Jeremiah 29:14

³For, behold, the days come,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will reverse the captivity of my people Israel and Judah,’ says the LORD. ‘I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.’”

⁹You, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

¹You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, “You mountains of Israel, hear the LORD’s word. ²The Lord GOD says: ‘Because the enemy has said against you, “Aha!” and, “The ancient high places are ours in possession!”’ ³therefore prophesy, and say, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the residue of the nations, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people;” ⁴therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD: The Lord GOD says to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which have become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are all around; ⁵therefore the Lord GOD says: “Surely in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey.”’ ⁶Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and tell the mountains, the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have borne the shame of the nations.” ⁷Therefore the Lord GOD says: “I have sworn, ‘Surely the nations that are around you will bear their shame.’

⁸“‘“But you, mountains of Israel, you shall shoot out your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they are at hand to come. ⁹For, behold, I am for you, and I will come to you, and you will be tilled and sown. ¹⁰I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, even all of it. The cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be built. ¹¹I will multiply man and animal on you. They will increase and be fruitful. I will cause you to be inhabited as you were before, and you will do better than at your beginnings. Then you will know that I am the LORD. ¹²Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, even my people Israel. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance, and you will never again bereave them of their children.”

¹³“‘The Lord GOD says: “Because they say to you, ‘You are a devourer of men, and have been a bereaver of your nation;’ ¹⁴therefore you shall devour men no more, and not bereave your nation any more,” says the Lord GOD. ¹⁵“I won’t let you hear the shame of the nations any more. You won’t bear the reproach of the peoples any more, and you won’t cause your nation to stumble any more,” says the Lord GOD.’”

¹⁶Moreover the LORD’s word came to me, saying, ¹⁷“Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and by their deeds. Their way before me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. ¹⁸Therefore I poured out my wrath on them for the blood which they had poured out on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols. ¹⁹I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. I judged them according to their way and according to their deeds. ²⁰When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name, in that men said of them, ‘These are the LORD’s people, and have left his land.’ ²¹But I had respect for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.

²²“Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘The Lord GOD says: “I don’t do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. ²³I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,” says the Lord GOD, “when I am proven holy in you before their eyes.

²⁴“‘“For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. ²⁵I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will keep my ordinances and do them. ²⁸You will dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You will be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you. ³⁰I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field, that you may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations.

³¹“‘“Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. ³²I don’t do this for your sake,” says the Lord GOD. “Let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel.”

³³“‘The Lord GOD says: “In the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the waste places will be built. ³⁴The land that was desolate will be tilled instead of being a desolation in the sight of all who passed by. ³⁵They will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶Then the nations that are left around you will know that I, the LORD, have built the ruined places and planted that which was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken it, and I will do it.”

³⁷“‘The Lord GOD says: “For this, moreover, I will be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them: I will increase them with men like a flock. ³⁸As the flock for sacrifice, as the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed feasts, so the waste cities will be filled with flocks of men. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”

¹²But they don’t know the thoughts of the LORD, neither do they understand his counsel; for he has gathered them like the sheaves to the threshing floor.

²⁰Isaiah is very bold and says, “I was found by those who didn’t seek me. I was revealed to those who didn’t ask for me.”

⁴“In those days, and in that time,” says the LORD, “the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will go on their way weeping, and will seek the LORD their God. ⁵They will inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, and join yourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.’

¹²They entered into the covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul; ¹³and that whoever would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. ¹⁴They swore to the LORD with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with cornets. ¹⁵All Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found by them. Then the LORD gave them rest all around.

³⁷“Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven them in my anger, and in my wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them again to this place. I will cause them to dwell safely. ³⁸Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their good and the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good. I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me. ⁴¹Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.”

⁴²For the LORD says: “Just as I have brought all this great evil on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. ⁴³Fields will be bought in this land, about which you say, ‘It is desolate, without man or animal. It is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ⁴⁴Men will buy fields for money, sign the deeds, seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South; for I will cause their captivity to be reversed,” says the LORD.

³that then the LORD your God will release you from captivity, have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.

³“I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they will be fruitful and multiply. ⁴I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, neither will any be lacking,” says the LORD. ⁵“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that I will raise to David a righteous Branch; and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. This is his name by which he will be called: The LORD our righteousness.

⁷“Therefore, behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that they will no more say, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;’ ⁸but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up and who led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will dwell in their own land.”