as you deserve;
I will not allow you to go unpunished.
12 For thus says the Lord:
Your wound is incurable,
your injury is serious.
13 There is no one to plead your cause,
no remedy for your wound,
no healing available for you.
14 All of your friends have forgotten you;
they have ceased to think of you.
I have struck you as an enemy strikes
and punished you cruelly.
15 Why do you cry out over your wound?
Your pain is incurable.
I have treated you in this way
because of your great guilt
and your numerous sins.
16 But all those who devour you will be devoured;
all your enemies will go into exile.
All those who plunder you will be plundered,
and all those who pillage you will be pillaged.
17 For I will restore you to health
and heal your wounds, says the Lord,
because you were called an outcast,
with no one to avenge you.
18 Thus says the Lord:
I will restore the tents of Jacob
and have compassion for his dwellings.
The city will be rebuilt on its hill
and the citadel restored on its traditional site.
19 From them will come forth songs of thanksgiving
and the sounds of rejoicing.
I will increase their number;
they will not diminish.
I will make them honored;
no longer will they be disdained.
20 Their sons will be as they formerly were,
and their community will be firmly established;
any who try to oppress them, I will punish.
21 Their leader will be one of their own,
and their ruler will emerge from their midst.
I myself will bring him near
and allow him to approach me.
For who otherwise would dare to risk his life
by approaching me? says the Lord.
22 You will be my people,
and I will be your God.
23 Observe the storm of the Lord
that will burst forth in wrath,
with a roaring wind that bursts upon
the heads of the wicked.
24 The fierce anger of the Lord will not subside
until he has fully completed the purposes
he has set out to accomplish.
In days to come,
you will fully understand this.
Chapter 31
Restoration of Israel
1 At that time, says the Lord:
I will be the God of all the families of Israel,
and they will be my people.
2 Thus says the Lord:
The people who survived the sword
found favor in the wilderness.
When the people of Israel sought for rest,
3 the Lord appeared to them from afar, saying,
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore, I have continued to be merciful to you.
4 I will build you up again,
and you will be rebuilt,
O virgin Israel.
You will once again carry your tambourines
and go forth to dance with the merry throng.
5 You will once again plant vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria,
and those who plant them will enjoy their fruit.
6 Yes, a day will come when the watchmen
will cry out on the hills of Ephraim,
‘Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord, our God.’ ”
The Glorious Return
7 For thus says the Lord:
Raise shouts of joy for Jacob;
sing your praises for the chief of the nations.
Proclaim your praises as you say,
“The Lord has delivered his people,
the remnant of Israel.”
8 Behold, I will bring them back
from the land of the north,
and I will gather them together
from the ends of the earth.
Among them will be the blind and the lame,
expectant mothers and women in labor;
they will return as a vast throng.
9 They will return, weeping uncontrollably,
but I will console them as I lead them back.
I will lead them beside streams of water
along a level path where they will not stumble.
For I am a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn son.
10 Pay heed, you nations, to the word of the Lord;
proclaim it even on the distant coastlands and say:
He who scattered Israel will now gather them together
and watch over his flock like a shepherd.
11 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob
and redeemed him from the hands of a foe
far too strong for him.
12 The people will come forth
and shout for joy on the heights of Zion
as they behold the bounty of the Lord:
the grain, the new wine, and the oil,
the young of the flocks and herds.
They themselves will be like a well-watered garden,
and never again will sorrow afflict them.
13 Then the young girls will dance in their happiness,
and the old and the young men will rejoice.
I will turn their mourning into gladness;
I will comfort them
and replace their sorrow with joy.
14 I will strengthen my priests with choice food,
and my people will be overwhelmed with my lavish gifts,
says the Lord.
No More Mourning
15 Thus says the Lord:
A voice is heard in Ramah
marked by lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is mourning for her children,
and she refuses to be consoled
because they are no more.[b]
16 Thus says the Lord to her:
Cease your cries of lamentation
and wipe the tears from your eyes.
For your labors will be rewarded, says the Lord,
and your children will return from the land of mercy.
17 Thus there is hope for your future, says the Lord;
your children will return to their homeland.
18 I have indeed heard Ephraim pleading,
“You chastised me, and I accepted your discipline,
I was like an untamed calf.
