Tamaño de la fuente
Jeremiah 11:18-20
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Jeremiah 11:18-20
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Jeremiah’s Life Threatened
18 It was the Lord who made it known to me, and I knew;
then you showed me their deeds.
19 But I was like a gentle lamb
led to the slaughter.
And I did not know it was against me
that they devised schemes, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit;
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
so that his name will no longer be remembered!”(A)
20 But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously,
who try the heart and the mind,
let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.(B)
21 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the people of Anathoth who seek your life and say, “You shall not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand”(C)— 22 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: I am going to punish them; the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, 23 and not even a remnant shall be left of them. For I will bring disaster upon the people of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.(D)
Jeremiah Complains to God
12 You will be in the right, O Lord,
when I lay charges against you,
but let me put my case to you.
Why does the way of the guilty prosper?
Why do all who are treacherous thrive?(E)
2 You plant them, and they take root;
they grow and bring forth fruit;
you are near in their mouths
yet far from their hearts.(F)
3 But you, O Lord, know me;
you see me and test me; my heart is with you.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
and set them apart for the day of slaughter.(G)
4 How long will the land mourn
and the grass of every field wither?
For the wickedness of those who live in it,
the animals and the birds are swept away,
and because people said, “He is blind to our ways.”[a](H)
God Replies to Jeremiah
5 If you have raced with runners and they have wearied you,
how will you compete with horses?
And if you trust in a safe land,
how will you fare in the thickets of the Jordan?(I)
6 For even your kinsfolk and your own family,
even they have dealt treacherously with you;
they are in full cry after you;
do not believe them,
though they speak friendly words to you.(J)
7 I have forsaken my house;
I have abandoned my heritage;
I have given the beloved of my heart
into the hands of her enemies.(K)
8 My heritage has become to me
like a lion in the forest;
she has lifted up her voice against me—
therefore I hate her.(L)
9 Is the hawk hungry for my heritage?
Are the vultures all around her?
Go, assemble all the wild animals;
bring them to devour her.(M)
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
they have trampled down my portion;
they have made my pleasant portion
a desolate wilderness.(N)
11 They have made it a desolation;
desolate, it mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate,
but no one lays it to heart.(O)
12 Upon all the bare heights[b] in the desert,
spoilers have come,
for the sword of the Lord devours
from one end of the land to the other;
no one shall be safe.(P)
13 They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;
they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their[c] harvests
because of the fierce anger of the Lord.(Q)
14 Thus says the Lord concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit: I am about to pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.(R) 15 And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again to their heritage and to their land, every one of them.(S) 16 And then, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, “As the Lord lives,” as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people.(T) 17 But if any nation will not listen, then I will completely uproot it and destroy it, says the Lord.(U)
The Linen Loincloth
13 Thus said the Lord to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen loincloth and put it on your loins, but do not dip it in water.”(V) 2 So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord and put it on my loins.(W) 3 And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, 4 “Take the loincloth that you bought and are wearing, and go now to the Euphrates,[d] and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”(X) 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates,[e] as the Lord commanded me.(Y) 6 And after many days the Lord said to me, “Go now to the Euphrates,[f] and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates[g] and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. But now the loincloth was ruined; it was good for nothing.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 Thus says the Lord: Just so I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.(Z) 10 This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own will and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.(AA) 11 For as the loincloth clings to one’s loins, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the Lord, in order that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory. But they would not listen.(AB)
Symbol of the Wine Jars
12 You shall speak to them this word: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Every wine jar should be filled with wine. And they will say to you, “Do you think we do not know that every wine jar should be filled with wine?” 13 Then you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land—the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness.(AC) 14 And I will dash them one against another, parents and children together, says the Lord. I will not pity or spare or have compassion when I destroy them.(AD)
Exile Threatened
15 Hear and give ear; do not be haughty,
for the Lord has spoken.(AE)
16 Give glory to the Lord your God
before he brings darkness
and before your feet stumble
on the mountains at twilight;
while you look for light,
he turns it into gloom
and makes it deep darkness.(AF)
17 But if you will not listen,
my soul will weep in secret for your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears
because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.(AG)
18 Say to the king and the queen mother:
“Take a lowly seat,
for your beautiful crown
has come down from your head.”[h](AH)
19 The towns of the Negeb are shut up,
with no one to open them;
all Judah is taken into exile,
wholly taken into exile.(AI)
20 Lift up your eyes and see
those who come from the north.
Where is the flock that was given you,
your beautiful flock?(AJ)
21 What will you say when they set as head over you
those whom you have trained
to be your allies?
Will not pangs seize you
like those of a woman in labor?(AK)
22 And if you say in your heart,
“Why have these things come upon me?”
it is for the greatness of your iniquity
that your skirts are lifted up
and you are violated.(AL)
23 Can Cushites change their skin
or leopards their spots?
Then also you can do good,
who are accustomed to do evil.(AM)
24 I will scatter you[i] like chaff
driven by the wind from the desert.(AN)
25 This is your lot,
the portion I have measured out to you, says the Lord,
because you have forgotten me
and trusted in lies.(AO)
26 I myself will lift up your skirts over your face,
and your shame will be seen.(AP)
27 I have seen your abominations,
your adulteries and neighings, your shameless prostitutions
on the hills of the countryside.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
How long will it be
before you are made clean?(AQ)
The Great Drought
14 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:(AR)
2 Judah mourns,
and her gates languish;
they lie in gloom on the ground,
and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.(AS)
3 Her[j] nobles send their servants for water;
they come to the cisterns;
they find no water;
they return with their vessels empty.
