Another Promise of Restoration

1Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying,

2Thus says the LORD the maker of the earth, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name;

3Call unto me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you know not.

4For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the siege mounds, and by the sword;

5They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in my anger and in my fury, all for whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city.

6Behold, I will bring it health and healing, and I will heal them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.

7And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.

8And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, by which they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, by which they have sinned, and by which they have transgressed against me.

9And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I provide for it.

10Thus says the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which you say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,

11The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endures forever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captives of the land, as at the first, says the LORD.

12Thus says the LORD of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all its cities, shall be a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.

13In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that counts them, says the LORD.

14Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

15In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

16In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name by which it shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.

17For thus says the LORD; David shall never lack a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;

18Neither shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to burn grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.

19And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying,

20Thus says the LORD; if you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;

21Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.

22As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the descendants of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.

23Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

24Consider you not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD has chosen, he has even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, as if they should be no more a nation before them.

25Thus says the LORD; If my covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;

26Then will I cast away the descendants of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.