Jeremiah 16:16-17:18

New International Version

¹⁶“But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch them.^(A) After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt^(B) them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks.^(C) ¹⁷My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden^(D) from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.^(E) ¹⁸I will repay^(F) them double^(G) for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land^(H) with the lifeless forms of their vile images^(I) and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.^(J)”^(K)

¹⁹Lord, my strength and my fortress,
    my refuge^(L) in time of distress,
to you the nations will come^(M)
    from the ends of the earth and say,
“Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods,^(N)
    worthless idols^(O) that did them no good.^(P)
²⁰Do people make their own gods?
    Yes, but they are not gods!”^(Q)

²¹“Therefore I will teach them—
    this time I will teach them
    my power and might.
Then they will know
    that my name^(R) is the Lord.

17 “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool,^(S)
    inscribed with a flint point,
on the tablets of their hearts^(T)
    and on the horns^(U) of their altars.
²Even their children remember
    their altars and Asherah poles^[a]^(V)
beside the spreading trees
    and on the high hills.^(W)
³My mountain in the land
    and your^[b] wealth and all your treasures
I will give away as plunder,^(X)
    together with your high places,^(Y)
    because of sin throughout your country.^(Z)
⁴Through your own fault you will lose
    the inheritance^(AA) I gave you.
I will enslave you to your enemies^(AB)
    in a land^(AC) you do not know,
for you have kindled my anger,
    and it will burn^(AD) forever.”

⁵This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,^(AE)
    who draws strength from mere flesh
    and whose heart turns away from the Lord.^(AF)
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^(AG) of the desert,
    in a salt^(AH) land where no one lives.

⁷“But blessed^(AI) is the one who trusts^(AJ) 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.^(AK)
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought^(AL)
    and never fails to bear fruit.”^(AM)

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

¹⁰“I the Lord search the heart^(AO)
and examine the mind,^(AP)
to reward^(AQ) each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”^(AR)

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.^(AS)

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

¹⁴Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;^(AY)
    save^(AZ) me and I will be saved,
    for you are the one I praise.^(BA)
¹⁵They keep saying to me,
    “Where is the word of the Lord?
    Let it now be fulfilled!”^(BB)
¹⁶I have not run away from being your shepherd;
    you know I have not desired the day of despair.
    What passes my lips^(BC) is open before you.
¹⁷Do not be a terror^(BD) to me;
    you are my refuge^(BE) in the day of disaster.^(BF)
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.^(BG)