CHAPTER 30

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: ²“Thus said the LORD God of Israel, Write you these words that I have spoken to you on a scroll. ³For, look, days are coming, said the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah, said the LORD, and bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take hold of it.” ⁴And these are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. ⁵For thus said the LORD:

                 A voice of terror we have heard,

                     fear and not peace.

                 ⁶Ask, pray, and see,

                     if a male is giving birth.

                 Why do I see every man,

                     his hands on his loins like a woman in labor

                         and every face turned sickly green?

                 ⁷Woe, for great is that day,

                     there is nothing like it,

                 and a time of distress for Jacob,

                     but from it he shall be rescued.

⁸“And it shall happen on that day, said the LORD of Armies, I will break his yoke from upon his neck, and his bands I will snap, and strangers shall no longer make him serve. ⁹But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king whom I will raise up for them.

                 ¹⁰As for you, do not fear, My servant Jacob,

                     —said the LORD—

                     and do not be afraid, O Israel,

                 for I am about to rescue you from afar

                     and your seed from the land of their captivity,

                 and Jacob again shall be at ease,

                     be tranquil, with none to make him tremble.

                 ¹¹For I am with you, said the LORD, to rescue you,

                     for I will make an end of all the nations

                         where I have scattered you.

                 But of you I will not make an end,

                     I will surely chastise you in justice,

                         I will surely not acquit you.

                 ¹²For thus said the LORD:

                     your shattering is grievous,

                         grave is your blow.

                 ¹³None considers your case for a cure,

                     no healing of the wound do you have.

                 ¹⁴All your lovers have forgotten you,

                     you they do not seek.

                 For an enemy’s blow I struck you,

                     a ruthless punishment

                 for all your crimes,

                     your many offenses.

                 ¹⁵Why should you cry out for your shattering,

                     your grievous pain,

                 for all your crimes, your many offenses?

                     I have done these to you.

                 ¹⁶Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured,

                     and all your foes, they all shall go as captives,

                 and your plunderers shall become plunder,

                     And all your despoilers I will turn into spoil.

                 ¹⁷For I will bring healing to you

                     and cure you of your blows, said the LORD,

                 though they called you “outcast,”

                     “Zion, whom no one seeks.”

                 ¹⁸For thus said the LORD:

                     I am about to restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents

                         and show mercy to his dwellings,

                 and the city shall be rebuilt on its mound,

                     and the citadel sit in its rightful place.

                 ¹⁹And a song of thanksgiving shall issue from them

                     and the sound of celebrants,

                 and I will make them multiply, they shall not dwindle,

                     give them honor, they shall not be paltry.

                 ²⁰And his sons shall be as before,

                     his community before Me firm-founded,

                         and I will reckon with all who oppress him.

                 ²¹And his leader shall be from within him,

                     and his ruler shall come forth from his midst.

                 I will bring him close and he shall approach Me,

                     for who would presume to approach Me?

                         said the LORD.

                 ²²And you shall become My people;

                     as for Me, I will be your God.

                 ²³Look, the LORD’s storm goes forth in wrath,

                     a whirling tempest,

                         it comes down on the head of the wicked,

                 until He does and until He fulfills

                     His heart’s devisings.

                         In the days afterward you shall grasp it.

²⁴At that time, said the LORD, I will be God for all the clans of Israel and they shall be My people.