1The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the prison. The LORD said,
2"This is what the LORD says, the one who made it, the LORD who formed it and set it firm; the LORD is his name:"
3"Call to me, and I will answer you. I will show you great and mighty things that you do not know."
4For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses of this city and about the houses of the kings of Judah, which are torn down to fight against the siege mounds and the sword:
5"They come to fight against the Chaldeans, but it is only to fill those houses with the dead bodies of men. I killed them in my anger and in my fury. Because of all their wickedness I have hidden my face from this city."
6Look, I will bring it health and healing. I will heal my people, and I will show them plenty of peace and truth.
7I will bring back the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel, and I will build them up as they were at the first.
8I will wash them clean from all the sin they have done against me. I will pardon all the wrongs they have done, by which they sinned and rebelled against me.
9"Then this city will bring me joy, praise and honour before all the nations of the earth, when they hear of all the good that I do for my people. They will fear and tremble because of all the goodness and all the peace that I bring to it."
10This is what the LORD says: "You say this place is a ruin, with no man and no animal in it. Yet in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, which lie empty, with no man, no one living there, and no animal, there will be heard again"
11"the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, and the voices of those who say, 'Praise the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good; his mercy lasts for ever.' And they will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will bring back the captives of the land, as they were at the first," says the LORD.
12This is what the LORD of hosts says: "In this place, which is a ruin with no man and no animal, and in all its cities, there will again be homes for shepherds who rest their flocks there."
13"In the cities of the hills, in the cities of the valley, in the cities of the south, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will pass again under the hands of the one who counts them," says the LORD.
14"Look, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when I will do the good thing that I promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah."
15In those days, and at that time, I will make a righteous Branch grow up for David. He will do what is just and right in the land.
16In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name she will be called: The LORD our righteousness.
17For this is what the LORD says: David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel.
18"And the priests, the Levites, will never lack a man to stand before me and offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices, day after day."
19And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
20This is what the LORD says: "If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night do not come at their proper time,"
21then my covenant with David my servant may also be broken, so that he will have no son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levites, the priests, who serve me.
22"The stars of heaven cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured. In the same way I will multiply the children of David my servant, and the Levites who serve me."
23The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah again:
24"Have you not noticed what these people are saying? They say, 'The two families the LORD chose, he has now thrown away.' So they look down on my people, as if they were no longer a nation to them."
25This is what the LORD says: If I have not made my covenant with day and night, and if I did not set the laws of heaven and earth,