[1] "At that time, says the LORD, I will be the God of all the families of
Israel, and they shall be my people." [2] Thus says the LORD: "The people
who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought
for rest, [3] the LORD appeared to him from afar. I have loved you with an
everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. [4]
Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you
shall adorn yourself with timbrels, and shall go forth in the dance of the
merrymakers. [5] Again you shall plant vineyards upon the mountains of
Sama'ria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy the fruit. [6] For
there shall be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of
E'phraim: `Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God.'" [7] For
thus says the LORD: "Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts
for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, `The LORD has
saved his people, the remnant of Israel.' [8] Behold, I will bring them
from the north country, and gather them from the farthest parts of the
earth, among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who
is in travail, together; a great company, they shall return here. [9] With
weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I
will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they
shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and E'phraim is my
first-born. [10] "Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in
the coastlands afar off; say, `He who scattered Israel will gather him, and
will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.' [11] For the LORD has
ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. [12]
They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be
radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the
oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like
a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. [13] Then shall the
maidens rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them
gladness for sorrow. [14] I will feast the soul of the priests with
abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the
LORD." [15] Thus says the LORD: "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and
bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be
comforted for her children, because they are not." [16] Thus says the LORD:
"Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work
shall be rewarded, says the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of
the enemy. [17] There is hope for your future, says the LORD, and your
children shall come back to their own country. [18] I have heard E'phraim
bemoaning, `Thou hast chastened me, and I was chastened, like an untrained
calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for thou art the LORD my God.
[19] For after I had turned away I repented; and after I was instructed, I
smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore
the disgrace of my youth.' [20] Is E'phraim my dear son? Is he my darling
child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still.
Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says
the LORD. [21] "Set up waymarks for yourself, make yourself guideposts;
consider well the highway, the road by which you went. Return, O virgin
Israel, return to these your cities. [22] How long will you waver, O
faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing on the earth: a
woman protects a man." [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: `The LORD bless you, O habitation of
righteousness, O holy hill!' [24] And Judah and all its cities shall dwell
there together, and the farmers and those who wander 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. [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: `The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the
children's teeth are set on edge.' [30] But every one shall die for his own
sin; each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. [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." [35] Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the
fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the
sea so that its waves roar--the LORD of hosts is his name: [36] "If this
fixed order departs from before me, says the LORD, then shall the
descendants of Israel cease from being a nation before me for ever." [37]
Thus says the LORD: "If the heavens above can be measured, and the
foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all
the descendants of Israel for all that they have done, says the LORD." [38]
"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when the city shall be rebuilt
for the LORD from the tower of Han'anel 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."

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