Jeremiah 15:1–17:27
15 Then the Lord said to me: “Even if Mosesx and Samuely were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people.z Send them away from my presence!a Let them go! 2 And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“ ‘Those destined for death, to death;
those for the sword, to the sword;b
those for starvation, to starvation;c
those for captivity, to captivity.’d
3 “I will send four kinds of destroyerse against them,” declares the Lord, “the swordf to kill and the dogsg to drag away and the birdsh and the wild animals to devour and destroy.i 4 I will make them abhorrentj to all the kingdoms of the earthk because of what Manassehl son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.
5 “Who will have pitym on you, Jerusalem?
Who will mourn for you?
Who will stop to ask how you are?
6 You have rejectedn me,” declares the Lord.
“You keep on backsliding.
So I will reach outo and destroy you;
I am tired of holding back.p
7 I will winnowq them with a winnowing fork
at the city gates of the land.
I will bring bereavementr and destruction on my people,s
for they have not changed their ways.t
8 I will make their widowsu more numerous
than the sand of the sea.
At midday I will bring a destroyerv
against the mothers of their young men;
suddenly I will bring down on them
anguish and terror.w
9 The mother of seven will grow faintx
and breathe her last.y
Her sun will set while it is still day;
she will be disgracedz and humiliated.
I will put the survivors to the sworda
before their enemies,”b
declares the Lord.
10 Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth,c
a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!d
I have neither lente nor borrowed,
yet everyone cursesf me.
“Surely I will deliver youg for a good purpose;
surely I will make your enemies pleadh with you
in times of disaster and times of distress.
iron from the northi—or bronze?
13 “Your wealthj and your treasures
I will give as plunder,k without charge,l
because of all your sins
throughout your country.m
14 I will enslave you to your enemies
for my anger will kindle a fireo
that will burn against you.”
remember me and care for me.
Avenge me on my persecutors.p
You are long-sufferingq—do not take me away;
think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.r
16 When your words came, I ates them;
they were my joy and my heart’s delight,t
for I bear your name,u
Lord God Almighty.
17 I never satv in the company of revelers,
never made merry with them;
I sat alone because your handw was on me
and you had filled me with indignation.
and my wound grievous and incurable?x
You are to me like a deceptive brook,
like a spring that fails.y
19 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“If you repent, I will restore you
that you may servez me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
you will be my spokesman.a
Let this people turn to you,
but you must not turn to them.
20 I will make you a wallb to this people,
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
but will not overcomec you,
for I am with you
to rescue and save you,”d
declares the Lord.
21 “I will savee you from the hands of the wickedf
and deliverg you from the grasp of the cruel.”h
16 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “You must not marryi and have sons or daughters in this place.” 3 For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers:j 4 “They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buriedk but will be like dung lying on the ground.l They will perish by sword and famine,m and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.”n
5 For this is what the Lord says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pityo from this people,” declares the Lord. 6 “Both high and low will die in this land.p They will not be buried or mourned,q and no one will cutr themselves or shaves their head for the dead. 7 No one will offer foodt to comfort those who mournu for the dead—not even for a father or a mother—nor will anyone give them a drink to consolev them.
8 “And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink.w 9 For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the soundsx of joy and gladness and to the voices of bridey and bridegroom in this place.z
10 “When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?’a 11 then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshipedb them. They forsook me and did not keep my law.c 12 But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors.d See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil heartse instead of obeying me. 13 So I will throw you out of this landf into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known,g and there you will serve other godsh day and night, for I will show you no favor.’i
14 “However, the days are coming,”j declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’k 15 but it will be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the northl and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’m For I will restoren them to the land I gave their ancestors.o
16 “But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch them.p After that I will send for many hunters, and they will huntq them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks.r 17 My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hiddens from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.t 18 I will repayu them doublev for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my landw with the lifeless forms of their vile imagesx and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.y”z
19 Lord, my strength and my fortress,
my refugea in time of distress,
to you the nations will comeb
from the ends of the earth and say,
“Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods,c
worthless idolsd that did them no good.e
20 Do people make their own gods?
Yes, but they are not gods!”f
21 “Therefore I will teach them—
this time I will teach them
my power and might.
Then they will know
that my nameg is the Lord.
17 “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool,h
inscribed with a flint point,
on the tablets of their heartsi
and on the hornsj of their altars.
2 Even their children remember
their altars and Asherah polesa k
beside the spreading trees
and on the high hills.l
and yourb wealth and all your treasures
I will give away as plunder,m
together with your high places,n
because of sin throughout your country.o
4 Through your own fault you will lose
the inheritancep I gave you.
I will enslave you to your enemiesq
in a landr you do not know,
for you have kindled my anger,
and it will burns forever.”
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,t
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.u
6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched placesv of the desert,
in a saltw land where no one lives.
7 “But blessedx is the one who trustsy in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.z
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of droughta
and never fails to bear fruit.”b
9 The heartc is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heartd
and examine the mind,e
to rewardf each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”g
11 Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay
are those who gain riches by unjust means.
When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them,
and in the end they will prove to be fools.h
12 A glorious throne,i exalted from the beginning,
is the place of our sanctuary.
13 Lord, you are the hopej of Israel;
all who forsakek you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be written in the dustl
because they have forsaken the Lord,
the spring of living water.m
14 Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;n
saveo me and I will be saved,
for you are the one I praise.p
“Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it now be fulfilled!”q
16 I have not run away from being your shepherd;
you know I have not desired the day of despair.
What passes my lipsr is open before you.
17 Do not be a terrors to me;
you are my refuget in the day of disaster.u
18 Let my persecutors be put to shame,
but keep me from shame;
let them be terrified,
but keep me from terror.
Bring on them the day of disaster;
destroy them with double destruction.v
19 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People,c through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem.w 20 Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalemx who come through these gates.y 21 This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbathz day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. 22 Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.a 23 Yet they did not listen or pay attention;b they were stiff-neckedc and would not listen or respond to discipline.