Jeremiah 17
1 The sin of Judah, is written With a stylus of iron, With the point of a diamond: It is engraved Upon the tablet of their heart, And upon the horns of your altars;
[Yahweh said, “It is as though a list of] the sins [committed by the people of] Judah is engraved with an iron chisel, or engraved using the fine point of a very hard stone, on the altars [where they worship idols]. And [it is as though] this list is engraved on their inner beings!
2 So long as their sons remember their altars, and their Sacred Stems, By the green tree, —Upon the high hills,
[Even] their children are happy to go to the altars [to worship their gods], and to the poles [that represent the goddess] Asherah [at which their parents worshiped], shrines that are underneath all the big trees and on [all] the high hills.
3 O my mountain in the field Thy substance all thy treasures, for a prey, will I give: Thy high places for sin, within all thy bounds.
So, I will allow your enemies to capture [Zion], your holy hill, and all your wealth and your (treasures/valuable things), and [even] the shrines on all those hills, because of the sins that you people have committed throughout your land.
4 So shalt thou even of thyself, suffer to rest the inheritance which I gave thee, Seeing that I will cause thee to serve thine enemies, in the land which thou knowest not; For, a fire, have ye kindled in mine anger, Unto times age-abiding, shall it burn.
The [wonderful] land that I gave to you will no longer belong to you. I will tell your enemies to take you to a land that you do not know about, and you will become their slaves. [I will do that] because I am extremely angry [with you]; my being angry is [like] a fire that will burn forever.”
5 Thus, saith Yahweh Accursed is the man—Who trusteth in a son of earth, And hath made flesh his arm, —And whose heart from Yahweh, turneth aside:
This is [also] what Yahweh says: “[I] will curse/condemn those who trust in human beings [to help them], those who rely on their own strength and turn away from me.
6 Therefore shall he become as a shrub in the waste plain, Neither shall he perceive when good cometh, But shall inhabit Parched places in a wilderness, A land of salt that cannot be dwelt in.
They are like [dry] bushes in the desert, they are people who will not experience any good things. Those people will live in the barren desert in a salty area, where nothing grows.
7 Blessed is the man Who trusteth in Yahweh, To whom Yahweh is his ground of confidence;
But I am pleased with those who trust in [me], Yahweh, and who confidently expect [me to take care of them].
8 For he shall become like a tree planted by waters, And, by a stream, shall he send out his roots, Neither shall he perceive when heat cometh, But, his leaf shall continue green: Even in a year of dearth, shall he not be anxious, Neither shall he cease from bearing fruit.
Those people are like [SIM] fruit trees that have been planted along a riverbank, trees that have roots that go down into the [wet ground beside] the water. They are trees whose leaves remain green when it becomes hot, trees that continue to bear fruit when there are many months in which there is no rain.
9 Deceitful is the heart above all things And, dangerously wayward, —Who can know it?
Human minds are extremely corrupt/deceitful, and you cannot change that. It is also completely impossible [RHQ] for anyone to understand that.
10 I—Yahweh, Searching the heart, Testing the affections; And giving to every man According to his way, According to the fruit of his doings.
But I, Yahweh, search what is in everyone’s inner being, and I examine what they are thinking. I will give all people rewards, what they deserve for what they have done.”
11 As a partridge gathereth eggs she did not lay, [So] is he that maketh riches but not with justice, —In the midst of his days, shall he leave them, And in his latter end, prove to have been base.
[I, Jeremiah, agree, because I know that] people who become rich by doing things that are unjust are like birds that hatch eggs that they (did not lay/stole from another nest). So, when those people have lived only half of the years [that they expect to live], their wealth will disappear. Then [other people will realize that] those rich people have been foolish.
12 A throne of glory, exalted from the beginning, hath been the place of our sanctuary.
Yahweh, your temple is [like] a glorious throne that is still on a high hill.
13 Thou hope of Israel Yahweh, All who forsake thee, shall turn pale, —Yea, all who depart from me, in the ground, shall be written, For they have forsaken a fountain of living water, even Yahweh.
You are the one whom [we] Israeli people confidently expect [to bless us], and all those who turn away from you will be disgraced. Their names will be written [only] in the dust, [and will soon disappear], because they have abandoned you, [who are like] [MET] a fountain where people obtain fresh water.
14 Heal thou me O Yahweh, that I may be healed, Save me that I may be saved, —For, my praise, thou art!
Yahweh, [please] heal me, because [if you heal me], I will truly be healed. [If you] rescue me, I will truly be safe, because you are the [only] one whom I praise.
