¹At that time, says the Lord, I will be God to all the families of Israel, and they will be a people to me.” ²This is what the Lord says:

“The people who escaped the sword

Have found grace in the desert,

Through me taking steps to give them rest

– Israel, that is.”

³Long ago, the Lord appeared to me and said,

“With age-abiding love I have loved you,

Which is why I have drawn you close in kindness.

⁴I will build you up again,

And you will be built up,

O virgin of Israel;

You will again adorn yourself with your timbrels,

And go out into the dance of those who rejoice.

⁵You will again plant vineyards

In the mountains of Samaria.

The planters will plant them

And gather the vintage.

⁶For there is a day

When watchmen will proclaim on Mount Ephraim,

‘Arise and let us go up to Zion,

To the Lord our God.’ ”

⁷For this is what the Lord says:

“Shout for joy to Jacob,

And burst out in exultation at the head of the nations.

Proclaim and praise and say,

‘O Lord save your people,

The remnant of Israel.’

⁸I am about to bring them from the land of the north,

And I will gather them from the remotest parts of the earth.

Among them will be the blind and the lame,

The pregnant and her who is giving birth together.

A great convocation will return here.

⁹They will come with weeping,

And I will lead them with their supplications;

By a straight way on which they will not stumble,

For I will be a father to Israel,

And Ephraim is my firstborn.

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord, you nations,

And announce it among the coastlands far away,

And say,

‘He who scattered Israel

Will gather him,

And he will keep him,

As a shepherd does his flock.’

¹¹For the Lord has ransomed Jacob

And redeemed him from a hand stronger than he was.

¹²So they will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion,

And they will flock to the goodness of the Lord,

To grain and to new wine and to fresh oil,

And to young flock animals and oxen.

And their spiritual condition will be like a well-watered garden,

And they will no longer languish.

¹³Then the virgin will rejoice with a dance,

As will both young men and old together,

And I will change their mourning into joy,

And I will show them compassion,

And I will make them happy,

Released from their grief.

¹⁴And I will saturate the sentiments of the priests with fat,

And my people will be satiated with my goodness,

Says the Lord.”

¹⁵This is what the Lord says: ¹⁶This is what the Lord says:

“Restrain your voice from weeping,

And your eyes from tears,

For there is recompense in what is performed for you,

Says the Lord,

And they will return from the land of the enemy.

¹⁷And there is hope for your posterity,

Says the Lord,

And the sons will return to their territory.

¹⁸I have of course heard how Ephraim is becoming agitated,

Saying, ‘He has chastised me,

And I was chastised like an untrained calf.

Bring me back so that I go back,

For you are the Lord my God.

¹⁹For after my return, I was comforted,

And after it was made known to me,

I struck my thigh.

I was ashamed and also suffered ignominy,

For I bore the reproach of my youth.’

²⁰Is Ephraim a dear son to me?

Or a most delightful child?

For whenever I speak concerning him,

I intensely remember him still,

Which is why my mind is disquieted for him.

I will certainly show him mercy,

Says the Lord.

²¹Erect your waymarks,

Set up your signposts;

Set your heart on the highway

– The road on which you have walked.

Return, O virgin of Israel;

Return to these cities of yours.

²²How long will you keep being elusive,

O rebellious daughter?

For the Lord has created a new thing in the land

– A woman will court a man.”

²³This is what the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, says: “People will yet say these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I reverse their captivity:

‘May the Lord bless you,

O dwelling place of righteousness,

And mountain of holiness.’

²⁴And farmers will live there – in Judah and all its cities together – and they will move around among the flock.

²⁵For I have refreshed the weary person,

And I have restored every grieving individual.”

²⁶At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep had been sweet to me. ²⁷“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of cattle. ²⁸And it will come to pass, that just as I watched over them to pluck up and to tear down and to demolish and to destroy and to do harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. ²⁹In those days they will no longer say,

‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,

And the sons' teeth are on edge.’

³⁰For rather, each man will die for his iniquity; every person who eats sour grapes will have his own teeth set on edge. ³¹Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. ³²Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I held them by their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt – my covenant which they broke, although I had been a husband to them – says the Lord. ³³For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: ‘I will put my law in their inner parts, and I will write it on their heart, and I will be God to them, and they will be a people to me. ³⁴And no longer will each teach his neighbour, and each his brother, saying, «Know the Lord», for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord, for I will pardon their iniquity, and I will no longer remember their sins.’ ”

³⁵This is what the Lord says:

“The Lord, who gives the sun for light by day,

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

Stirring up the sea

So that its waves rage

– The Lord of hosts is his name – says,

³⁶‘If these statutes depart from me,

Says the Lord,

Then the seed of Israel will also cease to be a nation before me,

For all days to come.’ ”

³⁷This is what the Lord says:

“If heaven above can be measured,

And the foundations of the earth below can be searched out,

Then I too will reject all the seed of Israel,

For everything they have done,

Says the Lord.

³⁸Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the city will be built for the Lord, from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. ³⁹And the measuring line will yet go out opposite it at Gareb Hill and go round to Goath. ⁴⁰And all the valley, with the corpses and the ashes, and all the fields up to the Kidron Brook, up to the corner of the Horse Gate to the east, will be holy to the Lord. It will not be plucked up, and it will never be pulled down again.”

Reference(s) in Chapter 31: v.1 ↔ 2 Corinthians 6:16 ● v.9 ↔ Revelation 7:17 ● v.15 ↔ Matthew 2:18 ● v.31 ↔ Hebrews 8:8 ● v.32 ↔ Hebrews 8:9 ● v.33 ↔ John 6:45, Hebrews 8:10, Hebrews 10:16, 1 John 2:20 ● v.34 ↔ John 6:45, Hebrews 8:11, Hebrews 8:12, Hebrews 10:17, 1 John 2:10, 1 John 2:27.