The Excellence of the Restored Nation

1While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: 2“Thus says the LORD who made the earth,a the LORD who formed it and established it, the LORD is His name: 3Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

4For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah that have been torn down for defense against the siege ramps and the sword: 5The Chaldeans are coming to fightb and to fill those places with the corpses of the men I will strike down in My anger and in My wrath. I have hidden My face from this city because of all its wickedness.

6Nevertheless, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal its people and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. 7I will restore Judah and Israel from captivityc and will rebuild them as in former times. 8And I will cleanse them from all the iniquity they have committed against Me, and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against Me.

9So this city will bring Me renown, joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I do for it. They will tremble in awe because of all the goodness and prosperity that I will provide for it.

10This is what the LORD says: In this place you say is a wasteland without man or beast, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted—inhabited by neither man nor beast—there will be heard again 11the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those bringing thank offerings into the house of the LORD, saying:

‘Give thanks to the LORD of Hosts,

for the LORD is good;

His loving devotion endures forever.’

For I will restore the land from captivityd as in former times, says the LORD.

12This is what the LORD of Hosts says: In this desolate place, without man or beast, and in all its cities, there will once more be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks. 13In the cities of the hill country, the foothills,e and the Negev, in the land of Benjamin and the cities surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the LORD.

The Covenant with David

14Behold, the days are coming,

declares the LORD,

when I will fulfill the gracious promise

that I have spoken

to the house of Israel

and the house of Judah.

15In those days and at that time

I will cause to sprout for David a righteous Branch,

and He will administer justice

and righteousness in the land.

16In those days Judah will be saved,

and Jerusalem will dwell securely,

and this is the name by which it will be called:

The LORD Our Righteousness.f

17For this is what the LORD says: David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18nor will the priests who are Levites ever fail to have a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to present sacrifices.”

19And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 20“This is what the LORD says: If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and night cease to occupy their appointed time, 21then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant and with My ministers the Levites who are priests, so that David will not have a son to reign on his throne. 22As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister before Me.”

23Moreover, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 24“Have you not noticed what these people are saying: ‘The LORD has rejected the two families He had chosen’? So they despise My people and no longer regard them as a nation. 25This is what the LORD says: If I have not established My covenant with the day and the night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, 26then I would also reject the descendants of Jacob and of My servant David, so as not to take from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore them from captivityg and will have compassion on them.”