Jeremiah 16–24

16TH CHAPTER

The Lord Tells Jeremiah Not to Marry

¹The Lord spoke his word to me. He said, ²“Don’t marry! Don’t have any sons or daughters in this place! ³This is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this place and about the mothers and fathers who have children in this land: ⁴They will die horrible deaths. No one will mourn for them or bury them. They will be like manure on the ground. Wars and famines will bring them to an end. Their bodies will be food for birds and animals. 

⁵“This is what the Lord says: Don’t go into a house where people are grieving. Don’t go to mourn or to grieve for them. I’m taking my peace, love, and compassion away from these people,” declares the Lord. ⁶“Old and young alike will die in this land. No one will mourn for them or bury them. No one will cut his own body or shave his own head for them. ⁷No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn the dead. No one will give a consoling drink to those who have lost their fathers or mothers. 

⁸“Don’t even go into a home where there is a banquet. Don’t sit with them to eat and drink. ⁹This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I’m going to put a stop to the sounds of joy and happiness and the sounds of brides and grooms in this place. This will happen in your lifetime, while you watch. 

¹⁰“When you tell the people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why does the Lord threaten us with all these disasters? What have we done wrong? How have we sinned against the Lord our God?’ ¹¹Then say to them, ‘It’s because your ancestors abandoned me, declares the Lord. They followed other gods, served them, worshiped them, and abandoned me. They didn’t obey my teachings. ¹²You have done worse than your ancestors. All of you are following your own stubborn, evil ways that keep you from obeying me. ¹³So I will throw you out of this land into a land that you and your ancestors haven’t heard of. There you will serve other gods day and night because I will no longer have pity on you.’ 

¹⁴“That is why the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when people will no longer begin an oath with, ‘The Lord brought the people of Israel out of Egypt. As the Lord lives.…’ ¹⁵But they will say, ‘The Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of the north and all the lands where he had scattered them. As the Lord lives.…’ They will say this because I will bring them back to the land that I gave their ancestors. 

¹⁶“I’m going to send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch the people of Israel. After that, I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt for them on every mountain and hill and even in the cracks in the rocks. ¹⁷I see everything that they do. They can’t hide anything from me. Their wickedness can’t be hidden; I can see it. ¹⁸First, I will have them pay twice as much for their wickedness and their sin, because they have polluted my land. They have filled my property with the lifeless statues of their detestable and disgusting idols.” 

¹⁹The Lord is my strength and my fortress, 

my refuge in times of trouble. 

Nations come to you from the most distant parts of the world 

and say, “Our ancestors have inherited lies, 

worthless and unprofitable gods.” 

²⁰“People can’t make gods for themselves. 

They aren’t really gods. 

²¹That is what I will teach them. 

This time I will make my power and my strength known to them. 

Then they will know that my name is the Lord.” 

17TH CHAPTER

¹⸤The Lord says,⸥ “Judah’s sin is written with an iron pen. 

It is engraved with a diamond point 

on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of their altars. 

²Even their children remember their altars 

and their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah 

beside large trees on high hills 

³and on mountains in the open country.^a

I will turn your wealth and all your treasures into loot. 

I will do this because of your worship sites and your sin 

throughout all your territory. 

⁴You will lose the inheritance that I gave you. 

I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you haven’t heard of. 

I will do this because you have stirred up the fire of my anger. 

It will burn forever. 

⁵“This is what the Lord says: 

Cursed is the person who trusts humans, 

who makes flesh and blood his strength 

and whose heart turns away from the Lord. 

⁶He will be like a bush in the wilderness. 

He will not see when something good comes. 

He will live in the dry places in the desert, 

in a salty land where no one can live. 

⁷Blessed is the person who trusts the Lord. 

The Lord will be his confidence. 

⁸He will be like a tree that is planted by water. 

It will send its roots down to a stream. 

It will not be afraid in the heat of summer. 

Its leaves will turn green. 

It will not be anxious during droughts. 

It will not stop producing fruit. 

⁹“The human mind is the most deceitful of all things. It is incurable. 

No one can understand how deceitful it is. 

¹⁰I, the Lord, search minds and test hearts. 

I will reward each person for what he has done. 

I will reward him for the results of his actions. 

¹¹A person who gets rich dishonestly is like a partridge 

that hatches eggs it did not lay. 

During his lifetime, he will lose his wealth. 

In the end, he will be a godless fool.” 

¹²Our holy place is a glorious throne, 

highly honored from the beginning. 

¹³O Lord, the Hope of Israel, all who abandon you will be put to shame. 

Those who turn away from you will be written in dust, 

because they abandon the Lord, 

the fountain of life-giving water. 

¹⁴Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed. 

Rescue me, and I will be rescued. 

You are the one I praise. 

¹⁵People keep asking me, 

“Where is the Lord’s word? 

Let it come.” 

¹⁶I have not run away from being your shepherd, 

and I have not longed for the day of destruction. 

You know what came out of my mouth. 

¹⁷Do not terrorize me. 

You are my refuge on the day of disaster. 

¹⁸Put my persecutors to shame, 

but do not let me be put to shame. 

Terrify them, 

but do not let me be terrified. 

Bring the day of disaster on them, 

and destroy them completely. 

The Blessing That Comes from Observing the Day of Rest as a Holy Day

¹⁹This is what the Lord said to me: Stand at People’s Gate, where the kings of Judah go in and out. Then stand at every gate in Jerusalem. ²⁰Tell everyone: “Listen to the Lord’s word, you kings of Judah, all the people of Judah, and all those who live in Jerusalem, and go through these gates. ²¹This is what the Lord says: Watch out! If you value your lives, do not carry anything on the day of rest—a holy day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. ²²Do not bring anything out of your homes on the day of rest. Do not do any work, but observe the day of rest as a holy day, as I told your ancestors. ²³Your ancestors did not obey me or pay attention to me. They were impossible to deal with and would not listen or accept discipline. 

²⁴“Now,” declares the Lord, “you must listen to me and not bring anything through the gates of this city on the day of rest. You must observe the day of rest as a holy day by not doing any work on it. ²⁵If you do this, then the kings and princes who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this city. They and their princes will ride in chariots and on horses along with the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem. This city will always have people living in it. 

²⁶“People will come from the cities of Judah, from all around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin, from the foothills, from the mountains, and from the Negev. They will bring burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and incense. They will also bring thank offerings to the Lord’s temple. ²⁷But you must listen to me and observe the day of rest as a holy day by not carrying anything through the gates of Jerusalem on the day of rest. If you don’t do this, I will set its gates on fire. The fire will burn down the palaces in Jerusalem, and you won’t be able to put it out.” 

18TH CHAPTER

The People of Israel Are Like Clay for a Potter

¹The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ²“Go to the potter’s house. There I will give you my message.” 

³I went to the potter’s house, and he was working there at his wheel. ⁴Whenever a clay pot he was working on was ruined, he would rework it into a new clay pot the way he wanted to make it. 

⁵The Lord spoke his word to me. The Lord asked, ⁶“Nation of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter does with clay? Nation of Israel, you are like the clay in the potter’s hands. 

⁷“At one time I may threaten to tear up, break down, and destroy a nation or a kingdom. ⁸But suppose the nation that I threatened turns away from doing wrong. Then I will change my plans about the disaster I planned to do to it. 

⁹“At another time I may promise to build and plant a nation or a kingdom. ¹⁰But suppose that nation does what I consider evil and doesn’t obey me. Then I will change my plans about the good that I promised to do to it. 

¹¹“Now say to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: I’m going to prepare a disaster and make plans against you. Turn from your evil ways, change your lives, and do good.’ 

¹²“But they will answer, ‘It’s useless! We’ll live the way we want to. We’ll go our own stubborn, evil ways.’ 

¹³“This is what the Lord says: 

Ask among the nations if anyone has ever heard anything like this. 

The people of Israel have done a very horrible thing. 

¹⁴The rocky slopes of Lebanon are never without snow. 

The cool mountain streams never dry up. 

¹⁵But my people have forgotten me. 

They burn incense as an offering to worthless idols, 

and they stumble along the way, on the ancient path. 

They go on side roads and not on major highways. 

¹⁶Their land will become desolate 

and something to be hissed at forever. 

Everyone who will pass by it will be stunned and shake his head. 

¹⁷Like the east wind I will scatter them in front of the enemy. 

On the day of their disaster, 

I will show them my back, not my face.” 

¹⁸Then they said, “Let’s plot against…