Jeremiah 17

5 “Cursed is the man who has his hope in man, who leans on the flesh of a human arm while his heart pulls away from the Lord.”

6 “He will be like the wild tamarisk in the desert: he will not see when good comes. He will make his home in the salt flats, in the wilderness, in a salty land where no one can live.”

7 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord — the Lord will be his hope.”

8 “He will be like a thriving tree beside the waters: it sends its roots toward the moisture, and it will not fear when heat comes; leafy branches cover it. In a year of drought it will not be afraid, and it will not stop bearing fruit.”

9 “The heart is deep beyond all things, and it is the man, and who can know him?”

10 “I, the Lord, test hearts and prove the deepest thoughts, to give each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his conduct.”

11 “The partridge calls out; she gathers what she did not hatch. So is the man who makes his wealth without judgment: at the midpoint of his days it will abandon him, and at his end he will be a fool.”

12 “An exalted throne of glory is our sanctuary.”

13 “Hope of Israel, Lord — let all who abandon you be put to shame; let the deserters be written in the dust, because they have abandoned the spring of life, the Lord.”

14 “Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; rescue me, and I will be rescued — for you are my boast.”

15 “Look, they keep saying to me, ‘Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come!’”

16 “But I have not grown tired of following after you, and I have not set my desire on man’s day — you know. What comes out of my lips is before your face.”

17 “Do not become a stranger to me — you who spare me in the day of trouble.”

18 “Let my pursuers be put to shame, but let me not be put to shame; let them be terrified, but let me not be terrified. Bring the day of trouble on them; shatter them with a double shattering.”

19 “This is what the Lord says: Go and stand in the gates of the sons of your people, where the kings of Judah come in and go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem,”

20 “and say to them: Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all Jerusalem — everyone who comes in through these gates.”

21 “This is what the Lord says: Guard your souls. Carry no loads on the Sabbath day, and do not go out through the gates of Jerusalem;”

22 “carry no loads out of your houses on the Sabbath day, and do no work. Keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.”

23 “But they did not listen or turn their ear; they stiffened their neck worse than their fathers, refusing to hear me and refusing to accept discipline.”

24 “And if you truly listen to me, says the Lord, and carry no loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, and keep the Sabbath day holy by doing no work on it,”

25 “then kings and rulers who sit on David’s throne will come in through the gates of this city, riding their chariots and horses — they and their rulers, the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem — and this city will be lived in forever.”

26 “And people will come from the cities of Judah and from all around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the low country, from the hill country, and from the south, bringing whole burnt offerings and sacrifice and incense and gifts and frankincense — bringing praise to the house of the Lord.”

27 “But if you do not listen to me — to keep the Sabbath day holy, to carry no loads, and not to come in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day — then I will light a fire in her gates, and it will devour the streets of Jerusalem and will not be put out.”