1The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time while he was still imprisoned in the court of the guardhouse:
2These are the words of the LORD who made the earth, who formed and established it; the LORD is his name:
3If you call to me I shall answer, and tell you great and mysterious things of which you are still unaware.
4These are the words of the LORD the God of Israel about the houses in this city and the royal palaces of Judah which are razed to the ground, about siege-ramp and sword,
5and the Chaldaean attackers who leave the houses full of corpses: I struck them down in anger and rage, and hid my face from this city because of all their wicked ways.
6Now I shall bring healing and care for her; I shall cure Judah and Israel, and let them see lasting peace and security.
7I shall restore their fortunes and rebuild them as once they were.
8I shall cleanse them of all the wickedness and sin that they have committed, and forgive all the evil deeds they have done in rebellion against me.
9This city will win me renown and praise and glory before all the nations of the world, as they hear of all the blessings I bestow on her; and they will be filled with awe and deeply moved because of all the blessings and the prosperity which I bring on her.
10These are the words of the LORD: You say of this place, “It lies in ruins, without people or animals throughout the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. It is all a waste, inhabited by neither man nor beast.”
11Yet in this place will be heard once more the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bridegroom and bride; here too will be heard voices shouting, “Praise the LORD of Hosts, for the LORD is good; his love endures for ever,” as they offer praise and thanksgiving in the house of the LORD. For I shall restore the fortunes of the land as once they were. This is the word of the LORD.
12These are the words of the LORD of Hosts: In this place and in all its towns, now ruined and devoid of both people and animals, there will once more be sheepfolds where shepherds may keep their flocks.
13In the towns of the hill-country, of the Shephelah, of the Negeb, in Benjamin, in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, flocks will once more pass under the shepherd's hand as he counts them. This is the word of the LORD.
14The days are coming, says the LORD, when I shall bestow on Israel and Judah all the blessings I have promised them.
15In those days, at that time, I shall make a righteous Branch spring from David's line; he will maintain law and justice in the land.
16In those days Judah will be kept safe and Jerusalem will live undisturbed. This will be the name given to him: The LORD our Righteousness.
17For these are the words of the LORD: David will never lack a successor on the throne of Israel,
18nor will there ever be lacking a levitical priest to present whole-offerings, to burn grain-offerings, and to make other offerings every day.
19This word came from the LORD to Jeremiah:
20These are the words of the LORD: It would be as unthinkable to annul the covenant that I made for the day and the night, so that they should fall out of their proper order,
21as to annul my covenant with my servant David, so that he would have none of his line to sit on his throne; likewise it would be unthinkable to annul my covenant with the levitical priests who minister to me.
22Like the innumerable host of heaven or the countless sands of the sea, I shall increase the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister to me.
23The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
24Have you not observed how this people have said, “It is the two families whom he chose that the LORD has rejected”? So others will despise my people and no longer regard them as a nation.
25These are the words of the LORD: If there were no covenant for day and night, and if I had not established a fixed order in heaven and earth,
26then I could spurn the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David, and not take any of David's line to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But in my compassion I shall restore their fortunes.