Jeremiah 17
17
1 THE SIN of Judah is written with a pen or stylus of iron and with the point of a diamond; it is engraved on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars,
2 While their children [earnestly] remember their [heathen] altars and their Asherim [wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah] beside the green trees upon the high hills.
3 O [Jerusalem] My mountain in the field, I will give your wealth and all your treasures to the spoil and your high places for sin [as the price of your sin] throughout all your territory.
4 And you, through your own fault, will loosen your hand and discontinue from your heritage which I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in a land which you do not know, for you have kindled a fire in My anger which will burn throughout the ages.
5 Thus says the Lord: Cursed [with great evil] is the strong man who trusts in and relies on frail man, making weak [human] flesh his arm, and whose mind and heart turn aside from the Lord.
6 For he shall be like a shrub or a person naked and destitute in the desert; and he shall not see any good come, but shall dwell in the parched places in the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
7 [Most] blessed is the man who believes in, trusts in, and relies on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is.
8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by the river; and it shall not see and fear when heat comes; but its leaf shall be green. It shall not be anxious and full of care in the year of drought, nor shall it cease yielding fruit.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it [perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind]? [Matt. 13:15-17; Mark 7:21-23; Eph. 4:20-24.]
10 I the Lord search the mind, I try the heart, even to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.
11 Like the partridge that gathers a brood which she did not hatch and sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches by unjust means and not by right. He will leave them, or they will leave him, in the midst of his days, and at his end he will be a fool.
12 A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary (the temple).
13 O Lord, the Hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be put to shame. They who depart from You and me [Your prophet] shall [disappear like] writing upon the ground, because they have forsaken the Lord, the Fountain of living waters.
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise.
15 Behold, they say to me, Where is the word of the Lord [predicting the disaster that you said would befall us]? Let it come now!
16 But as for me, I have not sought to escape from being a shepherd after You, nor have I desired the woeful day [of judgment]; You know that. Whatever I said was spoken in Your presence and was from You.
17 Be not a terror to me; You are my refuge and my hope in the day of evil.
18 Let those be put to shame who persecute me, but let me not be put to shame; let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed. Bring on them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.
19 Thus said the Lord to me: Go and stand in the gate of the sons of the people, through which the kings of Judah enter and through which they go out, and also [stand] in all the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Say to them, Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter through these gates.
21 Thus says the Lord: Take heed to yourselves and for the sake of your lives bear no burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem.
22 And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy (set apart to the worship of God), as I commanded your fathers.
23 Yet they would not listen and obey or incline their ears; but they stiffened their necks, that they might not hear and might not receive instruction.
24 But if you diligently listen to and obey Me, says the Lord, and bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy (set apart to the worship of God), to do no work on it,
25 Then there will enter through the gates of this city kings and princes who will sit upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses–the kings and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city will be inhabited and last throughout the ages.
26 And people shall come from the cities of Judah and the places round about Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country, and from the South (the Negeb), bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, cereal offerings and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of the Lord.
27 But if you will not listen to Me to keep the Sabbath day holy (set apart to the worship of God), and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem [with one] on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in her gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
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Jeremiah 17: AMPC
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1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
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 chiselled 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.
2-3One generation after another
has set up pagan altars
and worshipped the goddess Asherah
everywhere in your country—
on hills and mountains,
and under large trees.
So I'll take everything you own,
including your altars,
and give it all
to your enemies.#17.2,3 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.
8They will be like trees#Ps 1.3.
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.
10But I know your deeds#Rev 2.23; Ps 62.12.
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. 21-24If 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!#Ne 13.15-22.#Ex 20.8-10; Dt 5.12-14.
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.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012