Before you punished me, I used to go wrong, but now I obey your word.

My punishment was good for me, because it made me learn your commands.

Let those who wept as they planted their crops, gather the harvest with joy!

Those who wept as they went out carrying the seed will come back singing for joy, as they bring in the harvest.

I will bring them from the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. The blind and the lame will come with them, pregnant women and those about to give birth. They will come back a great nation.

My people will return weeping, praying as I lead them back. I will guide them to streams of water, on a smooth road where they will not stumble. I am like a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my oldest son."

The LORD says, "A sound is heard in Ramah, the sound of bitter weeping. Rachel is crying for her children; they are gone, and she refuses to be comforted.

There is hope for your future; your children will come back home. I, the LORD, have spoken.

We turned away from you, but soon we wanted to return. After you had punished us, we hung our heads in grief. We were ashamed and disgraced because we sinned when we were young.'

The LORD says, "When that time comes, the people of both Israel and Judah will come weeping, looking for me, their God.

They will ask the way to Zion and then go in that direction. They will make an eternal covenant with me and never break it.

And I prayed earnestly to the Lord God, pleading with him, fasting, wearing sackcloth, and sitting in ashes.

"We have sinned, we have been evil, we have done wrong. We have rejected what you commanded us to do and have turned away from what you showed us was right.

You, Lord, always do what is right, but we have always brought disgrace on ourselves. This is true of all of us who live in Judea and in Jerusalem and of all the Israelites whom you scattered in countries near and far because they were unfaithful to you.

You are merciful and forgiving, although we have rebelled against you.

All Israel broke your laws and refused to listen to what you said. We sinned against you, and so you brought on us the curses that are written in the Law of Moses, your servant.

giving us all the punishment described in the Law of Moses. But even now, O LORD our God, we have not tried to please you by turning from our sins or by following your truth.

"O Lord our God, you showed your power by bringing your people out of Egypt, and your power is still remembered. We have sinned; we have done wrong.

O God, hear my prayer and pleading. Restore your Temple, which has been destroyed; restore it so that everyone will know that you are God.

Lord, hear us. Lord, forgive us. Lord, listen to us, and act! In order that everyone will know that you are God, do not delay! This city and these people are yours."

At that time I was mourning for three weeks.

I did not eat any rich food or any meat, drink any wine, or comb my hair until the three weeks were past.

He said, "God loves you, so don't let anything worry you or frighten you." When he had said this, I felt even stronger and said, "Sir, tell me what you have to say. You have made me feel better."

"I will fill the descendants of David and the other people of Jerusalem with the spirit of mercy and the spirit of prayer. They will look at the one whom they stabbed to death, and they will mourn for him like those who mourn for an only child. They will mourn bitterly, like those who have lost their first-born son.

Each family in the land will mourn by itself: the family descended from David, the family descended from Nathan, the family descended from Levi, the family descended from Shimei, and all the other families. Each family will mourn by itself, and the men of each family will mourn separately from the women.

(SEE 12:12)

"Happy are you who are hungry now; you will be filled! "Happy are you who weep now; you will laugh!

"How terrible for you who are full now; you will go hungry! "How terrible for you who laugh now; you will mourn and weep!

I am telling you the truth: you will cry and weep, but the world will be glad; you will be sad, but your sadness will turn into gladness.

That is how it is with you: now you are sad, but I will see you again, and your hearts will be filled with gladness, the kind of gladness that no one can take away from you.

But now I am happy---not because I made you sad, but because your sadness made you change your ways. That sadness was used by God, and so we caused you no harm.

See what God did with this sadness of yours: how earnest it has made you, how eager to prove your innocence! Such indignation, such alarm, such feelings, such devotion, such readiness to punish wrongdoing! You have shown yourselves to be without fault in the whole matter.

Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners! Purify your hearts, you hypocrites!

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance,

endurance brings God's approval, and his approval creates hope.

And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble.

Our human fathers punished us for a short time, as it seemed right to them; but God does it for our own good, so that we may share his holiness.

When we are punished, it seems to us at the time something to make us sad, not glad. Later, however, those who have been disciplined by such punishment reap the peaceful reward of a righteous life.

My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way,

Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.