They are ashamed and dismayed
and cover their heads,(AT)
4 because the ground is cracked.
Because there has been no rain on the land,
the farmers are dismayed;
they cover their heads.(AU)
5 Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn
because there is no grass.
6 The wild asses stand on the bare heights;[k]
they pant for air like jackals;
their eyes fail
because there is no herbage.(AV)
7 Although our iniquities testify against us,
act, O Lord, for your name’s sake;
our rebellions indeed are many,
and we have sinned against you.(AW)
8 O hope of Israel,
its savior in time of trouble,
why should you be like a stranger in the land,
like a traveler turning aside for the night?(AX)
9 Why should you be like someone confused,
like a mighty warrior who cannot give help?
Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us,
and we are called by your name;
do not forsake us!(AY)
10 Thus says the Lord concerning this people:
Truly they have loved to wander;
they have not restrained their feet;
therefore the Lord does not accept them;
now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins.(AZ)
11 The Lord said to me: Do not pray for the welfare of this people.(BA) 12 Although they fast, I do not hear their cry, and although they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I do not accept them, but by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence I consume them.(BB)
Denunciation of Lying Prophets
13 Then I said: “Ah, Lord God! Here are the prophets saying to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you true peace in this place.’ ”(BC) 14 And the Lord said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.(BD) 15 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name though I did not send them and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not come on this land’: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed.(BE) 16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword. There shall be no one to bury them—themselves, their wives, their sons, and their daughters—for I will pour out their wickedness upon them.”(BF)
17 You shall say to them this word:
Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,
and let them not cease,
for the virgin daughter of my people is struck down with a crushing blow,
with a very grievous wound.(BG)
18 If I go out into the field,
look—those killed by the sword!
And if I enter the city,
look—those sick with[l] famine!
For both prophet and priest ply their trade throughout the land
and have no knowledge.(BH)
The People Plead for Mercy
19 Have you completely rejected Judah?
Does your heart loathe Zion?
Why have you struck us down
so that there is no healing for us?
We look for peace but find no good,
for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.(BI)
20 We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord,
the iniquity of our ancestors,
for we have sinned against you.(BJ)
21 Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake;
do not dishonor your glorious throne;
remember and do not break your covenant with us.(BK)
22 Can any idols of the nations bring rain,
or can the heavens give showers?
Is it not you, O Lord our God?
We set our hope on you,
for it is you who do all this.(BL)
Punishment Is Inevitable
15 Then the Lord said to me: Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go!(BM) 2 And when they say to you, “Where shall we go?” you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord:
Those destined for pestilence, to pestilence,
and those destined for the sword, to the sword;
those destined for famine, to famine,
and those destined for captivity, to captivity.(BN)
3 And I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, says the Lord: the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth to devour and destroy.(BO) 4 I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what King Manasseh son of Hezekiah of Judah did in Jerusalem.(BP)
5 Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,
or who will bemoan you?
Who will turn aside
to ask about your welfare?
6 You have rejected me, says the Lord;
you are going backward,
so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you—
I am weary of relenting.(BQ)
7 I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork
in the gates of the land;
I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people;
they did not turn from their ways.(BR)
8 Their widows became more numerous
than the sand of the seas;
I have brought against the mothers of youths
a destroyer at noonday;
I have made anguish and terror
fall upon her suddenly.
9 She who bore seven has languished;
she has swooned away;
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,
says the Lord.(BS)
Jeremiah Complains Again and Is Reassured
10 Woe is me, my mother, that you ever bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.(BT) 11 The Lord said: Surely I have intervened in your life[m] for good; surely I have brought enemies upon you[n] in a time of trouble and in a time of distress.(BU) 12 Can one break iron, iron from the north, and bronze?
13 Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory.(BV) 14 I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn against you.(BW)
15 O Lord, you know;
remember me and visit me,
and bring down retribution for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance do not take me away;
know that on your account I suffer insult.(BX)
16 Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
O Lord, God of hosts.(BY)
17 I did not sit in the company of merrymakers,
nor did I rejoice;
under the weight of your hand I sat alone,
for you had filled me with indignation.(BZ)
18 Why is my pain unceasing,
my wound incurable,
refusing to be healed?
Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook,
like waters that fail.(CA)
19 Therefore thus says the Lord:
If you turn back, I will take you back,
and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious and not what is worthless,
you shall serve as my mouth.
