The Lord Promises Exile (But Also Restoration)

16:10 “When you tell these people about all this,9 they will undoubtedly ask you, ‘Why has the Lord threatened us with such great disaster? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done to offend the Lord our God?’ 16:11 Then tell them that the Lord says,10 ‘It is because your ancestors11 rejected me and paid allegiance to12 other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law.13 16:12 And you have acted even more wickedly than your ancestors! Each one of you has followed the stubborn inclinations of your own wicked heart and not obeyed me.14 16:13 So I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you must worship other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.’ ”

16:14 Yet15 I, the Lord, say:16 “A new time will certainly come.17 People now affirm their oaths with ‘I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.’ 16:15 But in that time they will affirm them with ‘I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.’ At that time I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors.”18

16:16 But for now I, the Lord, say:19 “I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks.20 16:17 For I see everything they do. Their wicked ways are not hidden from me. Their sin is not hidden away where I cannot see it.21 16:18 Before I restore them22 I will punish them in full23 for their sins and the wrongs they have done. For they have polluted my land with the lifeless statues of their disgusting idols. They have filled the land I have claimed as my own24 with their detestable idols.”25

16:19 Then I said,26

“Lord, you give me strength and protect me.

You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble.27

Nations from all over the earth

will come to you and say,

‘Our ancestors had nothing but false gods—

worthless idols that could not help them at all.28

16:20 Can people make their own gods?

No, what they make are not gods at all.”29

16:21 The Lord said,30

“So I will now let this wicked people know—

I will let them know my mighty power in judgment.

Then they will know that my name is the Lord.”31

17:1 1 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

17:5 The Lord says,

“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 Lord.

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 Lord, probe into people’s minds.

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

“Lord, from the very beginning

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 Lord, the fountain of life.26

17:14 Lord, grant me relief from my suffering

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 Lord threatens us with?

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 Lord told me, “Go and stand in the People’s Gate36 through which the kings of Judah enter and leave the city. Then go and stand in all the other gates of the city of Jerusalem.37 17:20 As you stand in those places38 announce, ‘Listen, all you people who pass through these gates. Listen, all you kings of Judah, all you people of Judah and all you citizens of Jerusalem. Listen to what the Lord says.39 17:21 The Lord says, ‘Be very careful if you value your lives!40 Do not carry any loads41 in through42 the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. 17:22 Do not carry any loads out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day.43 But observe the Sabbath day as a day set apart to the Lord,44 as I commanded your ancestors.45 17:23 Your ancestors,46 however, did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They stubbornly refused47 to pay attention or to respond to any discipline.’ 17:24 The Lord says,48 ‘You must make sure to obey me. You must not bring any loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day. You must set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not do any work on that day. 17:25 If you do this,49 then the kings and princes who follow in David’s succession50 and ride in chariots or on horses will continue to enter through these gates, as well as their officials and the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem.51 This city will always be filled with people.52 17:26 Then people will come here from the towns in Judah, from the villages surrounding Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin, from the western foothills, from the southern hill country, and from the southern part of Judah. They will come bringing offerings to the temple of the Lord: burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and incense along with their thank offerings.53 17:27 But you must obey me and set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not carry any loads in through54 the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. If you disobey, I will set the gates of Jerusalem on fire. It will burn down all the fortified dwellings in Jerusalem and no one will be able to put it out.’ ”

An Object Lesson from the Making of Pottery

18:1 The Lord said to Jeremiah:1 18:2 “Go down at once2 to the potter’s house. I will speak to you further there.”3 18:3 So I went down to the potter’s house and found him working4 at his wheel.5 18:4 Now and then6 there would be something wrong7 with the pot he was molding from the clay8 with his hands. So he would rework9 the clay into another kind of pot as he saw fit.10

18:5 Then the Lord said to me,11 18:6 “I, the Lord, say:12 ‘O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay?13 In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter’s hand.’ 18:7 There are times, Jeremiah,14 when I threaten to uproot, tear down, and destroy a nation or kingdom.15 18:8 But if that nation I threatened stops doing wrong,16 I will cancel the destruction17 I intended to do to it. 18:9 And there are times when I promise to build up and establish18 a nation or kingdom. 18:10 But if that nation does what displeases me and does not obey me, then I will cancel the good I promised to do to it. 18:11 So now, tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem19 this: The Lord says, ‘I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans to punish you.20 So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing.21 Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.’22 18:12 But they just keep saying, ‘We do not care what you say!23 We will do whatever we want to do! We will continue to behave wickedly and stubbornly!’ ”24

18:13 Therefore, the Lord says,

“Ask the people of other nations

whether they have heard of anything like this.

Israel should have been like a virgin.

But she has done something utterly revolting!

18:14 Does the snow ever completely vanish from the rocky slopes of Lebanon?

Do the cool waters from those distant mountains ever cease to flow?25

18:15 Yet my people have forgotten me

and offered sacrifices to worthless idols!

This makes them stumble along in the way they live

and leave the old reliable path of their fathers.26

They have left them to walk in bypaths,

in roads that are not smooth and level.27

18:16 So their land will become an object of horror.28

People will forever hiss out their scorn over it.

All who pass that way will be filled with horror

and will shake their heads in derision.29

18:17 I will scatter them before their enemies

like dust blowing in front of a burning east wind.

I will turn my back on them and not look favorably on them30

when disaster strikes them.”