| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the LORD gave him this second message: | 1While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: |
| 2“This is what the LORD says—the LORD who made the earth, who formed and established it, whose name is the LORD: | 2“Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it, the LORD is His name: |
| 3Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come. | 3Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know. |
| 4For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: You have torn down the houses of this city and even the king’s palace to get materials to strengthen the walls against the siege ramps and swords of the enemy. | 4For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah that have been torn down for defense against the siege ramps and the sword: |
| 5You expect to fight the Babylonians, but the men of this city are already as good as dead, for I have determined to destroy them in my terrible anger. I have abandoned them because of all their wickedness. | 5The Chaldeans are coming to fight and to fill those places with the corpses of the men I will strike down in My anger and in My wrath. I have hidden My face from this city because of all its wickedness. |
| 6“Nevertheless, the time will come when I will heal Jerusalem’s wounds and give it prosperity and true peace. | 6Nevertheless, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal its people and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. |
| 7I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel and rebuild their towns. | 7I will restore Judah and Israel from captivity and will rebuild them as in former times. |
| 8I will cleanse them of their sins against me and forgive all their sins of rebellion. | 8And I will cleanse them from all the iniquity they have committed against Me, and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against Me. |
| 9Then this city will bring me joy, glory, and honor before all the nations of the earth! The people of the world will see all the good I do for my people, and they will tremble with awe at the peace and prosperity I provide for them. | 9So this city will bring Me renown, joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I do for it. They will tremble in awe because of all the goodness and prosperity that I will provide for it. |
| 10“This is what the LORD says: You have said, ‘This is a desolate land where people and animals have all disappeared.’ Yet in the empty streets of Jerusalem and Judah’s other towns, there will be heard once more | 10This is what the LORD says: In this place you say is a wasteland without man or beast, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted—inhabited by neither man nor beast—there will be heard again |
| 11the sounds of joy and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will be heard again, along with the joyous songs of people bringing thanksgiving offerings to the LORD. They will sing, ‘Give thanks to the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, for the LORD is good. His faithful love endures forever!’ For I will restore the prosperity of this land to what it was in the past, says the LORD. | 11the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those bringing thank offerings into the house of the LORD, saying: ‘Give thanks to the LORD of Hosts, for the LORD is good; His loving devotion endures forever.’ For I will restore the land from captivity as in former times, says the LORD. |
| 12“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: This land—though it is now desolate and has no people and animals—will once more have pastures where shepherds can lead their flocks. | 12This is what the LORD of Hosts says: In this desolate place, without man or beast, and in all its cities, there will once more be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks. |
| 13Once again shepherds will count their flocks in the towns of the hill country, the foothills of Judah, the Negev, the land of Benjamin, the vicinity of Jerusalem, and all the towns of Judah. I, the LORD, have spoken! | 13In the cities of the hill country, the foothills, and the Negev, in the land of Benjamin and the cities surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the LORD. |
| 14“The day will come, says the LORD, when I will do for Israel and Judah all the good things I have promised them. | 14Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the gracious promise that I have spoken to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. |
| 15“In those days and at that time I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. | 15In those days and at that time I will cause to sprout for David a righteous Branch, and He will administer justice and righteousness in the land. |
| 16In that day Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this will be its name: ‘The LORD Is Our Righteousness.’ | 16In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely, and this is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness. |
| 17For this is what the LORD says: David will have a descendant sitting on the throne of Israel forever. | 17For this is what the LORD says: David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, |
| 18And there will always be Levitical priests to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings and sacrifices to me.” | 18nor will the priests who are Levites ever fail to have a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to present sacrifices.” |
| 19Then this message came to Jeremiah from the LORD: | 19And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: |
| 20“This is what the LORD says: If you can break my covenant with the day and the night so that one does not follow the other, | 20“This is what the LORD says: If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and night cease to occupy their appointed time, |
| 21only then will my covenant with my servant David be broken. Only then will he no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. The same is true for my covenant with the Levitical priests who minister before me. | 21then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant and with My ministers the Levites who are priests, so that David will not have a son to reign on his throne. |
| 22And as the stars of the sky cannot be counted and the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister before me.” | 22As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister before Me.” |
| 23The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, | 23Moreover, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: |
| 24“Have you noticed what people are saying?—‘The LORD chose Judah and Israel and then abandoned them!’ They are sneering and saying that Israel is not worthy to be counted as a nation. | 24“Have you not noticed what these people are saying: ‘The LORD has rejected the two families He had chosen’? So they despise My people and no longer regard them as a nation. |
| 25But this is what the LORD says: I would no more reject my people than I would change my laws that govern night and day, earth and sky. | 25This is what the LORD says: If I have not established My covenant with the day and the night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, |
| 26I will never abandon the descendants of Jacob or David, my servant, or change the plan that David’s descendants will rule the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead, I will restore them to their land and have mercy on them.” | 26then I would also reject the descendants of Jacob and of My servant David, so as not to take from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore them from captivity and will have compassion on them.” |
|
