1   The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time while he was still imprisoned in the court of the guard-house: 2   These are the words of the Lord who made the earth, ^note who formed it and established it; the Lord is his name: 3   If you call to me I will answer you, and tell you great and mysterious things which you do not understand. 4   These are the words of the Lord the God of Israel concerning the houses in this city and the royal palace, which are to be razed to the ground, concerning siege-ramp and sword, 5   and attackers ^note who fill the houses with the corpses of those whom he struck down in his furious rage: I hid my face from this city because of their wicked ways, 6   but now I will bring her

Hopes for the restoration of Jerusalem healing; I will heal and cure Judah and Israel, and will let my people see an age of peace and security. 7   I will restore their fortunes and build them again as once they were. 8   I will cleanse them of all the wickedness and sin that they have committed; I will forgive all the evil deeds they have done in rebellion against me. 9   This city will win me a name ^note and praise and glory before all the nations on earth, when they hear of all the blessings I bestow on her; and they shall be moved and filled with awe because of the blessings and the peace which I have brought upon her.

10   These are the words of the Lord: You say of this place, ‘It is in ruins, and neither man nor beast lives in the cities of Judah or in the streets of Jerusalem. It is all a waste, inhabited by neither man nor beast.’ 11   Yet in this place shall be heard once again the sounds of joy and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the bride; here too shall be heard voices shouting, ‘Praise the Lord of Hosts, for he is good, for his love endures for ever’, as they offer praise and thanksgiving in the house of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as once they were. This is the word of the Lord.

12   These are the words of the Lord of Hosts: In this place and in all its cities, now ruined and inhabited by neither man nor beast, there shall once more be a refuge where shepherds may fold their flocks. 13   In the cities of the hill-country, of the Shephelah, of the Negeb, in Benjamin, in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, flocks will once more pass under the shepherd's hand as he counts them. This is the word of the Lord.

14   Wait, says the Lord, the days are coming when I will bestow on Israel and Judah all the blessings I have promised them. 15   In those days, at that time, I will make a righteous Branch of David spring up; he shall maintain law and justice in the land. 16   In those days Judah shall be kept safe and Jerusalem shall live undisturbed; and this shall be her ^note name: The Lord is our Righteousness.

17   For these are the words of the Lord: David will never lack a successor on the throne of Israel, 18   nor will the levitical priests lack a man who shall come before me continually to present whole-offerings, to burn grain-offerings and to make other offerings.

19    20   This word came from the Lord to Jeremiah: These are the words of the Lord: If the law that I made for the day and the night could be annulled ^note so that they fell out of their proper order, 21   then my covenant with my servant David could be annulled so that none of his line should sit upon his throne; so also could my covenant with the levitical priests who minister to me. 22   Like the innumerable host of heaven or the countless

Hopes for the restoration of Jerusalem sands of the sea, I will increase the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister to me.

23    24   The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: Have you not observed how this people have said, ‘It is the two families whom he chose that the Lord has spurned’? So others will despise my people and no longer regard them as a nation. 25   These are the words of the Lord: If I had not made ^note my law for day and night nor established a fixed order in heaven and earth, 26   then I would spurn the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David, and would not take any of David's line to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But now I will restore their fortunes and have compassion upon them.

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