1 At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
2 Thus saith the Lord, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.
3 The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
4 Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
5 Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things.
6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God.
7 For thus saith the Lord; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.
9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.
11 For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.
12 Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.
13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord.
15 Thus says the Lord: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
16 Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.
17 And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.
18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God.
19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.
21 Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.
22 How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.
23 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The Lord bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.
24 And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks.
25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.
26 Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.
27 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.
28 And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord.
29 In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.
30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
31 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
35 Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name:
36 If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
37 Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord.
38 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner.
39 And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath.
40 And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the Lord; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.
<html><b>found favor</b> The generation of the wilderness found favor in My eyes. <b>who had escaped the sword</b> of the Egyptians the Amalekites and the Canaanites. <b>He [therefore] went to give Israel their resting place</b> When He led them to take possession of the land of their rest.</html>
<html><b>From long ago</b> In the merit of the Patriarchs. <b>appeared to me</b> I, the prophet, and told me to say to the congregation of Israel, “With everlasting love have I loved you.”</html>
<html><b>Yet again will I rebuild you, then you shall be built</b> You had two buildings made by men. Therefore, they were destroyed. Yet again will I rebuild you, I by Myself, a third building, and you shall be built forever. <b>shall you be adorned</b> Heb. תַּעְדִּי.</html>
<html><b>and redeem [them]</b> in the fourth year, they shall profane their produce by redeeming it with money.</html>
<html><b>the watchers shall call</b> The lookouts at the tops of the lofty towers to announce with a voice heard a distance away. Another explanation: נֹצְרִים is like “He keeps (נֹצֵר) lovingkindness” (Exod. 34:7), an expression of keeping. That is to say: There is a day when they will call those who kept the Torah and say, “Rise…” And so did Jonathan render: There are many days and much goodness that is destined to come to the righteous who kept My Torah from days of old.</html>
<html><b>and shout at the head of the nations</b> On the lofty towers, so that they should hear from afar.</html>
<html><b>the blind and the lame amongst them</b> Even the staggering ones among them I will not reject.</html>
<html><b>With weeping will they come</b> Through prayer and repentance.</html>
<html><b>“He Who scattered”</b> (separant in French, separating.</html>
<html><b>and they will stream</b> They will gather like a river.</html>
<html><b>fat</b> Heb. דָשֶן.</html>
<html><b>A voice is heard on high</b> A voice is heard in the height of the world, the voice of the house of Israel weeping over Jeremiah the prophet when Nebuzaradan sent him from Ramah to return after the exiles to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, as is stated in this Book (below ch. 39). <b>Rachel weeping for her children</b> The Midrash Aggadah states (see Lam. Rabbah Proem 24) that the Patriarchs and the Matriarchs went to appease the Holy One blessed be He concerning the sin of Manasseh who placed an image in the Temple but He was not appeased. Rachel entered and stated before Him “O Lord of the Universe, whose mercy is greater, Your mercy or the mercy of a flesh and blood person? You must admit that Your mercy is greater. Now did I not bring my rival into my house? For all the work that Jacob worked for my father he worked only for me. When I came to enter the nuptial canopy, they brought my sister, and it was not enough that I kept my silence, but I gave her my password. You, too, if Your children have brought Your rival into Your house, keep Your silence for them.” He said to her, “You have defended them well. There is reward for your deed and for your righteousness, that you gave over your password to your sister.”</html>
