Jeremiah 17 - 21 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Deceitful Heart

17The ^asin of Judah is written down with an ^biron stylus;With a diamond point it is ^cengraved upon the tablet of their heartAnd on the horns of ¹their altars,²As they remember their ^achildren,So they remember their altars and their ¹^,^bAsherimBy ^cgreen trees on the high hills.³O ^amountain of Mine in the countryside,I will ^bgive over your wealth and all your treasures for plunder,Your high places for sin throughout your borders.⁴And you will, even of yourself, ^alet go of your inheritanceThat I gave you;And I will make you serve your ^benemiesIn the ^cland which you do not know,For you have ^dkindled a fire in My angerWhich will burn forever.

⁵Thus says Yahweh, “^aCursed is the man who trusts in mankindAnd makes ^bflesh his ¹strength,And whose heart turns away from Yahweh.

⁶“And he will be like a ^ajuniper in the desertAnd will not see when prosperity comes,But will dwell in stony wastes in the wilderness,A ^bland of salt ¹which is not inhabited.⁷“^aBlessed is the man who trusts in YahwehAnd whose ^btrust is Yahweh.⁸“And he will be like a ^atree planted by the water,That sends forth its roots by a streamAnd will not fear when the heat comes;But its leaves will be green,And it will not be anxious in a year of ^bdroughtNor refrain from yielding fruit.⁹“The ^aheart is more ^bdeceitful than all elseAnd is ¹desperately ^csick;Who can know it?¹⁰“I, Yahweh, ^asearch the heart;I test the ¹inmost being,Even ^bto give to each man according to his ways,According to the fruit of his deeds.¹¹“As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid,So is he who ^amakes a fortune, but unjustly;In the midst of his days it will forsake him,And in ¹the end he will be a ^bwicked fool.”¹²^aA glorious throne on high from the beginningIs the place of our sanctuary.¹³O Yahweh, the ^ahope of Israel,All who ^bforsake You will be put to shame.Those who turn ¹away on earth will be ^cwritten downBecause they have forsaken the fountain of living water, even Yahweh.¹⁴^aHeal me, O Yahweh, and I will be healed;^bSave me and I will be saved,For You are my ^cpraise.¹⁵Behold, they keep ^asaying to me,“Where is the word of Yahweh?Let it come now!”¹⁶But as for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd after You,Nor have I longed for the ¹sickening day;^aYou Yourself know that the utterance of my lipsWas in Your presence.¹⁷Do not be a ^aterror to me;You are my ^brefuge in the day of calamity.¹⁸Let those who pursue me be ^aput to shame, but as for me, ^blet me not be put to shame;Let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed.^cBring on them a day of calamity,And ¹crush them with twofold ²crushing!

Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

¹⁹Thus Yahweh said to me, “Go and stand in the ¹public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, as well as in all the gates of Jerusalem, ²⁰and say to them, ‘^aListen to the word of Yahweh, ^bkings of Judah and all Judah and all inhabitants of Jerusalem who come in through these gates: ²¹‘Thus says Yahweh, “^aTake care of yourselves, and ^bdo not carry any load on the sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem. ²²“You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the sabbath day ^anor do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I ^bcommanded your fathers. ²³“Yet they ^adid not listen or incline their ears, but ^bstiffened their necks in order not to listen or receive discipline.

²⁴“But it will be, if you ^alisten carefully to Me,” declares Yahweh, “to ^bbring no load in through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, ^cbut to keep the sabbath day holy by doing no work on it, ²⁵^athen there will come in through the gates of this city kings and princes ¹^,^bsitting 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 ^ccity will be inhabited forever. ²⁶“And they will come in from the ^acities of Judah and from all around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the ¹^,^bShephelah, from the hill country, and from the ^cNegev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of Yahweh. ²⁷“But ^aif you do not listen to Me to keep the sabbath day holy by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then ^bI will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will ^cdevour the palaces of Jerusalem and ^dnot be quenched.”’”

The Potter and the Clay

18The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying, ²“Arise and ^ago down to the potter’s house, and there I will make you hear My words.” ³Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making something on the ¹wheel. ⁴But the vessel that he was making of clay was ruined in the hand of the potter, so he turned around and made it into another vessel, according to what was right in the eyes of the potter to make.

⁵Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying, ⁶“Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares Yahweh. “Behold, like the ^aclay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. ⁷“At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to ^auproot, to tear down, or to make it perish; ⁸^abut if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will ¹^,^brelent concerning the calamity I planned to do against it. ⁹“Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to ^abuild up or to plant it; ¹⁰but if it does ^aevil in My sight by not listening to My voice, then I will ¹^,^brelent concerning the good which I promised, to do good to it. ¹¹“So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am ^aforming calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh ^bturn back, each of you from his evil way, and do good in your ways and your deeds.”’ ¹²“But ^athey will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the ^bstubbornness of his evil heart.’

