Jeremiah 16–24

The word of the Lord came also unto me, saying, ²Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons nor daughters in this place. ³For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land; ⁴they shall die of grievous ^adeaths; ^bthey shall not be lamented; ^bneither shall they be buried; but ^cthey shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and ^dthey shall be consumed ^aby the sword, and ^aby famine; and ^etheir carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. ⁵For thus said the Lord, ^fEnter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the Lord, even lovingkindness and mercies. ⁶Both the great and the small shall die in this land: ^bthey shall not be buried, ^bneither shall men lament for them, nor ^gcut themselves, nor ^hmake themselves bald for them: ⁷neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. ⁸Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink. ⁹For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, ⁱI will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. ¹⁰And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, ^kWherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? ^11lThen shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Lord, and ^mhave walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law; ¹²and ye have done ⁿworse than your fathers; for behold, ^mye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me: ^13otherefore will I ^pcast you out of this land ^qinto a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour.

^14rTherefore behold, ^sthe days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, ^tThe Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; ¹⁵but, ^tThe Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel ^ufrom the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and ^vI will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. ¹⁶Behold, I will send for many ^wfishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of ^xthe holes of the rocks. ¹⁷For ^ymine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, ^zneither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes. ¹⁸And first ^aI will recompense their iniquity and their sin ^bdouble; because ^bbthey have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things. ¹⁹O Lord, my strength, and ^cmy fortress, and ^dmy refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, ^evanity, and things ^fgwherein there is no profit. ²⁰Shall a man make gods unto himself, and ^gthey are no gods? ²¹Therefore behold, I will ^hthis once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that ⁱmy name is The Lord.

XVII.The sin of Judah is written with ^aa pen of iron, and with the point of ^ba diamond: it is ^cgraven upon the table of their heart, and upon ^dthe horns of ^efyour altars; ²whilst ^ftheir children remember their altars and ^gtheir groves ^hby the green trees upon the high hills. ³O ⁱmy mountain in the field, ^jI will give thy substance and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy borders. ⁴And thou, even thyself, shalt ^kdiscontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and ^lI will cause thee to serve thine enemies ^lmin the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.

⁵Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be ⁿthe man that trusteth in man, and ^omaketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. ⁶For he shall ^pbe like the ^qheath in the desert, and ^rshall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in ^sa salt land and ^tnot inhabited. ^7uBlessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose ^vhope the Lord is. ⁸For ^whe shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but ^xher leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

^9yThe heart is ^zdeceitful above all things, and ^adesperately wicked: who can know it? ¹⁰I the Lord ^bsearch the heart, I ^ctry the reins, even ^dto give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. ¹¹As ^ethe partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, ^gshall leave them ^hin the midst of his days, and at his end shall be ⁱa fool.

¹²A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. ¹³O Lord, ^kthe hope of Israel, ^lall that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be ^mwritten in the earth, because ^nothey have forsaken the Lord, ^othe fountain of living waters. ^14pHeal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for ^qthou art my praise. ¹⁵Behold, ^rthey say unto me, Where is the word of the Lord? let it ^scome now. ¹⁶As for me, ^tI have not ^uhastened from being ^va pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the ^awoeful day; ^wthou knowest: that which came out of my lips was ^xright before thee. ¹⁷Be not a terror unto me: ^xxthou art my hope in the day of evil. ^18yLet them be confounded that persecute me, but ^zlet not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and ^adestroy them with ^bdouble destruction.

¹⁹Thus said the Lord unto me; Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby ^cthe kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; ²⁰and say unto them, ^dHear ye the word of the Lord, ^cye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates: ²¹Thus saith the Lord; Take heed to yourselves, and ^ebear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; ²²neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, ^fneither do ye any work, but ^ffhallow ye the sabbath day, ^gas I commanded your fathers. ^23hBut they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but ⁱmade their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor ^kreceive instruction. ²⁴And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, ^eto bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but ^fhallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein; ^25lthen shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and ^mon horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever. ²⁶And they shall come from ⁿthe cities of Judah, and from ^nothe places about Jerusalem, and from ⁿthe land of Benjamin, and from ^nopthe plain, and from ⁿthe mountains, and from ^noqthe south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing ^rsacrifices of praise, unto the house of the Lord. ²⁷But if you will not hearken unto me ^fto hallow the sabbath day, and not ^eto bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then ^swill I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and ^tit shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and ^uit shall not be quenched.

XVIII.The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ²Arise, and go down to ^athe potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. ³Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he wrought a work on the ^bwheels. ⁴And the vessel that he made of clay ^cwas marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. ⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁶O house of Israel, ^dcannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, ^eas the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. ⁷At what instant I shall speak ^fconcerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, ^fto pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; ⁸if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, ^gturn from their evil, ^hI will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. ⁹And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, ^fto build and to plant it; ¹⁰if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. ¹¹Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: ⁱreturn ye now every one from his evil way, and ^kmake your ways and your doings good. ¹²And they said, ^lThere is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do ^mthe imagination of his evil heart. ¹³Therefore thus saith the Lord; ⁿAsk ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done ^oa very horrible thing. ¹⁴Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock…