የመመለስ ተስፋ
1ኤርምያስ በዘብ ጠባቂዎች አደባባይ በግዞት ሳለ፣ የእግዚአብሔር ቃል እንዲህ ሲል ዳግመኛ ወደ እርሱ መጣ፤ 2“ምድርን የፈጠራት፣ ያበጃትና የመሠረታት እግዚአብሔር፣ ስሙ እግዚአብሔር የሆነ፣ እርሱ እንዲህ ይላል፤ 3‘ወደ እኔ ጩኽ፤ እኔም እመልስልሃለሁ፤ አንተም የማታውቀውን ታላቅና የማይመረመር ነገር እገልጥልሃለሁ።’ 4የእስራኤል አምላክ እግዚአብሔር ከባቢሎናውያን33፥4 ወይም ከለዳውያን ጋር ባለው ውጊያ፣ ዐፈር በመደልደልና በሰይፍ የሚደረገውን ጥቃት ለመከላከል ስለ ፈረሱት ስለዚህች ከተማ ቤቶችና ስለ ይሁዳ ነገሥታት ቤተ መንግሥት እንዲህ ይላል፤ 5‘እነዚህ በቍጣዬና በመዓቴ በምገድላቸው ሰዎች ሬሳ ይሞላሉ፤ ስለ ክፋቷ ሁሉ ከዚህች ከተማ ፊቴን እሰውራለሁ።
6“ ‘ይሁን እንጂ፣ ፈውስንና ጤንነትን እንደ ገና እሰጣታለሁ፤ ሕዝቤንም እፈውሳለሁ፤ በብዙ ሰላምና በርጋታ እንዲኖሩ አደርጋለሁ። 7የይሁዳን ምርኮና የእስራኤልን ምርኮ እመልሳለሁ፤33፥7 ወይም ይሁዳንና እስራኤልን ከምርኮ እመልሳለሁ ቀድሞ እንደ ነበሩት ሁኔታ አድርጌ አበጃቸዋለሁ፤ 8እኔን ከበደሉበት ኀጢአት ሁሉ አነጻቸዋለሁ፤ በእኔ ላይ ያመፁበትንም ኀጢአታቸውን ሁሉ ይቅር እላለሁ። 9ይህች ከተማ፣ ለእርሷ ያደረግሁትን በጎ ነገር ሁሉ በሚሰሙት የምድር ሕዝቦች ሁሉ ፊት ለዝና፣ ለደስታ፣ ለምስጋናና ለክብር ትሆናለች፤ ከምሰጣትም የተትረፈረፈ ብልጽግናና ሰላም የተነሣ ይፈራሉ፤ ይንቀጠቀጣሉም።’
10“እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ ‘ይህችን ስፍራ፣ “ሰውና እንስሳት የማይኖሩባት ባድማ ናት” ትላላችሁ፤ ነገር ግን ሰውም ሆነ እንስሳ ባልነበሩባቸውና ባድማ በሆኑት በይሁዳ ከተሞችና በኢየሩሳሌም መንገዶች፣ እንደ ገና ድምፅ ይሰማል፤ 11የሐሤትና የደስታ ድምፅ፣ የሙሽራውና የሙሽራዪቱ ድምፅ፣ እንዲሁም፣
“ ‘ “እግዚአብሔር ቸር ነውና፤
ምሕረቱም ለዘላለም ነውና፤
የሰራዊት ጌታ እግዚአብሔርን አመስግኑ፤”
የሚል የምስጋናን መሥዋዕት ይዘው ወደ እግዚአብሔር ቤት የሚመጡ ሰዎች ድምፅ ይሰማል፤ የምድሪቱን ምርኮ ቀድሞ እንደ ነበረ እመልሳለሁና፤’ ይላል እግዚአብሔር።
12“የሰራዊት ጌታ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ ‘ሰውም ሆነ እንስሳት በማይኖሩበት በዚህ ባዶ ስፍራ፣ በከተማዎቹም ሁሉ እረኞች መንጎቻቸውን የሚያሳርፉበት እንደ ገና ያገኛሉ። 13በተራራማው አገር፣ በምዕራብ ተራሮች ግርጌና በኔጌብ ባሉ ከተሞች በብንያም አገር፣ በይሁዳ ከተሞች እንዲሁም በኢየሩሳሌም ዙሪያ ባሉ መንደሮች መንጎች እንደ ገና በሚቈጥራቸው ሰው እጅ ሥር ያልፋሉ’ ይላል እግዚአብሔር።
14“ ‘ለእስራኤል ቤትና ለይሁዳ ቤት የገባሁትን የተስፋ ቃል የምፈጽምበት ጊዜ ይመጣል’ ይላል እግዚአብሔር።
15“ ‘በዚያ ዘመንና በዚያ ጊዜ፣
ከዳዊት ቤት ጻድቅ ቅርንጫፍ አበቅላለሁ፤
በምድሪቱም ፍትሕንና ጽድቅን ያደርጋል።
16በዚያ ዘመን ይሁዳ ይድናል፤
ኢየሩሳሌም በሰላም ትኖራለች፤
የምትጠራበትም ስም፣
“እግዚአብሔር ጽድቃችን”
የሚል ይሆናል።’ 17እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላልና፤ ‘ከዳዊት ዘር በእስራኤል ቤት ዙፋን ላይ የሚቀመጥ ሰው ፈጽሞ አይታጣም፤ 18ሌዋውያን ከሆኑት ካህናትም የሚቃጠል መሥዋዕት ለማቅረብ፣ የእህል ቍርባን ለማቃጠልና ሌላውንም መሥዋዕት ለመሠዋት ሁልጊዜ በፊቴ የሚቆም ሰው አይታጣም።’ ”
