Jeremiah 17-19

New International Version

17 “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool,^(A)
    inscribed with a flint point,
on the tablets of their hearts^(B)
    and on the horns^(C) of their altars.
²Even their children remember
    their altars and Asherah poles^[a]^(D)
beside the spreading trees
    and on the high hills.^(E)
³My mountain in the land
    and your^[b] wealth and all your treasures
I will give away as plunder,^(F)
    together with your high places,^(G)
    because of sin throughout your country.^(H)
⁴Through your own fault you will lose
    the inheritance^(I) I gave you.
I will enslave you to your enemies^(J)
    in a land^(K) you do not know,
for you have kindled my anger,
    and it will burn^(L) forever.”

⁵This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,^(M)
    who draws strength from mere flesh
    and whose heart turns away from the Lord.^(N)
⁶That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
    they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places^(O) of the desert,
    in a salt^(P) land where no one lives.

⁷“But blessed^(Q) is the one who trusts^(R) in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
⁸They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.^(S)
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought^(T)
    and never fails to bear fruit.”^(U)

⁹The heart^(V) is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

¹⁰“I the Lord search the heart^(W)
and examine the mind,^(X)
to reward^(Y) each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”^(Z)

¹¹Like 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.^(AA)

¹²A glorious throne,^(AB) exalted from the beginning,
    is the place of our sanctuary.
¹³Lord, you are the hope^(AC) of Israel;
    all who forsake^(AD) you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust^(AE)
    because they have forsaken the Lord,
    the spring of living water.^(AF)

¹⁴Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;^(AG)
    save^(AH) me and I will be saved,
    for you are the one I praise.^(AI)
¹⁵They keep saying to me,
    “Where is the word of the Lord?
    Let it now be fulfilled!”^(AJ)
¹⁶I have not run away from being your shepherd;
    you know I have not desired the day of despair.
    What passes my lips^(AK) is open before you.
¹⁷Do not be a terror^(AL) to me;
    you are my refuge^(AM) in the day of disaster.^(AN)
¹⁸Let 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.^(AO)

Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

¹⁹This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People,^[c] through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem.^(AP) ²⁰Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem^(AQ) who come through these gates.^(AR) ²¹This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath^(AS) day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. ²²Do 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.^(AT) ²³Yet they did not listen or pay attention;^(AU) they were stiff-necked^(AV) and would not listen or respond to discipline.^(AW) ²⁴But 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^(AX) by not doing any work on it, ²⁵then kings who sit on David’s throne^(AY) 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.^(AZ) ²⁶People 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,^(BA) bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord. ²⁷But if you do not obey^(BB) me to keep the Sabbath^(BC) 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^(BD) in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.’”^(BE)

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.” ³So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴But 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.

⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me. ⁶He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay^(BF) in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand,^(BG) Israel. ⁷If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted,^(BH) torn down and destroyed, ⁸and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent^(BI) and not inflict on it the disaster^(BJ) I had planned. ⁹And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built^(BK) up and planted, ¹⁰and if it does evil^(BL) in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider^(BM) the good I had intended to do for it.^(BN)

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^(BO) for you and devising a plan^(BP) against you. So turn^(BQ) from your evil ways,^(BR) each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’^(BS) ¹²But they will reply, ‘It’s no use.^(BT) We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.^(BU)’”

¹³Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“Inquire among the nations:
    Who has ever heard anything like this?^(BV)
A most horrible^(BW) thing has been done
    by Virgin^(BX) Israel.
¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon
    ever vanish from its rocky slopes?
Do its cool waters from distant sources
    ever stop flowing?^[d]
¹⁵Yet my people have forgotten^(BY) me;
    they burn incense^(BZ) to worthless idols,^(CA)
which made them stumble^(CB) in their ways,
    in the ancient paths.^(CC)
They made them walk in byways,
    on roads not built up.^(CD)
¹⁶Their land will be an object of horror^(CE)
    and of lasting scorn;^(CF)
all who pass by will be appalled^(CG)
    and will shake their heads.^(CH)
¹⁷Like a wind^(CI) from the east,
    I will scatter them before their enemies;
I will show them my back and not my face^(CJ)
    in the day of their disaster.”

