Chapter 31
1 " At that time ," says Yahweh , " I will be the God of all the families of Israel , and they will be my people ."
2 Yahweh says , " The people who survive the sword found favor in the wilderness ; even Israel , when I went to cause him to rest ."
3 Yahweh appeared of old to me , saying, " Yes , I have loved you with an everlasting love . Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness .
4 I will build you again , and you will be built , O virgin of Israel . You will again be adorned with your tambourines , and will go out in the dances of those who make merry .
5 Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria . The planters will plant , and will enjoy its fruit .
6 For there will be a day that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim cry , ‘ Arise ! Let’s go up to Zion to Yahweh our God .’"
7 For Yahweh says , " Sing with gladness for Jacob , and shout for the chief of the nations . Publish , praise , and say , ‘ Yahweh , save your people , the remnant of Israel !’
8 Behold , I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame , the woman with child and her who travails with child together . They will return as a great company .
9 They will come with weeping . I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters , in a straight way in which they won’t stumble ; for I am a father to Israel . Ephraim is my firstborn .
10 " Hear Yahweh ’s word , you nations , and declare it in the distant islands. Say , ‘ He who scattered Israel will gather him , and keep him , as a shepherd does his flock .’
11 For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob , and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he .
12 They will come and sing in the height of Zion , and will flow to the goodness of Yahweh , to the grain , to the new wine , to the oil , and to the young of the flock and of the herd . Their soul will be as a watered garden . They will not sorrow any more at all .
13 Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance , the young men and the old together ; for I will turn their mourning into joy , and will comfort them , and make them rejoice from their sorrow .
14 I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness , and my people will be satisfied with my goodness ," says Yahweh .
15 Yahweh says : " A voice is heard in Ramah , lamentation and bitter weeping , Rachel weeping for her children . She refuses to be comforted for her children , because they are no more ."
16 Yahweh says : " Refrain your voice from weeping , and your eyes from tears , for your work will be rewarded ," says Yahweh . " They will come again from the land of the enemy.
17 There is hope for your latter end," says Yahweh . " Your children will come again to their own territory .
18 " I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus , ‘ You have chastised me , and I was chastised , as an untrained calf . Turn me , and I will be turned , for you are Yahweh my God .
19 Surely after that I was turned . I repented . After that I was instructed . I struck my thigh . I was ashamed , yes , even confounded , because I bore the reproach of my youth .’
20 Is Ephraim my dear son ? Is he a darling child ? For as often as I speak against him , I still earnestly remember him . Therefore my heart yearns for him . I will surely have mercy on him ," says Yahweh .
21 " Set up road signs. Make guideposts . Set your heart toward the highway , even the way by which you went . Turn again , virgin of Israel . Turn again to these your cities .
22 How long will you go here and there , you backsliding daughter ? For Yahweh has created a new thing in the earth: a woman will encompass a man ."
23 Yahweh of Armies , the God of Israel , says : " Yet again they will use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities , when I reverse their captivity : ‘ Yahweh bless you , habitation of righteousness , mountain of holiness .’
24 Judah and all its cities will dwell therein together , the farmers, and those who go about with flocks .
25 For I have satiated the weary soul , and I have replenished every sorrowful soul ."
26 On this I awakened, and saw ; and my sleep was sweet to me .
27 " Behold , the days come ," says Yahweh , " that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of animal.
28 It will happen that , like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict , so I will watch over them to build and to plant ," says Yahweh .
29 " In those days they will say no more , "‘ The fathers have eaten sour grapes , and the children ’s teeth are set on edge .’
30 But everyone will die for his own iniquity . Every man who eats the sour grapes , his teeth will be set on edge .
31 " Behold , the days come ," says Yahweh , " that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel , 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 , which covenant of mine they broke , although I was a husband to them ," says Yahweh .
33 " But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days ," says Yahweh : " I will put my law in their inward parts , and I will write it in their heart . I will be their God , and they shall be my people .
34 They will no longer each teach his neighbor , and every man teach his brother , saying, ‘ Know Yahweh ;’ for they will all know me , from their least to their greatest ," says Yahweh , " for I will forgive their iniquity , and I will remember their sin no more ."
35 Yahweh , who gives the sun for a light by day , and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night , who stirs up the sea , so that its waves roar — Yahweh of Armies is his name , says :
36 " If these ordinances depart from before me ," says Yahweh , " then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever ."
37 Yahweh says : "If heaven above can be measured , and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath , then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done ," says Yahweh .
38 " Behold , the days come ," says Yahweh , " that the city will be built to Yahweh from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner .
39 The measuring line will go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb , and will turn toward Goah .
40 The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes , and all the fields to the brook Kidron , to the corner of the horse gate toward the east , will be holy to Yahweh . It will not be plucked up or thrown down any more forever ."