Jeremiah 16–24

Jeremiah is Commanded Not to Marry

16And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{a 2}“You shall not take for yourself a wife, there shall not be for you sons and daughters in this place.” ³For thus says Yahweh concerning the sons and concerning the daughters born in this place, and concerning their mothers who gave birth to them, and concerning their fathers who fathered them in this land: ⁴“They will die by diseases, they will not be mourned, and they will not be buried. They will be as dung on the face of the earth. And they will perish by the sword and they will perish by the famine. And their dead bodies^b will become food for the birds^c of the air, and for the wild animals^d of the earth.”

⁵For thus says Yahweh, “You must not enter the house of the funeral meal, and you must not go to lament, and you must not show sympathy for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people,” declares^e Yahweh, “the loyal love and the compassion. ⁶Both the great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried, and they will not mourn for them, and no one will cut himself with a blade, and no one will shave himself for them. ⁷And they will not break bread for the mourning ceremony for them, to comfort him because of the dead. And they will not give drink to them, the cup of desolation, for their fathers,^f or for their mothers.^{g 8}And you shall not enter the house of the banquet, to sit with them, to eat and drink.”

⁹For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “Look, I am about to cause to disappear from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of jubilation, and the voice of joy, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. ¹⁰And then^h when you tell this people all these words and they ask you, ‘Whyⁱ has Yahweh pronounced against us all this great evil, and what is our iniquity, and what is our sin that we have sinned against Yahweh our God?’ ¹¹Then you shall say to them, ‘Because^j your ancestors^k have forsaken me,’ declares^l Yahweh, ‘and they have gone after other gods, and they have served them, and they have bowed down in worship to them, and they have forsaken me, and they have not kept my laws. ¹²And you have behaved badly^m more than your ancestors,ⁿ and look, you are going each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, without listening to me. ¹³So I will throw you from this land to the land that you have not known, you or your ancestors,^o and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will not show you favor.

The Nation’s Return to the Land

¹⁴Therefore^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,” ¹⁵but 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. ¹⁷For 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. ¹⁸And I will first doubly repay^a their iniquity and their sin because of their profaning my land with the dead bodies^b of their abhorrences, and with their abominations they have filled up my inheritance.’ ”

¹⁹O 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 ancestors^c have inherited only lies,^d

vanity, and there is no profit in them.

²⁰Can 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.”

The Sin of Judah

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.

²As the remembering of their children,

so is the remembering of their altars

and their poles of Asherah worship

beside the leafy trees^a on the high hills.

³O 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.

⁴And 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

⁵Thus says Yahweh,

“Cursed is the person who trusts in humankind

and makes flesh his strength,^c

and turns aside his heart from Yahweh.

⁶And 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.

⁷Blessed be the person who trusts in Yahweh,

and Yahweh is his trust.

⁸For 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 leaves^g will be luxuriant,

and in the year of drought it will not be anxious,

and it will not cease from the bearing of fruit.

⁹The heart is deceitful more than anything else,

and it is disastrous. Who can understand it?

¹⁰I, 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.

¹¹Like 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.”

The Fountain of Living Water

¹²A lofty throne of glory from the beginning

is the place of our sanctuary.

¹³O 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.

¹⁴Heal me, O Yahweh, and I will be healed,

save me, and I will be saved,

for you are my praise.

¹⁵Look, they are saying to me,

“Where is the word of Yahweh?

Please let it come.”

¹⁶But I, I have not run away from being a shepherd who follows you,^j

and I have not desired the disastrous day.

You, you know the pronouncement of my lips,

it was before your face.

¹⁷You must not become to me a terror,

you are my refuge in the day of disaster.

¹⁸Let my persecutors be put to shame,

but as for me,^k do not let me be put to shame.

Let them be dismayed,

but as for me,^l do not let me be dismayed.

Bring on them the day of disaster,

and with double destruction, destroy them.

The Sabbath Day

¹⁹Thus said Yahweh to me, “Go, and you must stand in the People’s Gate^m through which the kings of Judah enter, and through which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem. ²⁰And you must say to them, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter through these gates. ²¹Thus says Yahweh, “Be on your guard for the sake of yourselves, that you must not carry a burden on the day of the Sabbath, and you must not bring itⁿ through the gates of Jerusalem. ²²And you must not carry a burden from your houses on the day of the Sabbath, and you must not do any work. But you must declare holy the day of Sabbath, just as I commanded your ancestors.^{o 23}Yet they did not listen, and they did not incline their ear, and they hardened their neck so as to not hear, nor to receive discipline.

²⁴“And it will happen, if you carefully listen to me,” declares^p Yahweh, “to bring no burden through the gates of this city on the day of the Sabbath, but to declare holy the day of Sabbath, not to do on it any work, ²⁵then kings and officials who sit on the throne of David will enter through the gates of this city riding in chariots^q and on horses, they, and their officials, the people of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.^{r 26}And they will come from the towns of Judah, and from all around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the Shephelah, and from the hill country, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings,^s and sacrifices,^t and grain offerings,^u and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings^v to the house of Yahweh. ²⁷But if you do not listen to me, to declare holy the day of the Sabbath, and to not carry a burden and enter through the gates of Jerusalem on the day of the Sabbath, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it will not be quenched.” ’ ”

The Potter and the Clay

18The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,^{a 2}“Stand up and go down to the house of the potter, and there I will let you hear my words.” ³So I went down to the house of the potter and look, there he was doing work at the potter’s wheels. ⁴And the vessel that he was making with the clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter, so he made again^b another vessel, as it was right in the eyes of the potter to make.

⁵And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{c 6}“Like this potter, am I not able to do to you, O house of Israel?” declares^d Yahweh. “Look, like the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷One moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to uproot, and to tear down, and to destroy it.^{e 8}But if that nation turns back from its evil that I have threatened against it, then I will relent concerning the disaster that I planned to do to it. ⁹And the next moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to build, and to plant it.^{f 10}But if it does evil in my sight, to not listen to my voice, then I will relent concerning the good that I said I would do to it.

¹¹“So now then, say, please, to the people^g of Judah and to the inhabitants…