33 While Jeremiah was still in jail, the Lord sent him this second message:
2 The Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth—Jehovah is his name—says this: 3 Ask me and I will tell you some remarkable secrets about what is going to happen here. 4 For though you have torn down the houses of this city, and the king’s palace too, for materials to strengthen the walls against the siege weapons of the enemy, 5 yet the Babylonians will enter, and the men of this city are already as good as dead, for I have determined to destroy them in my furious anger. I have abandoned them because of all their wickedness, and I will not pity them when they cry for help.
6 Nevertheless the time will come when I will heal Jerusalem’s damage and give her prosperity and peace. 7 I will rebuild the cities of both Judah and Israel and restore their fortunes. 8 And I will cleanse away all their sins against me and pardon them. 9 Then this city will be an honor to me, and it will give me joy and be a source of praise and glory to me before all the nations of the earth! The people of the world will see the good I do for my people and will tremble with awe!
10-11 The Lord declares that the happy voices of bridegrooms and of brides and the joyous song of those bringing thanksgiving offerings to the Lord will be heard again in this doomed land. The people will sing: “Praise the Lord! For he is good and his mercy endures forever!” For I will make this land happier and more prosperous than it has ever been before. 12 This land—though every man and animal and city is doomed—will once more see shepherds leading sheep and lambs. 13 Once again their flocks will prosper in the mountain villages and in the cities east of the Philistine Plain, in all the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, in the vicinity of Jerusalem, and in all the cities of Judah. 14 Yes, the day will come, says the Lord, when I will do for Israel and Judah all the good I promised them.
15 At that time I will bring to the throne the true Son of David,[a] and he shall rule justly. 16 In that day the people of Judah and Jerusalem shall live in safety and their motto will be, “The Lord is our righteousness!” 17 For the Lord declares that from then on, David shall forever have an heir sitting on the throne of Israel. 18 And there shall always be Levites to offer burnt offerings and meal offerings and sacrifices to the Lord.
19 Then this message came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 20-21 If you can break my covenant with the day and with the night so that day and night don’t come on their usual schedule, only then will my covenant with David, my servant, be broken so that he shall not have a son to reign upon his throne; and my covenant with the Levite priests, my ministers, is noncancelable. 22 And as the stars cannot be counted nor the sand upon the seashores measured, so the descendants of David my servant and the line of the Levites who minister to me will be multiplied.
23 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah again and said: 24 Have you heard what people are saying?—that the Lord chose Judah and Israel and then abandoned them! They are sneering and saying that Israel isn’t worthy to be counted as a nation. 25-26 But this is the Lord’s reply: I would no more reject my people than I would change my laws of night and day, of earth and sky. I will never abandon the Jews, or David my servant, or change the plan that his child will someday rule these descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead I will restore their prosperity and have mercy on them.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 33:15 the true Son of David, or “the true vine from the roots of David.” Christ was the true vine, the only true expression of David, the man after God’s own heart.