Jeremiah 33:1-13

Jeremiah was still confined to the palace guardhouse when the word of YAHWEH came to him a second time, saying: “I, YAHWEH, made the earth, formed its contours, and set it in place. YAHWEH is my name. I say to you, cry out to me and I will answer you. I will reveal to you great things, guarded secrets that you never could have known. For I, YAHWEH, God of Israel, have something to say about the houses of this city and the dwellings of the kings of Judah. You have torn them down to be used to defend yourselves against the attack of the Babylonian armies. The defenders of the city will go out and battle the Babylonians, but this will only serve to fill the ruins with the corpses of men who are the victims of my furious anger. I have hidden my face from this city because of all their evil. “Nevertheless, I will heal them, restore them, and give them prosperity and lasting peace. I will bring back the captives of Israel and Judah and reestablish them as before. I will cleanse them from all the guilt of all the sins they have committed against me. I will even forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. And it will become to me a source of joy, honor, and splendor for all the earth to see. When they hear of all the prosperity that I bestow upon the people, they will be shaken to the core at all the good and prosperity that I lavish upon it. “They say about this place, ‘It is a wasteland, without people or animals.’ But this is what I, YAHWEH, say to you: In the desolate towns of Judah and in the abandoned streets of Jerusalem without people or animals, you will hear once more the raucous shouts of joy and mirth and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. You will once again hear the glad songs sung by those who bring thank offerings to my temple, singing, ‘We give thanks to mighty YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, for he is so good, and he will love you forever!’ “I, YAHWEH, promise that I will bring back the country’s captives, as before. And surrounding all the towns of this uninhabited wasteland without people or animals, there will once again be pastureland for the shepherds to rest their flocks,” says YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies. “In the towns of the highlands, the lowlands, and the southern desert, in the land of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem, and in the towns of Judah, flocks will once again pass under the hand of a shepherd who counts them,” declares YAHWEH.