It is they who will turn to you,
not you who will turn to them.(CB)
20 And I will make you to this people
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you,
but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you
to save you and deliver you,
says the Lord.(CC)
21 I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked
and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.(CD)
Jeremiah’s Celibacy and Message
16 The word of the Lord came to me:(CE) 2 You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.(CF) 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place and concerning the mothers who bear them and the fathers who father them in this land:(CG) 4 They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried; they shall become like dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall become food for the birds of the air and for the wild animals of the earth.(CH)
5 For thus says the Lord: Do not enter the house of mourning or go to lament or bemoan them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, says the Lord, my steadfast love and mercy.(CI) 6 Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them; there shall be no gashing, no shaving of the head for them.(CJ) 7 No one shall break bread[o] for the mourner, to offer comfort for the dead, nor shall anyone give them the cup of consolation to drink for their fathers or their mothers.(CK) 8 You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.(CL) 9 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to banish from this place, in your days and before your eyes, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.(CM)
10 And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, “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?”(CN) 11 then you shall say to them: It is because your ancestors have forsaken me, says the Lord, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them and have forsaken me and have not kept my law,(CO) 12 and because you have behaved worse than your ancestors, for here you are, every one of you, following your stubborn evil will, refusing to listen to me.(CP) 13 Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.(CQ)
God Will Restore Israel
14 Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, “As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt,”(CR) 15 but “As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where he had driven them.” For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their ancestors.(CS)
16 I am now sending for many fishermen, says 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 of the clefts of the rocks.(CT) 17 For my eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from my presence, nor is their iniquity concealed from my sight.(CU) 18 And[p] I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.(CV)
19 O Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
my refuge in the day of trouble,
to you shall the nations come
from the ends of the earth and say:
“Our ancestors have inherited nothing but lies,
worthless things in which there is no profit.(CW)
20 Can mortals make for themselves gods?
Such are no gods!”(CX)
21 “Therefore I am surely going to teach them, this time I am going to teach them my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the Lord.”(CY)
Judah’s Sin and Punishment
17 The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen; with a diamond point it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars,(CZ) 2 while their children remember their altars and their sacred poles[q] beside every green tree and on the high hills, 3 on the mountains in the open country. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your sin[r] throughout all your territory. 4 By your own act you shall lose the heritage that I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.(DA)
5 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.(DB)
6 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.(DC)
7 Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.(DD)
8 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.(DE)
9 The heart is devious above all else;
it is perverse—
who can understand it?(DF)
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.(DG)
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[s] shall be recorded in the underworld,[t]
for they have forsaken the fountain of living water, the Lord.(DH)
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.(DI)
15 See how they say to me,
“Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it come!”(DJ)
16 But I have not run away from being a shepherd[u] 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;(DK)
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!(DL)
Hallow the Sabbath Day
19 Thus said the Lord to me: Go and stand in the People’s Gate, by which the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem, 20 and say to them: Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter by these gates.(DM) 21 Thus says the Lord: For the sake of your lives, take care that you do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.(DN) 22 And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.(DO) 23 Yet they did not listen or incline their ear; they stiffened their necks and would not hear or receive instruction.(DP)
24 But if you listen to me, says the Lord, and bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day but keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it,(DQ) 25 then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings[v] who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city shall be inhabited forever.(DR) 26 And people shall come from the towns of Judah and the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the Shephelah, from the hill country, and from the Negeb, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord.(DS) 27 But if you do not listen to me, to keep the Sabbath day holy and to carry in no burden through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates; it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched.(DT)
The Potter and the Clay
18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.”(DU) 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.(DV) 7 At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it.(DW) 9 And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it,(DX) 10 but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it.(DY) 11 Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you, from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.(DZ)
Israel’s Stubborn Idolatry
12 But they say, “It is no use! We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of our evil will.”(EA)
13 Therefore thus says the Lord:
Ask among the nations:
Who has heard the like of this?
The virgin Israel has done
a most horrible thing.(EB)
14 Does the snow of Lebanon leave
the crags of Sirion?[w]
Do the mountain[x] waters run dry,[y]
the cold flowing streams?
15 But my people have forgotten me;
they burn offerings to a delusion;
they have stumbled[z] in their ways,
in the ancient roads,
and have gone into bypaths,
not the highway,(EC)
16 making their land a horror,
a thing to be hissed at forever.
All who pass by it are horrified
and shake their heads.(ED)
17 Like the wind from the east,
I will scatter them before the enemy.
I will show them my back, not my face,
in the day of their calamity.(EE)
A Plot against Jeremiah
18 Then they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for instruction shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us bring charges against him,[aa] and let us not heed any of his words.”(EF)
19 Give heed to me, O Lord,
and listen to what my adversaries say!
20 Is evil a recompense for good?
Yet they have dug a pit for my life.
Remember how I stood before you
to speak good for them,
to turn away your wrath from them.(EG)
21 Therefore give their children over to famine;
hurl them out to the power of the sword;
let their wives become childless and widowed.
May their men meet death by pestilence,
their youths be slain by the sword in battle.(EH)
22 May a cry be heard from their houses
when you bring the marauder suddenly upon them!
For they have dug a pit to catch me
and laid snares for my feet.(EI)
23 Yet you, O Lord, know
all their plotting to kill me.
Do not forgive their iniquity;
do not blot out their sin from your sight.
