Study Desk

"When you tell these people all these things, they will say to you, ‘Why has the Lord declared all this great disaster against us?^(g) What is our guilt? What is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?'

Then you will answer them: Because your fathers abandoned Me"^(h)—this is the Lord 's declaration—"and followed other gods, served them, and worshiped them.⁽ⁱ⁾ Indeed, they abandoned Me and did not keep My instruction.

You did more evil than your fathers.^(j) Look, each one of you was following the stubbornness of his evil heart, not obeying Me.

So I will hurl you from this land into a land that you and your fathers are not familiar with.^(k) There you will worship other gods^(l) both day and night, for I will not grant you grace.^[c]

"However, take note! The days are coming"—the Lord 's declaration—"when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of Egypt,'^(m)

but rather, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the Israelites from the land of the north⁽ⁿ⁾ and from all the other lands where He had banished them.' For I will return them to their land that I gave to their ancestors.^(o)

"I am about to send for many fishermen"^(p)—this is the Lord 's declaration—"and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks,

for My gaze takes in all their ways.^(q) They are not concealed from Me, and their guilt is not hidden from My sight.

I will first repay them double for their guilt^(r) and sin because they have polluted My land. They have filled My inheritance with the lifelessness of their detestable and abhorrent idols."

Lord , my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a time of distress,^(s) the nations will come to You from the ends of the earth, and they will say, "Our fathers inherited only lies, worthless idols^(t) of no benefit at all."

Can one make gods for himself? But they are not gods.^(u)

"Therefore, I am about to inform them, and this time I will make them know My power and My might; then they will know that My name is Yahweh."^(v)

The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus.^(a) With a diamond point it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts^(b) and on the horns of their^[a] altars,

while their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles, by the green trees on the high hills—

My mountains in the countryside. I will give up your wealth and all your treasures as plunder because of the sin of your high places^[b] in all your borders.^(c)

You will, on your own, relinquish your inheritance that I gave you. I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know,^(d) for you have set My anger on fire;^(e) it will burn forever.

This is what the Lord says: The man who trusts in mankind,^(f) who makes human flesh his strength^(g) and turns his heart from the Lord is cursed.

He will be like a juniper in the Arabah;^(h) he cannot see when good comes but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives.⁽ⁱ⁾

The man who trusts in the Lord , whose confidence indeed is the Lord , is blessed.^(j)

He will be like a tree planted by water:^(k) it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn't fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.

The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it?^(l)

I, Yahweh, examine the mind, I test the heart^[c](m) to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.⁽ⁿ⁾

He who makes a fortune unjustly is like a partridge that hatches eggs it didn't lay. In the middle of his days his riches will abandon him, so in the end he will be a fool.^(o)

A throne of glory^(p) on high^(q) from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.^(r)

Lord , the hope of Israel,^(s) all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away from Me will be written in the dirt, for they have abandoned the Lord , the fountain of living water.^(t)

Heal me, Lord , and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved, for You are my praise.^(u)

Hear how they keep challenging me,^(v) "Where is the word of the Lord ? Let it come!"

But I have not run away from being Your shepherd, and I have not longed for the fatal day. You know my words were spoken in Your presence.

Don't become a terror to me. You are my refuge^(w) in the day of disaster.

Let my persecutors be put to shame,^(x) but don't let me be put to shame. Let them be terrified, but don't let me be terrified. Bring on them the day of disaster;^(y) shatter them with total^[d] destruction.

This is what the Lord said to me, "Go and stand at the People's Gate, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave, as well as at all the gates of Jerusalem.

Announce to them: Hear the word of the Lord , kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the residents of Jerusalem who enter through these gates.

This is what the Lord says: Watch yourselves; do not pick up a load and bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.^(z)

You must not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day or do any work,^(aa) but you must consecrate the Sabbath day, just as I commanded your ancestors.^(ab)

They wouldn't listen or pay attention but became obstinate,^(ac) not listening or accepting discipline.

"However, if you listen to Me, says the Lord , and do not bring loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day and consecrate the Sabbath day and do no work on it,

kings and princes will enter through the gates of this city. They will sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses^(ad) with their officials, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem. This city will be inhabited forever.

Then people will come from the cities of Judah and from the area around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the Judean foothills, from the hill country and from the Negev^(ae) bringing burnt offerings and sacrifice, grain offerings and frankincense, and thank offerings to the house of the Lord .

If you do not listen to Me to consecrate the Sabbath day by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, I will set fire to its gates,^(af) and it will consume the citadels^(ag) of Jerusalem^(ah) and not be extinguished."^(ai)

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord :

"Go down at once to the potter's house;^(a) there I will reveal My words to you."

So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, working away at the wheel.^[a]

But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter's hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do.^(b)

The word of the Lord came to me:

"House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?"—this is the Lord 's declaration. "Just like clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.^(c)

At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy it.^(d)

However, if that nation I have made an announcement about turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the disaster I had planned to do to it.^(e)

At another time I announce that I will build and plant a nation or a kingdom.^(f)

However, if it does what is evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, I will relent concerning the good I had said I would do to it.^(g)

So now, say to the men of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem: This is what the Lord says: I am about to bring harm to you and make plans against you. Turn now, each from your evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds.^(h)

But they will say, ‘It's hopeless.⁽ⁱ⁾ We will continue to follow our plans, and each of us will continue to act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.'"