19የእግዚአብሔር ቃል ወደ ኤርምያስ እንዲህ ሲል መጣ፤ 20“እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ ‘ለቀንና ለሌሊት የወሰንሁትን ሥርዐት በማፋለስ ቀንና ሌሊት በተወሰነላቸው ጊዜ እንዳይፈራረቁ ኪዳኔን ማፍረስ ብትችሉ፣ 21በዚያ ጊዜ ከአገልጋዬ ከዳዊት ጋር የገባሁትን ኪዳን፣ እንዲሁም በፊቴ በክህነት ከሚያገለግሉት ሌዋውያን ጋር የገባሁትን ኪዳን ማፍረስ ይቻላል፤ ዳዊትም ከእንግዲህ በዙፋኑ ላይ የሚነግሥ ዘር አይኖረውም። 22የአገልጋዬን የዳዊትን ዘር እንዲሁም በፊቴ የሚቆሙትን ሌዋውያን እንደማይቈጠሩ እንደ ሰማይ ከዋክብትና እንደማይሰፈር የባሕር አሸዋ አበዛቸዋለሁ።’ ”
23የእግዚአብሔር ቃል ወደ ኤርምያስ እንዲህ ሲል መጣ፤ 24“ይህ ሕዝብ፣ ‘እግዚአብሔር የመረጣቸውን ሁለቱን መንግሥታት33፥24 ወይም ወገን ጥሏል’ እንደሚሉ አላስተዋልህምን? ሕዝቤን ንቀዋል፤ እንደ ሕዝብም አልቈጠሯቸውም። 25እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ ‘የቀንና የሌሊት ኪዳኔን፣ የሰማይንና የምድርንም ሥርዐት ያጸናሁ እኔ ካልሆንሁ፣ 26የያዕቆብንና የአገልጋዬን የዳዊትን ዘር እጥላለሁ፤ ከልጆቹም በአብርሃም፣ በይስሐቅና በያዕቆብ ዘር ላይ ገዥ እንዲሆኑ አልመርጥም፤ ይህንም የምለው ምርኳቸውን ስለምመልስና33፥26 ወይም ከምርኮ እመልሳቸዋለሁ ስለምራራላቸው ነው።’ ”
The Lord Promises to Heal His People
1Jeremiah was still being held as a prisoner. He was kept in the courtyard of the guard. Then another message from the Lord came to him. The Lord said, 2“I made the earth. I formed it. And I set it in place. The Lord is my name. 3Call out to me. I will answer you. I will tell you great things you do not know. And unless I do, you wouldn’t be able to find out about them.” 4The Lord is the God of Israel. He speaks about the houses in Jerusalem. He talks about the royal palaces of Judah. The people had torn down many of them. They had used their stones to strengthen the city walls against attack. 5That was during their fight with the armies of Babylon. The Lord says, “The houses will be filled with dead bodies. They will be the bodies of the people I will kill. I will kill them when I am very angry with them. I will hide my face from this city. That’s because its people have committed so many sins.