¹⁸They said, “Come, let’s make plans^(CK) against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest^(CL) will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise,^(CM) nor the word from the prophets.^(CN) So come, let’s attack him with our tongues^(CO) and pay no attention to anything he says.”

¹⁹Listen to me, Lord;
    hear what my accusers^(CP) are saying!
²⁰Should good be repaid with evil?^(CQ)
    Yet they have dug a pit^(CR) for me.
Remember that I stood^(CS) before you
    and spoke in their behalf^(CT)
    to turn your wrath away from them.
²¹So give their children over to famine;^(CU)
    hand them over to the power of the sword.^(CV)
Let their wives be made childless and widows;^(CW)
    let their men be put to death,
    their young men^(CX) slain by the sword in battle.
²²Let a cry^(CY) be heard from their houses
    when you suddenly bring invaders against them,
for they have dug a pit^(CZ) to capture me
    and have hidden snares^(DA) for my feet.
²³But you, Lord, know
    all their plots to kill^(DB) me.
Do not forgive^(DC) 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.^(DD)

19 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter.^(DE) Take along some of the elders^(DF) of the people and of the priests ²and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom,^(DG) near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, ³and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings^(DH) 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^(DI) on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.^(DJ) ⁴For they have forsaken^(DK) me and made this a place of foreign gods^(DL); they have burned incense^(DM) 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.^(DN) ⁵They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children^(DO) in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.^(DP) ⁶So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth^(DQ) or the Valley of Ben Hinnom,^(DR) but the Valley of Slaughter.^(DS)

⁷“‘In this place I will ruin^[e] the plans^(DT) of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies,^(DU) at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses^(DV) as food^(DW) to the birds and the wild animals. ⁸I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn;^(DX) all who pass by will be appalled^(DY) and will scoff because of all its wounds.^(DZ) ⁹I will make them eat^(EA) the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies^(EB) will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.’

¹⁰“Then break the jar^(EC) while those who go with you are watching, ¹¹and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash^(ED) this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury^(EE) the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. ¹²This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the Lord. I will make this city like Topheth. ¹³The houses^(EF) in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled^(EG) like this place, Topheth—all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs^(EH) to all the starry hosts^(EI) and poured out drink offerings^(EJ) to other gods.’”

¹⁴Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court^(EK) 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^(EL) I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked^(EM) and would not listen^(EN) to my words.’”

Footnotes

Jeremiah 17:2 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah
Jeremiah 17:3 Or hills / ³and 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 25

New International Version

Seventy Years of Captivity

25 The word came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim^(A) son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar^(B) king of Babylon. ²So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah^(C) and to all those living in Jerusalem: ³For twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah^(D) son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again,^(E) but you have not listened.^(F)

⁴And though the Lord has sent all his servants the prophets^(G) to you again and again, you have not listened or paid any attention.^(H) ⁵They said, “Turn^(I) now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land^(J) the Lord gave to you and your ancestors for ever and ever. ⁶Do not follow other gods^(K) to serve and worship them; do not arouse my anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.”

⁷“But you did not listen to me,” declares the Lord, “and you have aroused^(L) my anger with what your hands have made,^(M) and you have brought harm^(N) to yourselves.”

⁸Therefore the Lord Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words, ⁹I will summon^(O) all the peoples of the north^(P) and my servant^(Q) Nebuchadnezzar^(R) king of Babylon,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy^[a]^(S) them and make them an object of horror and scorn,^(T) and an everlasting ruin.^(U) ¹⁰I will banish from them the sounds^(V) of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom,^(W) the sound of millstones^(X) and the light of the lamp.^(Y) ¹¹This whole country will become a desolate wasteland,^(Z) and these nations will serve^(AA) the king of Babylon seventy years.^(AB)

¹²“But when the seventy years^(AC) are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon^(AD) and his nation, the land of the Babylonians,^[b] for their guilt,” declares the Lord, “and will make it desolate^(AE) forever. ¹³I will bring on that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written^(AF) in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. ¹⁴They themselves will be enslaved^(AG) by many nations^(AH) and great kings; I will repay^(AI) them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

The Cup of God’s Wrath

¹⁵This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup^(AJ) filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send^(AK) you drink it. ¹⁶When they drink^(AL) it, they will stagger^(AM) and go mad^(AN) because of the sword^(AO) I will send among them.”