Let them be tripped up before you;
deal with them while you are angry.(EJ)
The Broken Earthenware Jug
19 Thus said the Lord: Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jug. Take with you[ab] some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests, 2 and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you.(EK) 3 You shall say: Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to bring such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.(EL) 4 Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah have known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent(EM) 5 and gone on building the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it enter my mind,(EN) 6 therefore the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth or the valley of the son of Hinnom but the valley of Slaughter.(EO) 7 And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem and will make them fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth.(EP) 8 And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters.(EQ) 9 And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and all shall eat the flesh of their neighbors in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.(ER)
10 Then you shall break the jug in the sight of those who go with you 11 and shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city as one breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never be mended. In Topheth they shall bury until there is no more room to bury.(ES) 12 Thus will I do to this place, says the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city like Topheth. 13 And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of Topheth—all the houses upon whose roofs offerings have been made to the whole host of heaven and libations have been poured out to other gods.(ET)
14 When Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, he stood in the court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people:(EU) 15 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am now bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks, refusing to hear my words.(EV)
Jeremiah Persecuted by Pashhur
20 Now the priest Pashhur son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.(EW) 2 Then Pashhur struck the prophet Jeremiah and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord.(EX) 3 The next morning when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord has named you not Pashhur but ‘Terror-all-around.’ 4 For thus says the Lord: I am making you a terror to yourself and to all your friends, and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon; he shall carry them captive to Babylon and shall kill them with the sword.(EY) 5 I will give all the wealth of this city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon.(EZ) 6 And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, shall go into captivity, and to Babylon you shall go; there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.”(FA)
Jeremiah Denounces His Persecutors
7 O Lord, you have enticed me,
and I was enticed;
you have overpowered me,
and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long;
everyone mocks me.(FB)
8 For whenever I speak, I must cry out;
I must shout, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the Lord has become for me
a reproach and derision all day long.(FC)
9 If I say, “I will not mention him
or speak any more in his name,”
then within me there is something like a burning fire
shut up in my bones;
I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.(FD)
10 For I hear many whispering:
“Terror is all around!
Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
All my close friends
are watching for me to stumble.
“Perhaps he can be enticed,
and we can prevail against him
and take our revenge on him.”(FE)
11 But the Lord is with me like a terrifying warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble,
and they will not prevail.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their eternal dishonor
will never be forgotten.(FF)
12 O Lord of hosts, you test the righteous;
you see the heart and the mind;
let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.(FG)
13 Sing to the Lord;
praise the Lord!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hands of evildoers.(FH)
14 Cursed be the day
on which I was born!
The day when my mother bore me,
let it not be blessed!(FI)
15 Cursed be the man
who brought the news to my father, saying,
“A child is born to you, a son,”
making him very glad.(FJ)
16 Let that man be like the cities
that the Lord overthrew without pity;
let him hear a cry in the morning
and an alarm at noon,(FK)
17 because he did not kill me in the womb;
so my mother would have been my grave
and her womb forever pregnant.(FL)
18 Why did I come forth from the womb
to see toil and sorrow
and spend my days in shame?(FM)
Notas al pie
- 12.4 Gk: Heb to our future
- 12.12 Or the trails
- 12.13 Heb your
- 13.4 Or to Parah
- 13.5 Or by Parah
- 13.6 Or to Parah
- 13.7 Or to Parah
- 13.18 Gk Syr Vg: Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 13.24 Gk mss: Heb them
- 14.3 Gk: Heb their
- 14.6 Or the trails
- 14.18 Heb look—the sicknesses of
- 15.11 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 15.11 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 16.7 Gk: Heb break for them
- 16.18 Gk: Heb And first
- 17.2 Or Asherahs
- 17.3 Cn: Heb spoil, your high places for sin
- 17.13 Heb me
- 17.13 Or in the earth
- 17.16 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 17.25 Cn: Heb kings and officials
- 18.14 Cn: Heb of the field
- 18.14 Cn: Heb foreign
- 18.14 Cn: Heb Are . . . plucked up?
- 18.15 Gk Syr Vg: Heb they made them stumble
- 18.18 Heb strike him with the tongue
- 19.1 Syr Tg Compare Gk: Heb lacks take with you
Jeremiah 11:18-20
New International Version
Jeremiah 11:18-20
New International Version
Plot Against Jeremiah
18 Because the Lord revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing. 19 I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter;(A) I did not realize that they had plotted(B) against me, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree and its fruit;
let us cut him off from the land of the living,(C)
that his name be remembered(D) no more.”
20 But you, Lord Almighty, who judge righteously(E)
and test the heart(F) and mind,(G)
let me see your vengeance(H) on them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
21 Therefore this is what the Lord says about the people of Anathoth(I) who are threatening to kill you,(J) saying, “Do not prophesy(K) in the name of the Lord or you will die(L) by our hands”— 22 therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will punish them. Their young men(M) will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine. 23 Not even a remnant(N) will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.(O)”
Jeremiah’s Complaint
12 You are always righteous,(P) Lord,
when I bring a case(Q) before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:(R)
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?(S)
Why do all the faithless live at ease?
2 You have planted(T) them, and they have taken root;
they grow and bear fruit.(U)
You are always on their lips
but far from their hearts.(V)
3 Yet you know me, Lord;
you see me and test(W) my thoughts about you.
Drag them off like sheep(X) to be butchered!
Set them apart for the day of slaughter!(Y)
4 How long will the land lie parched(Z)
and the grass in every field be withered?(AA)
Because those who live in it are wicked,
the animals and birds have perished.(AB)
Moreover, the people are saying,
“He will not see what happens to us.”
God’s Answer
5 “If you have raced with men on foot
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble[a] in safe country,
how will you manage in the thickets(AC) by[b] the Jordan?
