Font Size
Jeremiah 15-17
English Standard Version
Jeremiah 15-17
English Standard Version
The Lord Will Not Relent
15 Then the Lord said to me, (A)“Though (B)Moses (C)and Samuel (D)stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! 2 And when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord:
(E)“‘Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence,
and those who are for the sword, to the sword;
those who are for famine, to famine,
and those who are for captivity, to captivity.’
3 (F)I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the Lord: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and (G)the birds of the air (H)and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. 4 (I)And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what (J)Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.
5 (K)“Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,
(L)or who will grieve for you?
Who will turn aside
to ask about your welfare?
6 (M)You have rejected me, declares the Lord;
(N)you keep going backward,
so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you—
(O)I am weary of relenting.
7 (P)I have winnowed them with (Q)a winnowing fork
in the gates of the land;
I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people;
(R)they did not turn from their ways.
8 I have made their widows more in number
than (S)the sand of the seas;
I have brought against the mothers of young men
a destroyer at noonday;
I have made anguish and terror
fall upon them suddenly.
9 (T)She who bore seven has grown feeble;
(U)she has fainted away;
(V)her sun went down while it was yet day;
she has been shamed and disgraced.
And the rest of them I will give to the sword
before their enemies,
declares the Lord.”
Jeremiah's Complaint
10 (W)Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! (X)I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me. 11 The Lord said, “Have I not[a] set you free for their good? Have I not pleaded for you before the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress? 12 Can one break iron, iron (Y)from the north, and bronze?
13 (Z)“Your wealth and your treasures I will give as (AA)spoil, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory. 14 I will make you serve your enemies (AB)in a land that you do not know, (AC)for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”
15 (AD)O Lord, you know;
(AE)remember me and visit me,
(AF)(AG)and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance take me not away;
(AH)know that (AI)for your sake I bear reproach.
16 Your words were found, (AJ)and I ate them,
and (AK)your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart,
(AL)for I am called by your name,
O Lord, God of hosts.
17 (AM)I did not sit in the company of revelers,
nor did I rejoice;
(AN)I sat alone, because your hand was upon me,
for you had filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain unceasing,
(AO)my wound incurable,
refusing to be healed?
Will you be to me (AP)like a deceitful brook,
like waters that fail?
19 Therefore thus says the Lord:
(AQ)“If you return, I will restore you,
and you shall (AR)stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
you shall be as my mouth.
They shall turn to you,
but you shall not turn to them.
20 (AS)And I will make you to this people
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you,
(AT)but they shall not prevail over you,
(AU)for I am with you
to save you and deliver you,
declares the Lord.
21 (AV)I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
and redeem you from the grasp of (AW)the ruthless.”
Famine, Sword, and Death
16 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land: 4 (AX)They shall die of deadly diseases. (AY)They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. (AZ)They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. (BA)They shall perish by the sword and by famine, (BB)and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.
5 “For thus says the Lord: (BC)Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the Lord. 6 Both great and small shall die in this land. (BD)They shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or (BE)cut himself (BF)or make himself bald for them. 7 No one shall (BG)break bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead, nor shall anyone give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother. 8 You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink. 9 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: (BH)Behold, I will silence in this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
10 “And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, (BI)‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ 11 then you shall say to them: (BJ)‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the Lord, and (BK)have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, 12 and because (BL)you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, (BM)every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me. 13 Therefore (BN)I will hurl you out of this land into (BO)a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, (BP)and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’
The Lord Will Restore Israel
14 (BQ)“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, (BR)‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 15 but (BS)‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel (BT)out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For (BU)I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.
16 “Behold, (BV)I am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out (BW)of the clefts of the rocks. 17 For (BX)my eyes are on all their ways. (BY)They are not hidden from me, (BZ)nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. 18 But first (CA)I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and (CB)have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”
19 (CC)O Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
(CD)my refuge in the day of trouble,
(CE)to you shall the nations come
from the ends of the earth and say:
“Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies,
(CF)worthless things in which there is no profit.
20 Can man make for himself (CG)gods?
Such are not gods!”
21 “Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that (CH)my name is the Lord.”
The Sin of Judah
17 “The sin of Judah is written with (CI)a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on (CJ)the tablet of their heart, and on (CK)the horns of their altars, 2 while (CL)their children remember their altars and their (CM)Asherim, (CN)beside every green tree and on the high hills, 3 (CO)on the mountains in the open country. (CP)Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory. 4 You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, (CQ)and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, (CR)for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”
5 Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man (CS)who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,[b]
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 (CT)He is like a shrub in the desert,
(CU)and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in (CV)an uninhabited salt land.
7 (CW)“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
(CX)whose trust is the Lord.
8 (CY)He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
10 (CZ)“I the Lord search the heart
(DA)and test the mind,[c]
(DB)to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”
11 Like the (DC)partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch,
so is (DD)he who gets riches but not by justice;
(DE)in the midst of his days they will leave him,
(DF)and at his end he will be a fool.
