Jeremiah 17

“The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus, with a hard-stone point;
it is engraved on the tablet of their heart and on the horns of your altars. Their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles beside the leafy trees, on the high hills. My mountain in the open country, I will give your wealth and all your treasures as plunder, and your high places, because of sin throughout your territory. You yourself will relinquish the inheritance I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have kindled a fire in my anger that will burn forever.” This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He will be like a shrub in the desert and will not see when good comes.
He will live in the parched places of the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives. Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He will be like a tree planted by water, sending its roots toward the stream.
It will not fear when heat comes;
its foliage will remain green.
In a year of drought it will not be anxious or cease bearing fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things and incurably sick;
who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart and test the inward parts, to give each man according to his way, according to the fruit of his deeds. Like a partridge brooding over eggs it did not lay is one who gains wealth unjustly.
In the middle of his days his wealth will leave him, and in the end he will be a fool.” A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary. LORD, Hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame.
“Those who turn away from me will be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.” Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed;
save me, and I will be saved, for you are my praise. Look, they say to me, “Where is the word of the LORD?
Let it come now!” But I have not hurried away from being a shepherd following you, nor have I desired the day of calamity.
You know;
what came from my lips was before you. Do not be a terror to me;
you are my refuge in the day of disaster. Let my persecutors be put to shame, but do not let me be put to shame;
let them be dismayed, but do not let me be dismayed.
Bring upon them the day of disaster, and break them with double destruction. This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the gate of the people, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave, and at all the gates of Jerusalem. Tell them: Hear the word of the LORD, kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter these gates. This is what the LORD says: Guard your lives, and do not carry a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. Do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, and do not do any work. Keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors. But they did not listen or incline their ears; they stiffened their necks, refusing to listen or accept discipline. But if you truly listen to me, declares the LORD, bringing no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day and keeping the Sabbath day holy by doing no work on it, then kings and officials sitting on David’s throne will enter the gates of this city, riding in chariots and on horses—they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This city will be inhabited forever. They will come from the cities of Judah, from around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowlands, from the hill country, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the LORD. But if you do not listen to me by keeping the Sabbath day holy and refraining from carrying burdens through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, I will kindle a fire in its gates. It will consume the palaces of Jerusalem and will not be quenched.”

Rights and attribution