15 Lo! they, are saying unto me, —Where is the word of Yahweh? Pray thee let it come to pass!
People often ridicule me and say, “You tell us messages that you say came from Yahweh, but (why have the things that you predicted not happened?/those predictions have not come true!)” [RHQ]
16 But as for me, I have neither forced myself away from tending the flock after thee, Nor yet for the woeful day, have I longed—thou, knowest, —That which came out of my lips, before thy face, was uttered.
Yahweh, you [appointed me to take care of your people like] a shepherd [takes care of his sheep] [MET]; I have not abandoned that work, and you know that I have not [previously] wanted this time of disaster [to come to people who ridicule me]. And you know everything that I have said [MTY] [to your people].
17 Do not thou become to me a terror, —My refuge, art thou, in the day of calamity.
Do not cause me to be terrified! When disasters come/occur, you are the one to whom I will go to be safe.
18 Let my persecutors, turn pale, but let not me, turn pale, Let, them, be terrified, but let not, me, be terrified, —Bring thou upon them a day of calamity, And with a double fracture, destroy them.
[So now], cause those who (persecute me/cause me to suffer) to be ashamed and dismayed, but do not [do things to me that will] cause me to be ashamed and dismayed. Cause them to be terrified! Do to them many things that will completely destroy them!
19 Thus, said Yahweh unto me—Go and stand in the gate of the sons of the people, through which the kings of Judah enter in, and through which they come out, —also in all the gates of Jerusalem.
This is what Yahweh said to me: “Go to the city gates in Jerusalem. [First] go to the gate where the kings of Judah go in and out of the city, and [then] go to each of the [other] gates.
20 Then shalt thou say unto them—Hear ye the word of Yahweh Ye kings of Judah and all Judah, And all ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, —who enter in through these gates:
Say to the people [at each gate], ‘You kings of Judah and everyone [else] who is living in Jerusalem and all [you other people of] Judah who enter these gates, listen to this message from Yahweh!
21 Thus, saith Yahweh, Take heed unto your souls, —And do not bear any burden on the sabbath day, Nor bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem, —
He says, “Listen to this warning carefully! [Stop doing work] on (Sabbath/our rest) days! Stop carrying loads through these gates [on those days]!
22 Neither shall ye take forth any burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, Nor any manner of work, shall ye do, —But ye shall hallow the sabbath day, As I commanded your fathers.
Do not carry loads out of your houses or do any [other] work on Sabbath days! Instead, cause Sabbath days to be (holy/set apart for me). I commanded your ancestors to do that,
23 Howbeit they hearkened not, neither inclined their ear, —but stiffened their neck, that they might not hearken, neither receive correction.
but they did not listen to me or obey me. When I did things to correct them, they stubbornly [IDM] refused to pay attention to what I said or to accept it.
24 And it shall come to pass, —If ye will, indeed hearken, unto me Declareth Yahweh, To bring in no burden through the gates of this city, on the sabbath day, —But to hallow the sabbath day, by not doing thereon any manner of work,
But I say that if you obey me, and if you do not carry loads through these gates [on Sabbath days] or do any other work on Sabbath days, and if you dedicate the Sabbath days to me,
25 Then shall enter in through the gates of this city, Kings and princes Sitting on the throne of David, Riding in chariots and on horses They, and their princes, The men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, And this city shall remain unto times age-abiding.
kings of Judah [MTY] and [their] officials will [continue to] go in and out of these gates. There will [always] be someone who is a descendant of [MTY] [King] David ruling [here] [MTY] in Jerusalem. Kings and their officials will go in and out of these gates, riding in chariots and on horses, and there will be people living in this city forever.
26 And they shall come in—Out of the cities of Judah and Out of the places round about Jerusalem, and Out of the land of Benjamin, and Out of the lowlands, and out of the hill country, and Out of the South, Bringing in ascending-offering, and peace-offering, and meal-offering, and frankincense, —Even they who bring in a thank-offering into the house of Yahweh,
And people will come [to Jerusalem] bringing offerings to be completely burned [on the altar] and [other] offerings. They will bring to the temple grain offerings and incense and offerings to thank [me]. People will bring those offerings from the towns in Judah and the villages near Jerusalem and from the land [where the tribe] of Benjamin [lives] and from the western foothills and from the desert in the south.
27 But, if ye will not hearken unto me—To hallow the sabbath day, And to bear no burden and bring in through the gates of Jerusalem, on the sabbath day, Then will I kindle a fire within her gates, And it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, And shall not be quenched.
But if you do not pay attention to what I say, and if you refuse to dedicate the Sabbath days to me, and if you [continue to] carry loads through these gates into the city on Sabbath days, I will burn these gates completely. The fire will spread to the palaces, and no one will be able to put out that fire.”’”
