Jeremiah 17
1 The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus, with a diamond point, engraved on the tablet of their heart and on the horns of your altars.
2 Their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles, beside the green trees, on the high hills.
3 My mountain in the open country! I will hand over your wealth and all your treasures as plunder, along with your shrines on the hills, because of the sin throughout your territory.
4 Through your own fault, you will let go of the inheritance I gave you. I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know, because you have kindled a fire in my anger, and it will burn forever.”
5 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in people, who makes mere flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
6 He will be like a shrub in the desert and will not see when good comes. He will live in the parched places of the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives.
7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is the LORD.
8 He will be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots toward the stream. It will not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves will stay green. In a year of drought it has no worries and never stops bearing fruit.
9 The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and it is sick. Who can understand it?
10 I, the LORD, examine the heart and test the kidneys, to give each person according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.
11 A partridge broods over eggs it did not lay. So it is with one who gains wealth unjustly: in the middle of his days it will leave him, and in the end he will prove to be a fool.”
12 Throne of glory, exalted from the beginning, place of our sanctuary!
13 O Hope of Israel, LORD, all who abandon you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the earth, because they have abandoned the LORD, the spring of living water.
14 Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved, for you are my praise.
15 They say to me, “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come!”
16 But I did not hurry away from following you as a shepherd, nor did I long for the day of disaster. You know: what came from my lips is before your face.
17 Do not be a terror to me; you are my refuge on the day of disaster.
18 Let those who pursue me be put to shame, but let me not be put to shame. Let them be terrified, but let me not be terrified. Bring the day of disaster upon them, and crush them with a double destruction.”
19 This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People’s Sons, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave, and at all the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Say to them: ‘Hear the word of the LORD, kings of Judah, all the people of Judah, and all you residents of Jerusalem who enter through these gates.
21 This is what the LORD says: “Take care, and do not carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem.
22 Do not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day, and do no work. Keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.
23 But they did not listen or pay attention. They stiffened their necks so they would not listen or accept discipline.
24 If you truly listen to me, declares the LORD, and do not bring a load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day; if you keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it, then this will happen:
25 Kings and princes who sit on David’s throne will enter through the gates of this city, riding in chariots and on horses—they and their princes, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem. And this city will be inhabited forever.
26 People will come from the towns of Judah and the outskirts of Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, the Shephelah, the hill country, and the Negev. They will bring burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and incense, and bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD.
27 But if you do not listen to me and keep the Sabbath day holy, and if you carry a load through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, I will set fire to its gates. It will consume the palaces of Jerusalem and will not be put out.”’”
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