U G 1,2. Incrimination.
H J 3,4. Threatening.
K 5-8. Trust. False and True.
G 9,10. Incrimination.
H K 11-14. Trust. False and True.
J 15-18. Defiance.497-480 B.C.
Jeremiah 17)
1: The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars; (some codices read "their")
2: While their sons remember their altars and their asherim by every green trees and upon the high hills. (see Deut. 6:21)
3: O My mountain in the field (put for Jerusalem. Cp. "rock of the plain", 21:13), I will give your substance and all your treasures to the spoil, and your high places in sin (i.e. as a punishment for sin), throughout all thy borders.
4: And you, even yourself, shall discontinue from your heritage that I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you know not: for you all have kindled a fire in My anger (see Deut. 32:22. Cp. 15:14), which shall burn for ever.” (cp. Isa.33:14)
K c 5. Curse. False.
d 6. Comparison. Heath in desert. "
c 7. Blessing. True.
d 8. Comparison. Tree in garden. "5: Thus says the Lord; “Cursed be the strong man that confides in mankind, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord.
6: For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
7: Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, and whose confidence the Lord is.
8: For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters (see Ps.1:1-3), and that spreads out her roots by the steam, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
9: The heart is crooked above all things (referring to the old nature of the natural man), and it [is] sick to death (i.e. it is incurable): who can know it?
10: I the Lord search the heart, (put for the mind, or intellect) I try the reins, (put for thoughts, or affections) even giving every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. (quoted in Rom. 8:27. Rev. 2:23. Cp. 6:19; 32:19)
K e 11-. Forsaking. Partridge her eggs.
f -11. False trust.
f 12,13-. True trust.
e -13,14. Forsaking. People their God.11: As the partridge sits on eggs, and hatches them not;
so he that gets riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his day, and at his end shall be a fool.”
12: A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
13: O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake You shall be ashamed, and they that depart from Me shall be written in the earth,
because they have forsaken the Lord, the Fountain of living waters.
14: Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for You are my praise. (see Deut. 10:21)
15: Behold, they say to me, “Where is the word of the Lord? let it come now.”
16: As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow You: neither have I desired the incurable day; You know: that which came out of my lips was right before You.
17: Be not a terror to me (see 1:17): You are my hope in the day of calamity.
18: Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of calamity, and destroy them with double destruction. (cp. 16:18, and see Isa. 40:2)
F g¹ 19-22. Yahaveh. Command.
h¹ 23. Disobedience.
g² 24-26. Yahaveh. Promise.
h² 27-. Disobedience.
g³ -27. Yahaveh. Threatening.
19: Thus said the Lord to me; “Go and stand in the gate of the sons of the People (probably the main entrance to the Courts of the Temple), whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;
20: And say to them, ‘Hear you all the word of the Lord, all you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:
21: Thus says the Lord; Take heed to your souls, and bear no burden on the sabbath day (see Ex. 20:8; 23:12; 31:13. Cp. Neh. 13:15-19), nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem;
22: Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do you all any work, but hallow you all the sabbath day, according as I commanded your fathers.’ ”
23: But they did not listen, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.
24: “And it shall come to pass, if you all diligently listen to Me, [is] the Lord's oracle, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein;
25: Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on their horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever.
26: And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain (= Philistia, between Jerusalem and the Mediterranean Sea), and from the central land, and from the Negeb (see Gen.12:9; 13:1. Deut.1:7. Ps.126:4), bringing burnt offerings (see Lev.1:1,2), and sacrifices, and meal offerings (see Lev.2:1), and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, to the house of the Lord.
27: But if you all will not listen to Me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day;
then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof (see v.4. Cp. 21:14. Lam. 4:11), and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.’ ”