12 A glorious throne set on high from the beginning
is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O Lord, (DG)the hope of Israel,
(DH)all who forsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you[d] (DI)shall be written in the earth,
for (DJ)they have forsaken (DK)the Lord, the fountain of living water.
Jeremiah Prays for Deliverance
14 (DL)Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
save me, and I shall be saved,
for (DM)you are my praise.
15 (DN)Behold, they say to me,
“Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it come!”
16 I have not run away from being your shepherd,
nor have I desired the day of sickness.
(DO)You know (DP)what came out of my lips;
it was before your face.
17 Be not a terror to me;
(DQ)you are my refuge in the day of disaster.
18 (DR)Let those be put to shame who persecute me,
but let me not be put to shame;
(DS)let them be dismayed,
but let me not be dismayed;
(DT)bring upon them the day of disaster;
destroy them with double destruction!
Keep the Sabbath Holy
19 Thus said the Lord to me: “Go and stand in the People's Gate, by which (DU)the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem, 20 and say: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, (DV)you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates. 21 Thus says the Lord: Take care for the sake of your lives, and (DW)do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. 22 And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath (DX)or do any work, but (DY)keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. 23 Yet (DZ)they did not listen or incline their ear, (EA)but stiffened their neck, that they (EB)might not hear and receive instruction.
24 “‘But if you listen to me, declares the Lord, and (EC)bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but (ED)keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it, 25 then (EE)there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and princes who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall be inhabited forever. 26 And people shall come from (EF)the cities of Judah (EG)and the places around Jerusalem, (EH)from the land of Benjamin, (EI)from the Shephelah, from the hill country, (EJ)and from (EK)the Negeb, bringing (EL)burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and (EM)bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord. 27 But if you do not listen to me, to (EN)keep the Sabbath day holy, (EO)and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will (EP)kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall (EQ)devour the palaces of Jerusalem and (ER)shall not be quenched.’”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 15:11 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
- Jeremiah 17:5 Hebrew arm
- Jeremiah 17:10 Hebrew kidneys
- Jeremiah 17:13 Hebrew me
Jeremiah 15-17
New International Version
Jeremiah 15-17
New International Version
15 Then the Lord said to me: “Even if Moses(A) and Samuel(B) were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people.(C) Send them away from my presence!(D) Let them go! 2 And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“‘Those destined for death, to death;
those for the sword, to the sword;(E)
those for starvation, to starvation;(F)
those for captivity, to captivity.’(G)
3 “I will send four kinds of destroyers(H) against them,” declares the Lord, “the sword(I) to kill and the dogs(J) to drag away and the birds(K) and the wild animals to devour and destroy.(L) 4 I will make them abhorrent(M) to all the kingdoms of the earth(N) because of what Manasseh(O) son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.
5 “Who will have pity(P) on you, Jerusalem?
Who will mourn for you?
Who will stop to ask how you are?
6 You have rejected(Q) me,” declares the Lord.
“You keep on backsliding.
So I will reach out(R) and destroy you;
I am tired of holding back.(S)
7 I will winnow(T) them with a winnowing fork
at the city gates of the land.
I will bring bereavement(U) and destruction on my people,(V)
for they have not changed their ways.(W)
8 I will make their widows(X) more numerous
than the sand of the sea.
At midday I will bring a destroyer(Y)
against the mothers of their young men;
suddenly I will bring down on them
anguish and terror.(Z)
9 The mother of seven will grow faint(AA)
and breathe her last.(AB)
Her sun will set while it is still day;
she will be disgraced(AC) and humiliated.
I will put the survivors to the sword(AD)
before their enemies,”(AE)
declares the Lord.
10 Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth,(AF)
a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!(AG)
I have neither lent(AH) nor borrowed,
yet everyone curses(AI) me.
11 The Lord said,
“Surely I will deliver you(AJ) for a good purpose;
surely I will make your enemies plead(AK) with you
in times of disaster and times of distress.
12 “Can a man break iron—
iron from the north(AL)—or bronze?
13 “Your wealth(AM) and your treasures
I will give as plunder,(AN) without charge,(AO)
because of all your sins
throughout your country.(AP)
14 I will enslave you to your enemies
in[a] a land you do not know,(AQ)
for my anger will kindle a fire(AR)
that will burn against you.”
15 Lord, you understand;
remember me and care for me.
Avenge me on my persecutors.(AS)
You are long-suffering(AT)—do not take me away;
think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.(AU)
16 When your words came, I ate(AV) them;
they were my joy and my heart’s delight,(AW)
for I bear your name,(AX)
Lord God Almighty.
17 I never sat(AY) in the company of revelers,
never made merry with them;
I sat alone because your hand(AZ) was on me
and you had filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain unending
and my wound grievous and incurable?(BA)
You are to me like a deceptive brook,
like a spring that fails.(BB)
19 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“If you repent, I will restore you
that you may serve(BC) me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
you will be my spokesman.(BD)
Let this people turn to you,
but you must not turn to them.
20 I will make you a wall(BE) to this people,
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
but will not overcome(BF) you,
for I am with you
to rescue and save you,”(BG)
declares the Lord.
