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Jeremiah 17
Contemporary English Version
Jeremiah 17
Contemporary English Version
The Lord Will Punish Judah
The Lord said:
17 People of Judah,
your sins cannot be erased.
They are written on your hearts
like words chiseled in stone
or carved on the corners
of your altars.[a]
* 2 One generation after another
has set up pagan altars
and worshiped the goddess Asherah
everywhere in your country—
on hills and mountains,
and under large trees.
3 So I'll take everything you own,
including your altars,
and give it all
to your enemies.[b]
4 You will lose[c] 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
5 I, the Lord, have put a curse
on those who turn from me
and trust in human strength.
6 They will dry up like a bush
in salty desert soil,
where nothing can grow.
7 But I will bless those
who trust me, the Lord.
8 (A) They will be like trees
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.
9 You people of Judah
are so deceitful
that you even fool yourselves,
and you can't change.
10 (B) But I know your deeds
and your thoughts,
and I will make sure
you get what you deserve.
11 You 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
12 Our Lord, your temple
is a glorious throne
that has stood on a mountain
from the beginning.
13 You 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.[d]
14 You, Lord, are the one I praise.
So heal me and rescue me!
Then I will be completely well
and perfectly safe.
15 The people of Judah say to me,
“Jeremiah, you claimed to tell us
what the Lord has said.
So why hasn't it come true?”
16 Our 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.[e]
17 I trust you for protection
in times of trouble,
so don't frighten me.
18 Keep 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
19-20 The 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. 21-24 (C) If 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!
I gave this command to your ancestors, but they were stubborn and refused to obey or to be corrected. But if you obey, 25 then 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, 26 and others will come here from the nearby villages, from the towns of Judah and Benjamin,[f] 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,[g] as well as offerings of grain and incense.
27 But 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.
Footnotes
- 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.
- 17.3 enemies: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verses 2,3.
- 17.4 You will lose: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 17.13 reject … dust: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 17.16 you chose … punish them: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 17.26 Judah and Benjamin: These two tribes made up the southern kingdom of Judah.
- 17.26 sacrifices to please me and to give me thanks: See the notes at 14.12.
Jeremiah 17
New International Version
Jeremiah 17
New International Version
17 “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool,(A)
inscribed with a flint point,
on the tablets of their hearts(B)
and on the horns(C) of their altars.
2 Even their children remember
their altars and Asherah poles[a](D)
beside the spreading trees
and on the high hills.(E)
3 My mountain in the land
and your[b] wealth and all your treasures
I will give away as plunder,(F)
together with your high places,(G)
because of sin throughout your country.(H)
4 Through your own fault you will lose
the inheritance(I) I gave you.
I will enslave you to your enemies(J)
in a land(K) you do not know,
for you have kindled my anger,
and it will burn(L) forever.”
5 This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,(M)
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.(N)
6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places(O) of the desert,
in a salt(P) land where no one lives.
7 “But blessed(Q) is the one who trusts(R) in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.(S)
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought(T)
and never fails to bear fruit.”(U)
9 The heart(V) is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart(W)
and examine the mind,(X)
to reward(Y) each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”(Z)
11 Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay
are those who gain riches by unjust means.
When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them,
and in the end they will prove to be fools.(AA)
12 A glorious throne,(AB) exalted from the beginning,
is the place of our sanctuary.
13 Lord, you are the hope(AC) of Israel;
all who forsake(AD) you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust(AE)
because they have forsaken the Lord,
the spring of living water.(AF)
14 Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;(AG)
save(AH) me and I will be saved,
for you are the one I praise.(AI)
15 They keep saying to me,
“Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it now be fulfilled!”(AJ)
16 I have not run away from being your shepherd;
you know I have not desired the day of despair.
What passes my lips(AK) is open before you.
17 Do not be a terror(AL) to me;
you are my refuge(AM) in the day of disaster.(AN)
18 Let my persecutors be put to shame,
but keep me from shame;
let them be terrified,
but keep me from terror.
Bring on them the day of disaster;
destroy them with double destruction.(AO)
Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy
19 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People,[c] through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem.(AP) 20 Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem(AQ) who come through these gates.(AR) 21 This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath(AS) day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. 22 Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.(AT) 23 Yet they did not listen or pay attention;(AU) they were stiff-necked(AV) and would not listen or respond to discipline.(AW) 24 But if you are careful to obey me, declares the Lord, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy(AX) by not doing any work on it, 25 then kings who sit on David’s throne(AY) will come through the gates of this city with their officials. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.(AZ) 26 People will come from the towns of Judah and the villages around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin and the western foothills, from the hill country and the Negev,(BA) bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord. 27 But if you do not obey(BB) me to keep the Sabbath(BC) day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire(BD) in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.’”(BE)
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 17:2 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah
- Jeremiah 17:3 Or hills / 3 and the mountains of the land. / Your
- Jeremiah 17:19 Or Army
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