Bring me back! Allow me to return,
for you are the Lord, my God.
19 After I turned away, I repented;
once I began to understand, I beat my breast.
I was ashamed and humiliated,
and I reproach myself for the sins of my youth.”
20 Thus says the Lord:
Is not Ephraim still my dear son,
the child in whom I delight?
No matter how often I speak against him,
I still remember him lovingly.
Therefore, my heart yearns for him,
and I have great compassion for him.
Blessing and Restoration
21 Set up road markers for yourself;
make yourself guideposts.
Concentrate your thoughts on the road,
the route along which you traveled.
Return, O virgin Israel;
come back to these towns of yours.
22 How long will you wander aimlessly,
O rebellious daughter?
For the Lord has created something new on the earth:
a woman must strengthen a man.[c]
23 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: In the land of Judah and in its towns, they will once again use these words when I restore their fortunes,
“May the Lord bless you,
O holy mountain,
abode of righteousness.”
24 And in the land of Judah and all its towns, the farmers and those who care for the flocks will dwell together. 25 For I will provide the weary with all they need, and I will restore the strength of all those who have grown faint with hunger.
26 At this moment I awakened and looked around, and I realized that my sleep had been pleasant.[d]
27 The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of men and the seed of animals. 28 And as I once watched over them to uproot and pull down, to demolish, destroy, and inflict disaster, so now I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. 29 In those days they will no longer say,
“The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”
30 For each one will die for his own sins. The teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes will be set on edge.
31 The New Covenant. The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.[e] 32 However, it will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant that they broke even though I was their master.
33 However, this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will establish my law in their minds and inscribe it in their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will there be any need for them to teach one another, or to say to one another, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, says the Lord, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their iniquity and no longer remember their sin.
Assurance of God’s Promise
35 Thus says the Lord:
who provides us with the sun to light our day
and the moon and the stars to shine at night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar,
and whose name is the Lord of hosts:
36 If this established order were ever to cease
in my presence, says the Lord,
then the race of Israel would cease forever
to be a nation before me.
37 Thus says the Lord:
Only if the heavens above can be measured
and the foundations of the earth below can be fathomed
will I reject the entire race of Israel
because of all they have done, says the Lord.
38 Jerusalem Rebuilt. The days are coming, says the Lord, when this city will be rebuilt for the Lord, from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 [f]The measuring line will then be stretched from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then turn to Goah. 40 The entire valley, with its corpses and ashes, and all the fields sloping toward the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be sacred to the Lord. Never again will that city be uprooted or destroyed.
Salutation.[a] 1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy[b] our brother, to Philemon, our beloved friend and fellow worker, 2 to Apphia our sister, to Archippus[c] our fellow soldier, and to the Church that meets in your house: 3 grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving and Prayer.[d] 4 I always give thanks to my God when I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of the love and faith that you have for the Lord Jesus and for all the saints.[e] 6 I pray that the sharing of your faith may become even more effective so that you may come to perceive all the blessings we have in Christ. 7 Your love has given me much joy and encouragement because the hearts[f] of the saints have been refreshed by you, my brother.
Plea for Onesimus.[g] 8 Therefore, although I am confident that in Christ I have the right to command you to do your duty, 9 I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love. I, Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus, 10 am appealing to you on behalf of my child,[h] Onesimus, whom I have fathered during my imprisonment.
11 He was formerly useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me. 12 Therefore, I am sending him back to you, that is, I am sending my very own heart.[i] 13 I wanted to keep him with me so that he might be of service to me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, 14 but I did not want to do anything without your knowledge, so that your good deed might be voluntary and not compelled.
15 Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever,[j] 16 no longer as a slave, but as more than a slave: as a brother. He is beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, both as a man[k] and in the Lord.
17 [l]Therefore, if you consider me to be a friend, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about the fact that you owe me your very self. 20 Yes, my brother, grant me some benefit[m] in the Lord. Set my heart at rest in Christ.
21 Conclusion.[n] I have written to you confident of your acceptance, and in fact I am certain that you will do even more than I ask. 22 At the same time, please prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be restored to you.
23 Epaphras,[o] my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings, 24 and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke,[p] my fellow workers.
25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.[q]
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