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Jeremiah was still being held as a prisoner. He was kept in the courtyard of the guard. Then another message from the Lord came to him. The Lord said, 2 ‘I made the earth. I formed it. And I set it in place. The Lord is my name. 3 Call out to me. I will answer you. I will tell you great things you do not know. And unless I do, you wouldn't be able to find out about them.’ 4 The Lord is the God of Israel. He speaks about the houses in Jerusalem. He talks about the royal palaces of Judah. The people had torn down many of them. They had used their stones to strengthen the city walls against attack. 5 That was during their fight with the armies of Babylon. The Lord says, ‘The houses will be filled with dead bodies. They will be the bodies of the people I will kill. I will kill them when I am very angry with them. I will hide my face from this city. That's because its people have committed so many sins. 6 ‘But now I will bring health and healing to Jerusalem. I will heal my people. I will let them enjoy great peace and security. 7 I will bring Judah and Israel back from the places where they have been taken. I will build up the nation again. It will be just as it was before. 8 I will wash from its people all the sins they have committed against me. And I will forgive all the sins they committed when they turned away from me. 9 Then this city will bring me fame, joy, praise and honour. All the nations on earth will hear about the good things I do for this city. They will see the great success and peace I give it. Then they will be filled with wonder. And they will tremble with fear.’
10 The Lord says, ‘You say about this place, “It's a dry and empty desert. It doesn't have any people or animals in it.” The towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem are now deserted. So they do not have any people or animals living in them. But happy sounds will be heard there once more. 11 They will be the sounds of joy and gladness. The voices of brides and grooms will fill the streets. And the voices of those who bring thank-offerings to my house will be heard there. They will say,
‘ “Give thanks to the Lord who rules over all,
because he is good.
His faithful love continues for ever.”
That's because I will bless this land with great success again. It will be as it was before,’ says the Lord.
12 The Lord who rules over all says, ‘This place is a desert. It does not have any people or animals in it. But there will again be grasslands near all its towns. Shepherds will rest their flocks there. 13 Flocks will again pass under the hands of shepherds as they count their sheep,’ says the Lord. ‘That will be done in the towns of the central hill country. It will be done in the western hills and the Negev Desert. It will be done in the territory of Benjamin. And it will be done in the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah.
14 ‘The days are coming,’ announces the Lord. ‘At that time I will fulfil my good promise to my people. I made it to the people of Israel and Judah.
15 ‘Here is what I will do in those days and at that time.
I will make a godly Branch grow from David's royal line.
He will do what is fair and right in the land.
16 In those days Judah will be saved.
Jerusalem will live in safety.
And it will be called
The Lord Who Makes Us Right With Himself.’
17 The Lord says, ‘David will always have a son to sit on the throne of Israel. 18 The priests, who are Levites, will always have a man to serve me. He will sacrifice burnt offerings. He will burn grain offerings. And he will offer sacrifices.’
19 A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. 20 The Lord said, ‘Could you ever break my covenant with the day? Could you ever break my covenant with the night? Could you ever stop day and night from coming at their appointed times? 21 Only then could my covenant with my servant David be broken. Only then could my covenant with the Levites who serve me as priests be broken. Only then would David no longer have someone from his family line to rule on his throne. 22 Here is what I will do for my servant David. And here is what I will do for the Levites who serve me. I will make their children after them as many as the stars in the sky. And I will make them as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. It will be impossible to count them.’
23 A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. The Lord said, 24 ‘Haven't you noticed what these people are saying? They say, “The Lord once chose the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. But now he has turned his back on them.” So they hate my people. They do not think of them as a nation anymore. 25 I say, “What if I had not made my covenant with day and night? What if I had not established the laws of heaven and earth? 26 Only then would I turn my back on the children of Jacob and my servant David. Only then would I not choose one of David's sons to rule over the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I will bless my people with great success again. I will love them with tender love.” ’
30:1–33:26 The messages of hope in these chapters are about God blessing his people. That would happen after the time of judgement was over. Jacob's family line would be brought back to their land. They would live faithful to God as his people. He would be the only God they worshipped and served. This would allow them to enjoy the covenant blessings. God would give them peace, rest, safety and security. God would heal them and give them health and success. He would freely share with them his tender and faithful love. Their king would be the Branch from David's family line. This king would do what was fair and right. The people would worship God in the ways that he had taught them. The priests and Levites would make sure of this. God had described how his people's sin was carved on the tablet of their hearts. He had said this in a judgement message recorded in Jeremiah 17:1. In these messages of hope he said something else would be written on their hearts. God promised to write his law on their hearts. This was how God would make a new covenant with his people. The law of the Mount Sinai covenant had been written on stone tablets. Having God's law written on their hearts was a way of describing something. It meant that God's people would truly know who God is. Knowing God would make them able to understand clearly what sin and evil were. Then they would make the choice to say no to evil and yes to God. They would worship, serve and obey him. This is what God had always wanted for human beings. Sin and evil would remain a problem for God's people. But they would trust God to take care of this problem. God would take care of it by forgiving their sins and their evil ways. Unlike the judgement messages, these messages of hope were pleasant for Jeremiah. He bought a piece of land as a sign. It was a sign that God's people would buy and sell land again in the future. It was a sign that God's promises in the messages of hope would come true. Jews recognised that some of the promises came true after the exile. They came to understand that some of the promises would come true in the future. That would happen when the messiah came. New Testament writers showed that Jesus put the new covenant into effect. Jesus made it possible for people to be freed from the power of sin and evil.