1 Naquele tempo - oráculo do Senhor - serei o Deus de todas as tribos de Israel, e elas constituirão o meu povo.
2 Eis o que diz o Senhor: foi concedida graça no deserto ao povo que o gládio poupara. Dentro em pouco Israel gozará de repouso.
3 De longe me aparecia o Senhor: amo-te com eterno amor, e por isso a ti estendi o meu favor.
4 Reconstruir-te-ei, e serás restaurada, ó virgem de Israel! Virás, ornada de tamborins, participar de alegres danças.
5 E ainda plantarás vinhas nas colinas de Samaria. E delas colherão frutos os plantadores,
6 pois dia virá em que os veladores gritarão nos montes de Efraim: Erguei-vos! Subamos a Sião, ao Senhor, nosso Deus!
7 Porque isto diz o Senhor: Lançai gritos de júbilo por causa de Jacó. Aclamai a primeira das nações. E fazei retumbar vossos louvores, exclamando: O Senhor salvou o seu povo, o resto de Israel.
8 Eis que os trago da terra do norte, e os reúno dos confins da terra. O cego e o coxo estarão entre eles, e também a mulher grávida e a que deu à luz. Será imensa a multidão que há de voltar,
9 e que voltará em lágrimas. Conduzi-la-ei em meio às suas preces; levá-la-ei à beira de águas correntes, por caminhos em que não tropeçarão, porque sou para com Israel qual um pai, e Efraim é o meu primogênito.
10 Nações, escutai a palavra do Senhor; levai a notícia às ilhas longínquas e dizei: Aquele que dispersou Israel o reunirá, e o guardará, qual pastor o seu rebanho.
11 Porquanto o Senhor resgata Jacó e o liberta das mãos do seu dominador.
12 Regressarão entre gritos de alegria às alturas de Sião, acorrendo aos bens do Senhor: ao trigo, ao mosto e ao óleo, ao gado menor e ao maior. Sua alma se assemelha a jardim bem regado, e sua fraqueza cessará.
13 Então a jovem executará danças alegres; jovens e velhos partilharão {o júbilo} comum. Transformar-lhes-ei o luto em regozijo, e os consolarei após o sofrimento e os alegrarei.
14 Cumularei os sacerdotes de abundantes vítimas gordas, e meu povo fartar-se-á de meus bens - oráculo do Senhor.
15 Eis o que diz o Senhor: ouve-se em Ramá uma voz, lamentos e amargos soluços. É Raquel que chora os filhos, recusando ser consolada, porque já não existem.
16 Eis o que diz o Senhor: Cessa de gemer, enxuga tuas lágrimas! Tuas penas terão a recompensa - oráculo do Senhor. Voltarão {teus filhos} da terra inimiga.
17 Desponta em teu futuro a esperança - oráculo do Senhor. Teus filhos voltarão à sua terra.
18 Sim, ouço os gemidos de Efraim: Vós me castigastes; fui punido, qual novilho insubmisso. Convertei-me, porém, e que eu volte, já que sois vós o Senhor, meu Deus.
19 Após haver errado, arrependi-me, e ao compreender feri-me a coxa. Sinto-me envergonhado e confundido, porque trago o opróbrio de minha juventude.
20 Não é, porém, Efraim, filho querido, eternamente amado por mim? Todas as vezes que falo contra ele, mais viva se torna em mim a sua lembrança. E meu coração se comove ao pensar nele. Terei compaixão dele - oráculo do Senhor.
21 Ergue sinais, coloca postes indicadores, olha bem o caminho, a senda que percorres. Volta, virgem de Israel, volta para tuas cidades.
22 Até quando andarás vagando, filha rebelde? Eis que o Senhor criou uma coisa nova sobre a terra: É a esposa que cerca {de cuidados} o esposo.
