Jeremiah 17-20
1599 Geneva Bible
17 1 The frowardness of the Jews. 5 Cursed be those that put their confidence in man. 9 Man’s heart is wicked. 10 God is the searcher of the heart. 13 The living waters are forsaken. 21 The right keeping of the Sabbath commanded.
1 The sin of Judah is [a]written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond, and graven upon the [b]table of their heart, and upon the horns of your [c]altars.
2 [d]They remember their altars as their children, with their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.
3 [e]O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance, and all thy treasures to be spoiled, for the sin of thy high places throughout all thy borders.
4 And thou shalt rest, [f]and in thee shall be a rest 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 forever.
5 ¶ Thus saith the Lord, [g]Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and withdraweth his heart from the Lord.
6 For he shall be like the heath in the wilderness, and shall not see when any good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabited.
7 Blessed be the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.
8 [h]For he shall be as a tree that is planted by the water, which spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not feel when the heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green, and shall not care for the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
9 [i]The heart is deceitful and wicked above all things, who can know it?
10 I the Lord search the heart, and try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his works.
11 [j]As the partridge gathereth the young, which she hath not brought forth: 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 As a glorious throne [k]exalted from the beginning, so is the place of our Sanctuary.
13 O Lord, the hope of Israel, that forsake thee, shall be confounded: they that depart from thee, shall be written [l]in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be whole: [m]save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.
15 Behold, [n]they say unto me, Where is the word of the Lord? let it come now.
16 But [o]I have not thrust in myself for a pastor after thee, neither have I desired the day of misery, thou knowest that which came out of my lips was right before thee.
17 Be not [p]terrible unto me: thou art mine hope in the day of adversity.
18 Let them be confounded, that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be afraid, but let not me be afraid: bring upon them the day of adversity, [q]and, destroy them with double destruction.
19 Thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go and stand in the [r]gate of the children of the people, whereby the Kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem,
20 And say unto them, Hear 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 to your souls, and bear no burden in the [s]Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.
22 Neither carry forth burdens out of your houses in the Sabbath day: neither do ye any work, but sanctify the Sabbath, as I commanded your fathers.
23 But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ears, but made their necks stiff, and would not hear, nor receive correction.
24 Nevertheless, if ye will hear me, saith the Lord, and bear no burden through the gates of the city in the Sabbath day, but sanctify the Sabbath day, so that ye do no work therein,
25 Then shall the Kings and the Princes enter in at the gates of this city, and shall sit (A)upon the throne of David, and shall ride upon chariots and upon horses, both they and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain forever.
26 And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the South, which shall bring burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and shall bring sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord.
27 But if ye will not hear me to sanctify the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, nor to go through the gates of Jerusalem in 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 2 God showeth by the example of a potter, that it is in his power to destroy the despisers of his word. 18 The conspiracy of the Jews against Jeremiah. 19 His prayer against his adversaries.
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2 Arise, and go down into the potter’s house, and there shall I show thee 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 [t]of clay, was broken in the hand of the potter, so he returned, and made it another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
5 Then the word of the Lord came unto 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 you in mine hand, O house of Israel.
7 I will speak suddenly against a nation, or against a kingdom to pluck it up, and to root it out, and to destroy it.
8 But if this nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their wickedness, I will [u]repent of the plague that I thought to bring upon them.
9 And I will speak suddenly concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom to build it and to plant it.
10 But if it do evil in my sight, and hear not my voice, I will repent of the good that I thought to do for them.
11 Speak thou now therefore unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I prepare a plague for you, and purpose a thing against you: return you therefore every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your works good.
12 But they said [v]desperately, Surely we will walk after our own imaginations, and do every man after the stubbornness of his wicked heart.
13 Therefore thus saith the Lord, Ask now among the heathen, who hath heard such things? the virgin of Israel hath done very filthily.
14 Will a man forsake the snow of Lebanon, which cometh from the rock of the field? [w]or shall the cold flowing waters, that come from another place, be forsaken?
15 Because my people hath forgotten me, and have burnt incense to vanity, and their prophets have caused them to stumble in their ways from the [x]ancient ways, to walk in the paths and way that is not trodden,
16 To make their land desolate, and a perpetual derision, so that everyone that passeth thereby, shall be astonished and wag his head,
17 I will scatter them with an East wind before the enemy: I will show them the back, and [y]not the face in the day of their destruction.
18 Then said they, Come, and let us imagine some device against Jeremiah: for the Law [z]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 [aa]tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
19 Hearken unto me, O Lord, and hear 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, [ab]deliver up their children to famine, and let them drop away by the force of the sword, let their wives be robbed of their children, and be widows: and let their husbands be put to death, and let their young men be slain by the sword in the battle.
22 Let the cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring an host 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 tendeth to death: forgive not their iniquity, neither put out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee: deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.
