rsv Jeremiah:31-32 SEEK
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At that time ,
says the LORD ,
I will be the God of all the families of Israel ,
and they shall be my people ."
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Thus says the LORD : "
The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness ;
when Israel sought for rest ,
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the LORD appeared to him from afar .
I have loved you with an everlasting love ;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you .
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Again I will build you ,
and you shall be built ,
O virgin Israel !
Again you shall adorn yourself with timbrels ,
and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers .
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Again you shall plant vineyards upon the mountains of Sama '
ria ;
the planters shall plant ,
and shall enjoy the fruit .
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For there shall be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of E '
phraim : `
Arise ,
and let us go up to Zion ,
to the LORD our God .'"
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For thus says the LORD : "
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob ,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations ;
proclaim ,
give praise ,
and say , `
The LORD has saved his people ,
the remnant of Israel .'
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Behold ,
I will bring them from the north country ,
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth ,
among them the blind and the lame ,
the woman with child and her who is in travail ,
together ;
a great company ,
they shall return here .
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With weeping they shall come ,
and with consolations I will lead them back ,
I will make them walk by brooks of water ,
in a straight path in which they shall not stumble ;
for I am a father to Israel ,
and E '
phraim is my first-born .
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Hear the word of the LORD ,
O nations ,
and declare it in the coastlands afar off ;
say , `
He who scattered Israel will gather him ,
and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock .'
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For the LORD has ransomed Jacob ,
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him .
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They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion ,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD ,
over the grain ,
the wine ,
and the oil ,
and over the young of the flock and the herd ;
their life shall be like a watered garden ,
and they shall languish no more .
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Then shall the maidens rejoice in the dance ,
and the young men and the old shall be merry .
I will turn their mourning into joy ,
I will comfort them ,
and give them gladness for sorrow .
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I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance ,
and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness ,
says the LORD ."
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Thus says the LORD : "
A voice is heard in Ramah ,
lamentation and bitter weeping .
Rachel is weeping for her children ;
she refuses to be comforted for her children ,
because they are not ."
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Thus says the LORD : "
Keep your voice from weeping ,
and your eyes from tears ;
for your work shall be rewarded ,
says the LORD ,
and they shall come back from the land of the enemy .
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There is hope for your future ,
says the LORD ,
and your children shall come back to their own country .
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I have heard E '
phraim bemoaning , `
Thou hast chastened me ,
and I was chastened ,
like an untrained calf ;
bring me back that I may be restored ,
for thou art the LORD my God .
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For after I had turned away I repented ;
and after I was instructed ,
I smote upon my thigh ;
I was ashamed ,
and I was confounded ,
because I bore the disgrace of my youth .'
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Is E '
phraim my dear son ?
Is he my darling child ?
For as often as I speak against him ,
I do remember him still .
Therefore my heart yearns for him ;
I will surely have mercy on him ,
says the LORD .
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Set up waymarks for yourself ,
make yourself guideposts ;
consider well the highway ,
the road by which you went .
Return ,
O virgin Israel ,
return to these your cities .
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How long will you waver ,
O faithless daughter ?
For the LORD has created a new thing on the earth :
a woman protects a man ."
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Thus says the LORD of hosts ,
the God of Israel : "
Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities ,
when I restore their fortunes : `
The LORD bless you ,
O habitation of righteousness ,
O holy hill !'
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And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together ,
and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks .
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For I will satisfy the weary soul ,
and every languishing soul I will replenish ."
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Thereupon I awoke and looked ,
and my sleep was pleasant to me .
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Behold ,
the days are coming ,
says the LORD ,
when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast .
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And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down ,
to overthrow ,
destroy ,
and bring evil ,
so I will watch over them to build and to plant ,
says the LORD .
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In those days they shall no longer say : `
The fathers have eaten sour grapes ,
and the children '
s teeth are set on edge .'
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But every one shall die for his own sin ;
each man who eats sour grapes ,
his teeth shall be set on edge .
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Behold ,
the days are coming ,
says the LORD ,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah ,
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not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt ,
my covenant which they broke ,
though I was their husband ,
says the LORD .
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But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days ,
says the LORD :
I will put my law within them ,
and I will write it upon their hearts ;
and I will be their God ,
and they shall be my people .
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And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother ,
saying , `
Know the LORD ,'
for they shall all know me ,
from the least of them to the greatest ,
says the LORD ;
for I will forgive their iniquity ,
and I will remember their sin no more ."
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Thus says the LORD ,
who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night ,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar--the LORD of hosts is his name :
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If this fixed order departs from before me ,
says the LORD ,
then shall the descendants of Israel cease from being a nation before me for ever ."
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Thus says the LORD : "
If the heavens above can be measured ,
and the foundations of the earth below can be explored ,
then I will cast off all the descendants of Israel for all that they have done ,
says the LORD ."
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Behold ,
the days are coming ,
says the LORD ,
when the city shall be rebuilt for the LORD from the tower of Han '
anel to the Corner Gate .
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And the measuring line shall go out farther ,
straight to the hill Gareb ,
and shall then turn to Go '
ah .
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The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes ,
and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron ,
to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east ,
shall be sacred to the LORD .
It shall not be uprooted or overthrown any more for ever ."
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The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedeki '
ah king of Judah ,
which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrez '
zar .
