Jeremiah 15-17
Contemporary English Version
The People of Judah Will Die
15 (A) The Lord said to me:
Even if Moses and Samuel were here, praying with you, I wouldn't change my mind. So send the people of Judah away. 2 (B) And when they ask where they are going, tell them that I, the Lord, have said:
Some of you are going to die
of horrible diseases.
Others are going to die in war
or from starvation.
The rest will be led away
to a foreign country.
3 I will punish you
in four different ways:
You will be killed in war
and your bodies dragged off
by dogs,
your flesh will be eaten by birds,
and your bones will be chewed on
by wild animals.
4 (C) This punishment will happen
because of the horrible things[a]
your King Manasseh[b] did.
And you will be disgusting
to all nations on earth.
5 People of Jerusalem,
who will feel sorry for you?
Will anyone bother
to ask if you are well?
6 My people, you abandoned me
and walked away.
I am tired of showing mercy;
that's why I'll destroy you
7 by scattering you like straw
blown by the wind.
I will punish you with sorrow
and death,
because you refuse
to change your ways.
8 There will be more widows
in Judah
than grains of sand on a beach.
A surprise attack at noon!
And the mothers in Jerusalem
mourn for their children.
9 A mother is in deep despair
and struggles for breath.
Her daylight has turned
to darkness—
she has suffered the loss
of her seven sons.
I will kill anyone who survives.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
Jeremiah Complains
10 I wish I had never been born!
I'm always in trouble
with everyone in Judah.
I never lend or borrow money,
but everyone curses me
just the same.
11 Then the Lord replied,
“I promise to protect you,
and when disaster comes,
even your enemies
will beg you for help.”[c]
The Enemy Cannot Be Defeated
The Lord told me to say:
12 People of Judah,
just as you can't break iron
mixed with bronze,
you can't defeat the enemies
that will attack
from the north.
13 I will give them
everything you own,
because you have sinned
everywhere in your country.
14 My anger is a fire
that cannot be put out,[d]
so I will make you slaves
of your enemies
in a foreign land.[e]
Jeremiah Complains Again
15 You can see how I suffer
insult after insult,
all because of you, Lord.
Don't be so patient
with my enemies;
take revenge on them
before they kill me.
16 When you spoke to me,
I was glad to obey,
because I belong to you,
the Lord All-Powerful.
17 I don't go to parties
and have a good time.
Instead, I keep to myself,
because you have filled me
with your anger.
18 I am badly injured
and in constant pain.
Are you going to disappoint me,
like a stream that goes dry
in the heat of summer?
The Lord Replies
19 Then the Lord told me:
Stop talking like a fool!
If you turn back to me
and speak my message,
I will let you be my prophet
once again.
I hope the people of Judah
will accept what you say.
But you can ignore their threats,
* 20 because I am making you strong,
like a bronze wall.
They are evil and violent,
but when they attack,
21 I will be there to rescue you.
I, the Lord, have spoken.
Jeremiah Must Live His Message
16 The Lord said to me:
2 Jeremiah, don't get married and have children—Judah is no place to raise a family. 3 I'll tell you what's going to happen to children and their parents here. 4 They will die of horrible diseases and of war and starvation. No one will give them a funeral or bury them, and their bodies will be food for the birds and wild animals. And what's left will lie on the ground like manure.
5 When someone dies, don't visit the family or show any sorrow. I will no longer love or bless or have any pity on the people of Judah. 6 Rich and poor alike will die and be left unburied. No one will mourn and show their sorrow by cutting themselves or shaving their heads.[f] 7 No one will bring food and wine to help comfort those who are mourning the death of their father or mother.
8 Don't even set foot in a house where there is eating and drinking and celebrating. 9 (D) Warn the people of Judah that I, the Lord All-Powerful, will put an end to all their parties and wedding celebrations. 10 They will ask, “Why has the Lord our God threatened us with so many disasters? Have we done something wrong or sinned against him?”
11 Then tell them I have said:
People of Judah, your ancestors turned away from me; they rejected my laws and teachings and started worshiping other gods. 12 And you have done even worse! You are stubborn, and instead of obeying me, you do whatever evil comes to your mind. 13 So I will throw you into a land that you and your ancestors know nothing about, a place where you will have to worship other gods both day and night. And I won't feel the least bit sorry for you.
14 A time will come when you will again worship me. But you will no longer call me the Living Lord who rescued Israel from Egypt. 15 Instead, you will call me the Living Lord who rescued you from that country in the north and from the other countries where I had forced you to go.
Someday I will bring you back to this land that I gave your ancestors. 16 But for now, I am sending enemies who will catch you like fish and hunt you down like wild animals in the hills and the caves.
17 I can see everything you are doing, even if you try to hide your sins from me. 18 I will punish you double for your sins, because you have polluted my own land. You have filled it with lifeless idols that remind me of dead bodies.
