Jeremiah 17-20

New American Standard Bible

The Deceitful Heart

17 The ^(A)sin of Judah is written with an ^(B)iron stylus;
With a diamond point it is ^(C)engraved on the tablet of their hearts
And on the horns of ^[a]their altars,
²As they remember their ^(D)children,
So they remember their altars and their ^[b]^(E)Asherim
By ^(F)green trees on the high hills.
³^(G)Mountain of Mine in the countryside,
I will ^(H)turn over your wealth and all your treasures as plunder,
Your high places for sin throughout your borders.
⁴And you will, even of yourself, ^(I)let go of your inheritance
That I gave you;
And I will make you serve your ^(J)enemies
In the ^(K)land which you do not know;
For you have ^(L)kindled a fire in My anger
Which will burn forever.

⁵This is what the Lord says:
“^(M)Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes ^(N)flesh his ^[c]strength,
And whose heart turns away from the Lord.
⁶For he will be like a ^(O)bush in the desert,
And will not see when prosperity comes,
But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,
A ^(P)land of salt that is not inhabited.
⁷^(Q)Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
And whose ^(R)trust is the Lord.
⁸For he will be like a ^(S)tree planted by the water
That extends its roots by a stream,
And does not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of ^(T)drought,
Nor cease to yield fruit.

⁹“The ^(U)heart is more ^(V)deceitful than all else
And is desperately ^(W)sick;
Who can understand it?
¹⁰I, the Lord, ^(X)search the heart,
I test the ^[d]mind,
^(Y)To give to each person according to his ways,
According to the ^[e]results of his deeds.
¹¹As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid,
So is a person who ^(Z)makes a fortune, but unjustly;
In the middle of his days it will abandon him,
And in ^[f]the end he will be a ^(AA)fool.”

¹²^(AB)A glorious throne on high from the beginning
Is the place of our sanctuary.
¹³Lord, the ^(AC)hope of Israel,
All who ^(AD)abandon You will be put to shame.
Those who turn ^[g]away on earth will be ^(AE)written down,
Because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, that is the Lord.
¹⁴^(AF)Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;
^(AG)Save me and I will be saved,
For You are my ^(AH)praise.
¹⁵Look, they keep ^(AI)saying to me,
“Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it come now!”
¹⁶But as for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd following after You,
Nor have I longed for the disastrous day;
^(AJ)You Yourself know that the utterance of my lips
Was in Your presence.
¹⁷Do not be a ^(AK)terror to me;
You are my ^(AL)refuge in a day of disaster.
¹⁸Let those who persecute me be ^(AM)put to shame, but as for me, ^(AN)let me not be put to shame;
Let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed.
^(AO)Bring on them a day of disaster,
And crush them with double destruction!

The Sabbath Must Be Kept

¹⁹This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the ^[h]public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, as well as at all the gates of Jerusalem; ²⁰and say to them, ‘^(AP)Listen to the word of the Lord, you ^(AQ)kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all inhabitants of Jerusalem who come in through these gates. ²¹This is what the Lord says: “^(AR)Take care for yourselves, and ^(AS)do not carry any ^[i]load on the Sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem. ²²You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day ^(AT)nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, just as I ^(AU)commanded your ^[j]forefathers. ²³Yet they ^(AV)did not listen or incline their ears, but ^(AW)stiffened their necks so as not to listen or accept discipline.

²⁴“But it will come about, if you ^(AX)give your attention to Me,” declares the Lord, “to ^(AY)bring no load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, ^(AZ)but to keep the Sabbath day holy by doing no work on it, ²⁵^(BA)then there will come in through the gates of this city kings and officials ^(BB)sitting 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 ^(BC)city will be inhabited forever. ²⁶They will come in from the ^(BD)cities of Judah and from the areas surrounding Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the ^(BE)lowland, from the hill country, and from the ^(BF)Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of the Lord. ²⁷But ^(BG)if you do not listen to Me, to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then ^(BH)I will set fire to its gates, and it will ^(BI)devour the palaces of Jerusalem and ^(BJ)not go out.”’”

The Potter and the Clay

18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ²“Arise and ^(BK)go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” ³So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. ⁴But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.

⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁶“Am I not able, house of Israel, to deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the ^(BL)clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel. ⁷At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to ^(BM)uproot it, to tear it down, or to destroy it; ⁸^(BN)if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will ^(BO)relent of the disaster that I planned to bring on it. ⁹Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to ^(BP)build up or to plant it; ¹⁰if it does ^(BQ)evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will ^(BR)relent of the good with which I said ^[k]that I would bless it. ¹¹So now, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Behold, I am ^(BS)forming a disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Now ^(BT)turn back, each of you from his evil way, and ^[l]correct your ways and your deeds!”’ ¹²But ^(BU)they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will ^[m]persist in the ^(BV)stubbornness of his evil heart.’

¹³“Therefore this is what the Lord says:
‘^(BW)Just ask among the nations,
Who ever heard anything like ^[n]this?
The ^(BX)virgin of Israel
Has done a most ^(BY)appalling thing.
¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon leave the rock of the open country alone?
Or is the cold flowing water from a foreign land ever dried up?
¹⁵For ^(BZ)My people have forgotten Me,
^(CA)They burn incense ^[o]to worthless gods.
And they ^[p]have stumbled in their ways,
In the ^(CB)ancient roads,
To walk on paths,
Not on a ^(CC)highway,
¹⁶To make their land a ^(CD)desolation,
An object of perpetual ^(CE)hissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And ^(CF)shake his head.
¹⁷Like an ^(CG)east wind I will ^(CH)scatter them
Before the enemy;
I will ^[q]show them ^(CI)My back and not My face
^(CJ)In the day of their disaster.’”

¹⁸Then they said, “Come and let’s ^(CK)devise plans against Jeremiah. Certainly the ^(CL)Law is not going to be lost by the priest, nor ^(CM)advice by the wise, nor the divine ^(CN)word by the prophet! Come, and let’s ^(CO)strike at him with our tongue, and let’s ^(CP)pay no attention to any of his words.”

¹⁹Give Your attention to me, Lord,
And listen to ^[r]what my opponents are saying!
²⁰^(CQ)Should good be repaid with evil?
For they have ^(CR)dug a pit for ^[s]me.
Remember how I ^(CS)stood before You
To speak good in their behalf,
So as to turn Your wrath away from them.
²¹Therefore, ^(CT)give their children over to famine
And turn them over to the ^[t]power of the sword;
And let their wives become ^(CU)childless and ^(CV)widowed.
Let their men also be slaughtered to death,
Their ^(CW)young men struck and killed by the sword in battle.
²²May a ^(CX)cry be heard from their houses
When You suddenly bring raiders upon them;
^(CY)For they have dug a pit to capture me
And ^(CZ)hidden snares for my feet.
²³But You, Lord, know
All their ^[u]deadly schemes against me;
^(DA)Do not ^[v]forgive their wrongdoing
Or wipe out their sin from Your sight.
But may they be ^[w]^(DB)overthrown before You;
Deal with them in the ^(DC)time of Your anger!

The Broken Jar

19 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a ^(DD)potter’s earthenware ^(DE)jar, and take some of the ^(DF)elders of the people and some of the ^[x]^(DG)senior priests. ²Then go out to the ^(DH)Valley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the ^[y]Potsherd Gate, and ^(DI)proclaim there the words that I tell you, ³and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you ^(DJ)kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold I am going to bring a ^(DK)disaster upon this place, at which the ^(DL)ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. ⁴Since they have ^(DM)abandoned Me and have ^(DN)made this place foreign, and have burned ^[z]sacrifices in it to ^(DO)other gods that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and since they have filled this place with the ^(DP)blood of the innocent ⁵and have built the ^(DQ)high places of Baal to burn their ^(DR)sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I did not command nor speak of, nor did it ever enter My ^[aa]mind; ⁶therefore, behold, ^(DS)days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this place will no longer be called ^(DT)Topheth or ^(DU)the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the Valley of Slaughter. ⁷And I will ^(DV)frustrate the planning of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and ^(DW)I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will make their ^(DX)carcasses food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth. ⁸I will also turn this city into an object of ^(DY)horror and ^[ab]hissing; ^(DZ)everyone who passes by it will be appalled and ^[ac]hiss because of all its ^[ad]disasters. ⁹And I will make them ^(EA)eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh during the siege and in the hardship with which their enemies and those who seek their life will torment them.”’

¹⁰“Then you are to break the ^(EB)jar in the sight of the men who accompany you, ¹¹and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of armies says: “To the same extent I will ^(EC)break this people and this city, just as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will ^(ED)bury their dead in Topheth, ^[ae]because there is no other place for burial. ¹²This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,” declares the Lord, “so as to make this city like Topheth. ¹³The ^(EE)houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be ^(EF)defiled like the place Topheth, because of all the ^(EG)houses on whose rooftops they burned ^[af]sacrifices to ^(EH)all the heavenly ^[ag]lights and ^(EI)poured out drink offerings to other gods.”’”

