Jeremiah 17

1Judah’s sin is written with an iron stylus,
with a point of diamond;
it is engraved on the tablet of their heart
and on the horns of your altars. 2As their children remember
their altars and their Asherah poles,
beside flourishing trees,
on the high hills, 3my mountain in the open country—
your wealth, all your treasures,
I will give for plunder;
your high places, because of sin
throughout all your territories. 4You will let go of your inheritance,
which I gave you;
and I will make you serve your enemies
in a land you have not known.
For you have kindled a fire in my anger;
it will burn forever. 5Thus says the LORD:

Cursed is the man who trusts in humanity,
who makes flesh his strength,
and whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6He will be like a shrub in the wilderness;
he will not see when good comes.
He will live in parched places in the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives. 7Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose trust is the LORD. 8He will be like a tree planted beside waters,
sending out its roots beside a stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves remain green.
In a year of drought it is not anxious,
and it does not cease to bear fruit. 9The heart is more deceitful than anything,
and desperately sick—
who can understand it? 10I, the LORD, search the heart;
I test the inward parts,
to give to each according to their way,
according to the fruit of their deeds. 11Like a partridge that broods over eggs it did not lay
is one who makes wealth unjustly.
In the middle of their days it will leave them,
and in their end they will prove to be a fool. 12A throne of glory, exalted from the beginning,
is the place of our sanctuary. 13O Hope of Israel, LORD,
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 fountain of living water,
the LORD. 14Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed;
save me, and I will be saved,
for you are my praise. 15Look, they are saying to me,
“Where is the word of the LORD?
Let it come now.” 16But I have not hurried away from being a shepherd after you,
nor have I desired the day of disaster.
You know what came from my lips;
it was before your face. 17Do not become a terror to me;
you are my refuge
in the day of evil. 18Let those who pursue me 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 a day of evil;
break them with a double breaking.

19Thus 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.

20Say to them: ‘Hear the word of the LORD, kings of Judah, all Judah, and all who live in Jerusalem, who enter through these gates.

21Thus says the LORD: Take care for your own lives, and do not carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem.

22Do not bring a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day, and do no work; but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.

23But they did not listen or incline their ear. They stiffened their necks so as not to listen and not to receive instruction.

24“If you truly listen to me,” declares the LORD, “not bringing a load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keeping the Sabbath day holy and doing no work on it,

25then kings and officials, sitting on David’s throne, will enter through the gates of this city, riding in chariots and on horses—they and their officials, the people of Judah, and those who live in Jerusalem. This city will be inhabited forever.

26People will come from the towns of Judah, from the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country, and from the Negeb, bringing whole offerings, 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 by not carrying a load and entering through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates. It will consume the palaces of Jerusalem, and it will not be quenched.”