6 Your relatives, members of your own family—
even they have betrayed you;
they have raised a loud cry against you.(AD)
Do not trust them,
though they speak well of you.(AE)
7 “I will forsake(AF) my house,
abandon(AG) my inheritance;
I will give the one I love(AH)
into the hands of her enemies.(AI)
8 My inheritance has become to me
like a lion(AJ) in the forest.
She roars at me;
therefore I hate her.(AK)
9 Has not my inheritance become to me
like a speckled bird of prey
that other birds of prey surround and attack?
Go and gather all the wild beasts;
bring them to devour.(AL)
10 Many shepherds(AM) will ruin my vineyard
and trample down my field;
they will turn my pleasant field
into a desolate wasteland.(AN)
11 It will be made a wasteland,(AO)
parched and desolate before me;(AP)
the whole land will be laid waste
because there is no one who cares.
12 Over all the barren heights in the desert
destroyers will swarm,
for the sword(AQ) of the Lord(AR) will devour(AS)
from one end of the land to the other;(AT)
no one will be safe.(AU)
13 They will sow wheat but reap thorns;
they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.(AV)
They will bear the shame of their harvest
because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”(AW)
14 This is what the Lord says: “As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance(AX) I gave my people Israel, I will uproot(AY) them from their lands and I will uproot(AZ) the people of Judah from among them. 15 But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion(BA) and will bring(BB) each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. 16 And if they learn(BC) well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’(BD)—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal(BE)—then they will be established among my people.(BF) 17 But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy(BG) it,” declares the Lord.
A Linen Belt
13 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.” 2 So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist.
3 Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time:(BH) 4 “Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath[c](BI) and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.” 5 So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.(BJ)
6 Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.” 7 So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride(BK) of Jerusalem. 10 These wicked people, who refuse to listen(BL) to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts(BM) and go after other gods(BN) to serve and worship them,(BO) will be like this belt—completely useless!(BP) 11 For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people for my renown(BQ) and praise and honor.(BR) But they have not listened.’(BS)
Wineskins
12 “Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ 13 then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to fill with drunkenness(BT) all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. 14 I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no pity(BU) or mercy or compassion(BV) to keep me from destroying(BW) them.’”
Threat of Captivity
15 Hear and pay attention,
do not be arrogant,
for the Lord has spoken.(BX)
16 Give glory(BY) to the Lord your God
before he brings the darkness,
before your feet stumble(BZ)
on the darkening hills.
You hope for light,
but he will turn it to utter darkness
and change it to deep gloom.(CA)
17 If you do not listen,(CB)
I will weep in secret
because of your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly,
overflowing with tears,(CC)
because the Lord’s flock(CD) will be taken captive.(CE)
18 Say to the king(CF) and to the queen mother,(CG)
“Come down from your thrones,
for your glorious crowns(CH)
will fall from your heads.”
19 The cities in the Negev will be shut up,
and there will be no one to open them.
All Judah(CI) will be carried into exile,
carried completely away.
20 Look up and see
those who are coming from the north.(CJ)
Where is the flock(CK) that was entrusted to you,
the sheep of which you boasted?
21 What will you say when the Lord sets over you
those you cultivated as your special allies?(CL)
Will not pain grip you
like that of a woman in labor?(CM)
22 And if you ask yourself,
“Why has this happened to me?”(CN)—
it is because of your many sins(CO)
that your skirts have been torn off(CP)
and your body mistreated.(CQ)
23 Can an Ethiopian[d] change his skin
or a leopard its spots?
Neither can you do good
who are accustomed to doing evil.(CR)
24 “I will scatter you like chaff(CS)
driven by the desert wind.(CT)
25 This is your lot,
the portion(CU) I have decreed for you,”
declares the Lord,
“because you have forgotten(CV) me
and trusted in false gods.(CW)
26 I will pull up your skirts over your face
that your shame may be seen(CX)—
27 your adulteries and lustful neighings,
your shameless prostitution!(CY)
I have seen your detestable acts
on the hills and in the fields.(CZ)
Woe to you, Jerusalem!
How long will you be unclean?”(DA)
Drought, Famine, Sword
14 This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:(DB)
2 “Judah mourns,(DC)
her cities languish;
they wail for the land,
and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.
3 The nobles send their servants for water;
they go to the cisterns
but find no water.(DD)
They return with their jars unfilled;
dismayed and despairing,
they cover their heads.(DE)
4 The ground is cracked
because there is no rain in the land;(DF)
the farmers are dismayed
and cover their heads.
5 Even the doe in the field
deserts her newborn fawn
because there is no grass.(DG)
6 Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights(DH)
and pant like jackals;
their eyes fail
for lack of food.”(DI)
7 Although our sins testify(DJ) against us,
do something, Lord, for the sake of your name.(DK)
For we have often rebelled;(DL)
we have sinned(DM) against you.
8 You who are the hope(DN) of Israel,
its Savior(DO) in times of distress,(DP)
why are you like a stranger in the land,
like a traveler who stays only a night?
9 Why are you like a man taken by surprise,
like a warrior powerless to save?(DQ)
You are among(DR) us, Lord,
and we bear your name;(DS)
do not forsake(DT) us!
