Jeremiah 16–24

No Marriage for Jeremiah

16The word of the Lord came to me: ²“You must not marry or have sons or daughters in this place. ³For this is what the Lord says concerning sons and daughters born in this place as well as concerning the mothers who bear them and the fathers who father them in this land: ⁴They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like manure on the face of the earth. ^oThey will be finished off by sword and famine. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land. ^p

⁵“For this is what the Lord says: Don’t enter a house where a mourning feast is taking place. ^qDon’t go to lament or sympathize with them, for I have removed My peace from these people”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“as well as My faithful love and compassion. ^r6Both great and small will die in this land without burial. No lament will be made for them, nor will anyone cut himself or ^sshave his head for them. ^t7Food won’t be provided for the mourner ^uto comfort him because of the dead. A cup of consolation won’t be given him because of the loss of his father or mother. ⁸You must not enter the house where feasting is taking place to sit with them to eat and drink. ⁹For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am about to eliminate from this place, before your very eyes and in your time, the sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the groom and the bride. ^v

Abandoning the Lord and His Law

¹⁰“When you tell these people all these things, they will say to you, ‘Why has the Lord declared all this great disaster against us? ^wWhat is our guilt? What is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ ¹¹Then you will answer them: Because your fathers abandoned Me” ^x—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and followed other gods, served them, and worshiped them. ^yIndeed, they abandoned Me and did not keep My instruction. ¹²You did more evil than your fathers. ^zLook, each one of you was following the stubbornness of his evil heart, not obeying Me. ¹³So I will hurl you from this land into a land that you and your fathers are not familiar with. ^aThere you will worship other gods ^bboth day and night, for I will not grant you grace. ^c

¹⁴“However, take note! The days are coming” ^d—the Lord’s declaration—“when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’ ^e15but rather, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of the north ^fand from all the other lands where He had banished them.’ For I will return them to their land that I gave to their ancestors. ^g

Punishment of Exile

¹⁶“I am about to send for many fishermen” ^h—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks, ¹⁷for My gaze takes in all their ways. ⁱThey are not concealed from Me, and their guilt is not hidden from My sight. ¹⁸I will first repay them double for their guilt ^jand sin because they have polluted My land. They have filled My inheritance with the lifelessness of their detestable and abhorrent idols.”

¹⁹Lord, my strength and my stronghold,

my refuge in a time of distress, ^k

the nations will come to You

from the ends of the earth, and they will say,

“Our fathers inherited only lies,

worthless idols ^lof no benefit at all.”

²⁰Can one make gods for himself?

But they are not gods. ^m

²¹“Therefore, I am about to inform them,

and this time I will make them know

My power and My might;

then they will know that My name is Yahweh.” ⁿ

The Persistent Sin of Judah

17The sin of Judah is written

with an iron stylus. ^o

With a diamond point

it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts ^p

and on the horns of their ^qaltars,

²while their children remember their altars

and their Asherah poles, by the green trees

on the high hills ^r—

³My mountains in the countryside.

I will give up your wealth

and all your treasures as plunder ^s

because of the sin of your high places ^t

in all your borders. ^u

⁴You will, on your own, relinquish your inheritance

that I gave you.

I will make you serve your enemies

in a land you do not know, ^v

for you have set My anger on fire; ^w

it will burn forever.

Curse and Blessing

⁵This is what the Lord says:

The man who trusts in mankind, ^x

who makes human flesh his strength ^y

and turns his heart from the Lord is cursed.

⁶He will be like a juniper in the Arabah; ^z

he cannot see when good comes

but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness,

in a salt land where no one lives. ^a

⁷The man who trusts in the Lord,

whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed. ^b

⁸He will be like a tree planted by water: ^c

it sends its roots out toward a stream,

it doesn’t fear when heat comes,

and its foliage remains green.

It will not worry in a year of drought

or cease producing fruit.

The Deceitful Heart

⁹The heart is more deceitful than anything else, ^d

and incurable—who can understand it? ^e

¹⁰I, Yahweh, examine the mind,

I test the heart ^fg

to give to each according to his way,

according to what his actions deserve. ^h

¹¹He who makes a fortune unjustly

is like a partridge that hatches eggs it didn’t lay.

In the middle of his days

his riches will abandon him,

so in the end he will be a fool. ⁱ

¹²A throne of glory ^j

on high ^kfrom the beginning

is the place of our sanctuary. ^l

¹³Lord, the hope of Israel, ^m

all who abandon You

will be put to shame.

All who turn away from Me

will be written in the dirt,

for they have abandoned

the Lord, the fountain of living water. ⁿ

Jeremiah’s Plea

¹⁴Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;

save me, and I will be saved,

for You are my praise. ^o

¹⁵Hear how they keep challenging me, ^p

“Where is the word of the Lord?

Let it come!”

¹⁶But I have not run away from being Your shepherd,

and I have not longed for the fatal day. ^q

You know my words were spoken in Your presence.

¹⁷Don’t become a terror to me.

You are my refuge ^rin the day of disaster.

¹⁸Let my persecutors be put to shame, ^s

but don’t let me be put to shame.

Let them be terrified, but don’t let me be terrified.

Bring on them the day of disaster; ^t

shatter them with total ^udestruction.

Observing the Sabbath

¹⁹This is what the Lord said to me, “Go and stand at the People’s Gate, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave, as well as at all the gates of Jerusalem. ²⁰Announce to them: Hear the word of the Lord, kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the residents of Jerusalem who enter through these gates. ²¹This is what the Lord says: Watch yourselves; do not pick up a load and bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. ^v22You must not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day or do any work, ^wbut you must consecrate the Sabbath day, just as I commanded your ancestors. ^x23They wouldn’t listen or pay attention but became obstinate, ^ynot listening or accepting discipline.

²⁴“However, if you listen to Me, says the Lord, and do not bring loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day and consecrate the Sabbath day and do no work on it, ²⁵kings and princes will enter through the gates of this city. They will sit on the throne of David, ^zriding in chariots and on horses ^awith their officials, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem. This city will be inhabited forever. ²⁶Then people will come from the cities of Judah and from the area around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the Judean foothills, from the hill country and from the Negev ^bbringing burnt offerings and sacrifice, grain offerings and frankincense, and thank offerings to the house of the Lord. ²⁷If you do not listen to Me to consecrate the Sabbath day by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, I will set fire to its gates, ^cand it will consume the citadels ^dof Jerusalem ^eand not be extinguished.” ^f

Parable of the Potter

18This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Go down at once to the potter’s house; ^gthere I will reveal My words to you.” ³So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel. ^h4But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter’s hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do. ⁱ

⁵The word of the Lord came to me: ⁶“House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel. ^j7At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy it. ^k8However, if that nation I have made an announcement about turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the disaster I had planned to do to it. ^l9At another time I announce that I will build and plant a nation or a kingdom. ^m10However, if it does what is evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, I will relent concerning the good I had said I would do to it. ⁿ¹¹So now, say to the men of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem: This is what the Lord says: I am about to bring harm to you and make plans against you. Turn now, each from your evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds. ^o12But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless. ^pWe will continue to follow our plans, and each of us will continue to act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’ ”

Deluded Israel

¹³Therefore, this is what the Lord says:

Ask among the nations,

Who has heard things like these?

Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing. ^q

¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags?

Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail?

¹⁵Yet My people have forgotten Me. ^r

They burn incense to false idols

that make them stumble in their ways ^s

on the ancient roads ^t

and walk on new paths, not the highway.

¹⁶They have made their land a horror, ^u

a perpetual object of scorn; ^vw

everyone who passes by it will be horrified ^x

and shake his head. ^y

¹⁷I will scatter them before the…