CHAPTER 31

1 At that time, saith Jehovah, Will I be a God to all the families of Israel; And they shall be my people.

2 Thus saith Jehovah, -- Found favor in the desert Hath a people who had escaped the sword, By advancing till he gave rest to Israel.

3 Of old Jehovah appeared to me: Nay, with perpetual love have I loved thee; Therefore have I prolonged to thee mercy.

4 I will yet build thee, And built shalt thou be, virgin of Israel; Thou shalt yet be adorned with thy tabrets, And go forth with the choir of players;

5 Thou shalt yet plant vineyards On the mountains of Samaria; Plant shall planters and eat the fruit.

6 For the day shall be, when they shall cry, The watchmen, on Mount Ephraim, -- "Arise, and let us ascend into Sion, To Jehovah our God."

7 For thus saith Jehovah, -- Exult for Jacob with joy, And shout at the head of the nations, Publish, give thanks, and say, "Save, Jehovah, thy people, the remnant of Israel."

8 Behold, I will bring them from the land of the north, And gather them from the ends of the earth; Among them shall be the blind and the lame, The pregnant, and she that travaileth; Together a great company shall they return thither.

9 With weeping shall they come, And in mercies will I lead them; I will lead them to streams of water, In a straight way, where they shall not stumble: For I will be to Israel a father, And Ephraim, my first-born is he.

10 Hear the word of Jehovah, ye nations, And tell it in islands afar off, and say, -- "He who scattered Israel will gather him, And will watch him as a shepherd his flock:"

11 For redeem Jacob will Jehovah, And free him from the hand of one stronger than himself;

12 And come shall they, and shout on the height of Sion; And flow together shall they to the bounty of Jehovah, For corn and wine and oil, And for the young of the flock and the herd; And their soul shall be as a watered garden, And they shall mourn no more.

13 Then rejoice shall the virgin in the dance, And the youth and the aged together; And I will turn their mourning to joy, And comfort them and cheer them after their sorrow;

14 And I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness, And my people with my goodness shall be satiated, saith Jehovah.

15 Thus saith Jehovah, -- A voice on high is heard, The lamentation of bitter weeping; Rachel, weeping for her children, Refused comfort for her children, because they are not,

16 Thus saith Jehovah, Hold thy voice from weeping, And thine eyes from tears; For a reward shall be to thy work, saith Jehovah, And return shall they from the land of the enemy:

17 Yea, there will be a hope in the latter end, saith Jehovah; For return shall thy children to their own border.

18 Hearing I have heard Ephraim when exiled, -- "Thou hast chastised me, and I was instructed, Like a bullock not trained; Turn thou me, and I shall be turned, For thou, Jehovah, art my God.

19 Verily, after thou hadst turned me, I repented; And after I knew myself, I smote my thigh; I was ashamed and even confounded, Because I bore the reproach of my youth."

20 Is Ephraim a son dear to me -- Is he a son delighted in Even from the time I spoke to him? Remembering I will still remember him; Therefore sounded for him have my bowels; Pitying I pitied him, saith Jehovah.

21 Set up titles for thee, raise for thee heaps,: Fix my heart on the pathway, On the way thou hast walked; Return, virgin of Israel, return to these thy cities.

22 How long wilt thou wander, rebellious daughter! For create does Jehovah a new thing on the earth -- A woman shall surround a man.

23 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, -- They shall again say this word in the land of Judah, And in the cities, when I restore their captivity, -- "Bless thee let Jehovah, The habitation of righteousness, the mount of holiness."

24 And dwell in it shall Judah and all his cities, Also husbandmen, and they shall go with the flock:

25 For I will water the thirsty soul, And every hungry soul will I fill.

26 I then awoke and saw, And my sleep had been sweet to me.

27 Behold the days come, saith Jehovah, That I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah, With the seed of man and with the seed of beast:

28 And it shall be, that as I have watched over them, To root up and to break down, And to break in pieces and to destroy and to afflict; So will I watch over them, To build and to plant, saith Jehovah.

29 In those days they shall no more say, -- Our fathers have eaten a sour grape, And the children's teeth are blunted;

30 But every man, in his iniquity shall he die; Every man, eating a sour grape, Blunted shall be his teeth.

31 Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, That I will make with the house of Israel, And with the house of Judah, a new covenant:

32 Not according to the covenant I made With their fathers, in the day I took their hand, To bring them out from the land of Egypt; Because void have they made that covenant, Though I ruled over them, saith Jehovah.

33 But this is the covenant which I will make With the house of Israel, after those days, saith Jehovah, -- I will put my law in their inward parts, And on their heart will I write it; And I will be to them a God, And they shall be to me a people:

34 And teach shall no one any more his neighbor, And no one his brother, saying, -- "Know ye Jehovah;" for all shall know me, From the least to the greatest of them, saith Jehovah; For I will forgive their sins, And their iniquities will I remember no more.

35 Thus saith Jehovah, -- He who hath set the sun for light by day, And the courses of the moon and stars for light by night, Who moves the sea and its waves roar, -- Jehovah of hosts is his name:

36 If removed shall be these ordinances From my presence, saith Jehovah, Then also the seed of Israel shall cease To be a nation before me continually:

37 Thus saith Jehovah, -- If measured can be the heavens above, Or searched the foundations of the earth below, Then also will I reject the whole seed of Israel For all that they have done, saith Jehovah.

38 Behold the days come, saith Jehovah, That built shall be the city of Jehovah From the tower of Hananeel to the corner gate;

39 And go forth shall the measuring line from before it, Even to the hill Gareb, and surround Goatha,

40 And all the valley of carcasses and ashes, And all the fields to the brook Kedron, Even to the corner gate of the horses eastward: Being holiness to Jehovah, it shall not be cut off, Nor destroyed any more for ever.