15. This is what the Lord says:“A sound was heard in Ramah.It was painful crying and much sadness.Rachel cries for her children.And she cannot be comforted,because her children are dead!”
16. But this is what the Lord says:“Stop crying.Don’t let your eyes fill with tears.You will be rewarded for your work!” says the Lord.“The people will come back from their enemy’s land.
17. So there is hope for you!” says the Lord.“Your children will come back to their own land.
18. “I have heard Israel moaning:‘Lord, you punished me, and I have learned my lesson.I was like a calf that had never been trained.Take me back, and I will come back.You truly are the Lord my God.
19. Lord, I wandered away from you.But I changed my heart and life.Once I understood,I beat my breast with sorrow.I am ashamed and disgracedbecause of the foolish things I did when I was young.’
20. “You know that Israel is my dear son.I love that child.Yes, I often speak against Israel,but I still remember him.I love him very much.And I want to comfort him,” says the Lord.
21. “People of Israel, fix the road signs.Put up the signs that show you the way home.Watch the road.Pay attention to the road on which you travel.People of Israel, come home.Come back to your towns.
22. You are an unfaithful daughter.How long will you wander before you come home?The Lord will make something new happen in the land:A woman will go seeking a man.”
23. The Lord of heaven’s armies, the God of Israel, says: “I will again do good things for the people of Judah. At that time the people in the land of Judah and its towns will again say: ‘May the Lord bless you. You are a righteous dwelling. You are a holy mountain.’
24. People in all the towns of Judah will live together in peace. Farmers and those who move around with their flocks will live together in peace.
25. I will give rest and strength to those who are weak and tired.”
26. After hearing that, I, Jeremiah, woke up and looked around. My sleep had been very pleasant.
27. The Lord says, “The days are coming when I will help the families of Israel and Judah to grow. I will help their children and animals to grow, too. It will be like planting and caring for a plant.
28. In the past I watched over Israel and Judah, but I watched for the time to pull them up. I tore them down. I destroyed them. I brought disaster to them. But now I will watch over them to build them up and make them strong,” says the Lord.
29. “At that time people will no longer say:‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes.And that caused the children to grind their teeth from the sour taste.’
30. But each person will die for his own sin. The person who eats sour grapes will grind his own teeth.
31. “Look, the time is coming,” says the Lord,“when I will make a new agreement.It will be with the people of Israeland the people of Judah.
32. It will not be like the agreementI made with their ancestors.That was when I took them by the handto bring them out of Egypt.I was a husband to them,but they broke that agreement,” says the Lord.
33. “I will make this agreementwith the people of Israel,” says the Lord.“I will put my teachings in their minds.And I will write them on their hearts.I will be their God,and they will be my people.