¹³“Therefore thus says Yahweh, ‘^aAsk now among the nations,Who ever heard the like of ¹this?The ^bvirgin of IsraelHas done a most ^cappalling thing.

¹⁴‘Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country?Or is the cold flowing water from a strange land ever uprooted?¹⁵‘For ^aMy people have forgotten Me;^bThey burn incense ¹to worthless gods,And they ²have stumbled ³from their ways,⁴From the ^cancient paths,To walk in bypaths,Not on a ^dhighway,¹⁶To make their land an ^aobject of horror,An object of perpetual ^bhissing;Everyone who passes by it will be ¹horrifiedAnd ^cshake his head.¹⁷‘Like an ^aeast wind I will ^bscatter themBefore the enemy;I will ¹show them ^cMy back and not My face^dIn the day of their disaster.’”

¹⁸Then they said, “Come and let us ^adevise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the ^blaw is not going to perish from the priest, nor ^ccounsel to the wise man, nor the divine ^dword to the prophet! Come on and let us ^estrike at him with our tongue, and let us ^fgive no heed to any of his words.”

¹⁹Do give heed to me, O Yahweh,And listen to the voice of those who contend against me!²⁰^aShould good be repaid with evil?For they have ^bdug a pit for ¹me.Remember how I ^cstood before YouTo speak good on their behalf,So as to turn away Your wrath from them.²¹Therefore, ^agive their children over to famineAnd deliver them up to the ¹power of the sword;And let their wives become ^bchildless and ^cwidowed.Let their men also be ²smitten to death,Their ^dyoung men struck down by the sword in battle.²²May an ^aoutcry be heard from their houses,When You suddenly bring raiders upon them;^bFor they have dug a pit to capture meAnd ^chidden snares for my feet.²³Yet You, O Yahweh, knowAll their ¹deadly counsel against me;^aDo not atone for their iniquityOr blot out their sin from before You.But may they be ²^,^boverthrown before You;Deal with them in the ^ctime of Your anger!

The Broken Jar

19Thus says Yahweh, “Go and buy a ^apotter’s earthenware ^bjar, and take some of the ^celders of the people and some of the ^delders of the priests. ²“Then go out to the ^avalley of Ben-hinnom, which is by the entrance of the potsherd gate, and there ^bcall out the words that I tell you ³and say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, O ^akings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to bring a ^bcalamity upon this place, at which the ^cears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. ⁴“Because they have ^aforsaken Me and have ^bmade this a foreign place and have burned incense in it to ^cother gods, that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the ^dblood of the innocent ⁵and have built the ^ahigh places of Baal to burn their ^bsons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever come upon My heart, ⁶therefore, behold, ^adays are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when this place will no longer be called ^bTopheth or ^cthe valley of Ben-hinnom, but rather the valley of Slaughter. ⁷“I will ^aempty out the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem to the point of destruction in this place, and ^bI will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will give over their ^ccarcasses as food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. ⁸“I will also make this city an ^aobject of horror and of hissing; ^beveryone who passes by it will be ¹horrified and hiss because of all its ²slaughtering. ⁹“I will make them ^aeat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them.”’

¹⁰“Then you are to break the ^ajar in the sight of the men who accompany you, ¹¹and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “Just so will I ^abreak this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will ^bbury in Topheth ¹because there is no other place for burial. ¹²“This is what I will do to this place and its inhabitants,” declares Yahweh, “so as to make this city like Topheth. ¹³“And the ^ahouses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be ^bdefiled like the place Topheth because of all the ^chouses on whose rooftops they burned incense to ^dall the heavenly host and ^epoured out drink offerings to other gods.”’”

¹⁴Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the ^acourt of the house of Yahweh and said to all the people: ¹⁵“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to bring on this city and all its towns the entire calamity that I have spoken against it because they have ^astiffened their necks so ^bas not to hear My words.’”

