Jeremiah

42This is what the Lord says: “I have
brought this great disaster to the people
of Israel and Judah. In the same way I will
bring good things to them. I promise to do
good things for them. 43You people are saying,
‘This land is an empty desert. There are no
people or animals here. The Babylonian army
defeated this country.’ But in the future people
will once again buy fields in this land. 44They
JEREMIAH 32:42
will use their money and buy fields. They will
sign and seal their agreements. They will witness
the people signing their deeds. They will
again buy fields in the land where the tribe of
Benjamin lives, in the area around Jerusalem,
in the towns of the land of Judah, in the hill
country, in the western foothills, and in the
area of the southern desert. This will happen
because I will bring them back home.” This
message is from the Lord.
The Promise of God
33 1While Jeremiah was still locked up
in the courtyard* of the guards, the
message from the Lord came to him a second
time: 2“The Lord made the earth, and he
keeps it safe. The Lord is his name. He says,
3‘Judah, pray to me, and I will answer you. I
will tell you important secrets. You have never
heard these things before.’ 4The Lord is the
God of Israel. This is what he says about the
houses in Jerusalem and about the palaces of
the kings of Judah: ‘The enemy will pull these
houses down. They will build ramps up to the
top of the city walls. They will use swords and
fight the people in these cities.
5“‘The people in Jerusalem have done
many bad things. I am angry with them. I
have turned against them, so I will kill many
people there. The Babylonian army will come
to fight against Jerusalem. There will be many
dead bodies in the houses in Jerusalem.
6“‘But then I will heal the people in that
city. I will let them enjoy peace and safety. 7I
will make good things happen to Judah and
Israel again and make them strong as in the
past. 8They sinned against me, but I will wash
away that sin. They fought against me, but I
will forgive them. 9Then Jerusalem will be a
wonderful place. The people will be happy.
People from other nations will praise it when
they hear about the good things happening
there. They will hear about the good things I
am doing for Jerusalem.’
10“You people are saying, ‘Our country
is an empty desert. There are no people or
animals living there.’ It is now quiet in the
streets of Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah.
But it will be noisy there soon. 11There will
be sounds of joy and happiness. There will
be the happy sounds of a bride and groom.
There will be the sounds of people bringing
their gifts to the Lord’s Temple.* They will
say, ‘Praise the Lord All-Powerful! The Lord
is good! His faithful love will last forever!’
They will say this because I will again do
634
good things to Judah. It will be as it was in
the beginning.” This is what the Lord said.
12The Lord All-Powerful says, “This place
is empty now. There are no people or animals
living here. But there will be people in all
the towns of Judah. There will be shepherds,
and there will be pastures where they will let
their flocks rest. 13Shepherds will count their
sheep as the sheep walk in front of them.
They will be counting their sheep all around
the country—in the hill country, in the western
foothills, in the Negev,* and in all the
other towns of Judah.”
The Good Branch
14This message is from the Lord: “I made
a special promise to the people of Israel and
Judah. The time is coming when I will do
what I promised. 15At that time I will make
a good ‘branch’ grow from David’s* family.
That branch will do what is good and right
for the country. 16When he rules, Judah will
be saved. The people of Jerusalem will live
in safety. This will be his name: ‘The Lord
Makes Things Right For Us.’”
17The Lord says, “Someone from David’s
family will always sit on the throne and rule
the family of Israel. 18And there will always
be priests from the family of Levi. They will
always stand before me and offer burnt offerings*
and sacrifice grain offerings and give
sacrifices to me.”
19This message from the Lord came to
Jeremiah. 20The Lord says, “I have an agreement
with day and night. I agreed that they
will continue forever. You cannot change that
agreement. Day and night will always come at
the right time. If you could change that agreement,
21then you could change my agreement*
with David and Levi. Then descendants from
David would not be the kings, and the family
of Levi would not be priests. 22But I will give
many descendants to my servant David and
to the tribe of Levi. They will be as many as
the stars in the sky—no one can count all the
stars. And they will be as many as the grains
of sand on the seashore—no one can count
the grains of sand.”
23Jeremiah received this message from the
Lord: 24“Jeremiah, have you heard what the
people are saying? They are saying, ‘The Lord
turned away from the two families of Israel
and Judah. He chose those people, but now
he does not even accept them as a nation.’”
25The Lord says, “If my agreement with day
and night does not continue, and if I had not
made the laws for the sky and earth, maybe
I would leave those people. 26Then maybe I
would turn away from Jacob’s* descendants.
And then maybe I would not let David’s
descendants rule over the descendants of
Abraham,* Isaac,* and Jacob. But David is my
servant, and I will be kind to those people.
I will again cause good things to happen to
them.”