Jeremiah 15–17

Chapter 15

Judah’s Inevitable Doom

Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I wouldn’t help them. Away with them! Get them out of my sight! ²And if they say to you, ‘But where can we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“ ‘Those who are destined for death, to death;

those who are destined for war, to war;

those who are destined for famine, to famine;

those who are destined for captivity, to captivity.’

³“I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” says the Lord. “I will send the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, the vultures to devour, and the wild animals to finish up what is left. ⁴Because of the wicked things Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem, I will make my people an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

⁵“Who will feel sorry for you, Jerusalem?

Who will weep for you?

Who will even bother to ask how you are?

⁶You have abandoned me

and turned your back on me,”

says the Lord.

“Therefore, I will raise my fist to destroy you.

I am tired of always giving you another chance.

⁷I will winnow you like grain at the gates of your cities

and take away the children you hold dear.

I will destroy my own people,

because they refuse to change their evil ways.

⁸There will be more widows

than the grains of sand on the seashore.

At noontime I will bring a destroyer

against the mothers of young men.

I will cause anguish and terror

to come upon them suddenly.

⁹The mother of seven grows faint and gasps for breath;

her sun has gone down while it is still day.

She sits childless now,

disgraced and humiliated.

And I will hand over those who are left

to be killed by the enemy.

I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Jeremiah’s Complaint

¹⁰Then I said,

“What sorrow is mine, my mother.

Oh, that I had died at birth!

I am hated everywhere I go.

I am neither a lender who threatens to foreclose

nor a borrower who refuses to pay—

yet they all curse me.”

¹¹The Lord replied,

“I will take care of you, Jeremiah.

Your enemies will ask you to plead on their behalf

in times of trouble and distress.

¹²Can a man break a bar of iron from the north,

or a bar of bronze?

¹³At no cost to them,

I will hand over your wealth and treasures

as plunder to your enemies,

for sin runs rampant in your land.

¹⁴I will tell your enemies to take you

as captives to a foreign land.

For my anger blazes like a fire

that will burn forever.”

¹⁵Then I said,

“Lord, you know what’s happening to me.

Please step in and help me. Punish my persecutors!

Please give me time; don’t let me die young.

It’s for your sake that I am suffering.

¹⁶When I discovered your words, I devoured them.

They are my joy and my heart’s delight,

for I bear your name,

O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.

¹⁷I never joined the people in their merry feasts.

I sat alone because your hand was on me.

I was filled with indignation at their sins.

¹⁸Why then does my suffering continue?

Why is my wound so incurable?

Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook,

like a spring that has gone dry.”

¹⁹This is how the Lord responds:

“If you return to me, I will restore you

so you can continue to serve me.

If you speak good words rather than worthless ones,

you will be my spokesman.

You must influence them;

do not let them influence you!

²⁰They will fight against you like an attacking army,

but I will make you as secure as a fortified wall of bronze.

They will not conquer you,

for I am with you to protect and rescue you.

I, the Lord, have spoken!

²¹Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men.

I will rescue you from their cruel hands.”

Chapter 16

Jeremiah Forbidden to Marry

The Lord gave me another message. He said, ²“Do not get married or have children in this place. ³For this is what the Lord says about the children born here in this city and about their mothers and fathers: ⁴They will die from terrible diseases. No one will mourn for them or bury them, and they will lie scattered on the ground like manure. They will die from war and famine, and their bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals.”

Judah’s Coming Punishment

⁵This is what the Lord says: “Do not go to funerals to mourn and show sympathy for these people, for I have removed my protection and peace from them. I have taken away my unfailing love and my mercy. ⁶Both the great and the lowly will die in this land. No one will bury them or mourn for them. Their friends will not cut themselves in sorrow or shave their heads in sadness. ⁷No one will offer a meal to comfort those who mourn for the dead—not even at the death of a mother or father. No one will send a cup of wine to console them.

⁸“And do not go to their feasts and parties. Do not eat and drink with them at all. ⁹For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: In your own lifetime, before your very eyes, I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in this land. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard.

