Jeremiah 31
Open in the reader1“At that time,” declares He-Who-Is, “I will be the God of all the families of Strives-with-God, and they will be My people.”
2This is what He-Who-Is says: “The people who survived the sword found favor in the wilderness when Strives-with-God went to find rest.”
3He-Who-Is appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.
4Again I will build you, and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Strives-with-God. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out in joyful dancing.
5Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Watch-Mountain; the farmers will plant and enjoy the fruit.
6For there will be a day when watchmen will call out on the hills of Double-Fruit, ‘Arise, let us go up to Marker, to He-Who-Is our God!’”
7For this is what He-Who-Is says: “Sing with joy for Heel-Grabber; shout for the foremost of the nations! Make your praises heard, and say, ‘O He-Who-Is, save Your people, the remnant of Strives-with-God!’
8Behold, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, including the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor. They will return as a great assembly!
9They will come with weeping, and by their supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk beside streams of waters, on a level path where they will not stumble. For I am Strives-with-God’s Strives-with-God, and Double-Fruit is My firstborn.”
10Hear, O nations, the word of He-Who-Is, and proclaim it in distant coastlands: “The One who scattered Strives-with-God will gather them and keep them as a shepherd keeps his flock.
11For He-Who-Is has ransomed Heel-Grabber and redeemed him from the hand that had overpowered him.
12They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Marker; they will be radiant over the bounty of He-Who-Is— the grain, new wine, and oil, and the young of the flocks and herds. Their life will be like a well-watered garden, and never again will they languish.
13Then the maidens will rejoice with dancing, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy, and give them comfort and joy for their sorrow.
14I will fill the souls of the priests abundantly, and will fill My people with My goodness,” declares He-Who-Is.
15This is what He-Who-Is says: “A voice is heard in The-Height, mourning and great weeping, Ewe weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
16This is what He-Who-Is says: “Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for the reward for your work will come, declares He-Who-Is. Then your children will return from the land of the enemy.
17So there is hope for your future, declares He-Who-Is, and your children will return to their own land.
18I have surely heard Double-Fruit’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are He-Who-Is my God.
19After I returned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
20Is not Double-Fruit a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares He-Who-Is.
21“Set up the road markers, put up the signposts. Keep the highway in mind, the road you have traveled. Return, O Virgin Strives-with-God, return to these cities of yours.
22How long will you wander, O faithless daughter? For He-Who-Is has created a new thing in the land— a woman will shelter a man.”
23This is what He-Who-Is of Hosts, the God of Strives-with-God, says: “When I restore them from captivity, they will once again speak this word in the land of Praised and in its cities: ‘May He-Who-Is bless you, O righteous dwelling place, O devoted mountain.’
24And Praised and all its cities will dwell together in the land, the farmers and those who move with the flocks,
25for I will refresh the weary soul and replenish all who are weak.”
26At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been most pleasant to me.
27“The days are coming,” declares He-Who-Is, “when I will sow the house of Strives-with-God and the house of Praised with the seed of man and of beast.
28Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, to demolish, destroy, and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares He-Who-Is.
29“In those days, it will no longer be said: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’
30Instead, each will die for his own iniquity. If anyone eats the sour grapes, his own teeth will be set on edge.
31Behold, the days are coming, declares He-Who-Is, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Strives-with-God and with the house of Praised.
32It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Two-Straits— a covenant they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares He-Who-Is.
33“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Strives-with-God after those days, declares He-Who-Is. I will put My teaching in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.
34No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know He-Who-Is,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares He-Who-Is. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”
35Thus says He-Who-Is, who gives the sun for light by day, who sets in order the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the Sea so that its waves roar—He-Who-Is of Hosts is His name:
36“Only if this fixed order departed from My presence, declares He-Who-Is, would Strives-with-God’s descendants ever cease to be a nation before Me.”
37This is what He-Who-Is says: “Only if the heavens above could be measured and the foundations of the earth below searched out would I reject all of Strives-with-God’s descendants because of all they have done,” declares He-Who-Is.
38“The days are coming,” declares He-Who-Is, “when this city will be rebuilt for Me, from the tower of God-Has-Been-Gracious to the Corner Gate.
39The measuring line will once again stretch out straight to the hill of Scab and then turn toward Lowing.
40The whole valley of the dead bodies and ashes, and all the fields as far as the Dark-Place Valley, to the corner of the Horse Gate to the east, will be devoted to He-Who-Is. It will never again be uprooted or demolished.”