1 ARST Yahweh said,“It is as though a list of the sins committed by the people of Judah is engraved with an iron chisel, or engraved using the fine point of a very hard stone, on their inner beings and on the altars where they worship their idols. BSB BSB: “The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus, engraved with a diamond point on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.
2 ARST Even their children remember when they went to the altars, and they went up to the poles that represent the goddess Asherah, and there they worshiped underneath all the big trees and on all the high hills. BSB BSB: Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles by the green trees and on the high hills.
3 ARST I will give my mountain as plunder, along with all your wealth and all your treasures, because of your idolatry and your worship on the hills. They will take your possessions away because you sinned against Yahweh throughout your land. BSB BSB: O My mountain in the countryside, I will give over your wealth and all your treasures as plunder, because of the sin of your high places, within all your borders.
4 ARST The wonderful land that I gave to you will no longer belong to you. I will tell your enemies to take you to a land that you do not know about, and you will become their slaves. I will do that because I am extremely angry with you; my being angry is like a fire that will burn forever.” BSB BSB: And you yourself will relinquish the inheritance that I gave you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land that you do not know, for you have kindled My anger; it will burn forever.”
5 ARST This is also what Yahweh says:“Those who trust in human beings to help them are cursed, those who rely on their own strength and turn away from me with their inner beings. BSB BSB: This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes mere flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
6 ARST They are like dry bushes in the desert, they are people who will not experience any good things. Those people will live in the barren desert in a salty area, where no one can safely abide. BSB BSB: He will be like a shrub in the desert; he will not see when prosperity comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
7 ARST But Yahweh is pleased with those who trust in him, and who confidently expect him to take care of them. BSB BSB: But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.
8 ARST Those people are like fruit trees that have been planted along a riverbank, trees that have roots that go down into the wet ground beside the water. They are trees whose leaves remain green when it becomes hot, trees that continue to bear fruit when there are many months in which there is no rain. BSB BSB: He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It does not worry in a year of drought, nor does it cease to produce fruit.
9 ARST Human minds are extremely corrupt, and we cannot change that. It is also completely impossible for anyone to understand that. BSB BSB: The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
10 ARST But I, Yahweh, search what is in everyone’ s inner being, and I examine what they are thinking. I will give all people reward or punishment, what they deserve for what they have done.” BSB BSB: I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.
11 ARST I know some people who become rich by doing things that are unjust. They are like birds that hatch eggs that they did not lay. So, when those people have lived only half of the years that they expect to live, they will disappear. Then other people will realize that those people have been foolish. BSB BSB: Like a partridge hatching eggs it did not lay is the man who makes a fortune unjustly. In the middle of his days his riches will desert him, and in the end he will be the fool.”
12 ARST Yahweh, your temple is like a glorious throne that has been on a high hill since it was built. BSB BSB: A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.
13 ARST You are the one whom we Israelite people confidently expect to bless us, and all those who turn away from you will be disgraced and feel what it is like to be separated from you, because they have abandoned you, who are like a fountain where people obtain fresh water. BSB BSB: O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away will be written in the dust, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of living water.
14 ARST Yahweh, please heal me, because if you heal me, I will truly be healed. If you rescue me, I will truly be safe, because you are the only one whom I praise. BSB BSB: Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved, for You are my praise.
15 ARST People often ridicule me and say,“You tell us messages that you say came from Yahweh, but why have the things that you predicted not happened? BSB BSB: Behold, they keep saying to me, “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come now!”
16 ARST Yahweh, you appointed me to take care of your people like a shepherd takes care of his sheep; I have not abandoned that work, and you know that I have not previously wanted this time of disaster to come to people who ridicule me. And you know everything that I have said to your people. BSB BSB: But I have not run away from being Your shepherd; I have not desired the day of despair. You know that the utterance of my lips was spoken in Your presence.
17 ARST Do not cause me to be terrified! When disasters come, you are the one to whom I will go to be safe. BSB BSB: Do not become a terror to me; You are my refuge in the day of disaster.
18 ARST So now, cause those who persecute me to be ashamed and dismayed, but do not do things to me that will cause me to be ashamed and dismayed. Cause them to be terrified! Do to them many things that will completely destroy them! BSB BSB: Let my persecutors be put to shame, but do not let me be put to shame. Let them be terrified, but do not let me be terrified. Bring upon them the day of disaster and shatter them with double destruction.
19 ARST This is what Yahweh said to me:“Go to the city gates in Jerusalem. First go to the gate where the kings of Judah go in and out of the city, and then go to each of the other gates. BSB BSB: This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the gate of the people, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; and stand at all the other gates of Jerusalem.
20 ARST Say to the people at each gate,‘You kings of Judah and everyone else who is living in Jerusalem and all you other people of Judah who enter these gates, listen to this message from Yahweh! BSB BSB: Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, all people of Judah and Jerusalem who enter through these gates.
21 ARST He says,“Listen to this warning carefully if you want to live! Stop doing work on Sabbath days! Stop carrying loads through these gates on those days! BSB BSB: This is what the LORD says: Take heed for yourselves; do not carry a load or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.
22 ARST Do not carry loads out of your houses or do any other work on Sabbath days! Instead, cause Sabbath days to be holy. I commanded your ancestors to do that, BSB BSB: You must not carry a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day, but you must keep the Sabbath day holy, just as I commanded your forefathers.
23 ARST but they did not listen to me or obey me. When I did things to correct them, they stubbornly refused to pay attention to what I said or to accept it. BSB BSB: Yet they would not listen or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and would not listen or receive My discipline.
24 ARST But I say that if you obey me, and if you do not carry loads through these gates on Sabbath days or do any other work on Sabbath days, and if you dedicate the Sabbath days to me, BSB BSB: If, however, you listen carefully to Me, says the LORD, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, and keep the Sabbath day holy, and do no work on it,
25 ARST kings of Judah and their officials will continue to go in and out of these gates. There will always be someone who is a descendant of King David ruling here in Jerusalem. Kings and their officials will go in and out of these gates, riding in chariots and on horses, and there will be people living in this city forever. BSB BSB: then kings and princes will enter through the gates of this city. They will sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses with their officials, along with the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.
26 ARST And people will come to Jerusalem bringing offerings to be completely burned on the altar and other offerings. They will bring to the temple grain offerings and incense and offerings to thank me. People will bring these offerings from the towns in Judah and the villages near Jerusalem and from the land where the tribe of Benjamin lives and from the western foothills and from the southern Judean wilderness. BSB BSB: And people will come from the cities of Judah and the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, and from the foothills, the hill country, and the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and thank offerings to the house of the LORD.
27 ARST But if you do not pay attention to what I say, and if you refuse to dedicate the Sabbath days to me, and if you continue to carry loads through these gates into the city on Sabbath days, I will burn these gates completely. The fire will spread to the palaces, and no one will be able to put out that fire.”’” BSB BSB: But if you do not listen to Me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in its gates to consume the citadels of Jerusalem.’”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.