Through My Bible Yr 02 – March 22
Jeremiah 16:1 – 17:18
Jeremiah Must Not Marry
Jeremiah 16
1Ā The word of the Lord came to me.
2Ā You are not to marry a wife in this place
or to have sons and daughters,
3Ā because this is what the Lord says
Ā Ā Ā Ā about the sons and daughters born in this place,
about the mothers who bore them,
and about the fathers who conceived them in this land:
4Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā They will die of deadly diseases.
Ā Ā Ā Ā They will not be mourned.
Ā Ā Ā Ā They will not be buried.
Ā Ā Ā Ā They will lie on the ground like manure.
Ā Ā Ā Ā They will be devoured by sword and famine,
Ā Ā Ā Ā and their carcasses will become food for the birds in the sky
Ā Ā Ā Ā and the wild animals in the land.
5Ā This is what the Lord says.
Do not enter a house where people are grieving.
Do not go there to mourn for anyone or to comfort anyone,
for I have taken away my peace from this people, declares the Lord,
along with my mercy and my compassion.
6Ā Both the greatest and the least will die in this land.
No one will bury them or mourn for them.
No one will cut himself or shave himself for them.
7Ā No one will break bread to comfort those who mourn the dead.
No one will offer a consoling cup, even for a father or a mother.
8Ā Do not enter a house where there is feasting,
or sit down there to eat and drink.
9Ā For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says.
I will certainly put an end to the sounds of joy and happiness in this place,
as well as the voices of bride and groom.
This will take place before your eyes and in your lifetime.
An Evil Day
10Ā When you tell the people all of this, they will ask you, āWhy has the Lord decreed all this great disaster against us? What are we guilty of? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?ā
11Ā Then say this to them:
It is because your fathers abandoned me, declares the Lord, and followed other gods. They served them, and they worshipped them. They abandoned me and did not keep my law. 12Ā But you have done more evil than your fathers. Look, each of you follows his own stubborn, evil heart, and you do not listen to me. 13Ā Therefore, I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your fathers have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, and I will show you no mercy.
14Ā Nevertheless, listen to this. The days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer say, āAs surely as the Lord lives, who brought the children of Israel out from the land of Egypt.ā 15Ā But they will say, āAs surely as the Lord lives, who brought the children of Israel out from the land in the north and from all the lands to which he exiled them.ā For I will restore them to the homeland I gave to their fathers.
16Ā Look, I am sending for many fishermen, declares the Lord, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt for them on every mountain, on every high hill, and in the crevices of the rocks. 17Ā My eyes are watching everything they do. It is not hidden from me, nor is their guilt hidden from my eyes. 18Ā But first I will pay them double for their guilt and their sin, because they defiled my land with the carcasses of their disgusting idols, and they have filled my inheritance with their abominations.
19Ā The Lord is my strength and my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.
Nations will come to you from the ends of the earth and say,
āOur forefathers possessed only false gods,
worthless idols, and there was nothing good in them.
20Ā Can a man make gods for himself?
Yes, but they are not gods!ā
21Ā Therefore I will certainly teach them.
This time I will teach them my power and my strength,
and then they will know that my name is the Lord.
The Sin of Judah
Jeremiah 17
1Ā Judahās sin is written with an iron stylus.
It is engraved with a diamond [1] tip on the tablet of their hearts
and on the horns of their altars.
2Ā Even their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles, [2]
beside every green tree on the high hills,
3Ā and on the mountains in the countryside.
I will turn all your wealth into plunder
because of the sin you committed on the high places
Ā Ā Ā Ā throughout all your territory.
4Ā You will lose your inheritance that I gave you,
and I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know.
You have started a fire in my anger that will burn forever.
Curses and Blessings
5Ā This is what the Lord says.
Cursed is anyone who trusts in mankind,
who seeks his strength from human flesh,
and who turns his heart away from the Lord.
6Ā He will be like a juniper bush in the wasteland.
He will not see good things when they come.
He lives in a dry place in the wilderness,
in a salty land where no one lives.
7Ā But blessed is anyone who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
8Ā He will be like a tree planted by water.
It sends out its roots to the stream.
It does not fear the heat when it comes.
Its leaves will remain green.
It is not concerned about a time of drought.
It does not stop producing fruit.
The Deceitful Heart
9Ā The heart is more deceitful than anything.
It is beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
10Ā I, the Lord, am the one who searches the heart
and examines the mind,
Ā Ā Ā Ā to reward a man according to what he has done,
Ā Ā Ā Ā according to what his deeds deserve.
11Ā Those who accumulate a fortune unjustly
Ā Ā Ā Ā are like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay.
Midway through life their fortune will be lost,
and in the end they will be exposed as fools.
12Ā The place of our sanctuary is a glorious throne,
Ā Ā Ā Ā exalted from the beginning.
13Ā You are the hope of Israel, Lord.
All who forsake you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you [3] will be written in the earth,
because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.
14Ā Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed.
Save me, and I will be saved,
for you are the one I praise.
15Ā They say to me,
āWhere is the word of the Lord? Let it come!ā
16Ā I have not tried to run away from being your shepherd, [4]
nor have I wanted to bring the day of incurable pain.
You are aware of everything that comes out of my lips.
It is not hidden from you.
17Ā Do not be a terror to me.
You are my refuge in the day of disaster.
18Ā Let my persecutors be put to shame,
but do not let me be put to shame.
Let them be terrified,
but do not let me be terrified.
Bring on them the day of disaster
and destroy them with double destruction.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 17:1 Or flint
- Jeremiah 17:2 Wooden poles were set up to worship the Canaanite fertility goddess Asherah.
- Jeremiah 17:13 You is the reading of the Greek. The Hebrew reads me. This reading would require a change of speakers to the Lord.
- Jeremiah 17:16 Some ancient versions read this line as a parallel to the following line: I have not run after you for the sake of disaster.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage VersionĀ®, EHVĀ®, Ā© 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
