Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from the book of
Jeremiah, chapters 30 and 31. Chapter 30 The
word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
Thus speaks the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write
in a book for yourself all the words that I have
spoken to you. For behold, the days are coming,
says the Lord, that I will bring back from captivity
my people Israel and Judah. says the lord and
i will cause them to return to the land that
i gave to their fathers and they shall possess
it now these are the words that the lord spoke
concerning israel and judah for thus says the
lord we have heard a voice of trembling of fear
and not of peace ask now and see whether a man
is ever in labor with child so why do i see every
man with his hands on his loins like a woman
in labor and all faces turn pale alas For that
day is great, so that none is like it, and it
is the time of Jacob's trouble. But he shall
be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass
in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will
break his yoke from your neck, and will burst
your bonds. Foreigners shall no more enslave
them, but they shall serve the Lord their God,
and David their king, whom I will raise up for
them. Therefore do not fear, O my servant Jacob,
says the Lord, nor be dismayed, O Israel. For
behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed
from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall
return, have rest, and be quiet, and no one shall
make him afraid. For I am with you, says the
Lord, to save you. Though I make a full end of
all nations, where I have scattered you, Yet
I will not make a complete end of you, but I
will correct you in justice, and will not let
you go altogether unpunished. For thus says the
Lord, Your affliction is incurable, your wound
is severe. There is no one to plead your cause,
that you may be bound up. You have no healing
medicines. All your lovers have forgotten you,
they do not seek you. For I have wounded you
with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement
of a cruel one. For the multitude of your iniquities,
Because your sins have increased. Why do you
cry about your affliction? Your sorrow is incurable.
Because of the multitude of your iniquities,
because your sins have increased, I have done
these things to you. Therefore all those who
devour you shall be devoured, and all your adversaries,
every one of them, shall go into captivity. Those
who plunder you shall become plunder, and all
who prey upon you I will make a prey. For I will
restore health to you, and heal you of your wounds,
says the Lord. because they called you an outcast,
saying, This is Zion, no one seeks her. Thus
says the Lord, Behold, I will bring back the
captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on
his dwelling places. The city shall be built
upon its own mound, and the palace shall remain
according to its own plan. Then out of them shall
proceed thanksgiving, and the voice of those
who make merry. I will multiply them, and they
shall not diminish. I will also glorify them,
and they shall not be small. Their children also
shall be as before, and their congregation shall
be established before me. And I will punish all
who oppress them. Their nobles shall be from
among them, and their governor shall come from
their midst. Then I will cause him to draw near,
and he shall approach me. For who is this who
pledged his heart to approach me? Says the Lord.
You shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goes forth
with fury, a continuing whirlwind. It will fall
violently on the head of the wicked. The fierce
anger of the Lord will not return until he has
done it and until he has performed the intents
of his heart. In the latter days you will consider
it. At the same time, says the Lord, I will be
the God of all the families of Israel, and they
shall be my people. Thus says the Lord, The people
who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness,
Israel, when I went to give him rest. The Lord
has appeared of all to me, saying, Yes, I have
loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore,
with loving kindness, I have drawn you. Again
I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O
virgin of Israel. You shall again be adorned
with your tambourines, and shall go forth in
the dances of those who rejoice. You shall yet
plant vines on the mountains of Samaria. The
planters shall plant and eat them as ordinary
food. For there shall be a day when the watchmen
will cry on Mount Ephraim, Arise, and let us
go up to Zion, to the Lord our God. For thus
says the Lord, Sing with gladness for Jacob,
and shout among the chief of the nations. Proclaim,
give praise, and say, O Lord, save your people,
the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them
from the north country, and gather them from
the ends of the earth. Among them, the blind
and the lame, the woman with child and the one
who labors with child together. A great throng
shall return there. They shall come with weeping,
and with supplications I will lead them. I will
cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in
a straight way in which they shall not stumble.
For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my
firstborn. Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
and declare it in the isles afar off, and say,
He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep
him as a shepherd does his flock. For the Lord
has redeemed Jacob and ransomed him from the
hand of one stronger than he. Therefore they
shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming
to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat and new
wine and oil. For the young of the flock and
the herd, their souls shall be like a well -watered
garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all.
Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and
the young men and the old together, for I will
turn their mourning to joy, will comfort them,
and make them rejoice rather than sorrow. I will
satiate the soul of the priests with abundance,
and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,
says the Lord. Thus says the Lord, a voice was
heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to
be comforted for her children because they are
no more. Thus says the Lord, refrain your voice
from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your
work shall be rewarded, says the Lord, and they
shall come back from the land of the enemy. There
is hope in your future, says the Lord, that your
children shall come back to their own border.
I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself.
You have chastised me, and I was chastised like
an untrained bull. Restore me, and I will return,
for you are the Lord my God. Surely after my
turning I repented, and after I was instructed
I struck myself on the thigh. I was ashamed,
yes, even humiliated, because I bore the reproach
of my youth. Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a
pleasant child? For though I spoke against him,
I earnestly remember him still. Therefore my
heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy
on him, says the Lord. Set up signposts, make
landmarks, set your heart toward the highway,
the way in which you went. Turn back, O virgin
of Israel, turn back to these your cities. How
long will you gad about, O you backsliding daughter?
For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth.
A woman shall encompass a man. Thus says the
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. They shall
again use this speech in the land of Judah and
in its cities when I bring back their captivity.
The Lord bless you. o home of justice and mountain
of holiness and there shall dwell in judah itself
and in all its cities together farmers and those
going out with flocks for i have satiated the
weary soul and i have replenished every sorrowful
soul after this i awoke and looked around and
my sleep was sweet to me Behold, the days are
coming, says the Lord, that I will sow the house
of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed
of man and the seed of beast. And it shall come
to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck
up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy
and to afflict, so I will watch over them to
build and to plant, says the Lord. In those days
they shall say no more, the fathers have eaten
sour grapes and the children's teeth are set
on edge. But everyone shall die for his own iniquity.
Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth
shall be set on edge. after those days says the
lord i will put my law in their minds and write
it on their hearts and i will be their god and
they shall be my people no more shall every man
teach his neighbor and every man his brother
saying know the lord for they all shall know
me from the least of them to the greatest of
them says the lord for i will forgive their iniquity
and their sin i will remember no more thus says
the lord who gives the sun for a light by day
The ordinances of the moon and the stars for
a light by night, who disturbs the sea and its
waves roar, the Lord of hosts is his name. If
those ordinances depart from before me, says
the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also
cease from being a nation before me forever.
Thus says 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, says the
Lord. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,
that the city shall be built for the Lord, from
the tower of Hananel to the corner gate. The
surveyor's line shall again extend straight forward
over the hill Gerb. Then it shall turn toward
Goath. and the whole valley of the dead bodies
and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as
the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse
gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord.
It shall not be plucked up or thrown down any
more forever. I hope you enjoyed today's reading
as much as I did, and I look forward to seeing
you again tomorrow to continue on our journey.
God bless you and have a great day.