Yahweh Speaks Against Pashhur

20Then Pashhur the priest, the son of ^aImmer, who was ^bruling overseer in the house of Yahweh, heard Jeremiah prophesying these words; ²and Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet ^astruck and put him in the ^bstocks that were at the upper ^cBenjamin Gate, which was by the house of Yahweh. ³Now it happened that on the next day, Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks. And Jeremiah said to him, “Pashhur is not the name Yahweh has ^acalled you, but rather ¹^,^bMagor-missabib. ⁴“For thus says Yahweh, ‘Behold, I am going to make you a ^aterror to yourself and to all your friends; and while ^byour eyes look on, they will fall by the sword of their enemies. So I will ^cgive over all Judah to the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take them away into ^dexile to Babylon and will strike them down with the sword. ⁵‘I will also give over all the ^awealth of this city, all the fruit of its labor, and all its precious things; even all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give over to the ^bhand of their enemies, and they will plunder them, take them away, and bring them to Babylon. ⁶‘And you, ^aPashhur, and all who live in your house will go into captivity; and you will enter Babylon, and there you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your ^bfriends to whom you have ^cprophesied lies.’”

Jeremiah Curses the Day He Was Born

⁷O Yahweh, You have enticed me, and I was enticed;You were ^astronger than I, and You prevailed.I have become a ^blaughingstock all day long;Everyone ^cmocks me.⁸For each time I speak, I cry aloud;I ^acall out violence and devastationBecause for me the ^bword of Yahweh has ¹resultedIn reproach and derision all day long.⁹But if I say, “I will not ^aremember HimOr speak anymore in His name,”Then in ^bmy heart it becomes like a burning fireShut up in my bones;And I am weary of holding it in,And ^cI cannot prevail.¹⁰For ^aI have heard the bad report of many,“^bTerror on every side!^cDenounce him; yes, let us denounce him!”¹All my ^dtrusted friends,Keeping watch for my fall, say:“Perhaps he will be ²deceived, so that we may ^eprevail against himAnd take our revenge on him.”¹¹But ^aYahweh is with me like a ruthless mighty one;Therefore my ^bpersecutors will stumble and not prevail.They will be utterly ashamed, because they have not prospered,With an ^ceverlasting dishonor that will not be forgotten.¹²Yet, O Yahweh of hosts, You who ^atest the righteous,Who see the ¹mind and the heart;Let me ^bsee Your vengeance on them,For ^cto You I have revealed my cause.¹³^aSing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh!For He has ^bdelivered the soul of the needy oneFrom the hand of evildoers.¹⁴Cursed be the ^aday when I was born;Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me!¹⁵Cursed be the man who brought the good newsTo my father, saying,“A ¹^,^ababy boy has been born to you!”And made him very glad.¹⁶But let that man be like the citiesWhich Yahweh ^aoverthrew without ¹relenting,And let him hear an ^boutcry in the morningAnd a ²shout of war at noon,¹⁷Because he did not ^aput me to death from the womb,So that my mother would have been my grave,And her womb ever pregnant.¹⁸Why did I ever come forth from the wombTo ^alook on trouble and sorrow,So that my ^bdays have been spent in ^cshame?

Jeremiah’s Message for Zedekiah

21The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh when ^aKing Zedekiah sent to him ^bPashhur, the son of Malchijah, and ^cZephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying, ²“Please ^ainquire of Yahweh on our behalf, for ¹^,^bNebuchadnezzar king of ^cBabylon is warring against us; perhaps Yahweh will deal with us ^daccording to all His ²wonderful acts, so that the enemy will go up from us.”

³Then Jeremiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, ⁴‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to ^aturn back the weapons of war which are in your hands, with which you are warring against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall; and I will ^bgather them into the center of this city. ⁵“I ^aMyself will war against you with an ^boutstretched hand and a strong arm, even in ^canger and wrath and great indignation. ⁶“I will also strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great ^apestilence. ⁷“Then afterwards,” declares Yahweh, “^aI will give over Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people, even those who remain in this city from the pestilence, the sword, and the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives; and he will strike them down with the edge of the sword. He ^bwill not show pity on them nor spare nor have compassion.”’

⁸“You shall also say to this people, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I ^aset before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹“He who ^ainhabits this city will die by the ^bsword and by famine and by pestilence; but he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his own life as spoil. ¹⁰“For I have ^aset My face against this city for ¹evil and not for good,” declares Yahweh. “It will be ^bgiven into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will ^cburn it with fire.”’

¹¹“Then say to the household of the ^aking of Judah, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, ¹²O ^ahouse of David, thus says Yahweh: “^bRender justice ¹every ^cmorning;And deliver the person who has been robbed from the ²power of his oppressor,^dLest My wrath go forth like fireAnd ^eburn with none to extinguish it,Because of the evil of their deeds.

¹³“Behold, ^aI am against you, O ^binhabitant of the valley,O ¹rocky plain,” declares Yahweh,“You men who say, ‘^cWho will come down against us?Or who will enter into our dwelling places?’¹⁴“But I will punish you ^aaccording to the ¹results of your deeds,” declares Yahweh,“And I will ^bkindle a fire in its forestThat it may devour all its surroundings.”’”