19 He prophesieth the destruction of Jerusalem for the contempt and despising of the word of God.
1 Thus saith the Lord, Go, and buy an earthen bottle of a potter, and take of the ancients for the people, and of the ancients of the Priests,
2 And go forth unto the valley of Ben-Hinnom, which is by the entry of the [ac]East gate: and thou shalt preach there the words, that I shall tell thee,
3 And shalt say, Hear ye the word of the Lord, O [ad]Kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring a plague upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall [ae]tingle.
4 Because they have forsaken me, and profaned this place, and have burnt incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they, nor their fathers have known, nor the Kings of Judah (they have filled this place also with the blood of innocents,
5 And they have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I [af]commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind)
6 Therefore behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called [ag]Topheth, nor the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter.
7 And I will bring the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem to nought in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of them that seek their lives: and their carcasses will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the field.
8 (B)And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing, so that everyone that passeth thereby, shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
9 (C)And I will feed them with the flesh of their sons, and with the flesh of their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies that seek their lives, shall hold them strait.
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 [ah]potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again, and they shall bury them in Topheth till there be no place to bury.
12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith the Lord, and to the inhabitants thereof, and I will make this city like Topheth.
13 For the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the Kings of Judah shall be defiled as the place of Topheth, because of all the [ai]houses upon whose [aj]roofs they have burnt incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.
14 Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, where 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 plagues that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, and would not hear my words.
20 Jeremiah is smitten and cast into prison for preaching of the word of God. 3 He prophesieth the captivity of Babylon. 7 He complaineth that he is a mocking stock for the word of God. 9 He is compelled by the spirit to preach the word.
1 When Pashhur, the son of Immer, the priest, which was appointed 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 [ak]stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord.
3 And on the morning, Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The Lord hath not called thy name Pashhur, but [al]Magor-Missabib.
4 For thus saith the Lord, behold, I will make thee to be 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 Babel, and he shall carry them captive into Babel, and shall slay them with the sword.
5 Moreover, I will deliver all the substance 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, which shall spoil them, and take them away and carry them to Babel.
6 And thou Pashhur, and all that dwell in thine house, shall go into captivity, and thou shalt come to Babel, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou and all thy [am]friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.
7 O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I am [an]deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast [ao]prevailed: I am in derision daily: everyone mocketh me.
8 For since I spake, I cried out of wrong, and proclaimed [ap]desolation: therefore the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and in derision daily.
9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak anymore 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 stay.
10 For I had heard the railing of many, and fear on every side. [aq]Declare, said they, and we will declare it: all my familiars watched for mine halting, saying, It may be that he is deceived: so we shall prevail against him, and we shall execute our vengeance upon him.
11 [ar]But the Lord is with me like a mighty giant: therefore my persecutors shall be overthrown, and shall not prevail, and shall be greatly confounded: for they have done unwisely, and their everlasting shame shall never be forgotten.
12 (D)But, O Lord of hosts, that 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 the wicked.
14 ¶ [as]Cursed be the day wherein I was born: and let not the day wherein my mother bare me, be blessed.
15 Cursed be the man that showed my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee, and comforted him.
16 And let that man be as the [at]cities, which the Lord hath overturned and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noon tide,
17 Because he hath not slain me, even from the womb, or that my mother might have been my grave, or her womb a perpetual [au]conception.
18 How is it, that I came forth of the womb, to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 17:1 The remembrance of their contempt of God cannot pass, albeit for a time he defer the punishment, for it shall be manifest to men and Angels.
- Jeremiah 17:1 Instead of the Law of God, they have written idolatry and all abominations in their heart.
- Jeremiah 17:1 Your sins appear in all the altars that you have erected to idols.
- Jeremiah 17:2 Some read, So that their children remember their altars, that is, follow their fathers’ wickedness.
- Jeremiah 17:3 Zion that was my mountain, shall now be left as a waste field.
- Jeremiah 17:4 Because thou wouldest not give the land rest, at such times, days, and years as I appointed, thou shalt hereafter be carried away, and it shall rest for lack of laborers.
- Jeremiah 17:5 The Jews were given to worldly policies, and thought to make themselves strong by the friendship of the Egyptians, Isa. 31:3, and strangers, and in the mean season did not depend on God, and therefore he denounceth God’s plagues against them, showing that they prefer corruptible man to God, which is immortal, Isa. 2:22; Jer. 48:6, 7.
- Jeremiah 17:8 Read Ps. 1:3.
- Jeremiah 17:9 Because the wicked have ever some excuse to defend their doings, he showeth that their own lewd imaginations deceive them, and bring them to these inconveniences: but God will examine their deeds by the malice of their hearts, 1 Sam. 16:7; 1 Chron. 28:9; Ps. 7:10; Jer. 11:20 and 20:12; Rev. 2:13.
- Jeremiah 17:11 As the Partridge by calling gathered others which forsake her, when they see that she is not their dam: so the covetous man is forsaken of his riches, because he cometh by them falsely.
- Jeremiah 17:12 Showing that the godly ought to glory in nothing, but in God, who doth exalt his, and hath left a sign of his favor in his Temple.
- Jeremiah 17:13 Their names shall not be registered in the book of life.
