the Prophet's condemnation of the Temple and
the Sacrifices.(634) But that condemnation had been uttered by Jeremiah
because of his contemporaries' sinful use of the House of God, whereas now
he is looking into a new dispensation. How could he more signally clinch
the promise of that reunion of Israel and Judah, for which all his life he
had longed, than by this call to them to worship together?

The next verses are not so recognisable as Jeremiah's, unless it be in
their last couplet. The rest rather reflect the Return from Exile as on
the point of coming to pass, which happened long after Jeremiah's time;
and they call the nation _Jacob_, the name favoured by prophets of the end
of the Exile.

[Ring out with joy for Jacob, 7
Shout for (?) the head of the nations,(635)
Publish ye, praise ye and say,
The Lord hath saved His(636) people,
The Remnant of Israel!
Behold from the North I bring them, 8
And gather from ends of the earth;
Their blind and their lame together,
The mother-to-be and her who hath borne.
In concourse great back they come hither.
With weeping forth did they go,(637) 9
With consolations(638) I bring them,
I lead them by(639) streams of water,
On an even way,
They stumble not on it](640)

For a father I am become to Israel,
And my first-born is Ephraim!

This couplet may well be Jeremiah's; but whether it should immediately
follow verse 6 is doubtful. The next lines are hardly his, bearing the
same marks of the late exile as we have seen in verses 7-9_a_.

[Hear, O nations, the Word of the Lord, 10
And declare on the far-away isles(641):
Who hath scattered Israel will gather,
And guard as a shepherd his flock.
For the Lord hath ransomed Jacob 11
And redeemed from the hand of the stronger than he.
They are come and ring out on Mount Sion, 12
Radiant(642) all with the wealth of the Lord,
With the corn, the new wine, the fresh oil,
The young of the flock and the herd;
Till their soul becomes as a garden well-watered,
Nor again any more shall they pine.
Then rejoice in the dance shall the maidens, 13
The youths and the old make merry.(643)
When their mourning I turn to mirth(644)
And give them joy from their sorrow.
When I richly water the soul of the priests,(645) 14
And My folk with My bounty are fill