Jeremiah 17
1 The sin of Judah is inscribed with an iron stylus, engraved with an adamant point, on their minds and on corners of their altars where they worship.
“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, With the point of a diamond, Engraved on the tablet of their heart, And on the horns of your altars,
2 Even their children remember to worship at their pagan altars and Asherah poles, set up by the green trees and on the high hills,
As their sons remember their altars and their Asherim, By the green tree, by the high hills.
3 on my mountain in the fields. I will hand over your wealth and all your valuable possessions as plunder, because of the sin committed on your pagan high places inside your country.
O My mountain in the field—your strength, All your treasures—I give for a prey, Your high places for sin in all your borders.
4 You will have to give up the land I gave you. I will have your enemies make you their slaves in an unfamiliar country for you made my anger blaze, and it will burn forever.
And you have let go—even through yourself, Of your inheritance that I gave to you, And I have caused you to serve your enemies, In a land that you have not known, For you have kindled a fire in My anger, It burns for all time.”
5 This is what the Lord says: Cursed are those who put their confidence in human beings, who trust in human strength and give up relying on the Lord.
Thus said YHWH: “Cursed [is] the man who trusts in man, And has made flesh his arm, And whose heart turns from YHWH.
6 They will be like a shrub alone in the desert that isn't even aware when good things happen. It just goes on living in the dry desert, in a salt flat that's uninhabited.
And he has been as a naked thing in a desert, And does not see when good comes, And has inhabited parched places in a wilderness, A salt land, and not inhabited.
7 Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, who put their confidence in him.
Blessed [is] the man who trusts in YHWH, And whose confidence has been YHWH.
8 They are like trees planted by water, sending out roots toward the stream. They don't panic when it gets hot; their leaves are always green. They don't worry during a time of drought—they go on producing fruit.
And has been as a tree planted by waters, And he sends forth his roots by a stream, And he does not see when heat comes, And his leaf has been green, And he is not sorrowful in a year of scarcity, Nor does he cease from making fruit.
9 The mind is more deceptive than anything else—it's incurably sick! Who can possibly understand it?
The heart [is] deceitful above all things, And it [is] incurable—who knows it?
10 But I, the Lord, see what people are thinking. I examine their minds, so I can reward them depending on their attitudes and the way they behave.
I, YHWH, search the heart, try the reins, Even to give to each according to his way, According to the fruit of his doings.
11 Like a partridge hatching eggs it didn't lay is someone who makes a fortune by cheating others. Their riches will fly away at midday, and in the end they'll look like a fool.
A partridge hatching, and not bringing forth, [Is] one making wealth, and not by right, In the midst of his days he forsakes it, And in his latter end—he is a fool.”
12 Our Temple is a throne of glory, raised up high from the beginning.
A throne of glory on high from the beginning, The place of our sanctuary,
13 Lord, you are Israel's hope, anyone who deserts you will be disgraced. Anyone who turns their back on you will vanish like names written in the dust, for they have abandoned the Lord, the source of living water.
The hope of Israel [is] YHWH, All forsaking You are ashamed. “And My apostates are written in the earth, For they have forsaken YHWH, A fountain of living waters.”
14 Please heal me, Lord, and I'll be healed; save me, and I'll be saved, for you are the one I praise.
Heal me, O YHWH, and I am healed, Save me, and I am saved, For You [are] my praise.
15 See how they keep on saying to me, “Where is the disaster that the Lord's predicted? Is it ever going to happen?”
Behold, they are saying to me: “Where [is] the word of YHWH? Pray, let it come.”
16 But I haven't been in a hurry to give up being your shepherd. I haven't wanted the time of trouble to come. You know that whatever I said was said in front of you.
And I did not hurry from feeding after You, And I have not desired the desperate day, You have known the produce of my lips, It has been before Your face,
17 Please don't be the one who terrifies me! You are my protection in the time of trouble.
Do not be to me for a terror, You [are] my hope in a day of calamity.
18 Bring shame on my persecutors, but not on me. Terrify them, but not me, Let them experience the time of trouble, and smash them to pieces.
Let my pursuers be ashamed, And do not let me be ashamed—me! Let them be frightened, And do not let me be frightened—me! Bring in on them a day of calamity, And destroy them a second time [with] destruction.
19 This is what the Lord told me: Go and stand at the main gate of the city, the one used by kings of Judah, and do the same at all the other gates of Jerusalem.
Thus said YHWH to me: “Go, and you have stood in the gate of the sons of the people, by which kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all gates of Jerusalem,
20 Tell them, Listen to the Lord's message, kings of Judah, and all you people of Judah and Jerusalem who come in through these gates.
and you have said to them: Hear a word of YHWH, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all inhabitants of Jerusalem, who are coming in by these gates,”
21 This is what the Lord says: Pay attention, if you value your lives! Don't carry a load on the Sabbath day, and don't bring it through the gates of Jerusalem.
Thus said YHWH: “Take heed to yourselves, And you do not bear a burden on the day of rest, Nor have you brought [it] in by the gates of Jerusalem.
22 Don't carry a load out of your houses, and don't do any work on the Sabbath day. Keep the Sabbath day holy, just as I ordered your forefathers.
Nor do you take out a burden from your houses on the day of rest, Indeed, you do not do any work, And you have sanctified the day of rest, As I have commanded your fathers.
23 However, they refused to listen or pay attention. Instead they were stubborn and refused to obey or accept instruction.
And they have not listened nor inclined their ear, And they stiffen their neck not to hear, And not to receive instruction.
24 Listen carefully to me, says the Lord, and don't bring any load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, and keep the Sabbath day holy, and don't do any work on it.
And it has been, if you certainly listen to Me,” A declaration of YHWH, “So as not to bring in a burden by the gates of this city on the day of rest, And to sanctify the day of rest, So as not to do any work in it—
25 Then kings and princes will enter through the gates of this city. They will sit on the throne of David. They will ride in chariots and on horses with their officials, accompanied by the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.
Then kings and princes have entered by the gates of this city, Sitting on the throne of David, Riding in a chariot, and on horses, They, and their princes, the man of Judah, And inhabitants of Jerusalem, And this city has remained for all time.
26 People will come from the towns of Judah and everywhere around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowlands the hill country, and the Negev. They will bring burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and thank offerings to the Lord's Temple.
And they have come in from cities of Judah, And from outskirts of Jerusalem, And from the land of Benjamin, And from the low country, And from the hill-country, And from the south, Bringing in burnt-offering, and sacrifice, And present, and frankincense, And bringing praise [to] the house of YHWH.
27 But if you refuse to listen to me and keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will set its gates alight with a fire that can't be put out, and it will burn down Jerusalem's fortresses.
And if you do not listen to Me to sanctify the day of rest, And so as not to bear a burden, And to come in at the gates of Jerusalem on the day of rest, Then I have kindled a fire in its gates, And it has consumed the high places of Jerusalem, And it is not quenched!”
