1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still shut up in the place of the armed watchmen, saying,

2 These are the words of the Lord, who is doing it, the Lord who is forming it, to make it certain; the Lord is his name;

3 Let your cry come to me, and I will give you an answer, and let you see great things and secret things of which you had no knowledge.

4 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said about the houses of this town and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been broken down to make earthworks and ...;

5 ... and to make them full of the dead bodies of men whom I have put to death in my wrath and in my passion, and because of whose evil-doing I have kept my face covered from this town.

6 See, I will make it healthy and well again, I will even make them well; I will let them see peace and good faith in full measure.

7 And I will let the fate of Judah and of Israel be changed, building them up as at first.

8 And I will make them clean from all their sin, with which they have been sinning against me; I will have forgiveness for all their sins, with which they have been sinning against me, and with which they have done evil against me.

9 And this town will be to me for a name of joy, for a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth, who, hearing of all the good which I am doing for them, will be shaking with fear because of all the good and the peace which I am doing for it.

10 This is what the Lord has said: There will again be sounding in this place, of which you say, It is a waste, without man and without beast; even in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem which are waste and unpeopled, without man and without beast,

11 Happy sounds, the voice of joy, the voice of the newly-married man and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who say, Give praise to the Lord of armies, for the Lord is good, for his mercy is unchanging for ever: the voices of those who go with praise into the house of the Lord. For I will let the land come back to its first condition, says the Lord.

12 This is what the Lord of armies has said: Again there will be in this place, which is a waste, without man and without beast, and in all its towns, a resting-place where the keepers of sheep will make their flocks take rest.

13 In the towns of the hill-country, in the towns of the lowland, and in the towns of the South and in the land of Benjamin and in the country round Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, the flocks will again go under the hand of him who is numbering them, says the Lord.

14 See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will give effect to the good word which I have said about the people of Israel and the people of Judah.

15 In those days and at that time, I will let a Branch of righteousness come up for David; and he will be a judge in righteousness in the land.

16 In those days, Judah will have salvation and Jerusalem will be safe: and this is the name which will be given to her: The Lord is our righteousness.

17 For the Lord has said, David will never be without a man to take his place on the seat of the kingdom of Israel;

18 And the priests and the Levites will never be without a man to come before me, offering burned offerings and perfumes and meal offerings and offerings of beasts at all times.

19 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,

20 The Lord has said: If it is possible for my agreement of the day and the night to be broken, so that day and night no longer come at their fixed times,

21 Then my agreement with my servant David may be broken, so that he no longer has a son to take his place on the seat of the kingdom; and my agreement with the Levites, the priests, my servants.

22 As it is not possible for the army of heaven to be numbered, or the sand of the sea measured, so will I make the seed of my servant David, and the Levites my servants.

23 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,

24 Have you taken note of what these people have said, The two families, which the Lord took for himself, he has given up? This they say, looking down on my people as being, in their eyes, no longer a nation.

25 The Lord has said, If I have not made day and night, and if the limits of heaven and earth have not been fixed by me,

26 Then I will give up caring for the seed of Jacob and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will let their fate be changed and will have mercy on them.