The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Jeremiah 17
1 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of
iron, and with the point of a diamond.
It is engraved on the tablet of their heart,
and on the horns of your altars.
2 Even their children remember their altars
and their Asherah poles by the green
trees on the high hills.
3 My mountain in the field,
I will give your substance and all your
treasures for a plunder,
and your high places, because of sin,
throughout all your borders.
4 You, even of yourself, will discontinue
from your heritage that I gave you.
I will cause you to serve your enemies
in the land which you don’t know,
for you have kindled afire in my anger
which will burn forever.”
5 Yahweh says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man,
relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from Yahweh.
6 For he will be like a bush in the desert,
and will not see when good comes,
but will inhabit the parched places in the
wilderness, an uninhabited salt land.
7 “Blessed is theman who trusts inYahweh,
and whose confidence is in Yahweh.
8 For he will be as a tree planted by the
waters, who spreads out its roots by the river,
and will not fear when heat comes,
but its leaf will be green,
and will not be concerned in the year of
drought. It won’t cease from yielding fruit.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things
and it is exceedingly corrupt.
Who can know it?
10 “I, Yahweh, search the mind.
I try the heart, even to give every man according to his
ways, according to the fruit of his doings.
11 As the partridge that sits on eggs which
she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by
right. In the middle of his days, they will leave
him. At his end, he will be a fool.
12 A glorious throne, set on high from the
beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.
13 Yahweh, the hope of Israel,
all who forsake you will be disappointed.
Those who depart from me will be written
in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh,
the spring of living waters.
14 Heal me, O Yahweh, and I will be healed.
Save me, and I will be saved;
for you are my praise.
15 Behold, they ask me,
“Where is Yahweh’s word?
Let it be fulfilled now.”
16 As for me, I have not hurried from being
a shepherd after you. I haven’t desired the woeful day. You
know. That which came out of my lips was
before your face.
17 Don’t be a terror to me.
You are my refuge in the day of evil.
18 Letthem be disappointed who persecute
me, but don’t let me be disappointed.
Let them be dismayed, but don’t let me be
dismayed. Bring on them the day of evil,
and destroy them with double destruction.
19 Yahweh said this to me: “Go and stand
in the gate of the children of the people,
through which the kings of Judah come in
and by which they go out, and in all the
gates of Jerusalem.
20 Tell them, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, you
kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these
gates:
21 Yahweh says, “Be careful, and bear no
burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in
by the gates of Jerusalem.
22 Don’t carry a burden out of your
houses on the Sabbath day. Don’t do any
work, but make the Sabbath day holy, as I
commanded your fathers.
23 But they didn’t listen. They didn’t turn
their ear, but made their neck stiff, that
they might not hear, and might not receive
instruction.
24 It will happen, if you diligently listen
to me,” says Yahweh, “to bring in no burden
through the gates of this city on the
Sabbath day, but to make the Sabbath day
holy, to do no work therein;
25 then there will enter in by the gates
of this city kings and princes sitting on
David’s throne, riding in chariots and on
horses, they and their princes, the men of
Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
and this city will remain forever.
26 They will come from the cities of
Judah, and from the places around
Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin,
from the lowland, from the hill country,
and from the South, bringing burnt
offerings, sacrifices, meal offerings, and
frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of
thanksgiving to Yahweh’s house.
27 But if you will not listen to me to
make the Sabbath day holy, and not to
bear a burden and enter in at the gates of
Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will
kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour
the palaces of Jerusalem. It will not be
quenched.