¹“At that time ,” says the LORD , “I will be the God of all the families of Israel , and they will be my people .”

²The LORD says , “The people who survive the sword found favour in the wilderness ; even Israel , when I went to cause him to rest .”

³The LORD appeared of old to me , saying,

“Yes , I have loved you with an everlasting love .

Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness .

⁴I will build you again ,

and you will be built , O virgin of Israel .

You will again be adorned with your tambourines ,

and will go out in the dances of those who make merry .

⁵Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria .

The planters will plant ,

and will enjoy its fruit .

⁶For there will be a day that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim cry ,

‘Arise ! Let’s go up to Zion to the LORD our God .’”

⁷For the LORD says ,

“Sing with gladness for Jacob ,

and shout for the chief of the nations .

Publish , praise , and say ,

‘LORD , save your people ,

the remnant of Israel !’

⁸Behold , I will bring them from the north country,

and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth,

along with the blind and the lame ,

the woman with child and her who travails with child together .

They will return as a great company .

⁹They will come with weeping .

I will lead them with petitions.

I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters ,

in a straight way in which they won’t stumble ;

for I am a father to Israel .

Ephraim is my firstborn .

¹⁰“Hear the LORD ’s word , you nations ,

and declare it in the distant islands. Say ,

‘He who scattered Israel will gather him ,

and keep him , as a shepherd does his flock .’

¹¹For the LORD has ransomed Jacob ,

and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he .

¹²They will come and sing in the height of Zion ,

and will flow to the goodness of the LORD ,

to the grain , to the new wine , to the oil ,

and to the young of the flock and of the herd .

Their soul will be as a watered garden .

They will not sorrow any more at all .

¹³Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance ,

the young men and the old together ;

for I will turn their mourning into joy ,

and will comfort them , and make them rejoice from their sorrow .

¹⁴I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness ,

and my people will be satisfied with my goodness ,” says the LORD .

¹⁵The LORD says :

“A voice is heard in Ramah ,

lamentation and bitter weeping ,

Rachel weeping for her children .

She refuses to be comforted for her children ,

because they are no more .”

¹⁶The LORD says :

“Refrain your voice from weeping ,

and your eyes from tears ,

for your work will be rewarded ,” says the LORD .

“They will come again from the land of the enemy.

¹⁷There is hope for your latter end,” says the LORD .

“Your children will come again to their own territory .

¹⁸“I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus ,

‘You have chastised me ,

and I was chastised , as an untrained calf .

Turn me , and I will be turned ,

for you are the LORD my God .

¹⁹Surely after that I was turned .

I repented .

After that I was instructed .

I struck my thigh .

I was ashamed , yes , even confounded ,

because I bore the reproach of my youth .’

²⁰Is Ephraim my dear son ?

Is he a darling child ?

For as often as I speak against him ,

I still earnestly remember him .

Therefore my heart yearns for him .

I will surely have mercy on him ,” says the LORD .

²¹“Set up road signs.

Make guideposts .

Set your heart towards the highway ,

even the way by which you went .

Turn again , virgin of Israel .

Turn again to these your cities .

²²How long will you go here and there ,

you backsliding daughter ?

For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth:

a woman will encompass a man .”

²³The LORD of Armies , the God of Israel , says : “Yet again they will use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities , when I reverse their captivity : ‘The LORD bless you , habitation of righteousness , mountain of holiness .’

²⁴Judah and all its cities will dwell therein together , the farmers, and those who go about with flocks .

²⁵For I have satiated the weary soul , and I have replenished every sorrowful soul .”

²⁶On this I awakened, and saw ; and my sleep was sweet to me .

²⁷“Behold , the days come ,” says the LORD , “that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of animal.

²⁸It will happen that , like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict , so I will watch over them to build and to plant ,” says the LORD .

²⁹“In those days they will say no more ,

“‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes ,

and the children ’s teeth are set on edge .’

³⁰But everyone will die for his own iniquity . Every man who eats the sour grapes , his teeth will be set on edge .

³¹“Behold , the days come ,” says the LORD , “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel , and with the house of Judah ,

³²not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt , which covenant of mine they broke , although I was a husband to them ,” says the LORD .

³³“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days ,” says the LORD :

“I will put my law in their inward parts ,

and I will write it in their heart .

I will be their God ,

and they shall be my people .

³⁴They will no longer each teach his neighbour ,

and every man teach his brother , saying, ‘Know the LORD ;’

for they will all know me ,

from their least to their greatest ,” says the LORD ,

“for I will forgive their iniquity ,

and I will remember their sin no more .”

³⁵The LORD , who gives the sun for a light by day ,

and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night ,

who stirs up the sea , so that its waves roar —

the LORD of Armies is his name , says :

³⁶“If these ordinances depart from before me ,” says the LORD ,

“then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever .”

³⁷The LORD says : “If heaven above can be measured ,

and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath ,

then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done ,” says the LORD .

³⁸“Behold , the days come ,” says the LORD , “that the city will be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner .

³⁹The measuring line will go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb , and will turn towards Goah .

⁴⁰The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes , and all the fields to the brook Kidron , to the corner of the horse gate towards the east , will be holy to the LORD . It will not be plucked up or thrown down any more forever .”