¹⁴Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the ^(EJ)courtyard of the Lord’s house and said to all the people, ¹⁵“This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am going to bring on this city and all its towns the entire disaster that I have declared against it, because they have ^(EK)stiffened their necks so ^(EL)as not to listen to My words.’”

Pashhur Persecutes Jeremiah

20 When Pashhur the priest, the son of ^(EM)Immer, who was ^(EN)chief overseer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, ²Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet ^(EO)beaten and put him in the ^(EP)stocks that were at the upper ^(EQ)Benjamin Gate, which was by the house of the Lord. ³Then on the next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “Pashhur is not the name the Lord has ^(ER)called you, but rather ^[ah]^(ES)Magor-missabib. ⁴For this is what the Lord says: ‘Behold, I am going to make you a ^(ET)horror to yourself and to all your friends; and while ^(EU)your eyes look on, they will fall by the sword of their enemies. So I will ^(EV)hand all Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will take them away as ^(EW)exiles to Babylon and will kill them with the sword. ⁵I will also give all the ^(EX)wealth of this city, all its produce and all its valuable things—even all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will ^(EY)hand over to their enemies, and they will plunder them, take them away, and bring them to Babylon. ⁶And you, ^(EZ)Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into captivity; and you will enter Babylon, and there you will die and there you will be buried, you and all your ^(FA)friends to whom you have ^(FB)falsely prophesied.’”

Jeremiah’s Complaint

⁷Lord, You persuaded me and I let myself be persuaded;
You have ^(FC)overcome me and prevailed.
I have become a ^(FD)laughingstock all day long;
Everyone ^(FE)mocks me.
⁸For each time I speak, I cry aloud;
I ^(FF)proclaim violence and destruction,
Because for me the ^(FG)word of the Lord has ^[ai]resulted
In taunting and derision all day long.
⁹But if I say, “I will not ^(FH)remember Him
Nor speak anymore in His name,”
Then in ^(FI)my heart it becomes like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
And I am tired of holding it in,
And ^(FJ)I cannot endure it.
¹⁰For ^(FK)I have heard the whispering of many,
“^(FL)Terror on every side!
^(FM)Denounce him; let’s denounce him!”
^[aj]All my ^(FN)trusted friends,
Watching for my fall, say:
“Perhaps he will be persuaded, so that we may ^(FO)prevail against him
And take our revenge on him.”
¹¹But the ^(FP)Lord is with me like a powerful champion;
Therefore my ^(FQ)persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
They will be put to great shame because they have ^[ak]failed,
An ^(FR)everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten.
¹²Yet, Lord of armies, who ^(FS)tests the righteous,
Who sees the ^[al]mind and the heart;
Let me ^(FT)see Your vengeance on them,
For ^(FU)to You I have disclosed my cause.
¹³^(FV)Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord!
For He has ^(FW)saved the soul of the needy one
From the hand of evildoers.

¹⁴Cursed be the ^(FX)day when I was born;
May the day when my mother gave birth to me not be blessed!
¹⁵Cursed be the man who brought the news
To my father, saying,
“A ^[am]^(FY)boy has been born to you!”
And made him very happy.
¹⁶But may that man be like the cities
Which the Lord ^(FZ)overthrew without ^[an]relenting,
And may he hear an ^(GA)outcry in the morning
And ^[ao]an alarm for war at noon;
¹⁷Because he did not ^(GB)kill me ^[ap]before birth,
So that my mother would have been my grave,
And her womb forever pregnant.
¹⁸Why did I ever come out of the womb
To ^(GC)look at trouble and sorrow,
So that my ^(GD)days have been spent in ^(GE)shame?

