21. I will say, ‘My dear children of Israel, keep in mindthe road you took when you were carried off.Mark off in your minds the landmarks.Make a mental note of telltale signs marking the way back.Return, my dear children of Israel.Return to these cities of yours.
22. How long will you vacillate,you who were once like an unfaithful daughter?For I, the Lord, promise to bring about something new on the earth,something as unique as a woman protecting a man!’”
23. The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, “I will restore the people of Judah to their land and to their towns.When I do, they will again say of Jerusalem, ‘May the Lord bless you, you holy mountain,the place where righteousness dwells.’
24. The land of Judah will be inhabited by people who live in its townsas well as by farmers and shepherds with their flocks.
25. I will fully satisfy the needs of those who are wearyand fully refresh the souls of those who are faint.
26. Then they will say, ‘Under these conditions I can enjoy sweet sleepwhen I wake up and look around.’”
27. “Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will cause people and animals to sprout up in the lands of Israel and Judah.
28. In the past I saw to it that they were uprooted and torn down, that they were destroyed and demolished. But now I will see to it that they are built up and firmly planted. I, the Lord, affirm it!”
29. “When that time comes, people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but the children’s teeth have grown numb.’
30. Rather, each person will die for his own sins. The teeth of the person who eats the sour grapes will themselves grow numb.
31. “Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.
32. It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,” says the Lord.
33. “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land,” says the Lord. “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people.
34. “People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” says the Lord. “For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”
35. The Lord has made a promise to Israel.He promises it as the one who fixed the sun to give light by dayand the moon and stars to give light by night.He promises it as the one who stirs up the sea so that its waves roll.He promises it as the one who is known as the Lord who rules over all.