10 This is what the Lord says about this people:
“They greatly love to wander;
they do not restrain their feet.(DU)
So the Lord does not accept(DV) them;
he will now remember(DW) their wickedness
and punish them for their sins.”(DX)
11 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray(DY) for the well-being of this people. 12 Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry;(DZ) though they offer burnt offerings(EA) and grain offerings,(EB) I will not accept(EC) them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword,(ED) famine(EE) and plague.”(EF)
13 But I said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! The prophets(EG) keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine.(EH) Indeed, I will give you lasting peace(EI) in this place.’”
14 Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies(EJ) in my name. I have not sent(EK) them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions,(EL) divinations,(EM) idolatries[e] and the delusions of their own minds. 15 Therefore this is what the Lord says about the prophets who are prophesying in my name: I did not send them, yet they are saying, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ Those same prophets will perish(EN) by sword and famine.(EO) 16 And the people they are prophesying to will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and sword. There will be no one to bury(EP) them, their wives, their sons and their daughters.(EQ) I will pour out on them the calamity they deserve.(ER)
17 “Speak this word to them:
“‘Let my eyes overflow with tears(ES)
night and day without ceasing;
for the Virgin(ET) Daughter, my people,
has suffered a grievous wound,
a crushing blow.(EU)
18 If I go into the country,
I see those slain by the sword;
if I go into the city,
I see the ravages of famine.(EV)
Both prophet and priest
have gone to a land they know not.(EW)’”
19 Have you rejected Judah completely?(EX)
Do you despise Zion?
Why have you afflicted us
so that we cannot be healed?(EY)
We hoped for peace
but no good has come,
for a time of healing
but there is only terror.(EZ)
20 We acknowledge(FA) our wickedness, Lord,
and the guilt of our ancestors;(FB)
we have indeed sinned(FC) against you.
21 For the sake of your name(FD) do not despise us;
do not dishonor your glorious throne.(FE)
Remember your covenant(FF) with us
and do not break it.
22 Do any of the worthless idols(FG) of the nations bring rain?(FH)
Do the skies themselves send down showers?
No, it is you, Lord our God.
Therefore our hope is in you,
for you are the one who does all this.(FI)
15 Then the Lord said to me: “Even if Moses(FJ) and Samuel(FK) were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people.(FL) Send them away from my presence!(FM) 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;(FN)
those for starvation, to starvation;(FO)
those for captivity, to captivity.’(FP)
3 “I will send four kinds of destroyers(FQ) against them,” declares the Lord, “the sword(FR) to kill and the dogs(FS) to drag away and the birds(FT) and the wild animals to devour and destroy.(FU) 4 I will make them abhorrent(FV) to all the kingdoms of the earth(FW) because of what Manasseh(FX) son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.
5 “Who will have pity(FY) on you, Jerusalem?
Who will mourn for you?
Who will stop to ask how you are?
6 You have rejected(FZ) me,” declares the Lord.
“You keep on backsliding.
So I will reach out(GA) and destroy you;
I am tired of holding back.(GB)
7 I will winnow(GC) them with a winnowing fork
at the city gates of the land.
I will bring bereavement(GD) and destruction on my people,(GE)
for they have not changed their ways.(GF)
8 I will make their widows(GG) more numerous
than the sand of the sea.
At midday I will bring a destroyer(GH)
against the mothers of their young men;
suddenly I will bring down on them
anguish and terror.(GI)
9 The mother of seven will grow faint(GJ)
and breathe her last.(GK)
Her sun will set while it is still day;
she will be disgraced(GL) and humiliated.
I will put the survivors to the sword(GM)
before their enemies,”(GN)
declares the Lord.
10 Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth,(GO)
a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!(GP)
I have neither lent(GQ) nor borrowed,
yet everyone curses(GR) me.
11 The Lord said,
“Surely I will deliver you(GS) for a good purpose;
surely I will make your enemies plead(GT) with you
in times of disaster and times of distress.
12 “Can a man break iron—
iron from the north(GU)—or bronze?
13 “Your wealth(GV) and your treasures
I will give as plunder,(GW) without charge,(GX)
because of all your sins
throughout your country.(GY)
14 I will enslave you to your enemies
in[f] a land you do not know,(GZ)
for my anger will kindle a fire(HA)
that will burn against you.”
15 Lord, you understand;
remember me and care for me.
Avenge me on my persecutors.(HB)
You are long-suffering(HC)—do not take me away;
think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.(HD)
16 When your words came, I ate(HE) them;
they were my joy and my heart’s delight,(HF)
for I bear your name,(HG)
Lord God Almighty.
17 I never sat(HH) in the company of revelers,
never made merry with them;
I sat alone because your hand(HI) was on me
and you had filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain unending
and my wound grievous and incurable?(HJ)
You are to me like a deceptive brook,
like a spring that fails.(HK)
19 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“If you repent, I will restore you
that you may serve(HL) me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
you will be my spokesman.(HM)
Let this people turn to you,
but you must not turn to them.
20 I will make you a wall(HN) to this people,
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
but will not overcome(HO) you,
for I am with you
to rescue and save you,”(HP)
declares the Lord.