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At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem ,
and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard which was in the palace of the king of Judah .
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For Zedeki '
ah king of Judah had imprisoned him ,
saying , "
Why do you prophesy and say , `
Thus says the LORD :
Behold ,
I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon ,
and he shall take it ;
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Zedeki '
ah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chalde '
ans ,
but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon ,
and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye ;
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and he shall take Zedeki '
ah to Babylon ,
and there he shall remain until I visit him ,
says the LORD ;
though you fight against the Chalde '
ans ,
you shall not succeed '?"
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Jeremiah said , "
The word of the LORD came to me :
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Behold ,
Han '
amel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say , `
Buy my field which is at An '
athoth ,
for the right of redemption by purchase is yours .'
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Then Han '
amel my cousin came to me in the court of the guard ,
in accordance with the word of the LORD ,
and said to me , `
Buy my field which is at An '
athoth in the land of Benjamin ,
for the right of possession and redemption is yours ;
buy it for yourself .'
Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD .
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And I bought the field at An '
athoth from Han '
amel my cousin ,
and weighed out the money to him ,
seventeen shekels of silver .
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I signed the deed ,
sealed it ,
got witnesses ,
and weighed the money on scales .
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Then I took the sealed deed of purchase ,
containing the terms and conditions ,
and the open copy ;
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and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neri '
ah son of Mahsei '
ah ,
in the presence of Han '
amel my cousin ,
in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase ,
and in the presence of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard .
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I charged Baruch in their presence ,
saying ,
* `
Thus says the LORD of hosts ,
the God of Israel :
Take these deeds ,
both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed ,
and put them in an earthenware vessel ,
that they may last for a long time .
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For thus says the LORD of hosts ,
the God of Israel :
Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land .'
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After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neri '
ah ,
I prayed to the LORD ,
saying :
* `
Ah Lord GOD !
It is thou who hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thy outstretched arm !
Nothing is too hard for thee ,
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who showest steadfast love to thousands ,
but dost requite the guilt of fathers to their children after them ,
O great and mighty God whose name is the LORD of hosts ,
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great in counsel and mighty in deed ;
whose eyes are open to all the ways of men ,
rewarding every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings ;
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who hast shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt ,
and to this day in Israel and among all mankind ,
and hast made thee a name ,
as at this day .
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Thou didst bring thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders ,
with a strong hand and outstretched arm ,
and with great terror ;
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and thou gavest them this land ,
which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them ,
a land flowing with milk and honey ;
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and they entered and took possession of it .
But they did not obey thy voice or walk in thy law ;
they did nothing of all thou didst command them to do .
Therefore thou hast made all this evil come upon them .
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Behold ,
the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it ,
and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chalde '
ans who are fighting against it .
What thou didst speak has come to pass ,
and behold ,
thou seest it .
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Yet thou ,
O Lord GOD ,
hast said to me , "
Buy the field for money and get witnesses "--
though the city is given into the hands of the Chalde '
ans .'"
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The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah :
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Behold ,
I am the LORD ,
the God of all flesh ;
is anything too hard for me ?
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Therefore ,
thus says the LORD :
Behold ,
I am giving this city into the hands of the Chalde '
ans and into the hand of Nebuchadrez '
zar king of Babylon ,
and he shall take it .
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The Chalde '
ans who are fighting against this city shall come and set this city on fire ,
and burn it ,
with the houses on whose roofs incense has been offered to Ba '
al and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods ,
to provoke me to anger .
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For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth ;
the sons of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands ,
says the LORD .
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This city has aroused my anger and wrath ,
from the day it was built to this day ,
so that I will remove it from my sight
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because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah which they did to provoke me to anger--their kings and their princes ,
their priests and their prophets ,
the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem .
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They have turned to me their back and not their face ;
and though I have taught them persistently they have not listened to receive instruction .
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They set up their abominations in the house which is called by my name ,
to defile it .
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They built the high places of Ba '
al in the valley of the son of Hinnom ,
to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech ,
though I did not command them ,
nor did it enter into my mind ,
that they should do this abomination ,
to cause Judah to sin .
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Now therefore thus says the LORD ,
the God of Israel ,
concerning this city of which you say , `
It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword ,
by famine ,
and by pestilence ':
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Behold ,
I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation ;
I will bring them back to this place ,
and I will make them dwell in safety .
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And they shall be my people ,
and I will be their God .
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I will give them one heart and one way ,
that they may fear me for ever ,
for their own good and the good of their children after them .
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I will make with them an everlasting covenant ,
that I will not turn away from doing good to them ;
and I will put the fear of me in their hearts ,
that they may not turn from me .
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I will rejoice in doing them good ,
and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness ,
with all my heart and all my soul .
* "
For thus says the LORD :
Just as I have brought all this great evil upon this people ,
so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them .
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Fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying ,
It is a desolation ,
without man or beast ;
it is given into the hands of the Chalde '
ans .
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Fields shall be bought for money ,
and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed ,
in the land of Benjamin ,
in the places about Jerusalem ,
and in the cities of Judah ,
in the cities of the hill country ,
in the cities of the Shephe '
lah ,
and in the cities of the Negeb ;
for I will restore their fortunes ,
says the LORD ."
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The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time ,
while he was still shut up in the court of the guard :