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Thus says the Lord:
Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
    and make mere flesh their strength,
    whose hearts turn away from the Lord.(A)
They shall be like a shrub in the desert
    and shall not see when relief comes.
They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness,
    in an uninhabited salt land.(B)

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.(C)
They shall be like a tree planted by water,
    sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
    and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious,
    and it does not cease to bear fruit.(D)

The heart is devious above all else;
    it is perverse—
    who can understand it?(E)
10 I the Lord test the mind
    and search the heart,
to give to all according to their ways,
    according to the fruit of their doings.(F)

11 Like the partridge hatching what it did not lay,
    so are all who amass wealth unjustly;
in midlife it will leave them,
    and at their end they will prove to be fools.

12 O glorious throne, exalted from the beginning,
    shrine of our sanctuary!
13 O hope of Israel! O Lord!
    All who forsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you[a] shall be recorded in the underworld,[b]
    for they have forsaken the fountain of living water, the Lord.(G)

Jeremiah Prays for Vindication

14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
    save me, and I shall be saved,
    for you are my praise.(H)
15 See how they say to me,
    “Where is the word of the Lord?
    Let it come!”(I)
16 But I have not run away from being a shepherd[c] in your service,
    nor have I desired the fatal day.
You know what came from my lips;
    it was before your face.
17 Do not become a terror to me;
    you are my refuge in the day of disaster;(J)
18 Let my persecutors be shamed,
    but do not let me be shamed;
let them be dismayed,
    but do not let me be dismayed;
bring on them the day of disaster;
    destroy them with double destruction!(K)

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Footnotes

  1. 17.13 Heb me
  2. 17.13 Or in the earth
  3. 17.16 Meaning of Heb uncertain