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15 The Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, even if Moses and Samuel were here to pray for the people of Judah, I would not feel sorry for them. Send the people of Judah away from me! Tell them to go! They might ask you, ‘Where will we go?’ Tell them this is what the Lord says:

“‘I have chosen some people to die.
    They will die.
I have chosen some to be killed with swords.
    They will be killed with swords.
I have chosen some to die from hunger.
    They will die from hunger.
I have chosen some to be taken away to a foreign country.
    They will be prisoners there.
I will send four kinds of destroyers against them.’
    This message is from the Lord.
‘I will send the enemy with a sword to kill.
    I will send the dogs to drag their bodies away.
I will send birds of the air and wild animals
    to eat and destroy their bodies.
I will make the people of Judah
    an example of something terrible for all the people on earth.
I will do this to the people of Judah
    because of what Manasseh[a] did in Jerusalem.
Manasseh was the son of King Hezekiah.
    Manasseh was a king of Judah.’

“No one will feel sorry for you, city of Jerusalem.
    No one will be sad and cry for you.
    No one will go out of their way to even ask how you are.
Jerusalem, you left me.”
    This message is from the Lord.
“Again and again you left me!
    So I will punish and destroy you.
    I am tired of holding back your punishment.
I will separate the people of Judah with my pitchfork.[b]
    I will scatter them at the city gates of the land.
My people have not changed,
    so I will destroy them.
    I will take away their children.
Many women will lose their husbands.
    There will be more widows than there is sand in the sea.
I will bring a destroyer at noontime.
    The destroyer will attack the mothers of the young men of Judah.
I will bring pain and fear on the people of Judah.
    I will make this happen very quickly.
The enemy will attack with swords and kill the people.
    They will kill the survivors from Judah.
A woman with seven children will lose them.
    She will cry until she becomes weak and struggles to breathe.
She will be upset and confused,
    because her bright day has become dark.”
This message is from the Lord.

Jeremiah Complains to God Again

10 Mother, I am sorry
    that you gave birth to me.
I am the one who must accuse
    and criticize the whole land.
I have not loaned or borrowed anything,
    but everyone curses me.
11 Surely, Lord, I have served you well.
    In times of disaster and trouble,
    I prayed to you about my enemies.

God Answers Jeremiah

12 “Jeremiah, you know that no one
    can shatter a piece of iron.
I mean the kind of iron that is from the north.[c]
    And no one can shatter a piece of bronze either.
13 The people of Judah have many treasures.
    I will give these riches to other people.
They will not have to buy them,
    because Judah has many sins.
    The people sinned in every part of Judah.
14 People of Judah, I will make you slaves of your enemies.
    You will be slaves in a land that you never knew.
I am very angry.
    My anger is like a hot fire,
    and you will be burned.”

15 Lord, you understand me.
    Remember me and take care of me.
People are hurting me.
    Give them the punishment they deserve.
You are being patient with them.
    But don’t destroy me while you remain patient with them.
Think about me.
    Think about the pain I suffer for you.
16 Your words came to me, and I ate them up.
    They made me very happy.
I was glad to be called by your name,
    Lord God All-Powerful.
17 I never sat with the crowd
    as they laughed and had fun.
I sat by myself because of your influence on me.
    You filled me with anger at the evil around me.
18 I don’t understand why I still hurt.
    I don’t understand why my wound is not cured and cannot be healed.
I think you have changed.
    You are like a spring of water that became dry.
    You are like a spring whose water has stopped flowing.

19 Then the Lord said, “Jeremiah, if you change and come back to me,
    I will not punish you.
If you change and come back to me,
    then you may serve me.
If you speak important things, not worthless words,
    then you may speak for me.
The people of Judah should change and come back to you.
    But don’t you change and be like them.
20 I will make you strong.
    The people will think you are strong,
    like a wall made of bronze.
The people of Judah will fight against you,
    but they will not defeat you.
They will not defeat you,
    because I am with you.
I will help you, and I will save you.”
    This message is from the Lord.
21 “I will save you from these evil people.
    They frighten you, but I will save you from them.”

The Day of Disaster

16 The Lord’s message came to me: “Jeremiah, you must not get married. You must not have sons or daughters in this place.”

This is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters who are born in the land of Judah and about their mothers and fathers: “They will die from terrible disease. And no one will cry for them or bury them. Their bodies will lie on the ground like dung. Or they will die in war or starve to death. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth.”