¹⁰“When you tell the people all these things, they will ask, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such terrible things against us? What have we done to deserve such treatment? What is our sin against the Lord our God?’

¹¹“Then you will give them the Lord’s reply: ‘It is because your ancestors were unfaithful to me. They worshiped other gods and served them. They abandoned me and did not obey my word. ¹²And you are even worse than your ancestors! You stubbornly follow your own evil desires and refuse to listen to me. ¹³So I will throw you out of this land and send you into a foreign land where you and your ancestors have never been. There you can worship idols day and night—and I will grant you no favors!’

Hope despite the Disaster

¹⁴“But the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when people who are taking an oath will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’ ¹⁵Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ For I will bring them back to this land that I gave their ancestors.

¹⁶“But now I am sending for many fishermen who will catch them,” says the Lord. “I am sending for hunters who will hunt them down in the mountains, hills, and caves. ¹⁷I am watching them closely, and I see every sin. They cannot hope to hide from me. ¹⁸I will double their punishment for all their sins, because they have defiled my land with lifeless images of their detestable gods and have filled my territory with their evil deeds.”

Jeremiah’s Prayer of Confidence

¹⁹Lord, you are my strength and fortress,

my refuge in the day of trouble!

Nations from around the world

will come to you and say,

“Our ancestors left us a foolish heritage,

for they worshiped worthless idols.

²⁰Can people make their own gods?

These are not real gods at all!”

²¹The Lord says,

“Now I will show them my power;

now I will show them my might.

At last they will know and understand

that I am the Lord.

Chapter 17

Judah’s Sin and Punishment

¹“The sin of Judah

is inscribed with an iron chisel—

engraved with a diamond point on their stony hearts

and on the corners of their altars.

²Even their children go to worship

at their pagan altars and Asherah poles,

beneath every green tree

and on every high hill.

³So I will hand over my holy mountain—

along with all your wealth and treasures

and your pagan shrines—

as plunder to your enemies,

for sin runs rampant in your land.

⁴The wonderful possession I have reserved for you

will slip from your hands.

I will tell your enemies to take you

as captives to a foreign land.

For my anger blazes like a fire

that will burn forever.”

Wisdom from the Lord

⁵This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,

who rely on human strength

and turn their hearts away from the Lord.

⁶They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,

with no hope for the future.

They will live in the barren wilderness,

in an uninhabited salty land.

⁷“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord

and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.

⁸They are like trees planted along a riverbank,

with roots that reach deep into the water.

Such trees are not bothered by the heat

or worried by long months of drought.

Their leaves stay green,

and they never stop producing fruit.

⁹“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,

and desperately wicked.

Who really knows how bad it is?

¹⁰But I, the Lord, search all hearts

and examine secret motives.

I give all people their due rewards,

according to what their actions deserve.”

Jeremiah’s Trust in the Lord

¹¹Like a partridge that hatches eggs she has not laid,

so are those who get their wealth by unjust means.

At midlife they will lose their riches;

in the end, they will become poor old fools.

¹²But we worship at your throne—

eternal, high, and glorious!

¹³O Lord, the hope of Israel,

all who turn away from you will be disgraced.

They will be buried in the dust of the earth,

for they have abandoned the Lord, the fountain of living water.

¹⁴O Lord, if you heal me, I will be truly healed;

if you save me, I will be truly saved.

My praises are for you alone!

¹⁵People scoff at me and say,

“What is this ‘message from the Lord’ you talk about?

Why don’t your predictions come true?”

¹⁶Lord, I have not abandoned my job

as a shepherd for your people.

I have not urged you to send disaster.

You have heard everything I’ve said.

¹⁷Lord, don’t terrorize me!

You alone are my hope in the day of disaster.

¹⁸Bring shame and dismay on all who persecute me,

but don’t let me experience shame and dismay.

Bring a day of terror on them.

Yes, bring double destruction upon them!

Observing the Sabbath

¹⁹This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand in the gates of Jerusalem, first in the gate where the king goes in and out, and then in each of the other gates. ²⁰Say to all the people, ‘Listen to this message from…