31:1  "At that time," declares the LORD, "You will call me the God of all the families of Israel, and I shall call them My people."

31:2  Thus says the LORD, "The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness-- Israel, when it went to find its rest."

31:3  The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.

31:4  " Again I will build you and you will rebuild your family, O virgin of Israel! Again you will take up your tambourines, And go forth to the dances of the merrymakers.

31:5  "Again you will plant vineyards On the hills of Samaria;The planters will plant And will enjoy them.

31:6  "For there will come a day when watchmen On the hills of Ephraim call out, 'Arise, and let us go up to Zion, To the LORD our God.'"

31:7  For thus says the LORD, " Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, And shout among the chief of the nations; Proclaim, give praise and say, 'O LORD, save Your people, The remnant of Israel.'

31:8  "Behold, I bring them from the north country, And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child and she who labors with child, together; A great company, they will return here.

31:9  " With weeping they will come, And by supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk by streams of waters, On a straight path in which they will not stumble; For I have become a father to Israel, And Ephraim I consider My firstborn."

31:10  Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, And declare in the coastlands afar off, And say, "He who scattered Israel will gather him And keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock."

31:11  For the LORD has ransomed Jacob And redeemed him from the hand of him who seemed stronger than he.

31:12  "They will come and shout for joy on the height of Zion, And they will have radiance over the bounty of the LORD-- Over the grain and the new wine and the oil, And over the young of the flock and the herd; And their life will resemble a watered garden, And they will never languish again.

31:13  "Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, And the young men and the old, together, For I will turn their mourning into joy And will comfort them and give them joy for their sorrow.

31:14  "I will fill the soul of the priests with abundance, And My people will have satisfaction with My goodness," declares the LORD.

31:15  Thus says the LORD, " We hear a voice in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping Rachel weeps for her children; She refuses comfort for her grieving for her children, Because they no longer live."

31:16  Thus says the LORD, " Restrain your voice from weeping And your eyes from tears; For your work will receive a reward," declares the LORD, "And they will return from the land of the enemy.

31:17  "You have hope for your future," declares the LORD, "And your children will return to their own territory.

31:18  "I have surely heard Ephraim grieving, 'You have chastised me, and I received chastisement Like an untrained calf; Bring me back that I may have restoration, For I acknowledge You as the LORD my God.

31:19  'For after I turned back, I repented; And after I received instruction, I smote on my thigh; I felt shamed and also humiliation Because I bore the reproach of my youth.'

31:20  "Did I not consider Ephraim My dear son? Does he not seem a delightful child? Indeed, as often as I have spoken against him, I certainly still remember him; Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him," declares the LORD.

31:21  "Set up for yourself roadmarks, Place for yourself guideposts; Direct your mind to the highway, The way by which you went Return, O virgin of Israel, Return to these your cities.

31:22  "How long will you go here and there, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth-- A woman will encompass a man."

31:23  Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Once again they will speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities when I restore their fortunes, 'The LORD bless you, O abode of righteousness, O holy hill!'

31:24  "Judah and all its cities will dwell together in it, the farmer and they who go about with flocks.

31:25  " For I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes."

31:26  At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep became pleasant to me.

31:27  "Behold, days will come," declares the LORD, "when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.

31:28  "As I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to overthrow, to destroy and to bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant," declares the LORD.

31:29  "In those days they will not say again,' The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children's teeth have become set on edge.'

31:30  "But everyone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will become set on edge.

31:31  " Behold, days will come," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

31:32  not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I served as a husband to them," declares the LORD.

31:33  "But this covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, " I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and they will acknowledge me as their God, and I shall regard them as my people.

31:34  "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

31:35  Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts we know His name:

31:36  " If this fixed order departs From before Me," declares the LORD, "Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From living as a nation before Me forever."

31:37  Thus says the LORD," If you can measure the heavens above And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done," declares the LORD.

31:38  "Behold, days will come," declares the LORD, "when you will rebuild the city for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.

31:39  "The measuring line will go out farther straight ahead to the hill Gareb; then it will turn to Goah.

31:40  "And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall become holy to the LORD; no one will pluck it up or overthrow it anymore forever."