25. I’ll refresh tired bodies;I’ll restore tired souls.
26. Just then I woke up and looked around—what a pleasant and satisfying sleep!
27-28. “Be ready. The time’s coming”—God’s Decree—“when I will plant people and animals in Israel and Judah, just as a farmer plants seed. And in the same way that earlier I relentlessly pulled up and tore down, took apart and demolished, so now I am sticking with them as they start over, building and planting.
29. “When that time comes you won’t hear the old proverb anymore,Parents ate the green apples,their children got the stomachache.
30. “No, each person will pay for his own sin. You eat green apples, you’re the one who gets sick.
31-32. “That’s right. The time is coming when I will make a brand-new covenant with Israel and Judah. It won’t be a repeat of the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant even though I did my part as their Master.” God’s Decree.
33-34. “This is the brand-new covenant that I will make with Israel when the time comes. I will put my law within them—write it on their hearts!—and be their God. And they will be my people. They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach each other about God. They’ll know me firsthand, the dull and the bright, the smart and the slow. I’ll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I’ll forget they ever sinned!” God’s Decree.
35. God’s Message, from the God who lights up the day with sun andbrightens the night with moon and stars,Who whips the ocean into a billowy froth,whose name is God-of-the-Angel-Armies:
36. “If this ordered cosmos ever fell to pieces,fell into chaos before me”—God’s Decree—“Then and only then might Israel fall apartand disappear as a nation before me.”
37. God’s Message:“If the skies could be measured with a yardstickand the earth explored to its core,Then and only then would I turn my back on Israel,disgusted with all they’ve done.” God’s Decree.