1 “At athe same time,” says the Lord, b“I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.”
2 Thus says the Lord: “The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness— Israel, when aI went to give him rest.”
3 The Lord has appeared1 of old to me, saying: “Yes, aI have loved you with ban everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have cdrawn you.
4 Again aI will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! You shall again be adorned with your btambourines, And shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.
5aYou shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria; The planters shall plant and1 eat them as ordinary food.
6 For there shall be a day When the watchmen will cry on Mount Ephraim, a‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion, To the Lord our God.’ ”
7 For thus says the Lord: a“Sing 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!’
8 Behold, I will bring them afrom the north country, And bgather them from the ends of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child And the one who labors with child, together; A great throng shall return there.
9aThey shall come with weeping, And with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk bby the rivers of waters, In a straight way in which they shall not stumble; For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim is My cfirstborn.
10 “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, And declare it in the1 isles afar off, and say, ‘He who scattered Israel awill gather him, And keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’
11 For athe Lord has redeemed Jacob, And ransomed him bfrom the hand of one stronger than he.
12 Therefore they shall come and sing in athe height of Zion, Streaming to bthe goodness of the Lord— For wheat and new wine and oil, For the young of the flock and the herd; Their souls shall be like a cwell-watered garden, dAnd they shall sorrow no more at all.
13 “Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, And the young men and the old, together; For I will turn their mourning to joy, Will comfort them, And make them rejoice rather than sorrow.
14 I will1 satiate the soul of the priests with abundance, And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord.”
Mercy on Ephraim
15 Thus says the Lord: a“A voice was heard in bRamah, Lamentation and bitter cweeping, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted for her children, Because dthey are no more.”
16 Thus says the Lord: “Refrain your voice from aweeping, And your eyes from tears; For your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord, And they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
17 There is ahope in your future, says the Lord, That your children shall come back to their own border.
18 “I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: ‘You have achastised me, and I was chastised, Like an untrained bull; bRestore me, and I will return, For You are the Lord my God.
19 Surely, aafter my turning, I repented; And after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was bashamed, yes, even humiliated, Because I bore the reproach of my youth.’
20Is Ephraim My dear son? Ishe a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still; aTherefore My1 heart yearns for him; bI will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord.
21 “Set up signposts, Make landmarks; aSet your heart toward the highway, The way in which you went. 1Turn back, O virgin of Israel, Turn back to these your cities.
22 How long will you agad about, O you bbacksliding daughter? For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth— A woman shall encompass a man.”
Future Prosperity of Judah
23 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “They shall again use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I bring back their captivity: a‘The Lord bless you, O home of justice, andbmountain of holiness!’
24 And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and ain all its cities together, farmers and those going out with flocks.
25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”
26 After this I awoke and looked around, and my sleep was asweet to me.
27 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that aI will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.
28 And it shall come to pass, that as I have awatched over them bto pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them cto build and to plant, says the Lord.
29aIn those days they shall say no more: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
30aBut every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
A New Covenant
31 “Behold, the adays are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—
32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day thataI took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke,1 though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.
33aBut this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: bI will put My law in their minds, and write it on their1 hearts; cand I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for athey all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For bI will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
35 Thus says the Lord, aWho gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs bthe sea, And its waves roar c(The Lord of hosts is His name):
36 “If athose ordinances depart From before Me, says the Lord, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever.”
37 Thus says the Lord: a“If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also bcast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the Lord.
38 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that the city shall be built for the Lordafrom the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.
39aThe surveyor’s line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath.
40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, ato the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, bshallbe holy to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.”
After God performs the intents of His heart, as it says at the end of the previous chapter, and His wrath has consumed those He will consume, then peace in the relationship between Israel and God becomes possible because all of those who declared war on God through their conduct are dead. God does not believe in "peace at any price." He works toward repentance, but if there is no repentance, the only solution is to destroy those in rebellion against Him. Yet, after the destruction, He promises once again to be the God of all of Israel, and Israel will again be His people.
Verse 2 provides the qualifier that the remnant will be those who have survived the sword. Ezekiel 5:1-4 illustrates this time:
And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, take it as a barber's razor, and pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales to weigh and divide the hair. You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are finished; then you shall take one-third and strike around it with the sword, and one-third you shall scatter in the wind: I will draw out a sword after them. You shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your garment. Then take some of them again and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will go out into all the house of Israel.
From these verses and the remainder of Ezekiel 5, it is evident that a great deal of violence will be done to the peoples of Israel, but when it is over, God will give them rest (Jeremiah 31:2). The people who survive the sword will find grace. God begins to demonstrate His lovingkindness and to rebuild and restore Israel. Jeremiah 31:4 contains the imagery of a festive occasion with dancing, something that the Israelites probably will not have felt like doing for quite some time. There will be food in abundance, and the time of famine will be over (verse 5). On all counts, Israel's outlook is brightening.
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