Jeremiah 17
The Message
The Heart Is Hopelessly Dark and Deceitful
17 1-2 “Judah’s sin is engraved
with a steel chisel,
A steel chisel with a diamond point—
engraved on their granite hearts,
engraved on the stone corners of their altars.
The evidence against them is plain to see:
sex-and-religion altars and sacred sex shrines
Anywhere there’s a grove of trees,
anywhere there’s an available hill.
3-4 “I’ll use your mountains as roadside stands
for giving away everything you have.
All your ‘things’ will serve as reparations
for your sins all over the country.
You’ll lose your gift of land,
The inheritance I gave you.
I’ll make you slaves of your enemies
in a far-off and strange land.
My anger is hot and blazing and fierce,
and no one will put it out.”
* * *
5-6 God’s Message:
“Cursed is the strong one
who depends on mere humans,
Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone
and sets God aside as dead weight.
He’s like a tumbleweed on the prairie,
out of touch with the good earth.
He lives rootless and aimless
in a land where nothing grows.
7-8 “But blessed is the man who trusts me, God,
the woman who sticks with God.
They’re like trees replanted in Eden,
putting down roots near the rivers—
Never a worry through the hottest of summers,
never dropping a leaf,
Serene and calm through droughts,
bearing fresh fruit every season.
* * *
9-10 “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful,
a puzzle that no one can figure out.
But I, God, search the heart
and examine the mind.
I get to the heart of the human.
I get to the root of things.
I treat them as they really are,
not as they pretend to be.”
* * *
11 Like a cowbird that cheats by laying its eggs
in another bird’s nest
Is the person who gets rich by cheating.
When the eggs hatch, the deceit is exposed.
What a fool he’ll look like then!
* * *
12-13 From early on your Sanctuary was set high,
a throne of glory, exalted!
O God, you’re the hope of Israel.
All who leave you end up as fools,
Deserters with nothing to show for their lives,
who walk off from God, fountain of living waters—
and wind up dead!
* * *
14-18 God, pick up the pieces.
Put me back together again.
You are my praise!
Listen to how they talk about me:
“So where’s this ‘Word of God’?
We’d like to see something happen!”
But it wasn’t my idea to call for Doomsday.
I never wanted trouble.
You know what I’ve said.
It’s all out in the open before you.
Don’t add to my troubles.
Give me some relief!
Let those who harass me be harassed, not me.
Let them be disgraced, not me.
Bring down upon them the day of doom.
Lower the boom. Boom!
Keep the Sabbath Day Holy
19-20 God’s Message to me: “Go stand in the People’s Gate, the one used by Judah’s kings as they come and go, and then proceed in turn to all the gates of Jerusalem. Tell them, ‘Listen, you kings of Judah, listen to God’s Message—and all you people who go in and out of these gates, you listen!
21-23 “‘This is God’s Message. Be careful, if you care about your lives, not to desecrate the Sabbath by turning it into just another workday, lugging stuff here and there. Don’t use the Sabbath to do business as usual. Keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors. They never did it, as you know. They paid no attention to what I said and went about their own business, refusing to be guided or instructed by me.
24-26 “‘But now, take seriously what I tell you. Quit desecrating the Sabbath by busily going about your own work, and keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing business as usual. Then kings from the time of David and their officials will continue to ride through these gates on horses or in chariots. The people of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem will continue to pass through them, too. Jerusalem will always be filled with people. People will stream in from all over Judah, from the province of Benjamin, from the Jerusalem suburbs, from foothills and mountains and deserts. They’ll come to worship, bringing all kinds of offerings—animals, grains, incense, expressions of thanks—into the Sanctuary of God.
27 “‘But if you won’t listen to me, won’t keep the Sabbath holy, won’t quit using the Sabbath for doing your own work, busily going in and out of the city gates on your self-important business, then I’ll burn the gates down. In fact, I’ll burn the whole city down, palaces and all, with a fire nobody will be able to put out!’”
Jeremiah 17
English Standard Version
The Sin of Judah
17 “The sin of Judah is written with (A)a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on (B)the tablet of their heart, and on (C)the horns of their altars, 2 while (D)their children remember their altars and their (E)Asherim, (F)beside every green tree and on the high hills, 3 (G)on the mountains in the open country. (H)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, (I)and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, (J)for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”
5 Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man (K)who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,[a]
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 (L)He is like a shrub in the desert,
(M)and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in (N)an uninhabited salt land.
7 (O)“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
(P)whose trust is the Lord.
8 (Q)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 (R)“I the Lord search the heart
(S)and test the mind,[b]
(T)to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”
11 Like the (U)partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch,
so is (V)he who gets riches but not by justice;
(W)in the midst of his days they will leave him,
(X)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, (Y)the hope of Israel,
(Z)all who forsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you[c] (AA)shall be written in the earth,
for (AB)they have forsaken (AC)the Lord, the fountain of living water.
Jeremiah Prays for Deliverance
14 (AD)Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
save me, and I shall be saved,
for (AE)you are my praise.
15 (AF)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.
(AG)You know (AH)what came out of my lips;
it was before your face.
17 Be not a terror to me;
(AI)you are my refuge in the day of disaster.
18 (AJ)Let those be put to shame who persecute me,
but let me not be put to shame;
(AK)let them be dismayed,
but let me not be dismayed;
(AL)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 (AM)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, (AN)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 (AO)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 (AP)or do any work, but (AQ)keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. 23 Yet (AR)they did not listen or incline their ear, (AS)but stiffened their neck, that they (AT)might not hear and receive instruction.
24 “‘But if you listen to me, declares the Lord, and (AU)bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but (AV)keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it, 25 then (AW)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 (AX)the cities of Judah (AY)and the places around Jerusalem, (AZ)from the land of Benjamin, (BA)from the Shephelah, from the hill country, (BB)and from (BC)the Negeb, bringing (BD)burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and (BE)bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord. 27 But if you do not listen to me, to (BF)keep the Sabbath day holy, (BG)and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will (BH)kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall (BI)devour the palaces of Jerusalem and (BJ)shall not be quenched.’”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 17:5 Hebrew arm
- Jeremiah 17:10 Hebrew kidneys
- Jeremiah 17:13 Hebrew me
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
