Israel’s Mourning Turned to Joy

1“At that time,” declares Yahweh, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.”

2Thus says Yahweh,

“The people who survived the sword

Found grace in the wilderness—

Israel, when it went to find its relief.”

3Yahweh appeared to [†]him from afar, saying,

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;

Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.

4Again I will build you, and you will be rebuilt,

O virgin of Israel!

Again you will [†]take up your tambourines

And go forth to the dances of those celebrating.

5Again you will plant vineyards

On the [†]hills of Samaria;

The planters will plant

And will [†]enjoy them.

6For there will be a day when watchmen

On the hills of Ephraim call out,

‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,

To Yahweh our God.’”

7For thus says Yahweh,

“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,

And shout among the head of the nations;

Make it heard, give praise, and say,

‘O Yahweh, save Your people,

The remnant of Israel.’

8Behold, I am bringing them from the north country,

And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth,

Among them the blind and the lame,

The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together;

A great assembly, they will return here.

9With weeping they will come,

And by supplication I will lead them;

I will make them walk by streams of waters,

On a straight path in which they will not stumble;

For I am a father to Israel,

And Ephraim is My firstborn.”

10Hear the word of Yahweh, O nations,

And declare in the coastlands far away,

And say, “He who dispersed Israel will gather him

And keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.”

11For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob

And redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he.

12“They will come and sing for joy on the height of Zion,

And they will be radiant over the goodness of Yahweh—

Over the grain and the new wine and the oil,

And over the young of the flock and the herd;

And their soul will be like a watered garden,

And they will never waste away again.

13Then the virgin will be glad in the dance,

And the young men and the old, together,

For I will turn their mourning into joy

And will comfort them and give them gladness for their sorrow.

14I will [†]fill the soul of the priests with [†]richness,

And My people will be satisfied with My goodness,” declares Yahweh.

15Thus says Yahweh,

“A voice is heard in Ramah,

Wailing and bitter weeping.

Rachel is weeping for her children;

She refuses to be comforted for her children

Because they are no more.”

16Thus says Yahweh,

“Restrain your voice from weeping

And your eyes from tears,

For your work will be rewarded,” declares Yahweh,

“And they will return from the land of the enemy.

17And there is hope for your future,” declares Yahweh,

“And your children will return to their own territory.

18I have surely heard Ephraim grieving,

‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised,

Like an untrained calf;

Cause me to return that I may return,

For You are Yahweh my God.

19For after I turned away, I repented;

And after I was instructed, I slapped my thigh;

I was ashamed and also dishonored

Because I bore the reproach of my youth.’

20Is Ephraim My dear son?

Is he a delightful child?

Indeed, as often as I have spoken against him,

I certainly still remember him;

Therefore My [†]inmost being yearns for him;

I will surely have compassion on him,” declares Yahweh.

21“Set up roadmarks for yourself,

Place for yourself guideposts;

Set your heart to the highway,

The way by which you went.

Return, O virgin of Israel,

Return to these your cities.

22How long will you go here and there,

O faithless daughter?

For Yahweh has created a new thing in the earth—

A [†]woman will encompass a man.”

23Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Once again they will speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities when I [†]return their [†]fortunes,

‘Yahweh bless you, O abode of righteousness,

O holy hill!’

24And Judah and all its cities will inhabit it together, the farmer and they who go about with flocks. 25For I satisfy the weary soul and fill up every soul who wastes away.” 26At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.

The New Covenant

27“Behold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast. 28And it will be that as I have watched over them to uproot, to tear down, to pull down, to destroy, and to bring calamity, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares Yahweh.

29“In those days they will not say again,

‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,

And the children’s teeth are [†]set on edge.’

30But everyone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be [†]set on edge.

31“Behold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32not like the covenant which I cut with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, but I was a husband to them,” declares Yahweh. 33“But this is the covenant which I will cut with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh: “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34And they will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares Yahweh, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

35Thus says Yahweh,

Who gives the sun for light by day

And the statutes for the moon and the stars for light by night,

Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar;

Yahweh of hosts is His name:

36“If these statutes are removed

From before Me,” declares Yahweh,

“Then the seed of Israel also will cease

From being a nation before Me [†]forever.”

37Thus says Yahweh,

“If the heavens above can be measured

And the foundations of the earth searched out below,

Then I will also reject all the seed of Israel

For all that they have done,” declares Yahweh.

38“Behold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when the city will be rebuilt for Yahweh from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39The measuring line will go out farther, straight ahead to the hill Gareb; then it will turn to Goah. 40And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to Yahweh; it will not be uprooted or pulled down anymore forever.”