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!
| חטאת יהודה כתובה בעט ברזל--בצפרן שמיר חרושה על לוח לבם ולקרנות מזבחותיכם |
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.
| כזכר בניהם מזבחותם ואשריהם על עץ רענן על גבעות הגבהות |
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.
| הררי בשדה--חילך כל אוצרותיך לבז אתן במתיך בחטאת בכל גבוליך |
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.”
| ושמטתה ובך מנחלתך אשר נתתי לך והעבדתיך את איביך בארץ אשר לא ידעת כי אש קדחתם באפי עד עולם תוקד |
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.
| כה אמר יהוה ארור הגבר אשר יבטח באדם ושם בשר זרעו ומן יהוה יסור לבו |
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.
| והיה כערער בערבה ולא יראה כי יבוא טוב ושכן חררים במדבר ארץ מלחה ולא תשב |
7 But I am pleased with those who trust in [me], Yahweh, and who confidently expect [me to take care of them].
| ברוך הגבר אשר יבטח ביהוה והיה יהוה מבטחו |
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.
| והיה כעץ שתול על מים ועל יובל ישלח שרשיו ולא ירא (יראה) כי יבא חם והיה עלהו רענן ובשנת בצרת לא ידאג ולא ימיש מעשות פרי |
9 Human minds are extremely corrupt/deceitful, and you cannot change that. It is also completely impossible [RHQ] for anyone to understand that.
| עקב הלב מכל ואנש הוא מי ידענו |
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.”
| אני יהוה חקר לב בחן כליות ולתת לאיש כדרכו כפרי מעלליו |
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.
| קרא דגר ולא ילד עשה עשר ולא במשפט בחצי ימו יעזבנו ובאחריתו יהיה נבל |
12 Yahweh, your temple is [like] a glorious throne that is still on a high hill.
| כסא כבוד מרום מראשון--מקום מקדשנו |
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.
| מקוה ישראל יהוה כל עזביך יבשו יסורי (וסורי) בארץ יכתבו כי עזבו מקור מים חיים את יהוה |
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.
| רפאני יהוה וארפא הושיעני ואושעה כי תהלתי אתה |
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]
| הנה המה אמרים אלי איה דבר יהוה יבוא נא |
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].
| ואני לא אצתי מרעה אחריך ויום אנוש לא התאויתי--אתה ידעת מוצא שפתי נכח פניך היה |
17 Do not cause me to be terrified! When disasters come/occur, you are the one to whom I will go to be safe.
| אל תהיה לי למחתה מחסי אתה ביום רעה |
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!
| יבשו רדפי ואל אבשה אני--יחתו המה ואל אחתה אני הביא עליהם יום רעה ומשנה שברון שברם |
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.
| כה אמר יהוה אלי הלך ועמדת בשער בני עם (העם) אשר יבאו בו מלכי יהודה ואשר יצאו בו ובכל שערי ירושלם |
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!
| ואמרת אליהם שמעו דבר יהוה מלכי יהודה וכל יהודה וכל ישבי ירושלם--הבאים בשערים האלה |
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]!
| כה אמר יהוה השמרו בנפשותיכם ואל תשאו משא ביום השבת והבאתם בשערי ירושלם |
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,
| ולא תוציאו משא מבתיכם ביום השבת וכל מלאכה לא תעשו וקדשתם את יום השבת כאשר צויתי את אבותיכם |
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.
| ולא שמעו ולא הטו את אזנם ויקשו את ערפם לבלתי שומע (שמוע) ולבלתי קחת מוסר |
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,
| והיה אם שמע תשמעון אלי נאם יהוה לבלתי הביא משא בשערי העיר הזאת ביום השבת ולקדש את יום השבת לבלתי עשות בה כל מלאכה |
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.
| ובאו בשערי העיר הזאת מלכים ושרים ישבים על כסא דוד רכבים ברכב ובסוסים המה ושריהם--איש יהודה וישבי ירושלם וישבה העיר הזאת לעולם |
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.
| ובאו מערי יהודה ומסביבות ירושלם ומארץ בנימן ומן השפלה ומן ההר ומן הנגב מבאים עולה וזבח ומנחה ולבונה--ומבאי תודה בית יהוה |
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.”’”
| ואם לא תשמעו אלי לקדש את יום השבת ולבלתי שאת משא ובא בשערי ירושלם ביום השבת והצתי אש בשעריה ואכלה ארמנות ירושלם--ולא תכבה |