21 “I will save(HQ) you from the hands of the wicked(HR)
and deliver(HS) you from the grasp of the cruel.”(HT)
Day of Disaster
16 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “You must not marry(HU) 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:(HV) 4 “They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried(HW) but will be like dung lying on the ground.(HX) They will perish by sword and famine,(HY) and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.”(HZ)
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(IA) from this people,” declares the Lord. 6 “Both high and low will die in this land.(IB) They will not be buried or mourned,(IC) and no one will cut(ID) themselves or shave(IE) their head for the dead. 7 No one will offer food(IF) to comfort those who mourn(IG) for the dead—not even for a father or a mother—nor will anyone give them a drink to console(IH) them.
8 “And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink.(II) 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(IJ) of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride(IK) and bridegroom in this place.(IL)
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?’(IM) 11 then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped(IN) them. They forsook me and did not keep my law.(IO) 12 But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors.(IP) See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts(IQ) instead of obeying me. 13 So I will throw you out of this land(IR) into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known,(IS) and there you will serve other gods(IT) day and night, for I will show you no favor.’(IU)
14 “However, the days are coming,”(IV) declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’(IW) 15 but it will be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north(IX) and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’(IY) For I will restore(IZ) them to the land I gave their ancestors.(JA)
16 “But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch them.(JB) After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt(JC) them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks.(JD) 17 My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden(JE) from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.(JF) 18 I will repay(JG) them double(JH) for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land(JI) with the lifeless forms of their vile images(JJ) and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.(JK)”(JL)
19 Lord, my strength and my fortress,
my refuge(JM) in time of distress,
to you the nations will come(JN)
from the ends of the earth and say,
“Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods,(JO)
worthless idols(JP) that did them no good.(JQ)
20 Do people make their own gods?
Yes, but they are not gods!”(JR)
21 “Therefore I will teach them—
this time I will teach them
my power and might.
Then they will know
that my name(JS) is the Lord.
17 “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool,(JT)
inscribed with a flint point,
on the tablets of their hearts(JU)
and on the horns(JV) of their altars.
2 Even their children remember
their altars and Asherah poles[g](JW)
beside the spreading trees
and on the high hills.(JX)
3 My mountain in the land
and your[h] wealth and all your treasures
I will give away as plunder,(JY)
together with your high places,(JZ)
because of sin throughout your country.(KA)
4 Through your own fault you will lose
the inheritance(KB) I gave you.
I will enslave you to your enemies(KC)
in a land(KD) you do not know,
for you have kindled my anger,
and it will burn(KE) forever.”
5 This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,(KF)
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.(KG)
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(KH) of the desert,
in a salt(KI) land where no one lives.
7 “But blessed(KJ) is the one who trusts(KK) 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.(KL)
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought(KM)
and never fails to bear fruit.”(KN)
9 The heart(KO) is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart(KP)
and examine the mind,(KQ)
to reward(KR) each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”(KS)
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.(KT)
12 A glorious throne,(KU) exalted from the beginning,
is the place of our sanctuary.
13 Lord, you are the hope(KV) of Israel;
all who forsake(KW) you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust(KX)
because they have forsaken the Lord,
the spring of living water.(KY)
14 Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;(KZ)
save(LA) me and I will be saved,
for you are the one I praise.(LB)
15 They keep saying to me,
“Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it now be fulfilled!”(LC)
16 I have not run away from being your shepherd;
you know I have not desired the day of despair.
What passes my lips(LD) is open before you.
17 Do not be a terror(LE) to me;
you are my refuge(LF) in the day of disaster.(LG)
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.(LH)
Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy
19 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People,[i] through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem.(LI) 20 Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem(LJ) who come through these gates.(LK) 21 This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath(LL) 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.(LM) 23 Yet they did not listen or pay attention;(LN) they were stiff-necked(LO) and would not listen or respond to discipline.(LP) 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(LQ) by not doing any work on it, 25 then kings who sit on David’s throne(LR) 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.(LS) 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,(LT) 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(LU) me to keep the Sabbath(LV) 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(LW) in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.’”(LX)
At the Potter’s House
18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay(LY) in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand,(LZ) Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted,(MA) torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent(MB) and not inflict on it the disaster(MC) I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built(MD) up and planted, 10 and if it does evil(ME) in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider(MF) the good I had intended to do for it.(MG)
11 “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster(MH) for you and devising a plan(MI) against you. So turn(MJ) from your evil ways,(MK) each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’(ML) 12 But they will reply, ‘It’s no use.(MM) We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.(MN)’”
13 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“Inquire among the nations:
Who has ever heard anything like this?(MO)
A most horrible(MP) thing has been done
by Virgin(MQ) Israel.
14 Does the snow of Lebanon
ever vanish from its rocky slopes?
Do its cool waters from distant sources
ever stop flowing?[j]
15 Yet my people have forgotten(MR) me;
they burn incense(MS) to worthless idols,(MT)
which made them stumble(MU) in their ways,
in the ancient paths.(MV)
They made them walk in byways,
on roads not built up.(MW)
16 Their land will be an object of horror(MX)
and of lasting scorn;(MY)
all who pass by will be appalled(MZ)
and will shake their heads.(NA)
17 Like a wind(NB) from the east,
I will scatter them before their enemies;
I will show them my back and not my face(NC)
in the day of their disaster.”
18 They said, “Come, let’s make plans(ND) against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest(NE) will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise,(NF) nor the word from the prophets.(NG) So come, let’s attack him with our tongues(NH) and pay no attention to anything he says.”
