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I, the Lord, will bring
my people back from Babylonia[a]
    and everywhere else on earth.
The blind and the lame
    will be there.
Expectant mothers
    and women about to give birth
will come and be part
    of that great crowd.
They will weep and pray
    as I bring them home.
I will lead them
    to streams of water.
They will walk on a level[b] road
    and not stumble.
I am a father to Israel,[c]
    my favorite children.

10 Listen to me, you nations
    nearby or across the sea.
I scattered the people of Israel,
    but I will gather them again.
I will protect them like a shepherd
    guarding a flock;

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Footnotes

  1. 31.8 Babylonia: The Hebrew text has “that country in the north,” referring to Babylonia.
  2. 31.9 level: Or “straight.”
  3. 31.9 Israel: The Hebrew text also has “Ephraim,” the leading tribe of the northern kingdom of Israel, which sometimes stands for the whole northern kingdom.

See, I will bring them from the land of the north(A)
    and gather(B) them from the ends of the earth.
Among them will be the blind(C) and the lame,(D)
    expectant mothers and women in labor;
    a great throng will return.
They will come with weeping;(E)
    they will pray as I bring them back.
I will lead(F) them beside streams of water(G)
    on a level(H) path where they will not stumble,
because I am Israel’s father,(I)
    and Ephraim is my firstborn son.

10 “Hear the word of the Lord, you nations;
    proclaim it in distant coastlands:(J)
‘He who scattered(K) Israel will gather(L) them
    and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’(M)

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