16. Thus hath the Lord said; 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. There is also hope for thine end, saith the Lord, and the sons shall come again to their own border.
18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast afflicted me, and I was chastised as an indomitable bullock: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God.
19. Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, and even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.
20. Peradventure is Ephraim a precious son unto me? Peradventure is he unto me a delightful child? With all this since I spoke of him, I have remembered him constantly. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him; in tenderness I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.
21. Establish signs, make thee high markers; consider the highway with great care, even the way which thou didst come; return, O virgin of Israel, return unto these thy cities.
22. How long wilt thou wander, O thou backsliding daughter? for the Lord will bring forth a new thing upon the earth, A woman shall compass the man.
23. Thus hath the Lord of the hosts the God of Israel said; Even yet shall they speak this word in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof when I shall turn their captivity: The Lord bless thee, O habitation of justice and mountain of holiness.
24. And Judah shall dwell in her, and also in all her cities, husbandmen, and those that go forth with flocks.
25. For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have filled every sorrowful soul.
26. Upon this I awoke, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.
27. Behold, the days come, said 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, said the Lord.
29. In those days they shall no longer say, The fathers have eaten the sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
30. But each one shall die for his own iniquity; every man that eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
31. Behold, the days come, said the Lord, in which I will make a new covenant with the house of Jacob 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 because they invalidated my covenant although I was a husband unto them, said the Lord;
33. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, said the Lord, I will give my law in their souls and write it in their hearts and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34. And they shall no longer teach 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, said the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
35. Thus hath the Lord said, who gives the sun for light by day, and the laws of the moon and of the stars for light by night, who divides the sea and the waves thereof roar; The Lord of the hosts is his name;