Jeremiah 16–24

¹And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying: ²Thou dost not take to thee a wife, Nor hast thou sons and daughters in this place. ³For thus said Jehovah, Of the sons and of the daughters who are born in this place, And of their mothers—those bearing them, And of their fathers—those begetting them in this land: ⁴Of painful deaths they die, They are not lamented, nor are they buried, For dung on the face of the ground they are, And by sword and by famine are consumed, And their carcase hath been for food To the fowl of the heavens, And to the beast of the earth. ⁵For thus said Jehovah: Do not enter the house of a mourning-feast, Nor go to lament nor bemoan for them, For I have removed My peace from this people, An affirmation of Jehovah, The kindness and the mercies. ⁶And died have great and small in this land, They are not buried, and none lament for them, Nor doth any cut himself, nor become bald for them. ⁷Nor do they deal out to them for mourning, To comfort him concerning the dead, Nor cause them to drink a cup of consolations For his father and for his mother. ⁸A house of banqueting thou dost not enter, To sit with them, to eat and to drink, ⁹For thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Lo, I am causing to cease from this place, Before your eyes, and in your days, The voice of joy, and the voice of rejoicing, The voice of bridegroom and voice of bride.

¹⁰And it hath come to pass when thou declarest to this people all these words, and they have said unto thee, ‘For what hath Jehovah spoken against us all this great evil? yea, what is our iniquity, and what our sin, that we have sinned against Jehovah our God?’ ¹¹Then thou hast said unto them: Because that your fathers have forsaken Me, An affirmation of Jehovah, And go after other gods, and serve them, And they bow themselves to them, And Me have forsaken, and My law not kept, ¹²Ye also have done evil above your fathers, And lo, ye are walking each after the stubbornness of his evil heart, So as not to hearken unto Me. ¹³And I have cast you from off this land, On to a land that ye have not known, Ye and your fathers, And ye have served there other gods by day and by night, Where I do not give to you grace.

¹⁴Therefore, lo, days are coming, An affirmation of Jehovah, And it is not said any more: ‘Jehovah liveth, who brought up The sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ ¹⁵But, ‘Jehovah liveth, who brought up The sons of Israel out of the land of the north, And out of all the lands whither He drove them,’ And I have brought them back to their land, That I gave to their fathers. ¹⁶Lo, I am sending for many fishers, An affirmation of Jehovah, And they have fished them, And after this I send for many hunters, And they have hunted them from off every mountain, And from off every hill, and from holes of the rocks. ¹⁷For Mine eyes are upon all their ways, They have not been hidden from My face, Nor hath their iniquity been concealed from before Mine eyes. ¹⁸And I have recompensed a first—A second time—their iniquity and their sin, Because of their polluting My land, With the carcase of their detestable things, Yea, their abominable things have filled Mine inheritance. ¹⁹O Jehovah, my strength, and my fortress, And my refuge in a day of adversity, Unto Thee nations do come from the ends of earth, And say, Only falsehood did our fathers inherit, Vanity, and none among them is profitable. ²⁰Doth man make for himself gods, And they—no gods? ²¹Therefore, lo, I am causing them to know at this time, I cause them to know My hand and My might, And they have known that My name is Jehovah!

Chapter 17

¹The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, With the point of a diamond, Graven on the tablet of their heart, And on the horns of your altars, ²As their sons remember their altars and their shrines, By the green tree, by the high hills. ³O My mountain in the field—thy strength, All thy treasures—for a prey I give, Thy high places for sin in all thy borders. ⁴And thou hast let go—even through thyself, Of thine inheritance that I gave to thee, And I have caused thee to serve thine enemies, In a land that thou hast not known, For a fire ye have kindled in Mine anger, Unto the age it doth burn.

⁵Thus said Jehovah: Cursed is the man who doth trust in man, And hath made flesh his arm, And from Jehovah whose heart turneth. ⁶And he hath been as a naked thing in a desert, And doth not see when good cometh, And hath inhabited parched places in a wilderness, A salt land, and not inhabited. ⁷Blessed is the man who trusteth in Jehovah, And whose confidence hath been Jehovah. ⁸And hath been as a tree planted by waters, And by a rivulet he sendeth forth his roots, And he doth not see when heat cometh, And his leaf hath been green, And in a year of dearth he is not sorrowful, Nor doth he cease from making fruit. ⁹Crooked is the heart above all things, And it is incurable—who doth know it? ¹⁰I Jehovah do search the heart, try the reins, Even to give to each according to his way, According to the fruit of his doings. ¹¹A partridge hatching, and not bringing forth, Is one making wealth, and not by right, In the midst of his days he doth forsake it, And in his latter end—he is a fool.

