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Jeremiah 17
The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is carved upon the tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars; 2 while their children remember their altars and their Asherim by the green trees upon the high hills. 3 O my mountain in the field, I will give your substance and all your treasures for a plunder, and your high places, because of sin, throughout all your borders. 4 And you, even of yourself, shall discontinue from your heritage that I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you know not: for you have kindled a fire in my anger which shall burn forever.
5 In this manner says Yahweh: Cursed is the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from Yahweh. 6 For he shall be like the tamarisk in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited. 7 Blessed is the man that trusts in Yahweh, and whose trust Yahweh is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is very corrupt: who can know it? 10 I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. 11 As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he that gets riches, and not by right; in the middle of his days they shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool.
12 A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary. 13 O Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all that forsake you shall be put to shame. They that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the fountain of living waters. 14 Heal me, O Yahweh, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for you are my praise. 15 Behold, they say to me, Where is the word of Yahweh? Let it come now. 16 As for me, I have not hastened from being a shepherd after you; neither have I desired the woeful day; you know: that which came out of my lips was before your face. 17 Be not a terror to me: you are my refuge in the day of evil. 18 Let them be put to shame that persecute me, 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 evil, and destroy them with double destruction.
19 In this manner said Yahweh to me: Go, and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; 20 and say to them, Hear the word of Yahweh, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates: 21 In this manner says Yahweh, Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; 22 neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do you any work: but hallow the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. 23 But they listened not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction.
24 And it shall come to pass, if you diligently listen to me, says Yahweh, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but to hallow the sabbath day, to do no work in it; 25 then shall there enter in by the gates of this city, kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever. 26 And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places all around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the hill-country, and from the South, bringing burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, and meal-offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving, to the house of Yahweh. 27 But if you will not listen to me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates of it, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
Jeremiah 18
The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear my words. 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he was making a work on the wheels. 4 And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
5 Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? says Yahweh. Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; 8 if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. 9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; 10 if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, with which I said I would benefit them. 11 Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, In this manner says Yahweh: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return now every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings. 12 But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart.
13 Therefore thus says Yahweh: Ask now among the nations, who has heard such things; the virgin of Israel. has done a very horrible thing. 14 Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up? 15 For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to false elohim; and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, in a way not cast up; 16 to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passes by it shall be astonished, and shake his head. 17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
18 Then they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
19 Give heed to me, O Yahweh, and listen to the voice of them that contend with me. 20 Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them. 21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword; and let their wives become childless, and widows; and let their men be killed of death, and their young men struck of the sword in battle. 22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you shall bring a troop suddenly upon them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet. 23 Yet, Yahweh, you know all their counsel against me to kill me; forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from your sight; but let them be overthrown before you; deal with them in the time of your anger.
Jeremiah 19
In this manner said Yahweh, Go, and buy a potter’s earthen bottle, and take of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests; 2 and go forth to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you; 3 and say, Hear the word of Yahweh, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem: In this manner says Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, which whoever hears, his ears shall tingle. 4 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it to other elohim, that they knew not, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah; and have filled this place with the blood of innocents, 5 and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt-offerings to Baal; which I commanded not, nor spoke it, neither came it into my mind: 6 therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter. 7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies will I give to be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing; every one that passes by it shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues of it. 9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies, and they that seek their life, shall distress them.
10 Then shall you break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with you, 11 and shall say to them, In this manner says Yahweh of hosts: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again; and they shall bury in Topheth, till there is no place to bury. 12 In this manner will I do to this place, says Yahweh, and to the inhabitants of it, even making this city as Topheth: 13 and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink-offerings to other elohim.
14 Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of Yahweh’s house, and said to all the people: 15 In this manner says Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.
Jeremiah 20
Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house of Yahweh, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. 2 Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of Yahweh. 3 And it came to pass on the next day, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, Yahweh has not called your name Pashhur, but Magor-missabib. 4 For thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself, and to all your friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall behold it; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall kill them with the sword. 5 Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all the gains of it, and all the precious things of it, yes, all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies; and they shall make them a prey, and take them, and carry them to Babylon. 6 And you, Pashhur, and all that dwell in your house shall go into captivity; and you shall come to Babylon, and there you shall die, and there shall you be buried, you, and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.
7 O Yahweh, you have persuaded me, and I was persuaded; you are stronger than I, and have prevailed: I have become a laughing-stock all the day, every one mocks me. 8 For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, Violence and destruction; because the word of Yahweh. is made a reproach to me, and a derision, all the day. 9 And if I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot contain. 10 For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. Denounce, and we will denounce him, say all my familiar friends, they that watch for my fall; perhaps he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. 11 But Yahweh is with me as a mighty one and terrible: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail; they shall be utterly Put to shame, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which shall never be forgotten. 12 But, O Yahweh of hosts, that tries the righteous, that sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them; for to you have I revealed my cause. 13 Sing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh; for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evil-doers.
14 Cursed be the day in which I was born: let not the day in which my mother bore me be blessed. 15 Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man-child is born to you; making him very glad. 16 And let that man be as the cities which Yahweh overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noon; 17 because he killed me not from the womb; and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great. 18 Why did I come forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
