Jeremiah 17-20

21st Century King James Version

17 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved upon the tablet of their heart and upon the horns of your altars,

² whilst their children remember their altars and their wooden idols by the green trees upon the high hills.

³ O My mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin throughout all thy borders.

⁴ And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not; for ye have kindled a fire in Mine anger which shall burn for ever.”

⁵ Thus saith the Lord: “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

⁶ For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

⁷ “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

⁸ For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be disquieted in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?

¹⁰ “I, the Lord, search the heart; I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”

¹¹ As the partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not, so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.

¹² A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.

¹³ O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake Thee shall be ashamed. “And they that depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.”

¹⁴ Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for Thou art my praise.

¹⁵ Behold, they say unto me, “Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now.”

¹⁶ As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow Thee; neither have I desired the woeful day, Thou knowest; that which came out of my lips was right before Thee.

¹⁷ Be not a terror unto me; Thou art my hope in the day of evil.

¹⁸ Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded; let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed. Bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.

¹⁹ Thus said the Lord unto me: “Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;

²⁰ and say unto them, ‘Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye kings of Judah and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem that enter in by these gates.

²¹ Thus saith the Lord: Take heed for 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 ye any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.

²³ But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction.

²⁴ “‘And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto Me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day to do no work therein,

²⁵ then shall there enter into 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 for ever.

²⁶ And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the South, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, and meat offerings and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise unto the house of the Lord.

²⁷ But if ye will not hearken unto Me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.’”

18 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

² “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear My words.”

³ Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

⁴ And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make it.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁶ “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter?” saith the Lord. “Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in Mine hand, O house of Israel.

⁷ At the instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it,

⁸ if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

⁹ And at the instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it,

¹⁰ if it do evil in My sight, that it obey not My voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them.

¹¹ Now therefore go to speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I frame evil against you and devise a device against you. Return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.’”

¹² And they said, “There is no hope; but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.”

¹³ Therefore thus saith the Lord: “Ask ye now among the heathen: Who hath heard such things? The virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.

¹⁴ Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?

¹⁵ Because My people hath forgotten Me, they have burned incense to vanity; and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, on a road not cast up,

¹⁶ to make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and wag 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 said they, “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 smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”

¹⁹ Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken 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 that I stood before Thee to speak good for them, and to turn away Thy wrath from them.

²¹ Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of their children and be widows; and let their men be put to death; let their young men be slain by the sword in battle.

²² Let a cry be heard from their houses, when Thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet.

²³ Yet, Lord, Thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me; forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from Thy sight, but let them be overthrown before Thee; deal thus with them in the time of Thine anger.

19 Thus saith the Lord: “Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people and the elders of the priests.

² And go forth unto the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the East Gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee,

³ and say, ‘Hear ye the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, of which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.

⁴ Because they have forsaken Me and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents.

⁵ They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not nor spoke it, neither came it into My mind.

⁶ Therefore behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, 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 hands of them that seek their lives; and their carcasses will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth.

⁸ And I will make this city desolate and a hissing. Every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss, because of all the plagues thereof.

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 straits with which their enemies and they that seek their lives shall straiten them.’

¹⁰ “Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,

¹¹ and shalt say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel that cannot be made whole again; and they shall bury them in Tophet till there be no place to bury.

¹² Thus will I do unto this place, saith the Lord, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet.

¹³ And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.’”

¹⁴ Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord’S house and said to all the people,

¹⁵ “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear My words.’”

20 Now Pashhur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.

² Then Pashhur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the High Gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord.

³ And it came to pass on the morrow that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, “The Lord hath not called thy name Pashhur, but Magormissabib [that is, Fear round about].

⁴ For thus saith the Lord: ‘Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself and to all thy friends; and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon and shall slay them with the sword.

⁵ Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city and all the labors thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, who shall despoil them and take them and carry them to Babylon.

⁶ And thou, Pashhur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity; and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die and shalt be buried there, thou and all thy friends to whom thou hast prophesied lies.’”

⁷ O Lord, Thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived; Thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed. I am in derision daily; every one mocketh me.

⁸ For when I spoke, I cried out; I cried, “Violence and despoliation!” because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me and a derision daily.

⁹ Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name.” But His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not hold back.

¹⁰ For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. “Report,” say they, “and we will report it!” All in my company watched for my halting, saying, “Perhaps he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him; and we shall take our revenge on him.”

¹¹ But the Lord is with me as a mighty, fearsome one; therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail. They shall be greatly ashamed, for they shall not prosper; their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.

¹² But, O Lord of hosts, who triest the righteous and seest the reins and the heart, let me see Thy vengeance on them, for unto Thee have I opened my cause.

¹³ Sing unto the Lord, praise ye the Lord; for He hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.

¹⁴ Cursed be the day wherein I was born; let not the day wherein my mother bore me be blessed.

¹⁵ Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, “A manchild is born unto thee,” making him very glad.

¹⁶ And let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew, and repented not; and let him hear the cry in the morning and the shouting at noontide,

¹⁷ because he slew me not from the womb, or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.

¹⁸ Why came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?