1-2. This is the Message Jeremiah received from God: “God’s Message, the God of Israel: ‘Write everything I tell you in a book.
3. “‘Look. The time is coming when I will turn everything around for my people, both Israel and Judah. I, God, say so. I’ll bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors, and they’ll take up ownership again.’”
4. This is the way God put it to Israel and Judah:
5-7. “God’s Message:“‘Cries of panic are being heard.The peace has been shattered.Ask around! Look around!Can men bear babies?So why do I see all these he-menholding their bellies like women in labor,Faces contorted,pale as death?The blackest of days,no day like it ever!A time of deep trouble for Jacob—but he’ll come out of it alive.
8-9. “‘And then I’ll enter the darkness.I’ll break the yoke from their necks,Cut them loose from the harness.No more slave labor to foreigners!They’ll serve their Godand the David-King I’ll establish for them.
10-11. “‘So fear no more, Jacob, dear servant.Don’t despair, Israel.Look up! I’ll save you out of faraway places,I’ll bring your children back from exile.Jacob will come back and find life good,safe and secure.I’ll be with you. I’ll save you.I’ll finish off all the godless nationsAmong which I’ve scattered you,but I won’t finish you off.I’ll punish you, but fairly.I won’t send you off with just a slap on the wrist.’