³Here is the Lord’s message about the children who are born in this place. He says about them and their parents, ⁴“Some of them will die of deadly sicknesses. No one will sob over them. Their bodies will not be buried. Instead, they will be like trash lying there on the ground. Others will die because of war and hunger. Their bodies will not be buried. Instead, they will become food for the birds of the air and the wild animals.”

⁵The Lord says, “Jeremiah, do not enter a house where a meal is being served because someone has died. Do not go there to sob or to comfort the family. I will not bless these people anymore. I have taken my love and pity away from them,” announces the Lord.

⁶“Important and ordinary people alike will die in this land. Their bodies will not be buried. No one will sob over them. No one will cut himself or shave his head because of them. ⁷No one will offer food or drink to comfort those who sob over the dead. No one will do it even if someone’s father or mother has died.

⁸“Do not enter a house where a big dinner party is being held. Do not sit down there to eat and drink. ⁹I am the Lord who rules over all. I am the God of Israel. I am telling you, ‘In your days I will judge your people. You will see it with your own eyes. I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness here in Jerusalem. The voices of brides and grooms will not be heard anymore.’

¹⁰“Tell these people all of those things. They will ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decided to send so much trouble on us? We haven’t done anything wrong. We haven’t committed any sins against the Lord our God.’

¹¹“When they say that, tell them, ‘I did it because your people of long ago deserted me,’ announces the Lord. ‘They followed other gods. They served them and worshiped them. They deserted me. They did not obey my law.

¹²“ ‘But you have done more evil things than they did. All of you are doing what your stubborn and evil hearts want you to do. You are not obeying me.

¹³“ ‘So I will throw you out of this land. I will send you away to a land that you and your people have not had anything to do with before. There you will serve other gods day and night. And I will not show you any favor.’

¹⁴“But a new day is coming,” announces the Lord. “At that time people will no longer say, ‘The Lord brought the people of Israel up out of Egypt. And that’s just as sure as he is alive.’

¹⁵“Instead, they will say, ‘The Lord brought the people of Israel up out of the land of the north. He gathered them out of all of the countries where he had forced them to go. And that’s just as sure as he is alive.’ I will bring them back to the land I gave their people long ago.

¹⁶“But now I will send for many fishermen,” announces the Lord. “They will catch some of these people. After that, I will send for many hunters. They will hunt the others down on every mountain and hill. They will bring them out of the cracks in the rocks. ¹⁷My eyes see everything these people do. What they do is not hidden from me. I always see their sin. ¹⁸I will pay them back double for their sin and the evil things they have done. They have made my land ‘unclean.’ They have set up lifeless statues of their evil gods. They have filled my land with them. I hate those gods.”

¹⁹Lord, you give me strength.

You are like a fort to me.

When I’m in trouble,

I go to you for safety.

The nations will come to you

from one end of the earth to the other.

They will gather together and say,

“Our people of long ago didn’t own anything

except statues of gods.

The statues were worthless.

They didn’t do them any good.

²⁰Do men really make their own gods?

Yes. But they aren’t really gods at all!”

²¹The Lord says, “So I will teach them about myself.

This time I will show them

how powerful and mighty I am.

Then they will know

that I am the Lord.

17“Judah’s sin is carved with an iron tool. It is written with a sharp stone.

It is carved on the tablets of their hearts.

It is written on the horns that stick out

from the corners of their altars.

²Even their children offer sacrifices

to other gods on those altars.

They use the poles that were made

to worship the goddess Asherah.

They worship strange gods beside the green trees

and on the high hills.

³I will give away my holy Mount Zion to the Babylonians.

Your enemies will carry off your wealth

and all of your treasures.

I will give away your high places.

That will happen because you have sinned.

You have done it all through your country.

⁴You will lose the land I gave you.

And it will be your own fault.

I will make you slaves to your enemies.

You will serve them in a land you have not had anything to do with before.

You have set my anger on fire.

It will burn forever.”

⁵The Lord says,

“Those who trust in man are under my curse.

They depend on human strength.

Their hearts turn away from me.

⁶They will be like a bush in a dry and empty land.

They will not enjoy success when it comes.

They will live in dry places in the desert.

It is a land of salt where no one else lives.

⁷“But I will bless any man who trusts in me.

