Jeremiah 31-32

Holman Christian Standard Bible

God’s Relationship with His People

31 “At that time”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“I will be the God of all the families of Israel,^(A) and they will be My people.”

²This is what the Lord says:

They found favor in the wilderness^(B)—
the people who survived the sword.
When Israel went to find rest,
³the Lord appeared to him^[a] from far away.
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you.^(C)
⁴Again I will build you so that you will be rebuilt,
Virgin Israel.
You will take up your tambourines again^(D)
and go out in joyful dancing.
⁵You will plant vineyards again
on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters will plant and will enjoy the fruit.^(E)
⁶For there will be a day when watchmen will call out
in the hill country of Ephraim,
“Get up, let’s go up to Zion,^(F)
to Yahweh our God!”

God’s People Brought Home

⁷For this is what the Lord says:

Sing with joy for Jacob;
shout for the chief of the nations!
Proclaim, praise, and say,
“Lord, save Your people,^(G)
the remnant of Israel!”
⁸Watch! I am going to bring them from the northern land.
I will gather them from remote regions of the earth^(H)—
the blind and the lame will be with them,
along with those who are pregnant and those about to give birth.
They will return here as a great assembly!^(I)
⁹They will come weeping,
but I will bring them back with consolation.^[b]^(J)
I will lead them to wadis filled with water
by a smooth way where they will not stumble,^(K)
for I am Israel’s Father,
and Ephraim is My firstborn.
¹⁰Nations, hear the word of the Lord,
and tell it among the far off coastlands!^(L)
Say: The One who scattered Israel will gather him.
He will watch over him as a shepherd guards his flock,
¹¹for the Lord has ransomed Jacob
and redeemed him from the power of one stronger than he.^(M)
¹²They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion;
they will be radiant with joy^(N)
because of^(O) the Lord’s goodness,
because of the grain, the new wine, the fresh oil,^(P)
and because of the young of the flocks and herds.
Their life will be like an irrigated garden,
and they will no longer grow weak from hunger.
¹³Then the young woman will rejoice with dancing,
while young and old men rejoice together.
I will turn their mourning into joy,^(Q)
give them consolation,
and bring happiness out of grief.
¹⁴I will refresh the priests with an abundance,^[c]^(R)
and My people will be satisfied with My goodness.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

Lament Turned to Joy

¹⁵This is what the Lord says:

A voice was heard in Ramah,
a lament with bitter weeping—
Rachel weeping for her children,
refusing to be comforted for her children
because they are no more.^(S)

¹⁶This is what the Lord says:

Keep your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears,
for the reward for your work will come—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
and your children will return from the enemy’s land.
¹⁷There is hope for your future^(T)—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
and your children will return to their own territory.
¹⁸I have heard Ephraim moaning,
“You disciplined me, and I have been disciplined
like an untrained calf.
Restore me, and I will return,
for you, Lord, are my God.^(U)
¹⁹After I returned, I repented;
After I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief.^(V)
I was ashamed and humiliated
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.”
²⁰Isn’t Ephraim a precious son to Me,
a delightful child?
Whenever I speak against him,
I certainly still think about him.
Therefore, My inner being yearns for him;
I will truly have compassion on him.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

Repentance and Restoration

²¹Set up road markers^(W) for yourself;
establish signposts!
Keep the highway in mind,
the way you have traveled.
Return, Virgin Israel!
Return to these cities of yours.
²²How long will you turn here and there,
faithless daughter?^(X)
For the Lord creates something new in the land^[d]—
a female^[e] will shelter^[f] a man.

²³This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “When I restore their fortunes,^[g] they will once again speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, ‘May the Lord bless you, righteous settlement,^(Y) holy mountain.’^(Z) ²⁴Judah and all its cities will live in it together—also farmers and those who move^[h] with the flocks— ²⁵for I satisfy the thirsty person and feed all those who are weak.”

²⁶At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been most pleasant to me.

²⁷“The days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will sow the house of Israel^(AA) and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. ²⁸Just as I watched over them to uproot and to tear them down, to demolish and to destroy, and to cause disaster, so will I be attentive to build and to plant them,”^(AB) says the Lord. ²⁹“In those days, it will never again be said:

The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.^(AC)

³⁰Rather, each will die for his own wrongdoing.^(AD) Anyone who eats sour grapes—his own teeth will be set on edge.

The New Covenant

³¹“Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant^(AE) with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. ³²This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke even though I had married them”^(AF)—the Lord’s declaration. ³³“Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put My teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. ³⁴No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’^(AG) for they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their wrongdoing^(AH) and never again remember their sin.”^(AI)

³⁵This is what the Lord says:

The One who gives the sun for light by day,
the fixed order of moon and stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea and makes its waves roar^(AJ)—
Yahweh of Hosts is His name:
³⁶If this fixed order departs from My presence—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
then also Israel’s descendants will cease
to be a nation before Me forever.^(AK)

³⁷This is what the Lord says:

If the heavens above can be measured
and the foundations of the earth below explored,
I will reject all of Israel’s descendants
because of all they have done—
this is the Lord’s declaration.

³⁸“Look, the days are coming”—the Lord’s declaration—“when the city^[i] from the Tower of Hananel^(AL) to the Corner Gate^(AM) will be rebuilt for the Lord. ³⁹A measuring line will once again stretch out straight to the hill of Gareb^(AN) and then turn toward Goah. ⁴⁰The whole valley—the corpses, the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Kidron Valley^(AO) to the corner of the Horse Gate^(AP) to the east—will be holy to the Lord. It will never be uprooted or demolished again.”

