Jeremiah 17

1The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus; with a diamond point it is engraved on the tablet of their heart and on the horns of your altars.

2As their children remember their altars and their Asherim beside every green tree, on the high hills,

3My mountain in the field—your wealth, all your treasures, and your high places because of sin throughout all your territory—I will give as plunder.

4And you yourself will let go of your inheritance that I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you have not known; for you have kindled a fire in my anger—it will burn forever.

5Thus says Yahweh: Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from Yahweh.

6He will be like a shrub in the desert, and he will not see when good comes. He will dwell in parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land that is not inhabited.

7Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose trust is Yahweh.

8He will be like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by a stream; it does not fear when heat comes, and its leaf remains green. In a year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease from bearing fruit.

9The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and desperately sick—who can know it?

10I, Yahweh, search the heart, testing the kidneys, to give to each man according to his way, according to the fruit of his deeds.

11Like a partridge that gathers a brood it did not hatch, so is one who makes wealth unjustly: in the middle of his days it will leave him, and in his end he will be a fool.

12A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.

13O Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame; those who turn away from you will be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the fountain of living waters.

14Heal me, O Yahweh, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved, for you are my praise.

15Look, they are saying to me, “Where is the word of Yahweh? Let it come now!”

16But as for me, I did not hurry away from being a shepherd after you, and I did not desire the day of disaster; you know. What came from my lips was before your face.

17Do not be a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster.

18Let my pursuers be put to shame, but let me not be put to shame; let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed. Bring upon them a day of disaster, and shatter them with double destruction.

19Thus Yahweh said to me: Go and stand in the gate of the people, by which the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem.

20And say to them, “Hear the word of Yahweh, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter through these gates.”

21Thus says Yahweh: Take care for yourselves, and do not carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem.

22Do not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day, and do not do any work, but sanctify the Sabbath day, just as I commanded your fathers.

23But they did not listen, and they did not incline their ear, but stiffened their neck so as not to hear and not to accept discipline.

24And it shall be, if you truly listen to me, declares Yahweh, by not bringing a load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, and by keeping the Sabbath day holy, by not doing any work on it,

25then kings and officials will enter through the gates of this city, sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses—they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem—and this city will be inhabited forever.

26And they will come from the cities of Judah and from the areas around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the hill country, and from the Negeb, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of Yahweh.

27But if you do not listen to me, to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to carry a load and bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will consume the palaces of Jerusalem, and it will not be quenched.