The Tanakh · JPS 1917 Translation

Jeremiah 31

Jewish Publication Society 1917 · Nevi'im — the Prophets

Jeremiah chapter 31 — part of the Nevi'im — the Prophets in the Jewish Bible. In the classic JPS 1917 translation it opens: “At that time, saith HaShem, will I be the G-d of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.” — the complete text of all 40 verses is below, free to read online.

1At that time, saith HaShem, will I be the G-d of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.

2Thus saith HaShem: the people that were left of the sword have found grace in the wilderness, even Israel, when I go to cause him to rest.

3'From afar HaShem appeared unto me.' 'Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with affection have I drawn thee.

4Again will I build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel; again shalt thou be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.

5Again shalt thou plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall have the use thereof.

6For there shall be a day, that the watchmen shall call upon the mount Ephraim: arise ye, and let us go up to Zion, unto HaShem our G-d.'

7For thus saith HaShem: sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout at the head of the nations; announce ye, praise ye, and say: 'O HaShem, save Thy people, The remnant of Israel.'

8Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together; a great company shall they return hither.

9They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them; I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble; for I am become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is My first-born.

10Hear the word of HaShem, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say: 'He that scattered Israel doth gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.'

11For HaShem hath ransomed Jacob, and He redeemeth him from the hand of him that is stronger than he.

12And they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow unto the goodness of HaShem, to the corn, and to the wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd; and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not pine any more at all.

13Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

14And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, saith HaShem.

15Thus saith HaShem: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuseth to be comforted for her children, because they are not.

16Thus saith HaShem: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith HaShem; and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.

17And there is hope for thy future, saith HaShem; and thy children shall return to their own border.

18I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: 'Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf untrained; turn thou me, and I shall be turned, for Thou art HaShem my G-d.

19Surely after that I was turned, I repented, and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.'

20Is Ephraim a darling son unto Me? Is he a child that is dandled? For as often as I speak of him, I do earnestly remember him still; therefore My heart yearneth for him, I will surely have compassion upon him, saith HaShem.

21Set thee up waymarks, make thee guide-posts; set thy heart toward the high-way, even the way by which thou wentest; return, O virgin of Israel, return to these thy cities.

22How long wilt thou turn away coyly, O thou backsliding daughter? For HaShem hath created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall court a man.

23Thus saith HaShem of hosts, the G-d of Israel: yet again shall they use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall turn their captivity: 'The HaShem bless thee, O habitation of righteousness, O mountain of holiness.'

24And Judah and all the cities thereof shall dwell therein together: the husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks.

25For I have satiated the weary soul, and every pining soul have I replenished.

26Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.

27Behold, the days come, saith HaShem, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.

28And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down, and to overthrow and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them to build and to plant, saith HaShem.

29In those days they shall say no more: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.'

30But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man that eateth the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

31Behold, the days come, saith HaShem, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah;

32not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; forasmuch as they broke My covenant, although I was a lord over them, saith HaShem.

33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith HaShem, I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their G-d, and they shall be My people;

34and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying: 'Know HaShem'; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith HaShem; for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.

35Thus saith HaShem, Who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirreth up the sea, that the waves thereof roar, HaShem of hosts is His name:

36If these ordinances depart from before Me, saith HaShem, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever.

37Thus saith HaShem: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith HaShem.

38Behold, the days come, saith HaShem, that the city shall be built to HaShem from the tower of Hananel unto the gate of the corner.

39And the measuring line shall yet go out straight forward unto the hill Gareb, and shall turn about unto Goah.

40And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto HaShem; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.

40 verses · JPS 1917 (public domain)

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