Excellence of the Restored Nation
1 Moreover the word of theLordcame to Jeremiah a second time, while he was stillshut up in the court of the prison, saying,
2 “Thus says theLordwho made it, theLordwho formed it to establish it(theLordisHis name):
3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
4 “For thus says theLord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been pulled downtofortifyagainstthe siege mounds and the sword:
5 ‘They come to fight with the Chaldeans, butonlytofill their places with the dead bodies of men whom I will slay in My anger and My fury, all for whose wickedness I have hidden My face from this city.
6 Behold,I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.
7 AndI will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return, and will rebuild those placesas at the first.
8 I willcleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me.
9 Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them; they shallfear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it.’
10 “Thus says theLord: ‘Again there shall be heard in this place—of which you say, “Itisdesolate, without man and without beast”—in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast,
11 thevoice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say:
# “Praise theLordof hosts,
For theLordisgood,
For His mercyenduresforever”—
# andof thosewhowillbringthe sacrifice of praise into the house of theLord. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first,’ says theLord.
12 “Thus says theLordof hosts:‘In this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall again be a dwelling place of shepherds causingtheirflocks to lie down.
13 In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks shall againpass under the hands of him who countsthem,’ says theLord.
14 ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says theLord, ‘thatI will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah:
15 ‘In those days and at that time
I will cause to grow up to David
# ABranch of righteousness;
He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
16 In those days Judah will be saved,
And Jerusalem will dwell safely.
And thisisthenameby which she will be called:
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’
17 “For thus says theLord: ‘David shall neverlack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel;
18 nor shall thepriests, the Levites, lack a man tooffer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.’ ”
The Permanence of God’s Covenant
19 And the word of theLordcame to Jeremiah, saying,
20 “Thus says theLord: ‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season,
21 thenMy covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers.
22 Asthe host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will Imultiply the descendants of David My servant and theLevites who minister to Me.’ ”
23 Moreover the word of theLordcame to Jeremiah, saying,
24 “Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which theLordhas chosen, He has also cast them off’? Thus they havedespised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them.
25 “Thus says theLord: ‘IfMy covenantisnot with day and night,andifI have notappointed the ordinances of heaven and earth,
26 then I willcast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant,sothat I will not takeanyof his descendantstoberulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them.’ ”