1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
2"This is what the LORD God of Israel says: Write down in a book all the words that I have spoken to you."
3"For look, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity, says the LORD. I will bring them back to the land I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it."
4These are the words that the LORD spoke about Israel and about Judah.
5This is what the LORD says: "We have heard a cry of trembling and of fear, and not of peace."
6"Ask now, and see: does a man give birth to a child? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his waist, like a woman giving birth? Why has every face turned pale?"
7"Alas, for that day is great; there is no day like it. It is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he will be saved out of it."
8"On that day, says the LORD of hosts, I will break his yoke off your neck, and I will snap the ropes that bind you. Strangers will no longer make him serve them."
9"Instead they will serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them."
10"So do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, says the LORD; do not be dismayed, Israel. For look, I will save you from far away, and your children from the land where they are held captive. Jacob will come back, and will have rest and quiet, and no one will make him afraid."
11"For I am with you to save you, says the LORD. Though I make an end of all the nations where I have scattered you, I will not make an end of you. But I will correct you with measure, and I will not leave you completely unpunished."
12This is what the LORD says: "Your injury cannot be cured, and your wound is severe."
13"There is no one to plead your cause, no one to bind up your sore. You have no medicines to heal you."
14"All those who loved you have forgotten you; they do not look for you. For I have wounded you as an enemy wounds, and punished you as a cruel man would, because your wrongdoing is so great and your sins are so many."
15"Why do you cry out about your suffering? Your pain cannot be cured. Because your wrongdoing is so great and your sins are so many, I have done these things to you."
16"But all who devour you will be devoured, and all your enemies, every one of them, will go into captivity. Those who plunder you will be plundered, and all who prey on you I will give up as prey."
17"For I will bring back your health, and I will heal your wounds, says the LORD, because they called you an Outcast, and said, 'This is Zion; no one cares for her.'"
18This is what the LORD says: "Look, I will bring Jacob's tents back from captivity, and I will have mercy on the places where he lives. The city will be rebuilt on its own mound of ruins, and the palace will stand as it did before."
19"Out of them will come thanksgiving and the sound of people rejoicing. I will make them many, not few; I will give them glory, and they will not be small."
20"Their children will be as they were long ago, and their assembly will be made firm before me. I will punish all who oppress them."
21"Their leaders will be their own people, and their ruler will come from among them. I will bring him near, and he will come close to me. For who else would dare in his heart to come close to me? says the LORD."
22"And you will be my people, and I will be your God."
23Look, the storm of the LORD goes out in fury, a sweeping whirlwind. It will burst upon the heads of the wicked.
24The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has done it, until he has carried out what he planned in his heart. In the days to come you will understand it.