Chapter 33

Jerusalem Restored. ¹ While Jeremiah was still imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him a second time: ² Thus says the Lord who made the earth, who formed and established it—the Lord is his name: ³ Call to me and I will answer you and reveal to you great and mysterious secrets about which you are unaware. ⁴ For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, about the houses of this city and the palaces of the kings of Judah which are in the process of being destroyed by siege-works and the sword ⁵ in the battle against the Chaldeans: The houses will be filled with the corpses of those whom I will strike down in my anger and rage, those whose wickedness has caused me to hide my face from this city.

⁶ Nevertheless, I intend to treat and assuage the wounds of this city. I will heal the people and grant them an abundance of peace and prosperity. ⁷ I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel and rebuild them as they were formerly. ⁸ I will cleanse them of all the guilt they incurred by their sins against me, and I will forgive them for their offenses by which they sinned and rebelled against me. ⁹ Then Jerusalem will become for me a name of joy and praise and pride for all the nations of the earth to behold. When they learn of all the good that I will do for her, they will be overcome with fear and trembling because of all the peace and prosperity I have provided.

¹⁰ Thus says the Lord: In this place about which you say, “It is a wasteland, without men or animals,” and in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are now deserted, inhabited by neither men nor animals, there will once again be heard ¹¹ the cries of joy and the cries of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, and the joyful sounds of those who bring thank offerings to the Lord, saying,

For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were once before, says the Lord.

¹² Thus says the Lord of hosts: In this place that is now a wasteland, without men or animals, and in all its towns, there will again be pastures in which shepherds can rest their flocks. ¹³ In the towns of the hill country, of the foothills, and of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, in the districts around Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the Lord.

^14 [a]The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise of blessings I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah:

¹⁷ For thus says the Lord: Never will David lack a male descendant to succeed to the throne of the house of Israel, ¹⁸ nor will the Levitical priests ever fail to have available one of their number to stand before me to present burnt offerings, to burn cereal offerings, and to offer sacrifices each day.

¹⁹ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁰ Thus says the Lord: If you could break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night so that day and night would no longer occur at their appointed time, ²¹ then my covenant with my servant David could also be broken so that he would not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levites who minister as priests to me could also be broken. ²² Just as the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be counted, so I will increase the descendants of my servant David and of the Levites who minister to me.

²³ This word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁴ Have you not noticed what these people say, “The two families that were chosen by the Lord have been rejected by him”? As a result, they look upon my people with such contempt that they no longer regard them as a nation.

²⁵ Thus says the Lord: If I had not established my covenant with day and night and fixed the laws governing heaven and earth, ²⁶ then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David and not choose any of David’s descendants to serve as rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have mercy upon them.