Jeremiah 38

1 “At that time, says the Lord, I will be God to the family of Israel, and they will be my people.”

2 “This is what the Lord says: I found him warm in the wilderness, among those killed by the sword. Go, and do not destroy Israel.”

3 “The Lord appeared to him from far away: I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you to myself in pity.”

4 “I will build you again, and you will be rebuilt, virgin Israel. You will take up your tambourine again and go out with the company of merrymakers.”

5 “Plant vineyards again on the mountains of Samaria; plant, and praise.”

6 “For there is a day when those who plead call out on the mountains of Ephraim: Rise, let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.”

7 “For this is what the Lord says to Jacob: Rejoice and shout aloud over the head of the nations. Make it heard, and praise; say, The Lord has rescued his people, those who remain of Israel.”

8 “Look, I am bringing them from the north, and I will gather them from the ends of the earth at the Passover feast. You will father a great crowd, and they will return here.”

9 “They went out weeping, and with comfort I will bring them back, lodging them beside channels of water on a straight road where they will not go astray, because I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.”

10 “Hear the word of the Lord, nations, and proclaim it to the islands farther off. Say, The one who scattered Israel will gather him and guard him like a shepherd guarding his flock.”

11 “For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and rescued him from the hand of those stronger than he.”

12 “They will come and rejoice on Mount Zion. They will come to the good things of the Lord — to a land of grain and wine and fruit and cattle and sheep — and their soul will be like a fruitful tree, and they will hunger no more.”

13 “Then young women will rejoice in the gathering of young men, and the old men will rejoice. I will turn their mourning into joy and make them glad.”

14 “I will enlarge and satisfy the soul of the priests, the sons of Levi, and my people will be filled with my good things.”

15 “This is what the Lord says: A voice was heard in Ramah, of lamentation and weeping and wailing — Rachel weeping, and she would not stop, over her children, because they are no more.”

16 “This is what the Lord says: Let your voice cease from weeping and your eyes from your tears, for there is a reward for your work, and they will return from the land of enemies —”

17 “a lasting home for your children.”

18 “I have heard Ephraim lamenting: You disciplined me, and I was disciplined; like a calf, I was not trained. Turn me back, and I will return, because you are the Lord my God.”

19 “For after my captivity I had a change of heart, and after I came to understand, I groaned over the days of shame, and I showed you that I had borne reproach from my youth.”

20 “Ephraim is a beloved son to me, a darling child. Because my words are in him, I will surely remember him. That is why I hurried to him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord.”

21 “Take your stand, Zion; carry out punishment; set your heart to the shoulders. Return by the road you traveled, virgin Israel; return to your cities in mourning.”

22 “How long will you turn away, dishonored daughter? For the Lord has created rescue for a new planting; in that rescue people will go about.”

23 “This is what the Lord says: They will again speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I bring back its captives: Blessed be the Lord on his righteous holy mountain —”

24 “and those who live in the cities of Judah and in all its land, together with the farmer, and he will go out with the flock.”

25 “For I have given drink to every thirsty soul and filled every hungry soul.”

26 “Therefore I awoke and looked, and my sleep was sweet to me.”

27 “Therefore, look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will sow Israel and Judah with the seed of man and the seed of cattle.”

28 “And just as I watched over them to tear down and to harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord.”

29 “In those days they will no longer say, The fathers ate a sour grape, and the children’s teeth were set on edge.”

30 “Instead, each one will die for his own sin; whoever eats the sour grape, his own teeth will be set on edge.”

31 “Look, 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 I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They did not remain in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.”

33 “For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will surely put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

34 “And they will no longer teach, each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord — because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, for I will be merciful toward their wrongdoings and remember their sins no more.”

35 “If heaven should be raised up to the heights, says the Lord, and the floor of the earth sunk down below, even then I will not reject the family of Israel, says the Lord, for all that they have done.”

36 “This is what the Lord says, the one who gives the sun for light by day, the moon and stars for light by night, and a roar in the sea so that its waves boom — the Lord Almighty is his name:”

37 “If these laws cease before me, says the Lord, then the family of Israel will also cease to be a nation before me for all its days.”

38 “Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the city will be built for the Lord, from the tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.”

39 “Its measuring line will go out in front of them as far as the hills of Gareb, and it will be surrounded all around with choice stones.”

40 “And all the Asaremoth as far as the brook Kidron, as far as the corner of the Horse Gate on the east, will be a holy place to the Lord. It will never again fail, and it will never be torn down, forever.”