1-2. This is the Message Jeremiah received from God: “God’s Message, the God of Israel: ‘Write everything I tell you in a book.
10-11. “‘So fear no more, Jacob, dear servant.Don’t despair, Israel.Look up! I’ll save you out of faraway places,I’ll bring your children back from exile.Jacob will come back and find life good,safe and secure.I’ll be with you. I’ll save you.I’ll finish off all the godless nationsAmong which I’ve scattered you,but I won’t finish you off.I’ll punish you, but fairly.I won’t send you off with just a slap on the wrist.’
12-15. “This is God’s Message:“‘You’re a burned-out case,as good as dead.Everyone has given up on you.You’re hopeless.All your fair-weather friends have skipped townwithout giving you a second thought.But I delivered the knockout blow,a punishment you will never forget,Because of the enormity of your guilt,the endless list of your sins.So why all this self-pity, licking your wounds?You deserve all this, and more.Because of the enormity of your guilt,the endless list of your sins,I’ve done all this to you.
16-17. “‘Everyone who hurt you will be hurt;your enemies will end up as slaves.Your plunderers will be plundered;your looters will become loot.As for you, I’ll come with healing,curing the incurable,Because they all gave up on youand dismissed you as hopeless—that good-for-nothing Zion.’