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Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with her whole heart, but rather in [blatant] deception [she merely pretended obedience to King Josiah’s reforms],” declares the Lord.
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“Then [in the final time] I will give you [spiritual] shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and [true] understanding.
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At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the Lord,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name (renown) of the Lord; and they will not walk anymore after the stubbornness of their [own] evil heart.
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“Circumcise (dedicate, sanctify) yourselves to the Lord And remove the foreskin [sins] of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire [consuming all that gets in its way] And burn and there will be no one to quench it, Because of the evil of your acts.”
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“It shall come about in that day,” says the Lord, “that the heart and courage of the king will fail (be paralyzed), and also the heart of the princes; the priests will be appalled and the prophets will be astounded and horrified.”
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O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, That you may be saved. How long will your wicked and immoral thoughts Lodge within you?
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“Your ways and your deeds Have brought these things on you. This is your tragedy and doom; how bitter, How it has touched your heart!”
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Lament over Judah’s Devastation
My soul, my soul! I writhe in anguish and pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is pounding and throbbing within me; I cannot be silent, For you have heard, O my soul, The sound of the trumpet, The alarm of war.
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O Lord, do not Your eyes look for truth? You [have seen their faithless heart and] have stricken them, But they did not weaken; You have consumed them, But they refused to take correction or instruction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to repent and return to You.
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‘Now hear this, O foolish people without heart, Who have eyes but do not see, Who have ears but do not hear.
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‘But this people has a stubborn heart and a rebellious will [that draws them away from Me]; They have turned away and have gone [into idolatry].
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‘They do not say in their heart, “Let us now fear and worship the Lord our God [with profound awe and reverence], Who gives rain in its season, Both the autumn and the spring rain, Who keeps for us The appointed weeks of the harvest.”
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But they did not obey Me or bend their ear [to hear Me], but followed the counsels and the stubbornness of their [own] evil heart (mind), and [they turned and] went backward instead of forward.
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They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom (son of Hinnom), to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire [to honor Molech, the fire god]—which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart (mind).
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Oh, that I (Jeremiah) could find comfort from my sorrow [for my grief is beyond healing], My heart is sick and faint within me!
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“Their tongue is a murderous arrow; It speaks deceit; With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, But in his heart he lays traps and waits in ambush for him.
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but have walked stubbornly after their [own] heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them,”
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Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and all those who live in the desert who clip off the hair on their temples; for all these nations are uncircumcised (sinful, impure), and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.”
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Yet they did not obey or incline their ear [to listen to Me], but everyone walked in the stubborn way of his [own] evil heart. Therefore I brought on them all [the suffering threatened in] the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.’”
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But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, Who tests the feelings and the heart (mind), Let me see Your vengeance on them, For to You I have committed my cause.
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You have planted them, they have also taken root; They grow, they have even produced fruit. You are honored by their [hypocritical] lips But [You are] far from their heart and mind.
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But You, O Lord, know me [and understand my devotion to You]; You see me; And You examine the attitude of my heart toward You. Drag out the faithless like sheep for the slaughter [O Lord] And set them apart for the day of slaughter.
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“They have made it a wasteland, Desolate, it mourns before Me; The whole land has been made a wasteland, Because no man takes it to heart.
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These wicked and malevolent people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubborn way of their heart and have followed other gods [which are nothing—just man-made carvings] to serve them and to worship them, let them be just like this waistband which is completely worthless.
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“And if you [wonder and] say in your heart, ‘Why have these things happened to me?’ It is because of the greatness and nature of your sin That your skirts have been pulled away [subjecting you to public disgrace] And [like a barefoot slave] your heels have been wounded.