6“But now I will bring health and healing to Jerusalem. I will heal my people. I will let them enjoy great peace and security. 7I will bring Judah and Israel back from the places where they have been taken. I will build up the nation again. It will be just as it was before. 8I will wash from its people all the sins they have committed against me. And I will forgive all the sins they committed when they turned away from me. 9Then this city will bring me fame, joy, praise and honor. All the nations on earth will hear about the good things I do for this city. They will see the great success and peace I give it. Then they will be filled with wonder. And they will tremble with fear.”
10The Lord says, “You say about this place, ‘It’s a dry and empty desert. It doesn’t have any people or animals in it.’ The towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem are now deserted. So they do not have any people or animals living in them. But happy sounds will be heard there once more. 11They will be the sounds of joy and gladness. The voices of brides and grooms will fill the streets. And the voices of those who bring thank offerings to my house will be heard there. They will say,
“ ‘Give thanks to the Lord who rules over all,
because he is good.
His faithful love continues forever.’
That’s because I will bless this land with great success again. It will be as it was before,” says the Lord.
12The Lord who rules over all says, “This place is a desert. It does not have any people or animals in it. But there will again be grasslands near all its towns. Shepherds will rest their flocks there. 13Flocks will again pass under the hands of shepherds as they count their sheep,” says the Lord. “That will be done in the towns of the central hill country. It will be done in the western hills and the Negev Desert. It will be done in the territory of Benjamin. And it will be done in the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah.
14“The days are coming,” announces the Lord. “At that time I will fulfill my good promise to my people. I made it to the people of Israel and Judah.
15“Here is what I will do in those days and at that time.
I will make a godly Branch grow from David’s royal line.
He will do what is fair and right in the land.
16In those days Judah will be saved.
Jerusalem will live in safety.
And it will be called
The Lord Who Makes Us Right With Himself.”
17The Lord says, “David will always have a son to sit on the throne of Israel. 18The priests, who are Levites, will always have a man to serve me. He will sacrifice burnt offerings. He will burn grain offerings. And he will offer sacrifices.”
19A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. 20The Lord said, “Could you ever break my covenant with the day? Could you ever break my covenant with the night? Could you ever stop day and night from coming at their appointed times? 21Only then could my covenant with my servant David be broken. Only then could my covenant with the Levites who serve me as priests be broken. Only then would David no longer have someone from his family line to rule on his throne. 22Here is what I will do for my servant David. And here is what I will do for the Levites who serve me. I will make their children after them as many as the stars in the sky. And I will make them as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. It will be impossible to count them.”
23A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. The Lord said, 24“Haven’t you noticed what these people are saying? They say, ‘The Lord once chose the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. But now he has turned his back on them.’ So they hate my people. They do not think of them as a nation anymore. 25I say, ‘What if I had not made my covenant with day and night? What if I had not established the laws of heaven and earth? 26Only then would I turn my back on the children of Jacob and my servant David. Only then would I not choose one of David’s sons to rule over the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I will bless my people with great success again. I will love them with tender love.’ ”