¹⁷So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations to whom he sent^(AP) me drink it: ¹⁸Jerusalem^(AQ) and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a ruin^(AR) and an object of horror and scorn,^(AS) a curse^[c]^(AT)—as they are today;^(AU) ¹⁹Pharaoh king^(AV) of Egypt,^(AW) his attendants, his officials and all his people, ²⁰and all the foreign people there; all the kings of Uz;^(AX) all the kings of the Philistines^(AY) (those of Ashkelon,^(AZ) Gaza,^(BA) Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod); ²¹Edom,^(BB) Moab^(BC) and Ammon;^(BD) ²²all the kings of Tyre^(BE) and Sidon;^(BF) the kings of the coastlands^(BG) across the sea; ²³Dedan,^(BH) Tema,^(BI) Buz^(BJ) and all who are in distant places^[d];^(BK) ²⁴all the kings of Arabia^(BL) and all the kings of the foreign people^(BM) who live in the wilderness; ²⁵all the kings of Zimri,^(BN) Elam^(BO) and Media;^(BP) ²⁶and all the kings of the north,^(BQ) near and far, one after the other—all the kingdoms^(BR) on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshak^[e]^(BS) will drink it too.

²⁷“Then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk^(BT) and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword^(BU) I will send among you.’ ²⁸But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink^(BV), tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: You must drink it! ²⁹See, I am beginning to bring disaster^(BW) on the city that bears my Name,^(BX) and will you indeed go unpunished?^(BY) You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword^(BZ) on all^(CA) who live on the earth,^(CB) declares the Lord Almighty.’

³⁰“Now prophesy all these words against them and say to them:

“‘The Lord will roar^(CC) from on high;
    he will thunder^(CD) from his holy dwelling^(CE)
    and roar mightily against his land.
He will shout like those who tread^(CF) the grapes,
    shout against all who live on the earth.
³¹The tumult^(CG) will resound to the ends of the earth,
    for the Lord will bring charges^(CH) against the nations;
he will bring judgment^(CI) on all^(CJ) mankind
    and put the wicked to the sword,^(CK)’”
declares the Lord.

³²This is what the Lord Almighty says:

“Look! Disaster^(CL) is spreading
from nation to nation;^(CM)
a mighty storm^(CN) is rising
from the ends of the earth.”^(CO)

³³At that time those slain^(CP) by the Lord will be everywhere—from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered^(CQ) up or buried,^(CR) but will be like dung lying on the ground.

³⁴Weep and wail, you shepherds;^(CS)
    roll^(CT) in the dust, you leaders of the flock.
For your time to be slaughtered^(CU) has come;
    you will fall like the best of the rams.^[f]^(CV)
³⁵The shepherds will have nowhere to flee,
    the leaders of the flock no place to escape.^(CW)
³⁶Hear the cry^(CX) of the shepherds,^(CY)
    the wailing of the leaders of the flock,
    for the Lord is destroying their pasture.
³⁷The peaceful meadows will be laid waste
    because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
³⁸Like a lion^(CZ) he will leave his lair,
    and their land will become desolate^(DA)
because of the sword^[g] of the oppressor^(DB)
    and because of the Lord’s fierce anger.^(DC)

Footnotes

Jeremiah 25:9 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
Jeremiah 25:12 Or Chaldeans
Jeremiah 25:18 That is, their names to be used in cursing (see 29:22); or, to be seen by others as cursed
Jeremiah 25:23 Or who clip the hair by their foreheads
Jeremiah 25:26 Sheshak is a cryptogram for Babylon.
Jeremiah 25:34 Septuagint; Hebrew fall and be shattered like fine pottery
Jeremiah 25:38 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (see also 46:16 and 50:16); most Hebrew manuscripts anger