the First Week of Advent
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Legacy Standard Bible
Jeremiah 31
Israel's Mourning Turned to Joy
1 "At that time," declares Yahweh, "I will be the (C1)God of all the (C2)families of Israel, and they shall be My people."
2 Thus says Yahweh,
"The people who survived the sword
(C1)Found grace in the wilderness—
Israel, when it went to (C2)find its relief."
3 Yahweh appeared to (F1)him from afar, saying,
"I have (C1)loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore I have drawn you with (C2)lovingkindness.
4 "(C1)Again I will build you, and you will be rebuilt,
O virgin of Israel!
Again you will (F1)take up your (C2)tambourines
And go forth to the dances of those (C3)celebrating.
5 "Again you will (C1)plant vineyards
On the (F1)hills of Samaria;
The planters will plant
And will (F2)enjoy them.
6 "For there will be a day when watchmen
On the hills of Ephraim call out,
'Arise, and (C1)let us go up to Zion,
To Yahweh our God.'"
7 For thus says Yahweh,
"(C1)Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
And shout among the (C2)head of the nations;
Make it heard, give praise, and say,
'O Yahweh, (C3)save Your people,
The (C4)remnant of Israel.'
8 "Behold, I am (C1)bringing them from the north country,
And I will (C2)gather them from the remote parts of the earth,
Among them the (C3)blind and the (C4)lame,
The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together;
A great assembly, they will return here.
9 "(C1)With weeping they will come,
And by supplication I will lead them;
I will make them walk by (C2)streams of waters,
On a straight path in which they will (C3)not stumble;
For I am a (C4)father to Israel,
And Ephraim is (C5)My firstborn."
10 Hear the word of Yahweh, O nations,
And declare in the (C1)coastlands far away,
And say, "He who dispersed Israel will (C2)gather him
And keep him as a (C3)shepherd keeps his flock."
11 For Yahweh has (C1)ransomed Jacob
And redeemed him from the hand of him who was (C2)stronger than he.
12 "They will (C1)come and sing for joy on the (C2)height of Zion,
And they will be (C3)radiant over the goodness of Yahweh—
Over the (C4)grain and the new wine and the oil,
And over the young of the (C5)flock and the herd;
And their soul will be like a (C6)watered garden,
And they will (C7)never waste away again.
13 "Then the virgin will be glad in the (C1)dance,
And the young men and the old, together,
For I will (C2)turn their mourning into joy
And will comfort them and give them (C3)gladness for their sorrow.
14 "I will (F1)fill the soul of the priests with (F2)richness,
And My people will be (C1)satisfied with My goodness," declares Yahweh.
15 Thus says Yahweh,
"(C1)A voice is heard in (C2)Ramah,
Wailing and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
She (C3)refuses to be comforted for her children
Because (C4)they are no more."
"(C1)Restrain your voice from weeping
And your eyes from tears,
For your (C2)work will be rewarded," declares Yahweh,
"And they will (C3)return from the land of the enemy.
17 "And there is (C1)hope for your future," declares Yahweh,
"And your children will return to their own territory.
18 "I have surely heard Ephraim (C1)grieving,
'You have (C2)chastised me, and I was chastised,
Like an untrained (C3)calf;
(C4)Cause me to return that I may return,
For You are Yahweh my God.
19 'For after I turned away, I (C1)repented;
And after I was instructed, I (C2)slapped my thigh;
I was (C3)ashamed and also dishonored
Because I bore the reproach of my youth.'
20 "Is (C1)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 (F1)(C2)inmost being yearns for him;
I will surely (C3)have compassion on him," declares Yahweh.
21 "Set up roadmarks for yourself,
Place for yourself guideposts;
(C1)Set your heart to the highway,
The way by which you went.
(C2)Return, O virgin of Israel,
Return to these your cities.
22 "How long will you go here and there,
O (C1)faithless daughter?
For Yahweh has created a new thing in the earth—
A (F1)woman will encompass a man."
23 Thus 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 (F1)(C1)return their (F2)fortunes,
'Yahweh bless you, O (C2)abode of righteousness,
O (C3)holy hill!'
The New Covenant
27 "Behold, days are coming," declares Yahweh, "when I will (C1)sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.28 "And it will be that as I have (C1)watched over them to (C2)uproot, to tear down, to pull down, to destroy, and to bring calamity, so I will watch over them to (C3)build and to plant," declares Yahweh.
29 "In those days they will not say again,
'(C1)The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
And the children's teeth are (F1)set on edge.'
31 "(C1)Behold, days are coming," declares Yahweh, "when I will cut a (C2)new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,32 not like the (C1)covenant which I cut with their fathers in the day I (C2)took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My (C3)covenant which they broke, but I was a husband to them," declares Yahweh.33 "But (C1)this is the covenant which I will cut with the house of Israel after those days," declares Yahweh: "(C2)I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and (C3)I will be their God, and they shall be My people.34 "And they will (C1)not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know Yahweh,' for they will all (C2)know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares Yahweh, "for I will (C3)forgive their iniquity, and their (C4)sin I will remember no more."
35 Thus says Yahweh,
Who (C1)gives the sun for light by day
And the statutes for the moon and the stars for light by night,
Who (C2)stirs up the sea so that its waves roar;
(C3)Yahweh of hosts is His name:
36 "(C1)If these statutes are removed
From before Me," declares Yahweh,
"Then the seed of Israel also will (C2)cease
From being a nation before Me (F1)forever."
"(C1)If the heavens above can be measured
And the foundations of the earth searched out below,
Then I will also (C2)reject all the seed of Israel
For all that they have done," declares Yahweh.
38 "Behold, days are coming," declares Yahweh, "when the (C1)city will be rebuilt for Yahweh from the (C2)Tower of Hananel to the (C3)Corner Gate.39 "The (C1)measuring line will go out farther, straight ahead to the hill Gareb; then it will turn to Goah.40 "And (C1)the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook (C2)Kidron, to the corner of the (C3)Horse Gate toward the east, shall be (C4)holy to Yahweh; it will not be uprooted or pulled down anymore forever."
