Chapter 31: The time is coming Prophecies of return and a new covenant

Chapter 31: three prophecies introduced by

"The time is coming" verses 27 - 40

God as covenant-maker, creator, rebuilder

of Jerusalem after Exile

Book of the Prophet

Jeremiah (among the

Major Prophets)

The time is coming,

declares the Lord,

when I will make a new

covenant with the people

of Israel and Judah.  It

won't be like the covenant

I made with their ancestors

when I took them by the hand

to lead them out of the land

of Egypt.  No, this is the

covenant that I will make

with the people of Israel

after that time,

declares the Lord.

I will put my INSTRUCTIONS

(Torah) within them and

engrave them on their hearts.

I will be their God, and 

they will be my people.  They

will no longer need to teach 

each other to say 'Know the

Lord' because they will all

know me, from the least of

these to the greatest,

declares the Lord; for I

will forgive their wrong-

doing and never again

remember their sins.

The Lord proclaims:

The one who established

the sun to light up the

day and ordered the moon

and stars to light up

the night, who stirs up

the sea into crashing

waves, whose name is the

Lord of heavenly forces:

if the created order should 

vanish from my sight,

declares the Lord,

only then would Israel's

descendants ever stop being

a nation before me.

The Lord proclaims,

If the heavens above could

be measured and the foun-

donations of the earth below

could be fathomed, only then

would I reject Israel's

descendants for what they

have done,

declares the Lord.

The time is coming,

declares the Lord,

when the city will

be rebuilt for the Lord

from the Tower of Hananel 

to the Corner Gate.  Its

boundaries will extend

to the Gareb Hill and

around to Goah.  The

entire valley defiled

by corpses and ashes,

and all the fields as

far as the Kidron Valley

and the Horse Gate on the

east, all this will be 

set apart for the Lord.  

And the city will never

again be dug up or

overthrown.