19 Listen to me, Lord;
hear what my accusers(NI) are saying!
20 Should good be repaid with evil?(NJ)
Yet they have dug a pit(NK) for me.
Remember that I stood(NL) before you
and spoke in their behalf(NM)
to turn your wrath away from them.
21 So give their children over to famine;(NN)
hand them over to the power of the sword.(NO)
Let their wives be made childless and widows;(NP)
let their men be put to death,
their young men(NQ) slain by the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry(NR) be heard from their houses
when you suddenly bring invaders against them,
for they have dug a pit(NS) to capture me
and have hidden snares(NT) for my feet.
23 But you, Lord, know
all their plots to kill(NU) me.
Do not forgive(NV) their crimes
or blot out their sins from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
deal with them in the time of your anger.(NW)
19 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter.(NX) Take along some of the elders(NY) of the people and of the priests 2 and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom,(NZ) near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, 3 and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings(OA) of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster(OB) on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.(OC) 4 For they have forsaken(OD) me and made this a place of foreign gods(OE); they have burned incense(OF) in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.(OG) 5 They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children(OH) in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.(OI) 6 So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth(OJ) or the Valley of Ben Hinnom,(OK) but the Valley of Slaughter.(OL)
7 “‘In this place I will ruin[k] the plans(OM) of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies,(ON) at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses(OO) as food(OP) to the birds and the wild animals. 8 I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn;(OQ) all who pass by will be appalled(OR) and will scoff because of all its wounds.(OS) 9 I will make them eat(OT) the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies(OU) will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.’
10 “Then break the jar(OV) while those who go with you are watching, 11 and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash(OW) this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury(OX) the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. 12 This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the Lord. I will make this city like Topheth. 13 The houses(OY) in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled(OZ) like this place, Topheth—all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs(PA) to all the starry hosts(PB) and poured out drink offerings(PC) to other gods.’”
14 Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court(PD) of the Lord’s temple and said to all the people, 15 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster(PE) I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked(PF) and would not listen(PG) to my words.’”
Jeremiah and Pashhur
20 When the priest Pashhur son of Immer,(PH) the official(PI) in charge of the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, 2 he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten(PJ) and put in the stocks(PK) at the Upper Gate of Benjamin(PL) at the Lord’s temple. 3 The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord’s name(PM) for you is not Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side.(PN) 4 For this is what the Lord says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; with your own eyes(PO) you will see them fall by the sword of their enemies. I will give(PP) all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon, who will carry(PQ) them away to Babylon or put them to the sword. 5 I will deliver all the wealth(PR) of this city into the hands of their enemies—all its products, all its valuables and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. They will take it away(PS) as plunder and carry it off to Babylon. 6 And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into exile to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied(PT) lies.’”
Jeremiah’s Complaint
7 You deceived[l](PU) me, Lord, and I was deceived[m];
you overpowered(PV) me and prevailed.
I am ridiculed(PW) all day long;
everyone mocks(PX) me.
8 Whenever I speak, I cry out
proclaiming violence and destruction.(PY)
So the word of the Lord has brought me
insult and reproach(PZ) all day long.
9 But if I say, “I will not mention his word
or speak anymore in his name,”(QA)
his word is in my heart like a fire,(QB)
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;(QC)
indeed, I cannot.
10 I hear many whispering,
“Terror(QD) on every side!
Denounce(QE) him! Let’s denounce him!”
All my friends(QF)
are waiting for me to slip,(QG) saying,
“Perhaps he will be deceived;
then we will prevail(QH) over him
and take our revenge(QI) on him.”
11 But the Lord(QJ) is with me like a mighty warrior;
so my persecutors(QK) will stumble and not prevail.(QL)
They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced;(QM)
their dishonor will never be forgotten.
12 Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous
and probe the heart and mind,(QN)
let me see your vengeance(QO) on them,
for to you I have committed(QP) my cause.
13 Sing(QQ) to the Lord!
Give praise to the Lord!
He rescues(QR) the life of the needy
from the hands of the wicked.(QS)
14 Cursed be the day I was born!(QT)
May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!
15 Cursed be the man who brought my father the news,
who made him very glad, saying,
“A child is born to you—a son!”
16 May that man be like the towns(QU)
the Lord overthrew without pity.
May he hear wailing(QV) in the morning,
a battle cry at noon.
17 For he did not kill me in the womb,(QW)
with my mother as my grave,
her womb enlarged forever.
18 Why did I ever come out of the womb(QX)
to see trouble(QY) and sorrow
and to end my days in shame?(QZ)
Notas al pie
- Jeremiah 12:5 Or you feel secure only
- Jeremiah 12:5 Or the flooding of
- Jeremiah 13:4 Or possibly to the Euphrates; similarly in verses 5-7
- Jeremiah 13:23 Hebrew Cushite (probably a person from the upper Nile region)
- Jeremiah 14:14 Or visions, worthless divinations
- 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
- Jeremiah 18:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.
- Jeremiah 19:7 The Hebrew for ruin sounds like the Hebrew for jar (see verses 1 and 10).
- Jeremiah 20:7 Or persuaded
- Jeremiah 20:7 Or persuaded
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