Jeremiah 31:15-20 - Lament Turned To Joy

¹⁵ Thus says LORD: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping. Rachel weeping for her children, she refused to be comforted for her children, because they are not.

¹⁶ Thus says LORD: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears, for thy work shall be rewarded, says LORD, and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. ¹⁷ And there is hope for thy latter end, says LORD, and [thy] sons shall come again to their own border. ¹⁸ I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself [saying], Thou have chastised me, and I was chastised as a calf unaccustomed [to the yoke]. Turn thou me back, and I shall be turned back, for thou are LORD my God. ¹⁹ Surely after that I was turned back. I repented, and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth. ²⁰ Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy upon him, says LORD.