Footnotes

Jeremiah 17:1 As in ancient versions; MT your
Jeremiah 17:2 I.e., wooden symbols of a female deity (Asherah)
Jeremiah 17:5 Lit arm
Jeremiah 17:10 Lit kidneys
Jeremiah 17:10 Lit fruit
Jeremiah 17:11 Lit his
Jeremiah 17:13 Lit away from Me
Jeremiah 17:19 Lit gate of the sons of the people
Jeremiah 17:21 Or burden
Jeremiah 17:22 Lit fathers
Jeremiah 18:10 Lit to do it good
Jeremiah 18:11 Lit make good
Jeremiah 18:12 Lit do the
Jeremiah 18:13 Lit these
Jeremiah 18:15 Lit to worthlessness
Jeremiah 18:15 As in ancient versions; MT caused them to
Jeremiah 18:17 As in ancient versions; MT look them in the back and not in the face
Jeremiah 18:19 Lit the voice of my opponents
Jeremiah 18:20 Lit my soul
Jeremiah 18:21 Lit hands of
Jeremiah 18:23 Lit unto death
Jeremiah 18:23 Lit cover over, atone for
Jeremiah 18:23 Lit ones made to stumble
Jeremiah 19:1 Or elders of the
Jeremiah 19:2 I.e., pottery fragment
Jeremiah 19:4 Or incense
Jeremiah 19:5 Lit heart
Jeremiah 19:8 Or whistling
Jeremiah 19:8 Or whistle
Jeremiah 19:8 Lit wounds
Jeremiah 19:11 Or until there is no place left to bury
Jeremiah 19:13 Or incense
Jeremiah 19:13 Lit host; i.e., sun, stars, etc.
Jeremiah 20:3 I.e., horror on every side
Jeremiah 20:8 Lit become
Jeremiah 20:10 Lit Every man of my peace
Jeremiah 20:11 Lit not succeeded; or not acted wisely
Jeremiah 20:12 Lit kidneys
Jeremiah 20:15 Lit male child
Jeremiah 20:16 Lit being sorry
Jeremiah 20:16 Or a trumpet blast
Jeremiah 20:17 Lit from the womb

James 1

New American Standard Bible

The Testing of Your Faith

1 ^[a]^(A)James, a ^(B)bond-servant of God and ^(C)of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To ^(D)the twelve tribes who are ^[b]^(E)dispersed abroad: ^(F)Greetings.

²^(G)Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter ^(H)various ^[c]trials, ³knowing that ^(I)the testing of your ^(J)faith produces ^[d]^(K)endurance. ⁴And let ^[e]^(L)endurance have its perfect ^[f]result, so that you may be ^[g]^(M)perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

⁵But if any of you ^(N)lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and ^[h]without reproach, and ^(O)it will be given to him. ⁶But he must ^(P)ask in faith ^(Q)without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, ^(R)driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷For that person ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, ⁸being a ^[i]^(S)double-minded man, ^(T)unstable in all his ways.

⁹^(U)Now the brother or sister of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; ¹⁰but the rich person is to glory in his ^[j]humiliation, because ^(V)like ^[k]flowering grass he will pass away. ¹¹For the sun rises with ^(W)its scorching heat and ^(X)withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so also the rich person, in the midst of his pursuits, will die out.

¹²^(Y)Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has ^[l]been approved, he will receive ^(Z)the crown of life which the Lord ^(AA)has promised to those who ^(AB)love Him. ¹³No one is to say when he is tempted, “^(AC)I am being tempted ^[m]by God”; for God cannot be tempted ^[n]by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. ¹⁴But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. ¹⁵Then ^(AD)when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and ^(AE)sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death. ¹⁶^(AF)Do not be ^[o]deceived, ^(AG)my beloved brothers and sisters. ¹⁷Every good thing given and every perfect gift is ^(AH)from above, coming down from ^(AI)the Father of lights, ^(AJ)with whom there is no variation or ^[p]shifting shadow. ¹⁸In the exercise of ^(AK)His will He ^(AL)gave us birth by ^(AM)the word of truth, so that we would be ^[q]a kind of ^(AN)first fruits ^[r]among His creatures.

¹⁹^[s]^(AO)You know this, ^(AP)my beloved brothers and sisters. Now everyone must be quick to hear, ^(AQ)slow to speak, and ^(AR)slow to anger; ²⁰for a man’s ^(AS)anger does not bring about the righteousness of God. ²¹Therefore, ^(AT)ridding yourselves of all filthiness and all ^[t]that remains of wickedness, in ^[u]humility receive ^(AU)the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. ²²^(AV)But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves. ²³For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his ^[v]natural face ^(AW)in a mirror; ²⁴for once he has looked at himself and gone away, ^[w]he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. ²⁵But one who has looked intently at the perfect law, ^(AX)the law of freedom, and has continued in it, not having become a forgetful hearer but ^[x]an active doer, this person will be ^(AY)blessed in ^[y]what he does.

²⁶If anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not ^[z]^(AZ)bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless. ²⁷Pure and undefiled religion ^(BA)in the sight of our God and Father is this: to ^(BB)visit ^(BC)orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained ^[aa]by ^(BD)the world.