Jeremiah 31:15-22

[15] Thus says the LORD:   

    A voice is heard in Ramah,   

         lamentation and bitter weeping.   

    Rachel is weeping for her children;   

         she refuses to be comforted for her children,   

         because they are no more.   

[16] Thus says the LORD:   

    Keep your voice from weeping,   

         and your eyes from tears;   

    for there is a reward for your work,   

                                                           says the LORD:   

         they shall come back from the land of the enemy;   

[17] there is hope for your future,   

                                                           says the LORD:   

         your children shall come back to their own country.

[18] Indeed I heard Ephraim pleading:   

    "You disciplined me, and I took the discipline;   

         I was like a calf untrained.   

    Bring me back, let me come back,   

         for you are the LORD my God.   

[19] For after I had turned away I repented;   

         and after I was discovered, I struck my thigh;   

    I was ashamed, and I was dismayed   

         because I bore the disgrace of my youth."   

[20] Is Ephraim my dear son?   

         Is he the child I delight in?   

    As often as I speak against him,   

         I still remember him.   

    Therefore I am deeply moved for him;   

         I will surely have mercy on him,   

                                                           says the LORD.

[21] Set up road markers for yourself,   

         make yourself signposts;   

    consider well the highway,   

         the road by which you went.   

    Return, O virgin Israel,   

         return to these your cities.   

[22] How long will you waver,   

         O faithless daughter?   

    For the LORD has created a new thing on the earth:   

         a woman encompasses a man.