21 “I will save(BH) you from the hands of the wicked(BI)
and deliver(BJ) you from the grasp of the cruel.”(BK)
Day of Disaster
16 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “You must not marry(BL) and have sons or daughters in this place.” 3 For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers:(BM) 4 “They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried(BN) but will be like dung lying on the ground.(BO) They will perish by sword and famine,(BP) and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.”(BQ)
5 For this is what the Lord says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity(BR) from this people,” declares the Lord. 6 “Both high and low will die in this land.(BS) They will not be buried or mourned,(BT) and no one will cut(BU) themselves or shave(BV) their head for the dead. 7 No one will offer food(BW) to comfort those who mourn(BX) for the dead—not even for a father or a mother—nor will anyone give them a drink to console(BY) them.
8 “And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink.(BZ) 9 For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds(CA) of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride(CB) and bridegroom in this place.(CC)
10 “When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?’(CD) 11 then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped(CE) them. They forsook me and did not keep my law.(CF) 12 But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors.(CG) See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts(CH) instead of obeying me. 13 So I will throw you out of this land(CI) into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known,(CJ) and there you will serve other gods(CK) day and night, for I will show you no favor.’(CL)
14 “However, the days are coming,”(CM) declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’(CN) 15 but it will be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north(CO) and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’(CP) For I will restore(CQ) them to the land I gave their ancestors.(CR)
16 “But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch them.(CS) After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt(CT) them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks.(CU) 17 My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden(CV) from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.(CW) 18 I will repay(CX) them double(CY) for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land(CZ) with the lifeless forms of their vile images(DA) and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.(DB)”(DC)
19 Lord, my strength and my fortress,
my refuge(DD) in time of distress,
to you the nations will come(DE)
from the ends of the earth and say,
“Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods,(DF)
worthless idols(DG) that did them no good.(DH)
20 Do people make their own gods?
Yes, but they are not gods!”(DI)
21 “Therefore I will teach them—
this time I will teach them
my power and might.
Then they will know
that my name(DJ) is the Lord.
17 “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool,(DK)
inscribed with a flint point,
on the tablets of their hearts(DL)
and on the horns(DM) of their altars.
2 Even their children remember
their altars and Asherah poles[b](DN)
beside the spreading trees
and on the high hills.(DO)
3 My mountain in the land
and your[c] wealth and all your treasures
I will give away as plunder,(DP)
together with your high places,(DQ)
because of sin throughout your country.(DR)
4 Through your own fault you will lose
the inheritance(DS) I gave you.
I will enslave you to your enemies(DT)
in a land(DU) you do not know,
for you have kindled my anger,
and it will burn(DV) forever.”
5 This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,(DW)
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.(DX)
6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places(DY) of the desert,
in a salt(DZ) land where no one lives.
7 “But blessed(EA) is the one who trusts(EB) in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.(EC)
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought(ED)
and never fails to bear fruit.”(EE)
9 The heart(EF) is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart(EG)
and examine the mind,(EH)
to reward(EI) each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”(EJ)
11 Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay
are those who gain riches by unjust means.
When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them,
and in the end they will prove to be fools.(EK)
12 A glorious throne,(EL) exalted from the beginning,
is the place of our sanctuary.
13 Lord, you are the hope(EM) of Israel;
all who forsake(EN) you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust(EO)
because they have forsaken the Lord,
the spring of living water.(EP)
14 Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;(EQ)
save(ER) me and I will be saved,
for you are the one I praise.(ES)
15 They keep saying to me,
“Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it now be fulfilled!”(ET)
16 I have not run away from being your shepherd;
you know I have not desired the day of despair.
What passes my lips(EU) is open before you.
17 Do not be a terror(EV) to me;
you are my refuge(EW) in the day of disaster.(EX)
18 Let my persecutors be put to shame,
but keep me from shame;
let them be terrified,
but keep me from terror.
Bring on them the day of disaster;
destroy them with double destruction.(EY)
Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy
19 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People,[d] through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem.(EZ) 20 Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem(FA) who come through these gates.(FB) 21 This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath(FC) day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. 22 Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.(FD) 23 Yet they did not listen or pay attention;(FE) they were stiff-necked(FF) and would not listen or respond to discipline.(FG) 24 But if you are careful to obey me, declares the Lord, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy(FH) by not doing any work on it, 25 then kings who sit on David’s throne(FI) will come through the gates of this city with their officials. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.(FJ) 26 People will come from the towns of Judah and the villages around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin and the western foothills, from the hill country and the Negev,(FK) bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord. 27 But if you do not obey(FL) me to keep the Sabbath(FM) day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire(FN) in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.’”(FO)
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 15:14 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Syriac (see also 17:4); most Hebrew manuscripts I will cause your enemies to bring you / into
- Jeremiah 17:2 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah
- Jeremiah 17:3 Or hills / 3 and the mountains of the land. / Your
- Jeremiah 17:19 Or Army
English Standard Version (ESV) 
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.