Jeremiah 17
17
The Lord Will Punish Judah
The Lord said:
1People of Judah,
your sins cannot be erased.
They are written on your hearts
like words chiseled in stone
or carved on the corners
of your altars.#17.1 carved on the corners of your altars: When sacrifices were offered to the Lord to ask him to forgive sins, some of the blood was smeared on the corners of the altar (see Leviticus 4.7,18-20,25, 26,30, 31,34, 35; 16.18). But now the Lord refuses to accept these sacrifices.
* 2One generation after another
has set up pagan altars
and worshiped the goddess Asherah
everywhere in your country—
on hills and mountains,
and under large trees.
3So I'll take everything you own,
including your altars,
and give it all
to your enemies.#17.3 enemies: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verses 2,3.
4You will lose#17.4 You will lose: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. the land
that I gave you,
and I will make you slaves
in a foreign country,
because you have made my anger
blaze up like a fire
that won't stop burning.
Trust the Lord
5I, the Lord, have put a curse
on those who turn from me
and trust in human strength.
6They will dry up like a bush
in salty desert soil,
where nothing can grow.
7But I will bless those
who trust me, the Lord.
8 #
Ps 1.3. They will be like trees
growing beside a stream—
trees with roots that reach
down to the water,
and with leaves
that are always green.
They bear fruit every year
and are never worried
by a lack of rain.
9You people of Judah
are so deceitful
that you even fool yourselves,
and you can't change.
10 #
Rev 2.23;
Ps 62.12. But I know your deeds
and your thoughts,
and I will make sure
you get what you deserve.
11You cheated others,
but everything you gained
will fly away, like birds
hatched from stolen eggs.
Then you will discover
what fools you are.
Jeremiah Prays to the Lord
12Our Lord, your temple
is a glorious throne
that has stood on a mountain
from the beginning.
13You are a spring of water
giving Israel life and hope.
But if the people reject
what you have told me,
they will be swept away
like words written in dust.#17.13 reject … dust: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
14You, Lord, are the one I praise.
So heal me and rescue me!
Then I will be completely well
and perfectly safe.
15The people of Judah say to me,
“Jeremiah, you claimed to tell us
what the Lord has said.
So why hasn't it come true?”
16Our Lord, you chose me
to care for your people,
and that's what I have done.
You know everything I have said,
and I have never once
asked you to punish them.#17.16 you chose … punish them: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
17I trust you for protection
in times of trouble,
so don't frighten me.
18Keep me from failure
and disgrace,
but make my enemies fail
and be disgraced.
Send destruction to make
their worst fears come true.
Resting on the Sabbath
19-20The Lord said:
Jeremiah, stand at each city gate in Jerusalem, including the one the king uses, and speak to him and everyone else. Tell them I have said:
I am the Lord, so pay attention. 21-24#Ex 20.8-10; Dt 5.12-14; Ne 13.15-22. If you value your lives, don't do any work on the Sabbath. Don't carry anything through the city gates or through the door of your house, or anywhere else. Keep the Sabbath day sacred!
I gave this command to your ancestors, but they were stubborn and refused to obey or to be corrected. But if you obey, 25then Judah and Jerusalem will always be ruled by kings from David's family. The king and his officials will ride through these gates on horses or in chariots, and the people of Judah and Jerusalem will be with them. There will always be people living in Jerusalem, 26and others will come here from the nearby villages, from the towns of Judah and Benjamin,#17.26 Judah and Benjamin: These two tribes made up the southern kingdom of Judah. from the hill country and the foothills to the west, and from the Southern Desert. They will bring sacrifices to please me and to give me thanks,#17.26 sacrifices to please me and to give me thanks: See the notes at 14.12. as well as offerings of grain and incense.
27But if you keep on carrying things through the city gates on the Sabbath and keep treating it as any other day, I will set fire to these gates and burn down the whole city, including the fortresses.
Currently Selected:
Jeremiah 17: CEVDCI
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 17
17
Judah’s Sin and Punishment
1“The sin of Judah is #Jer. 2:22written with a #Job 19:24pen of iron;
With the point of a diamond it is #Prov. 3:3; 7:3; Is. 49:16; 2 Cor. 3:3engraved
On the tablet of their heart,
And on the horns of your altars,
2While their children remember
Their altars and their #Judg. 3:7wooden images
By the green trees on the high hills.
