| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the LORD gave him this second message: | 1The LORD spoke to Jeremiah a second time while he was still confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse. |
| 2“This is what the LORD says—the LORD who made the earth, who formed and established it, whose name is the LORD: | 2"I, the LORD, do these things. I, the LORD, form the plan to bring them about. I am known as the LORD. I say to you, |
| 3Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come. | 3Call on me in prayer and I will answer you. I will show you great and mysterious things which you still do not know about.' |
| 4For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: You have torn down the houses of this city and even the king’s palace to get materials to strengthen the walls against the siege ramps and swords of the enemy. | 4For I, the LORD God of Israel, have something more to say about the houses in this city and the royal buildings which have been torn down for defenses against the siege ramps and military incursions of the Babylonians: |
| 5You expect to fight the Babylonians, but the men of this city are already as good as dead, for I have determined to destroy them in my terrible anger. I have abandoned them because of all their wickedness. | 5The defenders of the city will go out and fight with the Babylonians. But they will only fill those houses and buildings with the dead bodies of the people that I will kill in my anger and my wrath. That will happen because I have decided to turn my back on this city on account of the wicked things they have done. |
| 6“Nevertheless, the time will come when I will heal Jerusalem’s wounds and give it prosperity and true peace. | 6But I will most surely heal the wounds of this city and restore it and its people to health. I will show them abundant peace and security. |
| 7I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel and rebuild their towns. | 7I will restore Judah and Israel and will rebuild them as they were in days of old. |
| 8I will cleanse them of their sins against me and forgive all their sins of rebellion. | 8I will purify them from all the sin that they committed against me. I will forgive all their sins which they committed in rebelling against me. |
| 9Then this city will bring me joy, glory, and honor before all the nations of the earth! The people of the world will see all the good I do for my people, and they will tremble with awe at the peace and prosperity I provide for them. | 9All the nations will hear about all the good things which I will do to them. This city will bring me fame, honor, and praise before them for the joy that I bring it. The nations will tremble in awe at all the peace and prosperity that I will provide for it.' |
| 10“This is what the LORD says: You have said, ‘This is a desolate land where people and animals have all disappeared.’ Yet in the empty streets of Jerusalem and Judah’s other towns, there will be heard once more | 10"I, the LORD, say: 'You and your people are saying about this place, "It lies in ruins. There are no people or animals in it." That is true. The towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem will soon be desolate, uninhabited either by people or by animals. But happy sounds will again be heard in these places. |
| 11the sounds of joy and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will be heard again, along with the joyous songs of people bringing thanksgiving offerings to the LORD. They will sing, ‘Give thanks to the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, for the LORD is good. His faithful love endures forever!’ For I will restore the prosperity of this land to what it was in the past, says the LORD. | 11Once again there will be sounds of joy and gladness and the glad celebrations of brides and grooms. Once again people will bring their thank offerings to the temple of the LORD and will say, "Give thanks to the LORD who rules over all. For the LORD is good and his unfailing love lasts forever." For I, the LORD, affirm that I will restore the land to what it was in days of old.' |
| 12“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: This land—though it is now desolate and has no people and animals—will once more have pastures where shepherds can lead their flocks. | 12"I, the LORD who rules over all, say: 'This place will indeed lie in ruins. There will be no people or animals in it. But there will again be in it and in its towns sheepfolds where shepherds can rest their sheep. |
| 13Once again shepherds will count their flocks in the towns of the hill country, the foothills of Judah, the Negev, the land of Benjamin, the vicinity of Jerusalem, and all the towns of Judah. I, the LORD, have spoken! | 13I, the LORD, say that shepherds will once again count their sheep as they pass into the fold. They will do this in all the towns in the southern hill country, the western foothills, the southern hill country, the territory of Benjamin, the villages surrounding Jerusalem, and the towns of Judah.' |
| 14“The day will come, says the LORD, when I will do for Israel and Judah all the good things I have promised them. | 14"I, the LORD, affirm: 'The time will certainly come when I will fulfill my gracious promise concerning the nations of Israel and Judah. |
| 15“In those days and at that time I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. | 15In those days and at that time I will raise up for them a righteous descendant of David. "'He will do what is just and right in the land. |
| 16In that day Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this will be its name: ‘The LORD Is Our Righteousness.’ | 16Under his rule Judah will enjoy safety and Jerusalem will live in security. At that time Jerusalem will be called "The LORD has provided us with justice." |
| 17For this is what the LORD says: David will have a descendant sitting on the throne of Israel forever. | 17For I, the LORD, promise: "David will never lack a successor to occupy the throne over the nation of Israel. |
| 18And there will always be Levitical priests to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings and sacrifices to me.” | 18Nor will the Levitical priests ever lack someone to stand before me and continually offer up burnt offerings, sacrifice cereal offerings, and offer the other sacrifices."'" |
| 19Then this message came to Jeremiah from the LORD: | 19The LORD spoke further to Jeremiah. |
| 20“This is what the LORD says: If you can break my covenant with the day and the night so that one does not follow the other, | 20"I, LORD, make the following promise: 'I have made a covenant with the day and with the night that they will always come at their proper times. Only if you people could break that covenant |
| 21only then will my covenant with my servant David be broken. Only then will he no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. The same is true for my covenant with the Levitical priests who minister before me. | 21could my covenant with my servant David and my covenant with the Levites ever be broken. So David will by all means always have a descendant to occupy his throne as king and the Levites will by all means always have priests who will minister before me. |
| 22And as the stars of the sky cannot be counted and the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister before me.” | 22I will make the children who follow one another in the line of my servant David very numerous. I will also make the Levites who minister before me very numerous. I will make them all as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sands which are on the seashore.'" |
| 23The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, | 23The LORD spoke still further to Jeremiah. |
| 24“Have you noticed what people are saying?—‘The LORD chose Judah and Israel and then abandoned them!’ They are sneering and saying that Israel is not worthy to be counted as a nation. | 24"You have surely noticed what these people are saying, haven't you? They are saying, 'The LORD has rejected the two families of Israel and Judah that he chose.' So they have little regard that my people will ever again be a nation. |
| 25But this is what the LORD says: I would no more reject my people than I would change my laws that govern night and day, earth and sky. | 25But I, the LORD, make the following promise: I have made a covenant governing the coming of day and night. I have established the fixed laws governing heaven and earth. |
| 26I will never abandon the descendants of Jacob or David, my servant, or change the plan that David’s descendants will rule the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead, I will restore them to their land and have mercy on them.” | 26Just as surely as I have done this, so surely will I never reject the descendants of Jacob. Nor will I ever refuse to choose one of my servant David's descendants to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Indeed, I will restore them and show mercy to them." |
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