the Fourth Week of Advent
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Lexham English Bible
Jeremiah 31
1 "At that time," declares[a] Yahweh,
"I will be the God of all the clans[b] of Israel,
and they will be to me a people."
2 Thus says Yahweh:
"The people of the survivors of the sword found grace in the desert;[c]
Israel going to find their rest."
3 From afar Yahweh appeared to me, saying,
"I have loved you with an everlasting love.
Therefore[d] I have drawn you with loyal love.
4 I will again build you,
and you will be built, O virgin Israel.
You will again adorn yourself with your tambourines,
and you will go forth in the dancing in a ring of the merrymakers.
5 You will again plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria.
The planters will plant, and they will enjoy it.[e]
6 For there will be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim,
‘Stand up, and let us go up to Zion, to Yahweh our God.'"
7 For thus says Yahweh,
"Sing for joy for Jacob with gladness,
and shout out for the head of the nations.
Proclaim, praise, and say,
‘Save, O Yahweh, your people, the remnant of Israel.'
8 Look, I am going to bring them from the land of the north,
and I will gather them from the remotest part of the earth.
Among them the blind, and the lame,
those who are pregnant, and those who give birth,
together, a great assembly,
they will return here.
9 With weeping they will come,
and with pleas for mercy I will bring them;
I will let them walk by streams of water in a straight path.
They will not stumble in it,
for I have become to Israel a father,
and Ephraim, he is my firstborn."
10 Hear the word of Yahweh, O nations,
and declare in the coastlands from afar, and say,
"The scatterer of Israel will gather him,
and he will keep him as a shepherd his flock.
11 For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob,
and he has redeemed him from the hand of the person stronger[f] than he.
12 And they will come,
and they will sing for joy on the height of Zion,
and they will be radiant over the goodness of Yahweh,
over the grain, and over the wine, and over the olive oil,
and over the young ones of the flock, and over the cattle.
And their life will become like a well-watered garden,
and they will never languish again."
13 "Then the young woman will rejoice in the dancing in a ring,
and the young men and the old men together.
And I will turn their mourning to jubilation,
and I will comfort them,
and I will gladden them from their sorrow.
14 And I will saturate the appetite of the priests with fatness,
and my people will be satisfied with my goodness," declares[g] Yahweh.
15 Thus says Yahweh,
"A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation, the weeping of bitterness.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted because of her children,
for they are no more."
16 Thus says Yahweh:
"Restrain your voice from weeping,
and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work," declares[h] Yahweh,
"and they will return from the land of the enemy.
17 And there is hope for your future," declares[i] Yahweh,
"and your children will return to their territory.
18 Indeed I heard Ephraim pitying themselves,
‘You disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
like a calf that is not trained.
Bring me back and let me return,
for you are Yahweh my God.
19 For after my turning back I repented,
and after coming to understand I struck my thigh.
I was ashamed and also humiliated,
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.'
20 Is Ephraim my dear son,
or the child of my delight?
For as often as[j] I have earnestly spoken against him,
I still remember him.
Therefore[k] my bowels are turbulent for him,
surely I will have compassion on him," declares[l] Yahweh.
21 "Set up for yourself road markers,
make for yourself signposts,
set your mind[m] to the main road,
the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin of Israel,
return to these your cities.
22 How long[n] will you waver, O unfaithful daughter?
For Yahweh has created a new thing on the earth,
a woman, she shelters a man."
23 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "They will again say these words[o] in the land of Judah and in its towns at my restoring their fortunes,[p]
‘Yahweh bless you, O settlement of righteousness,
O hill of holiness.'
24 And Judah and all of its towns together will live in it,
farmers and those who travel with the flocks.[q]
25 For I will saturate the thirst of the weary,
and every person who languishes I will replenish."
26 At this I awoke and looked,
and my sleep was pleasant to me.
The New Covenant
27 "Look, the days are coming," declares[r] Yahweh, "and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humankind, and with the seed of animals.[s] 28 And then[t] as I have watched over them to pull up, and to tear down, and to annihilate, and to destroy, and to do evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant," declares[u] Yahweh. 29 "In those days they will say no longer, ‘Parents[v] have eaten unripe fruit, and the teeth of the children are set on edge[w].' 30 But[x] each will die because of his iniquity, everyone[y] who eats the unripe fruit, their teeth will be set on edge.[z]
31 Look, the days are coming," declares[aa] Yahweh, "and I will make[ab] a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made[ac] with their ancestors[ad] on the day of my grasping them[ae] by their hand, bringing them out from the land of Egypt, my covenant that they themselves broke, though I myself was a master over them," declares[af] Yahweh. 33 "But this is the covenant that I will make[ag] with the house of Israel after those days," declares[ah] Yahweh: "I will put my law in their inward parts and on their hearts[ai] I will write it, and I will be to them God, and they themselves will be to me people. 34 And they will no longer teach each one his neighbor, or each one his brother, saying,[aj] ‘Know Yahweh,' for all of them will know me, from their smallest[ak] and up to their greatest,"[al] declares[am] Yahweh, "for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will no longer remember."
35 Thus says Yahweh, who gives the sun for light by day, the regulations of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar—Yahweh of hosts is his name. 36 "If these rules would cease from before me,"[an] declares[ao] Yahweh, "also the offspring of Israel would cease from being a nation before me[ap] forever."[aq] 37 Thus says Yahweh, "If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, also I will reject all the offspring of Israel because of all that they have done," declares[ar] Yahweh. 38 "Look, days are coming," declares[as] Yahweh, "and the city will be rebuilt for Yahweh, from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. 39 And the measuring line[at] will still go out immediately in front of it to the hill of Gareb, and it will turn to Goah. 40 And the whole of the valley of the corpses, and the ashes, and all the cultivated fields up to the wadi of Kidron, up to the corner of the Gate of the Horses toward the east will be holy to Yahweh. It will not be uprooted, and it will not be overthrown again forever."[au]
Lexham English Bible
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