- Jeremiah 17:14 He desireth God to preserve him that he fall not into tentation, considering the great contempt of God’s word, and the multitude that fall from God.
- Jeremiah 17:15 The wicked say that my prophecy shall not come to pass, because thou deferrest the time of thy vengeance.
- Jeremiah 17:16 I am assured of my vocation, and therefore know that the thing which thou speakest by me, shall come to pass, and that I speak not of any worldly affection.
- Jeremiah 17:17 Howsoever the wicked deal rigorously with me, yet let me find comfort in thee.
- Jeremiah 17:18 Read Jer. 11:20.
- Jeremiah 17:19 Whereas thy doctrine may be best understood both of high and low.
- Jeremiah 17:21 By naming the Sabbath day, he comprehendeth the thing that is thereby signified: for if they transgressed in the ceremony, they must needs be culpable of the rest, read Exod. 20:8, and by the breaking of this one commandment, he maketh them transgressors of the whole law, forasmuch as the first and second table are contained herein.
- Jeremiah 18:4 As the potter hath power over the clay to make what pot he will, or to break them, when he hath made them: so have I power over you to do with you as seemeth good to me, Isa. 45:9; Rom. 9:20, 21.
- Jeremiah 18:8 When the Scripture attributeth repentance unto God, it is not that he doeth contrary to that which he hath ordained in his secret counsel: but when he threateneth, it is a calling to repentance, and when he giveth man grace to repent, the threatening (which ever containeth a condition in it) taketh no place: and this the scripture calleth repentance in God, because it so appeareth to man’s judgment.
- Jeremiah 18:12 As men that had no remorse, but were altogether bent to rebellion and to their own self-will.
- Jeremiah 18:14 As no man that hath thirst refuseth fresh conduit waters which he hath at home, to go and seek waters abroad to quench his thirst: so they ought not to seek for help and succor at strangers, and leave God which was present with them.
- Jeremiah 18:15 That is, the way of truth which God had taught by his law, read Jer. 6:16.
- Jeremiah 18:17 I will show mine anger and not my favor toward them.
- Jeremiah 18:18 This argument the wicked have ever used against the servants of God. The Church cannot err: we are the Church, and therefore whosoever speaketh against us, they ought to die, 1 Kings 22:24; Jer. 7:4 and 20:2; Mal. 2:4, and thus the false Church persecuteth the true Church, which standeth not in outward pomp, and in multitude, but is known by the graces of the holy Ghost.
- Jeremiah 18:18 Let us slander him, and accuse him: for we shall be believed.
- Jeremiah 18:21 Seeing the obstinate malice of the adversaries, which grew daily more and more, the Prophet being moved with God’s Spirit, without any carnal affection prayeth for their destruction, because he knew that it should tend to God’s glory, and profit of his Church.
- Jeremiah 19:2 Or, gate of the sun.
- Jeremiah 19:3 By Kings here and in other places are meant counselors and governors of the people: which he calleth the ancients, verse 1.
- Jeremiah 19:3 Read of this phrase, 1 Sam. 3:11.
- Jeremiah 19:5 Whereby is declared, that whatsoever is not commanded by God’s word touching his service, is against his word.
- Jeremiah 19:6 Read Jer. 7:31 and 2 Kings 23:10; Isa. 30:33.
- Jeremiah 19:11 This visible sign was to confirm them touching the assurance of this plague, which the Lord threatened by his prophet.
- Jeremiah 19:13 He noteth the great rage of the idolaters, which left no place free from their abominations, insomuch as they polluted their own houses therewith, as we see yet among the Papists.
- Jeremiah 19:13 Read Deut. 22:8.
- Jeremiah 20:2 Thus we see that the thing which neither the King, nor the princes, nor the people durst enterprise against the Prophet of God, this Priest as a chief instrument of Satan first attempted, read Jer. 18:18.
- Jeremiah 20:3 Or, fear round about.
- Jeremiah 20:6 Which have suffered themselves to be abused by thy false prophecies.
- Jeremiah 20:7 Herein appeareth the impatience, which oftentimes overcometh the servants of God, when they see not their labors to profit, and also feel their own weakness, read Jer. 15:18.
- Jeremiah 20:7 Thou didst thrust me forth to this work against my will.
- Jeremiah 20:8 He showeth that he did his office in that he reproved the people of their vices, and threatened them with God’s judgments: but because he was derided and persecuted for this, he was discouraged, and thought to have ceased to preach, save that God’s Spirit did force him thereunto.
- Jeremiah 20:10 Thus the enemies conferred together to know what they had heard him say, that they might accuse him thereof, read Isa. 29:21.
- Jeremiah 20:11 Here he showeth how his faith did strive against tentation, and sought to the Lord for strength.
- Jeremiah 20:14 How the children of God are overcome in this battle of the flesh and the Spirit, and into what inconveniences they fall till God raise them up again: read Job 3:1 and Jer. 15:10.
- Jeremiah 20:16 Alluding to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Gen. 19:25.
- Jeremiah 20:17 Meaning, that the fruit thereof might never come to profit.
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