Jeremiah 33:1-26

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. YAHWEH YAHWEH says, “The time is coming when I will fulfill the gracious promise of good things to come that I made to the people of Israel and Judah: At that time, I will cause a righteous Branch to sprout from David’s lineage. And he will administer justice and righteousness in the land. Under his rule, Judah will triumph and Jerusalem will live in safety. And the city will be called YAHWEH Is Our Righteousness.” YAHWEH says, “There will always be a descendant of David to be king in Israel. And there will always be priests from the tribe of Levi to stand before me to offer burnt offerings, grain offering, and daily sacrifices to me.” YAHWEH spoke to me, saying, “I say to you that I, YAHWEH, have a covenant with the day and the night so that they always come at their appointed times. As no one can break the covenant I made with them, so no one can break the covenant I have made with my servant David and with the priests from the tribe of Levi who serve at my altar. A descendant of David will always rule as king of Israel. Just as no one can count the stars in the sky nor measure the sand of the seashore, so I will increase the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister to me until they cannot be counted.” YAHWEH spoke to me again, saying, “Have you heard that these people are saying, ‘YAHWEH has forsaken Judah and Israel, whom he chose for himself’? They despise my people and no longer consider them as a nation. I, YAHWEH, say to you that I will never break my covenant with the day and the night or let the heavens and the earth stop obeying my commands. In the same way, I will never reject the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of David my servant. There will always be a descendant of David to rule over his people. For I will show kindness to my people Israel, and they will prosper and be successful again.”