¹²A throne of honour on high from the beginning, The place of our sanctuary, ¹³The hope of Israel is Jehovah, All forsaking Thee are ashamed, And ‘My apostates’ in the earth are written, For they have forsaken Jehovah, A fountain of living waters. ¹⁴Heal me, O Jehovah, and I am healed, Save me, and I am saved, for my praise art Thou. ¹⁵Lo, they are saying unto me: ‘Where is the word of Jehovah? pray, let it come.’ ¹⁶And I hastened not from feeding after Thee, And the desperate day I have not desired, Thou—Thou hast known, The produce of my lips, before Thy face it hath been, ¹⁷Be not Thou to me for a terror, My hope art Thou in a day of evil. ¹⁸Let my pursuers be ashamed, and let not me be ashamed—me! Let them be affrighted, and let not me be affrighted—me! Bring in on them a day of evil, And a second time with destruction destroy them.

¹⁹Thus said Jehovah unto me: ‘Go, and thou hast stood in the gate of the sons of the people, by which kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all gates of Jerusalem, ²⁰and thou hast said unto them: Hear a word of Jehovah, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all inhabitants of Jerusalem, who are coming in by these gates, ²¹Thus said Jehovah, Take ye heed to yourselves, And ye bear not a burden on the day of rest, Nor have ye brought it in by the gates of Jerusalem. ²²Nor do ye take out a burden from your houses on the day of rest, Yea, any work ye do not do, And ye have sanctified the day of rest, As I have commanded your fathers. ²³And they have not hearkened nor inclined their ear, And they stiffen their neck not to hear, And not to receive instruction. ²⁴And it hath been, if ye certainly hearken unto Me, An affirmation of Jehovah, So as not to bring in a burden By the gates of this city on the day of rest, And to sanctify the day of rest, So as not to do in it any work— ²⁵Then entered by the gates of this city have kings and princes, Sitting on the throne of David, Riding in a chariot, and on horses, They, and their princes, the man of Judah, And inhabitants of Jerusalem, And this city hath remained to the age. ²⁶And they have come in from cities of Judah, And from suburbs of Jerusalem, And from the land of Benjamin, And from the low country, And from the hill-country, and from the south, Bringing in burnt-offering, and sacrifice, And present, and frankincense, And bringing praise to the house of Jehovah. ²⁷And if ye do not hearken unto me to sanctify the day of rest, And so as not to bear a burden, And to come in at the gates of Jerusalem on the day of rest, Then I have kindled a fire in its gates, And it hath consumed the high places of Jerusalem, And it is not quenched!’

Chapter 18

¹The word that hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, ²Rise, and thou hast gone down to the potter’s house, and there I cause thee to hear My words; ³and I go down to the potter’s house, and lo, he is doing a work on the stones, ⁴and marred is the vessel that he is making, as clay in the hand of the potter, and he hath turned and he maketh it another vessel, as it was right in the eyes of the potter to make. ⁵And there is a word of Jehovah to me, saying: ⁶As this potter am I not able to do to you? O house of Israel, an affirmation of Jehovah. Lo, as clay in the hand of the potter, So are ye in My hand, O house of Israel. ⁷The moment I speak concerning a nation, And concerning a kingdom, To pluck up and to break down, and to destroy, ⁸And that nation hath turned from its evil, Because I have spoken against it, Then I have repented of the evil that I thought to do to it. ⁹And the moment I speak concerning a nation, And concerning a kingdom, to build, and to plant, ¹⁰And it hath done the evil thing in Mine eyes, So as not to hearken to My voice, Then I have repented of the good That I have spoken of doing to it.

¹¹And now, speak, I pray thee, unto men of Judah, And against inhabitants of Jerusalem, Saying: Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am framing against you evil, And devising against you a device, Turn back, I pray you, each from his evil way And amen your ways and your doings. ¹²And they have said, It is incurable, For after our own devices we do go, And each the stubbornness of his evil heart we do. ¹³Therefore, thus said Jehovah: Ask, I pray you, among the nations, Who hath heard like these? A very horrible thing hath the virgin of Israel done. ¹⁴Doth snow of Lebanon Cease from the rock of the field? Failed are the cold strange waters that flow? ¹⁵But My people have forgotten Me, to a vain thing they make perfume, And they cause them to stumble in their ways—paths of old, To walk in paths—a way not raised up, ¹⁶To make their land become a desolation, A hissing age-during, Every passer by it is astonished, And bemoaneth with his head. ¹⁷As an east wind I scatter them before an…