Jeremiah 17

1Judah’s sin is written down with an iron stylus, with a diamond point; it is engraved on the tablet of their hearts and on the horns of your altars, 2while their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles beside the green trees on the high hills. 3My mountain in the open country, I will hand over your wealth and all your treasures as plunder, along with your high places, because of the sin committed throughout your territory. 4Through your own doing you will let go of the inheritance I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know; for you have set my anger burning like a fire that will burn forever.

5The LORD says this: Cursed is the one who puts trust in human beings and leans on mere flesh for strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6They will be like a bare shrub in the desert, and will not see good when it comes. They will live in the scorched places of the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives.

7Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence rests in the LORD. 8They will be like a tree set out beside the water, that sends its roots out along a stream. It has no fear when the heat comes; its leaves stay green. In a year of drought it has no worries, and it never stops bearing fruit. 9The heart is more devious than anything else, and it is past healing; who can understand it? 10I, the LORD, search the heart and test the inner feelings, to give each person what their ways deserve, what the fruit of their deeds has earned.

11Like a partridge that sits on eggs it never laid is the one who gets rich by unjust means; halfway through life the riches will leave them, and in the end they will be shown a fool. 12A glorious throne, raised high from the very beginning, is the place where our sanctuary stands. 13LORD, Hope of Israel, all who desert you will be put to shame. Those who turn from me will have their names written in the dust, because they have deserted the LORD, the spring of living water.

14Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; rescue me, and I will be safe; for you are the one I praise. 15See how they taunt me: “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come true, then!” 16But I have not run away from being a shepherd who follows you; I have not longed for the day of disaster, and you know it. Every word that left my lips was spoken openly before you. 17Do not become a terror to me; you are my refuge on the day of disaster. 18Let those who hunt me down be put to shame, but do not let me be shamed; let them be shattered with fear, but do not let me be shattered. Bring the day of disaster on them, and crush them twice over.

19The LORD said this to me: “Go and take your stand in the People’s Gate, the gate the kings of Judah use when they enter and leave, and then in all the gates of Jerusalem. 20Say to them: ‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, all Judah, and everyone living in Jerusalem who comes in through these gates.

21The LORD says this: Be on your guard, for your lives depend on it. Do not carry any load on the Sabbath day or bring it in through the gates of Jerusalem. 22Do not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day, and do no work at all. Set the Sabbath day apart as holy, just as I commanded your ancestors. 23But they did not listen or pay attention. They made their necks stiff so they would not hear or accept correction. 24But if you truly listen to me, declares the LORD, and bring no load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it, 25then kings and officials who sit on David’s throne will come in through the gates of this city, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, along with the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem. And this city will be lived in forever. 26People will come in from the towns of Judah and the places surrounding Jerusalem, from Benjamin’s territory and the western foothills, from the hill country and the Negev. They will bring burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and they will bring offerings of thanks to the house of the LORD. 27But if you do not listen to me and keep the Sabbath day holy, if you carry loads as you come in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will set fire to its gates, a fire that will consume the fortresses of Jerusalem and will not be put out.’”