Jeremiah’s Land Purchase

32 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah^(AQ) king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.^(AR) ²At that time, the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the guard’s courtyard^(AS) in the palace of the king of Judah. ³Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying: “Why are you prophesying, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, I am about to hand this city over to Babylon’s king, and he will capture it. ⁴Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the Chaldeans; indeed, he will certainly be handed over to Babylon’s king. They will speak face to face^[j] and meet eye to eye.^(AT) ⁵He will take Zedekiah to Babylon where he will stay until I attend to him’—this is the Lord’s declaration. ‘You will fight the Chaldeans, but you will not succeed’?”^(AU)

⁶Jeremiah replied, “The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷Watch! Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, is coming to you to say, ‘Buy my field in Anathoth^(AV) for yourself, for you own the right of redemption^(AW) to buy it.’

⁸“Then my cousin Hanamel came to the guard’s courtyard as the Lord had said and urged me, ‘Please buy my field in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for you own the right of inheritance and redemption. Buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. ⁹So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and I weighed out to him the money^(AX)—17 shekels^[k] of silver. ¹⁰I recorded it on a scroll,^(AY) sealed it, called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver in the scales. ¹¹I took the purchase agreement—the sealed copy with its terms and conditions and the open copy— ¹²and gave the purchase agreement to Baruch^(AZ) son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah. I did this in the sight of my cousin^[l] Hanamel, the witnesses who were signing the purchase agreement, and all the Judeans sitting in the guard’s courtyard.

¹³“I instructed Baruch in their sight, ¹⁴‘This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Take these scrolls—this purchase agreement with the sealed copy and this open copy—and put them in an earthen storage jar so they will last a long time. ¹⁵For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’^(BA)

¹⁶“After I had given the purchase agreement to Baruch, son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord: ¹⁷Oh, Lord God! You Yourself made the heavens and earth^(BB) by Your great power^(BC) and with Your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You! ¹⁸You show faithful love to thousands but lay the fathers’ sins on their sons’ laps after them,^(BD) great and mighty God^(BE) whose name is Yahweh of Hosts, ¹⁹the One great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are on all the ways of the sons of men in order to give to each person according to his ways and the result of his deeds.^(BF) ²⁰You performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt^(BG) and do so to this very day both in Israel and among mankind. You made a name^(BH) for Yourself, as is the case today. ²¹You brought Your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror.^(BI) ²²You gave them this land You swore to give to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.^(BJ) ²³They entered and possessed it, but they did not obey Your voice or live according to Your instructions.^(BK) They failed to perform all You commanded them to do,^(BL) and so You have brought all this disaster on them. ²⁴Look! Siege ramps^(BM) have come against the city to capture it, and the city, as a result of the sword, famine, and plague, has been handed over to the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What You have spoken has happened. Look, You can see it! ²⁵Yet You, Lord God, have said to me: Buy the field with silver and call in witnesses—even though the city has been handed over to the Chaldeans!”

²⁶Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷“Look, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh.^(BN) Is anything too difficult for Me? ²⁸Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I am about to hand this city over to the Chaldeans,^(BO) to Babylon’s king Nebuchadnezzar, and he will capture it. ²⁹The Chaldeans who are going to fight against this city will come, set this city on fire, and burn it along with the houses where incense has been burned to Baal on their rooftops and where drink offerings have been poured out to other gods to provoke Me to anger.^(BP) ³⁰From their youth, the Israelites and Judeans have done nothing but what is evil in My sight! They have done nothing but provoke Me to anger by the work of their hands”^(BQ)—this is the Lord’s declaration— ³¹“for this city has caused My wrath and fury from the day it was built until now. I will therefore remove it from My presence,^(BR) ³²because of all the evil the Israelites and Judeans have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings,^(BS) their officials, their priests, and their prophets, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem. ³³They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Though I taught them time and time again,^[m]^(BT) they do not listen and receive discipline. ³⁴They have placed their detestable things^(BU) in the house that is called by My name and have defiled it. ³⁵They have built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Hinnom to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Molech^(BV)—something I had not commanded them. I had never entertained the thought^[n] that they do this detestable act causing Judah to sin!

³⁶“Now therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to this city about which you said, ‘It has been handed over to Babylon’s king through sword, famine, and plague’: ³⁷I am about to gather them from all the lands where I have banished them in My anger, rage and great wrath, and I will return them to this place and make them live in safety.^(BW) ³⁸They will be My people, and I will be their God. ³⁹I will give them one heart^(BX) and one way so that for their good and for the good of their descendants after them, they will fear Me always.

⁴⁰“I will make an everlasting covenant with them:^(BY) I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put fear of Me in their hearts so they will never again turn away from Me. ⁴¹I will take delight in them to do what is good for them, and with all My heart and mind I will faithfully plant them in this land.^(BZ)

⁴²“For this is what the Lord says: Just as I have brought all this great disaster on these people,^(CA) so am I about to bring on them all the good I am promising them. ⁴³Fields will be bought in this land about which you are saying,^(CB) ‘It’s a desolation^(CC) without man or beast; it has been handed over to the Chaldeans!’ ⁴⁴Fields will be purchased with silver, the transaction written on a scroll and sealed,^(CD) and witnesses will be called on in the land of Benjamin,^(CE) in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, and in Judah’s cities—the cities of the hill country, the cities of the Judean foothills, and the cities of the Negev—because I will restore their fortunes.”^[o]