3O My mountain in the field,
I will give as plunder your wealth, all your treasures,
And your high places of sin within all your borders.
4And you, even yourself,
Shall let go of your heritage which I gave you;
And I will cause you to serve your enemies
In #Jer. 16:13the land which you do not know;
For #Is. 5:25; Jer. 15:14you have kindled a fire in My anger which shall burn forever.”
5Thus says the Lord:
#Ps. 146:3; Is. 30:1, 2; 31:1“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes #Is. 31:3flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the Lord.
6For he shall be #Jer. 48:6like a shrub in the desert,
And #Job 20:17shall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
#Deut. 29:23; Job 39:6In a salt land which is not inhabited.
7“Blessed#Ps. 2:12; 34:8; 125:1; 146:5; Prov. 16:20; (Is. 30:18); Jer. 39:18 is the man who trusts in the Lord,
And whose hope is the Lord.
8For he shall be #Job 8:16; (Ps. 1:3; Ezek. 31:3–9)like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
9“The #(Eccl. 9:3); Matt. 15:19; (Mark 7:21, 22)heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
10I, the Lord, #1 Sam. 16:7; 1 Chr. 28:9; Ps. 7:9; 139:23, 24; Prov. 17:3; Jer. 11:20; 20:12; Rom. 8:27; Rev. 2:23search the heart,
I test the mind,
#Ps. 62:12; Jer. 32:19; Rom. 2:6Even to give every man according to his ways,
According to the fruit of his doings.
11“As a partridge that broods but does not hatch,
So is he who gets riches, but not by right;
It #Ps. 55:23will leave him in the midst of his days,
And at his end he will be #Luke 12:20a fool.”
12A glorious high throne from the beginning
Is the place of our sanctuary.
13O Lord, #Jer. 14:8the hope of Israel,
#(Ps. 73:27; Is. 1:28)All who forsake You shall be ashamed.
“Those who depart from Me
Shall be #Luke 10:20written in the earth,
Because they have forsaken the Lord,
The #Jer. 2:13fountain of living waters.”
Jeremiah Prays for Deliverance
14Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
Save me, and I shall be saved,
For #Deut. 10:21; Ps. 109:1You are my praise.
15Indeed they say to me,
#Is. 5:19; Ezek. 12:22; 2 Pet. 3:4“Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it come now!”
16As for me, #Jer. 1:4–12I have not hurried away from being a shepherd who follows You,
Nor have I desired the woeful day;
You know what came out of my lips;
It was right there before You.
17Do not be a terror to me;
#Jer. 16:19; Nah. 1:7You are my hope in the day of doom.
18#Ps. 35:4; 70:2; Jer. 15:10; 18:18Let them be ashamed who persecute me,
But #Ps. 25:2do not let me be put to shame;
Let them be dismayed,
But do not let me be dismayed.
Bring on them the day of doom,
And #Jer. 11:20destroy them with double destruction!
Hallow the Sabbath Day
19Thus the Lord said to me: “Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; 20and say to them, #Ps. 49:1, 2; Jer. 19:3, 4‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates. 21Thus says the Lord: #Num. 15:32; Neh. 13:19; (John 5:9–12, 17; 7:22–24)“Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; 22nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I #Ex. 20:8; 31:13; Ezek. 20:12commanded your fathers. 23#Jer. 7:24, 26But they did not obey nor incline their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction.
24“And it shall be, #Jer. 11:4; 26:3if you heed Me carefully,” says the Lord, “to bring no burden through the gates of this city on the #Ex. 16:23–30; 20:8–10; Num. 15:32–36; Deut. 5:12–14; Neh. 13:15; (Is. 58:13)Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work in it, 25#Jer. 22:4then shall enter the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, accompanied by the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever. 26And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from #Jer. 33:13the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from #Zech. 7:7the lowland, from the mountains and from #Judg. 1:9the South, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, bringing #Ps. 107:22; 116:17; Jer. 33:11sacrifices of praise to the house of the Lord.
27“But if you will not heed Me to hallow the Sabbath day, such as not carrying a burden when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then #Jer. 21:14; Lam. 4:11; Amos 1:4, 7, 10, 12I will kindle a fire in its gates, #2 Kin. 25:9; 2 Chr. 36:19; Jer. 39:8; 52:13; Amos 2:5and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be #Jer. 7:20; Ezek. 20:47quenched.” ’ ”
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.