20. Is not Ephraim my dear son,the child in whom I delight?Though I often speak against him,I still remember him.Therefore my heart yearns for him;I have great compassion for him,’declares the Lord.
21. ‘Set up road signs;put up guideposts.Take note of the highway,the road that you take.Return, Virgin Israel,return to your towns.
22. How long will you wander,unfaithful Daughter Israel?The Lord will create a new thing on earth –the woman will return to the man.’
23. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘When I bring them back from captivity, the people in the land of Judah and in its towns will once again use these words: “The Lord bless you, you prosperous city, you sacred mountain.”
24. People will live together in Judah and all its towns – farmers and those who move about with their flocks.
25. I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.’
26. At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me.
27. ‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will plant the kingdoms of Israel and Judah with the offspring of people and of animals.
28. Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,’ declares the Lord.
29. ‘In those days people will no longer say,“The parents have eaten sour grapes,and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”
30. Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes – their own teeth will be set on edge.
31. ‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord,‘when I will make a new covenantwith the people of Israeland with the people of Judah.
32. It will not be like the covenantI made with their ancestorswhen I took them by the handto lead them out of Egypt,because they broke my covenant,though I was a husband to them,’declares the Lord.