Jeremiah 17

1 [Yahweh said, “It is as though a list of] the sins [committed by the people of] Judah is engraved with an iron chisel, or engraved using the fine point of a very hard stone, on the altars [where they worship idols]. And [it is as though] this list is engraved on their inner beings!

Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and will lean his arm of flesh upon him, while his heart departs from the Lord.

2 [Even] their children are happy to go to the altars [to worship their gods], and to the poles [that represent the goddess] Asherah [at which their parents worshiped], shrines that are underneath all the big trees and on [all] the high hills.

3 So, I will allow your enemies to capture [Zion], your holy hill, and all your wealth and your (treasures/valuable things), and [even] the shrines on all those hills, because of the sins that you people have committed throughout your land.

4 The [wonderful] land that I gave to you will no longer belong to you. I will tell your enemies to take you to a land that you do not know about, and you will become their slaves. [I will do that] because I am extremely angry [with you]; my being angry is [like] a fire that will burn forever.”

5 This is [also] what Yahweh says: “[I] will curse/condemn those who trust in human beings [to help them], those who rely on their own strength and turn away from me.

6 They are like [dry] bushes in the desert, they are people who will not experience any good things. Those people will live in the barren desert in a salty area, where nothing grows.

And he shall be as the wild tamarisk in the desert: he shall not see when good comes; but he shall dwell in barren [places], and in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.

7 But I am pleased with those who trust in [me], Yahweh, and who confidently expect [me to take care of them].

But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord shall be.

8 Those people are like [SIM] fruit trees that have been planted along a riverbank, trees that have roots that go down into the [wet ground beside] the water. They are trees whose leaves remain green when it becomes hot, trees that continue to bear fruit when there are many months in which there is no rain.

And he shall be as a thriving tree by the waters, and he shall cast forth his root towards a moist place: he shall not fear when heat comes, and there shall be upon him shady branches: he shall not fear in a year of drought, and he shall not fail to bear fruit.

9 Human minds are extremely corrupt/deceitful, and you cannot change that. It is also completely impossible [RHQ] for anyone to understand that.

The heart is deep beyond all things, and it is the man, and who can know him?

10 But I, Yahweh, search what is in everyone’s inner being, and I examine what they are thinking. I will give all people rewards, what they deserve for what they have done.”

I the Lord try the hearts, and prove the reins, to give to every one according to his ways, and according to the fruits of his devices.

11 [I, Jeremiah, agree, because I know that] people who become rich by doing things that are unjust are like birds that hatch eggs that they (did not lay/stole from another nest). So, when those people have lived only half of the years [that they expect to live], their wealth will disappear. Then [other people will realize that] those rich people have been foolish.

The partridge utters her voice, she gathers [eggs] which she did not lay; [so is a man] gaining his wealth unjustly; in the midst of his days [his riches] shall leave him, and at his latter end he will be a fool.

12 Yahweh, your temple is [like] a glorious throne that is still on a high hill.

An exalted throne of glory is our sanctuary.

13 You are the one whom [we] Israeli people confidently expect [to bless us], and all those who turn away from you will be disgraced. Their names will be written [only] in the dust, [and will soon disappear], because they have abandoned you, [who are like] [MET] a fountain where people obtain fresh water.

O Lord, the hope of Israel, let all that have left you be ashamed, let them that have revolted be written on the earth, because they have forsaken the fountain of life, the Lord.

14 Yahweh, [please] heal me, because [if you heal me], I will truly be healed. [If you] rescue me, I will truly be safe, because you are the [only] one whom I praise.

Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for you are my boast.

15 People often ridicule me and say, “You tell us messages that you say came from Yahweh, but (why have the things that you predicted not happened?/those predictions have not come true!)” [RHQ]

Behold, they say to me, Where is the word of the Lord? let it come.

16 Yahweh, you [appointed me to take care of your people like] a shepherd [takes care of his sheep] [MET]; I have not abandoned that work, and you know that I have not [previously] wanted this time of disaster [to come to people who ridicule me]. And you know everything that I have said [MTY] [to your people].