23 Eis o que diz o Senhor dos exércitos, Deus de Israel: Quando eu lhes houver mudado a sorte à terra de Judá e às suas cidades, proferirão de novo este desejo: Que o Senhor te abençoe mansão de salvação, montanha santa!
24 E nesses lugares, em Judá e suas cidades, juntos habitarão operários e pastores,
25 porque saciarei a alma fatigada e à que enlanguesce matarei a fome.
26 Despertei, então, e senti quão doce me havia sido o sonho.
27 Dias virão - oráculo do Senhor - em que disseminarei sementeiras pelas casas de Israel e de Judá, das quais nascerão homens e animais.
28 Da mesma forma que por eles velei a fim de prejudicá-los, assim velarei para construir e plantar - oráculo do Senhor.
29 Então, não se dirá mais: Os pais comeram uvas verdes, e prejudicados ficaram os dentes dos filhos,
30 mas cada qual morrerá em razão do próprio pecado e, se alguém comer uvas verdes, serão atingidos os próprios dentes.
31 Dias hão de vir - oráculo do Senhor - em que firmarei nova aliança com as casas de Israel e de Judá.
32 Será diferente da que concluí com seus pais no dia em que pela mão os tomei para tirá-los do Egito, aliança que violaram embora eu fosse o esposo deles.
33 Eis a aliança que, então, farei com a casa de Israel - oráculo do Senhor: Incutir-lhe-ei a minha lei; gravá-la-ei em seu coração. Serei o seu Deus e Israel será o meu povo.
34 Então, ninguém terá encargo de instruir seu próximo ou irmão, dizendo: Aprende a conhecer o Senhor, porque todos me conhecerão, grandes e pequenos - oráculo do Senhor -, pois a todos perdoarei as faltas, sem guardar nenhuma lembrança de seus pecados.
35 Eis o que diz o Senhor, que mandou o sol iluminar o dia, ordenou à lua e às estrelas clarearem a noite; que ergue as ondas encapeladas do mar e cujo nome é Javé dos exércitos:
36 Se algum dia cessassem essas leis perante mim - oráculo do Senhor, {somente} então cessaria a raça de Israel, de ser uma nação ante meus olhos, para sempre.
37 Eis o que diz o Senhor: se algum dia os fundamentos da terra puderem ser sondados, somente então poderia eu abandonar a raça de Israel.
38 Dias virão - oráculo do Senhor - em que a cidade será reconstruída pelo Senhor, desde a torre de Hananeel até a porta do Ângulo.
39 Será o cordel estendido para medir até a colina de Gareb, e voltará para Goa.
40 Todo o vale cheio de cadáveres e cinza, e todos os campos até a torrente de Cedron e o ângulo da porta dos Cavalos, a leste, serão bens consagrados ao Senhor. Jamais serão eles devastados, nem destruídos.
1 At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.
2 The Lord has said, Grace came in the waste land to a people kept safe from the sword, even to Israel on the way to his resting-place.
3 From far away he saw the Lord: my love for you is an eternal love: so with mercy I have made you come with me.
4 I will again make new your buildings, O virgin of Israel, and you will take up your place: again you will take up your instruments of music, and go out in the dances of those who are glad.
5 Again will your vine-gardens be planted on the hill of Samaria: the planters will be planting and using the fruit.
6 For there will be a day when those who get in the grapes on the hills of Ephraim will be crying, Up! let us go up to Zion to the Lord our God.
7 For the Lord has said, Make a glad song for Jacob and give a cry on the top of the mountains: give the news, give praise, and say, The Lord has given salvation to his people, even to the rest of Israel.
8 See, I will take them from the north country, and get them from the inmost parts of the earth, and with them the blind and the feeble-footed, the woman with child and her who is in birth-pains together: a very great army, they will come back here.
9 They will come with weeping, and going before them I will be their guide: guiding them by streams of water in a straight way where there is no falling: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is the first of my sons.
10 Give ear to the word of the Lord, O you nations, and give news of it in the sea-lands far away, and say, He who has sent Israel wandering will get him together and will keep him as a keeper does his flock.
11 For the Lord has given a price for Jacob, and made him free from the hands of him who was stronger than he.
12 So they will come with songs on the high places, flowing together to the good things of the Lord, to the grain and the wine and the oil, to the young ones of the flock and of the herd: their souls will be like a watered garden, and they will have no more sorrow.
13 Then the virgin will have joy in the dance, and the young men and the old will be glad: for I will have their weeping turned into joy, I will give them comfort and make them glad after their sorrow.
14 I will give the priests their desired fat things, and my people will have a full measure of my good things, says the Lord.
15 So has the Lord said: In Ramah there is a sound of crying, weeping and bitter sorrow; Rachel weeping for her children; she will not be comforted for their loss.
16 The Lord has said this: Keep your voice from sorrow and your eyes from weeping: for your work will be rewarded, says the Lord; and they will come back from the land of their hater.
17 And there is hope for the future, says the Lord; and your children will come back to the land which is theirs.
18 Certainly Ephraim's words of grief have come to my ears, You have given me training and I have undergone it like a young cow unused to the yoke: let me be turned and come back, for you are the Lord my God.
19 Truly, after I had been turned, I had regret for my ways; and after I had got knowledge, I made signs of sorrow: I was put to shame, truly, I was covered with shame, because I had to undergo the shame of my early years.
20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he the child of my delight? for whenever I say things against him, I still keep him in my memory: so my heart is troubled for him; I will certainly have mercy on him, says the Lord.
21 Put up guiding pillars, make road signs for yourself: give attention to the highway, even the way in which you went: be turned again, O virgin of Israel, be turned to these your towns.
22 How long will you go on turning this way and that, O wandering daughter? for the Lord has made a new thing on the earth, a woman changed into a man.
23 So the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, Again will these words be used in the land of Judah and in its towns, when I have let their fate be changed: May the blessing of the Lord be on you, O resting-place of righteousness, O holy mountain.
24 And Judah and all its towns will be living there together; the farmers and those who go about with flocks.
25 For I have given new strength to the tired soul and to every sorrowing soul in full measure.
26 At this, awaking from my sleep, I saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.
27 See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will have Israel and Judah planted with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.
28 And it will come about that, as I have been watching over them for the purpose of uprooting and smashing down and overturning and sending destruction and causing trouble; so I will be watching over them for the purpose of building up and planting, says the Lord.
29 In those days they will no longer say, The fathers have been tasting bitter grapes and the children's teeth are put on edge.
30 But everyone will be put to death for the evil which he himself has done: whoever has taken bitter grapes will himself have his teeth put on edge.
31 See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah:
32 Not like the agreement which I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to be their guide out of the land of Egypt; which agreement was broken by them, and I gave them up, says the Lord.
33 But this is the agreement which I will make with the people of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my law in their inner parts, writing it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 And no longer will they be teaching every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, Get knowledge of the Lord: for they will all have knowledge of me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord: for they will have my forgiveness for their evil-doing, and their sin will go from my memory for ever.
35 These are the words of the Lord, who has given the sun for a light by day, ordering the moon and stars for a light by night, who puts the sea in motion, causing the thunder of its waves; the Lord of armies is his name.
36 If the order of these things before me is ever broken, says the Lord, then will the seed of Israel come to an end as a nation before me for ever.
37 This is what the Lord has said: If the heavens on high may be measured, and the bases of the earth searched out, then I will give up the seed of Israel, because of all they have done, says the Lord.
38 See, the days are coming, says the Lord, for the building of the Lord's town, from the tower of Hananel to the doorway of the angle.
39 And the measuring-line will go out in front of it as far as the hill Gareb, going round to Goah.
40 And all the valley of the dead bodies, and all the field of death as far as the stream Kidron, up to the angle of the horses' doorway to the east, will be holy to the Lord; it will not again be uprooted or overturned for ever.