Jeremiah 17

¹The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron ; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart , and on the horns of their altars ,

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

³on the mountains in the open country . Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory .

⁴You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know , for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever .

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

⁶He is like a shrub in the desert , and shall not see any good come . He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness , in an uninhabited salt land .

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

⁸He is like a tree planted by water , that sends out its roots by the stream , and does not fear when heat comes , for its leaves remain green , and is not anxious in the year of drought , for it does not cease to bear fruit .

⁹The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick ; who can understand it?

¹⁰I the Lord search the heart and test the mind , to give every man according to his ways , according to the fruit of his deeds .

¹¹Like the partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch , so is he who gets riches but not by justice ; in the midst of his days they will leave him, and at his end he will be a fool .

¹²A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary .

¹³O Lord, the hope of Israel , all who forsake you shall be put to shame ; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth , for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water .

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

¹⁵Behold , they say to me, Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come !

¹⁶I have not run away from being your shepherd , nor have I desired the day of sickness . You know what came out of my lips ; it was before your face .

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

¹⁸Let those be put to shame who persecute me, but let me not be put to shame ; let them be dismayed , but let me not be dismayed ; bring upon them the day of disaster ; destroy them with double destruction !

¹⁹Thus said the Lord to me: Go and stand in the People’s Gate , by which the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out , and in all the gates of Jerusalem ,

²⁰and say : Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah , and all Judah , and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem , who enter by these gates .

²¹Thus says the Lord: Take care for the sake of your lives , and do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem .

²²And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work , but keep the Sabbath day holy , as I commanded your fathers .

²³Yet they did not listen or incline their ear , but stiffened their neck , that they might not hear and receive instruction .

²⁴But if you listen to me, declares the Lord, and bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day , but keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it,

²⁵then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and princes who sit 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 shall be inhabited forever .

²⁶And people shall come from the cities of Judah and the places around Jerusalem , from the land of Benjamin , from the Shephelah , 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 the Lord.

²⁷But if you do not listen to me, to keep the Sabbath day holy , and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day , then I will kindle a fire in its gates , and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched .