Jeremiah 17–21

17 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; 2 Whilst ftheir children remember their altars and gtheir groves hby the green trees upon the high hills. 3 O 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. 4 And 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.

5 Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be nthe man that trusteth in man, and omaketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. 6 For 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. 7 uBlessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose vhope the Lord is. 8 For 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.

9 yThe heart is zdeceitful above all things, and adesperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I 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. 11 As 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.

12 A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. 13 O 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. 14 pHeal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for qthou art my praise. 15 Behold, rthey say unto me, Where is the word of the Lord? let it scome now. 16 As 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. 17 Be not a terror unto me: xxthou art my hope in the day of evil. 18 yLet 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.

19 Thus 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; 20 And 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: 21 Thus saith the Lord; Take heed to yourselves, and ebear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; 22 Neither 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. 23 hBut they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but imade their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor kreceive instruction. 24 And 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; 25 lThen 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. 26 And 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. 27 But if ye 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.

18 *The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 Arise, and go down to athe potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the ||bwheels. 4 And 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. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 6 O 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. 7 At what instant I shall speak fconcerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, fto pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; 8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, gturn from their evil, hI will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, fto build and to plant it; 10 If 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. 11 Now 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. 12 And 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. 13 Therefore 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. 14 Will a man leave ||the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place pbe forsaken? 15 Because qmy people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to rvanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the sancient tpaths, to walk in paths, in a way not ucast up; 16 To make their land vdesolate, and a perpetual vhissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wwag his head. 17 I xwill scatter them as with yan east wind before the enemy; I will shew them zthe back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

18 Then said they, Come, and alet us devise devices against Jeremiah; bfor the law shall not perish cfrom the priest, nor counsel from the wise, bnor the word from the prophet. Come, and dlet us smite him ||with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words. 19 Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of ethem that contend with me. 20 fShall evil be recompensed for good? for gthey have digged ha pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them. 21 Therefore ideliver up their children to the famine, and †pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and ilet their wives be bereaved of their children, and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle. 22 jLet a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them: for gthey have digged a pit to take me, and khid snares for my feet. 23 Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me †to slay me: lforgive mnnot their iniquity, nneither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; odeal thus with them in the time of thine anger.

19 Thus saith the Lord, aGo and get ba potter’s earthen cbottle, and take of dthe ancients of the people, and of dthe ancients of the priests; 2 And go forth unto ethe valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of †the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee, 3 And say, eeHear ye the word of the Lord, fO kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, ghis ears shall tingle. 4 Because hthey have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and hhave burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with ithe blood of innocents; 5 kThey have built also the high places of Baal, lto burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, klmwhich I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: 6 nTherefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called yTophet, nor eThe valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. 7 And I will domake void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and pI will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and qtheir carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. 8 And rI will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof. 9 And sI will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend tin the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them. 10 Then ushalt thou break cthe bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, 11 uAnd shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Even so vwill I break this people and this city, was one breaketh a potter’s vessel, …