Self-interpreting Bible

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Jeremiah 31

1The restoration of Israel. 15Rachel mourning is comforted. 18Ephraim repenting is received into favour. 22The miracle of Christ's birth promised as a means of blessing to Judah. 27God's care for his church. 29Every man shall answer for his own sin only. 31The new covenant with Israel. 35The stability of God's favour to them. 38The extent of the city when it shall be built.

1 AT the asame time, saith the LORD, will I be the God bof all the families of Israel, and cthey shall be my people.

2 Thus saith the LORD, dThe people which were left of the sword efound grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when fI went to cause him to rest.

3 The LORD hath appeared 1of old unto me, saying, Yea, gI have loved thee with han everlasting love: therefore 2with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

4 Again iI will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned jwith thy 3*tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.

5 Thou kshalt yet plant vines upon lthe mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall 4eat them as common things.

6 For there shall be ma day, that nthe watchmen oupon the mount Ephraim shall cry, pArise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.

7 For thus saith the LORD; qSing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, rO LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.

8 Behold, sI will bring them tfrom the north country, and ugather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child vand her that *travaileth with child together: wa great company shall return thither.

9 They shall come xwith weeping, and ywith 5supplications will I lead them: zI will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in aa straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: bfor I am a father to Israel, and cEphraim is dmy firstborn.

10 ¶Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it ein the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will fgather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.

11 For the LORD ghath redeemed Jacob, and hransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.

12 Therefore ithey shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together jto the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and ktheir soul shall be as a watered garden; and they lshall not sorrow any more at all.

13 Then mshall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for nI will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

14 And oI will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.

15 ¶Thus saith the LORD; pA voice was heard in qRamah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because rthey were not.

16 Thus saith the LORD; sRefrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for tthy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and uthey shall come again from the land of the enemy.

17 And vthere is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that wthy children shall come again to their own border.

18 ¶I have surely heard xEphraim ybemoaning himself thus; zThou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: aturn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.

19 Surely bafter that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, cbecause I did bear the reproach of my youth.

20 Is dEphraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for esince I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my *bowels 6are troubled for him; fI will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD.

21 gSet thee up h*waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: iturn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.

22 ¶jHow long wilt thou go about, O thou kbacksliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, lA woman shall *compass a man.

23 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; mAs yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, and nmountain of holiness.

24 And othere shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks.

25 For pI have satiated the weary soul, and qI have replenished every sorrowful soul.

26 Upon this rI awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.

27 ¶Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I swill sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with tthe seed of man, and with the seed of beast.

28 And it shall come to pass, that like as I have uwatched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; vso will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD.

29 In those days they shall say no more, wThe fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.

30 But xevery one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.

31 ¶Behold, the ydays come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

32 zNot according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that aI took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant bthey brake, 7although I was can husband unto them, saith the LORD:

33 But dthis shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, eI will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; fand will be their God, and they shall be my people.

34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, gKnow the LORD: for they shall all know me, hfrom the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for iI will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

35 ¶Thus saith the LORD, jwhich giveth the sun for a light by day, and kthe ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which ldivideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; mThe LORD of hosts is his name:

36 If nthose ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.

37 Thus saith the LORD; oIf heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.

38 ¶Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, pthat the city shall be built to the LORD qfrom the tower of Hananeel unto rthe gate of the corner.

39 And sthe measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall *compass about to tGoath.

40 And the whole uvalley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the vhorse gate toward the east, shall be wholy unto the LORD; xit shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.