1MOREOVER, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the guard, saying, 2Thus says the LORD who made you and formed you and established you: the LORD is his name: 3Call to 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 the robbers have uprooted by the sword: 5They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill the streets with the dead bodies of men whom I have slain in my anger and in my wrath; for I have turned my face from this city because of the evil which they did before me. 6Behold, I will bring to it a long period of healing, and I will heal them and will reveal to them the paths of peace and truth. 7And I will bring back the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel, and I will build them as at first. 8And I will cleanse them from their iniquity whereby they have committed evil against me; and I will pardon all their trespasses whereby they have sinned against me, and whereby they have transgressed against me. 9And Israel shall be to me for a name and for a delight, and for rejoicing and for glory before all the nations of the earth, who shall hear of all the good that I do to them; and they shall fear and be angry because of all the goodness and all the peace that I bring to them.

10Thus says the LORD: Again there shall be heard in this country which you say is a waste without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, which 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 those who say, Praise the LORD of hosts; for the LORD is good and pleasant, and his mercy endures for ever; even of those who bring a sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will bring back the captivity of the land, as at the first, says the LORD of hosts.

12Thus says the LORD of hosts: From henceforth in this place which is waste, without men and without beast, and in all its cities there shall be habitations of shepherds and folds of the flocks. 13In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the plain 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, flocks shall again pass under the hands of those who count them, says the LORD.

14Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will perform the good things which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah, says the LORD. 15In those days and at that time I will cause an heir of righteousness to rise up to David; and he shall rule over the kingdom and shall have understanding and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16In those days Judah shall be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and this is the name by which they shall call him: The LORD our righteousness. 17For thus says the LORD, David shall never lack an heir to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; 18Neither shall the priests and the Levites lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings and to burn meat offerings and to do sacrifice and to burn incense continually.

19And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 20Thus says the LORD: if they can break my ordinances of the day, and my ordinances of the night, so that there should not be day and night in their appointed time; 21Then may also my covenant which I made with David my servant be broken, so that he should not have an heir to reign upon his throne; and my covenant with the priests and the Levites, 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 of the Levites who minister to me.

23Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 24Have you not considered what this people are saying, The two families which the LORD has chosen, he has rejected? Thus they have provoked my people to anger, that they should be no more a nation before me. 25Thus says the LORD: If my covenant be not in effect with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; 26Then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and of David my servant so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the house of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I will bring them back from their exile and will have mercy upon them.