Jeremiah 16–24

Chapter 16

¹And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Thou shalt not take thee a wife, and thou shalt not have sons nor daughters in this place. ³For thus saith Jehovah concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bear them, and concerning their fathers that beget them in this land: ⁴They shall die of painful deaths; they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung upon the face of the ground, and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine, and their carcases shall be food for the fowl of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth. ⁵For thus saith Jehovah: Enter not into the house of wailing, neither go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith Jehovah, the loving-kindness and the tender mercies. ⁶Both great and small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried; and none shall lament for them, or cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them. ⁷Nor shall they break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall they give them the cup of consolations to drink for their father or for their mother. ⁸And thou shalt not go into the house of feasting, to sit with them, to eat and to drink. ⁹For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt declare unto this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? and what is our iniquity? and what is our sin which we have committed against Jehovah our God? ¹¹then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith Jehovah, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law; ¹²and you, ye have done still worse than your fathers; and there ye are walking every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, not to hearken unto me: ¹³and I will cast you forth out of this land, into a land that ye know not, ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night: because I will shew you no favour.

¹⁴Therefore, behold, days are coming, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be said, As Jehovah liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; ¹⁵but, As Jehovah liveth, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them. For I will bring them again into their land, which I gave unto their fathers. ¹⁶Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith Jehovah, and they shall fish them; and afterwards will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them, from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. ¹⁷For mine eyes are upon all their ways; they are not concealed from my face, neither is their iniquity hidden from before mine eyes. ¹⁸But first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have profaned my land with the carcases of their detestable things, and with their abominations have they filled mine inheritance. ¹⁹Jehovah, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of distress, unto thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and they shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited falsehood and vanity; and in these things there is no profit. ²⁰Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no-gods? ²¹Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is Jehovah.

Chapter 17

¹The sin of Judah is written with a style of iron, with the point of a diamond, engraven upon the tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars; ²whilst their children remember their altars and their Asherahs, by the green trees, upon the high hills. ³My mountain in the field, thy substance, all thy treasures will I give for a spoil, —thy high places, because of sin throughout thy borders. ⁴And of thyself thou shalt let go thine inheritance which I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in a land that thou knowest not; for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, —it shall burn for ever.

⁵Thus saith Jehovah: Cursed is the man that confideth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from Jehovah. ⁶And he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but he shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited. ⁷Blessed is the man that confideth in Jehovah, and whose confidence Jehovah is. ⁸For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out its roots by the stream, and he shall not see when heat cometh, but his leaf shall be green; and in the year of drought he shall not be careful, neither shall he cease to yield fruit. ⁹The heart is deceitful above all things, and incurable; who can know it? ¹⁰I Jehovah search the heart, I try the reins, even to give each one according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. ¹¹As the partridge sitteth on eggs it hath not laid, so is he that getteth riches and not by right: in the midst of his days shall he leave them, and at his end shall be a fool.

¹²A throne of glory, set on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary. ¹³Thou hope of Israel, Jehovah! all that forsake thee shall be ashamed. They that depart from me shall be written in the earth; because they have forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living waters. ¹⁴Heal me, Jehovah, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise. ¹⁵Behold, these say unto me, Where is the word of Jehovah? let it then come! ¹⁶But as for me, I have not hastened from being a shepherd in following thee, neither have I desired the fatal day, thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was before thy face. ¹⁷Be not a terror unto me: thou art my refuge in the day of evil. ¹⁸Let them be ashamed that persecute me, but let not me be ashamed; let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed; bring upon them the day of evil, and break them with a double breaking.

¹⁹Thus hath Jehovah said unto me: Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; ²⁰and say unto them, Hear the word of Jehovah, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates; ²¹thus saith Jehovah: Take heed to your souls, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, and bring nothing in through the gates of Jerusalem; ²²and carry forth no burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do any work; but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers, ²³but they hearkened not, neither inclined their ear, but hardened their neck, that they might not hear nor receive instruction. ²⁴And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith Jehovah, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, and to hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein; ²⁵then shall there enter in, through the gates of this city, kings and princes sitting upon 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 be inhabited for ever. ²⁶And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the hill-country, and from the south, bringing burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, and oblations, and incense, and bringing thanksgiving unto the house of Jehovah. ²⁷But if ye will not hearken unto me, to hallow the sabbath day and not to bear a burden and enter in through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.

Chapter 18

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, ²Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. ³And I went down to the potter’s house; and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. ⁴And the vessel that he made was marred, as clay, in the hand of the potter; and he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make. ⁵And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ⁶House of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith Jehovah. Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are ye in my hand, house of Israel. ⁷At the moment that I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to break down, and to destroy, ⁸if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, then I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. ⁹And at the moment that I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant, ¹⁰if it do evil in my sight, that it hearken not unto my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them.

¹¹And now, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I prepare evil against you, and devise a device against you: turn ye then every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings. ¹²But they say, There is no hope; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will each one do according to the stubbornness of his evil heart. ¹³Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Ask ye now among the nations, Who hath heard such things? The virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. ¹⁴Shall the snow of Lebanon cease from the rock of the field? Shall the cool flowing waters coming from afar be dried up? ¹⁵For my people hath forgotten me: they burn incense to vanity;…