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Restoration Promised
1 Then the word of the Loʀᴅ came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still confined in the court of the guard, saying,
2 “Thus says the Loʀᴅ who made the earth, the Loʀᴅ who formed it to establish it, the Loʀᴅ is His name,
3 ‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
4 “For thus says the Loʀᴅ God of Israel concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah which are broken down to make a defense against the siege ramps and against the sword,
5 ‘While they are coming to fight with the Chaldeans and to fill them with the corpses of men whom I have slain in My anger and in My wrath, and I have hidden My face from this city because of all their wickedness:
6 ‘Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth.
7 ‘I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and will rebuild them as they were at first.
8 ‘I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me.
9 ‘It will be to Me a name of joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good that I do for them, and they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.’
10 “Thus says the Loʀᴅ, ‘Yet again there will be heard in this place, of which you say, “It is a waste, without man and without beast,” that is, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast,
11 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say,
“Give thanks to the Loʀᴅ of hosts,
For the Loʀᴅ is good,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting”;
and of those who bring a thank offering into the house of the Loʀᴅ. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says the Loʀᴅ.
12 “Thus says the Loʀᴅ of hosts, ‘There will again be in this place which is waste, without man or beast, and in all its cities, a habitation of shepherds who rest their flocks.
13 ‘In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the Negev, in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who numbers them,’ says the Loʀᴅ.
The Davidic Kingdom
14 ‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Loʀᴅ, ‘when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
15 ‘In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth.
16 ‘In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the Loʀᴅ is our righteousness.’
17 “For thus says the Loʀᴅ, ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel;
18 and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to prepare sacrifices continually.’ ”
19 The word of the Loʀᴅ came to Jeremiah, saying,
20 “Thus says the Loʀᴅ, ‘If you can break My covenant for the day and My covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed time,
21 then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levitical priests, My ministers.
22 ‘As the host of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.’ ”
23 And the word of the Loʀᴅ came to Jeremiah, saying,
24 “Have you not observed what this people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the Loʀᴅ chose, He has rejected them’? Thus they despise My people, no longer are they as a nation in their sight.
25 “Thus says the Loʀᴅ, ‘If My covenant for day and night stand not, and the fixed patterns of heaven and earth I have not established,
26 then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, not taking from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.’ ”