So the Lord says, “Jeremiah, don’t go into a house where people are eating a funeral meal. Don’t go there to cry for the dead or to show your sorrow. Don’t do these things, because I have taken back my blessing. I will not be kind to the people of Judah. I will not feel sorry for them.” This message is from the Lord.

“Important people and common people will die in the land of Judah. No one will bury them or cry for them. No one will cut himself or shave his head to show sorrow for them. No one will bring food to those who are crying for the dead. No one will comfort those whose mother or father has died. No one will offer a drink to comfort those who are crying for the dead.

“Jeremiah, don’t go into a house where the people are having a party. Don’t go into that house and sit down to eat and drink. This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel says: I will soon stop the sounds of people having fun. I will stop the happy sounds of people enjoying a wedding party. This will happen during your lifetime. I will do these things very soon.

10 “Jeremiah, you will tell the people of Judah these things, and the people will ask you, ‘Why has the Lord said these terrible things to us? What have we done wrong? What sin have we done against the Lord our God?’ 11 You must tell them: ‘Terrible things will happen to you because your ancestors stopped following me.’ This message is from the Lord. ‘They stopped following me and began to follow and serve other gods. They worshiped those other gods. Your ancestors left me and stopped obeying my law. 12 But you people have sinned more than your ancestors. You are very stubborn, and you are doing only what you want to do. You are not obeying me. Because you do only what you want to do, 13 I will throw you out of this country. I will force you to go to a foreign land. You will go to a land that you and your ancestors never knew. There you can serve false gods all you want to. I will not help you or show you any favors.’

14 “People make promises and say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives—the Lord who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt ….’ But the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when people will not say that. 15 They will say something new. They will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives—the Lord who brought the Israelites out of the northern land, who brought them out of all the countries where he had sent them ….’ Why will they say that? Because I will bring the Israelites back to the land that I gave to their ancestors.

16 “I will soon send for many fishermen to come to this land.” This message is from the Lord. “They will catch the people of Judah. After that happens, I will send for many hunters[d] to come to this land. They will hunt the people of Judah on every mountain and hill and in the cracks of the rocks. 17 I see everything they do. The people of Judah cannot hide the things they do. Their sin is not hidden from me. 18 I will pay the people of Judah back for the evil things they did—I will punish them two times for every sin. I will do this because they have made my land ‘dirty.’ They made my land ‘dirty’ with their terrible idols. I hate those idols, but they have filled my country with their idols.”

19 Lord, you are my strength and my protection.
    You are a safe place to run to in time of trouble.
The nations will come to you from all around the world.
    They will say, “Our fathers had false gods.
They worshiped those worthless idols,
    but the idols did not help them.
20 Can people make real gods for themselves?
    No, they can only make statues that are not really gods.”

21 “So I will teach those who make idols.
    Right now I will teach them about my power and my strength.
Then they will know that I am God.
    They will know that I am the Lord.

Guilt Written on the Heart

17 “The sins of Judah are written where they cannot be erased—
    cut into stone with an iron pen,
cut deep with a hard tip into the stone that is the hearts of the people.
    Their sins are carved into the horns of their altars.[e]
Their children remember the altars
    that were dedicated to false gods.
They remember the wooden poles
    that were dedicated to Asherah.
They remember those things
    under the green trees and on the hills.
They remember those things
    on the mountains in the open country.
The people of Judah have many treasures.
    I will give those things to other people.
People will destroy all the high places in your country.
    You worshiped there, and that was a sin.
You will lose the land I gave you.
    I will let your enemies take you to be their slaves.
That is because I am very angry.
    My anger is like a hot fire, and you will be burned forever.”

Trusting in People and Trusting in God

This is what the Lord says:
“Bad things will happen to those who put their trust in people.
    Bad things will happen to those who depend on human strength.
    That is because they have stopped trusting the Lord.
They are like a bush in a desert where no one lives.
    It is in a hot and dry land.
    It is in bad soil.
That bush does not know about the good things that God can give.

“But those who trust in the Lord will be blessed.
    They know that the Lord will do what he says.
They will be strong like trees planted near a stream
    that send out roots to the water.
They have nothing to fear when the days get hot.
    Their leaves are always green.
They never worry, even in a year that has no rain.
    They always produce fruit.

