Jeremiah 16–24

Day of Disaster

16Then the word of the Lord came to me: ²“You must not marryⁱ and have sons or daughters in this place.” ³For 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 buried^k 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

⁵For 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the Lord says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity^o from this people,” declares the Lord.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 cut^r themselves or shave^s their head for the dead. ⁷No one will offer food^t to comfort those who mourn^u for the dead—not even for a father or a mother—nor will anyone give them a drink to console^v 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 sounds^x of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride^y 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 worshiped^b 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 hearts^e instead of obeying me. ¹³So I will throw you out of this land^f into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known,^g and there you will serve other gods^h 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 north^l 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 hunt^q 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 hidden^s from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.^{t 18}I will repay^u them double^v for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land^w with the lifeless forms of their vile images^x and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.^y”^z

¹⁹Lord, my strength and my fortress,

my refuge^a in time of distress,

to you the nations will come^b

from the ends of the earth and say,

“Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods,^c

worthless idols^d that did them no good.^e

²⁰Do 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 name^g 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 horns^j of their altars.

²Even their children remember

their altars and Asherah poles^ak

beside the spreading trees

and on the high hills.^l

³My mountain in the land

and your^b 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

⁴Through your own fault you will lose

the inheritance^p I gave you.

I will enslave you to your enemies^q

in a land^r you do not know,

for you have kindled my anger,

and it will burn^s forever.”

⁵This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,^t

who draws strength from mere flesh

and whose heart turns away from the Lord.^u

⁶That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;

they will not see prosperity when it comes.

They will dwell in the parched places^v of the desert,

in a salt^w land where no one lives.

⁷“But blessed^x is the one who trusts^y in the Lord,

whose confidence is in him.

⁸They 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 drought^a

and never fails to bear fruit.”^b

⁹The heart^c is deceitful above all things

and beyond cure.

Who can understand it?

¹⁰“I the Lord search the heart^d

and examine the mind,^e

to reward^f each person according to their conduct,

according to what their deeds deserve.”^g

¹¹Like 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

¹²A glorious throne,ⁱ exalted from the beginning,

is the place of our sanctuary.

¹³Lord, you are the hope^j of Israel;

all who forsake^k you will be put to shame.

Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust^l

because they have forsaken the Lord,

the spring of living water.^m

¹⁴Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;ⁿ

save^o me and I will be saved,

for you are the one I praise.^p

¹⁵They keep saying to me,

“Where is the word of the Lord?

Let it now be fulfilled!”^q

¹⁶I have not run away from being your shepherd;

you know I have not desired the day of despair.

What passes my lips^r is open before you.

¹⁷Do not be a terror^s to me;

you are my refuge^t in the day of disaster.^u

¹⁸Let 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

Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

¹⁹This 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 Jerusalem^x who come through these gates.^{y 21}This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath^z day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. ²²Do 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-necked^c and would not listen or respond to discipline.^{d 24}But if you are careful to obey me, declares the Lord, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy^e by not doing any work on it, ²⁵then kings who sit on David’s throne^f will come through the gates of this city with their officials. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.^{g 26}People will come from the towns of Judah and the villages around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin and the western foothills, from the hill country and the Negev,^h bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord. ²⁷But if you do not obeyⁱ me to keep the Sabbath^j day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire^k in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.’ ”^l

At the Potter’s House

18This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” ³So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me. ⁶He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay^m in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand,ⁿ Israel. ⁷If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted,^o torn down and destroyed, ⁸and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent^p and not inflict on it the disaster^q I had planned. ⁹And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built^r up and planted, ¹⁰and if it does evil^s in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider^t the good I had intended to do for it.^u

¹¹“Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster^v for you and devising a plan^w against you. So turn^x from your evil ways,^y each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’^{z 12}But they will reply, ‘It’s no use.^a We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.^b’ ”

¹³Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“Inquire among the nations:

Who has ever heard anything like this?^c

A most horrible^d thing has been done

by Virgin^e Israel.

¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon

ever vanish from its rocky slopes?

Do its cool waters from distant sources

ever stop flowing?^a

¹⁵Yet my people have forgotten^f me;

they burn incense^g to worthless idols,^h

which made them stumbleⁱ in their ways,

in the ancient paths.^j

They made them walk in byways,

on roads not built up.^k

¹⁶Their land will be an object of horror^l

and of lasting scorn;^m

all who pass by will be appalledⁿ

and will shake their heads.^o

¹⁷Like a wind^p from the east,

I will scatter them before their enemies;

I will show them my back and not my face^q

in the day of their disaster.”

¹⁸They said, “Come, let’s make plans^r against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest^s will not…