<html><b>complaining</b> (Konpljjet in O.F.), an expression of “who will lament for you (יָנוּד)?” (above 15:5). <b>“You have chastised me”</b> With pains, You, the Holy One, blessed be He. <b>like an ungoaded calf</b> (fut aiguillones in O.F.), was goaded, an expression of “an ox-goad (מַלְמַד הַבָּקָר)” (Judges 3:31). I was like an ungoaded calf in the beginning. Therefore, I sinned against You.</html>
<html><b>I have completely changed my mind</b> I regret my abominations. <b>I had been brought to know myself</b> That I thought of myself that I was treacherous, (aparsoujjge in O. F.). <b>the reproach of my youth</b> That my enemies can reproach me for the sins of my youth.</html>
<html><b>“Is Ephraim a son who is dear to me?”</b> These are the words of the Shechinah. That is to say, He is complaining, “And as for Me, I have a change of heart to have pity. Is he My dear son (as one who has but one son, whose every wish he grants him)?” <b>dandled</b> (Esbaniement in O.F.) <b>whenever I speak of him</b> Every time that I speak of him. And the Midrash Leviticus Rabbah (2:3) explains: It is enough My speech (דַּי דִבּוּרִי) with which I endowed him, that I taught him My Torah, for Me to have mercy on him.</html>
<html><b>Set up markers for yourself</b> Signs in the good ways of your ancestors. <b>small palms</b> small palms (תְּמָרִים) planted for a sign on the way. And the simple interpretation of the verse is. Make signs to know the way you traversed from Eretz Israel to Babylon, so that you will return by that road; that is to say that you will surely return from there. <b>the road upon which you went</b> The “kethib” is הָלָכְתִּי, “I went,” and everywhere that you went I went with you Jonathan, however, renders. place “tamrurim” for yourself: Pray with embittered spirit, deriving תַּמְרוּרִים from מַר bitter. (And Menahem [Machbereth p. 119] explained תַּמְרוּרִים as an expression of raising up, and so he explained וְתִמְרוֹת “raising of smoke” (Joel 3:3). In some editions, this is missing.)</html>
<html><b>will you hide</b> will you hide from Me, that you are ashamed to return to Me because of your way? Behold, something new has been created on earth, that a woman shall go after a man to seek him that he should marry her. This is an expression of “and I will go around (וַאֲסוֹבְבָה) in the city; I will seek, etc.” (Song 3:2). And in the name of Rabbi Judah the Preacher I heard: A woman shall turn around to become a man. I gave you like a daughter, who receives a tenth of the property of her father, seven nations out of seventy. Ultimately, you shall take everything like a son, a male, who inherits everything.</html>
<html><b>Thereupon, I awoke</b> So said Jeremiah, “All this time I was sleeping deeply while perceiving the prophecy of retribution, but with this prophecy I awoke from my deep sleep.” <b>was pleasant</b> Heb. עָרְבָה .</html>
<html><b>seed of man and seed of beasts</b> The good and the foolish of them, I will sow all of them to be My seed. Seed of man and seed of beasts. Jonathan renders. I will set them up (our edition: I will increase them) like people and I will make them succeed like a beast, whose iniquities are not visited upon her.</html>
<html><b>unripe grapes</b> A fruit that is not yet ripe, and it sets the teeth on edge. <b>And the teeth of the children shall be set on edge…</b> The children for the fathers’ iniquity.</html>
<html><b>to illuminate</b> (esclarzir in Prov. or eclaircir in O.F., eclairer in Modern French), to brighten, and so did Jonathan render: לְאַנְהָרָא, to illuminate. <b>Who stirs up the sea</b> He breaks the sea, moves it and “boils” it, and it becomes wrinkles. Cf. “my skin became wrinkled (רָגַע)” (Job 7:5).</html>
<html><b>depart</b> “He would not move away (יָמִיש)” (Exod. 13:22).</html>
<html><b>If the heavens… will be measured</b> How much is their altitude. <b>I too will reject…Israel</b> That is to say that just as they can neither be measured nor fathomed so will Israel not be rejected because of all that they sinned.</html>
<html><b>valley of the dead bodies</b> The valley where the bodies of the camp of Sennacherib fell. <b>and the ash</b> The place where the ashes are poured out, which was outside Jerusalem, they will add to the city and include all this within its walls. Now this prophecy relates to the future, to the final redemption, since it did not take place in the time of the Second Temple. <b>the fields</b> (Kanpanjje in O.F.) (campagne in Modern French, open country.</html>