Jeremiah 31:9 · World English Bible
They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won’t stumble; for I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn.
They come home weeping, and the tears are not shame but a heart melting after being long hardened by its wandering. He does not scold the weeping.
From the Sufism reading below.
The same verse, read by one tradition.
SUFISM
They come home weeping, and the tears are not shame but a heart melting after being long hardened by its wandering. He does not scold the weeping. He leads it gently, by streams and along a level road where no one stumbles.
The sickness was the stubbornness that made the way rough, and its cure is the soft return that lets itself be led. And the One leading is no stern driver behind them but a father ahead, calling the lost child his firstborn.
Sufism lens
What have I been calling weakness that was actually something hard in me finally giving way?
Nothing in the world is softer than water, and nothing is better at wearing down what is hard, so softness is not the opposite of strength.
The rabbis said the gates of tears are never shut, even when other gates are, so crying is a way in rather than a thing to be ashamed of.
He said the best way to look after sheep is to give them a wide field. Pressure scatters; space brings them back.
Free · No account needed
Lensightful opens every verse of the Bible through the traditions you choose. Save readings, ask a follow-up question, and get one verse a day.
Get Lensightful on the App Store
Sufism