Jeremiah 33:1-14

1The Lord spoke to Jeremiah a second time while he was in prison in the yard of the palace.

2He said, ‘I am the Lord who made the earth. I gave a shape to it and I put it in its place. The Lord is my name. I say this to you:

3“Call out to me and I will answer you. I will tell you about great things. They are secret things that you do not yet know.”

4The Lord, Israel's God, has a message about the houses in this city and about the royal palaces of Judah's kings. The people have knocked down the city's buildings. They have used the stones to make the city's walls stronger,

5to fight against Babylon's army. The Lord says, “The city's houses will be full of dead bodies. I am very angry with the people in the city and I will kill them. I will refuse to help this city because of the wicked things that its people have done.

6But listen to me! I will bring health again to the people of this city. I will make my people well again. They will live safely in peace.

7I will bring back the people of Judah and Israel from foreign lands. I will make them a strong nation, as they were before.

8They have done bad things and they have turned against me. But I will forgive all their sins that they have done against me.

9Then this city will cause the people of all the nations on the earth to give me honour. They will praise me and make me happy. They will hear about all the good things that I am doing for Jerusalem. They will see that I have caused its people to have health and peace. Because of that, they will respect me and they will shake with fear.”

10The Lord says, “You say that this place is like a desert, and no people or animals live here. But I tell you that people will return to live here. You will hear the voices of people in the streets of Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah that are now empty.

11You will hear the sounds of happy people. You will hear the songs of men and women at their weddings. You will hear the voices of people as they bring gifts to the Lord's temple to thank him. They will say, ‘We thank the Lord Almighty, because he is good. His faithful love continues for ever.’ Yes, I will make the land successful again, as it was before.” That is what the Lord says.

12The Lord Almighty says, “This place will become a heap of stones. No people or animals will live here. But I will put fields of grass around the towns again. There will be places for shepherds to rest with their sheep.

13Shepherds will count their sheep again, one by one. They will do that in the towns of the hill country, in the low hills in the west and in the Negev region in the south. They will do it in the land that belongs to Benjamin's tribe, in the villages around Jerusalem and in all the towns of Judah.” That is what the Lord says.

14The Lord also says, “A time will soon come when I do good things for the nations of Israel and Judah. I will do what I have promised to do for them.