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¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying:² 'Thus speaketh the LORD, the God of Israel, saying: Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.³ For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will turn the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.' ⁴ And these are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah.⁵ For thus saith the LORD: We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.⁶ Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child; wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?⁷ Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is a time of trouble unto Jacob, but out of it shall he be saved.⁸ And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bands; and strangers shall no more make him their bondman;⁹ But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.

¹⁰ Therefore fear thou not, O Jacob My servant, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel; for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall again be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.¹¹ For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee, but I will not make a full end of thee; for I will correct thee in measure, and will not utterly destroy thee. ¹² For thus saith the LORD: Thy hurt is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.¹³ None deemeth of thy wound that it may be bound up; thou hast no healing medicines.¹⁴ All thy lovers have forgotten thee, they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one; for the greatness of thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased.¹⁵ Why criest thou for thy hurt, that thy pain is incurable? For the greatness of thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.¹⁶ Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured, and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.¹⁷ For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they have called thee an outcast: 'She is Zion, there is none that careth for her.'

¹⁸ Thus saith the LORD: Behold, I will turn the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have compassion on his dwelling-places; and the city shall be builded upon her own mound, and the palace shall be inhabited upon its wonted place.¹⁹ And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry; and I will multiply them, and they shall not be diminished, I will also increase them, and they shall not dwindle away.²⁰ Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before Me, and I will punish all that oppress them.²¹ And their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto Me; for who is he that hath pledged his heart to approach unto Me? saith the LORD.²² And ye shall be My people, and I will be your God. ²³ Behold, a storm of the LORD is gone forth in fury, a sweeping storm; it shall whirl upon the head of the wicked.²⁴ The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until He have executed, and till He have performed the purposes of His heart; in the end of days ye shall consider it.

²⁵ At that time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.