I will show my favor to the one who depends on me.

⁸He will be like a tree that is planted near water.

It sends out its roots beside a stream.

It is not afraid when heat comes.

Its leaves are always green.

It does not worry when there is no rain.

It always bears fruit.”

⁹A human heart is more dishonest than anything else.

It can’t be healed.

Who can understand it?

¹⁰The Lord says, “I look deep down inside human hearts.

I see what is in people’s minds.

I reward a man in keeping with his conduct.

I bless him based on what he has done.”

¹¹Some people get rich in the wrong way.

They are like a partridge that hatches eggs it didn’t lay.

When their lives are half over, their riches will desert them.

In the end they will prove how foolish they have been.

¹²Our temple is where the Lord’s glorious throne is.

From the beginning it has been high and lifted up.

¹³Lord, you are Israel’s only hope.

Everyone who deserts you will be put to shame.

The names of those who turn away from you will be listed among the dead.

Lord, they have deserted you.

You are the spring of water that gives life.

¹⁴Lord, heal me. Then I will be healed.

Save me from my enemies. Then I will be saved.

You are the one I praise.

¹⁵They keep saying to me,

“What has happened to the message the Lord gave you?

Let it come true right now!”

¹⁶I haven’t run away from being the shepherd of your people.

You know I haven’t wanted the day of Jerusalem’s fall to come.

You are aware of every word that comes from my lips.

¹⁷Don’t be a terror to me.

When I’m in trouble, I go to you for safety.

¹⁸Let those who attack me be put to shame.

But keep me from shame.

Let them be terrified.

But keep me from terror.

Bring the day of trouble on them.

Destroy them once and for all.

Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

¹⁹The Lord said to me, “Go. Stand at the city gate where the people gather together. That is where the kings of Judah go in and out. Also go to all of the other gates of Jerusalem. ²⁰Say, ‘Listen to the Lord’s message, you kings of Judah and all of you people of Judah and Jerusalem. You always come through these gates.

²¹“ ‘The Lord says, “Make sure you do not carry a load on the Sabbath day. Do not bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. ²²Do not bring a load out of your houses on the Sabbath. Do not do any work on that day. Instead, keep the Sabbath day holy. Do as I commanded your people long ago. ²³But they did not listen. They did not pay any attention to me. They were stubborn. They would not listen or pay attention when I corrected them.

²⁴“ ‘ “Be careful to obey me,” announces the Lord. “Do not bring a load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath. Instead, keep the Sabbath day holy. Do not do any work on it.

²⁵“ ‘ “Then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this city. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses. The people of Judah and Jerusalem will come along with them. And this city will always have people living in it. ²⁶Some will come from the towns of Judah. And some will come in from the villages around Jerusalem. Others will come from the territory of Benjamin. And others will come in from the western hills. Still others will come from the central hill country and the Negev Desert. All of them will bring burnt offerings and sacrifices. They will come bringing grain offerings, incense and thank offerings. They will take all of those offerings to my house.

²⁷“ ‘ “But what if you do not obey me? Suppose you do not keep the Sabbath day holy. And suppose you carry a load through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Then I will start a fire that can’t be put out. It will begin at the gates of Jerusalem. It will destroy its mighty towers.” ’ ”

The Lord Sends Jeremiah to the Potter’s House

18A message came to me from the Lord. He said, ²“Go down to the potter’s house. I will give you my message there.”

³So I went down to the potter’s house. I saw him working at his wheel. ⁴His hands were shaping a pot out of clay. But he saw that something was wrong with it. So he formed it into another pot. He shaped it in the way that seemed best to him.

⁵Then the Lord’s message came to me. He said, ⁶“People of Israel, I can do with you just as this potter does,” announces the Lord. “The clay is in the potter’s hand. And you are in my hand, people of Israel.

⁷“Suppose at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is going to be pulled up by the roots. And I tell it that it will be torn down and destroyed. ⁸But suppose the nation I warned turns away from its sins. Then I will not do what I said I would. I will not bring trouble on it as I had planned.

⁹“Suppose at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is going to be built up and planted. ¹⁰But it does what is evil in my sight. It does not obey me. Then I will…

Read in Logos

This passage has been shortened. Keep reading Jeremiah 16–24 in Logos