But I have not been weary of following you, nor have I desired the day of man; you know; the [words] that proceed out of my lips are before your face.

17 Do not cause me to be terrified! When disasters come/occur, you are the one to whom I will go to be safe.

Be not to me a stranger, [but] spare me in the evil day.

18 [So now], cause those who (persecute me/cause me to suffer) to be ashamed and dismayed, but do not [do things to me that will] cause me to be ashamed and dismayed. Cause them to be terrified! Do to them many things that will completely destroy them!

Let them that persecute me be ashamed, but let me not be ashamed: let them be alarmed, but let me not be alarmed: bring upon them the evil day, crush them with double destruction.

19 This is what Yahweh said to me: “Go to the city gates in Jerusalem. [First] go to the gate where the kings of Judah go in and out of the city, and [then] go to each of the [other] gates.

Thus says the Lord; Go and stand in the gates of the children of your people, by which the kings of Juda enter, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem:

20 Say to the people [at each gate], ‘You kings of Judah and everyone [else] who is living in Jerusalem and all [you other people of] Judah who enter these gates, listen to this message from Yahweh!

and you shall say to them, Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Juda, and all Judea, and all Jerusalem, [all] who go in at these gates:

21 He says, “Listen to this warning carefully! [Stop doing work] on (Sabbath/our rest) days! Stop carrying loads through these gates [on those days]!

thus says the Lord; Take heed to your souls, and take up no burdens on the sabbath-day, and go not forth [through] the gates of Jerusalem;

22 Do not carry loads out of your houses or do any [other] work on Sabbath days! Instead, cause Sabbath days to be (holy/set apart for me). I commanded your ancestors to do that,

and carry forth no burdens out of your houses on the sabbath-day, and you shall do no work: sanctify the sabbath-day, as I commanded your fathers.

23 but they did not listen to me or obey me. When I did things to correct them, they stubbornly [IDM] refused to pay attention to what I said or to accept it.

But they listened not, and inclined not their ear, but stiffened their neck more than their fathers [did], so as not to hear me, and not to receive correction.

24 But I say that if you obey me, and if you do not carry loads through these gates [on Sabbath days] or do any other work on Sabbath days, and if you dedicate the Sabbath days to me,

And it shall come to pass, if you will listen to me, says the Lord, to carry in no burdens through the gates of this city on the sabbath-day, and to sanctify the sabbath-day, so as to do no work [upon it],

25 kings of Judah [MTY] and [their] officials will [continue to] go in and out of these gates. There will [always] be someone who is a descendant of [MTY] [King] David ruling [here] [MTY] in Jerusalem. Kings and their officials will go in and out of these gates, riding in chariots and on horses, and there will be people living in this city forever.

that there shall enter through the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, and riding on their chariots and horses, they, and their princes, the men of Juda, and the dwellers in Jerusalem: and this city shall be inhabited for ever.

26 And people will come [to Jerusalem] bringing offerings to be completely burned [on the altar] and [other] offerings. They will bring to the temple grain offerings and incense and offerings to thank [me]. People will bring those offerings from the towns in Judah and the villages near Jerusalem and from the land [where the tribe] of Benjamin [lives] and from the western foothills and from the desert in the south.

And [men] shall come out of the cities of Juda, and from round about Jerusalem, and out of the land of Benjamin, and out of the plain country, and from the hill country, and from the south [country], bringing whole burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and incense, and manna, and frankincense, bringing praise to the house of the Lord.

27 But if you do not pay attention to what I say, and if you refuse to dedicate the Sabbath days to me, and if you [continue to] carry loads through these gates into the city on Sabbath days, I will burn these gates completely. The fire will spread to the palaces, and no one will be able to put out that fire.”’”

But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to me to sanctify the sabbath-day, to bear no burdens, nor go in [with them by] the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath-day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the streets of Jerusalem, and shall not be quenched.