Jeremiah 38

At that time, said the Lord, I will be God to the family of Israel, and they shall be my people.

Thus said the Lord: I found him warm in the wilderness, among those destroyed by the sword. Go, and do not destroy Israel.

The Lord appeared to him from afar: With an everlasting love I have loved you; therefore I have drawn you into compassion.

Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel; again you shall take up your timbrel and go forth with the company of those who make merry.

Again plant vineyards in the mountains of Samaria; plant, and give praise.

For there is a day of calling by those who make defence in the mountains of Ephraim: Arise, and let us go up to Sion, to the Lord our God.

For thus said the Lord to Jacob: Be glad and neigh at the head of the nations; make it heard and give praise; say: The Lord has saved his people, the remnant of Israel.

Behold, I am bringing them from the north, and I will gather them from the end of the earth at the feast of Phasek; and she shall bear a great crowd, and they shall return here.

With weeping they went out, and with consolation I will bring them up, lodging them by channels of waters in a straight way, and they shall not go astray in it; for I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it to the isles farther off; say: He who winnowed Israel will gather him and guard him as one who tends his flock.

For the Lord has ransomed Jacob; he delivered him from the hand of those stronger than he.

And they shall come and rejoice on Mount Sion; and they shall come for the good things of the Lord, for a land of grain and wine and fruits and cattle and sheep; and their soul shall be like a fruitful tree, and they shall hunger no more.

Then virgins shall rejoice in the gathering of young men, and old men shall rejoice; and I will turn their mourning into gladness and make them rejoice.

I will magnify and make drunk the soul of the priests, the sons of Leui; and my people shall be filled with my good things.

Thus said the Lord: A voice was heard in Rama, of lamentation and weeping and wailing — Rachel weeping bitterly; she would not cease for her sons, because they are no more.

Thus said the Lord: Let your voice cease from weeping, and your eyes from your tears; for there is a reward for your works, and they shall return from the land of enemies;

an abiding one for your children.

I heard a report of Ephraim mourning: You disciplined me, and I was disciplined; like a calf I was not taught. Turn me back, and I shall turn back, for you are the Lord my God.

For after my captivity I repented, and after I came to know, I groaned over days of shame; and I showed you that I bore reproach from my youth.

Ephraim is a beloved son to me, a child in whom I delight; because my words are in him, I will surely remember him; therefore I have hastened over him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord.

Set yourself up, O Sion; execute punishment; set your heart upon the shoulders, the way you went. Turn back, O virgin Israel; turn back to your cities, mourning.

How long will you turn away, O dishonoured daughter? For the Lord has created salvation for a new planting; in safety people shall go about.

Thus said the Lord: Again they shall speak this word in the land of Judah and in his cities, when I bring back his captivity: Blessed be the Lord upon a righteous mountain, his holy one.

And those who dwell in the cities of Judah and in all his land, together with the farmer; and he shall be carried along with the flock.

For I have given drink to every thirsty soul, and every hungry soul I have filled.

Therefore I awoke and looked, and my sleep was sweet to me.

Therefore behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will sow Israel and Iouda with the seed of man and the seed of beast.

And it shall be: just as I was watchful over them to pull down and to do harm, so I will be watchful over them to build and to plant, says the Lord.

In those days they shall no longer say: The fathers ate a sour grape, and the children's teeth were set on edge.

But rather each shall die in his own sin; and the teeth of him who eats the sour grape shall be set on edge.

Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Iouda a new covenant;

not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took hold of their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not remain in my covenant, and I was unconcerned for them, says the Lord.

For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will surely put my laws into their mind, and upon their hearts I will write them; and I will be God to them, and they shall be my people.

And they shall no longer teach, each his fellow citizen and each his brother, saying: Know the Lord; for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them; for I will be merciful to their injustices, and their sins I will remember no more.

If the heaven can be raised to the height, says the Lord, and if the floor of the earth can be lowered below, then I too will not reject the family of Israel, says the Lord, for all that they have done.

Thus said the Lord, who gave the sun for light of the day, the moon and the stars for light of the night, and a roar in the sea, and its waves resounded; the Lord Almighty is his name.

If these ordinances can cease from before me, says the Lord, then the family of Israel too shall cease to be a nation before me all the days.

Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when the city shall be built for the Lord from the tower of Anameel to the gate of the corner.

And its measuring line shall go out opposite them as far as the hills of Gareb, and it shall be encircled round about with choice stones.

And the whole of asaremoth as far as nachal Kedron, as far as the corner of the gate of horses toward the east, shall be a holy place to the Lord; and it shall never again be uprooted, nor shall it be pulled down for ever.