Jeremiah 17
17:11 The sin of Judah is engraved with an iron chisel
on their stone-hard2 hearts.
It is inscribed with a diamond3 point
on the horns of their altars.4
17:2 Their children are always thinking about5 their6 altars
and their sacred poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah,7
set up beside the green trees on the high hills
17:3 and on the mountains and in the fields.8
I will give your wealth and all your treasures away as plunder.
I will give it away as the price9 for the sins you have committed throughout your land.
17:4 You will lose your hold on the land10
which I gave to you as a permanent possession.
I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you know nothing about.
For you have made my anger burn like a fire that will never be put out.”11
Individuals Are Challenged to Put Their Trust in the Lord12
“I will put a curse on people
who trust in mere human beings,
who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength,13
and whose hearts14 have turned away from the
17:6 They will be like a shrub15 in the desert.
They will not experience good things even when they happen.
It will be as though they were growing in the desert,
in a salt land where no one can live.
17:7 My blessing is on those people who trust in me,
who put their confidence in me.16
17:8 They will be like a tree planted near a stream
whose roots spread out toward the water.
It has nothing to fear when the heat comes.
Its leaves are always green.
It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought.
It does not stop bearing fruit.
17:9 The human mind is more deceitful than anything else.
It is incurably bad.17 Who can understand it?
17:10 I, the
I examine people’s hearts.18
I deal with each person according to how he has behaved.
I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.
17:11 The person who gathers wealth by unjust means
is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them.19
Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains.20
At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool.”21
Jeremiah Appeals to the Lord for Vindication
17:12 Then I said,22
“
you have been seated on your glorious throne on high.
You are the place where we can find refuge.
17:13 You are the one in whom Israel may find hope.23
All who leave you will suffer shame.
Those who turn away from you24 will be consigned to the nether world.25
For they have rejected you, the
17:14
so that I may have some relief.
Rescue me from those who persecute me
so that I may be rescued.27
17:15 Listen to what they are saying to me.28
They are saying, “Where are the things the
Come on! Let’s see them happen!”29
17:16 But I have not pestered you to bring disaster.30
I have not desired the time of irreparable devastation.31
You know that.
You are fully aware of every word that I have spoken.32
17:17 Do not cause me dismay!33
You are my source of safety in times of trouble.
17:18 May those who persecute me be disgraced.
Do not let me be disgraced.
May they be dismayed.
Do not let me be dismayed.
Bring days of disaster on them.
Bring on them the destruction they deserve.”34
Observance of the Sabbath Day Is a Key to the Future35
17:19 The