The Heart on Trial: Choosing Trust, Honoring Truth, and Facing the Potter’s Judgment
Jeremiah 17
1 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your altars. 2 Even their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles by the green trees on the high hills. 3 My mountain in the field, I will give your substance and all your treasures for a plunder, and your high places, because of sin, throughout all your borders. 4 You, even of yourself, will discontinue from your heritage that I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you don’t know; for you have kindled a fire in my anger which will burn forever.”
5 Yahweh says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from Yahweh. 6 For he will be like a bush in the desert, and will not see when good comes, but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, an uninhabited salt land.
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose trust Yahweh is. 8 For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green; and will not be concerned in the year of drought, neither will cease from yielding fruit.
9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it? 10 I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
11 As the partridge that broods eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right. In the middle of his days, they will leave him. At his end, he will be a fool.
12 A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary. 13 Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be disappointed. Those who depart from me will be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the spring of living waters.
14 Heal me, Yahweh, and I will be healed. Save me, and I will be saved; for you are my praise. 15 Behold, they ask me, “Where is Yahweh’s word? Let it be fulfilled now.”
16 As for me, I have not hurried from being a shepherd after you. I have not desired the woeful day. You know. That which came out of my lips was before your face. 17 Don’t be a terror to me. You are my refuge in the day of evil. 18 Let them be disappointed who persecute me, but don’t let me be disappointed. Let them be dismayed, but don’t let me be dismayed. Bring on them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.
19 Yahweh said this to me: “Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, through which the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem. 20 Tell them, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter in by these gates. 21 Yahweh says, “Be careful, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. 22 Neither carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do any work; but make the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. 23 But they didn’t listen, neither turned their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction.
24 “‘“It will happen, if you diligently listen to me,” says Yahweh, “to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to make the Sabbath day holy, to do no work therein; 25 then kings and princes will enter in by the gates of this city, sitting on David’s throne, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city will remain forever. 26 They will come from the cities of Judah, and from the places around Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the hill country, and from the South, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, meal offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving, to Yahweh’s house.
27 “‘“But if you will not listen to me to make the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem; and it will not be quenched.”’”
Jeremiah 18
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear my words.”
3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making something on the wheels. 4 When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
5 Then Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 6 “House of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter?” says Yahweh. “Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel. 7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; 8 if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. 9 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; 10 if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they don’t obey my voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would benefit them.
11 “Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a plan against you. Return now everyone from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.”’ 12 But they say, ‘It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will each act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”
13 Therefore Yahweh says: “Ask now among the nations, who has heard such things. The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing. 14 Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Or shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up? 15 For my people have forgotten me. They have burned incense to false gods; and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, in a way not built up; 16 to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and shake 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 they said, “Come, and let’s devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law will not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let’s strike him with the tongue, and let’s not give heed to any of his words.”
19 Give heed to me, Yahweh, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me. 20 Should evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.
21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widows. Let their men be killed, and their young men struck by the sword in battle. 22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when you bring a troop suddenly on them; for they have dug a pit to take me, and hidden snares for my feet. 23 Yet, Yahweh, you know all their counsel against me to kill me. Don’t forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from your sight; but let them be overthrown before you. Deal with them in the time of your anger.
Jeremiah 19
1 Yahweh said, “Go, and buy a potter’s earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests; 2 and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. 3 Say, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will bring such evil on this place that whoever hears of it, his ears will tingle. 4 Because they have forsaken me, and have defiled this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods that they didn’t know, they, their fathers, and the kings of Judah; and have filled this place with the blood of innocents, 5 and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I didn’t command, nor speak, neither came it into my mind. 6 Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that this place will no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter.
7 “‘“I will make the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem void in this place. I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies to be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth. 8 I will make this city an astonishment and a hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues. 9 I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters. They will eat everyone the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies, and those who seek their life, will distress them.”’
10 “Then you shall break the bottle in the sight of the men who go with you, 11 and shall tell them, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again. They will bury in Topheth, until there is no place to bury. 12 I will do this to this place,” says Yahweh, “and to its inhabitants, even making this city as Topheth. 13 The houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, will be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the army of the sky, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.”’”
14 Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of Yahweh’s house, and said to all the people: 15 “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their neck, that they may not hear my words.’”
Scripture: World English Bible (WEB), public domain.
