Jeremiah 16:19-17:14

English Standard Version

¹⁹^(A)O Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
    ^(B)my refuge in the day of trouble,
^(C)to you shall the nations come
    from the ends of the earth and say:
“Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies,
    ^(D)worthless things in which there is no profit.
²⁰Can man make for himself ^(E)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 ^(F)my name is the Lord.”

The Sin of Judah

17 “The sin of Judah is written with ^(G)a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on ^(H)the tablet of their heart, and on ^(I)the horns of their altars, ²while ^(J)their children remember their altars and their ^(K)Asherim, ^(L)beside every green tree and on the high hills, ³^(M)on the mountains in the open country. ^(N)Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory. ⁴You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, ^(O)and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, ^(P)for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”

⁵Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man ^(Q)who trusts in man
    and makes flesh his strength,^[a]
    whose heart turns away from the Lord.
⁶^(R)He is like a shrub in the desert,
    ^(S)and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
    in ^(T)an uninhabited salt land.

⁷^(U)“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    ^(V)whose trust is the Lord.
⁸^(W)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.”

⁹The heart is deceitful above all things,
    and desperately sick;
    who can understand it?
¹⁰^(X)“I the Lord search the heart
    ^(Y)and test the mind,^[b]
^(Z)to give every man according to his ways,
    according to the fruit of his deeds.”

¹¹Like the ^(AA)partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch,
so is ^(AB)he who gets riches but not by justice;
^(AC)in the midst of his days they will leave him,
^(AD)and at his end he will be a fool.

¹²A glorious throne set on high from the beginning
    is the place of our sanctuary.
¹³O Lord, ^(AE)the hope of Israel,
    ^(AF)all who forsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you^[c] ^(AG)shall be written in the earth,
    for ^(AH)they have forsaken ^(AI)the Lord, the fountain of living water.