Jeremiah 17–19

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 think again about the good things I had wanted to do for it.

¹¹“So speak to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Tell them, ‘The Lord says, “Look! I am making plans against you. I am going to bring trouble on you. So each one of you must turn from your evil ways. Change the way you live and act.” ’

¹²“But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue to do what we’ve already planned. All of us will do what our stubborn and evil hearts want us to do.’ ”

¹³So the Lord says,

“Ask the nations a question. Say to them,

‘Who has ever heard anything like this?

The people of Israel have done

a very horrible thing.

¹⁴Does the snow ever disappear

from Lebanon’s rocky slopes?

Do its cool waters ever stop

flowing from places far away?

¹⁵But my people have forgotten me.

They burn incense to worthless gods.

Their gods made them trip and fall

as they walked on the old paths.

They made them use side roads

instead of roads that were built up.

¹⁶So their land will be completely destroyed.

People will make fun of it again and again.

All those who pass by it will be shocked.

They will shake their heads.

¹⁷I will sweep over my people like a wind from the east.

I will use the Babylonians to scatter them.

I will show them my back and not my face.

I will desert them when their day of trouble comes.’ ”

¹⁸They said, “Come on. Let’s make plans against Jeremiah. We’ll still have priests to teach us the law. We’ll always have wise people to give us advice. We’ll have prophets to bring us messages from the Lord. So come on. Let’s speak out against Jeremiah. We shouldn’t pay any attention to what he says.”

¹⁹Lord, please listen to me!

Hear what my enemies are saying about me!

²⁰Should the good things I’ve done be paid back with evil?

But my enemies have dug a pit for me.

Remember that I stood in front of you

and spoke up for them.

I tried to turn your anger away from them.

²¹So let their children die of hunger.

Let my enemies be killed in war.

Let their wives lose their children and husbands.

Let their men be put to death.

Let their young men be killed in battle.

²²Bring their enemies against them without warning.

Let cries be heard from their houses.

They have dug a pit to capture me.

They have hidden traps for my feet.

²³But Lord, you know

all about their plans to kill me.

Don’t forgive their crimes.

Don’t erase their sins from your sight.

Destroy my enemies.

Punish them when the time to show your anger comes.

19The Lord said to me, “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people. Also tell some of the priests to go with you. ²Go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom. Stand near the entrance of the gate where broken pieces of pottery are thrown away.

“There announce the message I give you. ³Tell the people, ‘Listen to the Lord’s message, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, “Listen! I am going to bring trouble on Jerusalem. It will be so horrible that it will make the ears of everyone who hears about it ring.

⁴“ ‘ “My people have deserted me. They have made this city a place where other gods are worshiped. They have burned sacrifices to them here. They and their people and the kings of Judah had never had anything to do with those gods before. My people have also filled this place with the blood of those who are not guilty of anything. ⁵They have built the high places where they worship Baal. There they sacrifice their children in the fire as offerings to Baal. That is something I did not command or talk about. It did not even enter my mind.

⁶“ ‘ “So watch out!” announces the Lord. “The days are coming when people will not call this place Topheth anymore. And they will not call it the Valley of Ben Hinnom either. Instead, they will call it the Valley of Death.

⁷“ ‘ “In this place I will make the plans of Judah and Jerusalem as useless as a broken jar. I will use their enemies to kill my people with swords. They will die at the…