32. “The people of Israel and Judah have made me furious because they are evil. The people, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, and the Judeans and those who live in Jerusalem
33. have turned their backs, not their faces to me. I taught them again and again, but they refused to listen and learn.
34. They set up their detestable idols in the temple that is called by my name, and they dishonored it.
35. In the valley of Ben Hinnom they built worship sites for Baal to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I didn’t ask them to do this. It never entered my mind. I didn’t make Judah sin.
36. “You have said this about the city, ‘Because of wars, famines, and plagues it will be handed over to the king of Babylon.’ Now this is what the Lord God of Israel says:
37. I am going to gather the people from all the lands where I scattered them in my anger, fury, and terrifying wrath. I will bring them back to this place and make them live here securely.
38. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
39. I will give them the same attitude and the same purpose so that they will fear me as long as they live. This will be for their own good and for the good of their children.
40. I will make an eternal promise to them that I will never stop blessing them. I will make them fear me so that they will never turn away from me.
41. I will enjoy blessing them. With all my heart and soul I will faithfully plant them in this land.
42. “This is what the Lord says: As I brought all these disasters on these people, so I will bring on them all these blessings that I have promised them.
43. You have said that this land is a wasteland, without people or animals living in it. You have also said that it has been handed over to the Babylonians. But people will once again buy fields in this land.
44. They will buy fields for money, sign deeds, seal them, and have people witness the signing of the deeds. This will happen in the territory of Benjamin, in the region of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities on the mountains, in the hill country, and in the Negev because I will bring them back from their captivity,” declares the Lord.