Jeremiah 17–19

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 of Jerusalem, saying,^h ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Look, I am preparing evil against you, and I am planning a plan against you. Please turn back, each one from his evil way, and walk rightly in your ways and your deeds.” ’ ¹²But they will say, ‘It is hopeless, for we will go after our own plans, and each one of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’

¹³“Therefore thus says Yahweh,

‘Please ask among the nations, “Who has heard the like of this?”ⁱ

The virgin of Israel has done something very horrible.

¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon leave from the crags^j of Sirion?

Or are the cold waters flowing from distant mountains dried up?

¹⁵But my people have forgotten me.

They make smoke offerings to the idols,^k

and they caused them to stumble in their ways, the ancient ways,

to go into bypaths,^l not one that is built up.

¹⁶To make their land a horror,

an object of whistling for eternity.

All who pass by it will be appalled,

and he will shake his head.

¹⁷Like the wind from the east

I will scatter them before^m the enemy.

I will show them my back and not my face

in the day of their disaster.’ ”

Jeremiah’s Imprecatory Prayer

¹⁸Then they said, “Come and let us plan plans against Jeremiah, for instruction will not be lost from the priest, nor advice from the wise man, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us bring charges against him,ⁿ and let us not listen attentively to any of his words.”

¹⁹Listen attentively to me, O Yahweh,

and listen to the voice of my opponents.

²⁰Should good be repaid in place of evil?

Yet they have dug a pit for me.

Remember my standing before you^o to speak good for them,

to avert your wrath from them.

²¹Therefore^p give their children to the famine,

and hand them over to the power^q of the sword,

and let their wives be bereaved and widows,

and let their men be killed by death,

their young men struck dead

by the sword in the battle.

²²Let a cry for help be heard from their houses

when you suddenly bring upon them the raiding band,

for they have dug a pit to catch me,

and they have fixed secretly a trap for my feet.

²³But you, O Yahweh, you know

all their plans of assassination against me.^r

You must not make atonement for their iniquity,

and you must not cause their sin to be blotted out from before you.^s

But let them be overthrown before you.^t

Deal with them in the time of your anger.

The Valley of the Slaughter

19Thus said Yahweh, “Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar, and take some of the elders of the people, and some of the leaders of the priests, ²and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, which is at the entrance of the Gate of the Potsherd, and proclaim there the words that I speak to you. ³And you shall say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: “Look, I am about to bring disaster upon this place so that everyone who hears it,^a his ears will ring. ⁴Because they have forsaken me, and they have defaced this place, and they have made smoke offerings in it to other gods whom they have not known, they, nor their ancestors,^b nor the kings of Judah, and they have filled up this place with the blood of the innocent, ⁵and they have built the high places of Baal, to burn their children in the fire, burnt offerings to Baal, which I commanded not, and I ordered not, and it did not come to my mind.^c

⁶“Therefore^d look, days are about to come,” declares^e Yahweh, “when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but^f the Valley of the Slaughter. ⁷And I will lay waste the plans^g of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will bring them to ruin by the sword before^h their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life, and I will give their dead bodiesⁱ as food to the birds^j of heaven and to the animals^k of the earth. ⁸And I will make this city a horror, and an object of hissing, everyone who passes by it will be appalled, and will hiss because…