Mourning Turned to Joy
(Matthew 2:16–18)

1“At that time,” a declaration of YHWH, “I will be God for all the families of Israel, and they will be unto Me for a people.

2Thus says YHWH:

“The people surviving the sword

found grace in the wilderness

when Israel went to find rest.”

3YHWH has appeared to me from afar:

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;

upon thus I have drawn you with loving devotion.

4Again I will build you, and you will be rebuilt,

O virgin Israel!

Again you will put on your tambourines,

and you will go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.

5Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria;

planters will plant, and they will eat freely.

6For there will be a day

when those keeping watch on Mount Ephraim call out:

‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,

to YHWH our God.’”

7For thus says YHWH:

“Sing with gladness for Jacob,

and shout for the chief of the nations;

make it heard, give praise and say,

‘Save, O YHWH, Your people,

the remnant of Israel!’

8Behold, I am bringing them from the north country,

and I will gather them from the ends of the earth—

among them the blind and the lame,

the one pregnant and the one giving birth together;

a great assembly will return here.

9They will come with weeping,

and with supplications I will lead them;

I will cause them to walk to the rivers of waters by a way that is straight;

they will not stumble in it.

For I am unto Israel for a Father,

and Ephraim he is My firstborn.”

10Hear the word of YHWH, O nations,

and declare it in the isles afar off,

and say: “The One having scattered Israel will gather him

and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.

11For YHWH has redeemed Jacob,

and He has ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he.

12And they will come and sing on the height of Zion,

and they will beam to the goodness of YHWH,

over wheat, and over new wine, and over oil,

and over the young of the flock and herd;

and their souls will be well-watered like a garden,

and they will add to languish no more.

13Then the virgin will rejoice with dancing,

and the young men and the old together;

and I will turn their mourning to joy,

and I will comfort them and make them rejoice rather than sorrow.

14And I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance,

and My people will be satisfied with My goodness,”

a declaration of YHWH.

15Thus says YHWH:

“A voice is heard in Ramah,

wailing and weeping of bitterness—

Rachel weeping for her children,

and refusing to be comforted over her children,

because they are no more.Ӡ

16Thus says YHWH:

“Restrain your voice from weeping,

and your eyes from tears;

for there will be reward for your work,

a declaration of YHWH,

and they will return

from the land of the enemy.

17And there is hope for your future,

a declaration of YHWH,

and your children will return

to their own border.

18I have surely heard Ephraim† bemoaning himself:

‘You disciplined me,

and I was disciplined as an untrained heifer;

turn me back and I will return,

for You are YHWH my God.

19For after my turning back, I repented;

and after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh;

I was ashamed and also humiliated,

because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

20Is Ephraim My dear son,

or a child of delights?

For though I spoke against him,

I thoroughly remember him still.

Upon thus My bowels yearn for him,

I have great compassion for him,”

a declaration of YHWH.

21“Set up for yourself signposts,

make for yourself landmarks;

set your heart toward the highway,

the way you have traveled.

Turn back, O virgin Israel,

turn back to these cities of yours.

22How long will you waver,

O backsliding daughter?

For YHWH has created a new thing in the earth:

A woman will encompass† a man.”

23Thus says YHWH of Hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they will speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I turn back their captivity:† ‘YHWH bless you, O abode of righteousness, mountain of holiness! 24And there will dwell in Judah, in it and in all its cities together, the farmers and those setting out with their flock. 25For I will satisfy the weary soul and fill every sorrowful soul.

The New Covenant
(Hebrews 8:6–13)

26After this I awoke and looked around, and my sleep was pleasant to me.

27“Behold, the days are coming,” a declaration of YHWH, “When I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. 28And it will come to pass, as I have watched over them, to pluck up and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to bring harm; so I will watch over them to build and to plant, a declaration of YHWH.

29“In those days they will say no more,

‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,

and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’

30But instead, each man will die by his iniquity; for every man eating the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.

31Behold, the days are coming, a declaration of YHWH,

that I will make a new covenant

with the house of Israel

and with the house of Judah—

32not according to the covenant

that I made with their fathers

in the day I took them by the hand

to bring them out of the land of Egypt,

in that they broke My covenant,

and I was a husband to them,†

a declaration of YHWH.

33“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel,

after those days, a declaration of YHWH:

I will give My law in their inward parts,

and I will write it upon their hearts;

and I will be their God,

and they will be My people.

34And they will teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother,

saying, ‘Know YHWH;

for all of them will know Me,

from the least of them and to the greatest of them, a declaration of YHWH.

For I will forgive their iniquity,

and I will remember their sin no more.†”

35Thus says YHWH, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea when its waves roar—YHWH of Hosts is His name:

36“If these ordinances depart from before Me,

a declaration of YHWH,

even the seed of Israel will cease from being a nation

before Me all the days.”

37Thus says YHWH:

“If the heavens above could be measured,

and the foundations of the earth below searched out,

also I will cast off all the seed of Israel

for all that they have done,”

a declaration of YHWH.

38“Behold,” the days,† declares YHWH, “That the city will be built for YHWH, from the Tower of Hananel to the Gate of the Corner. 39And the measuring line will go again straight over the hill Gareb, and then turn toward Goah. 40And all the valley of the carcasses and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Valley of Kidron to the corner of the Gate of the Horse toward the east, are holy unto YHWH; it will not be plucked up and not thrown down anymore forever.