Jeremiah 17-18
GOD’S WORD Translation
17 ⌞The Lord says,⌟ “Judah’s sin is written with an iron pen.
It is engraved with a diamond point
on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.
2 Even their children remember their altars
and their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah
beside large trees on high hills
3 and on mountains in the open country.[a]
I will turn your wealth and all your treasures into loot.
I will do this because of your worship sites and your sin
throughout all your territory.
4 You will lose the inheritance that I gave you.
I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you haven’t heard of.
I will do this because you have stirred up the fire of my anger.
It will burn forever.
5 “This is what the Lord says:
Cursed is the person who trusts humans,
who makes flesh and blood his strength
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 He will be like a bush in the wilderness.
He will not see when something good comes.
He will live in the dry places in the desert,
in a salty land where no one can live.
7 Blessed is the person who trusts the Lord.
The Lord will be his confidence.
8 He will be like a tree that is planted by water.
It will send its roots down to a stream.
It will not be afraid in the heat of summer.
Its leaves will turn green.
It will not be anxious during droughts.
It will not stop producing fruit.
9 “The human mind is the most deceitful of all things. It is incurable.
No one can understand how deceitful it is.
10 I, the Lord, search minds and test hearts.
I will reward each person for what he has done.
I will reward him for the results of his actions.
11 A person who gets rich dishonestly is like a partridge
that hatches eggs it did not lay.
During his lifetime, he will lose his wealth.
In the end, he will be a godless fool.”
12 Our holy place is a glorious throne,
highly honored from the beginning.
13 O Lord, the Hope of Israel, all who abandon you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be written in dust,
because they abandon the Lord,
the fountain of life-giving water.
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed.
Rescue me, and I will be rescued.
You are the one I praise.
15 People keep asking me,
“Where is the Lord’s word?
Let it come.”
16 I have not run away from being your shepherd,
and I have not longed for the day of destruction.
You know what came out of my mouth.
17 Do not terrorize me.
You are my refuge on the day of disaster.
18 Put my persecutors to shame,
but do not let me be put to shame.
Terrify them,
but do not let me be terrified.
Bring the day of disaster on them,
and destroy them completely.
The Blessing That Comes from Observing the Day of Rest as a Holy Day
19 This is what the Lord said to me: Stand at People’s Gate, where the kings of Judah go in and out. Then stand at every gate in Jerusalem. 20 Tell everyone: “Listen to the Lord’s word, you kings of Judah, all the people of Judah, and all those who live in Jerusalem, and go through these gates. 21 This is what the Lord says: Watch out! If you value your lives, do not carry anything on the day of rest—a holy day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. 22 Do not bring anything out of your homes on the day of rest. Do not do any work, but observe the day of rest as a holy day, as I told your ancestors. 23 Your ancestors did not obey me or pay attention to me. They were impossible to deal with and would not listen or accept discipline.
24 “Now,” declares the Lord, “you must listen to me and not bring anything through the gates of this city on the day of rest. You must observe the day of rest as a holy day by not doing any work on it. 25 If you do this, then the kings and princes who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this city. They and their princes will ride in chariots and on horses along with the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem. This city will always have people living in it.
26 “People will come from the cities of Judah, from all around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin, from the foothills, from the mountains, and from the Negev. They will bring burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and incense. They will also bring thank offerings to the Lord’s temple. 27 But you must listen to me and observe the day of rest as a holy day by not carrying anything through the gates of Jerusalem on the day of rest. If you don’t do this, I will set its gates on fire. The fire will burn down the palaces in Jerusalem, and you won’t be able to put it out.”
The People of Israel Are Like Clay for a Potter
18 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “Go to the potter’s house. There I will give you my message.”
3 I went to the potter’s house, and he was working there at his wheel. 4 Whenever a clay pot he was working on was ruined, he would rework it into a new clay pot the way he wanted to make it.
5 The Lord spoke his word to me. The Lord asked, 6 “Nation of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter does with clay? Nation of Israel, you are like the clay in the potter’s hands.
7 “At one time I may threaten to tear up, break down, and destroy a nation or a kingdom. 8 But suppose the nation that I threatened turns away from doing wrong. Then I will change my plans about the disaster I planned to do to it.
9 “At another time I may promise to build and plant a nation or a kingdom. 10 But suppose that nation does what I consider evil and doesn’t obey me. Then I will change my plans about the good that I promised to do to it.
11 “Now say to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: I’m going to prepare a disaster and make plans against you. Turn from your evil ways, change your lives, and do good.’
12 “But they will answer, ‘It’s useless! We’ll live the way we want to. We’ll go our own stubborn, evil ways.’
13 “This is what the Lord says:
Ask among the nations if anyone has ever heard anything like this.
The people of Israel have done a very horrible thing.
14 The rocky slopes of Lebanon are never without snow.
The cool mountain streams never dry up.
15 But my people have forgotten me.
They burn incense as an offering to worthless idols,
and they stumble along the way, on the ancient path.
They go on side roads and not on major highways.
16 Their land will become desolate
and something to be hissed at forever.
Everyone who will pass by it will be stunned and shake his head.
17 Like the east wind I will scatter them in front of the enemy.
On the day of their disaster,
I will show them my back, not my face.”
18 Then they said, “Let’s plot against Jeremiah, because the teachings of the priests, the advice of wise people, and the word of the prophets won’t disappear. Accuse him! Pay no attention to anything he says.”
19 Pay attention to me, O Lord,
and listen to what my accusers say.
20 Good should not be paid back with evil.
They dig a pit to take my life.
Remember how I stood in your presence and pleaded for them
in order to turn your anger away from them.
21 Now, hand their children over to famine.
Pour out their ⌞blood⌟ by using your sword.
Then their wives will become childless widows.
Their husbands will be put to death.
Their young men will be struck down in battle.
22 Make them cry out from their homes
when you suddenly send troops against them,
because they dug a pit to catch me and hid snares for my feet.
23 But you, O Lord, know that they plan to kill me.
Don’t forgive their crimes.
Don’t wipe their sins out of your sight.
Make them stumble in your presence.
Deal with them when you get angry.
Footnotes
- 17:3 Greek; Masoretic Text “on my mountain.”
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