Jeremiah 17

Chapter 17

The Deceitful Heart

¹The ^asin of Judah is written down with an ^biron stylus;

With a diamond point it is ^cengraved upon the tablet of their heart

And on the horns of ¹their altars,

²As they remember their ^achildren,

So they remember their altars and their ^1bAsherim

By ^cgreen trees on the high hills.

³O ^amountain of Mine in the countryside,

I will ^bgive over your wealth and all your treasures for booty,

Your high places for sin throughout your borders.

⁴And you will, even of yourself, ^alet go of your inheritance

That I gave you;

And I will make you serve your ^benemies

In the ^cland which you do not know;

For you have ^dkindled a fire in My anger

Which will burn forever.

⁵Thus says the Lord,

“^aCursed is the man who trusts in mankind

And makes ^bflesh his ¹strength,

And whose heart turns away from the Lord.

⁶“For he will be like a ^abush in the desert

And will not see when prosperity comes,

But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness,

A ^bland of salt ¹without inhabitant.

⁷“^aBlessed is the man who trusts in the Lord

And whose ^btrust is the Lord.

⁸“For he will be like a ^atree planted by the water,

That extends its roots by a stream

And will not fear when the heat comes;

But its leaves will be green,

And it will not be anxious in a year of ^bdrought

Nor cease to yield fruit.

⁹“The ^aheart is more ^bdeceitful than all else

And is desperately ^csick;

Who can understand it?

¹⁰“I, the Lord, ^asearch the heart,

I test the ¹mind,

Even ^bto give to each man according to his ways,

According to the ²results of his deeds.

¹¹“As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid,

So is he who ^amakes a fortune, but unjustly;

In the midst of his days it will forsake him,

And in ¹the end he will be a ^bfool.”

^12aA glorious throne on high from the beginning

Is the place of our sanctuary.

¹³O Lord, the ^ahope of Israel,

All who ^bforsake You will be put to shame.

Those who turn ¹away on earth will be ^cwritten down,

Because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, even the Lord.

^14aHeal me, O Lord, and I will be healed;

^bSave me and I will be saved,

For You are my ^cpraise.

¹⁵Look, they keep ^asaying to me,

“Where is the word of the Lord?

Let it come now!”

¹⁶But as for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd after You,

Nor have I longed for the woeful day;

^aYou Yourself know that the utterance of my lips

Was in Your presence.

¹⁷Do not be a ^aterror to me;

You are my ^brefuge in the day of disaster.

¹⁸Let those who persecute me be ^aput to shame, but as for me, ^blet me not be put to shame;

Let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed.

^cBring on them a day of disaster,

And crush them with twofold destruction!

The Sabbath Must Be Kept

¹⁹Thus the Lord said to me, “Go and stand in the ¹public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, as well as in all the gates of Jerusalem;

²⁰and say to them, ‘^aListen to the word of the Lord, ^bkings of Judah, and all Judah and all inhabitants of Jerusalem who come in through these gates:

²¹‘Thus says the Lord, “^aTake heed for yourselves, and ^bdo not carry any load on the sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem.

²²“You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the sabbath day ^anor do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I ^bcommanded your ¹forefathers.

²³“Yet they ^adid not listen or incline their ears, but ^bstiffened their necks in order not to listen or take correction.

²⁴“But it will come about, if you ^alisten attentively to Me,” declares the Lord, “to ^bbring no load in through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, ^cbut to keep the sabbath day holy by doing no work on it,

^25athen there will come in through the gates of this city kings and princes ^bsitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this ^ccity will be inhabited forever.

²⁶“They will come in from the ^acities of Judah and from the environs of Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the ^blowland, from the hill country and from the ^cNegev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of the Lord.

²⁷“But ^aif you do not listen to Me to keep the sabbath day holy by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then ^bI will kindle a fire in its gates and it will ^cdevour the palaces of Jerusalem and ^dnot be quenched.” ’ ”