An Opportunity to Make a Fresh Start

¹⁵ The Lord says: “A sound is heard in Ramah, a sound of crying in bitter grief. It is the sound of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are gone.”

¹⁶ The Lord says to her, “Stop crying! Do not shed any more tears. For your heartfelt repentance will be rewarded. Your children will return from the land of the enemy. I, the Lord, affirm it!

¹⁷ Indeed, there is hope for your posterity. Your children will return to their own territory. I, the Lord, affirm it!

¹⁸ I have indeed heard the people of Israel say mournfully, ‘We were like a calf untrained to the yoke. You disciplined us and we learned from it. Let us come back to you and we will do so, for you are the Lord our God.

¹⁹ For after we turned away from you we repented. After we came to our senses we struck our thigh in sorrow. We are ashamed and humiliated because of the disgraceful things we did previously.’

²⁰ Indeed, the people of Israel are my dear children. They are the children I take delight in. For even though I must often rebuke them, I still remember them with fondness. So I am deeply moved with pity for them and will surely have compassion on them. I, the Lord, affirm it!

²¹ I will say, ‘My dear children of Israel, keep in mind the road you took when you were carried off. Mark off in your minds the landmarks. Make a mental note of telltale signs marking the way back. Return, my dear children of Israel. Return to these cities of yours.

²² How long will you vacillate, you who were once like an unfaithful daughter? For I, the Lord, promise to bring about something new on the earth, something as unique as a woman protecting a man!’”

²³ The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says, “I will restore the people of Judah to their land and to their towns. When I do, they will again say of Jerusalem, ‘May the Lord bless you, you holy mountain, the place where righteousness dwells.’

²⁴ The land of Judah will be inhabited by people who live in its towns, as well as by farmers and shepherds with their flocks.

²⁵ I will fully satisfy the needs of those who are weary and fully refresh the souls of those who are faint.

²⁶ Then they will say, ‘Under these conditions I can enjoy sweet sleep when I wake up and look around.’

²⁷ “Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will cause people and animals to sprout up in the lands of Israel and Judah. ²⁸ In the past I saw to it that they were uprooted and torn down, that they were destroyed and demolished and brought disaster. But now I will see to it that they are built up and firmly planted. I, the Lord, affirm it!

²⁹ “When that time comes, people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but the children’s teeth have grown numb.’ ³⁰ Rather, each person will die for his own sins. The teeth of the person who eats the sour grapes will themselves grow numb.

³¹ “Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. ³² It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,” says the Lord. ³³ “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land,” says the Lord. “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people.

³⁴ “People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” says the Lord. “For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”

³⁵ The Lord has made a promise to Israel. He promises it as the one who fixed the sun to give light by day and the moon and stars to give light by night. He promises it as the one who stirs up the sea so that its waves roll. His name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

³⁶ The Lord affirms, “The descendants of Israel will not cease forever to be a nation in my sight. That could only happen if the fixed ordering of the heavenly lights were to cease to operate before me.”

³⁷ The Lord says, “I will not reject all the descendants of Israel because of all that they have done. That could only happen if the heavens above could be measured or the foundations of the earth below could all be explored,” says the Lord.

³⁸ “Indeed a time is coming,” says the Lord, “when the city of Jerusalem will be rebuilt as my special city. It will be built from the Tower of Hananel westward to the Corner Gate. ³⁹ The boundary line will extend beyond that, straight west from there to the Hill of Gareb and then turn southward to Goah. ⁴⁰ The whole valley where dead bodies and sacrificial ashes are thrown, and all the terraced fields out to the Kidron Valley on the east as far north as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be included within this city that is sacred to the Lord. The city will never again be torn down or destroyed.”