The Lord Gives Strength
I prayed to the Lord:
19 Our Lord, you are the one
who gives me strength
and protects me like a fortress
when I am in trouble.
People will come to you
from distant nations and say,
“Our ancestors worshiped
false and useless gods,
20 worthless idols
made by human hands.”
21 Then the Lord replied,
“That's why I will teach them
about my power,
and they will know that I
truly am the Lord.”
The Lord Will Punish Judah
The Lord said:
17 People of Judah,
your sins cannot be erased.
They are written on your hearts
like words chiseled in stone
or carved on the corners
of your altars.[g]
* 2 One generation after another
has set up pagan altars
and worshiped the goddess Asherah
everywhere in your country—
on hills and mountains,
and under large trees.
3 So I'll take everything you own,
including your altars,
and give it all
to your enemies.[h]
4 You will lose[i] the land
that I gave you,
and I will make you slaves
in a foreign country,
because you have made my anger
blaze up like a fire
that won't stop burning.
Trust the Lord
5 I, the Lord, have put a curse
on those who turn from me
and trust in human strength.
6 They will dry up like a bush
in salty desert soil,
where nothing can grow.
7 But I will bless those
who trust me, the Lord.
8 (E) They will be like trees
growing beside a stream—
trees with roots that reach
down to the water,
and with leaves
that are always green.
They bear fruit every year
and are never worried
by a lack of rain.
9 You people of Judah
are so deceitful
that you even fool yourselves,
and you can't change.
10 (F) But I know your deeds
and your thoughts,
and I will make sure
you get what you deserve.
11 You cheated others,
but everything you gained
will fly away, like birds
hatched from stolen eggs.
Then you will discover
what fools you are.
Jeremiah Prays to the Lord
12 Our Lord, your temple
is a glorious throne
that has stood on a mountain
from the beginning.
13 You are a spring of water
giving Israel life and hope.
But if the people reject
what you have told me,
they will be swept away
like words written in dust.[j]
14 You, Lord, are the one I praise.
So heal me and rescue me!
Then I will be completely well
and perfectly safe.
15 The people of Judah say to me,
“Jeremiah, you claimed to tell us
what the Lord has said.
So why hasn't it come true?”
16 Our Lord, you chose me
to care for your people,
and that's what I have done.
You know everything I have said,
and I have never once
asked you to punish them.[k]
17 I trust you for protection
in times of trouble,
so don't frighten me.
18 Keep me from failure
and disgrace,
but make my enemies fail
and be disgraced.
Send destruction to make
their worst fears come true.
Resting on the Sabbath
19-20 The Lord said:
Jeremiah, stand at each city gate in Jerusalem, including the one the king uses, and speak to him and everyone else. Tell them I have said:
I am the Lord, so pay attention. 21-24 (G) If you value your lives, don't do any work on the Sabbath. Don't carry anything through the city gates or through the door of your house, or anywhere else. Keep the Sabbath day sacred!
I gave this command to your ancestors, but they were stubborn and refused to obey or to be corrected. But if you obey, 25 then Judah and Jerusalem will always be ruled by kings from David's family. The king and his officials will ride through these gates on horses or in chariots, and the people of Judah and Jerusalem will be with them. There will always be people living in Jerusalem, 26 and others will come here from the nearby villages, from the towns of Judah and Benjamin,[l] from the hill country and the foothills to the west, and from the Southern Desert. They will bring sacrifices to please me and to give me thanks,[m] as well as offerings of grain and incense.
27 But if you keep on carrying things through the city gates on the Sabbath and keep treating it as any other day, I will set fire to these gates and burn down the whole city, including the fortresses.
Footnotes
- 15.4 the horrible things: See 2 Kings 21.1-16.
- 15.4 Manasseh: Hebrew “Manasseh son of Hezekiah”; he ruled 687–642 b.c.
- 15.11 help: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 11.
- 15.14 that cannot be put out: Some Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts “against you.”
- 15.14 I will make … land: Many Hebrew manuscripts; most Hebrew manuscripts “I will make your enemies go through to a land you don't know about.”
- 16.6 mourn and show their sorrow by cutting themselves or shaving their heads: A custom in some Canaanite religions.
- 17.1 carved on the corners of your altars: When sacrifices were offered to the Lord to ask him to forgive sins, some of the blood was smeared on the corners of the altar (see Leviticus 4.7,18-20,25, 26,30, 31,34, 35; 16.18). But now the Lord refuses to accept these sacrifices.
- 17.3 enemies: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verses 2,3.
- 17.4 You will lose: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 17.13 reject … dust: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 17.16 you chose … punish them: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 17.26 Judah and Benjamin: These two tribes made up the southern kingdom of Judah.
- 17.26 sacrifices to please me and to give me thanks: See the notes at 14.12.
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