12. The 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.
13. Shepherds 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.”
14. This 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.
15. At 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.
16. When 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.’”
17. The Lord says, “Someone from David’s family will always sit on the throne and rule the family of Israel.
18. And 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.”
19. This message from the Lord came to Jeremiah.
20. The Lord says, “I have an agreement with day and night. I agreed that they would continue forever. You cannot change that agreement. Day and night will always come at the right time. If you could change that agreement,
21. then 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.
22. But 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.”
23. Jeremiah received this message from the Lord: