Jeremiah 16:14–17:13
The Nation’s Return to the Land
14 ⌊Therefore⌋p look, days are coming,’ ⌊declares⌋q Yahweh, ‘and it will no longer be said, “⌊As Yahweh lives⌋,r who led up the ⌊Israelites⌋s from the land of Egypt,” 15 ⌊but only⌋t “⌊As Yahweh lives⌋,u who led up the ⌊Israelites⌋v from the land of the north, and from all the lands where he had driven them,” for I will bring them back to their ground that I gave to their ancestors.w 16 Look, I am sending for many fishermen,’ ⌊declares⌋x Yahweh, ‘and they will fish them out, and ⌊afterward⌋y I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and from the clefts of the cliffs. 17 For my eyes are on all their ways, they are not hidden ⌊from before me⌋,z and their iniquity is not concealed from before my eyes. 18 And ⌊I will first doubly repay⌋a their iniquity and their sin because of their profaning my land with the dead bodiesb of their abhorrences, and with their abominations they have filled up my inheritance.’ ”
19 O Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold,
and my refuge in the day of distress,
to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth,
and they will say, “Our ancestorsc have inherited only lies,d
vanity, and there is no profit in them.
20 Can a human make for himself gods?
Yet they are not gods!”
21 “⌊Therefore⌋e look, I am about to let them know,
this time I am going to let them know
my ⌊power⌋f and my might,
and they will know that my name is Yahweh.”
17 “The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus,
with a point of diamond it is engraved
on the tablet of their heart,
and on the horns of their altars.
2 As the remembering of their children,
so is the remembering of their altars
and their poles of Asherah worship
beside the leafy treesa on the high hills.
3 O my mountain in the open country,
I will give your wealth, all your treasures, for spoil,
your high places, because of your sin,
throughout all your territories.
4 And ⌊you will let go your hand from your inheritance⌋b
that I gave to you,
and I will make you serve your enemies
in the land that you do not know,
for you kindled a fire in my anger,
until eternity it will be kindled.”
The One Who Trusts in Humankind Contrasted With the One Who Trusts in Yahweh
5 Thus says Yahweh,
“Cursed is the person who trusts in humankind
and makes flesh his ⌊strength⌋,c
and turns aside his heart from Yahweh.
6 And he will be like a juniper in the wilderness,d
and he will not see when good comes,
and he will dwell in the parched places in the desert,e
in a land of salt flats,f where no one lives.
7 Blessed be the person who trusts in Yahweh,
and Yahweh is his trust.
8 For he will be like a tree planted by water,
and to the stream it sends its roots,
and it will not fear when heat comes,
and its leavesg will be luxuriant,
and in the year of drought it will not be anxious,
and it will not cease from the bearing of fruit.
9 The heart is deceitful more than anything else,
and it is disastrous. Who can understand it?
10 I, Yahweh, examine the ⌊mind⌋,h
I test the ⌊heart⌋,i
and give to each one according to his way,
according to the fruit of his deeds.
11 Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay
is one who amasses wealth without justice.
In the middle of his days it will leave him,
and at his end he will prove to be a fool.”
12 A lofty throne of glory from the beginning
is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O Yahweh, the hope of Israel,
all those who forsake you will be put to shame,
and those who turn aside from you in the earth will be recorded,
for they have forsaken the fountain of living water, Yahweh.