Therefore, this is what the Lord says: Ask among the nations, Who has heard things like these? Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing.^(j)

Does the snow of Lebanon ever leave the highland crags? Or does cold water flowing from a distance ever fail?

Yet My people have forgotten Me.^(k) They burn incense to false idols that make them stumble in their ways on the ancient roads^(l) and walk on new paths, not the highway.

They have made their land a horror,^(m) a perpetual object of scorn;^[b](n) everyone who passes by it will be horrified^(o) and shake his head.^(p)

I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind.^(q) I will show them^[c] My back and not My face on the day of their calamity.

Then certain ones said, "Come, let's make plans against Jeremiah,^(r) for instruction will never be lost from the priest,^(s) or counsel from the wise, or an oracle from the prophet.^(t) Come, let's denounce him^[d] and pay no attention to all his words."

Pay attention to me, Lord . Hear what my opponents are saying!^(u)

Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me.^(v) Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your anger from them.

Therefore, hand their children over to famine,^(w) and pour the sword's power on them. Let their wives become childless and widowed, their husbands slain by deadly disease,^[e] their young men struck down by the sword in battle.

Let a cry be heard from their houses when You suddenly bring raiders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.^(x)

But You, Lord , know all their deadly plots against me. Do not wipe out their guilt;^(y) do not blot out their sin before You. Let them be forced to stumble before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger.

This is what the Lord says: "Go, buy a potter's clay^(a) jar. Take^[a] some of the elders of the people and some of the leading priests^(b)

and go out to the Valley of Hinnom^(c) near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. Proclaim there the words I speak to you.

Say: Hear the word of the Lord , kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem.^(d) This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on this place that everyone who hears about it will shudder^[b](e)

because they have abandoned Me and made this a foreign place. They have burned incense in it to other gods that they, their fathers, and the kings of Judah have never known. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.^(f)

They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, something I have never commanded or mentioned; I never entertained the thought.^[c](g)

"Therefore, take note! The days are coming"—this is the Lord 's declaration—"when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.^(h)

I will spoil the plans of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hand of those who want to take their life. I will provide their corpses as food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.⁽ⁱ⁾

I will make this city desolate, an object of scorn. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and scoff because of all its wounds.^(j)

I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and they will eat each other's flesh in the siege and distress that their enemies, those who want to take their life, inflict on them.^(k)

"Then you are to shatter the jar in the presence of the people traveling with you,

and you are to proclaim to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: I will shatter these people and this city, like one shatters a potter's jar that can never again be mended. They will bury the dead in Topheth because there is no other place for burials.^(l)

I will do so to this place"—this is the declaration of the Lord —"and to its residents, making this city like Topheth.

The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will become impure like that place Topheth—all the houses on whose rooftops they have burned incense to the whole heavenly host^(m) and poured out drink offerings to other gods."

Jeremiah came back from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, stood in the courtyard of the Lord 's temple,⁽ⁿ⁾ and proclaimed to all the people,

"This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to bring on this city—and on all its dependent villages—all the disaster that I spoke against it, for they have become obstinate, not obeying My words.'"^(o)

Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer^(a) and chief official in the temple of the Lord , heard Jeremiah prophesying these things.

So Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put him in the stocks at the Upper Benjamin Gate in the Lord 's temple.

The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "The Lord does not call you Pashhur, but Magor-missabib,^[a]

for this is what the Lord says, ‘I am about to make you a terror to both yourself and those you love.^(b) They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will deport them to Babylon and put them to the sword.

I will give away all the wealth of this city, all its products^(c) and valuables. Indeed, I will hand all the treasures of the kings of Judah over to their enemies. They will plunder them, seize them, and carry them off to Babylon.

As for you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, you will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon. There you will die, and there you will be buried, you and all your friends that you prophesied falsely^(d) to.'"

You deceived me, Lord , and I was deceived. You seized me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all the time;^(e) everyone ridicules me.

For whenever I speak, I cry out, I proclaim, "Violence and destruction!"^(f) because the word of the Lord has become for me constant disgrace and derision.

If I say, "I won't mention Him or speak any longer in His name," His message becomes a fire burning in my heart,^(g) shut up in my bones. I become tired of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.

For I have heard the gossip of many people, "Terror is on every side!^[b](h) Report him; let's report him!" Everyone I trusted^[c] watches for my fall.⁽ⁱ⁾ "Perhaps he will be deceived so that we might prevail against him and take our vengeance on him."

But the Lord is with me like a violent warrior.^(j) Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly shamed, an everlasting humiliation that will never be forgotten.

Lord of Hosts, testing the righteous and seeing the heart^[d] and mind, let me see Your vengeance on them, for I have presented my case to You.^(k)

Sing to the Lord ! Praise the Lord , for He rescues the life of the needy from the hand of evil people.

May the day I was born be cursed.^(l) May the day my mother bore me never be blessed.

May the man be cursed who brought the news to my father, saying, "A male child is born to you," bringing him great joy.

Let that man be like the cities the Lord demolished without compassion.^(m) Let him hear an outcry in the morning⁽ⁿ⁾ and a war cry at noontime

because he didn't kill me in the womb^(o) so that my mother might have been my grave, her womb eternally pregnant.

Why did I come out of the womb to see only struggle and sorrow,^(p) to end my life in shame?