“Nothing can hide its evil as well as the human mind.
    It can be very sick,
    and no one really understands it.
10 But I am the Lord,
    and I can look into a person’s heart.
I can test a person’s mind and decide what each one should have.
    I can give each person the right payment for what they do.
11 Sometimes a bird will hatch an egg that it did not lay.
    Those who cheat to get money are like that bird.
But when their lives are half finished, they will lose the money.
    At the end of their lives, it will be clear that they were fools.”

12 From the very beginning, our Temple
    has been a glorious throne for God.
    It is a very important place.
13 Lord, you are the hope of Israel.
    You are like a spring of living water.
Those who stop following the Lord
    will have a very short life.[f]

Jeremiah’s Third Complaint

14 Lord, if you heal me, I surely will be healed.
    Save me, and I surely will be saved.
    Lord, I praise you!
15 The people of Judah continue to ask me questions.
    They say, “Jeremiah, what about the message from the Lord?
    Let’s see that message come true.”

16 Lord, I did not run away from you.
    I followed you.
    I became the shepherd[g] you wanted.
I did not want the terrible day to come.
    You know what I said.
    You see all that is happening.
17 Please don’t make me afraid of you.
    I depend on you in times of trouble.
18 People are hurting me.
Make them ashamed,
    but don’t disappoint me.
Let them be filled with fear,
    but don’t give me any reason to fear.
Bring the terrible day of disaster to my enemies.
    Break them, and break them again.

Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

19 This is what the Lord said to me: “Jeremiah, go and stand at the People’s Gate,[h] where the kings of Judah go in and out. Tell the people my message, and then go to all the other gates of Jerusalem and do the same.”

20 Say to the people, “Listen to this message from the Lord. Listen, kings of Judah. Listen, all you people of Judah. All you who come through these gates into Jerusalem, listen to me! 21 This is what the Lord says: ‘Be careful that you don’t carry a load on the Sabbath day. And don’t bring a load through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. 22 Don’t bring a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day. Don’t do any work on that day. You must make the Sabbath day a holy day. I gave this same command to your ancestors, 23 but they did not obey me. They did not pay attention to me. Your ancestors were very stubborn. I punished them, but it did not do any good. They did not listen to me. 24 But you must be careful to obey me, says the Lord. You must not bring a load through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath. You must make the Sabbath day a holy day. You will do this by not doing any work on that day.

25 “‘If you obey this command, the kings and leaders will be from David’s family. It will be the kings who sit on David’s throne and the leaders from Judah and Jerusalem who come through the gates of Jerusalem riding on chariots and on horses. And Jerusalem will have people living in it forever. 26 People will come to Jerusalem from the towns and villages of Judah, from the land where the tribe of Benjamin lives,[i] from the western foothills, from the hill country, and from the Negev. All these people will bring burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, incense, and thank offerings to the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem.

27 “‘But if you don’t listen to me and obey me, bad things will happen. If you carry loads into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, you are not keeping it as a holy day. So I will start a fire that cannot be put out. That fire will start at the gates of Jerusalem, and it will burn until it burns even the palaces.’”

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 15:4 Manasseh Manasseh was the most evil king of Judah according to 2 Kings 21:1-16. He worshiped many gods.
  2. Jeremiah 15:7 pitchfork A tool with sharp points for throwing hay from one place to another.
  3. Jeremiah 15:12 north The Babylonian army came from this direction to attack Judah. Armies from countries north and east of Israel often came this way to attack Judah and Israel.
  4. Jeremiah 16:16 fishermen … hunters This means the enemy soldiers from Babylon.
  5. Jeremiah 17:1 horns of their altars The corners of altars were shaped like horns, and the blood of sacrifices was smeared on them. So Jeremiah may mean that the people’s sins have made their altars unfit for sacrifices.
  6. Jeremiah 17:13 will have a very short life Literally, “he will be written in the dirt.” This might mean that a person’s name was written on a list of people who would soon die, or that a person’s life will soon be gone—like a name written in the sand.
  7. Jeremiah 17:16 shepherd God’s people are sometimes called his “sheep,” and the person who takes care of them is called the “shepherd.”
  8. Jeremiah 17:19 People’s Gate This might be one of the gates into Jerusalem or perhaps one of the southern gates into the Temple area used by those who were not priests.
  9. Jeremiah 17:26 the land where … Benjamin lives The land of Benjamin was just north of the land of Judah.

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