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One-sentence summary: The Lord says He will bring His people back from captivity and make a new covenant (agreement) with them.
The Lord tells Jeremiah to write in a book all the words He has spoken. The Lord says He will bring His people back from captivity, Israel and Judah, to cause them to return and possess the land He gave to their fathers. There will be a time of trouble like no other, but they will be saved out of it. Their yokes will be broken, and they will serve the Lord and David their king whom He will raise up. The Lord tells them not to fear because He will save them. They will return, have rest, and be quiet, and no one will make them afraid, because the Lord is with them to save them. The Lord says He will still correct them in justice and punish them, that their affliction is incurable and their wound severe. They have no mediator or medicine; all their lovers have forgotten them, because the Lord has "wounded them with the wound of an enemy" because of their many sins. He tells them not to cry; their sorrow is incurable. Because of their many iniquities, He has done all this. The Lord will restore health to them and heal them of their wounds, since the nations called them an outcast. The Lord will have mercy again. He will rebuild the city. The people will be thankful and make merry. The Lord will multiply them again and glorify them. They will again be His people, and He will be their God.
The Lord says those who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness. He says to them, "I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness I have drawn you." The Lord says He will rebuild them and adorn them with instruments, and they will dance and rejoice again. They will plant and eat. The watchman will call people to go up to Zion to the Lord. The Lord tells them to sing with gladness for Jacob. He will gather them from the ends of the earth, along with the blind and the lamb, and a multitude will return with weeping and supplication. They will walk by rivers of waters and in a way that they will not stumble, for the Lord is a father to them. "He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd does his flock, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob." "Their souls will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more." Their mourning will be turned to joy, and the Lord will cause them to rejoice and will comfort them. They will be satisfied with the Lord's goodness. It says, "A voice was heard in Ramah... Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are no more." They Lord tells them not to weep, because their work will be rewarded, and they will come back from the land of the enemy. The Lord says there is hope in their future. The Lord calls Israel a backsliding daughter. He says He has created a new thing in the earth: A woman will encompass a man (not sure of the meaning here.) The Lord says that in Judah people will say- when he brings them back- "The Lord will bless you, home of justice and mountain of holiness." The Lord says He will have satiated the weary soul and replenished every sorrowful soul. Jeremiah's sleep is sweet when he sees this. Just as the Lord watched over His people to afflict them, He will watch over them to build and plant them. They will never say again that the fathers have eaten the sour grapes, and so the children's teeth are "set on edge," but each person will be punished for his own sin. The Lord says He will make a new covenant with them, unlike the one He made with their fathers when He took them out of Egypt, that they broke when He was a husband to them. The Lord says He will put His law in their minds and write it on their hearts, and He will be their God, and they will be His people. No one will have to teach his neighbor to know the Lord, because they all will know Him, from the least to the greatest, because He will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more. The Lord says these ordinances will never depart from Him. As the heavens can't be measured or the foundation of the earth, so the Lord will not cast off His people. The land will be holy to the Lord.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
When reading the Old Testament, we need to listen to God's heart. His heart has always been for restoration. He is good- all the time!